by: Michael Evans

On Friday, May 1^st, Marvel Studios’ highly anticipated sequel to The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, was released. With the heavy overlap between its students and Marvel fans, The Gatton Academy provided ticket-buying services and transportation for 16 students (including myself) to attend a screening on that same day.

Age of Ultron focused on the Avengers’ attempts to stop an evil artificial intelligence created by Tony Stark as a reaction to the events of the first film. It was a fun movie, with witty one-liners, exciting action sequences, and occasional breaks for character development. However, there was no sense of consequence; the characters never seemed like they were in danger, in sharp contrast to the previous films where, at the very least, side characters weren’t invulnerable. Age of Ultron also had problems with overcrowding. At 2.5 hours long, it wasn’t a short film by any means, but characters and plots whizzed by with very little time spent on either. Here’s hoping that the 3-hour-long extended edition promised for Blu-Ray release helps with that problem.

Pacing and tonal issues aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and it’s definitely worth a watch, even as a setup for the next stage of Marvel’s movie universe.

By:  Josh Stewart

Presents aren’t the only things we’re wrapping up this December at Florence Schneider Hall. It’s been a long 16 weeks, but every good thing must come to an end, right? The semester is almost over which brings both good news and bad news for students. The good news is that only five days separates us from 3 weeks of freedom filled with families, home-cooked meals, Christmas and New Year’s, sleeping in, video games, and Netflix binges. The bad news is this week is filled with exams, presentations, and major due dates.

The week before finals has a colorful name associated with fire and brimstone, but I will spare you the details. This is because lots of professors will give quizzes, tests, and papers during the course of this week. All of this comes while everyone is focused on studying for final exams as well. It doesn’t take long for the work to pile up and becoming seemingly overwhelming. But thankfully, the level of support from our wonderful staff has not waned in the wake of this busy time. Lynette graciously made (at least) 120 home-baked personalized cookies and hand delivered one to each student in preparation for finals week. Beth surprised everyone on Friday with Kindergarten night on the fourth floor, complete with pajamas, toy tractors, Play Doh, and a giant parachute. As hard as it may be to believe, high-school juniors and seniors still really love coloring books and building blocks. To top it off, Santa even paid us all a surprise visit on Sunday night. The most popular gift requests were for A’s on finals and college acceptance letters.

Now, finals week is in full swing and the rest of the semester is behind us. Quiet hours will take place for 23 hours each day, but during loud hour from 9:30 to 10:30 each night, our residential counselors will provide us with food and fun while we take a much needed study break.

So students, hang in there. Your hard work is about to payoff. All that remains between you and Christmas break are a few exams and presentations. Look forward to a three week Christmas break and the excitement that is winter term. Whether you’re taking classes on campus, traveling abroad to Greece or Costa Rica, or enjoying an additional three weeks at home filled with volunteer service or job shadowing, it is bound to be a welcome break and a sigh of relief. And to all the parents, don’t worry. We will be home very soon, and for more than two days this time!

By Jenna Willett

Even though The Gatton Academy is not your normal high school, we still participate in fairly normal high school practices, like dances. Typical high schools have homecoming, but at an atypical Academy, where competitive sports are not available, we have Winter Formal.

Winter Formal, or Fall Formal as some have dubbed it due to its occurrence before Thanksgiving, is a time where little Gatton girls and little Gatton boys dress in nice clothes and crowd the fourth floor common area. Some students brought outside guests, others went with a big group of friends, and still others showed up just for food and made a quick escape.

Lights bedazzled the ceiling like the multitude of stars in Van Gogh’s Starry Night. A nice touch considering this year’s theme was, in fact, “Starry Night.” Pictures were taken in front of a student-made rendition of the original artwork and memories were made while dancing to music ranging from the 80’s to “Today’s Top 40’s”.

One of the best parts of Winter Formal, in my not-so-humble opinion, was that no one cared what you looked like dancing—whether it be like a fool or a professional—they just wanted to share in the good times and get away from the stress of college classes. When we were together on the dance floor, we were family. No judgment, no negative comments on dance moves, just pure fun.

