Category: Uncategorized

By Mattie Stinson, Stentorian Staff Writer

One sunny afternoon, I was studying on Blawn with some friends when I saw a mysterious group of people gathered on the field across the street. We quickly decided to investigate by asking them what on earth they could be doing on a hot Thursday afternoon. The response: playing ultimate frisbee of course. 

The “CornDogs” is NCSSM’s own Ultimate Frisbee team which works in collaboration with the Durham School of the Arts, where the name is a combination of the two mascots (Unicorns and Bulldogs). Through our brief, impromptu interview of the team captains gave us a basic history of the Frisbee space at NCSSM. For the past 20 (ish) years, NCSSM has always had an Ultimate Frisbee team, with the most activity being the five years before Covid. The pandemic hit the frisbee team hard, as it did most things, leading the team to be smaller and lesser known than before. Despite the varying levels of membership, the CornDogs have had a very successful history with them winning States last year.

But we kept on coming back to the same question: why frisbee? Some students choose the sport because they got introduced through friends, which is especially accessible through gender inclusivity as it is a co-ed sport. Others were more interested in the physical activity aspect of it. One of the biggest aspects highlighted was the way that it promotes conflict resolution. Ultimate Frisbee has no referees, meaning that each player gets to make calls on whether or not a rule was broken and then all the players have a chance to agree or not. 

“Frisbee is for everyone,” one of the statements frequented by everyone we talked to. Whether it is your first day or 15th year holding a frisbee, the team will take anyone and help them grow to meet their frisbee goals. They have two different teams for different levels and encourage all types of beginners to join. Looking for a community that combines the mental and the physical? Well, do we have a team for you!

By Mattie Stinson, Stentorian Staff Writer

On one of the most important deadlines for seniors at NCSSM—the October 15th Early Action deadline for UNC Chapel Hill applications—almost every single math class had a test or quiz. Excluding the treacherous sicknesses being spread around campus (that I always happen to fall victim to), the already packed schedules of NCSSM students, and the normal mid-semester burnout, placing a quiz on the one day you know that almost every NCSSM senior has a major application due is damn near malicious. 

I saw my peers walking around fatigued, dark circles marked under their eyes—a prize won from whatever assignments were accomplishments of last night’s sleep deprivation—and Celsius ailing their exhaustion. A recent conversation in my Critical Legal Studies class entailed the many ways NCSSM students use their wits to damage their health in benefit of getting more work done. I’ve heard of caffeine pills, getting your body used to running on less sleep so a 4-hours-of-sleep-a-night routine doesn’t make you feel tired, and, of course, daily energy drinks. 

But why sacrifice sleep when you could’ve used that time you spent with friends? A very valid question, except, it overlooks a few key details. Firstly, there are many instances where NCSSM students turn down social events and opportunities for the sake of work. Secondly, many times people multitask by doing work with friends. Thirdly, because we live at the same place where we learn (or, sell our souls for the sake of education), there is often a horrible work/life balance. Social time is necessary to not lose yourself fully in the work and to actually step away from it for an hour or two. 

The nature of this school is ambition and doing (having?) what it takes to get the job done, even if it comes at a cost (and it usually does). 

I have been sick more weeks in the semester than not and have only gotten less than ten individual classes excused by the clinic. I’ve gone to class while nauseated, slightly feverish, and in a haze due to relying on cough medicine. For weeks, I have walked around looking like Bella Swan from Breaking Dawn Part 1 (thank you Kolby Gupton for that comparison…), constantly fatigued by the seemingly never-ending plagues I’ve caught this semester (and I’m definitely not alone in that). Sending a sick student to class only leads to more sick students until the whole school has caught the same cold and by the time that sickness is done, patient zero has started spreading the next one. 

We spend so much of our time lost in our work and poor health that the only thing to make it a little bit better is to make it seem a little more picturesque; we make an aesthetic of our sicknesses and our sleep deprivation and our mold poisoning and our struggles as students because it’s usually the only thing we can do about it.     

By Mattie Stinson, Stentorian Staff Writer

Spoons! They’re everywhere! Often found in PFM, students’ dorms, and, most recently, on noses. February marks the start of NCSSM’s annual Spoons competition, a game similar to the well known senior assassin. The game kicks off on the first day of the spring semester, or in this year’s case, the first full school day back on campus. Players will receive a plastic spoon with another player’s name on it, that is their target. The goal of the game is to (gently) tap your target with a spoon to get them out and gain their target as your new one. 

