The KOE Picnic is on May 2, which is a day dedicated to celebrating students who have made great accomplishments throughout the school year. The picnic is held once every school year, so students can have a couple of hours to have fun.

“[We created this event] to motivate students to [work hard], so they could get invited to this celebration,” KOE Sponsor Kristen Johnson said.

Students could get invited for academic achievements like having a 3.0 GPA or above, they could also get invited for earning Student of the Week or getting recognized at the Knights of the Round Table ceremony. These accomplishments could get one invited but it is a requirement that one must have at least 90 percent attendance.

The picnic will be held in the big gym, where there will be inflatables and food. The time of the picnic will be freshman and sophomores in the morning and juniors and seniors in the afternoon.

“We’re really ahead of the game [on planning] and will continue to when on schedule,” Johnson said.

Freshman Regan Griffin rehearses with senior Hailey Zhang during mock trial practice in preperation for state. (Credit to Jasmin Dong)

On March 5 and 7, members of the FHN Mock Trial went to a regional competition at the St Louis County Circuit Court, where they faced off against other schools as they argued a fictional court case.

“We’ve been practicing twice a week and calling outside of school to get everything ready,” junior Sophia Arnold said.

To prepare for this event, the members of Mock Trial had been meeting multiple times a week to practice both the prosecution and defense in a thrilling trial involving self- driving semi trucks and an arsonist hitchhiker.

“The entire state gets one court case and I think everyone who is going is prepared,” freshman Bella Ingrassia said.

Last year, the Mock Trial team won the state competition where they beat runner-up Clayton High School in the final round, and FHN is hoping for back-to-back wins at state. Senior Natasha Haverly has been on Mock Trial for three years.

“I think we are going to do really well, we’ve done well in the past and everyone knows their parts,” Haverly said.

The Mock Trial team is confident that they will do very well because of the hard work they’ve been putting in to prepare for the event.

“I think we all have good work put in and are all prepared for the trials,” Arnold said.

Track team runs the new track during tryouts as the new field is being used for the first time. (Credit to Alexis Rowland)

With the construction of the new building, the athletics department will be receiving new facilities to better help various sports at FHN.

“There’s going to be more space, newer space, it’s going to be an exciting time for the PE department in the athletic department,” PE teacher Derrick Edwards said.

One new feature of the new gym is the size. The new gym and the new weight room at the building will be about twice as big as the current ones. Also, the weight room will receive all new equipment. The new gym will have a mezzanine on the top floor while also having a drop-down divider so that more activities can be going on at the same time. Another new addition is that the wrestling room will be its own room and not have to share the space, likewise the batting cages won’t be in the new wrestling room.

“I think it adds a little bit more vigor to the kids, something that’s new is exciting, the equipment is going to be brand new. So, Ithink it also is going to greatly improve the culture, the pride, just the overall mental aspects,” Edwards said.