Daily Archives: April 18, 2016

Advice/How To, Travel/Food

Road trip essentials

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As we all know, summer is quickly approaching and that means road trip season. Road trips can either be very fun or very boring, it all depends on how you prepare for them. This list of tips and tricks will help you have the best summer road trip experiences possible!

  • Wear comfortable clothing – If you plan on napping or just relaxing, you don’t want to be wearing constrictive clothing.
  • Bring a lot of water – In some rural areas, there won’t be any rest stops for hours away so you won’t have many chances to buy a water or fill up your bottle. It’s also important because if you have car trouble while on the highway, you will want to stay hydrated out in the hot summer sun.
  • Stop at rest stops whenever possible – Even if you don’t need to use the restroom or take a quick nap, it’s good to stop and use the restroom or fill up your water bottle because it’s hard to know when the next time you will be able to stop.
  • Bring snacks – It’s always a good idea to have food with you because good restaurants can sometimes be hard to come by.
  • Bring a car charger – Sometimes, when you don’t have cell service, your phone will roam and that will drain the battery so it is a good idea to always have one on hand.
  • Have a positive attitude – Even though it might be hard to think about having to be in a car with your siblings for a long period of time, you should stay positive throughout your trip because your attitude influences the outcome of your overall experience!
Clubs and Activities, School Life, Travel/Food

European trip: Spring Break 2016

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This Spring Break, 22 students at 3 teachers from Highland Park Senior High went to a trip with EF (Educational Tours) tours to Amsterdam, Paris, and London.

EF is a company that organizes international trips for students to learn about different cultures. EF provides a large array of countries for possible trips, including trips to Costa Rica, that Highland Park also participated in this spring break, Rome and Athens, and South Africa. The trip cost approximately $3,700. It was a good deal because it included tour guides, hotel and airfare, and breakfast and dinner. However, you do have to bring spending money for lunch and souvenirs. EF has different plans to pay for the trip, including monthly payments and paying for the trip in thirds.

We saw many tourist attractions, including Notre Dame, the Anne Frank Museum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Eiffel Tour, the Eye of London, Keukenof Garden, Palace of Versailles, Buckingham Palace, and many more. One of my favorites was being able to see the view of from the Eye of London. Also, the Camdon markets in London have a lot of cool stuff that you can only get there such as hand crafted art. We also visited Delft, a city outside of Amsterdam that had many shops and canals.

Brussels, Belgium was originally supposed to be included in the trip, but because of the terrorist attacks in March, the stop was cancelled. However, we still had a lot of fun in the other locations, and we got to spend more time in Amsterdam and less time on the bus getting to Paris.

In the end, the Europe trip was worth the money, and is a life changing experience that I would recommend to anyone at Highland Park.

Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Recess in high school

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Remember your recess days back in elementary school? Recess was a time for fun, and hanging out with your friends without having to worry. Well, in high school, you don’t get recess. Everyday is just going from class to class learning without a break, with kids rushing in the hallways trying to get to their next class before the bell rings.

Depending on the classes you take, you get a certain amount of work and assignments. With many assignments, you don’t have time for doing other stuff, which can lead to stress. Everyday is just going home and then starting homework.

Since high schools are giving students a ton of work, don’t you think recess is a good thing to add to high schools? Students could have the time to hang out with their friends and play games. Hanging out with friends can be a distraction from stress or worries.

Students could just have fun for 15 minutes and then it’s back to learning. They could get a break from learning and they might just enjoy school a bit more. Back in elementary school, during recess, everyone would run and play with their friends. Either playing tag or staying inside and playing card games or board games.

Recess would be nice to have in high school to help students get the stress off their shoulders. Students could work on their assignments with no distractions, a bit like study hall but with more freedom.

Sometimes students can feel restless and they want to go for a little run in the field. Recess would be giving them the freedom to do what they need to do for themselves that they can’t do in a classroom. Recess would be a good idea to add into high schools.

Entertainment, Events, Music/Concerts

Nerf Wars

As you all might know, Nerf Wars has started here at Highland. Every year students organize it and it lasts for about a month. Some of you might not know what it is, so what does Nerf Wars consist of and how does it work?

Nerf Wars are very fun to play with friends and family. It is an activity using Nerf guns or other toy weapons. Nerf Wars include outdoor battles and shoot-outs, it can take place anywhere, any area with a good amount of space are good candidates. With a large range of participants, outdoor areas are great for Nerf War battles. Nerf guns are relatively safe and cheap.

Here at Highland, there’re about 30 teams, each team including 5 players on each team, and all grades can participate. It is not a school planned activity, usually a group of seniors set it up and are known as the commissioners. Everything takes place outside of school and is not associated with any SPPS extra curricular activities. The commissioners set up a bracket, the rankings are based off of how many seniors are on the team, athleticism, how many licensed drivers, and car access.

Nerf Wars can be an entertaining event for people who are not playing as well. Teams and Highland Nerf Wars have set up twitter pages where you can interact with each other, read funny updates on teams wins and loses, and see photos people post about it.  Overall, Nerf Wars is an annual game that many enjoy participating in to end off the year with some fun.

Again, as previously mentioned, Nerf Wars are not a school sponsored event, and the school takes no responsibility for student conduct connected to Nerf Wars. Bring Nerf Wars to school at your own risk, as school discipline related to unacceptable behavior may apply.