Category Archives: Getting To Know/History

Getting To Know/History

Interview with Nurse Feven

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By: Treshawn Ross

Introduction- Nurse Feven is our new school nurse for this year after our previous nurse retired. I had an opportunity to interview her, so our students could get a proper introduction to her. She’s been doing a wonderful job this year. Below are a series of job related questions and more personal questions.

Job related questions-

Treshawn: How have you enjoyed working at Highland so far?

Nurse Feven: ”I’ve loved it so much, I can see myself retiring from here and I’m not even close to retiring. This is really cool because it’s my first time working with high school students directly.”

Treshawn: Was there anything specific to Highland and its community that made you more interested in working here?

Nurse Feven: “The initial thought was that I lived close by, and I have personal connections with the school through family members. Part of it is also that we have a big East African population here and I thought I’d be a good fit for that reason.”

Treshawn: What type of job did you see yourself doing when you were younger?

Nurse Feven: “I’ve always seen myself in healthcare, my father had cancer and he had a personal nurse around our home and I saw the effects she had on our family and I was inspired by that.”

Treshawn: Have any staff members or students helped you adjust to your new work environment?

Nurse Feven: “Yeah definitely, a few staff members have helped me out with stuff like certain dates. Ms. Bonk helped me out a lot, and Sarita helped me out too.”

Treshawn: What do you enjoy the most about being a nurse?

Nurse Feven: “I enjoy helping people and making them feel better, and teaching them new things about their health. Also, teaching them about careers in healthcare. Also the wide variety of job types is one thing I enjoy too!”

Treshawn: Do you have any advice for the students at Highland? Medical advice or otherwise.

Nurse Feven: “Yeah, these are very important years as high school students. The choices you make now matter a lot more. Take advantage of every opportunity you can and if you like them you can stay with it or if you don’t it doesn’t hurt to try. Also have fun!”

Treshawn: What would you say is usually the highlight of your day while working here?

Nurse Feven: “Anytime I get to see students honestly, you guys brighten up my day.”

Personal questions-

Treshawn: How was your winter break? Did you do anything fun?

Nurse Feven: “Yeah It was great, I went to Boston with my family for Christmas and it was very nice.”

Treshawn: How long have you been a nurse and what was the process of getting into this work field?

Nurse Feven: “I graduated in 2010 from nursing school and there was a shortage of jobs. I wanted to get into a hospital straight away but that didn’t work out. I did home care first and then worked my way up to being in a hospital. In home care you really get to know the clients and that’s really cool.”

Treshawn: What type of music do you listen to and do you have a favorite artist?

Nurse Feven: “I really like Afro beats but I’ll really listen to anything. I love early 2000’s/1990’s music too like rap and RnB, even pop! I also like praise/worship music too.”

Treshawn: What are your hobbies and interests outside of work?

Nurse Feven: “I like dancing, not a particular kind, just anything. I also enjoy yoga and taking walks. Discovering new hiking places too. I also like to cook.”

Treshawn: What would you say is the most important thing needed to be a good nurse?

Nurse Feven: “Compassion for others and empathy. Also flexibility, you need to learn how to switch gears and use those critical thinking skills a lot.”

Treshawn: Is there anything else you would like the students of Highland to know about you?

Nurse Feven: “I’m also a part of the mental health team as well, I don’t only deal with physical ailments. If the social workers or other support staff is tied up I’m always available to help.”

Getting To Know/History

The history of maps

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By: Hannan Mohammed

Image by Anonymous via Wikimedia Commons

Today, maps are used extensively in many forms: in paper maps and globes, and in satellite systems and in global positioning systems (GPS) as well, which we use as a tool to help us navigate. But, how did maps evolve into what they are today? And what were they originally?

Historians don’t know what the ‘earliest map’ is; while some believe that the earliest surviving map is a mammoth tusk with markings that depict the landscape of the area it was found in from 25,000 BCE and others have suggested that rock art paintings with constellations from 17,000 BCE found in France are the earliest known star maps, the earliest known maps were usually credited to the Babylonians around 2300 BCE. These ‘maps’ were clay tablets with details etched into them and usually used for land boundaries and planning agriculture.

Around 600 BCE, more world maps were created in Ancient Greece with major scientific advances, but with no measure of scale. One such example is the map that the Greek philosopher Anaximander created around 600 BCE, which represented the world as a circular disk surrounded by oceans. In 200 BCE, Claudius Ptolemy, a Greek-Egyptian scholar, created his work Geographia, outlining latitude and longitude for accurate navigation as well as mapping thousands of areas with coordinates. He was also the first to display the world on a two-dimensional surface, and thus he’s commonly credited as the creator of cartography, or the study of mapmaking.

