Matt Wotus
Features Editor
In 2009, the class of 2013 arrived at Apex, unsure of what the next
four years held in store for them. Now ready to embark on a new chapter in
their lives, this year’s seniors not only saw themselves change these past four
years, but also the world around them.
2009
January 15 – Capt. Chesley “Sully”
Sullenberger safely lands US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River after a
flock of birds knocked out power to the plane’s engines. In what is now known
as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” Sullenberger is credited with saving the lives
of all 155 passengers and crew members on board.
January 20 – On a landmark
day, Barack Obama is sworn in as the first African-American president of the United
States.
Spring – The Apex women’s
lacrosse team wins their third state championship.
June 25 – Pop sensation
Michael Jackson dies at age 50 after suffering cardiac arrest at his home.
August 8 – Sonia Sotomayor
becomes the first Hispanic to be sworn in as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
November 27 – Tiger Woods
crashes his car in his Florida neighborhood, the first in a series of events
that includes Woods admitting to having numerous affairs.
2010
January 12 – A devastating
earthquake of magnitude 7.0 hits the island of Haiti, killing over 220,000
people, destroying 60 percent of the government infrastructure, and leaving
more than 180,000 homes uninhabitable.
Spring 2010 – The Apex
softball, women’s soccer, and men’s lacrosse team are all ranked number one in
the Tri-Nine 4-A Conference.
March 23 – President Obama
signs Obamacare, a $940 billion plan that is projected to give insurance
coverage to an additional 32 million Americans.
April 10 – A plane crash in
Russia leaves Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and many top Polish
military officials dead. In total, the crash left 97 dead.
April 20, 2010 – Deepwater
Horizon, an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, explodes, killing 11
workers. The explosion is followed by the worst oil spill in U.S. history, as
4.9 million barrels of crude oil is spilled in the Gulf.
May 1, 2010 – A car bomb was
found in New York’s Times Square, but it failed to explode.
July 25, 2010 – 75,000
documents are released by the website WikiLeaks. The documents deal with the
United States and the war in Afghanistan.
Fall – The Apex volleyball
team wins the state championship.
October 12, 2010 – The U.S.
military is ordered by Federal Judge Virginia Phillips to stop enforcing its
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
October 13, 2010 –
Thirty-three Chilean miners are safely rescued from a collapsed mine in
northern Chile. The men were underground for nearly 70 days.
December 22, 2010 – After a
review by the Pentagon, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is officially repealed.
2011
January – Regimes in Egypt
and Libya fall.
January 8 – Gabrielle
Giffords (D-AZ) of the U.S. House of Representatives is shot in the head at
point-blank range by Jared Loughner at a constituent meeting in a supermarket
parking lot in Arizona. Eighteen others were shot in the attack, six fatally,
including Arizona District Court Chief Judge John Roll and nine-year-old
Christina-Taylor Green.
March 11 – An 8.9 magnitude
earthquake and a subsequent 30-foot tsunami wreaks havoc on Japan, killing
almost 16,000 people, injuring 6,144, and leaving 2,676 missing. The natural
disaster also caused a nuclear meltdown at reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant, causing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of
residents.
April 29 – Known as the
Royal Wedding, Prince William and Kate Middleton marry at Westminster Abbey.
May 2 – Al-Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden is killed by U.S. commandoes in a raid in Pakistan. On the
FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists lists, bin Laden is
most known for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings and the
September 11 attacks.
July 22 – A terrorist attack
in Norway leaves 77 dead.
October 5 – Steve Jobs, the
founder of Apple, passes away of cancer at age 56.
2012
February 11 – Singer and
actress Whitney Houston is found dead in a hotel in Beverly Hills.
June – Former Penn State
assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is found guilty of sexually abusing 10
boys and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. Later, sanctions were placed on
the football program, including a $60 million fine, reduction in scholarships,
and a four-year postseason ban.
June 28 – Obamacare is
upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
July 20 – James Holmes opens
fire in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater, killing 12 and wounding 58.
July 27 – The 2012 Summer
Olympic Games kick off in London with the opening ceremony at Olympic Stadium.
October 29 – Hurricane Sandy
tears through the East Coast, leaving 128 people dead. The Superstorm caused an
estimated $71 billion worth of destruction.
November 6 – President Obama
defeats challenger Mitt Romney to win a second term in office. The president
won 332 electoral votes, in comparison to Romney’s 206.
December 14 – Twenty-six
people, including 20 children, are killed at the shooting at Sandy Hook
Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
December 7 – The U.S.
Supreme Court says that it will hear two cases regarding same-sex marriage. In
the November elections, Maine, Maryland, and Washington legalized gay marriage
by popular vote.
2013
March – The U.S. Supreme
Court hears arguments both for and against same-sex marriage. A ruling is
expected by June at the earliest.
March 11 – North Korea
declares its 1953 armistice agreement with South Korea invalid, meaning that
the two sides can resume fighting if they wish to.
March 13 – Cardinal Jorge
Mario Bergoglio from Argentina is elected the new pope and takes the name
Francis I.
April 15 – Two pressure
cooker bombs explode at the Boston Marathon, leaving three people dead and
injuring 264 people. Later in the week, one suspect is killed and the other is on
the run, triggering one of the biggest manhunts the United States has seen.
Eventually, the second suspect is brought into custody.
May 18 – Apex men’s lacrosse
wins the state championship on a last second goal.
May 20 – An enormous tornado
strikes Moore, Oklahoma, killing at least 24 people, including nine children,
and causing around $2 billion in damage.
May 24 – In a historic
decision, the Boy Scouts of America vote to allow openly gay scouts to join.
June 13 – The class of 2013
graduates today.
