VHS Student Media

VHS Student Media Vandegrift High School's student newspaper: The Vandegrift Voice. Updated online at www.vandegriftvoice.com.

The NEW Voice staff attended the Interscholastic League Press Conference editorial leadership workshop at Texas State. S...
06/15/2025

The NEW Voice staff attended the Interscholastic League Press Conference editorial leadership workshop at Texas State. Stay tuned for their stories covering the 2025-2026 school year.

Capturing chords: Senior produces comprehensive band documentaryA professional camera in hand, the aspiring filmmaker cr...
05/21/2025

Capturing chords: Senior produces comprehensive band documentary

A professional camera in hand, the aspiring filmmaker crouches beside a sheet of endless concrete. Through the lens, she captures orderly lines of people, moving in coordinated patterns and hitting the audience with vast waves of sound. It’s the beginning of a documentary, covering the Vandegrift marching band from May to November 2023.

“It was my sophomore year, and I tried to get into filmmaking more,” senior Ava Vanna said. “So I had the idea of making a documentary, a feature length documentary.”

The production process of the documentary was thorough and exhaustive, covering everything from summer rehearsals to the fall competition season.

“When their competitions rolled around, I actually traveled with them,” Vanna said. “I would go on the bus. I would be with them from dawn to dusk during their competitions, I would go on the field as close as I could and just capture every moment.”

Every aspect of production was covered by Vanna herself, from the filming and interviews to the editing.

“This was really my first time ever handling a camera while moving around at the same time,” Vanna said. “I used to make short films on my phone, but this was my first time with a professional camera setup.”

The filming conditions weren’t always ideal either, including extreme weather.

“The greatest challenge was the heat,” Vanna said. “I started to feel like I was a band kid myself, because I was running around so much, and it was 105 degrees on some days. I was chugging my water, and I was sweating, and there was one day I almost passed out.”

Read 's full story at VandegriftVoice.com

Both State UIL Academics qualifiers placed. Ankit Gupta placed runner up in Science and Audryn Lee third in Feature Writ...
05/19/2025

Both State UIL Academics qualifiers placed. Ankit Gupta placed runner up in Science and Audryn Lee third in Feature Writing.

Summer in Austin: Top 5 things to do if you’re boredSummer is the time to explore the city, try out new things, and part...
05/19/2025

Summer in Austin: Top 5 things to do if you’re bored

Summer is the time to explore the city, try out new things, and partake in an assortment of activities that will make your summer incomparable to any other time of the year. For this reason, and in order to improve your summer experience our student media staff and some of our student body have curated recommendations for outdoor and indoor activities that guarantee a fun break like no other.

Paddleboarding at Ladybird Lake

Ladybird Lake is an Austin staple and a must-do for the summer. Paddleboards and Kayaks can be rented at a variety of locations, including senior Zak Meishentalter’s very own company “Peace Paddling”

“I definitely would [recommend paddleboarding with us] because we’re really cheap, so it’s a nice, easy thing for high schoolers to do,” Meisenhalter said. “You just come out and you park your car at our lot, and we drive you down there, we get you out on the water. It’s super fun. Lake Austin is always super refreshing.”

Meishenhalter’s company offers rental services, boat charters, as well as surf, wakeboard, and water sport classes.These activities will keep you entertained, but be sure to bring sunscreen and towels to keep yourself dry and sunburnt-free.

Free Concerts at the Long Center on Thursdays

“The Drop-In” is a series of free concerts held on The Lawn at the Long Center. The concerts begin May 22 and take place every Thursday until August 14.

“Music is such a core part of Austin culture,” senior and newspaper staff Indie Whitaker said. “These free concerts are a great way to embrace the city and hear new artists that aren’t quite as big.”

Visit VandegriftVoice.com for more from .

Passing Down ID Numbers🎨Sky Green
05/19/2025

Passing Down ID Numbers
🎨Sky Green

In San Antonio yesterday, doubles team Ninaad Nair and Griffin Henitz fell in the state quarterfinals to Katy Seven Lak...
05/16/2025

In San Antonio yesterday, doubles team Ninaad Nair and Griffin Henitz fell in the state quarterfinals to Katy Seven Lakes 2-1 after heartbreak in two tie breaks. Milagro Wilson lost to Karina Lee of El Paso Franklin in two sets in the Round of 16.

Congrats to the staff for a successful distribution of the already award-winning 2025 Veteran "Silver Lining".
05/16/2025

Congrats to the staff for a successful distribution of the already award-winning 2025 Veteran "Silver Lining".

Take a Break: Students ‘run away’ for the summer🖋.bych
05/15/2025

Take a Break: Students ‘run away’ for the summer

🖋.bych

Game on: Mr. Bowen’s equation for classroom successIn a classroom where equations meet excitement and math problems are ...
05/13/2025

Game on: Mr. Bowen’s equation for classroom success

In a classroom where equations meet excitement and math problems are a blast rather than a burden, Mr. Bowen isn’t just teaching—he’s transforming the way students experience math. AP Statistics and Algebra II teacher Matthew Bowen, in his second year at Vandegrift and sixth year of teaching overall, utilizes competitions and games to engage his students.

