Monthly Archives: April 2016

Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Mystery positive notes in the girls school bathroom?

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Today I’m looking into a mystery that’s been going on this past week at Highland Park Senior High.

April 12th, 2016 some mysterious student(s) decide to put sticky notes, with positive messages written on them, up in the girls bathroom. But, they decide, the next day, to take them off. This left people with questions about who this person, or people, is/are and why are they doing this.

Being one of the individuals that was left with questions, I decide to take it into my own hands and try to find out more about this mystery.

It turns out, random students (girls) are the ones putting up the sticky notes. During the school year, they decide to wrote positive Post-it notes to make other girls feel better when they were feeling down. They put them around the school bathrooms to remind them they were not alone. Usually, the people who do this sort of thing don’t take credit for it. It’s like they want it to be a mystery, and students have been doing this for a while now, according to some older students at Highland Park.

I decide to ask a student about what they tought about this. Her name is Olivia Verdeja, a freshman at HPSH.

I asked was, “How did you personally feel when you saw this notes around the bathroom what we’re you’re toughts and reaction?”

She responded with, “I liked it and thought it as cool because in high school a lot of people don’t have self confidence and I think if girls see this it means that other girls feel the same way and aren’t alone.”

My opinion is that people at Highland should start to do this more often, as just one little thing can make a difference in others’ lives; both those who are struggling, and those who aren’t. Also, kids need to know that everyone cares and they’re not the only ones who feel like they do. Working together as a whole school coming together is a great thing.

News

Do teens really know about the politics of today?

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Teens this year are really focused on the politics & the elections this year, but do they really know what they’re talking about? We took the time to go around and ask students who attend Highland Park Senior High what they know about the politics of today.

Since this is the last year that President Obama is going to be in office, Republicans and Democrats are going to try to argue and persuade the American people, and are going to try to explain why the people of America should vote for them.

What is a Republican? According to Google, a Republican is:

  1. a form of government, constitution, etc, belonging to, or characteristic of a republic.
  2. A person advocating or supporting republican government,&  a member or supporter of the Republican Party.

It says here at http://2016.republican-candidates.org/ that the top Republicans left in this Presidential election include:  

  • Donald Trump
  • Ted Cruz
  • John Kasich

There were 6 more Republicans running earliers such as:

  • Marco Rubio
  • Ben Carson
  • Jeb Bush
  • Mike Huckabee
  • Rand Paul
  • Carly Fiorina

Then there are Democrats: a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives (according to Google).

The top Democrats left running for President are:

  • Hillary Clinton
  • Bernie Sanders

We asked some fellow high school students about what they know about the politics of today, and these are some of their responses:

Dejra: I know that there are Democrats and Republicans but I know that Trump is all talk, and what he says doesn’t connect with the world’s problems.

Angel: Don’t vote for Donald Trump.

Serene: I know that Trump is a Democrat and that most of the President candidates are Republicans so Trump stands out and he thinks he is the stuff because he a Democratic.

In the end, we realized that most teenagers don’t really know about the politics of today. We found out that most of the kids that talk about the politics mostly focus on the negative remarks based on what they hear. They know the basics of what’s going on and they don’t really know the actual information disputed and what the main problem is. It’s social media that makes one situation look like the next, and then makes each and every candidate look like the bad guy when every candidate has the ability of convincing one another why they would be a good leader for our country.

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.

School Life

MCA opt out

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Standardized testing can help some but hinder others. In Minnesota, we take the MCAs and every year students go through the stress of getting prepared for taking these standardized tests. The word has gotten out that there is an option to opt out of these tests, and in some ways this can be helpful, but as a whole it could end up hurting our schools.

The results from these standardized tests determines if some schools need more staff and teachers, or if some schools might not need any support. This means that if the results are low across the board that means the school is struggling and it may need more staff to help the students. If the results are high this means that the school probably does not need any support, and they may even be awarded for the high scores.

I asked Ms. Esso, a counselor here at Highland, some general questions about opting out of MCA tests. She said that if a student wanted to opt out of testing, their parent or guardian could write a formal letter to the principal explaining that the student is going to opt out and why they made that decision. The letter should be delivered before the testing process begins so that the testing coordinator knows not to keep sending passes to that student to take the test.

Some people may think that standardized tests, like the MCAs, don’t serve a purpose, but they do. If a school is generally struggling, their test scores could help with the opportunity to revamp the school’s approach to testing. But if enough students decided to opt out, the overall test scores wouldn’t show how the whole school was doing from an academic standpoint. On the other hand, schools that are excelling could get awards and that not only makes the school look good, but the whole district.

Clubs and Activities, School Life

Bringing Black History to Highland Park Elementary

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On Thursday, March 25th, Highland Park Senior High Black Student Union (BSU) members took a field trip to Highland Elementary School. While at Highland Elementary, BSU members visited a fourth grade class. There, BSU had an interactive presentation on Black History and black culture. The presentation covered a wide array of things.

