“end of year”

Finals & End of School Year

Final exams begin next week, and the break behind them is the only thing left between students and summer.

Hanna Seo/Jun 2026

Two members of the Valor community pulling faces for the camera, drawn over in pink and yellow marker

Psychology

Why Goodbyes Feel So Strange: The Peak-End Rule

You will not remember every quiz. You will remember the peak and the ending — which is why June feels like this.

Seohyun Choi/May 2026

A wall of pinned photographs and polaroids

Social Issues

Former President Yoon's Trial as Ringleader of Insurrection

Five years for obstruction. Prosecutors asked for death. Seven trials still to come.

Jalen Park/Mar 2026

Yoon Suk Yeol speaking from the defendant's seat in court

Lord of the Flies

Human nature, power, fear and society — and the recognition that Golding was not writing about monsters.

Seoyun Lee/Dec 2025

The Book page carrying the Lord of the Flies review

Staff Interview: Mr. Hyeongbin Chu

On being a scholar before a teacher, League of Legends, pineapple pizza, and whether he is leaving Valor.

Caiden Kim/May 2026

Two students making a heart shape over Mr. Chu for the camera

AP Exam Season is finally over!!

Weeks of FRQs and last-minute cramming end, and the conversation turns to summer, graduation and prom.

Hanna Seo/May 2026

The front page of Volume 4, No. 4, with the School News lead story

Home Alone (1990)

Comfy clothes, hot cocoa, and the best Christmas atmosphere of any Christmas movie.

Juwon Kim/Dec 2025

Kevin looking up at the two burglars in a still from Home Alone

Interview: Ms. Krebs

Nine siblings, a pet wild hog, Cast Away, and why she is leaving VIS after two years.

Valor Times Staff/Jun 2026

A peacock, printed beside the question about which is the ruder animal

Staff Interview: Ms. Esther Lee

The Head of Upper School on a fast transition, hobbies she jokes she doesn't have, and not rushing the next stage.

Victoria Oh/Mar 2026

The staff interview page as printed in Volume 4, No. 3

Teacher/Staff Interview: Mr. Knickerbocker

Twenty years in Korea, board games and fantasy football, and why he would pick teleportation.

Caiden Kim/Nov 2025

Mr. Knickerbocker photographed outdoors in front of greenery

Lando Norris Wins the Formula 1 World Championship

P3 at Yas Marina, two points clear of Verstappen, and the first McLaren champion since Hamilton in 2008.

Yujin Lee/Dec 2025

Verstappen, Norris and Piastri on the podium in team kit

I'll Cross the World to Find You

세계를 건너 너에게 갈게, by Lee Kkot-nim. A letter written in 2016 arrives in 1982.

Hannah Cho/Nov 2025

The Recommendations page carrying the book review

Staff Interview: Ms. Williams

Talent Show 2nd place winner. Weird, unique, humorous — and a conspiracy theory about where the rain comes from.

Victoria Oh/Dec 2025

A graphic reading Ms. Ashley Williams, with two photos of her in beanies

Prom 2026

Held at Once Upon a Nature: dresses, suits, raffle tickets and an awards ceremony to close the night.

Hanna Seo/May 2026

Gold foil balloons spelling PROM, with two students posing beneath them

Social Issues

Australia BANS Social Media for Teenagers Under 16

4.7 million accounts revoked. The minister calls it 'behavioural cocaine'. Teenagers call it unnecessary.

Yujin Lee/Mar 2026

Social media app icons stacked together on a black background

Mission Trip Site: Kenya

The least-popular site by distance, and a country that leads on conservation, renewables and tourism.

Victoria Oh/Dec 2025

An acacia tree standing alone on the Kenyan savannah beneath a wide sky

Social Issues

Phones, Social Media & Teen Mental Health

France, Australia and the courts. A Pediatrics study links preteen smartphone ownership to depression and lost sleep.

Jalen Park/Dec 2025

A circle of teenagers seen from below, each looking down at a phone

Christmas Gift Guide

Fifty things, possibly heavily inspired by what the writer wants for Christmas.

Yujin Lee/Dec 2025

Science

Nitroplasts: A New Discovery That Could Change Farming

A new organelle, found in ocean algae at UC Santa Cruz. New organelles almost never appear.

Hyunji Song/Dec 2025

A microscope image of a single-celled alga