By: Merob Geleto, Dahlia Man and Calvin Westin
All posts by HPSH Plaid Line
What is a quinceañera?
By: Arturo Benitez-Osorio
In the middle of the picture is my cousin on her 15th birthday. In our culture, we do something called a quinceañera.
It’s a tradition in Latin American culture when a girl celebrates her 15th birthday. Many celebrations begin with a Catholic mass to honor the occasion; then the party starts. Many quinces use a doll to represent the birthday girl, symbolizing the end of her childhood and the father swaps her flat shoes to high heels to represent that she’s ready for womanhood. Then everyone dances and eats a variety of Latino food.
How did quinceañeras?
Long before European arrival, the Mayans and Aztecs celebrated the age of 15 as the end of puberty. It marked a young woman’s readiness for marriage or community service.
Fun facts
The honor of damas and chambelanes: This represents the young woman’s closest peers supporting her transition. The girl is usually accompanied by 14 damas and chambelanes representing the 14 years of her childhood, plus herself to make it 15.
The mass before her birthday party: Its a Spanish/Catholic religious tradition/ceremony of a quinceañera of a way of giving thanks and renewing baptismal vows, with a special blessing as she transitions from childhood to womanhood.
The last doll: The birthday girl will give away her favorite doll to a younger sibling or relative signifying the end of her childhood
Recent/Upcoming albums
By: Maizie Hughes and Avi Zmira
Will beaches see more people?
By: Simon Pluger
August 2005 by: Ryanjcole via Wikimedia Commons
When summer finally arrives in Minnesota, everyone will know what to do: pack a bag and head to the beach in Minneapolis. We have several urban beaches such as Lake Bde Maka Ska, Lake Nokomis, and also Cedar Lake. All of these lakes offer a place to cool down when it is unbearably hot out with temperatures always fluctuating and sometimes breaking records across the state. One thing is for sure, beaches will be crowded, but will we actually see record swimmers this year or will it be another average summer?
If you think about it, hot weather means more crowded beaches of people wanting to escape the heat when the forecast is constantly in the high 80s and 90s. Staying inside with the air-conditioning feels nice but is sometimes very boring for people on summer break or for families looking for free activities to do, or anyone trying to cool off that wouldn’t have AC. The cities urban beaches are go to destinations.
However, predicting or even thinking about a record-breaking swimming season isn’t as easy as just looking at the forecast for the next week or two. For records to break, a lot of environmental science is also at play and the extreme heat just adds to it .
Even though hot weather draws people to the sandy beach, it also creates one of the most known problems in all of these urban lakes: toxic algae and bacteria. Minneapolis lakes are pretty, but they are also delicate ecosystems. When temperatures rise in the cities, there are often heavy summer rain storms which wash city pollution and other chemicals into the lakes. Nutrients like phosphorus overflow into the water and this mix of extreme heat and runoff can cause quick blooms of toxic algae.
We’ve already seen this happen with a lot of lakes in Minneapolis. The parks and recreation board has had to give out a ton of safety warnings and temporary closures to popular swimming areas, including around Lake Nokomis, due to water safety issues. If you swallow the water or even touch the water with the algae it can cause serious skin irritation, rashes, eye irritation, and severe stomach issues. So even if it’s hot out, and there’s one of these warnings, the beach’s swimmers will drop to zero.
Another key factor is that how many people work at these beaches? The city works really hard to keep everyone safe but hiring staff to be lifeguards has been a really big problem in the last couple of years because there’s been a big shortage of people wanting to work as lifeguards. This is because the beaches usually have to limit how many lifeguards they have, and sometimes they won’t have any making the beach closed, or swim at your own risk. This leads to large crowds gathering at just a few specific beaches because there are no lifeguards.
My final verdict is that we will most likely see higher than average crowds relaxing on urban beaches this summer. People are eager to escape the heat, but this won’t mean that there will be more than average people swimming. If we get enough cool breaks throughout the summer, we will likely see more people swimming because there will be less algae in the water, but if the heat remains being up and staying up, this will cause more algae. This will mean that people will be stuck on the sand and not in the water.
The hantavirus
By: Janessa Castro Cruz
Hantaviruses are a bunch of viruses that infect rodents like rats, and mice, and are transmitted to humans and can cause severe disease in humans when exposed to their urine and droppings. When the virus reaches the lungs they invade tiny blood vessels, causing them to leak, resulting in severe trouble with lung and heart functions. They cause diseases like hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.
It was first recognized in the 1950s as outbreaks occurred during the Korean War. Almost 3,000 troops and nations got sick with kidney failure, high fevers and bleeding. The cause was unknown until the discovery 25 years later. The virus was named after the Hantaan River in Korea and as the virus started to spread more across the world. It was given the collective name of hantaviruses.
An outbreak occurred on a cruise ship that left three people dead in 2026. They believe it started when a couple prior to boarding the ship had gone to birdwatch and on that trip they visited sites where there was a species of rat that’s known to carry hantavirus.
The virus is typically transmitted with contact to rodents but this outbreak was identified as the Andes virus which is the only type that is transmitted through human to human contact. It’s believed to spread between people who had close contact, within 6-feet of each other, for at least 15 minutes.
People who are infected by HPS can have symptoms like fatigue, dizziness, and nausea and the disease is deadly. People who are infected by HFRS can have symptoms like intense headaches, lack of blood flow, and internal bleeding, and complete recovery can take several weeks. The symptoms can lead to life-threatening lung and heart problems. There is no treatment for hantavirus but patients should receive care for their symptoms.
