After three days of torrential rain left both residential and commercial areas of the state underwater, January became a month of repair and restoration. An estimated half million tons of debris were left behind in the wake of this flooding, and 23 lives were lost to the rising waters. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon called in the National Guard during January’s early days to assist in clearing the destruction left behind by waters four feet higher than previous historic records. While flooding did not come close to Parkway, West students often found friends and relatives in other districts at risk.

Over 400 students were absent from classes on the day of Feb. 22. Finding them, however, required looking no further than the festivities taking place in the main gym: the 2016 Special Olympics. The annual event invited students of all grade levels to play basketball as a buddy, call games as a referee, or work the activities in victory village. In 2016, the event-planning torch was passed to sophomore Nicole Wang as she led hundreds of athletes through a fun day of competitive sports and games.

As the race for the presidency heated up, rumors of a candidate holding a rally in the main gym on March 9 started among the student body. With no context or clues as to who the visitor was, the guessing continued until it was confirmed that Texas senator Ted Cruz had reserved the gym for a Saturday campaign rally. Free tickets were offered, and school administration encouraged student attendance as a first hand learning experience about the election process.

Although the proposal for Parkway’s new sex education curriculum was passed in March by a 5-4 vote, it was during April that district schools were abuzz with the debate: did health classes need to be reformed? Legislation for the new curriculum was first brought to district attention back in 2013. Since that point, debate has been ceaseless; it was up to students, parents, teachers and administrators to decide where the line should be drawn between teaching family values versus safe practices.

It was the challenge that had students purposely half-emptying water bottles and school administrators flinching at the sound of plastic hitting the floor: the water bottle challenge. Although the challenge only sparked in popularity when school began once more in August, the trend started in late May when the trick was performed as part of an Arizona high school’s senior talent show and posted on Youtube. Several million views later, students all across the country were flipping bottles of water through the air on school grounds; every successful landing is cue for peers to start yelling.

After a close call was made by Cincinnati Zoo officials to shoot and kill Harambe, the quiet tragedy was quickly spun into a meme that both somewhat disgusted zoo officials and delighted those well versed in internet inside jokes…especially students. The 17-year-old Western lowland gorilla made the national news when shows his aggression posed a threat to a young zoo visitor in his exhibit at the end of May. The trend continued through the entirety of June and well into July and beyond, with the fabled gorilla’s name still occasionally returning as a joke in a class project or assignment.

To some, it brought communities together. To others, it fostered anti-social tendencies. No matter where one may stand in the debate, it is undeniable that Pokemon Go shattered previous standards for mobile apps. At its peak, over 20 million users were out trying to “catch them all” each day. As the school year drew closer, the craze slowly faded. These days, seeing another mobile Pokemon trainer is a rarity in of itself.

School’s back in session, and with bad news to boot. Rumors quickly began to spread that Parkway administration had made the decision to soon prohibit the consumption of any non-cafeteria-produced foods on school grounds. With only one exception present to the rule, brought-in school lunches, a large number of school fundraisers and club activities were threatened to be cut out of the picture. The affected list was long: Pi Day pie sales, bagel sales, popcorn sales, the senior class graduation party, in-class food celebrations and more.

While the sad green frog face frequently used by students originated from an innocent comic in 2005, during the month of September, the Anti-Defamation League officially declared Pepe the Frog to be a hate symbol. The listing of the popular meme was caused by its diversity; the same editability that allowed for the creation of “rare” Pepes presented an equal opening for racist or bigoted groups to create their own Pepes with similarly bigoted messages and meanings. Campaigns such as #SavePepe pushed for the cartoon character to be recognized not as a hate symbol, but rather as he was created – a laughable frog with no bad intentions.

Just when 2016 had seemingly peaked, a new challenger arose to take the “weirdest occurrence of the year” throne. While the initial rumors of murderous clowns sightings originated from other cities across the states, the clown scare came home to St. Louis when county schools received online threats from individuals posing as the haunting harlequins spotted elsewhere throughout the nation. Word spread quickly among Parkway West students, causing several days to be filled with talk of false clowns sightings on the roof, in the hallways, and behind the school after Keith Marty’s “clear of clowns” email was sent out.

To the majority of students, Nov. 8 was a day of inaction. No matter how strongly one may have felt toward the election, there was no voting for anyone under the age of 18. This, however, stopped few from showing their support for certain candidates on school grounds. Apparel ranged from metallic “I’m With Her” buttons, to red “Make America Great Again” hats, to shirts vaguely referencing past candidates. The closing of the polls by no means meant that all shows of presidential support vanished from the classroom; rather, Nov. 9 was filled with even more political exhibitions than the day before.