Category Archives: School Life

Clubs and Activities, School Life, Travel/Food

European trip: Spring Break 2016

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This Spring Break, 22 students at 3 teachers from Highland Park Senior High went to a trip with EF (Educational Tours) tours to Amsterdam, Paris, and London.

EF is a company that organizes international trips for students to learn about different cultures. EF provides a large array of countries for possible trips, including trips to Costa Rica, that Highland Park also participated in this spring break, Rome and Athens, and South Africa. The trip cost approximately $3,700. It was a good deal because it included tour guides, hotel and airfare, and breakfast and dinner. However, you do have to bring spending money for lunch and souvenirs. EF has different plans to pay for the trip, including monthly payments and paying for the trip in thirds.

We saw many tourist attractions, including Notre Dame, the Anne Frank Museum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Eiffel Tour, the Eye of London, Keukenof Garden, Palace of Versailles, Buckingham Palace, and many more. One of my favorites was being able to see the view of from the Eye of London. Also, the Camdon markets in London have a lot of cool stuff that you can only get there such as hand crafted art. We also visited Delft, a city outside of Amsterdam that had many shops and canals.

Brussels, Belgium was originally supposed to be included in the trip, but because of the terrorist attacks in March, the stop was cancelled. However, we still had a lot of fun in the other locations, and we got to spend more time in Amsterdam and less time on the bus getting to Paris.

In the end, the Europe trip was worth the money, and is a life changing experience that I would recommend to anyone at Highland Park.

Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Recess in high school

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Remember your recess days back in elementary school? Recess was a time for fun, and hanging out with your friends without having to worry. Well, in high school, you don’t get recess. Everyday is just going from class to class learning without a break, with kids rushing in the hallways trying to get to their next class before the bell rings.

Depending on the classes you take, you get a certain amount of work and assignments. With many assignments, you don’t have time for doing other stuff, which can lead to stress. Everyday is just going home and then starting homework.

Since high schools are giving students a ton of work, don’t you think recess is a good thing to add to high schools? Students could have the time to hang out with their friends and play games. Hanging out with friends can be a distraction from stress or worries.

Students could just have fun for 15 minutes and then it’s back to learning. They could get a break from learning and they might just enjoy school a bit more. Back in elementary school, during recess, everyone would run and play with their friends. Either playing tag or staying inside and playing card games or board games.

Recess would be nice to have in high school to help students get the stress off their shoulders. Students could work on their assignments with no distractions, a bit like study hall but with more freedom.

Sometimes students can feel restless and they want to go for a little run in the field. Recess would be giving them the freedom to do what they need to do for themselves that they can’t do in a classroom. Recess would be a good idea to add into high schools.

School Life

MCA opt out

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Standardized testing can help some but hinder others. In Minnesota, we take the MCAs and every year students go through the stress of getting prepared for taking these standardized tests. The word has gotten out that there is an option to opt out of these tests, and in some ways this can be helpful, but as a whole it could end up hurting our schools.

The results from these standardized tests determines if some schools need more staff and teachers, or if some schools might not need any support. This means that if the results are low across the board that means the school is struggling and it may need more staff to help the students. If the results are high this means that the school probably does not need any support, and they may even be awarded for the high scores.

I asked Ms. Esso, a counselor here at Highland, some general questions about opting out of MCA tests. She said that if a student wanted to opt out of testing, their parent or guardian could write a formal letter to the principal explaining that the student is going to opt out and why they made that decision. The letter should be delivered before the testing process begins so that the testing coordinator knows not to keep sending passes to that student to take the test.

Some people may think that standardized tests, like the MCAs, don’t serve a purpose, but they do. If a school is generally struggling, their test scores could help with the opportunity to revamp the school’s approach to testing. But if enough students decided to opt out, the overall test scores wouldn’t show how the whole school was doing from an academic standpoint. On the other hand, schools that are excelling could get awards and that not only makes the school look good, but the whole district.

