On Wednesday, March 16th, Highland Park’s Speech Team competed in their sectionals at Eagan High school. Each school sends representatives, and Ramona White was Highland’s representative in Poetry. She was the only person from Highland to final, which means she made it to the top seven, however she only placed fourth which means she didn’t make it to State. Only the top three finalists in each category go to state. White placed in finals last year in the Poetry category as well. There are twelve other categories in speech, some of which include: duo, drama, humorous, discussion, and creative expression.
The Speech Team also has other school events, for example, at the end of the season they come into English classrooms showcasing the piece they have performed for the whole season. Before sections, there are almost weekly tournaments on Saturdays at different high schools.
Kaylee Voigt, a freshman at Highland Park Senior High, talked about her experience in this speech season. “I think that for me speech was about confidence and being able to put myself out there. Like for most people speaking in front of an audience was scary but after a while I didn’t care. Even though it’s a little scary getting up and talking in front of a group of people it helped a lot.”
Speech has a category for almost everyone’s interests – and there may be something for you. The Speech Sections were a great opportunity for everyone to be proud of the hard work they had done with their pieces over the past year.
ULA (Union Latina) is a club after school that anyone is free to join. The club meets every Wednesday in room 3509. Over the past 2 months, they have been practising and editing bits and pieces of multiple dance routines that they have choreographed themselves for the Cinco de Mayo show at Highland Park Sr. The show will be on May 5th.
Not only is ULA a great way to learn how to dance, but it is also a great way to make new friends, stay involved in school, and also to learn some Spanish.
The purpose of the Unión Latina Club (ULA) is to create awareness of Latin American heritage. This club aims to educate all students by developing a better understanding of Latin American culture, current issues and diversity. ULA also brings together Latino students to develop constructive and cooperative relations and academic support among grades.
The club is open to any student interested in learning more about Latin American countries and their heritage. It sponsors a variety of event such as Cinco de Mayo and Día de los Muertos.
The Highland Park Math Team made it to state for the 21st year in a row, and finished in seventh position. Mr. Anderson and Mr. O’Connell are the coaches of the Highland Park High Math Team. David and Geeta are the captains of the math team. I interviewed them and a couple of people from the math team.
photo taken by Anne Kelly Berg via Facebook
1. What is your name/grade?
Michael: Freshman.
David: I’m a senior.
Geeta: I’m a junior.
2. How do you feel about making it to state?
Michael: Proud.
David: Pretty great. Always good to beat Central.
Geeta: It’s our 21st yr to make it to state.
3. What made you want to be part of the math team?
Michael: I enjoy competition and math.
Geeta: Like math, I was in the math team in middle school. I wanted to work with people who love math as much as I do.
David: I was in the math team in middle school too and I love math.
4. What are some challenges you faced along the way?
David: Takes a lot of practice. Meet two, three times a week.
Geeta: Memorize all the formulas.
Michael: A lot of information to know and memorize.
5. Any information you would like for us to know about the math team?
David: Join math team you don’t have to be great at math. Still get to learn.
Geeta: Good for test anxiety and for times tests.
Michael: It’s fun if you like doing doing math.
6. What advice do you have for students who want to join the math team?
David: Come to practice we don’t bite. Works pretty well with sports, you can be in a sport and math team at the same time.
Geeta: You don’t have to know math really well because we teach you what you want.
Michael: Don’t worry about the actual competition but having fun doing math.
7. Anything else you want to say?
David: Nothing.
Geeta: No.
Michael: No.
Hmmmm……What can you do with that lucky $2 you surprisingly found in your back pocket, especially on a Friday night? Come to Benstock on Friday March 11, held in the auditorium from 7-9:30 pm! Tickets are only $2 for students, and $3 for adults. However, if you bring in a canned good, you will save $1 off the ticket price.
At Benstock you can enjoy a series of performances featuring a variety of singing, dancing, not to mention it is a show of amazing talent.
