All posts by dsouzart

Jhene, Megan, Uzi, and More

New Music from the Week of March 6th

By Ronak Dsouza

It’s finally March which means it is one month closer to summer and festival season. In anticipation, many artists are releasing new content to perform live. Here are some of the best and biggest picks from this past week.

Kicking off the list is the surprise release of Eternal Atake, Lil Uzi Vert’s long awaited album. The tape is full of Uzi’s signature autotune and techno-heavy production. The album consists of 18 songs with only one feature: “Urgency” featuring Syd, The Internet band member. The standout track is “P2,” acting as a sequel Uzi’s smash hit “XO Tour Llif3.”

Next is Chilombo by Jhené Aiko, the other highly-anticipated album of the week. Aiko has been building up the release of Chilombo since 2019 with the release of “Triggered (Freestyle).” The album does not disappoint with Aiko’s soulful vocals perfectly syncing with Chilombo’s minimalistic acoustic production. The standout track is “B.S.” featuring H.E.R. with the two R&B singers giving one of the best R&B duets of the year.

Finally, arrives Megan Thee Stallion’s latest mixtape, Suga. The tape had been the topic of discussion for many due to Megan’s label, 1501, attempting to block Megan from releasing any new music. This was in result to Megan trying to renegotiate her contract. Thankfully after Megan sued her label, a judge ruled in favor of Megan, allowing her to release Suga. The mixtape once again shows her rapping ability is unmatched. The standout track is “Captain Hook,” featuring numerous flows and her signature bragadocious lyrics. 

Be sure to also check out Katy Perry’s new single “Never Worn White,” the remix to Brockhampton hit “SUGAR” featuring Dua Lipa, and Demi Lovato’s latest single “I Love Me.”

DECA Does It, Again!

Legend’s Performance at DECA state competition

By Ronak Dsouza

Business is booming for Legend’s DECA program. Over the past weekend, many fellow Titans competed in the annual DECA state competition. The event, held at the Broadmoor, happened over the span of three days.

The first day, Sunday, was the first round for all of the written events. The next day the individuals who performed the best were then selected to compete in the final round. Also on Sunday was the first round for the roleplay events with the finals round occuring on Tuesday. Awards were given to the top performers at the competition after the roleplay finals. These winners then subsequently qualified for the international conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

This year’s competition was record-breaking for Legend as there were more international qualifiers than in previous years.

“We had 15 people qualify to go to Nashville,” said senior Ashley Lawson.

Additionally, the time not competing was just as memorable for the DECA students.

“We were able to stay in the Broadmoor this year,” said senior Rachel Derose. “It was super exciting and we all had a lot of fun.”

In the end, the main highlight was the great memories and companionship created at the competition.

“It was really good to see Legend bring around 70 people to state,” said senior Rachel Derose. “As a DECA officer team, it felt good to see that the hard work of many members paid off.”

Here’s hoping Legend’s success will continue at the international conference in Nashville.

Bieber, Tame Impala, Billie

Best New Music of February 14th

By Ronak Dsouza

Whether you are boo’d up or single this Valentine’s Day, here is some new music to make Valentine’s more enjoyable.

The most anticipated album of the week comes from pop megastar Justin Bieber with his album Changes. The album is full of features from the likes of Travis Scott, Post Malone, and Kehlani. It also contains the already popular singles, “Yummy” and “Intentions” featuring Quavo. The standout track is, surprisingly, a remix–“Yummy [Remix]” featuring Summer Walker. While the original song, “Yummy,” got backlash for being bland, Summer Walker gives it a rebranding with her soulful vocals.

The Australian indie band Tame Impala also returns to the music scene with The Slow Rush. This is their first album in five years after the release of their critically acclaimed Currents. OnThe Slow Rush, the band continues their signature funky and trippy sound, making the listener feel as if they are floating through space. The standout track is “Breathe Deeper,” a six-minute-long track, constantly shifting to create new melodies.

Finally, Billie Eilish continues her dominance over pop music with her new song, “No Time To Die.” “No Time To Die” is actually the theme song for the upcoming eponymous James Bond movie, No Time To Die. With her whispery vocals, she is able to create the suspenseful tone of a Bond movie. It will definitely be interesting to see if the movie lives up to the song.

