The Sentry

First impressions from a 6th grader

Caylin Simmons plays basketball during P.E.

October 5, 2020

Caylin Simmons is a sixth grader at Jackson Prep. She loves sports, as well as the arts. This year she does Pep Squad and after school art, and plans to play basketball, soccer, and tennis in the future. During P.E. several of her friends play football and basketball. This is Caylin’s firs...

The medical state of affairs: a scientific update on COVID-19

By Hannah Grace Biggs, Copy Editor

May 11, 2020

Before the coronavirus was classified as a pandemic and became widespread in the United States, I interviewed Dr. Nolan, an infectious disease specialist at St. Dominic. That was about two months ago. In the short time since, COVID-19 has become a worldwide crisis and spread rapidly throughout the U...

Cases continue to rise as the state begins to reopen (COVID-19 Mississippi/Jackson update 5/4/20)

By Joseph Watts, News Editor

May 4, 2020

The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths has continued to increase. As of May 4, Mississippi has 7,877 cases and 310 deaths. The statewide shelter in place ended Monday the 27th and was replaced by a Safer at Home Order. This order will remain in effect until May 11. It shares many aspects of the shelter ...

Mississippi begins to flatten the curve (COVID-19 Mississippi/Jackson update 4/23/20)

By Joseph Watts, News Editor

April 23, 2020

This past week, COVID-19 cases continued to rise, but in good news, the curve is beginning to flatten as Mississippi seems to have reached its peak. As of April 23, Mississippi has 4,894 cases and 193 deaths, with Issaquena continuing to be the only county without any cases. The statewide shelter in ...

The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise as Easter week ends (COVID-19 Mississippi/Jackson update 4/14/20)

By Joseph Watts, News Editor

April 14, 2020

Easter week saw COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Mississippi with almost 2,000 more cases. As of April 14th, Mississippi has 3,087 cases of the novel coronavirus and 111 deaths across all counties but Issaquena county. The statewide shelter in place order that was issued on April 1st is still i...

Statewide shelter in place order issued as Mississippi hits 1,000+ cases of COVID-19 (UPDATE 4/3)

By Joseph Watts, News Editor

March 23, 2020

COVID-19, commonly referred to as coronavirus, has struck Mississippi head on. As of April 1st, there have been 1,177 reported cases of the virus in Mississippi and 26 deaths, spanning 78 of the 82 counties. The number of reported cases has been increasing rapidly over the last few days due to an increase ...

Chess team places 2nd in state

By Selby Ireland and Joseph Watts

January 29, 2020

On Saturday, January 25th, the Jackson Prep’s Chess Club competed at the Mississippi Chess Association’s Scholastic Team Chess Championship. Prep brought three teams: a senior high A-team, a senior high reserve team, and a junior high team. The senior high A-team finished second in the champi...

Inky Johnson speaks to students about not giving up

By Joseph Watts, News Editor

January 22, 2020

On January 16th, inspirational speaker Inky Johnson came to speak to students as part of the Global Leadership Institute’s forum speakers. Inky Johnson was a defensive back for the University of Tennessee football team until he was injured in a game against Air Force in 2006. A ta...

OUTSIDE THE PREP BUBBLE: The strange case of Jeffrey Epstein

By Hannah Grace Biggs, Copy Editor

December 17, 2019

On August 10, 2019, American financer Jeffrey Epstein, charged with one count of sex trafficking of a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, was found dead in his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. Originally ruled a suicide by a New York city medi...

Stuck in an elevator with Rep. Gregg Harper

By Maggie Boswell and Mayrant Gonwa

December 17, 2019

On Friday, November 15th, Sophomores Lilly Grace Sites, Jane Hurst, Mayrant Gonwa, Maggie Boswell, Annie Jicka, Trinity Scalia, Worth Hewitt, Thomas Wasson, Shivraj Kumar, Jack Harvey, Havens Smith and Landon Miller had lunch with former Representative Gregg Harper. At lunch he gave a presentation ...

Previous Youth Governors at Prep

By Joseph Watts, News Editor

December 17, 2019

Prep students dominated the 2019 Youth Legislature conference. On top of students winning multiple awards and honors, junior Cass Rutledge took the governor’s race, making it the first time that Prep students have held the governor’s office for two consecutive years. He succeeds Prep senior Alex St...

A Day in the Life of the first female NFL referee

Sarah Thomas officiates the Los Angeles Chargers at the New England Patriots game.

By Lauren Anne Smith, Managing Editor

December 16, 2019

Watching an NFL game is an exciting experience when you’re in the sea of fans cheering on your favorite team. There’s not a dull moment with every kickoff, fumble, and touchdown sending the crowd into an uproar. Heads turn when the whistle is blown, as the referees set the tone of the game. Re...