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The Student News Site of McCallum High School

The Shield Online

The Student News Site of McCallum High School

The Shield Online

The Student News Site of McCallum High School

The Shield Online

THROWBACK THURSDAY: ‘Cafeteria receives makeover: new tables, new murals’  and ‘With a new year, comes a new look’

THROWBACK THURSDAY: ‘Cafeteria receives makeover: new tables, new murals’ and ‘With a new year, comes a new look’

Kevin Turi and Drew Fitzgerald
September 25, 2025

Cafeteria receives a makeover: new tables, new murals Students looking for a bite at the cafeteria this year found a few new changes that go beyond the color of the Jell-o at the desert counter. McCallum...

Laneta Stefka (Knight Editor), Ann Kinch (Blue Brigade President), and Jo Eickmann (Shield Editor) admire the Victory Bell in its habitat of last year, the Travis High library. Eickamann is pointing out a previous McCallum victory which the Knights hope to duplicate in tonights McCallum-Travis game. Caption and photo by 1957 Shield staff.

Traditional north-south rivalry symbolized by victory bell battle

1957 Shield staff
September 11, 2025

"The South shall rise again," shout the threatening Rebel voices across the river to their rival McCallum. Meanwhile, the north is equally determined to make sure that the rehash of the Civil War comes...

Some students and teachers support the new no pass/no play rule while others think it is unfair and inflexible. Regardless of campus opinion, Texas schools are stuck with the law for at least a year and half.

The grade debate PASS/FAIL

Judy Tomjack, staff reporter
May 22, 2025

At one time or another, all students at McCallum have felt the pressure from the no pass/no play rule. This rule became part of the curriculum in the spring of the 1985-86 school year. It has not only...

DANGEROUS, WILD rocks are becoming less popular to pet rock owners as tame, pedigreed rocks become more available for only $3 to $5.

You’d pay for a rock?

Sharon Bradshaw, editor-in-chief
April 24, 2025

Years of searching for a pet that apartment managers will not object to may be coming to an end as apartment dwellers have discovered the perfect pet and a new fad, genuine pedigreed pet rocks. The rocks,...

TODAY AND EV’RY DAY: The cast and crew held its first performance of Freaky Friday in the MAC on Feb. 20. The musical stars Ellie and Katherine Blake, a mother-daughter duo who swap bodies in this story of self-determination and acceptance. Although the musical is a comedy, it offers a deeper message for audiences according to sophomore Elora Clarke.

“I think Freaky Friday is about accepting yourself and everyone around you for who they are, flaws and all, Clarke said. “More than anything it’s about love and positivity and how you should put kindness and acceptance into the world.”

Clarke (far right) plays the role of Lois, a sassy wedding photographer helping Katherine with her upcoming wedding.

“I’m the photographer that works for weddings magazine to photograph Katherine’s wedding,” Clarke said. “I think my favorite moment in the show is the song ‘What You Got’ with me, Danielle, Torrey and Katherine.”

Clarke said that opening night went well despite a few technical errors.

“There were a few mistakes and technical errors, but overall I think the energy was good, the audience was good, and everyone gave a great performance.”

Caption by Katie Martin.

A Throwback Thursday to ‘Freaky Friday’

With two other MacTheatre productions making huge news this week, it might seem odd that we are publishing a Freaky Friday photo essay, but we have been meaning to share this photo essay for a while, we...

ONE OF DR. BILL SMOOT'S tasks as new principal is to give the morning announcements over the public address system. Dr. Smoot spends a great deal of his time at his desk, besides doing the announcements, in which a great amount of school paperwork is processed, most of it dealing directly with the AISD administration. He also answers the telephone and talks with parents and faculty alike.  However, his main job is to oversee the school and make sure everything runs smoothly.

SMOOT: Same face but new title

unknown staffer
April 10, 2025

The name is spelled S-M-O-O-T. He can frequently be heard spelling that name over the telephone as he answers the calls that are a part of being principal of A.N. McCallum High School. Few people...

AFTER RECEIVING the Max Haddick Journalism Teacher of the Year Award, Mrs. Lorene Denney is all smiles. This is her second year as journalism teacher at McCallum.

ILPC names Denney the 1980 Max Haddick Journalism Teacher of the Year

David Woodruff, co-sports editor
April 3, 2025

Culminating a successful year for McCallum publications, Mrs. Lorene Denney received the Max Haddick Journalism Teacher of the Year Award for Texas at the Interscholastic League Press Conference held in...

Carole Keeton holds her granddaughter, Anna McClellan (who happens to have the byline for this article), and is surrounded by her other granddaughters, Kathryn and Michelle McClellan, as she gives her concession speech for the gubernatorial race on Nov. 7, 2006. Although, she lost the race, having her family there made it one of the highlights of her political career. "The [best] moments are the moments when the family is all there. And they’re there in good times, and they’re there in the tough times."

From McCallum to mother to mayor

Anna McClellan, guest reporter
March 27, 2025

Carol Keeton died Wednesday at the age of 85. Before she was Austin's mayor (1977-1983), a railroad commissioner (the 1990s) and a Texas comptroller (1999-2007), she was a McCallum civics teacher and tennis...

USING MUCH the same skills in gymnastics as he did for the cheerleader tryouts, Mark Pourmanafzadeh does a "Texas T" for the audience.

Powerful gymnasts will return next year

David Woodruff, co-sports editor
March 13, 2025

1979-1980 has largely been a year of little disappointments in McCallum sports. no team has done really badly, and indeed some have done quite well, but then very few teams managed to live up to expectations. One...

Mixing, match to patterns

Mixing, match to patterns

Georgia Zegub, staff reporter
February 27, 2025

In the world of high fashion, price can really get a person down. This was the point of the fashion show given by the Educational Division of the Simplicity Pattern Company in cooperation with the Future...

A NEW back was given to the deuce. "The signing of the Declaration of Independence" is the name of the painting on the rear. The front, however, is almost the same as ten years ago.

New money in circulation

unknown staffer
February 13, 2025

Everybody is getting into the Bicentennial: airlines, the phone company, pinball machine makers, store owners, the media and every other organization under the sun. Some time last June the Department of...

Actor Jimmy Stewart, the star of black-and-white classics like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life though colorizing Bedford Falls would be worse than it becoming Pottersville. Photo accessed on the JM L Flickr account. Reposted here under the terms of a creative commons license.

Computer adds color to movies

Michelle Banks, staff reporter
January 2, 2025

In Hollywood’s attempt to capture a younger audience, some movie and television firms have decided to add a dazzling array of rainbow shades to classic black-and-white films. This will be made possible...

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Throwback Thursday