Daily Archives: May 4, 2023

Travel/Food

Tony’s restaurant review

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By: Mae Skold

Image taken from: https://www.monaco-tribune.com/en/listing/restaurant-chez-tony/

Tony’s restaurant is a quaint Italian restaurant in the heart of Monaco. Monaco is a luxurious, beautiful city-state right next to France on the sea. Being just a few hours away from Italy, Tony’s restaurant knows how to cook real, authentic Italian food. The outdoor seating and hospitality right when you get to the door lure people into the restaurant.

When walking down the beautiful street the restaurant’s on, the owners of Tony’s are there to greet you. After getting seated at the table, the menu given is filled with endless pastas, pizzas, salads, each one better than the next.

For an appetizer I recommend the Caprese salad. It has fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and garden grown basil that all tie together beautifully. The balsamic glaze and olive oil served with it are also great flavor enhancers. This dish is the perfect start to your meal.

For entrees I recommend two, the carbonara and the pesto pasta. The pasta is home made fresh in the restaurant and cooked to a perfection. The carbonara is tossed in a creamy, peppery sauce and topped with prosciutto. This salty, creamy pasta is a must when ordering. The pesto is made with the same fresh pasta but cooked in a butter, basil pesto sauce. This pasta is light and a more refreshing option on the menu; perfect for warm weather.

To finish off your meal Tony’s offers a variety of traditional Italian gelato flavors. They make their own gelato in house and have up to 15 flavors to choose from. A fan favorite is the espresso flavored gelato that has espresso churned into the gelato. This desert is the perfect end to a delicious meal.

Tony’s truly has everything to offer when it comes to a restaurant. Not only is the food delicious, the people and charm is its hook. If visiting Monaco, make sure you stop in Tony’s restaurant.

School Life

University of Minnesota competitively for 2022-2023

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By: Joseph Nelson

Image taken from: http://environment.umn.edu/leadership/susted/

The University of Minnesota has always been a very competitive school with it being part of the Big Ten colleges in the U.S. but how competitive was last year for the freshman class of 2022-2023 and how has it changed for the class of 2023-2024?

The U of M is one of the biggest colleges in Minnesota with over 6,700 freshman joining the Gophers every year. But how many applications did the applicant’s office have to go through in order to select these students? Well, for the class of 2022-2023, over 37,000 applications were submitted to the University. That’s about 1 in 5.5 applicants to be accepted into the University. These students weren’t just randomly picked though as the University looks to grab students with a heavy extracurricular activity background and academic achievement (along with many more minor details). So what were the exact stats of the applicants?

As of the 2023 year, the University of Minnesota looks for students that average 3.59-3.96 GPA and have gotten either 27-32 on their ACT or 1330-1500 on their SAT tests. Granted, depending on what major you go in for, the requirements might vary, but this is the general admission rates to get into the 2022 year. This was one of the University’s most competitive years and it seems to continue growing as in only 9 years, the acceptance rate has gone up from 53.29% all the way up to 73%. That’s almost a 20% difference right there.

So how can you increase your odds of getting accepted into the University of Minnesota? Well the 2024-2025 year has no predictions yet on whether or not it will be as competitive as its previous year but if we look back on the past few years then I wouldn’t doubt we’d see around the same results as we did last year. Like stated before, the University loves picking up students who have a large background in extracurricular activities and large academic success in their schools so joining a team or club at your school would help your portfolio immensely for your application. Along with your extracurriculars, averaging around a 3.8-3.9 GPA is highly recommended as this is the golden area of all acceptances of the 2022 year (All A’s and a B here and there).

The U of M is a part of the Big 10 schools so of course it’s going to be attractive to many looking towards going to college. It’s going to be challenging to get in, and sometimes you might feel like quitting, but if you’re considering a future there I cannot recommend going to a Gopher game enough. It always reminds me of the goal to become a Gopher like my parents before me.

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Fashion/Make-Up

Why the 2023 Met Gala theme is controversial

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By: Mya Olson – Williams

Image taken from: http://www.metmuseum.org

On Monday, May 1st, was the annual Met Gala in New York City. This is one of the most popular events, especially for those involved in the fashion industry.