Spoons is more than just a game, but rather a community builder. It relies on students getting to know each other better in order to kill their targets. The Spoons community has especially been beneficial for this season’s Spoonmaster, Rex Chen ‘26, “I think spoons allows many within the NCSSM community to engage in a fun, campus wide activity, which I believe is especially important during a stressful time of the year.”

Beyond creating bonds between peers, Spoons pushes students out of their comfort zone; it’s impossible to be invisible in a crowded hallway when you’ve got a spoon on your nose. At a school that places such a high priority on academic and extracurricular achievements, we often forget that there is more to the school day than academics. 

“I had a rough second semester of junior year, where I felt like I tried to do too much and ended up not doing enough. Spoons was one of the highlights that helped me stop worrying about the ‘what-ifs’ and focus on the present moment, which really improved my mindset,” explained Chen. 

As one of the last three players (Spooners?) standing, Chen has definitely proven to know the ins and outs of the game well. Though the game was never officially concluded by last year’s Spoonmaster, Chen was the last junior alive, making him this season’s Spoonmaster as per Spoons’ rules. 

The rules of Spoons are always updating. As people try new tactics, the Spoonmaster gets to decide whether or not they are legal or illegal. Students are constantly getting new updates in the Messenger group chat about new safe zones and banned actions. This is one of Chen favorite aspects of the game, “I find it pretty funny how many people proposed crazy spoon designs (like bluetooth enabled spoons and drone-controlled spoons) to try and get an advantage in the game.” 

Spoons is one of those games where it is what you make out of it. If you put forth a lot of effort and are an active participant of it, you’ll often be in the game the longest and have the most memorable experience with it. Spoon enthusiast Finnegan Davis ‘27 expressed, “Spoons sounds pretty easy, but it’s really not. It’s hard to keep track of who is targeting you, where your target is, what zones are safe, and what zones are not, and it’s even hard to keep track of your spoon.” 

Though it is far too early to say who the next Spoonmaster is, when the game will be concluded, or who will be the last player standing, I am confident that we will be seeing spoons around campus for the foreseeable future. So, from us at The Stentorian, best of luck Spooners! And don’t forget your spoons!

By Mattie Stinson, Stentorian Staff Writer

In all honesty (and I am somewhat ashamed to admit it to all of NCSSM), it is Wednesday night and I have been to a grand total of 3 classes this week (my physics classes, shout out Mrs. Stefan). To be fair, most of my Monday classes were cancelled due to the tornado warning, I was counseled out of my Tuesday classes, and Wednesday… I had extra sleep and a rewatch of season 6 of Grey’s Anatomy calling my name. 

I have been hearing about senioritis since my 8th grade teachers were warning me not to catch it, though I had always thought it was a mindset– something that could be avoided with discipline and a dedication to academic work. However, with the coming of my last high school semester, I was shown just how wrong I could be. 

Ella Juarez ‘26 agrees that senioritis has nothing to do with work ethic, and is rooted in awaiting upcoming change, saying “I think senioritis is entirely natural and something that comes with the end of an era. I think I felt a form of senioritis graduating kindergarten; like gosh, I am so old already.” 

Senioritis hits NCSSM hard. Especially with how hard working its students have been for their entire high school career, the second the light at the end of the tunnel is near, students lose the motivation to make it past the finish line. For the past three and a half years, we have been in a constant race against our peers, both at our homeschool and NCSSM. Now that it is almost over, most of us lose the desire to win and are just focused on making it to the finish line. Because why win when everyone finishes? And, at a school with no valedictorian or class rank, graduation becomes a participation trophy.

One senior articulates the loss of motivation, saying, “I think the senioritis is nothing out of the ordinary…honestly it’s like going to bed after a long day. You don’t really wanna do anything else, even if there is still work to do.” Another student agrees, “There’s always work to do, I’m just not going to do it.”

Everything feels so much harder, even though the actual workload I have is nothing compared to that of my three previous years of high school. The same assignment that would take me 1 hour to complete now takes me 3, with half of that time needed to convince myself to actually finish the assignment. I’m tired. 

