Recent News
The student news site of Bellaire High School

Three Penny Press
The student news site of Bellaire High School

Three Penny Press
The student news site of Bellaire High School

Three Penny Press
Claire Bradford

Claire Bradford, Head Business Manager & Features Editor

Claire Bradford is a junior and second-year staffer. This year she’s taken on the roles of Head Business Manager and Features Editor. While you can usually find her doing homework, she loves getting lost in a fantasy book while waiting for her cookies to finish baking. She is the president of the Poetry Club and Love For Our Elders and an officer for W.R.I.T.E. Club and Best Buddies. To relax, Claire curls up with her dog (who only looks like a rat) while spending way too long on her phone texting her friends.

All content by Claire Bradford
The majority of Bellaire faculty and the Shared Decision-Making Committee voted for an eight-period schedule for the 2024-25 school year. In addition to eight periods a day, the new schedule also includes the dismissal time moving to 4 p.m., the discontinuation of zero periods and more elective options for students.

Eight a day

Claire Bradford, Head Business Manager & Features Editor
Mar 18, 2024
Senior and Mr. Bellaire winner Joshua Percy beams on the podium next to second- and third-place winners seniors Flynn Collins and Jermaine Hayden. All three of the top winners are members of Red Bird Productions.

[Photo] Senior Joshua Percy wins Mr. Bellaire

Joy Xia, HOB Editor
Mar 9, 2024
Mrs. Bumbrake (junior Daphne Kaufman) and Alf (senior Joshua Percy) kneel with their hands bound behind their backs as prisoners of Black Stache (senior Brian Smith). They are held in captivity for Stache to gain leverage over Molly (senior Talia Schwartz) and exchange his captives for a treasure chest full of stardust.

Peter and the Starcatcher

Irene Zheng and Claire Bradford
Mar 1, 2024
Benson Boones new single Beautiful Things captures the desperate fear of losing what we love. Its soulful relatability and catchy chorus are what made “Beautiful Things” reach #8 on the Billboard Top 100 in the month since its release on Jan. 18.

Holding on to those ‘Beautiful Things’

Claire Bradford, Features Editor
Feb 20, 2024
Members of Best Buddies/dessert club help the buddies decorate their cookies with frosting and sprinkles. According to Kaufman, most of the buddies either loved or hated the sprinkles.

[Photo] Valentine’s Day brings sweet treats and buddies together for celebration

Tanvi Dubey, Reporter
Feb 14, 2024
Mayor John Whitmires focuses for his term include public safety, infrastructure, increasing government transparency and “bringing people together with … quality of life issues.” He also encourages young people to get involved in their communities and vote in local elections.

‘Pay attention and get involved’

Claire Bradford, Features Editor
Feb 12, 2024
Cole and I hold flowers in a photo our mom took to send to our grandmother. This was the age when I started to pull Cole into fun games I made for him while he was at school.

Unspoken love

Claire Bradford, Features Editor
Feb 12, 2024
Beautification Club members hold up the posters they created during Cardinal Hour for their Nov. 1 Halloween fundraiser. While the fundraiser did not have as high of an attendance as the clubs president, senior Abigail Alvarez, had hoped, the Alvarez still enjoyed seeing her club members bond during the event.

Beautification through volunteerism

Claire Bradford, Features Editor
Jan 17, 2024
Hamilton, dressed as Hercules in a lion headdress enjoys a trip to the Nov. 11, 2017 Texas Renaissance Festival with his students. He values only chaperoning for trips that are affordable opportunities for students.

A classical act

Weston Benner and Claire Bradford
Dec 29, 2023
Theater teacher Nathaniel Unroe looks down at a picture frame of the playbill from the first play he ever directed, The Castle, a photo of the cast he worked with for the play and the first two dollars he ever earned while directing.

Directing his heart

Claire Bradford, Features Editor
Nov 16, 2023
(left to right) Senior Sreedathan Menon, junior Vincent Lin, junior Weston Benner and junior Andrew Sazykin celebrate their victory at STUCOs trivia night on Nov. 9. They just barely beat the team of history teachers by one point.

