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How to Get Involved: Protecting Reproductive Rights

Staying informed is a crucial way to support those around us, especially amidst a political climate that seeks to take away our information and access to fundamental rights.

French Students Visit NWA

“It’s a funny city with a lot of people who have colored hair."

Commentary: Four-Day Schedules Cause Confusion and Inconsistency

The class duration and order inconsistencies are illogical and stray from the normal schedule so much that they cause stress and confusion for some students and staff on where they are supposed to be at any given time. 

Angry Pigeons: Max Orton

Northwest Academy junior Max Orton was recently admitted into the Reed College Young Scholars program and is learning how to operate the campus nuclear reactor.

Orton has been interested in math and science since he was young, and has always wanted to know more about things that he did not understand.

“I think [the reason that] I ended up getting interested in [math], is because when I was younger I watched tons of Nova documentaries without understanding the math,” said Orton. “And they would keep flashing up these super dramatic equations on the screen, and as a young child […] I tried to find out what those symbols were.”

Orton’s interest in math and science did not stop with decoding Nova documentaries. He moved onto larger and more complicated equations throughout his schooling at Sunnyside Environmental School and Northwest Academy, which eventually led him to apply to the physics program at Reed College. He was initially turned down, but was instead offered a position at the nuclear reactor by the director Jerry Newhouse.

“[At Reed] they pass all of the applications around the department you apply to,” said Orton. “And the guy [Newhouse] that is in charge of the nuclear reactor saw it, and he brought me in, and I have been doing that since.”

Orton is not yet ready to run experiments with the reactor, as there is a six-month training period to learn its operations, but he has projects to begin working on after those six months.

“The first half of the year you learn how to use [the reactor] so you don’t blow up Portland,” said Orton. “The second half of the year, they are having me do an experiment in the reactor that might be publishable.”

The reactor, which is a TRIGA Mark I, was built by General Atomics and sits at the bottom of a 25-foot-deep tank. The machine was introduced on Reed’s campus in 1968, and has been used for education and research, primarily trace-element analysis. It is open to Reed students and members of the Young Scholars program, such as Orton.

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How to Get Involved: Protecting Reproductive Rights

Staying informed is a crucial way to support those around us, especially amidst a political climate that seeks to take away our information and access to fundamental rights.

French Students Visit NWA

“It’s a funny city with a lot of people who have colored hair."

Commentary: Four-Day Schedules Cause Confusion and Inconsistency

The class duration and order inconsistencies are illogical and stray from the normal schedule so much that they cause stress and confusion for some students and staff on where they are supposed to be at any given time. 

Commentary: Teachers! Effort Over Excellence, Please

"Engagement and effort are an underused way to evaluate students."

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Elliot Strom
Elliot Strom
Elliot Strom is a senior at Northwest Academy. He enjoys rowing, photography and listening to music.

How to Get Involved: Protecting Reproductive Rights

Staying informed is a crucial way to support those around us, especially amidst a political climate that seeks to take away our information and access to fundamental rights.

French Students Visit NWA

“It’s a funny city with a lot of people who have colored hair."

Commentary: Four-Day Schedules Cause Confusion and Inconsistency

The class duration and order inconsistencies are illogical and stray from the normal schedule so much that they cause stress and confusion for some students and staff on where they are supposed to be at any given time. 

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