This exhaustion is commonly felt by seniors. Micah Wascher ‘26 says, “Unfortunately, today I slept through 2 classes and 1 lab. Lucky for me, sleep is important and I finally got some. Can’t wait for the joys and perks of college, 30 extra minutes of sleep!” Another senior agrees, “Every morning I wake up and want to skip all of my classes and go back to bed. But honestly, yeah, I deserve to go back to bed. #soreadytograduate” 

We all know the story of The Tortoise and the Hare: how the Hare was so excited about the race that it ran too fast, got tired, and eventually lost to the Tortoise. NCSSM students are far too often the Hare; our ambitions, though leading us to incredible academic achievements, are the cause of our eventual burnout. We move too fast, we want to win too much, and, in the end, we just get too tired. 

Senioritis is all about weighing priorities. Which assignments to do first and which can we miss points on. Suddenly, the most math that I am doing is calculating which classes I can afford to miss and which are necessary to attend. Jasmine Herring ‘26 states, “senior year taught me a lot.. mostly how many classes I can skip without getting an absence notification from Gabrielle Norfleet. #10isthemax.”

As a school-affiliated newspaper, The Stentorian encourages NCSSM students to continue putting their full effort into every class and assignment. Though as a student and senior myself, I encourage seniors to put in as much effort as they can afford. Weigh those outcomes, maybe skip a class if you really need to. Don’t waste your life on school, but don’t waste away rotting in your rooms. 

By Myles Pitts, Stentorian Staff Writer

It’s August—the beginning of fall semester of your senior year–prime time for college application season. As you toil over categorically organizing the entirety of your childhood through one medium (the common app in tandem with college-specific supplementals), you realize you’ve left out one critical piece of seeming importance to most top colleges: the SAT.

Hurriedly, you sign up for the next available date and begin studying for the assessment as if it solely evinces colleges of your aptitude for learning. After taking the SAT for the first time, you realize that you are far off from the ridiculously inflated SAT scores that define the score ranges of most of the top 20 colleges. Even just getting a flat 1500 would place you out of the score range at some of the top colleges even though it means you’ve only gotten a few questions incorrect. You pay for examination after examination, hoping to improve your score before application season is finalized in January.

Does this sound familiar? Unfortunately, it is the reality of the college process for many high school students at NCSSM and beyond. The SAT is an unfortunate point of stress for many students while they apply to college as the prevailing sentiment within America is that the test is a mainstay of how colleges evaluate one’s affinity for learning. 

According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, 39 percent of Americans say standardized testing should be used as a major factor in college admissions, followed by 46 percent who believe that it should at least be a minor factor in admissions. Meaning, the majority of the population still places an emphasis on standardized testing despite the preponderance of troubles associated with it.  

To place the foundations of the contemporary version of the SAT within its historical context requires an understanding of its creator. In 1923, the man who spearheaded the SAT’s creation was Dr. Carl Brigham, a known eugenicist who believed that the white race was intellectually superior to all other races. Brigham was instrumental in developing aptitude tests for the US army during WW1. After being commissioned by the College Board (yes, the same college board from today), he made the “Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)” to measure what he deemed to be the intrinsic intellectual abilities of its test takers. 

Standardized psychological evaluations like Brigham’s were first implemented in the army to segregate units based on their test scores; African-Americans often had lower test scores which therefore placed them in lower positions within the armed forces. But the SAT did not prove Brigham’s theory that Black Americans were intellectually inferior (although this is likely what he understood the difference in test scores to mean). Rather, it demonstrated the economic inequalities that plagued minority communities in comparison to their white counterparts.

Though the SAT is screened thoroughly to remove any biases that may be present within its format, Black and Latinx Test takers still perform worse than their white counterparts. In fact, White students are two to three times more likely to score within the 1400-1600 range than their Black and Latinx counterparts. 

A similar story can be told when examining the difference in financial circumstances of test-takers: Students with a family income over 100K+ are twice as likely than families who make under 50k to have combined test scores of 1400-1600. There is even a gender gap: Male students are 42% more likely to have combined SAT scores in the 1400-1600 range. 

Most experts agree that this divide originates from a multitude of factors: The racial differences can be primarily explained through the fact that minority communities often lack the resources to prepare students for tests, or even lack the ability to pay for the test itself. They also usually cannot afford private tutors or other SAT classes to help prepare students for the tests, placing them at a disadvantage behind their white counterparts who on average have better financial circumstances. 