Clubs and Activities, School Life

Bringing Black History to Highland Park Elementary

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On Thursday, March 25th, Highland Park Senior High Black Student Union (BSU) members took a field trip to Highland Elementary School. While at Highland Elementary, BSU members visited a fourth grade class. There, BSU had an interactive presentation on Black History and black culture. The presentation covered a wide array of things.

The presentation started off with an with an overview of Black History taught in school. BSU asked the fourth graders about what they knew about Black History, and also what they’ve learned in school so far. Most of the responses were connected to the Civil Rights Movement.

There were answers such as “Martin Luther King Jr.”, “Whites had different water fountains”, and “Black people were mistreated”. However, there were also answers like “Fetty Wap”, “Michael Jackson”, and even “The Italo-Ethiopian War”.

BSU wanted to know what the fourth graders knew about Black History because the members of BSU don’t recall learning much about Black History in Elementary School, besides some key events in the Civil Rights Movement.

The presentation touched on how history is usually taught from a Eurocentric perspective, and that African or African American History is usually taught in elective classes. BSU explained that there should be more Black History taught in schools, especially Elementary Schools, because that is a prime learning time for students.

The presentation then talked about what BSU meant, and what its purpose was. “We want to help people understand their privilege, and provide voices for students of color,” BSU stated. ” We also want to help educate people about Black History and common misconceptions, and also help end the disenfranchisement of Black people”. The fourth graders looked severely confused at the use of these big words, so BSU explained their purpose again on a fourth grade level.

The presentation lastly talked about people in Black History that aren’t as commonly recognized and honored as “Martin Luther King Jr.”, or even “Fetty Wap”. These people were Daisy Bates, Kimberle Crenshaw Williams, and Grace Jones. BSU talked about how each of these people helped shaped Black History in their own way.

After the presentation, BSU asked the students to do one more thing.

The students were put into groups and asked to go to a specific table with a sheet of poster paper and markers on it. There, the fourth graders were asked to write “Black is…”. Then the students had total freedom to finish the statement however they wanted to. The answers were both meaningful and funny.

Some of the keywords that often showed up in the posters were “beautiful”, “a skin color”, “peaceful”, “nice”, and “awesome”. However, the fourth graders also wrote “the best culture”, “Daisy Bates”, “whatever the black people want to be”, and also “the most amazing people I know”. 

BSU encouraged the young students to reach their full potential, no matter their gender, sexual orientation, or color of their skin. They also taught the fourth graders to value their cultures, and value others as well, especially ones that are suppressed and commonly misconceived.

Hopefully, one day, these students will be the faces of BSU at Highland Park Senior High.

Entertainment, School Life

Celebrating the arts at the Art Showcase

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On March 23rd, at 6 pm, the celebration for our second annual Art Showcase was held in the lobby and auditorium of our school, with free admissions for all. The event was organized by Highland, in partnership with the Friends of Highland Arts (FHA), and a combined effort of arts, band, choir, and theater students. Highland’s Choir and Theater instructor, Kate Mendenhall, was the point person who organized the event this year, and is hoping to for this to become a tradition at HPSH.

Friends of Highland Arts (FHA) is a local non-profit group that works closely with the schools, and Highland community, to promote and further the arts in our community. They were also a tremendous help in organizing and promoting the show.

The afternoon was splendidly filled with the art of music. Stage performances in the auditorium began around 7 pm, featuring our Jazz Band, Honors Orchestra, Tremble Choir, Honors Choir, and Symphonic Band. Each of the groups performed works from their past and upcoming concerts. Some of the titles played by the Honors Band included “Adagio” by David R Holsinger and “Symphonic Dance No.3” by Clifton Williams.

Not only that, the cast of the musical, Lucky Stiff, also made an appearance at the showcase with a snippet of their upcoming spring musical which will be held on April 21-23. The Highland Theater Friends and Family were also fundraising in support for HPSH Theater. Other featured art included, Ramona White from our school’s Speech Team, who performed on stage with her creative piece.