During the Middle Ages, Muslim travelers and scholars developed cartography based on their own experiences and earlier Greek and Roman works. For example, the geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi created the most advanced map of its time in 1154, known as the Tabula Rogeriana (The Recreation of Him Who Wishes to Travel Through the Countries). It showed areas with great accuracy and included information about those areas, and this map was known as the standard of cartography for many years, used by travellers in the region.

European maps, meanwhile, were created and used for educational and religious purposes rather than to be used for navigation. They were called Mappae Mundi, depicting landmasses and differences in climate. They were also heavily drawn from religious texts, and therefore many of these maps showed Jerusalem as the center.

As the Age of Exploration led to the discovery of lands in the Americas, existing maps were challenged. In 1569, Gerardus Mercator used these discoveries to create the Mercator Projection, a map still used today. It preserved the shape of landmasses while distorting size closer to the poles, allowing travellers to plan their journeys accurately by drawing a straight line to any point on it and using the direction of the line.

In the industrial revolution, mass-printing led to the production of smaller, more practical maps for tourism use, while maps were constantly being updated as transportation advanced further. In the 20th century, another major advancement was made with aerial photography and satellite imagery, allowing for greater detail even in obscure locations; one such satellite is Landsat, which was launched in the 1970s and produced real-time data on the Earth’s surface, again revolutionizing cartography with its greater degree of accuracy.

As computers and other devices have become more prevalent, cartography has advanced considerably in its accuracy, leading to us using maps more frequently than you might think: for example, you might use digital maps to navigate while you’re driving, or you might even create and share your own map to online platforms.

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Editorials/Student Voice, Getting To Know/History

The Trabi

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By: Charlotte Aver

Trabant at 12. Internationales Maritimes Fahrzeugtreffen, 18 August 2018, by Matti Blume via Wikimedia Commons

The Trabi is a car from the Soviet Union. They were produced from 1957 to 1991 and they were made quickly and were not solid at all.

The Soviet Union made it so that it was the only car that a person could own. The Trabi’s were free to the public if you got on the waitlist. However, it could take up to fifteen years to actually get your car after being put on the waitlist, even though it was free it still had a cost. The Trabi’s were made quickly and by hand and therefore were not sound. They were thin and fragile: the windows were hard to roll up or down, the bottoms of the cars were thin enough to break, the seats had no cushion to them and they broke down all the time. Though it was free it was bad quality and would take years to get to you.

An oversight that was made while the Trabi’s were being made was that there were no spare parts, so when they broke down there was nothing to fix them with, making the fifteen years you waited for the car useless.

The people that drove Trabi’s were everyday people where as the leaders all drove Mercedes. This goes to show that communism, which was the Soviet Union’s goal, is impossible to achieve with humans because humans are incredibly susceptible to corruption and selfish desire.

During the 1980’s there was a huge push to tear down the Berlin Wall, which happened in October of 1989. During this time there were many slogans and sayings that were used about freeing East Berlin, one of them was “free the Trabi” because it was a car that only existed on the east side of the Berlin Wall. After the Berlin Wall fell there was a section left up and artists from around the world were invited to come and paint murals on the wall; this section of wall is now known as the East Side Gallery. One artist painted the Trabi breaking through the wall and by painting this immortalized the saying “free the Trabi”.

The Trabi is a true symbol of the people of the Soviet Union and East Germany, how they lived and what little they were given by their government.

Getting To Know/History

Interview with Ms. Thao

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By: Treshawn Ross

Introduction

Ms. Thao is our new school counselor who works with students in 10th through 12th grade letters RO through Z. She has been doing a great job and I had an opportunity to interview her. I asked her a series of job related questions and also a series of more personal questions. 

Job related–

Treshawn: How have you enjoyed working here so far?

Ms. Thao: “I really like working here so far, the staff is super supportive and amazing. And I love getting to know the students.”

Treshawn: Was there anything specific to Highland that made you interested in this job?

Ms. Thao: “Yes, having worked in St. Paul for a lot of years you hear a lot about Highland and the school pride. This is a very active and a good community. The pep fests and competitions are nice. The students here want to make a difference.”

Treshawn: How have you enjoyed working and interacting with the students here?

