Droves of students wandered through the center corridor of tables putting out feelers, while flanking club representatives from behind their tables and posters, sounded their pitches during the 2026 Clubs Fair that took place in Building 8 during opening week.

From informed career growth to the celebration of one’s culture, joining a club at Highline College offers many advantages. Running Start Club, Badminton Club, Minecraft Club and Business Club, to name a few, were among the many trumpeting their boons at the fair.

The excitement on campus during opening week was not limited to the classroom as students and faculty gathered to have some fall fun with games, snacks, socializing, and even a raffle during the Carnival Palooza.

“What better way to start the quarter than a carnival?” said Yuan Fernandez Granil, an advisor within the Programming & Marketing Leadership department. Spurred on by the success of a similar event that took place during last year’s Thunderweek, Fernandez Granil decided to replicate the theme, as Autumn is the peak season for carnivals.

As a brand new student to Highline, and to higher education as a whole, I was unaware of what to expect from my first days on campus. I had arrived very excited for my first college experience, a place where so many eager minds will cross in front of me, all sharing a value for learning. 

I could feel the extra adrenaline pumping and the franticness of some of my thoughts: “Where am I going? Am I smart enough to do this? Am I going to freak out? Am I too old? Why is there the biggest pile of dirt I’ve ever seen, towering in the middle of campus!?”

Despite the title, the Welcome Tea had more than just a variety of teas for students to choose from to start their first mornings back on campus. The event, co-hosted by the Women’s Programs and WorkFirst, also gave out hot cocoa, coffee, and baked goods such as danishes for the first two mornings of the quarter.

According to Alycia Williams, the program manager of both departments, the Welcome Tea has been a tradition at Highline College for the last ten years. “The Women’s Programs Welcome Tea is one of our signature events and it was designed to make the students feel comfortable [and] welcomed,” said Williams. “It was designed to build community and for students to get to know who we are as Women’s Programs. We are a resource center, so the main goal is to get students comfortable, they can grab a snack, grab coffee, warm up — it’s the fall, why not?”

The start of the new school year also means a new season of Highline sports. With a line-up of volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s golf, the fall quarter is chock full of Thunderbird athletics.

Long before the fall quarter commences, our Thunderbird athletes were working their way through the 2026 season. With their first matches taking place at the end of August, the season is well underway for Highline’s men’s soccer, women’s soccer, and volleyball teams. While the men’s golf team just teed up for their first invitational this week.

The Seattle Kraken have finished up their sixth preseason and with that prospective players for the season have finished up what could be considered their final audition to make the final roster.

As a relatively newer team, they’re still gaining their footing in the league. The Kraken have only made the playoffs one time and overall have been considered a very middling team. It doesn’t help their reputation that the team that joined at the same time as them — the Vegas Golden Knights — not only made the playoffs for the 2025-26 season but they also reached the Stanley Cup Final, but were bested by the reigning champions, the Carolina Hurricanes.

For the past three years parrots across the U.S. have been taught to video call each other as a form of social interaction. This observational study was done to learn more about the social habits of captive parrots and how parrot-to-parrot interaction can benefit them. 

Parrots are very social animals, typically living in large groups. They thrive in settings with their peers. Captive parrots are primarily kept in singular bird homes, which can be detrimental to them, leading to isolation or depression if they don’t have a ‘flock’ of their own, whether that be other birds or a close human family.

A new study discovered that dogs can tell the difference between several human emotions. While dogs have been known to recognize emotions, this is the first time scientists have discovered how they actually do this.

“Humans are really good at picking up small details on the face, and so are dogs,” says Raúl Hernández-Pérez from the University of Vienna. They monitored eight different dogs’ brains and showed them pictures of unfamiliar humans. The unfamiliarity of the photos shown allowed for less bias, as dogs become happy or excited when they see someone they consider their family. 

Highline College will hold a celebration to honor Dr. John Mosby next week, Wed. Oct. 14, 2026, from 4 to 6 p.m., in Building 8.

“The Highline College community is invited to join us for a special dedication ceremony celebrating the life, leadership, and lasting impact of Dr. John R. Mosby,” states an email from the office of the President of Highline College.

On Monday, Sept. 28 2026, the Trump administration announced they had rolled back a Biden era policy that included LGBTQ people under the sex based discrimination policy Title IX. 

The decision comes after years of the administration cracking down on LGBTQ related issues and creating policies to limit specific freedoms. For example, pretty quickly after taking office, 34-time felon Donald Trump signed an executive order barring openly transgender individuals from enlisting in the U.S. military.

With the ending of the 2026 spring quarter, this week’s episode brings you the final ThunderPod with host Evelyn Rissell and editor MacKenzie Charles. 

This bittersweet ending reflects on the all things ThunderWord with esteemed professor Kara Stuart. Her interview concludes the Pod’s ongoing feature of Career Conversations with Highline’s Communication Studies Department.