[Photo] ‘Charlie’s Fortnite Squad’ wins first in Trivia Night

Dawson Sotiriades, Reporter
Nov 10, 2023
Junior Sarah Saffar made makeshift album covers for her songs that she wrote last year. While shes stopped publicly releasing her music, she does continue to write songs in her free time.

Songwriting for the soul

Claire Bradford, Tanvi Dubey, Serena Li, Joy Xia, and Emma Xiao
Oct 3, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE Graduation Countdown - Class of 2023

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE Graduation Countdown – Class of 2023

Claire Bradford, Audrey Han, Sophia Zhao, Blen Abebe, Angel Harper, Johanna Wen, Nabila Wilson, and Hannah Turner
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Lucy Ma, Valedictorian

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Lucy Ma, Valedictorian

Claire Bradford
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Aisling Hu, Salutatorian

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Aisling Hu, Salutatorian

Claire Bradford and Angel Harper
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Eliza Beaver

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Eliza Beaver

Claire Bradford
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Sofia Abello

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Sofia Abello

Claire Bradford
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Bailey Sutton

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Bailey Sutton

Claire Bradford and Hannah Turner
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Arthur Fowler

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Arthur Fowler

Claire Bradford
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Catie Guillot

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Catie Guillot

Johanna Wen and Claire Bradford
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Ellie Arrazolo

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Ellie Arrazolo

Claire Bradford
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Audrey Tanzil

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Audrey Tanzil

Claire Bradford
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Maya Randle

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Maya Randle

Claire Bradford
Jun 4, 2023
HUMANS OF BELLAIRE - Tera Reed

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Tera Reed

Blen Abebe and Claire Bradford
Jun 4, 2023
Students enjoy lunch outside on May 24. Fifty seniors took around three hours the day before to move all of the cafeteria tables and furniture outside and set up the signs.

‘23 WUZ HERE’

Emma Xiao and Claire Bradford
Jun 4, 2023
Sophomore MariaJose DeLaTorre, sophomore Emma Kolah and senior Ellory Dickerson performed as clowns as a part of The Go Team Circus. They did comedic performances of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Hot Cross Buns and Riptide by Vance Joy.

[PHOTO ESSAY] 2023 ‘Bellaire’s Got Talent’ show

Claire Bradford and Aida George
Jun 3, 2023
Sara Shen will be serving as the STUCO president for the 2023-24 school year. She hopes to increase diversity within STUCO and open more communication between students and administration.

Introducing the 2023-24 STUCO officers

Claire Bradford, Reporter
Jun 3, 2023
Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press is a thought-provoking documentary that truly examines how money is used to silence the press.

‘Nobody Speak,’ a documentary revealing the fragility of our rights

Claire Bradford, Reporter
May 20, 2023
Contestants celebrate senior Zachary Johnsons victory as he is crowned Mr. Bellaire. Zachary was surprised when he learned that he had won.

[PHOTO ESSAY] Mr. Bellaire pageant

Claire Bradford and Irene Zheng
May 18, 2023
Seniors Zachary Johnson and his escort, Isabel Ajatta, perform a group dance while dressed in beachwear. Johnson was later crowned winner of the 10th annual Mr. Bellaire pageant.

It’s back: 10th annual Mr. Bellaire pageant announces winner

Claire Bradford, Emma Xiao, and Irene Zheng
May 17, 2023
A parallel is created by seniors Michael Carron and Jonathan Dimacali. The two are dressed in identical clown costumes on opposite sides of a wall.

[Photo] Comedy in a sea of dramas

Avey Gannaway and Angel Harper
May 17, 2023
The Carillons 2023 yearbook highlights what makes Bellaire unique. Out of the 900 yearbooks ordered, at least 300 have some kind of damage to their covers or binding.