Ms. Thao: “It’s been really good (working with students). They are really understanding and patient as I get accustomed to the new environment.” 

Treshawn: Have there been any surprises relating to your new position at this school or has it all been business as usual?

Ms. Thao: “IB is very new to me, I had a lot to learn about the IB program and the immersion programs. It’s very nice that this school offers those programs.”

Treshawn: How does this school environment help you adjust to your new position at the school?

Ms. Thao: “I think Highland has a very welcoming environment and that’s made my transition very smooth. As I mentioned, I think the staff is very supportive.”

Treshawn: Is there any advice you would like to share with the students at this school? 

Ms. Thao: “Yeah! I would say that as a counselor I’m here to support all Highland students so I want you all to come down and say ‘Hi’. Even if you don’t really need help.”

Personal (outside of school)– 

Treshawn: How was your Thanksgiving break? Did you do anything fun?

Ms. Thao: “It was good, very chill. Family stuff was very nice, I caught up with friends and family.”

Treshawn: What’s your favorite thing (or things) to do outside of school? Like hobbies or interests. 

Ms. Thao: “Pickleball is something I started doing a year ago and now I feel more improved. I also enjoy reading when I can. And I love spending time with my family.”

Treshawn: Favorite music genre/artist?

Ms. Thao: “Old school in the sense of the 90’s and 2000’s. In all genres mostly”

Treshawn: Do you celebrate Christmas? If so what’s your favorite thing about the holiday?

Ms. Thao: “Yes I celebrate Christmas. I enjoy spending time with my family and watching the kids open up gifts. Also, the food, I love food.”

Treshawn: Do you have any hidden talents?

Ms. Thao: ”That’s a great question! I really love karaoke even though I’m a more quiet person, I enjoy it!” 

Treshawn: Ending thoughts (anything you’d like people to know)?

Ms. Thao: “I worked with Ms. Esso previously and this is my second time working with her. Actually, in exception to Ms. Skaar, I’ve worked with everyone here previously. I work with students 10th-12th grade letters RO-Z.”

Getting To Know/History

The history of Thanksgiving

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By: Treshawn Ross

The First Thanksgiving: By: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris via Wikimedia Commons

Origins of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving originally began in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the year 1621. Around  90 Native Americans from the Wampanoag tribe attended the celebration with 52 English people or “pilgrims”. This celebration was to mark a successful harvest and is remembered historically as the first Thanksgiving. No one in 1621 called this feast Thanksgiving despite modern thoughts around the event.

Native perspective

Many Native Americans today view Thanksgiving as a reminder of the heinous crimes committed by the pilgrims and the generations that came after them. Quite soon after the first Thanksgiving, a war ignited between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag people and this heavily weakened the Wampanoag politically and militarily. Thus, the Wampanoag became one of the first Native American nations to be victimized by the pilgrims.

After the Plymouth harvest

Different states of the early U.S. and eventually the federal government proclaimed days of thanksgiving at different times in a very non-centralized way. These days were more solemn and somber rather than fun and feasting as many Americans now know it. After many years of advocating for a national Thanksgiving holiday, magazine editor Sarah Hale got her wish. America had a new holiday with storied roots.

A Presidential decree

Thanksgiving got its date partly during one of the bloodiest conflicts in U.S. history, the Civil War. On October 3rd, 1863, President Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving proclamation to help heal the spirit of the broken nation. This decree set the standard of when Thanksgiving would be celebrated, “[O]bserve the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving”. This would last for decades until in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s when President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the date to the second to last Thursday of November. 16 states refused to follow this proclamation which led to intense confusion. In 1941 congress passed a law establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the national holiday known as Thanksgiving.

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Getting To Know/History

The history single combat

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By: Treshawn Ross

Peresvet’s duel with Chelubey: Viktor Vasnetsov

Single combat explained

The history of single combat is a very long one, this phenomenon became popular during ancient warfare. When people think about ancient battles the image that pops up is lines of men in a large formation, clashing until one side breaks. But often before the clash there would be single combat, often called “champion warfare”. One champion would go into the space between the two armies and meet his counterpart. Then they would fight, usually to the death, without interference from either army, as the men would watch in astonishment as the champions battled. If their side’s champion won they would feel confident in the upcoming battle, and their adversaries would feel disheartened or vengeful as a result.

Common myths

One major myth about single combat in the ancient era is that these skirmishes decided entire battles; this was rarely recorded and only popular in mythology. Another myth is that single combat was unique to one culture in the ancient world or in future eras. This is not true; single combat was popular in Rome, Greece, England, Brazil and New Zealand.

