Category Archives: School Life

Clubs and Activities, Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Tailgating 2016

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I am writing this article from the shadow of the schoolhouse. The smells of FFA’s grill, and school spirit fill the air. I am currently eating one of their cheeseburgers, supporting my school. The burger I would rate 4.0/4.0, having a perfect GPA.

In front of me is a booth for the HiWay Credit Union, supporting the Highland community by sponsoring the Photo booth. They are giving away candy, and I pick up a vanilla Tootsie Roll. Next to the candy table is the Photo booth. As I am here alone, I do not go in, but I have seen many groups of students enter.

Next, is some kids playing Highland Hopsotch, and the Thespian Society’s homemade cupcakes. While I think of myself as an adept persuader, I could not get one for free. I had a delicious vanilla cupcake.

Then there is the BSU booth, raising money for BLM. On its left is the Hockey booth, which kindly gave me some free garlic bread. They are here to support the Highland sports teams.

Next, is FFA, which stands for Future Farmers of America. Ms. Wedger says that you may still join, and the club educates its members about agriculture. Then is the Science Club, which is doing a raffle for some cool socks.

Now, for the most crowded booth, Model UN. They are selling coffee and doughnuts holes. They have meetings every Thursday. On its left is the Highland Park Dance Team. They dance at social events like this.

And now is the NHS booth, offering face painting. It was a big success, they say.

Next, was Student Council, selling spirit wear and candy. Then there is the GSA booth selling “walking LGBTacos.”

Then, there’s the “pretty cool” Anime Club. Next to it is Asian Culture Club, selling egg rolls. And then there’s Union Latina, selling tamales fast. And lastly, there is the Spanish Immersion booth, selling shirts to support it.

This was my first time going to an event such as this, and I must say, it was fun eating food. Some of it was free! I am surprised by my ability of persuasion.

Anyway, from what I can tell the tailgating was a huge success!

School Life

Highland Pep Fest 2016

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On Friday, September 30th, Highland had their annual Pep Fest. Grades 9 through 12 were all exited, clapping and shouting for their Royalty nominees and their favorite group of cheerleaders. There was no ignoring all that energy packed into the gym.

As everyone found their seats and packed themselves together, the Highland Park Symphonic Band played their instruments and got everyone in there all hyped up.

pep2When everyone was settled in the staff began introducing the crowd to the Royalty nominees. With this year’s change in the way people were nominated there were a lot of different pairs of nominees. Out of the 19 pairs, only one from each grade could win.

So, congratulations to our new Highland Homecoming royalty: Calvin Boone and Marcus Hansen – 9th grade, Yeabsira Tekeste and Arianna Gonzalez – 10th grade, David Argenal and Rasjus Jackson – 11th grade, and Dreem Kelly and Gabriela Masiello – 12th grade.

After the Royalty was announced, some of the after school clubs and sports teams came up and made anouncements. The football team invited everyone to the Homecoming game the following morning. The boy’s soccer team anounced their upcoming games while the girl’s soccer team bragged about winning their game against Central and invited everyone to their games. Also, the clubs anounced their meeting dates and times.

This year the dance team’s preformence was amazing. Even though they had technical issues with the music at first, they hung in there and dealt with it like champs. They also incorporated the line kicks that the dance team is known for, into the preformance. Overall, the dance team’s preformance was really fun to watch.

Right after the dance preformed, the cheerleaders ran up and began their routine. They did their dance to the song “cheerleader” by OMI then did something very different. They preformed a really cool routine with some of the football team. Both preformances were upbeat and entertaining.

Overall, the 2016 Pep Fest was a success, everyone looked like they were having a good time. It got everyone back into the school spirt and gave them a little more school pride.

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Clubs and Activities, School Life

NHS Scots Stroll

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This year’s NHS Scot’s Stroll will be on October 13th from 1:12pm to 2:00pm. NHS Scot’s Stroll is where HPSH students, staff, and parents walk around the school’s athletic fields. The reason for the stroll this year is to raise money to donate to a local women’s shelter. The stroll is sponsored by Highland Park Senior High School’s National Honor Society.

The participants will have to go one lap around the track then walk around baseball fields/soccer fields and then another lap around the track. Participants can be anyone from Highland Park: students, staff, and/or parents.

Why should you join the stroll? Well, this is a healthy exercise that will help donate money to a local women’s shelter. The stroll requires a $15 pledge, but you will also be given a t-shirt.

If anyone wants to join, the dead line for the pledges to be turned in is on Wednesday, October 12th. Pledges should be turned in to Stacy Hanson in the Main Office.