For more information, please visit:
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hantavirus-pulmonary-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20351838
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/immune-and-infectious-diseases/hantavirus-explained-what-to-know-after-the-cruise-ship-outbreak
- https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2026/05/05/what-is-hantavirus-how-is-it-transmitted-and-what-are-the-symptoms/
Interviewing Juniors about Senior year
By: Alexsia Williams
US government
By: Abreham Debele
The American government system is set up in a way that makes sure that no single person or group can obtain too much power. After defeating Great Britain in the American Revolution, the leaders of the new country wrote the Constitution in 1787. The Constitution set up the country as a democratic republic. This allows regular citizens to vote for representatives who make laws and run the country.
To keep things equal, the government is split up into three different parts, or branches, which creates a system of checks and balances. This makes it so each part can stop the other parts from doing wrong.
The first branch is the legislative branch, which we know as congress. Their job is to make laws for the country. Congress is split into two groups, the senate, where every state gets two people, and the House of Representatives, where the states with larger populations have more representatives.
The second part is the executive branch, which is mostly led by the president. The president’s job is to enforce the laws that congress makes and enforces.
The final part is the judicial branch, this is the court system. The court that’s at the top is the Supreme Court, and its job is to make sure all laws are fair and abide by the Constitution.
America also has another system called federalism. This basically divides the powers between the main national government and the individual state governments. The national government’s job is to handle important tasks like printing money, national defense, and foreign policy. While the state government’s job is to issue licenses, enforce local laws, and running schools. The general job of the government at any level is to serve the people.
What are students looking forward to this summer?
By: Story Houghton and Damiya Payne
‘Dying Light’: Review
By: Amir Salaad
WARNING: This review talks about some major story parts and characters from the game and contains spoilers.
‘Dying Light’ is one of the best horror/zombie survival games I have ever played. The game was made by Techland and first released in January of 2015. Even though the game is over a decade old it still feels fun and exciting compared to other games that have been released recently.
The main way to get around the game movement wise is parkour although, you can unlock a grapple hook later on in the story. Dying Light mixes parkour, fighting, survival, and horror together in a really nice way. It keeps you interested, basically glued to the game the entire time you’re playing. Well, at least for me.
The setting of Dying Light takes place in a city called Harran after a zombie outbreak happens. You, the main character, play as a man named Kyle Crane. He works for the GRE as an agent and gets sent into the city to track down a colonel gone rogue named Suleiman who stole a file very important to the GRE. But the life he sees in front of him changes him and he starts to go against the GRE because they planned to weaponize the Harran virus and bomb the city once their intentions were revealed to the world.
The main campaign of this game is emotional, serious, and captivating at times. There are many characters Crane meets in the game, but my favorite character is Jade Aldemir. Jade is smart, brave, and very strong. She helps Crane with many things in the story and always tries to look out for him. That’s why it hurt when she sacrificed herself and gave the antizin to Crane instead of using it on herself near the end of the game.
One of the best things about the game is the movement system. You can run across the roofs of buildings, climb them, jump over walls, and swing around the city if you have the grappler hook. The parkour makes the game feel somewhat real as if you’re actually doing the parkour yourself. Even moving around when you’re not doing missions is fun and thrilling. I think this key part of the game makes it stick out from other games in the same genre.
The combat in this game is also top notch. At the start, your choice of weapons are not good: like pipes and planks. But later in the game, you can collect different things and craft new and better weapons like swords, electric bats, and strong hammers. Fighting zombies can go from almost impossible to really easy depending on your choice of weapons. Some are fast and strong while others are slow and weak. So, you might have to pick the right weapon for each type of zombie.
The scariest part of the game to me is during nighttime. During the day zombies are still dangerous but you’re able to make your way fairly easily enough. But at night, stronger zombies called Volatiles come out. They are faster, stronger, and can kill you in seconds compared to a normal zombie during the day. The game during the day compared to during the night is different. You run through the dark streets that are somewhat lit facing way stronger variants of zombies that chase you down. I like this aspect of the game because it gets your heart racing and induces fear.
The graphics are also really nice in this game even though it’s over a decade old. The detail in the city, how abandoned it feels, Techland really brought it to life. The sound effects are also amazing. Like the zombie growls, the music of the game, and background sounds of the city. All these combined together makes the feeling more intense.
Overall, ‘Dying Light’ is an amazing horror/zombie survival game with thrilling parkour, exciting combat, and a strong and emotionally heavy story that will keep you glued to your seat. Techland did a great job mixing all the action and horror together. Even after all the time the games been out, it is still worth playing to this day.
I would easily give ‘Dying Light’ a 9.1/10. It’s available on PC, Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo.
Retreat pictures
By: Daniela Tajonal Flores
These pictures were taken on May 9th in Marine on St. Croix. I was here for a church retreat and it was a small trip; it was for 3 days. During those 3 days we didn’t have our phones because it would’ve been a distraction but we were allowed to have a camera.
Other than that, it was beautiful and fun, as well as it was mostly sunny. What I liked about this retreat was the experience that I had. I got to talk to new people and while I was there I felt more relaxed. I would get up in the morning and go on a small walk. The two pictures in the middle were taken at 7am and the rest during 12-1pm.
Plaid Line + PRIZM + Scottie News 