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The Student Newspaper of Jackson-Reed High School

The Beacon

The Student Newspaper of Jackson-Reed High School

The Beacon

The Student Newspaper of Jackson-Reed High School

The Beacon

Charlotte Guy

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief

Charlotte is a senior at Wilson and Editor-in-Chief of the Beacon. Sadly quarantine drained all of Charlotte’s spirit and creativity so now she is just a lifeless hunk of flesh. What little energy she does have left goes to the Beacon.

All content by Charlotte Guy

A farewell from the Editors-in-Chief

Charlotte Guy and Joanna Chait May 26, 2022

When we walked through Jackson-Reed’s doors as the new Editors-in-Chief of The Beacon, we were unprepared for what lay ahead. Coming out of distance learning and producing PDFs instead of printed papers...

Baseball team sets sights on DCSAA title

Baseball team sets sights on DCSAA title

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig March 30, 2022

The Wilson Tigers’ 2022 baseball season is swinging into action, and the team has one simple goal: bring home the state championship.  “I think people are gonna doubt us because we are a much different...

Fairy Good Advice

Fairy Good Advice

Anya Herzberg and Charlotte Guy March 30, 2022

After polling our helpless, wisdom-seeking Instagram followers this month, we simply had too much good material to choose from. So for our penultimate edition of Fairy Good Advice ™ , we chose to...

Prioritize elective selection

Prioritize elective selection

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief March 30, 2022

After what seems like hours of meticulously packing snow, hunting for carrots, and attaching buttons, my snowman adorned with a scarf is finally complete. I turn to my audience of 20 peers watching diligently...

Feb 2022 100 word rants

Benjamin Chait, Lucy Harllee, Charlotte Guy, and Zoe Kaplan February 27, 2022

Please don’t make me spit in a tube By: Benjamin Chait Nothing is more humiliating than spitting saliva into a small vial in front of all 35 of your classmates. It’s even worse when, at the one...

Wilson students and staff required to submit negative test result before returning to school

Wilson students and staff required to submit negative test result before returning to school

Joanna Chait and Charlotte Guy January 8, 2022

DCPS students and teachers were required to submit a picture of a negative COVID-19 test to a database prior to returning to school this past Thursday amidst a national Omicron wave. However, the validity...

photo by Joanna Chait

DC Council: choose a name and move forward

Joanna Chait and Charlotte Guy December 19, 2021

On Tuesday, the Council will take a final vote to determine whether to change the name of Wilson High School to Jackson-Reed High School, but students are losing patience.        About a year...

Fairy Good Advice

Fairy Good Advice

Charlotte Guy and Anya Herzberg December 17, 2021

Why are there no hot people in my classes? Sincerely, Lone Wolf   Dear Lone Wolf,    We’re going to start this off by kindly asking you to look in the mirror. What do you see?...

Student-athletes respond to vaccine requirement

Emily Mulderig and Charlotte Guy November 12, 2021

In accordance with a DC mayoral mandate, Wilson student-athletes were required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 1 to continue participating in sports. For vaccinated student-athletes,...

Wilson hosts first HBCU college fair

Wilson hosts first HBCU college fair

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig November 6, 2021

Pumping music, dozens of eager students, 10 college representatives, and palpable excitement. Wilson’s first-ever Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) fair was held earlier this fall,...

Lawsuit names Wilson personnel; Farrar seeks restitution as whistleblower

Lawsuit names Wilson personnel; Farrar seeks restitution as whistleblower

Joanna Chait, Emily Mulderig, and Charlotte Guy June 25, 2021

A former Wilson health teacher and coach has filed a lawsuit against DCPS, alleging that she was wrongfully put on administrative leave and investigated for staff misconduct involving a student. The...

Willa and Wyatt Q&A

Willa and Wyatt Q&A

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief June 21, 2021

What do you do when your girlfriend doesn’t like to facetime but you’re living through a global pandemic? Easy answer: you convince your mom to practically move in together and go on road trips to...

Lillie and Josh Q&A

Lillie and Josh Q&A

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief June 21, 2021

Sixth-grade sweethearts Josh Solomon and Lillie Frankel have stood the test of time. The two Wilson juniors started dating in 2019 and ever since then have been infatuated with one another. Unlike many,...

Jermanie and June Q&A

Jermanie and June Q&A

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief June 21, 2021

From the basketball court to the homecoming court, athletic powerhouses and homecoming Duke and Duchess June Buchanan and Jermanie Coleman can truly do it all. Since sophomore year this dynamic duo has...

