Students traveled across Edinburgh, London and Paris in a medically-focused trip from June 10 through June 21. Former AP Biology teacher Abigail Decerbo was the teacher who took the 14 students to Europe and has already arranged a math-oriented trip next summer to Italy and Greece. 

During this summer however, students visited medical themed museums such as The Real Mary King’s Close and the Hunterian Museum. The Hunterian Museum stored different anatomical specimens and different types of diseases such as a skeleton with scoliosis. Senior Han Nguyen learned how early surgeries were performed.

“You [used to] just lay on a wooden table, just out and open for a bunch of medical students to observe, and then, [the surgeons would] cut you open,” Nguyen said. “They’re like, ‘The more blood you have on your apron, the more experienced you are.’ That was really interesting to listen to.”

In Paris, even though students were able to see the preparations for the Summer Olympics, the Louvre was Senior Noa Ohana’s “favorite part” of the city.

“The Louvre was a palace before it was a museum,” Ohana said. “I’d look up and I’d see a whole mural on the ceiling, and I’m like, ‘How did that get there? That’s so cool.’ I think most of my photos were just photos of the ceiling. [But] the Mona Lisa was small, over-hyped. I took one photo, and I walked away.”

Nguyen and Ohana became “really close” during the trip, after previously only having shared a class together sophomore year. Nguyen’s favorite memory of her time in Europe was a “little karaoke snack night” towards the end of the trip.

“Every day low-key felt like a movie,” Nguyen said. “[The trip] was really worth it.”

*** Disclaimer: This event took place over the summer, then sophomores are now juniors.

Sophomore Samantha Tran advanced to the final round of congressional debate in the 2024 National Speech and Debate Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa from June 16-21, after qualifying in the South Texas District Tournament. 

Tran was one of seven debaters who competed at the tournament and one of three who advanced, with sophomores Catherine Xue and Alia Hassan advancing to the semifinal and quarterfinal rounds, respectively. 

“My most memorable moment was when we arrived at our hotel after competing that day, and I was on a call with my friend and [the friend] screamed, ‘Oh my gosh, Samantha you made it to finals,’” Tran said. 

For Tran, the competition could be summed up into two words: unpredictable and exhausting. 

“To debate for hours on end truly takes a toll on a person’s mental health and physical well-being,” Tran said.

Although it was Bellaire Debate’s 66th appearance at nationals, it was the first time that six sophomores qualified. 

“I mean, [the sophomores qualifying is] phenomenal,” former Bellaire debate coach Jay Stubbs said. “I can’t stress [it] enough, very few squads qualify freshmen or sophomores to nationals.” 

Tran said that while preparing for the tournament, the stress was “intense.”

“It brought back my memories of Nationals with the experienced team, but this time I stood alongside [two] girls who were just like me—nervous and uncertain about the future,” Tran said. 

Out of the 15 Red Bird Productions members who advanced from the Texas Thespian State Festival, 10 traveled to Indiana University at Bloomington for the June 22-29 International Thespian Festival.

Troupes from around the world attend the festival to see shows, go to workshops and compete in Individual Events.

Bellaire was represented in four of the IEs: solo acting, duet acting, solo musical and stage management. Senior Daniel Andrade was one of three students from Bellaire to compete in solo acting, where he prepared two “contrasting” monologues and performed them in under three minutes.

“[When I walked into the competition room, I was] like, ‘This is actually happening,’” Andrade said. “So much time had built up to it that I was anxious. But I was pretty confident since I had worked on [the monologues] tirelessly throughout the month. I was happy with what I had shown the judges, regardless of the outcome.”

Everyone from Bellaire was awarded an “Excellent” rank for their IE besides senior Reece Langland, who received a “Superior” in stage management.

Six officers of Future Farmers of America attended the 96th annual Texas FFA State Convention from July 8-12, and the president and vice president traveled to Washington DC for the Washington Leadership Conference from July 16-20. There, they received guidance on leadership, such as troubleshooting when something goes wrong. They also learned how to implement service projects during the year.

At the state convention, junior and FFA historian Lauren Hare participated in workshops, met students from other chapters and talked to different colleges about their agricultural programs. 

“[The other students and I] had a really good long conversation with Texas A&M University,” Hare said. “[Being at the convention] overall has definitely given me more of an idea of what I want to do in college, [especially] seeing all these people who love what they do [with agriculture].” 

