The student news site of Westwood High School.

Westwood Horizon

The student news site of Westwood High School.

Westwood Horizon

The student news site of Westwood High School.

Westwood Horizon

NEWS

Following a power outage, the lights in the D hallway were temporarily off.

Several Power Outages Interrupt Classes

Gabriel Oliveira, Reporter January 8, 2024

Following rainy weather, the school experienced power outages on Jan. 8, 2024. What started as a one short outage eventually spiraled into a series of outages and finally concluded with one final outage...

To limit the potentially dangerous applications of AI, nations and organizations such as the U.S., the EU, and China have passed various AI acts. These laws restrict the uses of AI to align with national values.

Several Nations Pass Artificial Intelligence Acts

Sabareesh Dinakaran, Reporter January 5, 2024

With large companies like Google, Microsoft, and Meta investing in the research of artificial intelligence in the last few years, the significant influence of these companies on the development and application...

Running, JROTC commemorates a touchdown during the Homecoming football game on Friday, Oct. 13. The Warriors emerged victorious against the  Mavericks with a final score of 17-14.

Westwood Wrapped: 2023’s Top Stories

Shreya Selvaraju and Hannah McDonough December 31, 2023
Westwood's year in review.
In a womens restroom, a repurposed laundry bin stores menstrual products for people to use, an effort to combat period poverty. Since its founding in 2018, LaunchPad has worked with HOSA to collect and distribute menstrual products around Westwoods restrooms for students use.

LaunchPad Provides Menstrual Products to Students

Sabareesh Dinakaran, Reporter December 31, 2023

LaunchPad is a student-founded organization that provides menstrual products to students on campus who don’t have access to these products. The organization is run by Rifah Mirza ‘25 and Samhita Guntakala...

Smiling with supplies for animals in need, Paw Plan officers Phylicia Ren 25 and Dawoon Jung 25 display some of the items collected. Paw Plan donated items to shelters based on necessity, and due to  Austin Pets Alive being over maximum capacity, they received the majority of donations raised.

Paw Plan Donates Supply Drive Items to Animals in Need

Chloe Oakley, Campus News Editor December 29, 2023

After three months of collecting supplies for animals in need, Paw Plan officers dropped off donations in a community supply drive to animal shelters Austin Pets Alive and the Central Texas Society...

Working together, Lahari Gadi 26 and author Aarya Kale 26 form the FlowAware team. The FlowAware project hopes to increase public knowledge of the underlooked medical aspects of the menstrual cycle.

Promoting Period Prowess: FlowAware Initiative Pushes For Teenage Menstrual Health

Aarya Kale, Reporter December 29, 2023

Intense bolts of pain, only subsiding to give way to a dull, continuous ache in the lower abdomen, all shadowed by the irritable and sluggish mindset to simply keep pushing through one’s day, is a common...

Following Texass ban on almost all abortions in 2022, 31-year-old Kate Cox filed an emergency lawsuit in an attempt to terminate her pregnancy. Coxs situation revealed the extent of Texas abortion laws amid the public fight against abortion bans in the state.

Kate Cox Case Tests Texas Abortion Laws

Maddy Yendle, Reporter December 27, 2023

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which meant that the option to have an abortions was left to the states to decide. This ruling led Texas to fully ban abortions after the first...

Settling in with their snacks, French Club members watch Pink Panther: A Pink Christmas. Officers planned this event for a month, and were dedicated to execute it before midterms week. “[The cartoons were] really comedic,” French Club Member Bella Yi 26 said. “I like the sort of ‘cartoony’ videos with jokes in [them], and I think its entertaining because you dont really typically watch that at this age.”

French Club Members Relax at Movie Night Ahead of Midterms

Mayla Montgomery, Reporter December 19, 2023

With snacks galore and a vast selection of holiday cartoons, on Friday, Dec. 8, members of French Club gathered in Mme Harwick's classroom after school to relax before midterms.  The officer team worked...

As the world advances in technology, social media has risen to be a staple part of the everyday lives of adolescents. Due to these advancements, social media has grown both as a supportive tool to bring teens together, and a potential source of harm, especially for adolescents.

Behind the Filter: A Closer Look at the Dangers of Social Media

Sophia Cortes, Dreamcatcher Staff December 18, 2023

Meta, formally called Facebook, was recently accused of promoting child sexual abuse material to predators on its social platforms and fostering unmoderated user groups devoted to selling and facilitating...

Starting off the Bite Me dance to audience cheers, K-pop club members prepared to give the performance their all. Following the red and black palette displayed in the original performance of the song, dancers embraced the theme of the dance by wearing red lipstick and dressing in darker colors.

K-pop Club Closes Semester with Winter Showcase Performance

Valerie Zhang, Reporter December 17, 2023

On Friday, Dec. 8, students gathered in the cafeteria during flex to watch K-pop Club perform their winter showcase. K-pop Club members learned dances, originally choreographed and performed by their respective...

Concentrated, Tomahawk drivers Abraham Lira 24 and Akaash Reddy 25 steer their robot during a match. After their third competition of the year,  Tomahawk earned the title of ninth in the world and first in the GEMS league.

Robotics FTC Teams Set Records at Third FiT GEMS League Meet

Avi Rajesh, Reporter December 14, 2023

Dominating in their third meet of the year, six For Robotics Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology (FIRST) Tech Challenge (FTC) teams competed on Sunday, Dec. 2. Prior to this competition,...

Smiling, endocrinologist Dr. Deepa Ponnusamy sits at her office desk. Ponnusamy is one of many medical professionals to start implementing remote visits for patients into her job following the pandemic. “[Remote visits are] huge, because it feels like people who live far away are able to afford care, [due to] a hybrid of [remote] visits and face-to-face visits,” Dr. Ponnusamy said. Photo courtesy of Dr. Deepa Ponnusamy

Teleworking: How a Physician Combats Inaccessibility

Bella Yi, Reporter December 9, 2023

The patient picks up the call from the McDonalds drive-through. “[He was] looking at the menu when I called,” Dr. Deepa Ponnusamy said.  As the patient’s endocrinologist, she is trying to...

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