By: Lydia Buzzard

On Friday, November 7th, alongside four other Gatton Academy students, I attended my first hackathon. Hackathons are programming competitions for software developers of all skill levels, and while my team was nowhere near skilled enough to be truly competitive, HackNashville opened its doors to us.

We set up “camp” at a choice location—close to power outlets and the incredible catered food—and for the majority of the next forty-eight hours, this was home. We hatched an idea to create a mobile app that would solve just one of our everyday issues: laundry. We didn’t want to change the world; we only sought knowledge and the unique air of an environment inhabited by some of the world’s under-appreciated engineers. I’m happy to say that we found those things.

Our mobile app, native to Android and iOS, allows Gatton Academy students to simplify their chores by viewing the status of the laundry room at any given time. It notifies the user when his/her laundry is complete, as well as when a “watched” machine becomes available. We all left on Sunday evening more knowledgeable than when we’d arrived. D.J. and I delved into the depths of Android development, Peter finally had a chance to learn how to code with Swift for iPhone, and Vir and Noah studied the structure of internet servers.

But these lessons were not the most important of the weekend. On Saturday night, a group of us talked over dinner about our respective relationships with Computer Science before we came to the Academy. It had been an almost entirely foreign concept to us all. The apparent, show-stopping truth was that without our acceptance to the Academy, we would know nothing about the field we had immersed ourselves in. The same could be said of the people in our group; the Academy had brought us together, the subject and the students, and that was not something to be taken for granted.

We did not win an award at HackNashville 6, but the skills we learned and the photographs we took will show that we were not disappointed. We drove away on Sunday night exhausted, grateful, and above all, ready for HackNashville 7.

By Michael Evans and Paul Hudson

This week the Gatton Academy senior class enjoyed a welcome back dinner at President Ransdell’s house where we were reminded of the unique educational opportunities at Western Kentucky University. The best of Western’s staff were in attendance along with two exemplary students who demonstrated just how beneficial a Hilltopper education could be.

The first student speaker was Will Johnson, a Gatton alumnus. Currently, Will is studying mechanical engineering and conducts applied mathematics research. Specifically, he utilized a photographic quadcopter to explore the sinkhole under Bowling Green’s Corvette museum. Will’s research demonstrated that research can be both practical and purposeful; the quadcopter allowed the sinkhole to be explored from safe distance.

Following Will’s talk, WKU student Sarah Fox shared her experiences of helping disadvantaged youth using music with us. She earned multiple scholarships while at Western Kentucky University and benefited from the supportive learning environment of WKU. Her talk helped drive home the amount of personal attention students receive during their time on the Hill.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the night was the ping pong tournament where Gatton seniors competed against Dr. Claus Ernst for the “Sierpinski” trophy. The trophy will now be handed down to a new ping pong victor each year. This year’s champion was Will Walters who won the tournament after an intense game of “around the world”.

The event ended with a bang with Dr. Ernst and President Ransdell facing each other in a final ping pong battle. Eventually, Dr. Ernst was victorious. Following the event, everyone returned back to the Academy with not only a better understanding of the opportunities offered by Western University, but also the ping pong skills of its faculty.

By Lydia Buzzard and Jenna Willett

Every year, students going back to school have to adjust to new classes, new teachers, new classmates, and sometimes new schools. Gatton Academy students are no exception.

After three nights at the Academy, homesickness among the juniors is surprisingly scant. If there are any moments of loneliness, fellow students are never more than one door down, and parents are always a phone call away. Saadia Akhtar said, “When I first came here, I had my doubts and I missed my friends, but it’s been very easy to make new ones because everyone is so nice.” Kindness has quickly become common courtesy among the Juniors. Some of the students, including Rodrigo Daboin-Sanchez, have already formed lasting bonds with their classmates. Rigo, as he is known by his peers, said, “Everyone is like one big family.”

Students have connected over a plethora of activities: capture the flag, board games, conversation circles, and daily meal times. The fourth floor common area has become a hub of social activity providing a firm foundation for friendships among students from all walks of life. Shared interests include music, movies, video games, and literature, all of which have taken on starring roles in student conversations. If ever present smiles and echoing staircases of laughter are any indication, then this year’s Gatton Academy juniors are adjusting splendidly.