Features – Ladue Publications

English teacher Jon Frank takes a seat on the porch steps of his house in Skinker DeBaliviere. He moved to this house nearly a decade ago. “I love that it’s a quiet, residential neighborhood without a lot of commercial properties in it,” Frank said. (Photo by Lilly Jacks)

Nowhere Like Here

Kaichen Chou, Staff • April 25, 2025

Social studies teacher
Conner Katsev stands
in the entrance of
the Missouri History
Museum April 5. He has
been training on how
to lead his own tours
through St. Louis.
“If the tour group is
really excited about one
topic, give them a couple
extra things about that,”
Katsev said. “If the group
doesn’t really care what
you’re putting down on
that topic, pivot.” (Photo
by Vincent Hsiao)

St. Louis on Tour

Grace Huewe, Features Editor • April 25, 2025

ABOVE: Duncan Kitchen (10) plucks the strings of his guitar at his home. Duncan’s older brother inspired him to start playing the guitar two years ago. “On any given day [in Alaska], you could walk up the mountain start a campfire [and] play guitar,” Duncan said. (Photos by Vincent Hsiao)

Emily Pan, Staff • April 25, 2025

Kai Chen (10) stands amidst the flowering trees on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, his gaze drifting into the distance. He cherished the serenity of nature with his brother, who is graduating this year. “My brother and I took a lot of pictures together,” Chen said. “We wanted to see the cherry flower trees on campus, so our parents took us.”

Springtime Snapshots

Nina Ye, Staff • March 28, 2025

Heroes: Biblical & Mythological analyzes clips from the movie “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lighting Thief” and the TV show “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” to compare the representation of Medusa after completing their ‘Beyond Creation’ video projects March 3. “My favorite thing about HBM is the teacher, Mr. Buckvar, but I also enjoy learning about different myths and how they relate to each other,” Madeline Summers (11) said.

Beyond Creation

Nyla Weathersby, Staff Manager • March 24, 2025

Luis Fontes De Castro (10) go-karts, skis, swims, wakeboards and more in places ranging from Portugal to Brazil. Fontes De Castro picked up many of these activities from the various countries he’s lived in, which helped him grow comfortable with the new environments he was faced with. When Fontes De Castro had to move again, these activities he’d learned helped him say goodbye. “I spent a few days with all my friends [before my move], and we did everything that we like doing together, like boating [and] soccer,” Fontes De Castro said. (Photos courtesy of Luis Fontes De Castro)

Across the Globe

Kaichen Chou, Staff • March 24, 2025

Mike Hill, Riley Keltner and Zach Garrison sit in the recording booth where they create their podcast. The episodes have been uploaded on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. "We will continue to follow chronological periods in American history, with an intention of tying the past into current events and patterns," Hill said. Photo courtesy of Mike Hill.

History Through Headphones

Josie Stout, Staff • March 11, 2025

Capturing the Moment

Capturing the Moment

Loukya Gillella, Staff • March 11, 2025

Hotaru Murashita

Q and A about Extended Break

Loukya Gillella, Staff • February 21, 2025

Georgia Bland (12) and Harper Buxner (12) stand on the stage managing the event. They had been preparing for the event since August and the last week has been the important in making the final touches for the event. "Then Friday night we began to set up and continued all day Saturday to make sure everything was ready from posters, streamers, and decorations, to food, raffle items and guests," Bland said.

Loukya Gillella, Staff • February 21, 2025

Sabra Fink (11) helps students in physical education and reading classes. Being a part of Catalyst has helped her figure out her future career path. “I learned that this is something I really want to do in the future,” Sabra said. “Once I went into the classroom, I definitely found out this is something I want to do.”

A Bond in Learning

Ira Rodrigues, Features Editor • February 10, 2025

Sure Johnson (10) works on one of her pieces in painting class. She has been creating art for most of her life and finds joy in the hobby.“It’s very ingrained in young artists that they have to make something that’s a beautiful masterpiece, but art can just be whatever you think works,” Johnson said.

Grace Huewe, Features Editor • February 10, 2025

Anastasia Amromina (11)

South Tech on Deck

Josie Stout and Loukya Gillella • February 10, 2025

Band students rehearse a new piece. Several musicians performed at All-State over the past weekend. “After sectionals, there's usually an hour or a few before the first major rehearsals of the day,” Leung said. “[You] rinse and repeat the process of rehearsal, break, rehearsal, break." (photo courtesy of Kimmi Lin)

All-State Performances

Kaichen Chou, Staff • February 10, 2025

Kevin Wu (9) displays the money he received for Chinese New Year. Over the past six years, he has accumulated over ¥70,000, or about $10,000, from family members. "All that money was from COVID until the time I went back to China, so that was a total of six years," Wu said. "That was all the money from both sides of my family."

The Year of the Snake Begins

Madeline Fong, Staff • February 3, 2025

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