Category Archives: School Life

Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Montessori to high school      

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By: Charlotte Aver

Photo by Kaique Rocha on Pexels.com

Last year I was in a Montessori public middle school, making it my 9th year in a Montessori school. I had 4 teachers and their names were Christine, Kyle, Brooke, and Amy; they had told us to call them by their first names. This year I have had teachers tell me that under no circumstances am I or any other student to call them by their first name. This amongst many other things is something that has been a culture shock to me coming from a Montessori school.

One of the most different things is how our day is structured. At my Montessori school we would have meetings in the morning and midday, in between we would have lessons and a work time to finish all of our work. In the afternoon we would have occupations which are essentially the same as electives. Something that made this conventionally odd schedule possible was that my graduating class of 8th graders was only 16 people and we had all known each other since 3rd grade. Here in high school there are bells separating the day, and A days and B days. We also have upwards of 200 people in one grade.

The classroom at my Montessori school was much smaller than anything at this school. We had three connected rooms, and a modular, and that was our whole middle school. We only had enough chairs and tables for half the middle school class to sit at once which meant that we would sit on the floor for the majority of the time. This obviously is not true for high school, and I am incredibly thankful for being able to sit at tables and chairs.

In our classroom we also only had four iPads and a Mac book, this made it excessively hard for us to do some of the work that was assigned to us. In high school, every student has their own iPad.

We also ran a farm stand and had our own farm at my old school. We would work throughout the year to make our own money as a class. At the end of the year we would use the money we made to go on a trip at the end of the year.

The transition was quite jarring but I feel as though I have adjusted quickly. Almost everything is different from Montessori to public High school except for the essential idea that you are learning. There are pros and cons to each way of learning: not enough students, too many students, no technology, too much technology. Which ever way you were taught it all evens out in the end.

Getting To Know/History, School Life

AP and IB: A comparison of two accelerated programs

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By Hannan Mohammed

Most high school students in America have heard of either the Advanced Placement program or the International Baccalaureate program, and many students take classes in these programs as a way to either earn college credit or to be better prepared for college with rigorous courses. However, many students also wonder what makes these programs different from, or similar to, one another.

There are two main differences between these two programs, which are their goals and what they emphasize: Advanced Placement emphasizes college-level courses to prepare students for success in higher education, while International Baccalaureate emphasizes global citizenship and a well-rounded education to prepare students for life beyond college.

But how do these two main differences show up? The differing emphases these two programs have reflects in how/where they were created, and the classes/curriculum.

Origins

While both the AP and IB programs originated in the same time period of the 1950s-60s, they were created in different countries and for different reasons as well.

In the 1950s, after the end of World War II, there was a gap between high school graduation and college graduation in the U.S.; the Ford Foundation created the Fund for the Advancement of Education, conducting two studies that found that high schools and colleges should work together to let high-achieving students work at a higher level. A pilot program was launched in 1952, and the College Board started administrating the Advanced Placement program in 1955.

From the 1970s through the 1990s, the College Board continued to expand its reach across America, including making efforts to include low-income students and using Pre-AP initiatives to prepare middle school students to take AP courses and exams in high school.

These efforts to reach more students and give them more access to higher-level classes that can prepare them for success in college and higher education reflects the AP program’s goal of closing the gap between high school graduation and college graduation by preparing students with college-level work.

The IB program, on the other hand, originated in Geneva, Switzerland in 1962, with English and French as the official languages. Originally, the first IB exams were taken in 1970; students from 12 schools in 10 countries took exams in the IB Diploma Programme, the first curriculum of the program.

Over the course of the 70s, new requirements were added, such as the Extended Essay in 1974, and IB conferences were held in The Hague, Geneva, and London, where 32 countries were represented. As the IB program continued to expand across the world, more curriculums were added: the Middle Years Programme in 1994 for students ages 11-16, the Primary Years Programme in 1997 for students ages 3-12, and the Career-related Programme in 2012 for students ages 16-19.

Each of these programmes are meant to give students a well-rounded education from a young age, prioritizing a global perspective with world languages and drawing attention to how students interact with the world in different ways, which reflects the IB’s goal of global citizenship.

Curriculum

The second way that the major difference between the AP and IB programs is shown is the structure of the curriculum and requirements to pass.

To start, the AP program offers about 40 different courses in basic subjects such as the arts, math and computer science, English, history and social sciences. However, these classes are more in-depth with specific focuses. For example, taking an AP History and Social Sciences course could mean taking a class that focuses on African-American studies, psychology, human geography, or even macroeconomics, depending on what a high school might offer. This is one way the AP program’s goal of college-level education is reflected; through highly-focused classes that are similar to courses you might take in college.

