The 2017-2018 school year was an eventful one. From great TV shows and hit pop songs to fantastic sporting events and addicting video games—below are the trends that took Bedford by storm. “Ursus” conducted a survey which yielded 211 responses to see which trends the students of Bedford found the best and most prominent of the year.

Late Night TV Show

“The Tonight Show”
“Last Week Tonight”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live”
“Late Night”
“The Late Show”

“The Tonight Show” With Jimmy Fallon is a late-night comedy series that has been critically acclaimed ever since he took over in early 2014. His show includes a variety of celebrity guests, an in-house band, the Roots, and Steve Higgins, an announcer and a narrator while also having some very witty banter with Fallon. It has been said to be one of, if not the greatest late-night TV show on now.
– Finnegan Courtney

Sporting Event

“Villanova Wins Second Championship
“In Three Years”
“Astros Win World Series”
“Tiger Woods Returns”
“Eagles Win Super Bowl”
“Winter Olympics”
“Loyola-Chicago’s Magical Run”

The Winter Olympics were held from Feb. 9 to Feb. 25, 2018, in PyeongChang, South Korea. Ninety-two nations participated and 15 sports were showcased. On average, 19.8 million people watched NBC’s primetime coverage of the Olympics per day. Specific highlights were Alina Zagitova’s gold medal, two world records set by Russian figure skaters, Red Gerard and Chloe Kim’s gold medal finishes, and Adam Rippon’s impressive skate at age 28.
– Anastasia Thumser

Song

“God’s Plan”
“Pray For Me”
“Havana”
“Waving Through A Window”
“Despacito”

“God’s Plan” is a song by Canadian musician Drake from his album “Scary Hours,” which debuted in 2018. It became the 29th song in history to debut at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. The music video has received over 611 million views, and “God’s Plan” is the second song in history to be streamed 100 million times in a week.
– Anastasia Thumser

Movie

“Avengers: Infinity War”
“The Last Jedi”
“Jumanji”
“Black Panther”
“Ready Player One”
“The Greatest Showman”

“Avengers: Infinity War” is a action-adventure movie based on the Infinity Gauntlet Marvel comic book series starring the Avengers, such as Iron Man and Captain America, other superheroes like Dr. Strange and Spider-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy like Gamora and Rocket Raccoon, and of course the main villain, Thanos. The ending left audiences absolutely stunned and set up the next Avengers movie, premiering next year.
– Finnegan Courtney

Video Game

“Fortnite”
“NBA 2K18”
“PUBG Mobile”
“Star Wars Battlefront II”
“MLB The Show 18”

“Fortnite” is a third-person shooter video game that is available on all consoles; PC, xbox, PS4, and Iphone. The goal is to get the #1 victory royale. There is an in-game currency called v-bucks that players spend in the item shop. There are skins and gliders and emotes players buy in the item shop using v-bucks. Most players make the stereotype that the players that have skins are professionals at playing the game and the players that have the default skins are noobs, or players who are uneducated at playing the game.
– Nick Lolis

App

“Instagram”
“Snapchat”
“ESPN”
“Twitter”
“Youtube”

YouTube is a free sharing website that anyone can watch videos on. First created in 2005, YouTube has rapidly gained popularity, and now has visitors watching about six billion hours every month. A lot of BMS students love YouTube because there is everything imaginable on this app, from cooking videos to “Minecraft” tutorials, from music videos to TV shows to YouTube stars. Some students think of YouTube as an escape from reality, as they can find anything and everything on this popular app.
– Leliani Fleming

Trend

“Shellshock.io”
“Twitch”
“Skribbl.io”
“HQ”
“Paper.io”
“Yanny Or Laurel?”

“Shellshock.io” is a computer game where every player in the game is an egg and the objective is to kill as many other eggs as possible without dying. There are three classes players can break eggs with. One of which has a shotgun, one of which has an AK-47, one of which has a sniper rifle. Players choose their classes based on how well they play with them.
– Nick Lolis

TV Show

“Stranger Things”
“The Flash”
“The Good Place”
“Riverdale”
“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
“Saturday Night Live”

“Stranger Things” is a science-fiction, horror story television series created, written, and directed by the Duffer Brothers. Starring middle school and high school students, the show has been critically acclaimed for its characterization, pacing, soundtrack, atmosphere, directing, writing, and homages to the 1980s. It has also received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and nineteen nominations for the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.
– Anastasia Thumser

Meme

“Tide Pods”
“Wakanda Forever”
“Dwight Schrute”
“Grumpy Cat”
“ANGERY”

The tide pod meme is a meme that has made the top meme list on many social media sites. There have been memes like a caption saying, “Modern American Cooking” with a man scooping tide pods out of a tide pod bowl. This meme swiftly took over social media for a period of time.
– Nick Lolis

News Story

“Parkland Shooting”
“Gymnastics Scandal”
“Trump Investigation”
“#MeToo”
“Puerto Rico Crisis”
“Royal Wedding”
“#BlackLivesMatter”

The Parkland shooting was one of the most influential news stories of 2018. It caused numerous protests and a memorable National School Walkout to attempt to trigger some form of gun control or legislation. While much hasn’t happened yet, the survivors have gained enormous praise for their efforts.
– Finnegan Courtney and Natalie Bandura

New Expression

“DUB/L”
“Trash”
“Throwing Shade”
“Fake News”
“Lit/Litty”

The dub and the L are both the top of the 2017-2018 best expression and references to “Fortnite.” The Dub, which stands for W, which means win and is what “Fortnite” players tell each other when they ask each other how many wins they have. The L means lose or lost, such as in a game of “Fortnite” when you die is an expression used in “Fortnite” and probably “Fortnite” only.
– Nick Lolis

Celebrity Death

Stephen Hawking
Barbara Bush
Hugh Hefner
Tom Petty
Chuck Berry
Billy Graham

Stephen Hawking was a renowned British physicist. When he was only 21 years old, it was determined that Stephen had ALS which is a progressive disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Most people only live three to four years, but Hawking defied this by living until he was 76 years old. Hawking was mostly famous for his work about black holes. In 1974, Hawking shocked everyone by his groundbreaking theory that changed the way we think about black holes.
–Finnegan Courtney and Leilani Fleming