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

Zara Hall

Zara Hall, Print Editor

Zara is a senior who is super excited to be in charge of printing the paper! Despite what Max may say, she will always remain the best news editor of all time. She spends all her free time drinking bubble tea and eating ice cream. She loves the Beacon a lot, but not as much as the engineering besties.

All content by Zara Hall
The Goldfinch is both terrible and excellent

“The Goldfinch” is both terrible and excellent

Zara Hall and Sofia Uriagereka-Herburger November 18, 2019

On Thursday September 19, just five days after the premiere of "The Goldfinch," based off of Donna Tartt’s pulitzer prize winning novel, there were exactly seven people watching it in the Georgetown...

Pass the Juul: Vaping rampant among students

Pass the Juul: Vaping rampant among students

Zara Hall and Maddy Kessler October 15, 2019

With teen cigarette smoking in the US at an all-time low, the typical 80s movie scene where three girls are crowded in the end stall by the window smoking a cigarette is unheard of. Instead, on a visit...

“ELITE” TE ESPERA - Netflix agregó un nuevo programa, Elite y tiene muchos jóvenes hablando. La segunda temporada está por llegar y los jóvenes no se esperan.

Asesinato, misterio, y amor: Élite es la nueva obsesión en Netflix

Michaela Bauman and Zara Hall March 12, 2019

La reciente adición a Netflix, Élite, ha cautivado a los jóvenes de todas partes que esperan ansiosamente la segunda temporada. Parecido a Gossip Girl, Élite se trata de un colegio secundario exclusivo...

Wilson partners with Truth Initiative to combat juuling

Wilson partners with Truth Initiative to combat juuling

Zara Hall, Sophie Ludgin, and Baraka Aboul-Magd March 4, 2019

Truth Initiative, a DC based nonprofit dedicated to ending tobacco use, has expanded its quit smoking program to e-cigarettes. The new program comes after the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory...

Acting Chancellor sits down with The Beacon

Acting Chancellor sits down with The Beacon

Ellida Parker, Zara Hall, and Elie Salem March 3, 2019

Acting Chancellor Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee is visiting schools and learning about the issues confronting DCPS as he wraps up his first months leading the school system. In an interview with The Beacon, Ferebee...

Mandated expenses undercut budget increase

Zara Hall, Print Editor March 2, 2019

Wilson’s budget has increased to $20 million for the 2020 fiscal year, up $1.5 million from this school year. Yet DCPS has already designated most of the additional funds for increased security costs...

Faculty Favorites: Dr. Sharma sends us to Sala Thai

Faculty Favorites: Dr. Sharma sends us to Sala Thai

Margot Durfee, Zara Hall, and Ella Pearlman-Chang March 2, 2019

Despite just moving from Delaware to DC this summer, Poonam Sharma, a Wilson physics and engineering teacher, is already up on the District’s restaurant scene. While Sharma has a knack for stumping students...

National Honor Society struggles to effectively conduct peer tutoring

National Honor Society struggles to effectively conduct peer tutoring

Zara Hall, Print Editor January 30, 2019

The National Honor Society (NHS) offers tutoring during STEP and after school, four days a week. They have put up posters to advertise, posted messages on the newsletter, and made announcements on the...

JPMorgan announces $6 million investment to expand IT at DC area schools

JPMorgan announces $6 million investment to expand IT at DC area schools

Zara Hall and Saige Gootman January 27, 2019

JPMorgan Chase & Co has committed $6 million to “expand access to economic opportunity” for students in the Greater Washington region. The investment hopes to increase the number of high school...

DC cheap eats: How to binge on a budget

Michaela Bauman and Zara Hall January 27, 2019

Though eating in DC can be expensive, it doesn’t have to be. We went looking for DC’s best food under $10, and many tacos and churros later, we have compiled our top five:   Colada Shop...

Stories of the government shutdown

Stories of the government shutdown

Elie Salem, Tiffany Missembe, Zara Hall, and Anna Dueholm January 26, 2019

The recent government shutdown has been the longest, and likely most catastrophic, in American history. 800,000 federal workers have remained furloughed for close to a month. Tens of thousands have been...

Where in Tenley should you go to study?

Where in Tenley should you go to study?

Zara Hall and Ella Pearlman-Chang January 15, 2019

As unfortunate as it is, there’s no denying it: testing season is upon us. From midterms starting this week to the in-school SAT in March and AP exams in May, there is some form of testing occuring every...

Deputy Mayor of Education sets sights on reform

Deputy Mayor of Education sets sights on reform

Zara Hall and Elie Salem December 16, 2018

Mayor Muriel Bowser appointed prominent education consultant and administrator Paul Kihn to the position of Deputy Mayor of Education in October. Bowser has asked Kihn to focus on two specific goals: narrowing...

Amazon selects Arlington for HQ2; DC anticipates economic shift

Amazon selects Arlington for HQ2; DC anticipates economic shift

Zara Hall, Print Editor December 16, 2018

After more than a year of efforts from different cities to secure Amazon, the company announced its second headquarters will be split between Long Island City, New York and Crystal City, Virginia, newly...