To those who can’t pledge $15, but still want to participate, you should see Ms. Landreau in room 1312 or Ms. Hanson in the Main Office.

Contacts for any further questions:

Stacy Hanson at stacy.hanson@spps.org or 651-744-3804

Charlotte Landreau at charlotte.landreau@spps.org or 651-744-3887

Editorials/Student Voice, Football, School Life

Homecoming football spirit

A typical Homecoming week at a high school consists of a home football game and a dance. Highland Park Senior High had their Homecoming week starting on Monday, September 25th. The weekdays were the days that had themes which mostly had something to to do with your clothing. To end the week a pep fest was held during 7th hour on Friday. The after school activities were where the real fun started for Homecoming week at Highland though.

The Homecoming dance was held on Friday, September 30th in the field house. The theme this year was “A Dance in Paradise” which brought along some cool decorations. The Field House was decorated in colorful green, yellow, and red leis with green wallpaper hung up. The dance itself had about 100 students attend, which was down from last year’s attendance numbers. The DJ at the dance was the same as the Boat Dance from last school year, and did an okay job, but we felt like the people at the dance could have had more energy.

The dance seemed to be the culmination of a lack of spirit during the weekdays of Homecoming at Highland. Homecoming is an opportunity to have fun with your friends and support your school, but we didn’t feel like that’s what was happening at our school for most people.

The bright spot of Homecoming week, by far, was the football game. We felt that this was the exception because people really wanted Highland to win and we felt like that made a great atmosphere on a beautiful day.

homecomingThe Homecoming football game was on the Saturday after Homecoming week, against the St. Anthony Village Huskies. The game had a very positive start, with a rushing touchdown by Amitri Collins within the first few minutes of the game, and at half time, the Scots were ahead of the Huskies.

During half time, the dance team debuted a new dance that they had been working on to the song “Salute” by Little Mix. The HPSH band also played a moving tribute to Prince by marching and playing to the song “1999.”

After half time, the Scots continued to score more touchdowns, and by the end of the game, the Scots had brought home an impressive win with a score of 64-28. This improved Highland’s record to 2-3 on the season.

Homecoming this year was rather lackluster in many people’s opinion, including the author’s of this article. The week itself had themes that most people did not participate in, and even the Homecoming dance itself, an event that is usually looked forward to by the students, was not much of a hit at all, based on its low attendance. In the end though, the next day, during the Homecoming football game, the big win by the football team definitely raised everyone’s school spirit back up.

Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Homecoming royalty

It’s the ultimate day for school spirit week: Friday. Friday, the day we get to get out of seventh hour and see what student council has prepared for the school to get hyped about. As tradition goes, our team representatives, dance team, and cheer team performed fun routines for their fellow students, and Homecoming royalty was announced. This year, as many of you had noticed, student council decided to change the rules when it came to nominating Homecoming royalty.

l_homecoming 2012 kid.jpg
Photo from givemn.org

In years past, the classes nominated people from their class, then the top few girls and few boys names were put on a sheet paper to be elected. However, this procedure allowed for “bully nominations,” which can be defined as a mass of students that come together to target a specific individual, nominate, elect, and heckle the said individual. This also didn’t allow for the GSA community to fully participate in Homecoming, because there needed to be a male and a female elected.

This year, student council asked that anybody who wanted to be nominated had to nominate themselves with a partner, and write a response as to why they embody positive Highland Park spirit. This way did eliminate the gender restrictions, and opportunity for bully nominations, however, some students still didn’t agree with this new tradition.

One Highland Park Senior High student didn’t observe much of a change this year. The student noticed, “[That] the concept of it being more accepting was present but like what actually happened wasn’t really different if people were to just get nominated.” He further explained, “People should, like, be able to get nominated and not be so discriminated against but like being able to sign yourself up…it’ll cause there to be uneven numbers, or a lack thereof.” The student also went on to mention how GSA requested a change in the nomination process, giving gay couples the opportunity to run together which they felt was a positive move.

Another Highland Park Senior Student disagreed with the partner requirement as well. She said, “[I]f they didn’t have someone they felt comfortable running with then they couldn’t run.” She had stated that student council should have gone about the changes in a different way, ultimately eliminating the partner requirement. “The two people with the most votes should win, regardless of gender.”

One Highland Park Senior told me she liked the old process, “because it’s the whole school’s choice who’s running, not just people who signed up.” Having said that, she did however praise the idea “of it not being so heteronormative so like maybe if people could still nominate others but there wouldn’t be a boy-girl restriction, people would just nominate ten.” She added that this year’s way of nominating forced nominees to find a running partner, but she said, “when maybe there’s no one to run with.”

