Junior Class President elections ran from September 20th to September 24th and Roya Ardah received the most votes, becoming the 2021-2022 Junior Class President. Roya Ardah is a Clinicals student, a former Jasper Student Council Member, and an active member of National Honor Society and HOSA. Ardah advocated for raising awareness of mental health issues. “Being able to balance [mental health and academics] is very important.” Ardah said....

Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE) is hosting their 13th annual Holiday Dreams Drive through November 18th to collect new toys, games, clothing, toiletries, and school supplies for Plano ISD elementary schools. TAFE was established 14 years ago in order to help with community service events and teacher appreciation events. Sara Stewart, TAFE President, began her second year in TAFE this year. She explained that this organization appealed...

AVID is hosting a spirit night On October 22, at the West vs Flower Mound football game.  AVID is an elective program that seeks to prepare students for rigorous courses through college readiness assignments, inquiry, and collaboration, among other activities. The program’s acronym stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. Khalil Wilkinson, a junior, has been in AVID since seventh grade. “AVID has helped me with organization...

Plano West launched Hope Squad, a new application-based class that functions as a peer-to-peer mental health awareness support group.  Hope Squad's uniqueness lies in its peer-to-peer format, allowing students struggling with their mental health to connect with other students. Carmen Peirce, a senior hope squad member, believes this student-run structure makes it more likely for students to seek help with their mental health  "Many students...

Peter and The Starcatcher, the fall play, takes the stage October 14, 2021, and the Theatre Department has been hard at work to put this show together. The school’s first live production with a full capacity audience in months, brings in many who are highly anticipating the performance. For many of the performers, due to COVID-19, it’s been months since they’ve been able to act onstage in front of an audience.  “I’m beyond excited...

After four cross country meets, senior Hudson Heikkinen leads the pack in securing a position on the school travel team for the Oklahoma State University Cowboy Jamboree meet on Saturday, Sept. 18. To qualify for the travel meet, athletes must attain a PR (personal record) of under 22 minutes flat for girls or 17 minutes and 30 seconds for boys in a registered five kilometer race. Hudson won second place in the boys varsity elite division at the...

Atharv Kulkarni, junior, won first place in Congressional Debate at the online 2021 National Speech and Debate Tournament on June 19th as a sophomore. Now, he continues speech and debate here at Plano West, with Mr. Robey Holland as the school’s debate coach. In tournaments he competes mainly in Congress, where tournaments replicate being in an actual Congress session, and participants stand in affirmation or negation of a certain piece of legislation....

Following the football game against Plano East on Friday, STUCO has planned the Homecoming dance to be held in the Plano West Courtyard on Saturday, October 9th. The dance will be held after a series of spirit days, the hallway/door decoration contest, and the Homecoming parade and pep rally. “This year’s theme is ‘West After Dark,’” said Jack Waide, senior class president. “It’s the combination of the two most popular themes we brainstormed,...

After going 2-0 early in the season, Plano West football lost in their home opener on Sept. 10 to Little Elm 31-35, then suffered another loss to Lewisville on 24 September 28-64. Their current record is 2-2, with losses against Little Elm and Lewisville balanced against the early season wins. Plano West dominated North Mesquite 42-14 at Mesquite Memorial Stadium on September 9, 2021, and beat Wylie 49-32 at Wylie Stadium on August 27, 2021. Plano...

On February 3, 2021, 10 additional Plano West student athletes signed with universities to continue their athletic careers at the next level. Madaline Friedman, Leilani Hernandez, Devin Patton, Elyssa Ducret, Arjun Kersten, Estefania Hernandez Rivera, Antonio Romero, Jesse Velez, Michelle Ogbemudia, and Jacob Stephens officially signed with a variety of collegiate teams in Texas and elsewhere in the United States.

Leilani Hernandez, a wrestler on the Plano West Wrestling team, officially signed with Texas Wesleyan University this past month.   “I ended up ultimately choosing Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, with all the other great School options and offers none were as good as this,” Hernandez said. “Basically a full ride. That was the ultimate specific factor that made me choose them.”   When asked why she chose to attend...

Earlier this spring, Michelle Ogbemudia signed with Stephen F Austin state university to continue her career in track and field. Ogbemudia's high school career concluded with a fifth place placement in the state Track meet for shot put in Austin, TX on May 8th, after she won the Region 1-6A Championships for shot put. She chose Stephen F Austin for a number of reasons, athletic, academic, and social. In addition to the coaching and academics...