The same types of discrepancies explain the differences in SAT scores dependent on financial status as well. As for the gender gap in SAT scores, it can primarily be explained by differences in math scores; girls often perform worse than boys in math throughout K-12 (not due to intrinsic ability, but rather, societies apprehension to encourage women and girls to be “good at math” because it is seen as a male-associated subject) and the SAT is yet another example of this fact. 

Since prestigious schools often value high SAT scores, it disproportionately affects minority enrollment within these institutions by devaluing their applications competitiveness, especially after the recent gutting of affirmative action in college admissions. 

These underlying issues make it clear: The SAT cannot be a fair measure of intellect when race and class remain stronger predictors of performance than ability itself. The test does not reveal who is smartest—it reveals who has had the most resources, time, and access. 

True equity in education cannot exist as long as opportunity is measured with a ruler shaped by privilege. If colleges claim to seek potential, creativity, and resilience, then clinging to the SAT is no longer tradition—it is a contradiction. Fair admissions will never come from equal testing alone, but from equal opportunity.

By Shrina Shah

On September 22, 2025, NCSSM’s Women’s Volleyball team hosted Research Triangle High. This wasn’t just an ordinary conference match. It was Senior Night, and the chance to recognize the eight seniors for their dedication, leadership, and lasting impact to the program. However, this match did not start off as planned. NCSSM lost the first two sets to Research Triangle, and the energy both on the court and in the stands was slowing down. Nevertheless, the team refused to back down. With the support of the crowd, the Unicorns pulled off an unforgettable reverse sweep that made the night even more special.

From a viewer’s perspective, NCSSM started off great! Senior Tess Crumpton brought huge momentum to the Unis with back to back aces, or serves that the Raptors couldn’t return to keep the rally alive. At one point, the Unis were leading 10-5. Research Triangle quickly adjusted and made a comeback to lead 11-10. The rest of the set went back-and-forth until a Raptors ace closed it out, 28-26. The second set followed a similar pattern. Despite the Unis’ determination and hustle, minor mistakes gave away crucial points to the Raptors. This set ended 25-19, and team morale was low as the players regrouped. 

The third set is where the momentum began to shift. It felt like flipping a light switch in a dark room, where that single motion changes everything. During a timeout, the student section erupted with cheering and chants, determined to make the gym roar. The energy felt infectious and spread to the players on the court. They started playing not just together, but with this newfound confidence. There was no hesitation to dive for balls, full power on every spike, and the attitude of a team that had nothing to lose. It was awesome not just to watch, but to be part of such an electric environment. 

As the cheers built with each point, so did the tension. Every time the Raptors scored and started to pull ahead, NCSSM’s student section rose to its feet, louder than before. The energy was palpable throughout both the fourth and fifth sets. From solo blocks by Seniors Cornelia Okonkwo and Mariam Hassanen to countless digs, every rally sent the crowd into a frenzy. When NCSSM clinched the final point to seal the match, students stormed the court. Emotions ran high as seniors embraced, surrounded by cheering friends, proud families, and supportive coaches. 

I don’t think there could have been a better way to close out one of the final home games of the season. Reverse sweeping any team isn’t just a win. It’s a testament to resilience, teamwork, and passion. As the crowd’s chants slowly turned into hugs, laughter, and tears, the energy remained long after the final whistle. This senior night will be remembered not just for the win or the statistics that any individual player achieved, but for the love, spirit, and unity that everyone shared for the sport of volleyball. 

By Shrina Shah

The thing that makes NCSSM special are the countless amounts of traditions we share. One that stands out among the rest is Happy Half. Here, both juniors and seniors get to meet new people and unwind for the last 30 minutes before check. What always grabs my attention is the spikeball nets. There, you can always count on fun competition, lots of laughter, and a time to connect with friends. That same energy can also be found at NCSSM’s Pickleball Club! 

This year, Pickleball club is captained by seniors Moira Furr, Chessa Woods, and Cullen Warren.  Every Sunday at 7PM, NCSSM’s Pickleball Club meets at the tennis courts. They host some competitive matches, but people are always welcome to play a few rallies and chill out as well. One of the great things about both the Pickleball and Spikeball Clubs is that no experience is needed to come play,  yet there’s so much passion for their sport. Their energy is infectious and it shows at events like Welcome Day and Club Fair, where one of the Pickleball captains was dressed in a pickle costume. 