Brent Faiyaz, Raveena, Green Day & More!

Best Music Releases of February 7th

By Ronak Dsouza

Many great new releases from new artists came out this week, adding to a great new year of music! Here are just some of the releases that you must listen to.

Three years after his last album, R&B singer Brent Faiyaz is finally back with his latest album F*** The World. He continues with the same format of his first album, Sonder Son, maintaining no features. However with F*** The World, it is apparent that he is more experimental. Faiyaz incorporates more samples and crisper vocals signifying his constant growth and maturity. The standout track is “Clouded,” which has Faiyaz singing alongside a gospel-like sample, making the listener feel amongst the clouds.

Another outstanding R&B project from a new artist arrived with Raveena’s latest EP, Moonstone. While the project only consists of four songs, each song is a great addition to the singer’s catalogue, leaving the listener eager for more. Raveena adopts a new sound on Moonstone: a mix of her signature acoustic sound and transcending, spacelike production to truly manifest what Moonstone is. The standout track is “Starflower,” a light song with entrancing guitar melodies, reminding you of a teenage coming-of-age movie.

Finally, the iconic punk band Green Day returns to the music scene with their latest album Father Of All…. They bring the same energy and style that they brought fifteen years during their prime promising no trap beats or new producers. The standout track is the title track, “Father Of All…,” starting the album out on a very high note.

Where’s Your ID?

Lunch. One of the most awaited times of the school day. Upperclassmen rush out to their cars, eager to go off campus to go grab food. It is one of the most frenzied times of the day. This mad rush of students leaving is all hampered by the security guards checking IDs.

This year, the ID checks were escalated with the addition of trunk checks. This process is unnecessary and a complete waste of students’ time. Making every passenger in a car, including the driver, have to wait to show their ID is a hassle. This waiting can upwards of fifteen minutes of delay to get one’s lunch destination. 

Obviously, these stops are put in place to prevent freshmen from leaving campus. This is one of the biggest initiatives that the administration implemented to stop freshmen going off campus. The amount of freshmen going off campus has seemed to decrease as a result of these initiatives. However, one of these initiatives–the stopping of cars leaving lunch–is more of an inconvenience than a benefit.

It may seems like these painful initiatives will remain for the foreseeable future but a scaling back should soon occur. The administration has already achieved their goal of making it difficult for freshmen to leave campus. Having a different color for a freshman student ID is an effective enough measure. It should be experimented with to prove its effectiveness. Then, it can be fairly decided whether or not the cars should be constantly stopped.

What’s Cooking!

With the weather cooling down, many people may see themselves holed up in their houses. While this might bring the satisfaction of staying in a warm, cozy house, it also means having to cook food at home. While some may be chefs in the kitchen, many high schoolers still struggle to cook for themselves. Not to fear, cooking club is here!

Starting back up on January 17th, Legend’s cooking club will help students learn how to cook different dishes. This year, the club founder and president, senior Veronica Knott, is looking to make cooking club more inviting and educational than ever.

From holiday classics to baking essentials, the club has covered some of the most common dishes. However, this year the club is looking to expand their efforts to brand new foods. 

“We are looking to create and cook new types of foods from different types of culture,” said senior Veronica Knott. “It is going to be very exciting.” 

She also wants to expand cooking club’s reach to include more people, returners and newbies alike.

“It’s a great time because you get to eat a lot of food,” said senior Veronica Knott. “You get to actually make some really interesting and delicious dishes with your friends.”

Happy Accidents

As brushes swept and colors swirled across the canvas, one man’s calm voice guided the students in their painting journey.

Wednesday night marked the National Art Honor Society’s annual Bob Ross painting night. This marked the second year for the event and had a record turnout of over thirty students.

“It was a fun and relaxing experience,” senior Jordan Dockery said. “It was a fun way to get people more interested in art.”

The night consisted of an episode of Bob Ross’s show The Joy of Painting and following his tutorial. All of the art supplies were provided by National Art Honor Society through Ms. Hunter.