The presentation started off with an with an overview of Black History taught in school. BSU asked the fourth graders about what they knew about Black History, and also what they’ve learned in school so far. Most of the responses were connected to the Civil Rights Movement.

There were answers such as “Martin Luther King Jr.”, “Whites had different water fountains”, and “Black people were mistreated”. However, there were also answers like “Fetty Wap”, “Michael Jackson”, and even “The Italo-Ethiopian War”.

BSU wanted to know what the fourth graders knew about Black History because the members of BSU don’t recall learning much about Black History in Elementary School, besides some key events in the Civil Rights Movement.

The presentation touched on how history is usually taught from a Eurocentric perspective, and that African or African American History is usually taught in elective classes. BSU explained that there should be more Black History taught in schools, especially Elementary Schools, because that is a prime learning time for students.

The presentation then talked about what BSU meant, and what its purpose was. “We want to help people understand their privilege, and provide voices for students of color,” BSU stated. ” We also want to help educate people about Black History and common misconceptions, and also help end the disenfranchisement of Black people”. The fourth graders looked severely confused at the use of these big words, so BSU explained their purpose again on a fourth grade level.

The presentation lastly talked about people in Black History that aren’t as commonly recognized and honored as “Martin Luther King Jr.”, or even “Fetty Wap”. These people were Daisy Bates, Kimberle Crenshaw Williams, and Grace Jones. BSU talked about how each of these people helped shaped Black History in their own way.

After the presentation, BSU asked the students to do one more thing.

The students were put into groups and asked to go to a specific table with a sheet of poster paper and markers on it. There, the fourth graders were asked to write “Black is…”. Then the students had total freedom to finish the statement however they wanted to. The answers were both meaningful and funny.

Some of the keywords that often showed up in the posters were “beautiful”, “a skin color”, “peaceful”, “nice”, and “awesome”. However, the fourth graders also wrote “the best culture”, “Daisy Bates”, “whatever the black people want to be”, and also “the most amazing people I know”. 

BSU encouraged the young students to reach their full potential, no matter their gender, sexual orientation, or color of their skin. They also taught the fourth graders to value their cultures, and value others as well, especially ones that are suppressed and commonly misconceived.

Hopefully, one day, these students will be the faces of BSU at Highland Park Senior High.

Advice/How To, Entertainment, Movies/TV/Theaters

Beats vs Bose

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In the world of sound and music, people want the best headphones and the best speakers. There are many really, really good speakers. The bad thing is that all the best speakers are huge, so you won’t be able to take them on the go. Beats and Bose both have found a way to get around that size obstacle: there’s the Beats Pill and Bose SoundLink.

Now, let’s talk about the Beats Pill. It does indeed look like an oversized pill, only with a flat foot on the bottom to keep it from rolling off the table. It’s sleek, slightly hip, and it’s available in a bunch of fun colors. A lot of people get the Beats Pill for its bass, which is totally understandable.

The Bose SoundLink isn’t exactly known for its bold design choices, opting for the more safe and reserved look in nearly every example. When the company does try to go for a more “fun” look, you end up with something like the company’s FreeStyle earbuds which sounded nice, but looked more like a pair of pants from the 1990s than something you wanted to wear on your head. Looking at the SoundLink Mini, let’s just be happy the company decided to keep it simple.

Beats and Bose both are very good, but now let’s talk about which one is better. Beats Pill has a decent bass, while on the other hand Bose SoundLink probably has a better bass then the Beats Pill. The Bose SoundLink mid-bass and the lower midrange is much better, and there is a nice depth to most of the lower range of frequencies. Highs are free of the rolloff that is so common on speakers in this size, but still, they never sound harsh or overbearing even as you push the volume higher. And that reminds me, the SoundLink Mini can get pretty loud; impressively so, considering the size.

So, in the end, if you’re looking for a speaker on the go I would go with Bose.

Clubs and Activities

FFA field trip

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The FFA group went on a field trip to Meadow Star Farms. They have 4 different locations: one in Minnesota, one in South Dakota, one in Nevada and one in New Mexico.

Meadow Star Farms has around 8,500 cows at the location that we visited, and it has a milking barn and birthing barn (which are housed in the same building). The FFA group got a tour of the barn. We started with a video about the company and then put on boot covers and went to look at the cow carousel. Then we moved into the main barn and looked at the cows and asked some questions, and then moved on to the milking parlor.

After visiting the main barn we got the chance to go and visit some of the new born calves. When we got done finishing up with the calves we got the option to put our arms up a cows rectum. The purpose of this is to check for a calf.

When we finished up all our actives we had lunch and went to a nearby local farmer’s barn where we got the chance to climb and take a look at some farm equipment. The farmer had a few different tractors and other pieces of farm equipment. That was our day at Meadow Star Farm.