“I feel like this event was a huge success,” said Ms. Mendenhall. “All of the groups performed really well and seemed like they were having a great time participating. Most of the times, performing groups do not get to listen to other performing groups, so it was nice that they could listen to their peers at an event like this.”

The showcase was the perfect opportunity for both our fellow peers and community to expose themselves to the talents and arts offered at Highland. During the night, students were able to present their works to the community and be appreciated for their efforts in the arts and freedom of expression. Not only was this event a wonderful source of entertainment for the open audience, but it was also a rewarding experience for our students and teachers who contributed to the show. “The most rewarding thing for me is to be able to let my students experience all different types of art,” said Ms. Mendenhall. “In choir, a lot of our focus goes into choral and vocal music. I really like that my students are able to see what other talent is here at HPSH.”

The overall Art Showcase was met with great praise from our community as well. This was evident in Ms. Mendenhall’s comment, “I noticed that community members and families really like that we provided a ‘one stop shop’ – meaning they could hear and see all of what Highland Park has to offer in our fine arts department in one night.”

Featured outside of the auditorium were the large white panels, collapsible doors, and tables filled with the collection of works from about 20 IB Visual art students. The majority of these student will use these collective pieces from both their junior and senior year to submit to IB later this month. Each of their works were linked with a cohesive theme, with their own unique sense of style. This part of the showcase itself is considered to be a huge new step for the art department, as this was Highland’s first year reserving an organized space for an art gallery of students’ masterpieces.

“The event was a huge success, despite the snowy afternoon,” said art teacher, Keri Schultz. “The gallery and audience was very full. People were excited about the wide variety of art styles that students shared.” The Saint Paul District arts coordinator, Jan Spencer Gutierrez, also showed up for the celebration.

The art gallery was a new component for IB Visual Art students, and provided students with an opportunity to first-hand experience a live art show. Mrs. Schultz also noted that the most rewarding aspect was allowing students to plan out their methods of visual presentation by finding desirable locations, lighting, and completing pre-hangings to create purpose for the organization of art collection.

“I also liked how students personalized the way they presented the titles for their work. Mazzy put her labels on rocks, which really made her environmental theme come through in a visual way.  I also think that Highland complex and the Friends of Highland Arts were able to further develop our relationship, and that was very positive.”

A total of 15 under the sea watercolor paintings, from students of Highland Park Elementary, also contributed to the visual art gallery. As a group project, elementary student also created a sculpture made up of lights, plastic bottle caps, and paint, resembling a Dale Chihuly type sculpture. Along with that, there were 10 figure drawings from the middle school students. As for our high school students, they contributed 30 self-portrait paintings, 40 sculptures, and tiles from the ceramics students.

Some of Mrs. Schultz’s hopes and goals for the future of Highland’s Art Showcase is to incorporate more activity tables to engage the youth of our community, and have them share their art as a part of our community. “I think it might be fun to have high school students there to teach techniques or little projects to other people (young and old) from our communities.” The art department is also hoping to seek more grant money for permanent lighting solutions in the space of display.

Similarly, Ms. Mendenhall also has hopes for the future of the Arts Showcase to be an event that HPSH students look forward to attending, not just families and community members. “I think this is a great way to support your peers in their artistic endeavors, and maybe even become involved with a group yourself!”

“In terms of the art, I was just really proud of how nicely students were able to share their creative efforts,” Mrs. Schultz said. “I also wanted to thank Kate Mendenhall for being the liaison between Highland and FHA Friends of Highland. It went great!”

Clubs and Activities, School Life

Highland Park math team

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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.

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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.

School Life

HP Blood Drive

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The HP Blood Drive started on March 18, 2016 in the field house. The Blood Drive is where students ages 16 and older can donate blood to The Red Cross. The Red Cross needs a large amount of blood and high schools help to supply it. To be able to donate blood for them, you have to sign up and get a permission slip from your parents. Then you check in at the field house and do a couple of blood tests.