National Art Honor Society consists of art students from a wide range of mediums, not solely drawing and painting. While this event may have been more painting-focused, it did not shun away those with different artistic abilities.

“Even though I am bad at painting and do photography instead,” senior Kate Brunetti said. “I still had a lot of fun.”

Brunetti is an officer for National Art Honor Society, helping with planning and running this event. Apart from the art education it provides, she wants to highlight the bonus benefits.

“I think it is a great stress reliever to have before finals,” said senior Kate Brunetti. “You can just hang out with your good friends and bond with them over your love for Bob Ross and painting, in general.”

She hopes that this event will continue to as successful even after she graduates.

DECA Does It!

It is finally that time of year! It is DECA Districts! This past Tuesday was the district competition for DECA and was arguably one for the books.

The Legend DECA program saw a great deal of state qualifiers, adding to the great year for the program. There were around sixty state qualifiers from Legend. This also lead to Legend winning the most awards in the competition.

The Legend DECA program’s success could also be attributed to the new changes implemented. 

“I think this year was a lot better for DECA because we actually did roleplay practice in our business classes,” said senior Adit Desai. There was also a larger officer team allowing for more management and planning for the 100+ students in DECA. 

“They did a good job of having a lot of practice sessions to practice our roleplay,” said senior Ashley Lawson. Lawson qualified for state along with her partner, senior Allison Kramer, in her event: Travel and Tourism.

Now the program looks at ahead towards the state competition.

“I joked with my partner that we were going to state,” said senior Ashley Lawson, “and now I am actually going! It has definitely made me very excited about DECA and going to the Broadmoor.”

The DECA state competition will occur from the 22nd to the 25th of February.

Signing For Their Future

Senior Athletes Committing To Colleges

By Ronak Dsouza

Last Wednesday, many Legend seniors took part in National Signing Day. The ceremony had one of the largest groups of seniors committing in Legend history with fifteen committing. 

“It was really cool because I didn’t expect that many students to sign,” said senior Josh Smith. 

These group of seniors had already gone through the signing process earlier. The ceremony was more for recognizing the students’ athletic endeavors.

“You have to do the actual signing at home at 7 o’clock,” said senior James Lemons. “The ceremony is more for show and recognition, so for my signing I drew a picture of a dog.

Student athletes committed in a variety of sports, ranging from football to soccer to wrestling. 

For many of these students, it has been a lifelong goal to commit and participate in athletics in college.

“UNC has been my dream school for a while for athletics,” said senior Lucy Roberts. “It was really exciting to commit because I had been waiting for it, for a while.”

Lucy, along with many of the other signing students, has been competing in her respective sport, soccer, for a large part of their life.

“I’ve been playing golf since I was pretty young, so it’s always been a dream of mine to continue playing in college,” said senior Clara Hosman. 

Although this has been a dream come true for many of the athletes, the actual Signing Day event was full of mixed emotions.

“At first I was really nervous but when it was my turn to go up and sign, I was really excited for my next chapter in life,” said senior Sydney Dreiling.

The event signals the start of the oncoming end for the senior class and the close graduation date.

Legend Gives Back

Legend Organizes Food Drive

By Ronak Dsouza

The month of December often sees an increase in donations, especially that of food to those in need, as people find themselves in the holiday spirit. However, after the month passes donations tend to die down. What happens to those in need after the holiday season is over?

“There are a lot less donations in January to food banks compared to other months,” senior Carson Cramer said. “There is much more of a struggle to feed people this month.”

He, along with seniors Adit Desai, Lucas Ericson, and Andrew Lapoint, decided to help combat this issue by starting a food drive in Legend. Their solution has been in the works for a while.

“We started an organization, the Parker Food Rescue,” senior Adit Desai said. “We got it formalized with the IRS last August.”

From their Food Drive at Legend alone, they have received 280 pounds of donations, however the group’s work is not limited to Legend.

“We do food pickups every week after school,” senior Lucas Ericson said. “We take the donations from stores over to Southeast Christian.”

After their recent success at Legend and other participating stores, the group of boys are now looking to grow even more.

“Our plan for the future is to work with various grocery stores and restaurants in the Parker area to deliver food to more food banks and people in need,” senior Andrew Lapoint said.