An open letter to cicadas

An open letter to cicadas

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief June 15, 2021

Dear cicadas, It’s been seventeen long years since you’ve last emerged from your boroughs in the ground. Would it shock you to hear it was just seventeen years ago that I, Charlotte Guy, emerged...

Delving into data: how the pandemic shaped this year

Delving into data: how the pandemic shaped this year

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig June 14, 2021

After what was surely one of the wonkiest years in Wilson’s history, we couldn’t help but wonder what had changed in our school community. So as any ordinary teenager would, we contacted our school’s...

Wilson alumni express dissatisfaction with name change proposal

Wilson alumni express dissatisfaction with name change proposal

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig May 24, 2021

Sally Schwartz can still picture the fury on her principal’s face as she and a band of classmates marched into his office, victoriously bearing a stack of papers scrawled with the signatures of every...

Delicious Mexican food will have you coming back for more

Delicious Mexican food will have you coming back for more

Joanna Chait and Charlotte Guy May 19, 2021

After a near-death experience in an uncomfortably small car (thanks Piney Branch Parkway) and the not-so-friendly reminder of DC's sweltering humidity, we finally arrived at Taqueria Habanero in Columbia...

Five decades later: a Q&A with a Beacon alumni

Five decades later: a Q&A with a Beacon alumni

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig May 9, 2021

We set out on a very important mission with only one goal: to be transported back in time. To a time when typewriter ink and teach-ins about the Vietnam war were more prevalent than cell phones. To accomplish...

Calling all tree-huggers: Wilson teachers are leading mindfulness nature walks

Calling all tree-huggers: Wilson teachers are leading mindfulness nature walks

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief April 19, 2021

This summer Wilson students have the opportunity to take a deeper look into both the wonders of Rock Creek and their consciousness. Int[tree]gued?  As part of Wilson’s Summer Acceleration Academy,...

All about Ms. Bonds’ summer acceleration academy courses

All about Ms. Bonds’ summer acceleration academy courses

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief March 30, 2021

Making movies on her phone or designing her very own t-shirt, mass media teacher Kadesha Bonds can truly do it all, and she’s more than happy to impart some of her knowledge to you.   With her sister...

Wilson seniors reflect on their experience applying to college abroad

Wilson seniors reflect on their experience applying to college abroad

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief March 30, 2021

While most Wilson students browse their Fiske Guides for colleges and fill out countless supplemental essays, others search for a specialized, cheaper education across the seas.  Senior Anna Wehebrink...

Federal stimulus money to be used for summer academy

Federal stimulus money to be used for summer academy

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief March 30, 2021

Wilson is using around $180,000 from President Biden’s COVID-19 relief package to develop a Summer Acceleration Academy. The Academy offers a two-week in-person program that offers classes created...

I know Wilson is HOT and the public should too

I know Wilson is HOT and the public should too

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief March 27, 2021

March 27, starting at 9 AM, Radio station HOT 99.5 is holding a battle of local high schools, and Wilson is a nominee. Winners get an exclusive (virtual) live performance with a secret artist (but we should...

Thank you, teachers

Thank you, teachers

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig March 16, 2021

Last March, we stepped foot in Wilson’s halls for what would be the last time in over a year and our teachers plunged head-first into the world of virtual instruction. Teachers have walked the fine...

Teachers react to DCPS's hybrid learning plan

Teachers react to DCPS’s hybrid learning plan

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig February 23, 2021

The second semester is underway, and teachers have to face the entirely new challenge of teaching a combination of both in-person and virtual students.  Matthew Burgoyne, a history teacher, feels that...

In-person students share their thoughts about returning to the building

In-person students share their thoughts about returning to the building

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief February 23, 2021

Freshman Felix Geffen’s first-day at Wilson was nothing close to what he had envisioned. Instead of jam-packed hallways and bustling stairwells he was met with a different reality: one teacher and one...

Families4Families club aims to ease pandemic induced difficulties

Families4Families club aims to ease pandemic induced difficulties

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief February 2, 2021

Seven bananas, a package of hotdogs, a gallon of milk, two dozen eggs, two boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, and one box of fruit snacks—these are just a fraction of the items that go into every bag packed...

Christmas cards: a superficial tradition that should end

Christmas cards: a superficial tradition that should end

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief January 18, 2021

Every year, countless Christmas cards flood my mailbox, covered with beaming faces and clip art snowflakes from acquaintances, friends, and family. For many, these cards are a yearly tradition that marks...

William Syphax

William Syphax

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief December 8, 2020

William Syphax was a man of exceptional stature, standing six feet tall with broad shoulders, striking cheekbones, a straight nose, and light brown skin which at the time of his birth, 1825, constituted...