Before giving blood, you need to drink tons of water and get enough food. After donating blood, you may feel lightheaded, you may throw up, or even pass out. The blood testing can take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. After this, the people who are in charge will give you snacks to replenish the blood lost.

I went down to the field house and asked a few students why they decided to donate their blood.

Axel (Junior) : Thought it’ll be cool, I’m always down with new experiences.

Nungkeo (Junior) : I wanted to save somebody’s life.

Kelly (Senior) : Wanted to help people, it’s my third time.

Alec (Senior) : Cause giving blood is good.

Fox (Junior) : Cause I felt like giving.

There were approximately 60 students who helped donated blood to The Red Cross. Helping out is always nice, by just doing this, you can save a person’s life or help those in need of blood. If you feel like giving blood then go for it, like those students we interviewed. You don’t need a reason to give blood for those who need it. Hopefully, The Red Cross collected enough blood from high schools.

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Editorials/Student Voice, School Life

Should St. Paul schools be uniform wearing schools?

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Should St. Paul schools be uniform wearing schools? If so why or why not?

Today I went and interviewed some of my fellow classmates during school about this topic, asking them different questions.

The first person I interviewed was Junior Bonfil.IMG_0280

My first question was, “Should students in St. Paul wear uniforms?”
He answered with “No, they shouldn’t.”

My second question I asked him was, “Why shouldn’t they have to wear uniforms?”
Junior said, “Because people don’t have to wear them and it’s like you’re not free when you wear them, it’s like you’re stuck following people.”

One of my other questions was, “How do you personally feel about this topic?”
He answered with, “Not good to have them, they don’t represent us the students.”

My last and final question was, “How do you think school uniforms affect other students?”
He answered with this particular answer, “Uncomfortable because it doesn’t bring the sparkle in us.”

The second person I interviewed was Zuani Marilyn Venture.IMG_0279

I asked her if students in St. Paul should wear uniforms and she said no.

My next question was, “Why shouldn’t they?”
She answered, “People should wear whatever they want.”

My third question was, “How do they feel about this topic personally?”
Zuani answered with one word “Disturbing.”

My last question was, “How would it affect students?”
She said, “They wouldn’t feel that they can express who they are. They would just look like everyone else.”

 

My opinion personally is that students should not have to wear uniforms because dressing how you want is apart of being unique and one of a kind. People need to be heard and seen how they want, and wearing uniforms would make them alike and as they say “an original is better than a copy.”

Getting To Know/History, School Life

Making college possible at HPSH

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Congratulations to the 195 Highland seniors who have completed their college applications so far this year! Good luck to you all!

Now that a majority of our college applications have been completed and reviewed for admission, it’s time for seniors (and possibly juniors) to start formulating a plan to afford the college of their dreams. One of he most obvious ways to ease the load of our financial aid packet is to apply for outside scholarships. Even though some institutions will already offer students scholarships and grants in their financial aid package, there is still much more of the gap that needs to be covered. Why wouldn’t you want to exchange your writing for free money?

College Possible is among the one of the college prep programs offered for Highland students of disadvantaged backgrounds. While the juniors are diligently practicing for the upcoming ACTs in April, seniors have just been finishing up their FAFSAs and several scholarship applications. Just last month, it was official that everyone in the cohort received admission to at least one college. Among College Possible students, 2 have already received full ride scholarships to their ideal college of interest. It was an honor for me to sit down and listen to their inspiring stories about the process towards achieving the scholarships and their outlooks of their future.

Our very own Highland, and College Possible student, Daniel Degollado, is one of the

46 students named as a 2016 Act Six scholar in the Midwest! The Act Six Scholarship is a program that selects students who displays leadership, academic potential, and community commitment through a three month competition among over 300 students. The full-ride scholarship is annually awarded to students who hope to attend one of the following colleges in the Midwest: Augsburg College, Bethel University, North Central University, University of Northwestern-St.Paul, and Taylor University.

