Normally when thinking about the typical high school the athletes don’t really mix with the kid of the newspaper staff. Talia Hendel ’16 defies these expectations. Not only does she write for the paper but she also manages to play on the Girls’ basketball team and teach special needs students how to play with Circle of Friends. “It was the perfect opportunity for me, I love kids and I love playing basketball. So it just fit,” Hendel said. When Hendel decided to take this class she quickly learned that she would only be taking the class for the course credits. She has developed a passion for journalism and hopes to continue with it into her college career. So next time you see a story with her name under it, drop what you are doing and read it. You could be seeing the first works of the next buzzfeed editor.

Now in her third year, Jane Schutte ’16 is one of the leaders of Inklings. She started Inklings her Sophomore year as Instagram coordinator, then rose to a web features editor and is currently the breaking news editor. Along with Inklings, Schutte’s other main activity is dance. She dances at Westport Dance Academy, taking classes in jazz, ballet, modern and other dance genres, but says her favorite is ballet. Although Schutte is a veteran journalist and dancer, she is also a newbie to other activities at Staples. After having taken 5 years of singing and acting lessons, and having been dancing intensely since the age of 3, Shutte decided over the summer to join Staples Players. She participated in the summer show Godspell, and is cast as the Grandmother in the upcoming show Fiddler on The Roof. Schutte says she is, “excited to do something I’ve never done.”