Benstock has been a rewarding tradition for the past 17 years, and every year students have the chance to see their classmates show off their talent. In the past years, there have been performances by rock bands, breakdancers, spoken word artists and singers.
Benstock is also Highland’s annual student charity event, hence another fantastic opportunity to share back with the community. The amount accumulated from ticket admissions will be used to donate to a charity of choice, still to be decided. All of the canned goods will also continue to be donated to the local food shelf Francis Basket.
History
The original event began with a student’s desire for a trip to Australia. In 1999, student Ben Rosales organized a way to fund the trip by performing with his band on the school stage. Now where did the name Benstock originate from? His inspiration was developed from the music festival Woodstock. To personalize the name of the show, he decided to replace the ‘Wood’ prefix with his own name, thus the name Benstock was created.
The shows started mainly with performances from bands. Many of the past performers have grown successful musical careers. Eventually, the show expanded into a talent showcase encompassing a wider range of performances such as spoken word and both original and cover music.
It was not until 2007 that HPSH’s National Honor Society started to sponsor Benstock. This was also the same year Ms. Landreau became the adviser for NHS. The thing that makes Benstock special is that it is a production where everything is student led. Ms. Landreau and Ms. Hanson only stand back to support by the executive control.
Spreading the Word
In the recent years, promotion through social media such as Twitter and Facebook event invitations have been considered to be effective on some level. This method of advertisement is more relevant for student to student promotion rather than the way publicity was handeld in the past. The effects of media usage to spread the word about Benstock was more centered around Highland students, and therefore, more Highland students attend the event now in comparison to previous years.
T-shirts were originally a major factor towards promoting Benstock, as executive members would travel around town selling the personally designed Benstock t-shirts, and advertise by posting flyers around the neighborhood. As a result, historically, there the audience was more diverse in that that there were not only students, but also people from the local community, including more teachers.
Risk Takers: First Time Performers
Other than the fact that Benstock is a student organized production that is both fun and entertaining, it is also an amazing opportunity to encourage students to try something new and become risk-takers. Every year there are several students who admit that Benstock was their first stage performance in front of anyone. Yet, every year, Ms. Landreau is astonished by the audience members themselves. “They are just the nicest crowd, with wonderful affirmation, and every year the crowd shows their love to the people on stage. I want people to feel safe.”
All students were welcome to audition for Benstock. This year, there are even three acts that include freshmen. Ms. Landreau hopes for Benstock to continue in the future years to come, and for more teachers to come and discover and be awed by the talents of students and encourage individual voices.
People who will be featured in the performance include:
Raquel Loera
Ramona and Maeve
The Father
Maeve and Roland
Schyler Jackson Fish
Charlie, Alex, Thomas, Evan, and Fernanda
Owen Stanley
Olivia Mason and John Manning
Taji and Nehali
Kenji Callahan
Malik Griffin
Claudia Stensrud
Paige and Sydney
Leah and Maria
Pohla and Manning
Francisco, Zach, and Nathan
Sami and Sydney Linssen
Dean and Ricardo
Makeshift
People who have passed the auditions have worked hard and are proud of their talent, and therefore it is our obligation as awesome Highland classmates to come support the talent in our school.
Every February, Highland Park Senior High Thespian Society has a winter production called the One Acts. The One Acts are 10 to 30 minute performances that are picked and directed by students. Although the One Acts are an annual event, there are two things that set this year apart from all the previous years.
One way is that this year’s One Acts are different than past years is that the Thespian Society decided to open the opportunity for any grade to direct. In past years only Seniors had the opportunity to direct, but due to lack of students interested in directing, the option opened up to all high school students.
The directors of the One Acts this year were Sophomore Zoë Challenger, Junior Schyler Fish, and Senior Max Muter. Zoë directed Variations on the Death of Trotsky and First. Schyler directed 13 Ways to Screw Up A Collage Interview and Sure Thing. Max directed The Philadelphia and The Chicken and The Egg. The end products of each of these performances were amazing.
