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The School Newspaper of Winston Churchill High School.

The Observer

The School Newspaper of Winston Churchill High School.

The Observer

The School Newspaper of Winston Churchill High School.

The Observer

WCHS junior Danya Saleem attends Louis Tomlinson's concert on June 1, 2023. However, with the rising cost of tickets, it has become difficult for students to see their favorite artists live.

Ticketmaster gets caught in the moshpit by federal lawsuit

By Zafina Matin, Opinions Editor & Internal Communications Manager November 7, 2025

For many, the ticketing process consists of rushing to click on a seat. Too late! Before the student knows it, the concert has already been sold out. Hands all sore from mass-clicking on any option they...

In early October, WCHS students filled up the Dawg Pound decked out in pink to support football in their match up against Quince Orchard High School. The pink theme was chosen in support of the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

WCHS students are feeling a new sense of pride this fall

By Lily Chadwick, Editor-in-chief November 7, 2025

From cheering students decked out in themed clothing every Friday night, to passionate voices filling SGA meetings, to increased participation in spirit days, it is clear that a new wave of school pride...

On Monday, Oct. 20, there was a global outage of the Amazon Web Services (AWS). Canvas is one of the many companies that use AWS, leading to it being down during the outage. Displayed on the computer is the screen Canvas had for users when the site was inaccessible.

AWS outage distrupts key educational websites

By Sydney Stern, Copy Editor & Social Media Manager November 7, 2025

Technology is one of the most relied upon aspects of society, so what happens without it? Monday, Oct. 20, billions worldwide woke up to the news that many of their day-to-day platforms and applications...

On April 13, 2024, WCHS students performed one of the Blast: In the Wild shows. Blast is one of WCHS arts programs that would still continue to be feature if WCHS because a Visual Arts, Languages, and Education school in the recently proposed regional theme programs for all MCPS high schools.

BOE has innovative plan to specialize MCPS high schools

By Ava Van Vuren, News Editor October 7, 2025

This summer, while WCHS students and staff went on break, the MCPS Board of Education (BOE) unveiled a plan that could change how students pick high schools. Regional theme programs, which would assign...

The Hubert H. Humphrey Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in Washington, D.C., issued a federal directive in August 2025 requiring states, including Maryland, to remove references to “gender ideology” from federally funded sex education materials.

The cost of gender: HHS threatens public school funding

By Aryana Ali, Assistant News Editor October 7, 2025

The word “gender” has been used universally in academic and medical settings since the 1950s, but in 2025,  this could all change. In late August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...

In order to stay organized and succeed with the stricter grading policies, WCHS senior Leah Sonnabend checks her grades regularly to ensure she is on top of assignments and knows how she is doing in each of her classes.

New grading policies change the game for MCPS

By Lily Chadwick, Editor-in-Chief October 7, 2025

Easy A? Not anymore. When students walked into school on Aug. 26, they were greeted with a slew of changes, including an updated grade calculation system, stricter late work policies and newly implemented...

Recently the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) has been facing controversy after the president published an executive order of March 27. Executive Order 14253 focuses on the Smithsonian Institution's language and content on American history.

White House executive order stirs up problems for the Smithsonian Institution

By Ava Van Vuren, News Editor June 3, 2025

On March 27, the White House issued an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Executive Order 14253 focused on how the 178-year-old Smithsonian Institution has recently...

WCHS students eat lunch in the cafeteria on April 23. WCHS offers various options for the daily lunch, from hot pizzas to refrigerated salads.

To eat or not to eat, with lunch choices for MCPS students

By Ella Carnathan, Online Content Editor & Social Media Manager May 15, 2025

What is even in the school lunches that many students eat daily? From soggy pizza to ultra-processed nuggets, the contents of high school cafeteria trays have sparked debate nationwide. For many high school...

Starting Feb.13th, the new initiative DOGE overseen by Elon Musk, fired 75,000 federal employees. Between layoffs and buyouts, around 200,000 employments have been terminated.

WCHS families bear the brunt of DOGE’s workforce cuts

By Xavier Reyman, Staff Writer May 15, 2025

With the start of a new presidential administration, many federal workforce cuts have been made, affecting families around the country. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has laid off around...

WCHS social studies teacher Jamie Frank grades students' papers following the structure of the current 2025 grading policy, which the BOE is reconsidering.

MCPS BOE plans to redefine semester grading

By Alexandra Wu, Arts Editor & Subscriptions Manager May 14, 2025

Since the 2016-2017 school year, MCPS students have been enjoying a semester-based grading system. However, in the upcoming school year, that may change. In a memo released on April 10 from MCPS Superintendent...

Zaria Naqvi poses in front of the Maryland Association of Student Councils (MASC), at a winter student leadership conference, after advocating for school safety and student representation in her speech for Maryland Student Member of the board.

WCHS junior Zaria Naqvi aims for state SMOB

By Isaac Ban, Staff Writer March 1, 2025

In February 2021, an emergency lockdown at a MCPS high school—triggered by a credible threat—prompted a significant reassessment of security measures. In the wake of that incident, security measures...

Following three days off of school for snow, snow covers the WCHS baseball field early in the morning. MCPS has seen an increase of snow days this year with more snow fall.

Recent snow days shed light on climate change’s impact

By Sydney Stern, Subscriptions, Promotions, and Communications Manager March 1, 2025

It is 6:45 a.m. and the phone alarm clock is vibrating. After picking up the phone and opening the weather app, it is revealed that it is a sunny day with a low of 36 degrees and a high of 54 degrees....

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