“From what I’ve seen, [games] greatly improve their engagement in class, which in turn improves their grades,” Bowen said. “They’re working just about from bell to bell—even when they don’t realize it, because it’s in the form of a game.”

At the start of the year, each student is grouped into one of the Harry Potter houses based on their personality, and throughout the rest of the year, they compete with other houses. At the end of each six weeks, house points – which can be earned through the many games that students play – are compared, and the house with the most points is rewarded with cupcakes, now a renowned symbol of power throughout Bowen’s students.

“I try to make my classes as engaging and entertaining as I can,” Bowen said. “From my perspective, if I’m not having a good time teaching it, my students probably are not going to be engaged or enjoying it while they’re learning it as well.”

This philosophy of his has led to a classroom filled with collaboration, competition and creativity. Instead of relying solely on traditional lectures and independent work, Bowen infuses his lessons with interactive activities and theme-based games that allows students to not just participate, but thrive.

“I’ve always had an inclination towards games,” Bowen said. “However, I didn’t realize I could apply it to teaching until more recently. I noticed that when students just had regular independent work time, they wouldn’t always use it wisely. But whenever we had a structured game or activity while working on independent practice, my students had a much higher completion rate across the board.”

Read .rashid_'s full story at VandegriftVoice.com.

Stay tuned for more prom coverage at VandegriftVoice.com 🖋
05/13/2025

Stay tuned for more prom coverage at VandegriftVoice.com
🖋

Leviathan levels up: ViperBots team takes second place at FTC World ChampionshipViperBots team Leviathan 18030 made a po...
05/09/2025

Leviathan levels up: ViperBots team takes second place at FTC World Championship

ViperBots team Leviathan 18030 made a powerful impression at the FTC World Championship, placing second among many teams from around the globe in a high-stakes competition held in Houston, Texas. Over four intense days of competition, Leviathan went head-to-head with top teams from around the globe, all showcasing robots they had spent months designing, building, and perfecting. Despite the high stakes, team members said the experience was both fun and unforgettable.

“I’ve always liked robotics and engineering since I was young, so I decided to join FTC in high school,” sophomore Brett King said. “Worlds was a lot of fun, we ended up doing pretty well and we ended up being the second place team in the world.”

That success didn’t come overnight. According to King, the team dedicated hundreds of hours to refining their robot and sharpening their strategy.

“Throughout the summer and this year, we’ve been doing a lot of practice and putting a lot of time into robotics,” King said. “We had a lot of weeks where I probably put in over 40 hours.”

In addition to long hours building and programming, the team worked with mentors and companies throughout the year to improve their design.

“We had a lot of outreaches with different companies who taught us different things about robotics,” King said. “Also, just talking to other teams and looking at other designs helped us figure out what to improve.”

For senior Celina Yang, robotics was a bridge to her future. Yang plans to study computer science in college, and mentioned how robotics gave her hands-on experience in the field.

“I pursued robotics because I was interested in computer science, and it’s a career I want to go into in the future,” Yang said.

Reflecting on the competition, Yang described the World Championship as “really cool and surreal.”

“It was really cool because you’re seeing all the top teams in the world and you’ve watched videos about them,” Yang said. “The skill level of everyone there is so high.”

Read the whole story at VandegriftVoice.com

‘Curiouser and curiouser!’: A review of the theater department’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’yThids senior directed performance...
05/07/2025

‘Curiouser and curiouser!’: A review of the theater department’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’

yThids senior directed performance was Alice in Wonderland and it was performed on May 3. This was my second time attending a Vandegrift Theater production, the other production I saw being Sherlock Holmes earlier this year. While Sherlock Holmes was a fantastic production with a stunning set, mysteries have never really interested me, so it wasn’t quite my cup of tea. However, with my love for Hamilton, I had higher hopes for this performance since it was a musical, and it exceeded my expectations.

One reason I was especially excited for this show was because it was senior directed. My fellow staff reporter and lifelong friend, Lourdes Hernandez, was one of the three seniors who worked on the musical, alongside Max Hunter and Izzy Riley. Lourdes has been updating all of us on staff about the progress of the show. From costume designs, to painting set pieces and working on tech, to media marketing strategies, the theater and especially the senior directors have put in so much work to make the show run smoothly.

Upon arriving inside the theater, I was immediately drawn to the side of the stages where set pieces were coming off the stage. There was a beautiful tunnel that I was sure would be the tunnel Alice follows the rabbit into. The rainbow-painted stairs, whimsical clocks and oversized playing cards decorating the stage made it feel like I had stepped through the looking glass and straight into Wonderland.
My favorite part of the production was definitely the music. All the songs were very catchy and each actor had a beautiful voice that added so much to their characters and helped the whole musical seem really captivating. I also loved how for some scenes the cast members would make their way off the stage and interact with the crowd, like blowing bubbles and throwing little bracelets. It helped me feel immersed into the play and like I was contributing to the production by just showing up.
Another thing I really enjoyed throughout the production was the costume designs. I loved the use of corsets for all the female characters, it made the outfits all seem connected and

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