With 2019 coming to an end the time has come to look back on it. Both our accomplishments and mistakes are things to remember as they can shape the next year and many to come. Here are eight things that helped shape 2019.

Climate Strike

Spanning from Sept. 20-27, students across the world cut school in favor of protesting in demand that action be taken to address the quickly progressing climate change. Led and motivated by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, an estimated 7.6 million people participated across 185 countries throughout the entire week, a group the organized many of the protests. These dates were chosen due to them surrounding the day of the United Nations Climate Summit, with the most recorded number of participants being of the first and last days. The Sept. 20 protests are widely accepted to be the largest number of climate strikes ever recorded for a single event.

First Image of a Black Hole

On April 10 a picture was released to the public depicting the first picture ever taken of a black hole. Quickly going viral wasn’t a picture of the hole itself but was a picture of Katherine Bouman, one of the many team members who made the image possible, posing with a picture of the hole on a laptop. Specifically, the image shows a supermassive black hole at the center of Virgo, a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the Virgo constellation. Taking close to two decades to successfully acquire the picture, ac countless number of people dedicated their time and knowledge to this accomplishment.

Two of the Biggest Mass Shootings of the Year On Back to Back Days

This year two of the largest mass shootings took place on Aug. 3 and 4. The first one taking place in El Paso, Texas at a Walmart causing 22 deaths and 24 injuries. The day after in Dayton, Ohio outside of Ned Peppers Bar, with 10 deaths and another 17 injuries. 

Donald Trump Impeachment

The most recent on this list happened on Dec.18 after the impeachment inquiry was initiated in September. This was due to a phone call President Trump had with the president of Ukraine, where the US president subtly suggested to him that he investigate former Vice President and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden, as well as his son. This falls under the category of high crimes and misdemeanors stated in the constitution. After a lengthy inquiry, President Donald Trump was impeached after a vote in the Senate. His trial that will decide whether or not he will be removed from the office is expected to take place in January after the holidays.

“Avengers Endgame”

Arguably the most anticipated movie of the year, “Avengers Endgame” marked the end of our beloved Avengers that this generation has grown up with. With many marvel productions still to come involving many of the characters seen in this movie, it definitely isn’t the end of the franchise but this movie marked the final appearances of Iron Man, Captain America and Black Widow, at least in any project set in our current time as there is a Black Widow movie coming next year. With the decade ending this year as well the release of this movie was very cathartic for people who have become adults in the last decade.

“Game of Thrones”

The eighth and final season of television phenomenon “Game of Thrones” premiered in April on HBO. Starting in 2011, the show quickly became popular with its acting, complex characters and story. With both many actors and viewers growing up with the show, it is another thing is media that symbolizes both the end of the decade and the end of an important time in our lives. The finale, however, was controversial as the ending was widely unaccepted as good enough to mark the end of such an iconic show. With the last episode coming in at only 59 percent positive reviews from critics and 32 percent audience score, according to Rotten Tomatoes, The final season was one of the most talked-about things before, during and after its release.

Ok Boomer

One of the more recent memes, but probably one of the most important, “Ok Boomer” is a phrase intended to be used mostly comedically to shut down someone speaking, who may agree more with the conservative, older side of America. Many members of the actual Boomer generation have argued that it’s disrespectful and an ageist slur, however, it isn’t a term meant for the entire generation but rather anyone of any age who refuses to comply when asked to have a civil conversation. 

Area 51 Raid

Going viral in late June, the facebook event “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” was posted. This sparked the most talked about meme of the summer. Scheduled for Sept. 20, the event was originally posted as a joke but soon it had over 2 million people signed up to go. By the time the event actually rolled around the hype was over and only an estimated 1,500 people shoed up to the area surrounding Area 51. This didn’t stop people trying to make money off of it though as two music festivals were scheduled to coincide with the event and tourist merchandise was produced faster than ever. While no real threat to the military base and only seven arrests made, the Area 51 Raid became a meme for the history books as it shows just how united we can become with the same ridiculous common goal.

Along with news both good and bad, this year brought a fair amount of new movies and entertainment to our lives. With movies and television to mark the end of an era and memes that are both funny and important, not only do these things help us remember the past year but the past decade as well.