This year, the theme was “In honor of Karl”. Karl Lagerfeld was a well known designer who has worked with brands such as Chloé, and Fendi before joining Chanel alongside his own high-fashion brand name.

Most don’t know about the controversies of Lagerfeld. To many, specifically models and the ones who worked close to him, he was an amazing man with a huge impact. In other’s eyes, he’s not all that.

According to The New York Times, in 1994, Lagerfeld dressed a model in an outfit which was embroidered with a cherished Muslim text and sent her down the runway. He said, at the time he had no idea what it meant, and apologized.

There is no question when considering if Lagerfeld is fatphobic.

In 2009, he defended himself when using strictly size 0 models, saying “[N]o one wants to see curvy women”. During an interview with New York magazine, he was quite honest when talking about Andy Warhol, saying “I shouldn’t say this, but physically, he was quite repulsive”.

As said in Time magazine, fatphobia wasn’t all that was wrong with Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld was strongly against the #MeToo movement. In 2018, he defended Karl Templer, a man with allegations of attacking multiple models in which he denied. In Templer’s defense, Lagerfeld stated that he was “[F]ed up with it”.

Some boycotted the event due to its theme, by simply not showing up. Others are believed to have worn outfits the opposite of the theme as another silent protest.

Though Karl Lagerfeld will always be remembered for the creative and unique designer that he was, there’s more to him.

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Badminton, Baseball, Golf, Softball

Popular spring sports

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By: Thea Berg and Rose Ramadan

Image taken from: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2021-05-21/taylormade-golf-to-get-new-south-korean-owner-as-golf-participation-grows-globally

As students in High School, there are many different sports that our classmates and friends play during spring. Many schools offer a variety of spring sports such as softball, baseball, track and field, golf, boys tennis, badminton, lacrosse, and club sports such as disc or frisbee golf. But apart from the sports our school provides some other popular spring sports include rowing, or fencing. All of these sports reach out to different audiences, so each sport has a large variety of people playing.

Springtime sports participation is both enjoyable and important. Spending more time outside is a crucial aspect that starts to influence our lives as the weather starts to become warmer. People’s ability to spend as much time outside depends on a variety of factors, including work, school, and other responsibilities. You may gain fitness while enjoying time outside in the warm weather by signing up for a spring sport.

One popular spring sport is golf! Golf is one of the sports that Highland provides for students to join. We have both a boys team and a girls team.

Golf is a very popular sport all around the world with many different audiences. It is a sport that people of all ages play and enjoy. Golf is a very good spring sport to be a part of. Golf is a very personal sport, and you can easily set goals for yourself.

Around the Saint Paul and Como area there are a couple of great golf courses that you can easily play. Highland National Golf course, The Highland 9-Hole, Cedarholm, Como Park Golf Course, Phalen Golf course, Mendota Heights Par-3 Golf Course, and the Town and Country Club golf course. All of these courses except for T&C are easily accessible without a membership, as long as you set up a tee time. At public golf courses such as the ones we mentioned above, the going rate for the price of a tee time is usually around $30. Some 18 hole courses include the price of the golf cart in the tee time price, and other courses have that as an option to pay separately.

We think that golf is a great option for those who are looking for a spring sport that is fun and not a lot of pressure.

Baseball and softball are two more popular spring sports. In our school, softball is a very popular sport practiced by female players. Male athletes enjoy playing baseball, which is also highly well-liked. They are both similar sports. The pitching regulations and the size of the ball are two differences. Despite not knowing the rules, we occasionally enjoy watching a good baseball game.

Badminton is also a sport played at Highland Park Senior High. Though not as popular as other spring sports, it is still very exciting to watch. It is a lot like tennis but played indoors. It includes hitting a birdie across the net to the other side. It may sound like an easy sport but it includes a high amount of commitment and athletic ability.

The team here at Highland consists of only women athletes. They split into teams of singles and doubles, either playing on the court with one teammate or alone. Games are played up to 21 points. Each match is best out of three. If you are unfamiliar with badminton, we would recommend trying it out. Watching it is very satisfying and playing it is very fun.

In the end, we highly encourage you to commit to a sport here at Highland. We also highly recommend coming to any sports events including lacrosse games, golf matches, and ball games.