Zoë Challenger’s performance First was an extra special production in that she had written it herself.
“I started writing in mid-August of 2015,” Zoë told me, “I didn’t write it for the One Acts, it was more like ‘I’m bored and I really want to write something’…I had a completely different idea at first. I knew I wanted it to based on teens and their problems, but I was going to have it have way more of a plot and be less of a spoke word.” Zoë was very proud with the end product of First. She told me that she was happy she didn’t stick with her original idea because “it would have been really bad and cheesy.”
First tells the story of a twelve year old who is excited to turn 12, leave adolescence and experience “firsts.” The girl’s sixteen year old brother and his friends share their “firsts” experiencing everything from sexuality, feminism, mental illness, being a person of color, and coming of age.
First isn’t just powerful in its context and performance, but also the story behind it.
Zoë created the characters based off things that both she had experienced herself, and also things the people close to her had experienced. I asked Zoë about how she had gone about writing about the experiences. “It was really casual, like I just texted them and I was like ‘hey can I ask you somethings’. They new I was writing something so the were like ‘yeah no problem’.”
Zoë submitted her play and Director of the Thespian Society Steven Houtz approved it.
Although the One Acts are “very stressful to direct and manage,” Zoë along with all other directors were very happy and proud of the end result, so in the end it was worth it.
Of all of the clubs in our school, there will definitely be one that suits your individual personality and interests. Whether it has to do with your cultural background or a personal hobby, clubs and extra-curricular activities are something that will promote diversity in the school environment. Here I have decided to spotlight a few of the offerings here at Highland.
Anime Club – Meets in room 2401 (Ms.Shomion’s classroom) every Thursday from 2-4pm.
As a devoted member who consistently attends these meetings, Lily Berg is the president of Anime Club. A wide variety of students join, but often times the people who are interested would overlap with members of the Asian Culture Club. According to Lily, these members tend to either be eccentric or quiet, but even so, anyone is more than welcome to join. Not only will you get to stay after school to play games and watch anime, this is also the perfect opportunity to make new friends.
On average, there are 11-12 members involved in the Anime Club. The number of members who attend these meetings around the spring time will gradually decline as more students participate in spring sports. Therefore, Berg is hoping for a more diverse group of anime lovers to come and join in the fun of foreign entertainment. All that she asks of prospective members is to be open minded and accepting towards the differences in preferences. “Not everyone will like the anime shows we watch, so be open minded,” says Berg. “At the same time, our options depend on the sensitivity of students, but we do still try to include some mature anime.”
Some members are also given the option to watch their own anime of interest on their iPads if they don’t like what is being played on the screen.
Earlier this year, the Anime Club had helped ACC with the Hmong New Year performance, and they are also looking forward to participating in Culture Day to represent Japanese culture. Berg is currently looking for new members, particularly sophomores or freshmen who are interested in becoming the new president after seniors leave. Berg is also hoping to organize a field trip to an Anime convention in the near future.
Book Club – Meets in the east side of the library every six weeks (or once a month) with Ms. Sabota as the adviser. Sarah Zaephel is the president of the club. They call themselves the Book Table, a book club for teens. Their acronym for Book Table goes as follows: Book Talking About Books in the Library while Eating.
Are you one of those kids who gets nagged at by the teacher for gluing your eyes onto the pages of five inch books in class? Then come join book club! Anyone is welcome to join and come every six weeks. To join, make sure to talk with Ms. Sabota beforehand. Most students agree that they joined the club either because they like reading, or because they were invited by a friend.
As a member of Book Table, students should be committed towards reading the books and to coming to the meetings prepared to discuss with the 25-30 other students in the club.
As a treat, students who attend these meetings will have the pleasure to indulge on slices of pizza, candy, and pop while talking about the book. Another bonus— you get free books!
