The question was a simple one. Too simple. Who’s the best at ping pong? All four Michaels siblings answered at once, each building a case, citing specific matches and disputed outcomes that seemed to stretch back for years. They talked over each other, around each other, through each other—until...

Ms. Beth Topping’s 31st and final show at Community did not go quietly. Severe weather knocked out power between acts of the April 17 performance of “Something Rotten!,” forcing the cast and crew to postpone act two until 2 p.m. the following afternoon. By the time the final curtain fell...

When the Blackhawks missed the NHL playoffs again this spring, most Illinois hockey fans called it a season. But for Abby Kimball, a Community graduate and videographer for the Iowa Wild—the AHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild, whose playoff run is underway—kept right on working. In this...

Miss Honey from “Matilda.” Ms. Frizzle from “The Magic School Bus.” Mr. Keating from “Dead Poets Society.” Will Schuester from “Glee.” Pop culture’s most famous teachers are often bold, loud and magnetic. Ms. Chrissy Nutter is not. Introverted by her own description, Nutter was named...

For the first time since Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head led Illinois to the 2005 national championship game—finishing that season 37-2—the Fighting Illini are back in the Final Four. No. 3 Illinois punched its ticket March 28 with a 71-59 win over Iowa in Houston and will face No....

What started as a covert breakfast operation in a high school green room has grown into one of Community’s most popular monthly traditions. Club Pancake serves free pancakes to students every third Friday of the month at 7:45 a.m. in the senior cafe. Founded by seniors Tommy Wade and Ryan Robison,...

McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed his first Drivers’ World Championship last season with 423 points, edging out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by just two points—Verstappen finished with 421—in one of the closest title fights in recent memory. Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri was never far behind either,...

By the time Leah Chapman heads downstairs, the rest of the house is quiet. A music stand waits in the basement, pages already marked. Chapman, a freshman in the choir program, runs each selection twice—enough to build confidence, not enough to spiral into overthinking. “If you run it too much,...

After a lifetime of watching Gamma Phi Circus shows, Community alum Eleni Lockett, an Illinois State University senior, is finishing her final season not just as a performer, but as a high wire captain—the one who runs the acts, teaches the tricks and builds the routines. In this Q&A, Lockett...

Valentine’s Day shows up every Feb. 14 with the usual lineup: candy grams, roses, heart-shaped everything and a lot of “so… what are we?” conversations. But the holiday didn’t start as a greeting card company invention. It began as a Christian feast day connected to a martyr named Valentine. The...

When William Shakespeare died, his plays did not arrive at immortality neatly bound and shelved. In Lauren Gunderson’s “The Book of Will,” they teeter on the edge of disappearance—pages scattered, lines misremembered, stories at the mercy of whoever gets to them first. That is the tightrope...

When Miguel Patiño-Diaz walked onstage as Jack Kelly, he left himself behind. Before each performance, Patiño-Diaz reminded himself of one thing: “You’re not Miguel anymore.” “You’re a 17-year-old kid in the slums of New York who doesn’t know if he’s going to make it tomorrow,”...

This February, in honor of Black History Month, The Inkspot is spotlighting the contributions of lesser-known African Americans, history's hidden figures, whose ideas, inventions and courage helped shape our world. From breakthroughs that made everyday life easier to leadership that pushed communities...

Senior wrestler Mason Caraway earned his 100th career win Jan. 3 at the Huntley Mega Duals in Aurora, becoming one of three active Ironmen wrestlers to reach the milestone. That accomplishment comes after Caraway moved up a weight class this season. Caraway’s achievement adds him to a small group...

Senior Landyn Corbin placed third at the IHSA Boys Bowling Regional in Danville on Jan. 16, rolling a 1,231 series over six games with a high game of 289 to advance to next weekend’s sectional in Morris. The Inkspot caught up with the local legend of the lane to break down his approach to bowling,...