Later in the summer at the Washington Leadership Conference, junior and president Leah Dawlett focused on the leadership aspect of running an FFA chapter. By the end of the conference, every officer created a learning to serve plan with goals to be met. Dawlett plans to  get stray animals off the streets and make the process of helping stray animals  more accessible and affordable. 

“This is a sustainable project so it keeps going, and I will execute [my stray animal project] by reaching out to shelters and seeing what programs they have [to help get stray animals off the street] and then advertising these to the public.” Dawlett said. 

Dawlett’s favorite part of the conference was making connections with people from across the country who all shared the same interests in agriculture.

“One of my friends lives on a dairy cattle farm, and then some students live in huge cities, but we’re all still in the same organization,” Dawlett said. “We’re all here for the same goal. That was really nice and comforting.”

While implementing the leadership skills she learned at both FFA events, Dawlett and the other members of FFA will receive their animals throughout the year and compete with them. 

Twelve students traveled to Japan with their Japanese class from July 9 through July 22, led by Japanese teacher Shou Satoko, to experience the culture of the Japanese language. 

Her first time outside of the country, senior Katherine Keenan experienced living and studying in a new setting.

“We landed in Tokyo and then took the Shinkansen Bullet Train all the way to Nishio to be with our host families [at 12 a.m.],” Keenan said. “They were extremely nice, my [host] family bought me little bread snacks. They [also] gave me my own room. It was really nice to experience being in a Japanese family.”

Japan’s environment was able to give students new cultural exposure. Senior Rachel Serna traveled there as a way to practice her Japanese in an immersive setting.

“I think [living] with the homestay family [allowed] me to get more immersed into the culture because they didn’t speak English,” Serna said. “I tried all the foods that they gave me. I feel like if we didn’t do the homestay experience, I wouldn’t have improved in [Japanese].”

Students also had the opportunity to visit different shrines and schools, as well as hike up a mountain together. 

“My legs were shaking afterwards, because I wasn’t used to walking around that much. [The mountain] was so steep,” Keenan said. “There was a shrine on top of the mountain, [and] it was so pretty.” 

Students and their host families spent evenings at the Nishio Matsuri festival dressed in traditional clothing and trying new foods.

“I went to a festival with my homestay sister, and she got me dressed up in a yukata,” Serna said. “I wore wooden sandals, and she did my hair. [My homestay] mom gave me money to shop around and eat different [Japanese] foods. It was so cute, I really loved the festival.”

Serna views the trip as important to improving her Japanese and immersing herself in Japanese culture. 

“This is my fourth year taking Japanese,” Serna said. “I’ve always wanted to go [to Japan]. My dad went when I was little, but I wasn’t able to go with him. [I’ve really] wanted to take my Japanese to the next level, so it was really nice to improve my accent and my grammar.”

Though contact with her parents was difficult due to the 14-hour time difference, Keenan recognizes the importance in getting used to new atmospheres. 

“I’m glad I did it, because it gives me a preview of what being alone with other people is going to look like,” Keenan said. “I [really] wanted to go to Japan to see the language that I’ve been studying used in real [life]. I think the experience of meeting all the people and then being in Japan and seeing how beautiful it is was really great.” 

Incoming freshmen attended Cardinal Camp, a day-long orientation on July 31 for new students, in order to prepare for the school year. 

During the camp, freshmen were guided by upperclassmen Crew Leaders, one of whom was senior Bailey Goldstein. She told the freshmen “how to get around, what places to avoid and what bathrooms are the cleanest.”

“I thought it would be nice to be able to kind of wean these freshmen into their first year,” Goldstein said. “I wanted to give them advice that I would have wanted to know, especially because I came in the year after COVID, so we didn’t have [Cardinal Camp]. I thought it would be helpful for someone when I know how it feels to be that stressed.”

Crew leaders first played ice-breaker games with their small groups before going to Club Jamboree, which was freshman Connor Espinosa’s “favorite part” of Cardinal Camp. He was interested in Astronomy Club, Chess Club, GSA, Baking Club and Math Club.

“[It] made me feel like this was the place that you could be who you want it to be,” Espinosa said. “[I liked] walking around and getting to see clubs that I never even knew existed, like Dungeons and Dragons Club.”

After Club Jamboree, Crew Leaders took their groups on a tour of the school, where both Espinosa and freshman Coral Walia felt “intimidated” by the size of the building.

“It was just a really big school,” Walia said. “I [felt] like it was a big transition because a lot of things were different in middle school. But we had people willing to help, so [the transition] just seemed pretty exciting. After Cardinal Camp, I felt more at ease with this school.”