“Anyone who is willing to read the book and talk with people should definitely come and join,” says Nelson, a book club member. “I joined the club mostly because I was invited by a friend, but at the same time I enjoy reading during my free time. It is something that takes you to a world where you get to decide how the story looks like.”
During each meeting, Ms. Sabota would start off the discussion
From the Highland Website
with a few questions. “The process is nothing intimidating like in English class,” says Xe Chang, a book club member. “No hand raises. If you have something to say, you just say it!” She mentioned that developing a community of book lovers that can gather around a table to simply talk about books is one of the significant accomplishments of Book Table.
Among some of their goals as a club is to organize field trips to meet some of the authors whose works they have read over these past months. Like any other club out there, they are also hoping for more students to take an interest in joining, despite already having 25-30 frequent members. “We want to show people that it’s not just about being a book club, it’s more than that.”
The biggest struggle for them is getting people to actually finish the book and come prepared to discuss. Nelson admits that there were some awkward moments for newbies which he could relate to, but once people start seeing how open minded we are as a group, you notice the sense of acceptance and comfort from feeling belonged.
Math Team – Meets every Monday and Wednesdays in room 2305/2304 led by math teacher, Mr. O’Connell.
Are you a good math student who is looking forward to fulfill math, science, technical, and professional majors in college? Join Math Team! Math Team is an opportunity to unleash your ability to creatively think, potentially become a better math student, and meet both students in and out of our school. The benefits of joining Math Team includes: gaining extra assistance with math problems and homework, getting time to prepare for college entrance exams, learning to solve problems quickly, increasing chances for scholarships, and even earning a Highland letter.
Math Team has a current record of 21 years at state tournaments. Last year they came in tenth place for state divisions and first in the St. Paul division.
Union Latina – Meetings are held every Wednesday from 2:15 to 3:15. Lesly Gonzalez-Barragan and Zaira Gutierrez are the presidents of the club and it is advised by Ms. Romero.
Union Latina is another perfect opportunity to meet more people and be a part of a cultural club. This is the third year since the club was formed at Highland, but this is considered to be the first year where everything is much more organized with people cooperating. Members of the club are known to be individuals who want to achieve and change the community in out school. They strive to change the views of how people see Latinos and minority groups.
Walking into one of their meetings, one will find themselves in the middle of a discussion revolving around ideas for what they what to achieve in the future. Earlier during the school year, Union Latina had joined forces with the Asian Culture Club and Anime Club for the production of Hmong New Year. Currently, they are starting to make plans for the Cinco de Mayo performance in the spring.
Their biggest achievement this year was their participation in the tailgating event during Homecoming week. “We were able to sell tamales that earned satisfaction from parents and students, and at the same time were are able to raise enough money for the club.”
Among some of their top goals for Union Latina is to develop new ways to promote their club and include more members who are not just Latinos.
Free on Friday? Well, here’s something. On February 5th, 2016, Highland will be hosting a 2016 Chinese New Year celebration organized by the Jie Ming Mandarin Immersion Academy and the Highland Park Middle. Taking place at the Highland Park Sr auditorium, this event will last between 6pm-8pm. The celebration will include a performance and a carnival. Worried that the late night event will leave you feeling hungry? They’ve got that covered as desserts will be served after the performance. However, the actual date of the Lunar new year is on Monday February 8th, 2016. This will mark the first day of the year of the Red Monkey which is the ninth animal in the Chinese Zodiac.
The “red” part of the year represent fire which originates from the Five Elements incorporated into the Chinese calendar. Red is also considered to be a very lucky color in the Chinese culture. Chinese New Year will last for a total of 15 days
People born in the year of the Monkey includes the years: 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, and 2028.
According to SunSigns.org, people born in the year of the Monkey are ambitious (and competitive), smart, yet mischievous, and are associated with activity and adventure. With the year of the Red Monkey, people will be dealing with more financial problems. It is also advised that this year people should be more aware of their actions before making any abrupt changes with anything contributing to money, careers, and relationships.
