Best of the Rest

One of the most influential figures of the year is undoubtedly 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was named Time’s Person of the Year. This year, her influence has extended to the U.S. in terms of the climate school strike movement she founded, Fridays for the Future. With her famous Strike For Climate sign, Greta had been participating in school strikes every Friday during her visit to North America, to which even she traveled by boat in order to reduce her carbon emissions. Most significantly, Greta spoke at the United Nations about the climate crisis: “I want you to act as if the house was on fire, because it is”. Despite the dangerous and pressing issue of climate change, young activists like Greta give the world hope for the future. (Kiera Burns)

If you are a resident of Lake Forest or Lake Bluff area, then you certainly know about the construction of the new North beach entrance that opened up just this past fall.  The North gate was closed for almost a whole year, including the busy months of the summer.  Erosion was becoming more and more of a problem for the north gate of the beach.  After a year of construction, the path has been created to withstand the erosion problem, as well as being wider and safer for people in cars to access.  The new entrance provides great views and a way to access the north gate of the beach once again. (Andrew Crawford)

From dance challenges, cringe-worthy videos, to content that may elicit a laugh, the social media platform, Tik Tok has taken over the lives of teens in 2019. The app, formerly known as Musical.ly, has exploded in popularity over the last year, and currently has over 500 million active users each month around the world. Teens, including myself, first downloaded the app as a joke, while others took the platform very seriously creating a diverse set of styles of content on the app. Currently, everyone who has Tik Tok cannot stop themselves from scrolling through their For You Page’s for hours on end watching teens dance in Harvard sweatshirts to “I Don’t Mind” by Usher ft. Juicy J. On Tik Tok, new trends and forms of hype pop up every week, which contributes to creating a new private world in the teen and young adult community that “Boomers” just can’t understand. (Carley Walker)

In 2019, we saw seemingly endless new trends and styles. One that stuck out, however, was the comeback of the 90s. Retro style has always been cool, but 2019 brought back everything from scrunchies and glittery hair clips to denim on denim and plaid. Brandy Melville, a newer brand that sells simple, easy styles, has especially pushed the 90s style back into popularity, advertising vintage graphic tees and even tiny sunglasses. While some looks were definitely best left in the past, this new wave of older style has been interesting to look at on any insta feed. (MK Peters)

Mario Kart has been a popular go-kart-racing style game since 1992. It was reintroduced this year with Mario Kart Tour Mobile, which brings the fun to iPhones and Androids worldwide. Long-time Mario fans and young kids alike have been enjoying the game. The mobile version still has many elements of Nintendo’s Mario Kart including the same power-ups, characters, and race tracks, but it is now controlled through touch. The objective is to earn enough stars from completing three race tracks and a challenge course successfully to unlock the next cup. One issue is the game’s design around monetization; it encourages people to pay for rubies, which can be spent on new characters, karts, and gliders. Mario Kart Tour Mobile has room for improvement, as many hope it will become multiplayer, but overall the new version is an enjoyable and refreshing way to play the classic video game of Mario Kart. (Olivia Witte)

There are many contenders for the best video game of 2019 but the one that comes out on top was the newest Super Smash Bros. game, Smash Bros. Ultimate. The game had been long-anticipated since the release of Super Smash Bros. Wii U in 2014. Various characters from across the video game universe battle it out for video game superiority in deathmatches. Designed by Masahiro Sakurai, the game features characters from games like Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, Metroid and even Pokemon Smash Bros. Ultimate quickly became popular worldwide. (Quintin Primo)