Wilson rated highly in flawed DCPS report

Wilson rated highly in flawed DCPS report

Elie Salem and Zara Hall December 15, 2018

The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) released report cards for every public and charter school in the District last Friday, with a series of metrics and a rating out of five stars....

Funding reallocated from art department

Funding reallocated from art department

Sophie Ludgin and Zara Hall November 11, 2018

Art teacher Mary Barnes has already spent more than $300 of her own money on supplies in the first quarter of the year. After the classes she was teaching changed and her supplies were damaged by flood...

Wilson’s LEAP model aims to increase teacher collaboration

Zara Hall, Print Editor November 10, 2018

Wilson has implemented a new method of running LEAP (LEarning Together to Advance our Practice) this year, aiming to increase collaboration between teachers. Teachers at Wilson are now provided with different...

Moderate flooding throughout the first floor has ravaged supplies and floor tiles. The Robotics team has worked with Wilson to create a temporary solution.

Heavy rains exploit construction flaws; Wilson floods

Zara Hall and Talya Lehrich October 5, 2018

  For the first few weekends of the school year, the fate of Wilson students was akin to their ancestral peers on Noah’s Ark: turbulent rainstorms, unending precipitation, and frightful lightning....

DCPS softens short-lived attendance policy

Hannah Bocian, Elie Salem, and Zara Hall October 5, 2018

DCPS modified the strict attendance policy enforced halfway through last year, removing all attendance penalties besides the mandated failure for more than 30 unexcused absences. The reform is part of...

Coach Hernandez returns to Wilson following DCPS investigation

Elie Salem and Zara Hall September 9, 2018

Angelo Hernandez has been reinstated as pathway coordinator and boys basketball head coach after being put on administrative leave last April. Hernandez was suspended while DCPS investigated the residency...

Bowser issued her first veto this July on a bill that would have allowed twenty-six chronically absent seniors to graduate.  Bowser believes the bill sends a troubling message about the importance of school attendance.

Mayor Bowser vetoes reprieve for chronically absent seniors

Zara Hall, Print Editor September 4, 2018

After a whirlwind of policy changes and scandals related to attendance and graduation, Mayor Muriel Bowser used her first formal veto to prevent chronically absent seniors from graduating. The veto rejected...

Academy of Hospitality & Tourism Staff, Photo courtesy of wilson.org

Hospitality academy’s funding to decrease

Chloe Fatsis, Zara Hall, and Elie Salem June 10, 2018

Only one Wilson academy goes on college tours, visits local fish wholesalers, and meets executive business owners. Next year, however, it might not be able to due to a decrease in funding. The Academy...

DCPS graduation rates to drop following stricter requirements

DCPS graduation rates to drop following stricter requirements

Elie Salem and Zara Hall June 9, 2018

A midyear report DCPS released April of this year found that only 46 percent of DCPS seniors are on track to graduate, 27 percentage points fewer than the graduation rate of last year. At Wilson, 62 percent...

Nine DC Council members supported the creation of an independent investigation watchdog to monitor DCPS data.  The change follows multiple investigation into DCPS that  found that one third of students should not have graduated and many illegally attended DCPS from outside the DIstrict.

DC Council proposes independent investigation watchdog

Zara Hall, Print Editor June 6, 2018

Several DC Council members have proposed legislation to establish an independent watchdog to monitor and analyze DCPS data.   After a year plagued by multiple residency fraud and graduation scandals,...

DCPS Releases 2018-2019 School Calendar

DCPS Releases 2018-2019 School Calendar

Chloe Fatsis and Zara Hall May 9, 2018

Next year, students will only be in school for three weeks in February. The other week they will be on a February break. This is just one of many new additions to the DCPS calendar for 2018-19. The calendar...

Wilson opens its doors for annual PTSO Gala

Wilson opens its doors for annual PTSO Gala

Zara Hall, Print Editor April 10, 2018

On April 7, the Wilson atrium was unrecognizable. The usual swarms of students were replaced by dinner tables, live music, and a catering company. This was the Wilson Gala, an annual event sponsored by...

Final OSSE report details attendance issues

Zara Hall, Print Editor February 23, 2018

A final report outlining the dramatic grade changing and attendance problems in DCPS was released January 29, two months after an NPR investigation first discovered these issues. The report found that...

Freshman class gets a head start on college visits

Freshman class gets a head start on college visits

Zara Hall, Print Editor February 4, 2018

Junior and senior year brings schedules overloaded with AP classes, after-school activities, SAT and ACT tests and don’t forget the whirlwind of college tours. This year’s freshman class is already...

Ethics Bowl Team left unsatisfied after loss at tournament

Ethics Bowl Team left unsatisfied after loss at tournament

Zara Hall, Print Editor January 25, 2018

There is one way all the members of the Wilson Ethics Bowl team describe the tournament they competed in last Saturday: unethical. Coming into the tournament as reigning regional champions, the team...

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