In a classroom, two students -- one wearing shiny white shoes, the other wearing worn down muddy sneakers - race to the front board to answer a question, attempting to win a point for their team in a test review game. Their classmates, some standing on top of desks, watch from the back of the room clapping...

Mrs. Cheryl Koth of the Foreign Language department teaches a French class the grammatical rules of the language. Koth’s time in front of the classroom is winding down as she is set to retire from a 22 year teaching career at the end of the semester.

The teacher stands in front of the class. The students in their desks. The teacher explains a proof on the similarities of triangles. It’s a typical Monday morning. The walls of the classroom are decorated with student tessellation projects and PI day tissue boxes. Most math classes at NCHS are the...

Three new courses will be available for students, excluding freshman, during the 2019-2020 school year:  Introduction to Statistics, Introduction to Education, and Physical Science Applications in Agriculture (PSAA). “We have been looking to add more dual credit options for students,”  Mrs....

For Dr. Valentine Walker life has been a journey. The journey started when he “met a beautiful peace corp volunteer” and moved from his homeland in Jamaica to the United States where he became a dual credit Environmental Earth teacher at NCHS and NCWHS. Walker grew up along the countryside...

When George Washington left office he warned Americans of the dangers of political parties. But now, as a country, we still find ourselves running to them and are facing all the ramifications Washington predicted.   It's time for our nation to stop dividing and start unifying. America has become...

The 2019-2020 school year will bring nationwide changes to Advanced Placement test registration deadlines - moving the current deadlines forward for the May tests. Students enrolled in first-semester or year-long AP courses must register for AP testing in October; while students in second-semester...

All the students knew was these boxy new machines that monopolized desk space.  They knew the pixelated green text that would appear on the black screen. They knew the hum of the machine as it worked to read programs from floppy disks. If they even really knew anything about computers at all. They...

Unit 5’s new College and Career Resource Center (CCRC) at both high schools seeks to provide students with the resources and support they need to create a plan for life after high school graduation. The CCRC’s aim is to make sure that all students, once they leave high school know what they are...

Normal Community students were welcomed to the 2018-2019 school year with an all-school assembly on the first day of classes.

The newly released Echosmith song “Over My Head” is one you will want to get out of your head. Hit songs are rare and difficult for artists to produce. Artists aren’t able to make every song a hit, and Echosmith is no exception. This release fails to recapture the successful pop sound Echosmith...

Is the funding system for education broke in  broken? Are politicians putting money where it is truly needed? 

Apple CEO Tim Cook addresses the audience as the company took a field trip away from the site of its traditional announcements - heading to Chicago's Lane Tech High School - inviting members of the student media along. The focus of the day's announcements was Apple's renewed push into the classroom,...

She wipes the sweat off her face and then dusts off her shoes. The burning sensation in her lungs reminds her it's the fourth quarter and she is exhausted, but her ankle is strong.   Her legs are worn out, they could cave under her weight at any moment now, but her ankle is strong. She is deaf...

1000 miles per hour. The rate at which Earth constantly rotates. One giant sphere in space, steadily orbiting one enormous ball of power. Astronomers argue we are only moving in a circle, repeating our path. Summer. Fall. Winter. Spring. Repeat. Philosophers argue that with every new season...

Ms. Jeanne Urbance of the English Department and sponsor of the Thespian club will retire after 34 years of service to Unit 5 students and to Normal Community High School.    Urbance’s teaching career could have taken her in a direction that never brought her to NCHS at all. Originally, Urbance...

Mr. Trevor Chapman plans on making modifications to how NCHS operates as a first year administrator at Normal Community High School, but Chapman intends balance. While he will implement changes to some of the processes and procedures around the building, Chapman wants to preserve aspects of the old administration...