As a senior, I’ve sat through both the traditional and progressive ways of Homecoming. Reflecting back on years prior, I can definitely see the opportunity for bully nominations, and how the process of nominating can be abused. I can appreciate the changes made this year, in attempt to make the spirit of Homecoming week more accepting, but I don’t believe it quite got there.

I do believe there should be students who sign themselves up to be nominated, eliminating the opportunity for bully nominations, but I can’t say that I completely agree with the idea of “duos” or partners. I believe that the requirement for having a partner weakens the idea of independence and lessens the opportunity for one to win. I believe that winning Homecoming would be more exciting if you didn’t have to worry about having a partner. That being said, there should still be two winners per class, regardless of their sex.

Highland Park Senior High is taking great strides towards being a welcoming and supportive community, and I hope it continues to be progressive in its thinking.

 

School Life

Homecoming 2016

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It’s the start of a new school year, new people, new Homecoming royalty, and new rules. This year, Homecoming rules are a little different than previous years. Previously, the student body would nominate their class royalty by writing in their names and then, through the democratic process, the nominees would be narrowed down to the top three options. Then, whomever received the most votes would be elected class royalty. However, this gave students the opportunity to produce “bully-nominations.”

Bully nominations can be defined as a group of students who decide, as a critical mass, to elect someone for Homecoming out of a joke.

Ms. Hedwall, and Ms. Rohweller-Kocur, have spent many years orchestrating the Homecoming season, ensuring fun traditions, and really highlighting the school spirit. This means ensuring a safe, and respectful atmosphere which had been violated in years past.

I interviewed the two faculty members on their goals and plans for Homecoming this year, and how it might differ from the past. The two reflected on an incident when they noticed an individual who was nominated every year of his high school career. Every year, this student’s name would be called, and the group of students “tipped over laughing” as Ms. Rohweller-Kocur reflected.

Once a year, at least one student gets through as a bully nominee, usually an underclassmen. Despite administration and faculty efforts to prevent bully nominations, Ms. hedwall reports, “There isn’t a mechanism to catch underclassmen [bully] nominees.” Now, this isn’t to say underclassmen shouldn’t get excited about Homecoming, and having the opportunity to be elected class royalty.

To put your name out in the student mass as a Homecoming nominee, there are a few steps that have to be taken first. This year, instead of just saying “vote for me” on twitter and in your classrooms, you have to explain why.

In front of Ms. Rohweller-Kocur’s room, 3211, there is a “HOMECOMING 2016 ROYALTY NOMINATION FORM.” On the new sheet it explains that you must “[S]elf-nominate to ensure that those nominated want to be a part of the ceremony and that they embody the positive qualities valued by Highland Park Senior High School.” You and one other person, who also wants to run, must write a 150 to 200 word response to the question, “Why do you believe that you are an excellent representative of not only your class, but also of Highland Park Senior High?” The form was due Friday, September 19, 2016 at 2 pm.

The nominated Homecoming royalty will be announced at the Pep Fest on Friday, September 30th.

School Life, Tech/Games

iPad handout

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This week was iPad handout week where students got their iPads during their Social Studies class. Since the district is controlling the iPads this year, some things were changed.

If a student wanted their iPad, their parents had to go on Parent Portal and fill out the form (iUpdate) online. Last year, students were given printed forms to sign which made things easier for those who had no access to Internet.

There were a few complaints about going on Parent Portal. One thing, is that people say the form was hard to find. At max, it took them about 10 minutes to find the form. Another complaint was that the access to Parent Portal was sent in the mail to the person’s residence during the summer. The complaint was that some people didn’t keep their mailing, or that the parents didn’t know they were supposed to keep it for future use.

For those students who didn’t get their iPads, there was a mailing sent to everyone about the iPad makeup day. Students would get another chance to get their iPad once their parents filled out the iUpdate form.

This year’s iPad handout went by surprisingly fast. Hopefully, everyone uses their iPads appropriately.

Getting To Know/History, School Life

Dreamline tutors interview

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Available to all students, the Dreamline Tutors are here to help you. Be it math, science, history, or English. I sat down with them to ask them some questions, and here are their responses.

Who are you?

Ms. Tegan Thompson, Mr. Chris Young (Highland Alumni, had Ms. Lingofelt as a teacher), and Mr. Matt Johnson

What do you do as a tutor?

We give support in the classrooms, core stuff, and after school stuff.

Do you get many students looking for tutoring?

Just 9th grade and 10th grade students.

