Silence below the surface
Kaylee Milem, reporter
January 16, 2020
To the outside world, junior Kyleigh Ortiz seems like the average girl. She goes to high school like the average girl. She also has dreams after high school like the average girl. But, don’t always believe what meets the eye, you’ll miss the most important characteristics. Ortiz is 16 and a student at Davenport West....
Exchange students give perspective on life as Falcons in Iowa
Farnaiza Gulam, reporter
November 26, 2019
International education has become a crucial part of building bridges for understanding, across cultures and borders. For the past few years, West has welcomed about 30 foreign exchange students with four students every year. West believes that International Education helps introduce people to its g...
Homecoming 2019 dance recap
Olaoluwa Johnson, reporter
September 30, 2019
West celebrated its Homecoming dance last Saturday. This year's theme was "Old Time Rock and Roll." Student Senate helped to organize the event as well as the other events taking place in the week leading up to it. This year was a first for the event as it was one of the first to have both a king a...
2019 Homecoming court Q&A
Olaoluwa Johnson, reporter
September 24, 2019
Notice: King candidates note featured. Isabella Castel How do you feel about making homecoming court? "Surprised and shocked, but excited!" What first went through your head when you found out you made court? “Wow! Did they really just say my name?” Why do you think you deserve this role of bein...
Author, former West teacher’s work comes full circle
Laurence Walker, Reporter
May 31, 2019
When West first opened its doors to students in 1959-1960, an entire school of educators were hired and became West’s first teachers. On Friday, May 24 one of the first wave of West teachers, 86-year-old English teacher and author Jon Ripslinger visited West. He came to talk to the yearbook staff a...
A need for an updated grade
Sarah Bernick, reporter
May 29, 2019
As the end of the school year begins to creep in, so do final grades for high school students. An intense amount of stress on teachers and students starts to loom over everyone’s heads due to the rush of getting assignments in and completed. Teachers, parents, and students use Parent Portal to locate gra...
Yoder ‘kills it’ in the classroom
Kate Kealey, Editor in Chief
April 12, 2019
Entering room 119 one will encounter the aroma of fresh air coming from the courtyard windows, and popcorn. Depending on the day, you will find a deceased Anna Garcia mannequin laying on the floor, or students measuring blood splatters. Science teacher Brandon Yoder has been teaching Principles of Bio...
West is best
Sophia Iniguez, Reporter
April 5, 2019
Davenport West High School is much more than just a school, it's a place where students make memories, come together with friends, and join activities and clubs that they will never forget. With more than 1,600 students in the Falcon nation, there is diversity in classes, clubs, and sports teams that ma...
Falcons and foreign language
Laurence Walker and Thomas Yates
April 3, 2019
Hola! Hallo! Bonjour! Davenport West offers three language programs and a classical languages course. Ask any foreign language teacher or student, and they’d say that language is an important part of life, and that learning a new language is beneficial to anyone. In fact, West offers more college ...
Surreal surnames
Sarah Bernick, Reporter
March 29, 2019
Something we’ve all seen, something we all hear, something we all struggle to pronounce… Last names are part of a title that every person has, whether we like them or not. We’ve all seen our names in the yearbook, or on the attendance list, but have you ever looked at someone else's last name and...
Powering through senioritis: the end is in sight
Kelly Snawerdt, Print Editor
March 28, 2019
It’s finally that time of year again. Spring is a time of new beginnings, sunshine, later sunsets, beautiful flowers blooming, and the dreaded spread of senioritis. With scholarship deadlines approaching, less time to work before college begins in the fall, and endless thoughts about what life has in...
50 years and counting
Kate Kealey, Editor in Chief
March 27, 2019
50 years of grading papers. 50 years of finals. 50 years of watching kids grow. 50 years of kindness and hard work. 50 years with generations of students preparing them for what’s to come. This has been the everyday life of language arts teacher Pat Sheehey for the last 50 years of teaching at Davenpor...
I am a junior at West High School, and a first year reporter for the Beak 'n’ Eye. I enjoy reading the news. My favorite news topics to read about are politics, entertainment, the environment,...