In this decade, there have been several large news stories that have broken in our community and across the nation that affected how we grew up in the 2010s and how these events will shape our lives in the next 10 years. From mass shootings to major crime stories, these events have had an affect on how we lived through this decade and how we continue to live.
In early 2019, a story broke that created lots of controversy and discussion around college admissions. It was revealed that Hollywood actors and prominent business leaders paid thousands of dollars to get their children into top-tier colleges. They also fabricated images to get them sport scholarships and faked disabilities to get a proctor to make sure that the student got the right score.
It sparked a huge discussion over whether college admissions need to be so competitive that people feel the need to break the rules and spend thousands of dollars to get in, and also how the nation’s wealthiest blatantly cheated another student out of the spot that they bought for their child.
“I’m a big believer in education for all and equal opportunity for all, so when people use their privilege to take advantage of that it really frustrates me, especially when the people taking advantage of it don’t even really want to go to school. There’s so many kids that are deserving of that opportunity and then maybe get knocked out of place by this person who didn’t even want to go to school,” said senior Lucy Chase.
College admissions have become so competitive over the years that for some people, cheating seems like a plausible option in order to succeed, but in the next 10 years students are hopeful that everyone can have an equal chance at college, no matter their status.
This decade, mass and school shootings continued to plague our nation, but in a few cases hit too close to home. On July 20, 2012, a gunman opened fire in an Aurora theater during a midnight showing of “The Dark Night Rises”. 12 people were killed and 70 were wounded. Just over a year later, on December 13th, 2013, a student at Arapahoe High School came into school with several weapons with a grudge against his debate coach. One student was killed.
In 2018, a student open fired at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 and injuring 17 students. This led to a student-led movement against gun violence in America that spread throughout the whole nation in the form of school walkouts and protests in cities everywhere.
These events shook up our community immensely, and continue to keep everyone alert today. With tragedies such as these, high school students today struggle to keep the possibility of a school shooting off of their mind.
“I’d say the one that has impacted me the most was the STEM one, just because it was last year and we were all here. We were in French class and my mom texted and she was like ‘Hey are you okay there’s some schools on lockdown,’ so I like looked it up and we could see that there was like an active shooter still and that was pretty scary just because it was so close to us and like I have people that I know that knew the shooter and knew the victim and stuff so that’s like so close to home,” said Chase.
Although the number of shootings in America everyday continues to rise, the student protests that have broken out have turned heads of a lot of politicians, which could mean reform in the next 10 years and later on.
In the next decade, as our generation gets older and begins to have a more prominent voice in our government, change is inevitable. With a new decade approaching, it is likelyt hat the 2020s will be defined by young people creating news, rather than being defined by it.