What is the most common and least common subject for tutoring?

Math (most common) and Science (least common).

Does your tutoring typically improve the grades of your students?

Yes.

What days are you available?

Monday through Thursday, 2-4 P.M.

What made you want to be a tutor?

“Been working in schools for the past 3 years, but liked working in small groups as opposed to classrooms,” said Ms. Thompson. 

Advice/How To, School Life

Comparing ways to get to school

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Students have a lot of options to get to school in the morning, and this article will be reviewing the pros and cons of each option. The three most popular ways to get to school are: by school bus, biking, and driving. Each of these options have good and bad things about them.

Bussing is a great option to get to school for many reasons. One main reason is that it’s reliable. Unlike biking and driving, one doesn’t really have to worry abut weather because bus drivers are much better trained than a high school driver in terms of heavy weather driving, and biking is pretty much out of the question unless you are willing to get soaked. Bussing also is a great place to talk with your friends that live near you. Another pro about bussing is that you can take it all season, unlike biking unless you own a winter bike.

However, there are also cons about bussing to school. One major con is not being able to stay after school to talk to a teacher, retake a test, or study in the library without having to take an alternate way home. Another con to bussing is that you may have to leave earlier than other options, because the bus stops so many times.

Biking is also a great way to get to school, weather permitting. Biking has mostly the same pros as driving, with a few exceptions. Biking is also a great excercise and can be fun.

Some cons to biking is that we live in Minnesota. Winter lasts ⅔ of the school year which makes it very difficult to bike for most of the school year.

Driving has both a lot of pros and cons. Some pros are being able to leave your house relatively late, compared to biking and bussing. Also, driving gives you the freedom to stop for food before or after school if you’re hungry. You can keep textbooks in your car too, if you don’t want to carry them around all day.

Some cons to driving though are having to worry about parking and paying for gas. Paying for gas can get expensive if you drive to school everyday.

Overall, there are many good options to getting to school. I personally drive, but I have both bussed and biked in years past. It all matters on your personal preference and what works best with your schedule.

Advice/How To, School Life

Minnesota scholarships

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For those interested in college, a main concern is the price. However, there are many scholarships available from Minnesota schools that are directed towards juniors and seniors in high school. It is helpful to know what you need to qualify for one, and the different categories for scholarships to see if you fit into one. In this article you will find a variety of scholarships known for helping students pave their own college path.

Army ROTC Scholarship: The Army ROTC Scholarship is directed towards people planning to serve but want a degree as well. The scholarships are awarded less based on your financial status and more on your academic performance.

For more info: http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/scholarships.html

EMPOWER Scholarship: The EMPOWER Scholarship is directed towards people going into the medical field. Students are selected for the scholarship based on their intended use of the college education, need, high school stats, and personal achievements.

For more info: http://www.allinahealth.org/Courage-Kenny-Rehabilitation-Institute/Programs-and-services/Volunteer-opportunities/EMPOWER-Scholarships/

Minnesota Academic Excellence Scholarship: The Minnesota Academic Excellence Scholarship is directed towards people planning to enroll to a private or public Minnesota university. Selections for the scholarships are made based on applicants who have excelled in multiple school subjects, demonstrating a high success rate with potential for many different career paths.

For more info: https://www.ohe.state.mn.us/mPg.cfm?PageID=150

Minnesota Child Care Grant: The Minnesota Child Care Grant was made to help people, with kid/s ages 12+, financially in order for them to proceed with college while continuing to support their household. To qualify your income must qualify and you must also be a Minnesota resident.

For more info: https://www.ohe.state.mn.us/mPg.cfm?pageID=140

Minnesota Indian Scholarship Program: The Minnesota Indian Scholarship Program is meant to provide financial aid to people who are ¼ or more Native American. You must also be a Minnesota resident. The scholarship amount ranges $4,000-$6,000 per year based on need and education status.

For more info: http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/mPg.cfm?pageID=149

Minnesota State Grant Program: The Minnesota State Grant Program is directed towards low and moderate income families with financial aid. There is no application fee for this specific grant. If awarded with this grant, it is eligible at both universities and community colleges, however it must be in the state of Minnesota.

For more info: https://www.ohe.state.mn.us/mPg.cfm?pageID=138

PFund scholarship: The PFund Scholarship is directed towards members of the LGBTQ community. Scholarships range from $2,000 to $10,000. To be elligible you must live in Minnesota and attend a Minnesota college.

For more info: https://www.petersons.com/scholarship/pfund-scholarship-program-111_157203.aspx#/sweeps-modal