Daniel first found out about Act Six from his senior College Possible coach, Keeley Norton. “I was interested in Augsburg College because first I visited there as a sophomore for the Spanish debate,” said Degollado. “It was very exciting to think that I could go to college for free so I decided to not just give it a try, but my best try.”

The first phase of the scholarship required the submission of four essays, letters of recommendation, a transcript, and financial information. With the help of his College Possible coach, he spent two and a half months diligently working on the application, and eventually found himself qualified to advance onto the next round.

For the second phase of Act Six, Degollado went to Cristo Rey High School to engage in discussions with the other 120 participants. “The only thing they asked of us was to be ourselves,” he said, “and to be honest, it was very easy to be myself.” With his spirited and entertaining personality Degollado finally found himself facing the final round of Act Six. He admitted that this was the most challenging phase in the process. Participants had to compete with each other in games, take part in more discussions about college, and have personal interviews with Augsburg’s staff.

“It was very tiring and we had to stay motivated and excited all the time. There was a part where they presented to us a video that we were going to discuss, and everybody was taking notes except for me. I felt very bad because of this. I thought I was going to lose points because we were being graded for everything we were doing. What I would do differently is to take notes. Other than that, I think I did pretty good.”

On February 24, after waiting for two weeks, he received his decision packet from Act Six, congratulating him as one of the new 2016 Act Six Scholar! “The first person I told was Keeley. She started screaming! I also called my mom and my brother and they were freaking out. My mom started crying of happiness.”

Click here to experience his life changing (and funny) moment.

Receiving this full ride scholarship had actually changed his initial plans after high school. “I was in a position where by the end of the year, if I wasn’t able to pay for college, I was going to go back to Mexico where college is sort of cheaper. But now, I’m for sure going to college.” The scholarship gave him a chance to pursue higher education in the US, and an amazing opportunity to be more productive in college, receiving recognition for his potential as an excellent student.

Degollado plans to attend Augsburg, his first choice college, to major in International Relations and dig deeper into his Latino heritage. “I want to study International Relations to understand more about my Latino culture in order to make changes and have more voice within our community. I want to be an example for those that think they are not capable of doing great things just because of the fact that they are Latino.”

Amaris Holguin, is another College Possible student who was admitted to the University of St.Thomas. Earlier this year, she had completed her application to the competitive UST Dease Scholarship, offered to underrepresented, first generation students, in urban high schools. More than 200 UST students have been awarded over the course of 10 years, each year with about 12-15 well-qualified students.

Holguin first met with UST undergraduate admission counselor, Teron L. Buford, after attending the REACH Summit Conference (Realizing Equity and Cultivating Hope) held on the UST campus over the past summer. From there, she was able to build a better connection with Teron, and got to know him personally as she continue to meet him at college fairs. Having told her about the Dease scholarship, Holguin immediately took advantage of the opportunity and set herself to complete the application. “I wanted to apply to all of the scholarships I can,” said Holguin,

“and hearing that it was for students I color, I definitely wanted to take that risk.”

Only those who were admitted to UST earlier this year were given the opportunity to submit an online application which required two essay prompts. In 400 words or less, applicants had to tell what receiving this scholarship would mean to the student and their family, as well as another 500 words describing the value of having diversity in a learning community and how they would promote and celebrate different cultures while a student at St. Thomas.

“In my essays, I explained about myself for who I am, where I grew up, and also having parents who grew up in poverty. At the time, there was nothing for me and my brother to feel ashamed of because my parents always tried to protect us from noticing our social barriers.” Holguin mentioned her concerns about how her family’s social class was going to be a major impact towards her financial ability to attend college, and having goods prospects for the future. Being a woman of color, and her decision to maintain both of her cultures was a major theme in her second essay.