Both Pickleball and Spikeball Clubs aren’t new to creating fun events around campus. Spikeball Club has already had multiple tournaments including their Back To School tournament on August 14th, and their Co-Ed tournament on September 14th. These take place all around campus including Maryland Field, Bryan Lawn, and more. However, Pickleball Club hosted extremely creative events last year and I’m confident that this year will be no different. A standout for me was Pickleball and Pancakes where they hosted early morning matches and ended with stacks of fresh pancakes. Who could say no to that? Regardless, whether through competitive tournaments or promises of free food, both of these clubs have found ways to foster community at NCSSM. 

At the end of the day, spikeball and pickleball have become integral to NCSSM’s campus culture. Both of these clubs embody the fun, competitive spirit of our campus as they turn late nights into intense competitions and the chance to meet new people that you may not have otherwise. They’ve become traditions that students look forward to during the semester. Additionally,  these games allow us time to take breaks and destress from the often chaotic life as an NCSSM student. For these reasons alone, these clubs are definitely worth joining. If you haven’t already, I would definitely recommend heading to Pickleball Club and/or Spikeball Club events! Their respective instagram accounts are @ncssmpickleballclub and @ncssmspikeball club, where you can get updates on their latest events! 

By Shrina Shah

As we all step onto campus and NCSSM begins to come to life, so does its unique and vibrant community. Here, everyone can find their niche—whether it’s dance, student government, or anything in between—and begin forging lifelong memories. While most students tend to gravitate towards academic clubs, another great way to get involved, stay active, and meet people that you might not have otherwise is joining a sports team! 

During my junior year at NCSSM, I was a member of the women’s basketball team. One of the best things about this team was how it allowed me to connect with people I wouldn’t have crossed paths with otherwise. There were both juniors and seniors from different halls, friend groups, and interests—but when you’re all together, none of that matters. Whether we’re on crammed vans to away games, celebrating wins at Cookout, or cracking jokes on the bench, it’s almost like your team becomes another family on campus. I had the opportunity to speak with Connie Okonkwo ‘26, a member of NCSSM’s Women’s Volleyball team. She shared the same opinion, and added that one of her favorite memories on the volleyball team was tryouts week. Specifically, she stated how “between sweat, tears, and laughter, getting to meet all the amazing girls during  the first few days and holding hands to see if we made the team together was a fever dream.”

Outside of extracurricular activities, life at NCSSM can be incredibly intense at times. Between academics, living on your own, and trying to find time to relax, having a consistent outlet can make a huge difference. Being part of a sports team allows you to directly build time into your schedule to exercise, which became crucial for me as my days got busier. It gave my mind a break, kept me active, and surprisingly helped with time management. Being on a team at NCSSM forced me to take advantage of small windows of free time, which made me more efficient. 

I want to take a second to emphasize that even if you’ve never played a sport before or if you just want to try something new, there are options for you! On top of being a member of the basketball team, I also joined beginner Cross Country. The coaches created separate practice plans for students just getting into running, which made it easier to build endurance for the meets. As long as you came to three practices per week and two meets during the season, you got to experience the benefits that come with being a part of a team, such as meeting new people and implementing movement into your daily routine. 

Joining a sports team at NCSSM makes for a great experience! Some of the memories I made on these teams are still ones that I talk about today, and some were even the first moments I shared with my now best friends. If you’re still hesitant about joining a team, I think Connie’s words say it best. When asked if she would encourage others to join a team, she said, “GO FOR IT! NCSSM sports gives you access to the most amazing communities, inspiring students, and privileged memories that any student could ask for. Late night food runs after a long game and eating dinner with your teammates after practice is something I will always value.” Sports at NCSSM may have been tiring at times to balance a team with other responsibilities, but it was definitely worth it.

By Tejasvi Shirolkar, Stentorian Editor-in-Chief

This past summer, I had the privilege of traveling a mere 1,659 miles to the great state of Colorado. From watching the sunset at Gunnison National Park to grabbing dessert at a local ice-cream shop in quaint (and very wealthy) Aspen, my experiences were paralleled with a humble, yet complex concept: family. 