Wilson community brainstorms ideas for name change

Wilson community brainstorms ideas for name change

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig November 10, 2020

The Wilson community has been granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—changing the school’s namesake, Woodrow Wilson, to a more deserving figure. Currently, parents, faculty, and students alike are...

The unsung heroes of the election: student poll workers

The unsung heroes of the election: student poll workers

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief November 1, 2020

Sore feet, long hours, and preserving democracy—what do all of these things have in common? Poll workers. Most of these unsung heroes are senior citizens and retirees, but now much of the previous demographic...

The trials and tribulations of a top Oregon trail player

The trials and tribulations of a top Oregon trail player

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief October 29, 2020

The day was crisp, just like any other in the homey town of Independence, but today, I was to leave everything I once knew. Some called me a trailblazer, as I packed up my failed carpenter shop with Mr....

New student-run initiative collects and donates menstrual products

New student-run initiative collects and donates menstrual products

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig September 18, 2020

One day this summer while working at the Young Women’s Project, Wilson junior Sophia Hosford was asked a transformative question by her boss: What is one thing she would change about her school? Her...

Eight tips to get teachers to like you online

Eight tips to get teachers to like you online

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief September 10, 2020

Calling all my fellow teacher’s pets! I know you might be worried about getting your teachers to love you this year, but worry not, I’m here to help. Follow these eight simple tips and you will be...

Technical difficulties during this year’s AP exams caused problems for students

Technical difficulties during this year’s AP exams caused problems for students

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief June 14, 2020

Does your grandfather pick up quartz and valuable onyx jewels? If he does, you must be all too familiar with the struggles of taking some of the most unprecedented AP tests to date. Whether they couldn’t...

Photo courtesy of Voice of America News

You shouldn’t vote based off of electability

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief March 7, 2020

Despite 11 candidates to choose from after the Iowa caucus, Democrats still cannot unify themselves under one. So for many, the choice for the Democratic nominee becomes a matter of electability. However,...

A guide to local thrifting

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief February 2, 2020

The thrill of thrifting is scavenging for gems and poking around for great deals, not wasting your time looking for an adequate thrift store. Whether you’ve decided to thrift because of a tight budget,...

Why, Wilson?

Why, Wilson?

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief September 8, 2019

As DCPS students, firstname.lastname@dc.gov has been ingrained in our heads as a fast and easy way to email your teacher. The process is so seamless, so catchy, the only road bump one might face is having...

Tiger Cubs: Murch Elementary

Tiger Cubs: Murch Elementary

Charlotte Guy, Editor-in-Chief June 9, 2019

As elementary schoolers, many students were detached from the idea of high school. Cinematic portrayals painted a picture of superficial cliques, alluring drama, and occasional outbursts of song. In a...

Why, Wilson?

Why, Wilson?

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig June 9, 2019

When you’re scrambling to get your stuff together before the bell rings, the last thing you need is your substitute calling you up to sign in, especially for the second time. Between PARCC and AP...

Assessments in acrylics: the ins and outs of AP Studio Art

Assessments in acrylics: the ins and outs of AP Studio Art

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig June 9, 2019

Many Wilson students are all too familiar with the stress that comes with AP exams, but for AP Studio Art students, their test doesn’t involve any last minute studying. In fact, it’s not a test at...

A series of spring outfits

A series of spring outfits

Molly Goldwasser and Charlotte Guy May 5, 2019

  AVA MACKAYE My style is… Haphazard, Colorful, and Yay My staple item is… My dad’s Dickies work pants Many of Ava’s clothes are either re-purposed or thrifted. She’s really...

PTSO seeks to eliminate class rank

PTSO seeks to eliminate class rank

Molly Goldwasser and Charlotte Guy May 5, 2019

Parents proposed eliminating class rank at a recent Parent Teacher Student Organisation (PTSO) meeting, and the proposal has since been discussed by the Local School Advisory Team (LSAT). So far, no moves...

Field trips take students to cadaver lab, Supreme Court

Field trips take students to cadaver lab, Supreme Court

Charlotte Guy and Emily Mulderig May 2, 2019

Wilson students were gathered around the leg of a corpse when they realized with amusement that the toenails were painted. Don’t worry—nothing shady was going on. They were in Anne Arundel County at...

This teacher's dog has more Instagram followers than you

This teacher’s dog has more Instagram followers than you

Emily Mulderig and Charlotte Guy March 3, 2019

On a snowy January day in 2016, Wilson social studies teacher Matthew Burgoyne faced a trial most urban dog owners can relate to: protecting his pup’s paws from the snow-melt salt on the sidewalks. In...

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