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
WEE THE PEOPLE: Junior Amethyst Mellberg-Smith holds up a sign during a Urinetown scene involving a protest for the right to “pee for free.” Mellberg-Smith thinks that the show is a commentary on the current political climate. “It’s totally political satire,” Mellberg-Smith said. “It’s making fun of serious situations that are somewhat similar to things happening now, but in such a comedic and absurd way it really shows how messy politics and fighting for what’s right can be.” Mellberg-Smith said that while being on stage for the first time in a year was a rewarding experience, her favorite part of the production was spending time with her friends. “Finally seeing people every day made all of the hard work feel effortless,” Mellberg-Smith said, “and I can’t wait to do it again!” Reporting by Samantha Powers.

One last visit to ‘Urinetown’

Marley Angle, Ellen Fox, Sophie Leung-Lieu, Lucy Marco, Madelynn Niles, Samantha Powers, Lydia Reedy, Bella Russo, Lanie Sepehri, Alice Scott, Alysa Spiro, Kennedy Weatherby, and Tallulah Wilson
March 30, 2021
FULL CIRCLE: For seniors like co-captain Addie Seckar-Martinez, shown here performing in the large ensemble contemporary dance for which the team won a Best in Class award, the site of the Central Texas Dance Festival at Georgetown’s East View High School offered an opportunity to come full circle.  East View was the site of the first competition the seniors entered as freshman four years ago. “We have had a lot of events get canceled this year due to COVID and weather inconveniences, but being able to be out there dancing to an audience with my Blue Brigade family meant so much to me,” Seckar-Martinez said. “I always tell the team to go out there and just have fun and that’s exactly what we did.” Reporting by Zazie Bryant.

Blue Brigade competes, wins both in person, virtually

Zazie Bryant, Harper Cummings, Mia Gomez, Carly Johnson, Anna McClellan, Madelynn Niles, Liliana Rodriguez, and Anna Schlett
March 23, 2021
Bella Russos photo of the 2020 LBJ Fire Academy propane exercise was one of 17 Macjournalism Best of Show winners in the 2021 SIPA Visual Contest.

Shield Online earns Scroggins Award as Southern Interscholastic Press Association’s top website

March 16, 2021
The Nostalgic, by senior Raleigh Margulies was one of 14 pieces by Mac artists chosen to advance to state VASE. “The piece of my sister holding a chicken is basically a happier depiction of our actual life,” Margulies said. “It’s reminiscent of life before the pandemic, yet taking care of the chickens is one of the things that hasn’t changed much.” Unlike most aspects of life, Margulies feels like this year’s VASE competition was actually improved by a virtual format. “Normal VASE is usually an all-day event and involves a lot of waiting around, so it can be kind of boring. The interviews are a bit nerve-racking,” Margulies said. “I actually liked VASE this year. It felt more relaxed for the students.”

A virtual VASE gallery of MAC state finalists

Evie Barnard, Kate Boyle, Josie Bradsby, Olivia Capochiano, Ellen Fox, Evelyn Griffin, Lucy Marco, Anna McClellan, Samantha Powers, Sofia Ramon, Lydia Reedy, Bella Russo, and Alice Scott
March 10, 2021
The Mac Class of 21 achieved a lot in its four years on the floor. As freshmen, the Class of 2021 tied for the district title under Coach Carlin Shaw. The varsity team made the playoffs when these players were sophomore and won the Marble Falls and Hays tournaments when they were juniors. In their senior year, this year, the Knights were Bi-District Champions and won the programs first playoff game in 15 years, which was also win No. 100 for head coach Daniel Fuentes.

A trading card salute to the boys basketball seniors

Kennedy Weatherby, staff reporter
March 2, 2021
Icicles and snow cover the corners of the building site of the outdoor stage. The winter storm caused the first weekend run of Urinetown, the school musical, to be canceled. Urinetown will resume rehearsals this week and will now debut March 4.

Winter storm leads to systemic power, water outages

Ellen Fox and Grace Nugent
February 24, 2021
The region champions in the 200-yard medley relay race and their coach pose with their gold medals and championship plaque after the race. Senior Kyle Larson (backstroke), senior Izak Zaplatar (breaststroke), sophomore Luke Gordon (butterfly), senior Jack Hester (freestyle) and head coach Jeff Rudy.

Mac swimmers qualify for state in six events

Lucy Marco and Dave Winter
February 16, 2021
Neither clones nor polar opposites, River and Raven Rutledge are their own people. Both fine arts majors, River is a songwriter drawn to bright colors while Raven is a visual artist who prefers softer colors.

Meet the multiple multiples of McCallum

Lily Prather, Kate Boyle, Ellen Fox, and Elisha Scott
February 10, 2021
EMPTY HALLS: Although there were visitors at the Blanton, there was a very small percentage of the number of patrons who would typically be there on a Saturday afternoon in a non-COVID world. The empty bench is in one of the European exhibit’s few rooms at noon on a Saturday, one hour before the end of the morning session. The lack of visitors is affecting museums all over the world during the pandemic. “As a nonprofit, the Blanton depends heavily on admissions, membership, donations, and other income, reads a statement on the Support page of the Blanton website. The recent 5-month closure significantly impacted us.”

Perusing paintings in a pandemic

Lissa Castro, Mac photojournalism
February 2, 2021

Dear Mr. President and Madam Vice President,

Alice Scott, Sophie Leung-Lieu, Poppy Grimsley-Ridenour, Grace Vitale, Shea Wiedenmeyer, Naomi Di-Capua, Mary Ellen Sanders, and more future McCallum voters
January 26, 2021
THE PROCESS OF COVID TESTING: The routine process of testing for COVID is a technique that the ER technician has perfected. “After scanning in the patient’s information into the Sofia, you get reagent tubes and use a bit of solution inside and mix it with your swab, she said. You need to leave it sitting in the solution for one minute. Then you insert the sample onto the machine and wait.” The last step is shown in the image of her inserting the sample into the Sofia. This COVID testing site has two Sofia machines that have an 80% accuracy rate. If a patient shows symptoms and tests negative, the medics will treat them as if they were positive.

How COVID testing works in a free-standing ER

Sophie Leung-Lieu, Mac photojournalism
January 19, 2021
SUNFLOWER SEEDS AND TAMALES: Senior Daniel Dueñas-Lujan inspects his handiwork building a snowman with all the finishing touches. Dueñas said that Sundays snow caught him off guard and that after realizing it was showing he decided to build a snowman, which we have to say looks pretty darn lifelike almost as if Dueñas was meeting Olaf on the set of Frozen. Whats the secret to Dueñas snowman success?  Lots off snow, lots off patience, and just have fun. And, of course, sunflower seeds, which Dueñas used to fashion his snowmans mouth. He said he wasnt outside for long, just long enough to build a snowman and toss a few snowballs in his brothers direction. To warm up after his snow adventure, Dueñas made tamales with his mom and watched football for the rest of the day.

We are proud to present the best of snow, ATX edition

Kate Boyle, staff reporter
January 12, 2021
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