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...

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,...

Mr. Brad Bovenkerk’s Chicago Bears connection is small enough to disappear in his palm. It’s a 1950 Bowman Gum football card—76 years old, “near mint” and still crisp—featuring Bovenkerk’s grand-uncle, Richard “Dick” Barwegen. The photo shows Barwegen in a Baltimore Colts uniform,...

Violet Kopsell is a time traveler of sorts, drawn more to the sounds and styles of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s than whatever is trending today. While most Ironmen see ’80s Day as just another spirit day, for Kopsell, almost every day is decades day—powered not by a DeLorean or the TARDIS, but by...

Mrs. Jayne Runyon still remembered the phone call. She was 20 when her cousin Frank died by suicide—the first of four losses she endured. Decades later, the questions lingered—the guilt, the “what ifs,” the shock. For Runyon, suicide is not a distant issue but a lived reality that...

Last season, Ironmen football left fans breathless. Undefeated in Big 12 Conference play. A 10-2 record. A 7A IHSA State Quarterfinals appearance. Nearly toppling Mount Carmel—a program that’s long stood as a titan of Illinois high school football. The wins? Impressive. The roster? Stacked—with...

Tick-tack-tick-tack-tick-tack-tick-tack. The hot concrete of Comlara park sparked with each strike of Armoni Conner’s make-shift clothesline rope, surrounded by the giggles of seniors as they skipped. When Conner heard the “picnic” in Senior Picnic, she knew what she was going to bring—her...

The May-hem is upon us—the inboxes are full. The college tees are out. The senior absences keep adding up. Senior season has arrived. As the countdown to graduation winds down, the spotlight often shines on spirit week polls, senior sunset movie picks and yearbook superlatives. But one of the...

The screen flickers on, and the opening notes of a timeless tune fill the room. A door swings open, and a familiar figure begins a quiet ritual: sweater zipped, sneakers laced. Whether it’s animated or filmed, the gestures are the same—deliberate, comforting. A signal that it’s time to slow...

The State Farm Center hummed with anticipation–under the bright lights of the IHSA 3A State Wrestling Semifinals, history waited to be written. A senior, unbeaten in 47 matches. A two-time state medalist. One final shot at a championship.  Across from him, a freshman phenom.  David versus...

They move through Yellowstone, the wind ruffling their thick fur as they stalk through the underbrush. Their paws make no sound against the damp earth. Ears pricked, eyes scanning for movement, nose twitching at the faintest scent of mule deer. They are the alpha. They are the hunter. They are…...

The surgeon’s steady hand marks the incision. The scalpel glides across the skin, parting flesh to reveal the damaged ligament beneath. A tendon—healthy, unscarred—harvested from the wrist, severed from its home. The drill whirs to life, its bit biting deep into the ulna, then the humerus,...