This year has been a disaster that we all were unfortunate enough to see unfold. With the year and semester coming to a close we are giving an opportunity to reflect. Westwood hired a new principal, and began reconstruction of older portions of the school.  One of the biggest events this year being the election which came to a close with Donald J. Trump as President-elect.

In celebrity news we lost some of the greats, such as Alan Rickman, David Bowie, and Christina Grimmie, as well as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie filing for divorce. Many movies were released this year including Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them, a prequel to the Harry Potter films; which for Potter heads, like myself, is really exciting. Over the summer we had a technological pandemic known as Pokemon Go, a game in which players catch fictional creatures in a pokeball.

We had the 75th anniversary of of Pearl Harbor, the attack on Hawaii by the Japanese during WWII. This year marked the one year anniversary of same-sex marriage becoming legal. America almost had its first woman president, but this election season was sadly not the time. Following the election there were many protests against the President-elect. Early in the summer there was the issue where we lost a supreme court judge, and were unsure if President Obama could elect the next one.

On the topic of school news, Principal Mario Acosta joined the Warrior nation along with new faculty members, such as new chemistry and biology teachers.  The newly renovated hallway will be open next semester, and the language hall will be closed all of next semester from the construction. In October many schools including Westwood received multiple threats of clowns, most of which were proven false.

This year has been jam-packed with the good, the bad, and the scary clowns.  Most of us have made it to this point somewhat okay. There is a lot we as school and a nation need to digest, but the best thing to do is look forward. Next year the live action remake of Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson releases in March along with tons of movies like Wonder Woman, Power Rangers, and Star Wars Vlll. We will officially have a new president that some people are still a little bitter about, but there is not much we can do about it. In January, along with inauguration day, Westwood Musical is putting on a production of Once Upon a Mattress based on the children’s story Princess and The Pea. However, if theater is not your thing there are plenty of soccer, baseball, and softball games and other extracurricular activities that have functions next semester. There’s clearly an abundance of events to look ahead on. For now I would like to wish you all happy holidays, and hope everyone has a good break.