Damaged yearbooks

Claire Bradford, Reporter
Apr 30, 2023
Sonya Kulkarni delivers appreciation remarks at the United States Senate Youth Program this March to honor speaker Matter of Fact anchor Soledad OBrien. Kulkarni stressed the importance of recognizing journalism in public service to an audience of around 120 delegates and distinguished guests.

What makes her Sonya

Claire Bradford and Haset Mekuria
Apr 25, 2023
Theresa Saldana spends most of her day organizing forms, helping visitors and running the front desk. She said that while her work is repetitive, its not really boring.

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – The Main Office

Audrey Han and Claire Bradford
Apr 22, 2023
School vouchers are state-funded scholarships given to parents so they can send their children to private schools. While supporters say vouchers are essential for supporting parental choice, in reality vouchers just subsidize private schools while leaving public schools underfunded.

School vouchers will not solve our public education problems

Claire Bradford, Reporter
Apr 3, 2023
(from left) JCL Co-President and senior Arthur Fowler, freshman Kate Oguntoyinbo and JCL Co-President and junior Jermy Scarpetta hold up JCLs fifth place trophy from the JCL Area A competition. Members also placed in individual categories including dramatic interpretation, the decathlon, Roman life, ancient geography, Latin literature, Latin vocabulary, and the softball throw.

Competing in a dead language

Claire Bradford, Reporter
Mar 11, 2023
Senior Miguel Delgado-Olguin squeezes his eyes shut in joy as he plays the piano.

Performances and a ‘petting zoo’

Claire Bradford, Reporter
Feb 27, 2023
Assistant principal Terri Williams works at her desk in her office. She is proud to be a Black administrator and hopes to be someone who students feel comfortable approaching with their needs.

HUMANS OF BELLAIRE – Black History Month

Claire Bradford, Angel Harper, and Summer Phenix
Feb 27, 2023
Guest speaker Leslie Smith gives a motivational speech to students in the auditorium during Cardinal Hour. The BSU invited Smith to Bellaire to share his experience and wisdom.

‘You are somebody that has a purpose in life’

Blen Abebe and Claire Bradford
Feb 16, 2023
Sophomore Emma Kolah (left) and senior Madelyn Carrillo (right) worked collaboratively to produce Friend or Foe. They developed the plot for the film because they wanted to do something with murder.

Theater students create 7-minute film for UIL contest: ‘Friend or Foe’

Angel Harper and Claire Bradford
Feb 14, 2023
Since affirmative action was first established there has been controversy surrounding whether colleges should factor in race when considering applicants for admission.

Race to the top: students weigh in on affirmative action

Andrew Liu, Claire Bradford, Haset Mekuria, and Sonya Kulkarni
Feb 11, 2023
Since affirmative action was first established there has been controversy surrounding whether colleges should factor in race when considering applicants for admission.

We still need affirmative action

Claire Bradford and Haset Mekuria
Feb 1, 2023
After the first day of school, I went to Sharetea with my friends and it was packed full of students. There are normally two cashiers/tea makers who switch between jobs when taking care of customers. They don’t wear a uniform other than a Sharetea apron.

What’s the quali-tea of Sharetea?

Claire Bradford, Haset Mekuria, and Johanna Wen
Jan 24, 2023
Michael Niggli walks the halls when he can get time away from meetings. Interacting with students is his favorite part of being Bellaires principal.

Q&A with Principal Niggli

Claire Bradford, Reporter
Jan 23, 2023
Kulkarni said she was thrilled when she found out she would be traveling to Washington D.C. to meet some of her greatest role models. She will be studying in D.C. March 4-11.

D.C.-bound

Claire Bradford, Reporter
Jan 22, 2023
For the price of a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha, this is what should have been delivered. Lets just say the real thing was a bit of a letdown.

Seasonal special reviews

Claire Bradford and Emily Vaughan
Dec 24, 2022
Load More Stories

Three Penny Press

The student news site of Bellaire High School
Three Penny Press • © 2024 • Advertise • FLEX Pro WordPress Theme by SNO • Log in