During the morning of March 1st, Holguin was called down to the CCRC from Mr. McKinney’s third-hour anatomy class. Although she was simply sent down to talk with Ms. Esso, she couldn’t help but worry about whether she had done something wrong or was getting into trouble. As she walked through the door of the CCRC, she surprisingly found everyone including her College Possible coach (Keeley Norton), Ms. Esso, and Teron waiting for her in the room.

“I came here to bring scholarship opportunities for Keeley,” said Teron, “and this is for you.” He handed her an envelop. As soon as her had it in her hands, she slowly opened, quickly scanned through the first line of the letter and immediately burst into tears. Dear Amaris, On behalf of the Dease Scholarship committee, I am pleased to announce that you have been selected to receive a Dease Scholarship…..

“I just became so oblivious at the moment, and I remember crying the whole day. I cried as I walked along the halls to the principal’s office, and cried again there as Dr. Tucker congratulated me.” She even went to surprise her mom at work who also shed some tears. “Mom worked since she was 11, working for me and my brother to support the family. I was always so worried that she was going to continue struggling for us forever.”

Receiving acknowledgement for her hard work and effort invested towards this scholarship is something she appreciates about receiving the Dease scholarship. “But definitely seeing the look on my parents faces when they heard the news, it’s grateful to know that they no longer have to worry about supporting me and my brother for the rest of their life.”

Similarly to Degollado, she would like to acknowledge Keeley for the vast amount of help and support during the application process. Both admit that their success stories wouldn’t have been possible without her presence.

Her advice for juniors and seniors? “Take all of the chances you can get your hands on. Even with the slim chances, you would never know what would happen.”

College Possible is still recruiting sophomores for next year, so if you are a sophomore, or know one, please feel free to talk to the College Possible coaches in the CCRC! College Possible has made a life changing difference for these two winners, and I have no doubt in my mind that they will make a huge difference in our community in the future.

Advice/How To, School Life, Travel/Food

College visit tips and tricks

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College visits can be daunting and hard to prepare for. After a few visits, you start to figure out how to prepare for future visits. Here are a few tips and tricks that I have come up with after going on multiple visits.

  • Wear comfortable clothing – Since most tours include a campus tour, you will be moving around a lot. Wearing comfortable clothing will help you focus more on the actual tour and not worry about your aching feet or your warm sweater.
  • Stay hydrated – Most college visits can last a few hours. When you take the campus tour you will be taking lots of stairs and you will be walking around quite a lot. Staying hydrated is key to making sure you won’t be distracted by how thirsty you are.
  • Take notes – College visits almost always include an admissions presentation. There is always important information that you’ll need to know so it is a good idea to bring a small notepad with a pen or pencil. When you go back to compare the admission requirements, it will be easier with the notes you took during the presentation.
  • Talk to a current student – It is always important to talk to someone who is currently attending the college because they have first hand experiences. During some admission presentations, colleges will have a student panel and you can ask your burning questions.
  • Visit centers of student life – If you visit while school is in session, make sure to visit a dining hall or student union. This will give you an idea to what the student atmosphere is like and you might even be able to try some of the food because of course that’s very important.
  • Ask about campus safety – While on a campus tour, make sure to ask your guide about campus safety. Most colleges have on campus security and emergency call stations located around campus. It is very important that you feel safe while on campus.
  • Ask about financial aid – Some colleges have a large number as their sticker price but this should not be a deal breaker when you decide where you want to go. Many colleges have scholarships that you are automatically entered into when you apply. For example, colleges will give you a certain amount of money if you meet certain criteria like your GPA and ACT/SAT scores. Also, filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) will help you understand how much the government is willing to give you in terms of student aid.
  • Visit residence halls – When on a campus tour, make sure you check out the residence halls. Colleges usually have many different types of rooms like a single, a double or suite style. Visiting halls will make it easier to choose the type of room you want when you apply for housing/residence.