In the May of each year, AP exams are administered to students to show their mastery of what they learned. For most classes, this includes multiple choice questions and free-response questions. Most exams take around 3 hours. Then, students are given a score of 1-5.

The scores on the exams are important, since this can determine whether a student can earn college credit for the class; most colleges require a minimum score of 3-4 before awarding credit.

The IB program has a different structure; for students going into IB high schools in America, 9th and 10th graders are required to participate in the Middle Years Programme, which is meant to prepare them for either the Diploma Programme or the Career-related Programme. Most 10th graders are required to complete the Personal Project, which gives them a chance to explore their own interests and develop research skills.

After 10th grade, students can either go into the Diploma Programme (taking and testing in 6 IB classes), the Career-related Programme (the same requirements as the DP with the CP core and career-related studies), or to take regular high school classes and test in a few IB classes.

The IB DP courses can either be standard level (SL) or higher level (HL), and while they’re more broad compared to AP courses, they reflect the program’s emphasis on global citizenship by offering a more well-rounded education. In addition, DP students also have to complete a Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class, an Extended Essay, and Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS). These extra requirements are meant to give students a chance to take their learning beyond the classroom and apply it to themselves or others, which reflects the program’s goal of helping students to succeed beyond higher education.

The IB exams are often taken in the spring of each year, which consists of internal assessments (fieldwork, laboratory work, investigations), which come from the classroom, and external assessments (essays, structured questions) which come from the IB program itself. These exams can take most of the day, and are scored from 1-7. These scores, along with completing TOK, the Extended Essay, and CAS, count towards completing the DP or the CP. Some colleges accept IB exam scores, but they are not as widely accepted as AP scores.

This curriculum structure reflects the IB’s goal of being well-rounded by giving students a broad range of subjects and it reflects the goal of success beyond higher education by giving them a chance to apply their education to themselves and the world.

Conclusion

The Advanced Placement and the International Baccalaureate programs share some similarities as programs that help high school students be more prepared and successful in higher education. However, their different goals of college preparation vs. preparation for global citizenship are reflected in their origins (AP starting in the US and IB originating internationally) and their curriculums of focused, in-depth classes (AP) and broad classes that can be applied beyond school (IB).

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For more information about either of these programs, please feel free to visit their websites here:

Editorials/Student Voice, Events, School Life

Nationwide walkout

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By: Siri David

Photo taken by: Josie Hodson

On July 27th, at Annunciation school, Minneapolis Catholic school students were sitting in the pews of church during mass. Sitting outside of the windows was 23-year-old Robin Westman. Once mass started Robin shot through the window. Robin killed 2 kids and injured 19 other people. Robin shot a total of 116 rifle rounds. After Robin did this he then shot himself. Robin had attended Annunciation and was always known to be quiet and reserved to most people; it seemed he didn’t like school.

This shooting was heart breaking. Over the past decade school shootings have become a lot more common. They are the leading causes of death right now for teenagers and children. In 2025 there were a total of 90 incidents of gunfire on school campuses. It has become a nationwide issue that our schools need to be better protected and that kids should feel safe within their place of learning.

The shooting at Annunciation helped start the idea of doing a nationwide walk out. This walk out was put together by an organization called Students Demand Action. The organization used social media platforms to spread the event. Most schools had a club within their school that organized everything for them. Highland had our school’s Good Club organize the event. This club is led by three members who brought together Highland students by posting all over their social media.

The walk out lasted around an hour and a half. We met up with students from two other private schools (CDH and SPA). There were over 100 kids who were participating from Highland.

The whole goal of this walk out was to raise more awareness to the fact that students don’t feel safe in schools, and that gun violence is affecting our day to day life and whether students feel safe in school or not.

School Life

New beginnings

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By: Treshawn Ross

As we are starting this new year at Highland, there are many different thoughts and feelings involved. I have asked a few people how they were feeling going into this school year and these are the responses.

9th grade-

Most 9th graders started off this year very nervous and excited. This nervousness is usually caused by not being familiar with the new environment and simply being around new people.

“I’m still having trouble finding my classes,” Camila told me. This is another common problem that the Freshmen are having to tackle. They are making the best of their opportunities though, many are getting involved in extracurricular activities.

10th grade-

The Sophomores are generally more experienced going into this year, which makes them seem more relaxed when compared to their younger peers in 9th grade. Mr. Berndt said “There’s a bit of a learning curve with them, learning to get to class on time. But over the weeks that has slowly trailed off.” Hopefully this experience will inspire their fellow underclassmen to adjust faster.

