The brave seniors of Newton High School (Newton, Kansas) took the first 'scary' step by enrolling in Rhetoric of Horror during the 2023-2024 school year. This course examined major concepts in the horror genre. Studies in this academic area provided space for students to work through major cultural problems and explore cultural anxieties we share about trauma, sexuality, difference, and mortality. These themes are negotiated, often indirectly, through the horror genre. The emphasis of this course was not on the appreciation of film or literary art, but rather, on theories about how horror is used and how horror works in our culture. It requires students to consider what scares people and how texts and media appeal to audiences.

The final for this course involved students using horror tropes ('the bad place', vampires, 'the beast within', 'the thing with no name', and ghosts.) The stories are written by the following authors: Keon Edwards, Kinsley Peterson, Ciara Guy, Connor Reed, Lilliana Ortiz-Robles, Eli Baker, Jackson Marlar, Ylia Lopez-Lozano, Nickoeli Egitizi, Alyssa Connor, Alliyah Rossiter, Victoria Medran, Abigail Shepherd, Cate Nembhard, Lea Baker, Gale Schneider, Michael Southern, Axel Collins, Makinzi Mullin, and Liddyah Snow.