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The Student News Site of Vel Phillips Memorial

Espada y Escudo

Espada y Escudo

Espada y Escudo

The Student News Site of Vel Phillips Memorial

June Editor’s Note – Congrats On Making It Through The Year!

Max Knight June 1, 2025

Hello, Spartans! Once again, I'm Max Knight, your current Editor-in-Chief here at Sword and Shield, here to deliver the final editors note of the year and the final editors note of my tenure here at Sword...

2025 Senior Honors Convocation Overview

Max Knight June 1, 2025

Every year, Memorial holds an honors convocation to celebrate students who have been awarded scholarships or honors by the school. This year, the Fifty-Eighth Scholastic Honors and Awards Convocation was...

Leo XIV Elected As New Pope

Ben Thom, Arts & Entertainment Editor June 1, 2025

After the dramatic and unexpected death of Pope Francis, all eyes were on the Vatican and the famous conclave in early May. Many were wondering who the new head of the Catholic church would be. Would it...

PBS, NPR Under Threat As Trump Cuts Continue

PBS, NPR Under Threat As Trump Cuts Continue

Henry Riley, News Editor, Co-Sports Editor June 1, 2025

Two major public media organizations, PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and NPR (National Public Radio), are potentially set to shrink or even collapse due to President Trump’s threats and attempts to...

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning (No Spoilers!)

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning (No Spoilers!)

Ben Thom, Arts & Entertainment Editor June 1, 2025

Tom Cruise is back! (Did he ever leave?) Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning brings a bombastic conclusion to the Mission: Impossible franchise. With submarines and biplanes, TWO nuclear bombs, and...

Image credit to Colby Gutierrez-Kraybill

Summer Reading Recommendations

Amalia Weix June 1, 2025

One of the best and worst things about the summer is the massive amount of freetime created by the sudden absence of school. On one hand, I love having all that time to pick up hobbies, work, or even just...

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building, connected to the White House, in which DOGE operates

Elon Musk Leaves Trump Administration and DOGE

Henry Riley, News Editor, Co-Sports Editor June 1, 2025

After his sudden rise to political power and involvement in politics on the national and state (basically one state, Wisconsin) levels, Tesla & SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is stepping away from Washington...

Image credit to Watts

Goldfish, A.I., and Propagated Lies

Amalia Weix June 1, 2025

The list of reasons to be suspicious of generative A.I. is long, and it feels as if it gets longer every day. Companies use it as an excuse to lodge extra spyware into our devices, it gets a ludicrous...

Thoughts On The Grown-Ups

Thoughts On The Grown-Ups

Amalia Weix June 1, 2025

VPM Drama absolutely knocked it out of the park with their production of The Grown-Ups. It’s a very well-written play, and was further elevated by the amazing performances of the cast. Everyone did a...

Image credit to Michael Coghlan

The Trials and the Purpose of Blame

Amalia Weix June 1, 2025

This past month, I was fortunate enough to see The Trials performed by Children’s Theater of Madison. Every one of the cast members did a terrific job on this fantastic play. If you didn’t see it,...

2025 Demonstration of Learning Preview

2025 Demonstration of Learning Preview

Nina Zhu, Student Life Editor June 1, 2025

It’s that time of year, Spartans! With around a week left of school, we just have to finish our semesterly Demonstration of Learning, or DoL, before we can enjoy our summer. Here’s this year’s DoL...

AP Test Review

Patrick Mulkey, co Editor in Chief, Sports and co News Editor June 1, 2025

School is almost over for the Spartans and the AP tests have come and went. I was lucky enough to take five of them and will be sharing the good, the bad and the ugly about the AP exams this year. To start,...

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