This trip presented me with the opportunity to meet my cousins from across the country; some of whom I had no recollection of. Most of my experience was normal: the seven of us were huddled in a hotel room, making jokes as we played cards. Eventually, we got down to the nitty gritty and I was asked the ultimate question: how is your high school experience going?

Cary, North Carolina. For all seventeen years of my life, I have called the Raleigh suburb my home. Truly, I became scared of the familiarity Cary bred. I have been on every street and seen every sign. The peers I discussed AP Calculus questions with had been line leaders in my kindergarten class. At the same time, Cary was all I knew. I was constantly asking myself the same question: is this place bad or does it not get better than this?

I left the cornerstone of my life and traveled a mere 30 minutes to Durham. Sure, in comparison to my classmates coming from Asheville or Wilmington, this number seems insignificant. But the truth? No matter how far you live– if you grew up hours away or if the campus is in your backyard– NCSSM is bound to be different from your old school.

My truth? Being 30 minutes away from home means living an entirely different life. At home, I am defined by my last name. I am part of a collection of people that live separate lives and reconnect over a hot meal during dinner time. At school, I am defined by my first name. Whether it is my friends knocking on my door to ask to go to Ninth Street or raising my hand in REXHum, I am independent. The NCSSM community knows me not by my roots, or my past, but by who I choose to be.

I found myself missing my home friends at school and missing my school friends at home, which never allowed me to stay present. Maybe that is the value of staying home when you are young; splitting yourself down the middle between two places never feels truly fulfilling.

So when my cousins asked me the question, I found myself at a loss of words. There is truly no way to articulate the NCSSM experience. Living away from home at 16 years old and engaging within the (many) acronyms of NCSSM is unique; being a “Blobby” warrior, throwing a Watts Porch birthday party for a friend, and engaging in late night talks in the 4th Bryan lounge can’t be understood by anybody else but a unicorn. 

Dear Juniors, enjoy it. Enjoy the late-night talks and groaning as you wake up early for 8:30 classes. Enjoy PFM meals and take classes of subjects you didn’t even know existed. Few have the privilege of experiencing this; after all, for a unicorn, NCSSM is a magical place.

By Melissa Hernandez Rojas

Everyone dreads having an 8:30, no doubt about it. But I dreaded mine a little less when I was given five minutes to respond to this prompt: “What word best describes your generation in 2026?” 

Immediately my mind conjured words such as stressed, restless, fake, and even bittersweet. But that only gave me more questions to consider–why these words? What part of our generation am I labeling? How do I encapture all of our complexities in a single word? A simple question rooted such deep contemplation in my soul, and no matter how desperately I wished to exalt it, I could not. And yet, deep within me, a part of me refused to let go. 

The day quietly passed by, completely ignoring the constant clamor being produced in my head. One would think that the act of ignoring would put an end but it only fueled me more. The chatter shifts from timid questions to demands; “why are you ignoring me, What is our word, tell me now, I need to know.” Perhaps this should have been my sign to stop here but abandoning this question would have left a bruise impossible to remove. 

Eventually, I found a word, reminiscent. If we were to observe ourselves, we would hear high shrieks of laughter or witness the endless need to show physical affection or the never-ending tasting of our cultural foods. Alongside all these actions, you will find a camera; lens, click, and shutter. Our generation loves to create and capture memories whether it be with a digi cam or a film camera or, even, a cellphone camera. As we get wiser with time, we have come to realize that making memories are crucial aspects of our lives but we have also learned how important it is for us to remember. 

Our generation loves memories. Without them, we would not have the distractions we so desperately seek during difficult times in our lives. This generation is constantly reminiscing on the past because memories, and the capturing of these memories, act as a reminder of all the different phases of life we have gone through. Our reminiscent nature allows us to find echoes of our past in current experiences, prompting us to simply live and grow. 

“What word best describes your generation in 2026?” is a simple question with a complicated answer if you wish to make it. Reaching a response is time-consuming but it sets the perfect opportunity for reflection–reflection of the world, of others, or of yourself. Most importantly, it pushes you to remember. Remember all the things that caused you fear, happiness, sadness, and much more because reminiscing on these experiences is such a beautiful, complex journey that one should never avoid.