Every few months, Blair's award-winning literary arts magazine Silver Quill sponsors Open Mic, a showcase for creativity and talent. Though performances range from poetry to music to writing, the turnout is always remarkable.

The crowd is packed, not a single individual is able to move his or her arms freely. Buses line up as teachers wait for their opportunity to disembark. The noise from the crowd is overpowering and it becomes increasingly harder to hear as teachers attempt to communicate with each other over all of the chanting.

Another spring break, another week spent alone while your friends travel the world (unless you are the one doing the traveling – in that case, hooray for you!). We here at SCO do not wish for you to be lazy and rot on the couch your entire break, so we have compiled a list of some of the quirkiest and most unknown museums right in our great backyard.

“Until pebbles/ grow into boulders/ covered in moss.” The final lines of the Japanese national anthem echo through the National Building Museum, filling the grand atrium with an air of solemn solidarity. Giant pink lanterns float overhead, emanating the soft delicacy of the Japanese Cherry Blossoms budding along the National Mall. Between the colossal pillars sits a captivated audience of locals and tourists, Americans, Japanese and nearly everyone in between, all uniting to champion the Japanese-American relationship in such trying times.

Everyday, the choices we make leave us open for judgment. Deciding to wear nice clothes or choosing to wear sweats. Getting a haircut or going all-natural. Even the nicknames we choose to go by can make us seem pretentious. Then, there are judgments, generalizations and stereotypes based on things that we don't choose – including race, accent and gender. Stereotypes are all around us; they're made on a daily basis, and they're unavoidable.