Famous instances of single combat in history

The Battle of the Champions between Sparta and Argos is the largest instance of this, each army brought 300 of their best warriors and they fought a brutal battle which left minimal survivors. Another example is the Battle of Kulikovo where Alexander Peresvet and Chelubey fought in single combat and both died. Also in 222 BC the Roman consul Marcellus killed the Gallic king Viridomarus in single combat. The Vikings had a system for duels known as the Hólmgang which was heavily regulated.

Decline in single combat

As armies became more modernized and disciplined, dueling became less popular or in some cases it became outlawed. The risk of ruining the moral of an entire army before the main clash of a battle was too great to bear for many kings and generals. Although, during the 1700’s and 1800’s another form of single combat became popular. Dueling with pistols became a way to settle scores and fight for honor in a more “gentlemanly” way. This was mostly indulged in by nobility or upper classes. But this eventually became banned as well during the mid 19th century.

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Getting To Know/History, Travel/Food

Root beer rankings and a brief history

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By: Nils Hileson

Bottles of root beer tried

Root beer was made in the 18th century by Charles Elmer Hires based of a tea that has similar ingredients. Root beer is commonly made with sassafras root, wintergreen, sarsaparilla and other natural ingredients. It also has a lot of sugar and caramel coloring in it commonly. Its name is derived from the root ingredients used to make it and beer was added to the name just to appeal to miners.

For a time root beer was sold as a syrup or powder to be added to sodas before it became a popular soda itself. I myself like root beer quite a bit so I decided to try six different root beers and rank them from worst to best.

Brownie caramel cream root beer: this one is the worst not because it is particularly terrible but because of how disappointing it was. I was expecting actual caramel flavor but it just tasted like watered down root beer. Very disappointing.

Henry Weinhard’s root beer: not very sweet nor did it have much spice. Didn’t have much flavor for a root beer, so it’s ranked low.

Old Red Eye root beer: had a nice amount of spice for a root beer but was lacking in everything else. Was very watery and kinda disappointing.

Root Naturals Apothecary craft soda: a little less sweet than a normal root beer but had good levels of spice. A fine choice for a root beer.

Drive-in style Dog n Suds root beer: had quite a bit of sweetness, and a little less spice than the others I’ve had. I prefer my root beer to be pretty sweet so this root beer was good.

Boylan Bottling Co: definitely the best root beer out of all of them. The spices they used were different from a normal root beer’s but it was a welcome change of taste. They also used cane sugar, which I’m not sure how much that changed the flavor, but I think it made it better. Didn’t taste watered down at all.

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Getting To Know/History

History of UFO sightings

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By: Karl Salkowski

Image created with Chat GPT AI

UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object. According to the Oxford dictionary, UFOs are described as mysterious objects seen in the sky for which, it is claimed, no orthodox scientific explanation can be found.

UFO sightings have been reported throughout all of recorded history and across the world. There are many accounts of unexplained aerial phenomena throughout 500-1500AD. Many paintings and depictions of these flying objects still exist, including strange symbols and imagery. However, it’s likely that most of these medieval UFO sightings were just natural atmospheric phenomena such as comets, auroras, or rare cloud formations.

The US is home to many UFO sightings, with some of its most famous dating back to the 1950s and 60s. During the beginning of the United States’ rocketry initiative, UFO sightings began to spike. This includes several famous sightings and initiatives such as the Roswell UFO Incident, Project Blue Book, and the Robertson Panel.

The Roswell UFO incident took place in 1947 and was one of the first in a series of new sightings. A ranger from Roswell, New Mexico, found a 200-yard-long wreckage near a US Army airfield. The local newspaper reported it was an alien spacecraft, although the military declared the wreckage was only a weather balloon.

As sightings of UFOs increased in the 1940s and 50s, the United States Air Force began investigating these reports. In 1952, this became Project Blue Book, and it recorded over 12,000 sightings between 1952 and 1969.

In 1952, the United States created a panel of scientists to investigate these sightings. This panel was known as the Robertson panel, named after its head, H.P. Robertson, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology. This panel determined that over 90% of sightings were astronomical and meteorological phenomena and that there was no evidence aliens exist.

Within the last 20 years there has been a massive decline in these sightings. As smartphones with high-quality cameras continue to become more and more present, grainy images and blurry photos just don’t cut it anymore. Overall, most UFO sightings can be explained by either military tests or just various natural phenomena.

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