superbowl feb. 12

Returning to the stage to after seven years, Rihanna came back to perform at this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Feb. 12. During her performance, she announced her pregnancy and proudly showed-off her makeup brand, Fenty Beauty. The performance sparked attention as people turned her dances from her performance into TikTok trends and dressed up in her halftime outfit for school dress-up days and Halloween.

“People haven’t seen her perform for a long time, so this performance was such a big deal,” Nicole Odegaard, sophomore, said. “She performed songs we haven’t heard her sing in years, and I loved watching the choreography of it all.”

eras tour march 17

Hours of staring at Ticketmaster’s loading screen, the website crashing, scrambling to select seats and making the ticket purchase before another person does it faster: this was the reality of buying tickets for Taylor Swift’s U.S leg of the Eras Tour March 17 – Dec. 8. The three hour concert was filmed for theaters and released on Oct. 13. The film became the highest-grossing concert movie of all time.

“I left school early to get tickets,” Ava Tucker, senior, said. “My mom, grandma, brother and I were all on Ticketmaster for hours and finally got tickets for three different shows. I have been to two out of the three shows, and all the fans were so sweet and traded bracelets with me.”

grimace shake july 12

Celebrating McDonald’s franchise character Grimace’s 52nd birthday, McDonald’s released the Grimace Shake June 12 until July 9. With its release, people were questioning what the true flavor of the drink really was. From this confusion, a TikTok trend arose where a person would take a sip of the drink and act as if they were poisoned by Grimace.

“My friends and I thought the trend was hilarious and wanted to join in on the joke,” Lorenzo Limas, senior, said. “We got some Grimace shakes, painted my friend purple and made our own video that ended up receiving a lot of attention. Everyone that commented thought our video was hilarious. Plus, the shake itself tasted pretty decent.”

titan submarine june 18

On June 18, five men, on board OceanGate’s Titan submersible, set out on their journey 13,000 feet into the North Atlantic to see the Titanic wreck.  An hour and 45 minutes into their descent, communication was lost between the submarine and the surface vessel. When U.S and Canadian ships were searching for the missing submarine, a debris field containing pieces of the submarine was found on June 22 which indicated an implosion most likely occurred. The submarine’s tragic journey caught the attention of the media. People started to research more into OceanGate and the individuals on the submarine.

“I was very invested about whether they would be able to save them,” Luna Gutierrez, junior, said. “I was also appalled by the craftmanship of the submarine. It was crazy how the ticket for the trip was tens of thousands of dollars, but the remote to guide the submarine was a video game controller.”

barbenheimer july 21

With the realization that both Barbie and Oppenheimer were coming out in theaters on the same day—July 21—social media feeds started to flood with fan-made movie posters and memes that merged both the movies into one. Many people saw both movies on the same day or more than once. 

“Oppenheimer was interesting, but I found it to be slow and boring in some parts,” Owen Hoogeveen, freshman, said. “I thought the Barbie movie was more fun and enjoyable. I saw the Barbie movie twice, and my favorite part is when the Kens fight each other. How they battled one another was funny.”

Barbie and Oppenheimer are two of ten chosen films that will be awarded at the American Film Institute Awards Jan. 5 recognizing the year’s best films.  

“I think the two movies are incomparable,” Grace Harris, senior, said. “Both were very well-done.”

roman empire aug. 28

Although the trend began in 2022, the viral question, “How often do you think about the Roman Empire?” made its comeback into TikTok feeds reaching it’s trending peak on Sept. 28. Girls would videotape themselves asking boys the viral question.

“Girls, for some reason, think that question is funny to ask,” Nabeel Rabie, senior, said. “If you think about it, a lot of key principles that are common and useful to this day can be traced back to those times of the Roman Empire. For example, roads, architecture, and the use of roman numerals.”

The trend evolved into the phrase “my Roman Empire” meaning something someone thinks about often. For example, senior Campbell Gideon’s “Roman Empire” is record players.

“I think about the fact that people were able to put sound into plastic,” Campbell said. “I know the needle grooves, but it doesn’t seem possible.”

fortnite returns nov. 3

In Nov. 2023, Fortnite creators brought back the season five map, which was one of the first versions of the game originally from July 2018. 

“I feel as if it was bringing back a part of my childhood playing with my friends,” Sam Mellon, junior, said. “I was able to experience a sense of nostalgia. I played it more than any other game for the month. ”

Many OG players flocked back to the game, posting their Victory Royales on their Snapchat stories to commemorate. 

“It was so annoying to open Snapchat and see my stories flooded with Fornite screens,” Lianna Carrillo, senior, said. “Then at school, it was all I would hear about in my classes.”