As the 2014/2015 school year passes by, take a look at this year’s memories:

Highlights

In efforts of beautifying the school as a whole, chemistry teacher Teresa Hodge directed students painting the Art Mural on the science hall.

Geometry teacher Jessica O’Neil and SRO Deputy Jeff Graves tied the knot after not only a childhood friendship but 20 years of separation as well. They married in April after dating in 2014.

Language arts teacher Sonya Nave headed the selling of Team Bella T-shirts. Students involved in the fundraiser sold 175 shirts, raising enough money for $500 to be given to the American Heart Association.  

Community

The new school debate for a Monrovia High School has started, but the official decision of building a new school has not been made. At the school board discussion on building a new school, students Beryl Kessio, Erin Stender and Savannah Bullard argued against the building of the school. Charity Dyer argued for the building the school.

In February, same-sex marriage was legalized in the state of alabama. Though Alabama’s supreme court put a stay on the ruling, judge Davis in Mobile continued to issue marriage licenses. Feb. 9, the statewide ruling of freedom of marriage was put into effect, making Alabama the 37th state to issue LGBT marriage license.

Achievements

Junior Shelby Dorner headed a Blanket drive Dec. 17, 2014. After raising 82 blankets for homeless children, the drive ended Dec. 26, 2014. The goal of the drive was to provide the children a form of warmth for the cold winter predicted.

The boys basketball team made it to the second round of regional plays. The girls basketball team made it to the first round of regional plays.

Cheerleaders traveled to Disney World in Orlando, Florida for national competitions. They won for first time since 2011.

The boys soccer team continues their season with 9-11.

The baseball team continues their season with 17-27-2.

Downs

Just as happiness did, tragedy struck our school severely when we lost two of our own. Sept. 7, 2014, sophomore Demarcus Powers lost his battle with cancer. April 13, 2015 junior Quayallen Harper lost his life in a car accident. They will be missed and will never be forgotten.

Fergusons present outcry against alleged racism. Accusations of police brutality reached an all time high in ferguson after Michael Brown’s death. Protests continue to ring out over Brown’s death. The protest spreading to cities, such as Baltimore, South Carolina and New York, have sparked a worldwide argument on police brutality and racism. Leading to not only the killing of adults but teens as well.

In February, ISIS took to beheading individuals, victims consisted of 21 Egyptian christians. Shortly after the execution of these individuals, bombings of revenge occurred at headquarters for Islamic militants known to have sworn their allegiance to ISIS.

Ebola became a widespread world epidemic from September of 2014 onward. Ebola made an even larger appearance in West Africa and four cases were diagnosed in the United States. Taking thousands of lives, the recent outbreak of Ebola was the largest since its discovery in 1976.

After satirical cartoons were published related to the muslim religion in Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo, terrorist attack on the magazine left 12 staff members dead and many calling the shootings a crusade against free speech. Officials stated that suspects Hamyd Mourad and brothers Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi firebombed the publications office. Mourad surrendered to officials after noticing the circulation of his name on social media. The brothers were taken down in a standoff with policemen.