Location of the event? Highland Park Senior HS: 1015 South Snelling Ave, St Paul, MN 55116
Have you ever heard anyone use the acronym FFA? Have you ever wondered what they’re talking about? FFA used to be call Future Famers of America but not everyone is FFA wants to be a farmer, so now we call it Future For Agriculture. There is more then just farming going on in FFA including competitions.
Basic set-up of competition: When you get to the competition your adviser will check you in. Everyone is given a piece of paper, which will be their answer sheet for the entire competition. There are three sections to the competition, and each part includes fifty questions. Each section has a forty-five minute time limit.
Competition example – Small animals FFA competition: What goes in to a small animal competition? There are three parts to the competition.
The first part is identification. There are 150 animals that you need to know plus 20 parasites that you need to know. They will only ask you about fifty of them though, and you don’t know which ones will be included.
The second part is the exam with fifty questions about basic information about household pets. The test will ask you about anying from when your dog needs a bath to what diseases your cat has.
The practicum is the last part. You have to name all the parts of a given animal, including the bones and organs. You also have to be able to answer real world questions like how much dog food will cost for a specific amount of time.
A new club called Black Student Union (BSU), has started at Highland Park. This club is focused on bringing awareness to problems in the black community, giving back to the community, and educating people about black history. It’s held in Ms. Noah’s room 3312 every Wednesday from 2-3. Other clubs at school that are like BSU are the Asian Culture Club (ACC), Union Latina, and the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA).
The National Black Student Union (NBSU), was originally in Wisconsin and for undergraduate students, according to the NBSU website. Our BSU at Highland does activities to promote discussion about social injustice issues. Like a privilege walk and presentations about the advantages and disadvantages in our society.
John Edwards, a freshman at Highland Park Senior High and member of BSU, expressed why we need a BSU in our school, “It helps people be aware about issues going on within different groups of our community.”
Kennedy McTeague, also a freshman at Highland Park Senior HIgh and member of BSU, says “It was a fun and reflective place to be. It was a safe place to talk about your ideas and thoughts about issues happening.”
You can follow BSU on twitter @hphsbsu, where there will be profiles of members of BSU and updates about events happening within in the group.
Highland Park Senior High has a wonderful dance team that looks for new members every year. I interviewed one of the new dancers on the HPSHS dance team to see what tryouts were like.
I interviewed Erin Matter, a freshman here at Highland Senior Park High School. Erin has been doing serious dance for the past two years at Roseville Dance Studio. I asked Erin a series of questions regarding dance.
How intense were the tryouts on a scale to 1-10?
“It was around 6 I would say, it wasn’t extremely intense, but you still had to put in a lot of effort if you want a spot on the team!”
What are you looking forward to this dance season?
“I’m really looking forward to competing against other teams, making new friends and learning new skills. You could tell straight off the the bat that the HPSHS’ dance community is like a family and that we all are excited to work as a team.”
What do you think your best skill is in dance?
“I always try to bring positivity, even if it’s just a small “You did great in practice today!”
I also interviewed the dance coach for the 2015-2016 dance year, Ms. Mendenhall, asking her a variety of questions regarding the dance team.
What specifics were you looking for while choosing the dancers?
“I was looking for dancers who had a positive attitude, because it’s really hard to teach someone how to have a positive outlook on situations.”
How many competitions will HSPH Dance Team be participating in?
“The HSPH Dance Team will be competing in four competitions.”
What style of dancer will the HSPH dancers be performing during competition?
“The dancers will be doing kickline and jazz.”
How many dancers are on the HSPH Dance Team?
“We have 27 girls on this years dance team”
What is the Goal for the 2015-2016 HSPH Dance Team?
“The goal would be for these girls to learn new skills, have fun and work as a team.” Can’t wait to see what’s to come for the HSPH 2015-2016 Dance Team, good luck!!
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