We at Newman know that it is very hard to watch the nightly news broadcasts about the terrible impact that the BP oil disaster is having on the environment of the Gulf and those whose livelihoods were adversely affected by the spill. And though the news of capping and minimizing the leak is encouraging, there is still a monumental amount of work before the Gulf is restored to a healthy state. We cannot rest now, and we can’t do it alone.

The New Orleans Picayune covered this year’s Commencement in its School section, including photos of First Honor Student Geoffrey Liu and Second Honor Student Vikrant Induru, as well as student-nominated speakers Camille Seyler and Mark Allain. If you missed the chance to read about it in the paper, you can catch up with the news at Nola.com.

Got a problem? Throw money at it. Don’t have money? Throw some pies. Banking on the idea that students would just LOVE to get back at their teachers, a group of enterprising 8th grade girls enlisted four unfortunate faculty fall-guys to take one for the team. A year’s-worth of homework and pop quizzes was avenged, as students lined up to fling whipped-cream projectiles at Michael Riemer, CJ “Harb” Harbison, Michael Milling, and Michael Batterman.

You could say that Lily Miller hit the ground running. When her father took her to a track meet when she was in elementary school, something clicked inside her and she decided to take it up. “I started running when I was about eight or nine, and I always loved it,” she says. “I’ve been running ever since.”