The Forum

Florissant Valley’s two new buildings were expected to both partially open in January 2025 for the spring semester, as The Forum reported last fall. However, as new and returning students arrived at the campus weeks ago for the new semester, only one building, the Nursing and Health Sciences Center (NHSC), opened to students and faculty. The Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC), Flo Valley’s other new building, remains closed and under heavy construction.

Last semester, an article discussing the new policy surrounding club field trips, which limited non-local travel to five people per semester, was published in The Forum. Since then, Campus Life reached out to the staff at The Forum and provided several corrections and updates on the story. 

Around 9:30 p.m. CST on Saturday, Jan. 18, TikTok became unavailable in the U.S. hours before a ban on the app would come into effect on Sunday. However, at roughly 11 a.m. CST on Jan. 19, only half a day later, U.S. users who still had the app downloaded on their phones were able to access the app again.

In previous editions of The Forum covering the 2024 general election, I reported that Amendment 7 would force the City of St. Louis, which has used a voting method called approval voting since 2020, to revert to the first-past-the-post voting standard, which it previously used. This was false, as St. Louis was exempted from certain provisions of the amendment that would have restricted the city’s distinct voting method.

“Don’t Give Up on the Dream” was the theme of this year’s essay contest for Flo Valley’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. The essay writers wrote about what this theme meant to them, referencing Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The event also featured singers, an award presentation, and a keynote speech by D’Andre Braddix, STLCC’s chief engagement officer. What does this theme mean to you?

Jan. 20, 2025 was the third time in history that Inauguration Day landed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday, the two coinciding for inaugurations of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump. But, why have there only been three? Let’s look at the history of the two celebrations.

St. Valentine was reportedly a Roman priest in the 3rd century. There is much disagreement about this figure and his life–especially since there have actually been multiple Saint Valentines–but as the legend goes, he was stoned and beheaded on February 14, and that on that day he signed one of his final letters: “From your Valentine”. 

Cartoon by Abby Westhoff, Feb. 2025.