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The student-run news site of Lawrence Free State High School

Free Press Online

The student-run news site of Lawrence Free State High School

Free Press Online

The student-run news site of Lawrence Free State High School

Free Press Online

The Spotlight

LGBTQ author Bill Konigsberg shares his ideas

Libby Stanford, Online Editor October 21, 2015

Free State recently decided to add a new LGBTQ section of the library. The section’s author is Bill Konigsberg, a noted LGBTQ author from Arizona. He has written multiple books including “Out of the...

Students and teachers discuss pronouns and gender identity

Mariah Houston, Reporter October 13, 2015

The first week of school is difficult for the incoming freshmen of Free State. Barely fifteen years old, they jump head first into the uncharted territories of high school and hope for the best. Figuring...

A picture of Free State newly built in 1997 is held in front of the newly renovated Free State building.

Teachers reminisce on Free State’s beginnings

Sydney Gard and Elizabeth Patton September 30, 2015

What happens when a gym teacher, a counselor and a science teacher walk into a newly built high school in West Lawrence, Kansas? They stay for the next (nearly) two decades. At least that is the story...

Finding an assignment for class, senior Isabel Marshall-Kramer picks up her paper at the library's printer. The library printer offers free printing to all students. Conscious of funding, teachers have been asking students to print from home, if possible.

New funding system presents uncertainty for Free State

Mariah Houston, Reporter September 23, 2015

Free State Firebirds flood the new, renovated hallway, clutch their new school supplies, and catch glimpses of their new principal. The year of 2015 is one full of change for Free State, but many students...

Office renovation spark criticism and praise

Lauren Brittain, Copy Editor September 15, 2015

Sleek. Unfinished. Contemporary. Fishbowl. The heavily renovated 200 hallway and brand new office addition of Free State has garnered many names in it’s short two weeks of life. Voter approval of...

Swedish exchange students,Kevin Munge (right) and Simon Larspers (left), finish the obstacle course at Free State's club fair.

Foreign exchange students adjust to life in another country

Reagan Sullivan, Reporter September 11, 2015

Free State students come from different places. Some from different towns, states, and even countries. This year, Students from all over the world have come to live in the U.S. as part of exchange programs...

Bystanders gather to learn about the prairie restoration project behind Free State.

Prairie restoration project connects KU and Free State

Libby Stanford, Co-Online Editor in Chief September 4, 2015

Two years ago Free State science teacher Julie Schwarting and University of Kansas professor Dr. Helen Alexander saw potential in the abandoned football field behind Free State. Schwarting and Alexander...

Students explore college credit opportunities

Students explore college credit opportunities

Trenna Soderling and Sydney Gard, Reporters April 28, 2015

The 2015-16 school year marks many changes in the USD 497 school district. The new learning programs to be offered include the College and Career Center and classes for college credit offered through KU....

senior Sarah Lieberman

Seniors share plans for post-secondary pursuits

Kyra Haas, Elizabeth Patton and Sydney Gard, Editor in Chief, Reporter and Reporter March 9, 2015

With two tanks of fish, a crested gecko and a baby ball python to care for, senior Michael Quackenbush appreciates not only the University of Kansas’s top-ranked engineering program, but also its close...

Khaury El-Amin shares poem “What’s Up Dad?” at the talent show

Darby Gilliland, Reporter February 10, 2015

Junior Khaury El-Amin walks onstage nervously, takes a breath and begins to recite the poem he wrote, the words flowing out more easily as he goes along. He speaks about his father, a man he never knew,...

At the beginning of the semester, the administration divided two freshman English classes into three single-gender classes. In January, the ACLU questioned the change, and the classes were promptly rearranged to be coeducational. "It [was] kind of different, I know that, but it [was] fun because it [was] with my friends and everything," freshman Tannner Cobb said.

Single-gender English 9 classes result in ACLU intervention

Kyra Haas and Maddie Birchfield February 7, 2015

When freshman Aidan Dietz entered their seventh hour English 9 classroom on the first day of second semester, they were met with confused stares from their classmates. “At first people were looking...

Discussing amongst one another during a game of trivia, members of Scholars Bowl practice for upcoming tournaments. So far Free State has produced a successful season. "This is my eighteenth year coaching Scholars Bowl here at Free State and I've been the only coach that we've had here," Strawderman said.

Scholars Bowl Students Compete for Academic Expertise

Darby Gilliland, Reporter January 30, 2015

Every Monday from October until the end of February, students meet for an hour after school in Coach Oather Strawderman’s room to test their academic knowledge and trivia skills in preparation for their...

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