11th grade-

Many Juniors are feeling a bit apprehensive about this school year. 11th grade has a reputation for being difficult. Abril said “I’m mostly worried about improving my GPA now, it can definitely be important in the future.” The ACT will also weigh heavily on the minds of Juniors towards the end of the school year. Junior year is very stressful but I believe the Juniors can succeed.

12th grade-

Seniors are mostly cruising into this school year; many of them are already beginning to mentor younger students. The curriculum is still rigorous for some students though, Ivy says that she is spending more time studying for math than she used to. This year most Seniors have to focus on not having a “Senior slump”, so they can shift more easily into leadership roles in the school and elsewhere.

School Life

The end of another year

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By: Plaid Line Editor

Well, we’ve wrapped up another successful school year. We hope that you’ve enjoyed the content we’ve provided throughout the year, and that you will continue to support us next year.

Speaking of next year, you will probably see some major changes as we start to incorporate video content through Scottie News reports. Additionally, we hope to restructure the site in a way that highlights PRIZIM work more as well.

Again, thank you for your support this year, and we hope you come back with us next fall (in the meantime, like always when we go on break, feel free to check out any of our older pieces that you may not have had a chance to look at previously)!

Thanks – HPSH Plaid Line

School Life

Senior Send-Off

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By: Nereida Dominguez-Remedios

On May 29, Highland Park had their Senior Send-Off. Senior Send-Off is an ongoing tradition at Highland Park Senior High.

Senior Send-Off starts when all the senior students go to have breakfast with their classmates for the last time before they graduate. Then they have the opportunity to see, and get signatures, from their teachers and underclass friends for one of the last time. During second period then, they call down people by floors to go to the gym. After you get to the gym is when you find the grade you are in and find your friends and wait till the presentation starts.

Once this year’s Senior Send-Off started Sra. Nelson came to the middle of the gym and told all the classes what will happen for the next hour..

The first thing that happened was the student council president came to the middle of the gym to give a last speech to the seniors. After that, we watched the teachers’ farewell video and after that, we also watched the sibling farewell video (the sibling farewell video is were the siblings of the seniors have the opportunity to make a goodbye video to their older sibling). When the two videos ended, we watched the last video that showed all the memories that the seniors created over the last four years. When that video ended, Sra. Nelson told the seniors how they would exit the school to go to their senior picnic.

The last thing that happened, and my favorite part, was where all the teachers went into two lines and the seniors would come down and say goodbye to all their favorite teachers and underclassmen.

When I saw all my favorite seniors leave I got very emotional but I was able to say goodbye to them before they left.

Even though it was my last time seeing all my senior friends, I was excited to see what they will do in the future.

Congrats class of 2025!!

Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Environmental Racism in Minnesota 

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By: Alice Rapacz & Cameron Garcia-Nelson

Image created with Canva

Environmental racism is a big problem in Minnesota. Environmental racism is when neighborhoods of color and indigenous neighborhoods are at a higher risk to environmental harm. These neighborhoods are at a 91% risk of above air pollution guidelines. There are many neighborhoods here in Minnesota that are affected like the Rondo neighborhood and the East Phillips neighborhood. The harmful pollution can come from factories, waste facilities, construction, and vehicles. White neighborhoods have much better health compared to neighborhoods of color and indigenous neighborhoods. The pollution causes people to have asthma-like symptoms and heart disease. Nitrogen dioxide is what pollutes the air and causes people to have these symptoms.

For my final capstone project in my Critical Ethnic Studies class, my partner and I decided to do our project on environmental racism because it is a very real and current issue that affects people all over Minnesota. For the project it contained our final product, a paper, and an evaluation of what we learned from our project and the class.

For our final project, we decided to do a website that would be able to inform Highland Park students, staff, and community about environmental racism. We did a lot of research learning about what environmental racism is, who is affected by it, how, and so much more. We read stories from people who suffered from the harmful pollutants in the air and how their health was at risk due to it. We learned about different forms of pollution and what areas they affect. We put all this information on our website so that people reading it would be informed. 

Here is the link to our final capstone website. There is some of the information above and so much more so that you can be educated on about environmental racism. We also included how you can help and make an impact on changing this issue. 

Local, School Life

Supreme Court visit to Highland Park Sr High

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By: Evie Beaumaster & Grace Wright

On May 1st, Highland Park Senior High School for one day only, became a courthouse.

This wonderful opportunity was brought to us thanks to The Minnesota Supreme Court, the SPPS school district and staff here at Highland Park. We got a front row seat to the inner workings of the Minnesota Supreme Court. This was such fun.

