By: Shelby Kuzminski

As with any year, there were many positives and negatives of 2018. As we look back on the year and get ready to move on to 2019, The Squire has ranked some of the best and worst trends of the year. The best part of 2018 was the retro styles coming back into fashion, new music artists trending, and new sports winners taking the lead. The Squire took a poll on Instagram to get some feedback from our loyal followers.  After totaling up the votes, these were the best and worst of 2018.

 The Best of 2018

Celebrities 

• Post Malone: (Rapper) Post became famous with teenagers, along with many of his songs reaching number one on the charts.
• Ariana Grande: (Pop singer) This former Nickelodeon star hit her mark in 2018, with several of her songs hitting the top of the charts.
• Khalid – (R&B artist) Calm, cool, and relaxing are just a few ways to describe his music. He hit the teen hearts hard with his songs relating to high school years.
• Billie Eilish – (Indie pop singer) This young singer is upbeat, but uses a mellow tone to voice her music.

 Fashion                 

• Scrunchies -Fashionable fabric hair tie, once very popular in the 80s and 90s.
• Mom Jeans – Baggy and ripped high-rise jeans.
• Charcoal face masks- A beauty treatment to clear pores and replenish nutrients in your face.

Sports/ Events

• World Series winner: The Boston Red Socks
• World Cup winner: France National Football Team
• NBA Championship winner: Golden State Warriors
• Superbowl winner: Philadelphia Eagles
• The Winter Olympics took place in South Korea during February (9 to 25). Sweden, Canada, Norway, Germany, and the United States had the most gold medals.
• Local events: After many years in disarray, the Warren Mall is under construction and being turned into a strip mall. New stores are coming to the Warren area, providing new jobs and more places to shop.

The Worst of 2018

Events:

• People eating Tide Pods: The Tide Pod challenge started at the beginning of 2018 and became viral. Soon many teenagers started eating Tide Pods. About 12,000 people poisoned themselves by consuming the laundry detergent.
• Hawaii Volcano Eruptions: Parts of Hawaii were covered in lava as the dormant volcano Kilauea exploded on May 3.
• Toys R US closure: Sadly, the franchise closed down due to the lack of children buying toys. Nowadays, kids are obsessing over electronics, and most shopping is done online. As a result, we lost one of the biggest toy companies in America.
• Bon Ton and Sears’s closure: Two more instances of franchises shutting down stores this year, due to declining business and the popularity of online shopping.
• Boy Scouts of America turning into The Scouts of America: In the upcoming year, it will officially change to Scouts of America. The girls will now be able to go higher up in ranks along with the boys. Over many opinions this certain decision was not favored by many. Girl Scouts are still remaining independent but girls can join the “Scouts of America” (formally Boy Scouts of America) if they wish.
• Wildfires in California: Wildfires continue to destroy thousands of homes and forests. This season is said to be the worst season for fires and is setting record high costs in damages.
• Hurricane Florence and Michael: Southeast America was hit with two large hurricanes, which destroyed thousands of homes and land. Hurricane Florence is currently one of the highest destructive hurricanes in the US.

Deaths

• Stephen Hawking: Smartest person in the world
• Stephen Hillenburg: Creator of Spongebob
• Xxxtentacion: Rap artist
• Mac Miller: Rap artist
• Avicii: Pop singer and DJ
• Stan Lee: Comic book writer and editor
• Naomi Parker Fraley: The woman who inspired the artist for the famous poster of Rosie the Riveter

The Squire interviewed Michael Abadie to get an opinion on how this year went. Michael said the best part about 2018 was summer, and the worst part was that Avicii passed away. Michael continued to say that his style did change throughout the year, “I got a lot of crazy pants, mirror shoes, and dyed my hair, so I think my style changed a heck of a lot.” The one trend Michael said would continue would be the Vans (brand of shoe) because they are stylish and comfy. Overall, Michael explained that his year was about an overall seven on scale of ten.  He is looking forward to the next year and is prepared for 2019 adventures.

With 2018 coming to an end, it is always fun to look back on all the events that happened in the year, good or bad. 2018 flew by and 2019 is around the corner. What will the new year bring? Are you ready for 2019?