This is a great opportunity for many students who might be interested in law or were just curious about how the Minnesota Supreme Court works. This was such a unique opportunity and there are very few schools that are picked.

Overall, we learned so much about how law works in our local government and about our Supreme Court judges. We got to see firsthand the fun parts of being a Supreme Court judge but also some of the stressful and difficult parts that come with this job. We heard from the judges that having a very good work life balance is hard. We heard about how much discipline the judges must have to make these important decisions for our community. We learned that judges must be impartial to themselves, and have to choose whether or not to take a case based on if they have an opposing opinion about it or not.

There were many interesting parts of this but one of the more interesting parts was when the hearing was done and the judges came out and sat for questions from students (including the authors of this article). This seemed fun for the judges too, as they probably enjoy a break from the courthouse.

We got to sit down with Justice Gaïtias as she was making a classroom visit after the court case. She is the newest judge on the Minnesota Supreme Court and she was appointed in August 2024. She talked about how the transition in the case load from the court of appeals to the Supreme Court was something she didn’t expect. Although the Supreme Court does not see nearly as many cases as the court of appeals, the court of appeals sees nearly 2,000 cases a year and the Supreme Court only sees 80-90 cases. She said that the cases are a lot more intense and unlike the court of appeals there isn’t anyone else to fall back on if they can’t come to a decision.

She talked to us about important characteristics of a good judge and she talked about how judges need to know how to be fair, kind and humble. She also says that they need to have a love of public service because that’s the main point of the job is serving the public.

A student asked a question about if she thinks being on the Supreme Court has changed her as a person. Justice Gaïtias says she doesn’t think it has changed her personally but she did talk about how she feels the weight of the job more now than ever.

Justice Gaïtias emphasized that a big part of the job is understanding how to cope with the harder parts of her job. The Minnesota Supreme Court hears a variety of cases, some of them harder than others. She talked about how all judges need to know how to compartmentalize and find their coping strategies and how they need to be healthy.

Some more personal facts are that she didn’t originally want to be a judge. She wanted to be an actor, but her parents said she wouldn’t make it, so she decided to go into law. She said it was one of her biggest regrets. She went to an international school in Greece growing up. She loves Greek mythology and her pets and kids are named after famous figures.

Advice/How To, School Life

Easy ways to make your school morning better

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By: Alice Rapacz

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Do your mornings feel chaotic and like you’re in a rush? Well, today you will learn easy ways to make your morning better, so that your start to the day isn’t chaotic.

Having a morning routine helps you manage your time better so that you don’t end up forgetting things in the rush of the morning. It can help you stay calm and organized, helping you show up to school ready to learn. Sticking to the same routine helps build health habits that can also help you with many other things. One more big thing that having a morning routine adds is not having to waste time on small things, which allows you to use your time and energy for more important tasks.

Now, let’s get into what you can do to improve your mornings. A good morning starts with the night before. Doing as much as you can the night before sets you up to have less to do in the morning making it less busy.

Lay your clothes out:

The night before, pick your outfit out. This gives you time to make sure you like it and so that you don’t have to scrabble in the morning to find something from the dark depths of your drawer.

Pack your backpack:

Put all your homework, notebooks, books, and other necessities in your backpack and don’t forget to charge your iPad! Doing this helps to make sure that you don’t forget that important homework assignment that is due the next day or other important items.

Prep your meals:

Make your lunch if you take one the night before. This makes sure your not standing in front of the fridge in the morning unsure what to pack and not packing one because you need to catch the bus.

Breakfast is such an important meal of the day. It gives you energy to tackle your first classes before lunch. There are many meals that you can prepare ahead of time that you can quickly take out and eat in the morning. Some are overnight oats or yogurt parfaits that you can customize to your liking. Breakfast doesn’t need to be hard, it just needs to fuel you for the day. So quick breakfasts that you can make in the morning are: a piece of toast with peanut butter and banana, oatmeal with fruit, a hard boiled egg and a piece of toast, and so much more.

Keep it consistent:

Setting an alarm in the morning and sticking to it. Getting the routine of not snoozing the alarm makes it easier to wake up after a while. Keep the alarm at the same time, the more you wake up at one time, the more you adjust.

When going to bed, wind down by reading a book before bed or doing something off a screen. I know it can be hard to put down the phone or turn off the TV, but it makes it easier to fall asleep. Go to bed at the same time each night. Having a consistent bedtime makes sticking to the routine easier in the morning.

These are a few easy ways to make your morning better so that you can have a good start to the day instead of a chaotic one. Remember, keep it consistent with everything you do. Make it a long term effort, doing it for one day won’t help. Now get out there and have a great morning.