Pet fest is an event in high school were all the grades (9,10,11,12) come along to celebrate the activities and sports students have participated in during the fall, winter, or spring season depending the time of year. What happens at this event is that the captains of the sports, or clubs, come up front and speak about each of their groups and encourage kids to join them later on.
After that, what usually happens is that the sports that just finished their season goes and presents some type of dance or routine.
What pep fest is really about is that kids get to have fun and look and what’s been happening in school, and it encourages them to try out for those sports or clubs.
In order to find out about how people feel about the pep fest, I decide to go and interview some people at Highland Park Senior High.
This is what one of the freshman cheerleaders, Sophia Vasquez, said when I asked how did she think pep fest went? She responded “good.”
After that, I asked how did she feel about being a part of pep fest? She said, “I didn’t really think about it until that day. I got really nervous and then after a while into the dance it felt natural.”
The next question I asked was what did you think stood out the most in all of the performances? She responded, “The cheer performance of course especially when Vanessa got thrown in the air that was really cool.”
My last question was what did you think pep fest is really about? She answered, “It’s about making more people exited about this activities,” and as she said to “pep them up.”
The second person I interviewed was Sophie Cocchiarella.
The first question I asked was what did you think of pep fest? She responded, “It was fun and really good.”
After that I asked her how did it feel to be a part of such a big event like the pep fest? She responded saying, “She felt very nervous about it because there were so many people around watching but exited at the same time.”
Next I asked what did she think stood out the most from all the performances?
She said, “I felt like it was the gymnastics team and skiing team because they don’t usually do those things they did in the pep fest.”
Then there’s me. What I thought of pep fest was that it was one of the most amazing memories that I’ll have from this year.
Who did I think stood out the most you ask? I honestly think it was the gymnastics girls because they don’t usually go and perform in front of the entire school, only on this occasion.
Last, what did I think pep fest is really about? It’s about people getting together to watch their friends who are in sports and support them. Also, to make friends, enjoy the show, and make them want to join those teams, clubs, etc.
There are a number of foreign exchange students here at Highland hailing from countries as diverse as France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. I interviewed a couple of these students wanting to know about their experiences here so far.
What is your name ?
Julien.
What school did you go to back in France?/Grade?
Jeanne d’Arc./Junior.
How are your schools different from Highland?
Highland is bigger. Culture difference. Finishes earlier here. Better teachers. Cool. Different grades depending on your age.
The school start in December.
What things do they teach, or do, differently?
Subjects are different. You can choose more classes here. You get the same schedule every week but it’s a different classes each day. Took classes in French but took an English class.
What are some experiences that you enjoyed most/ least?
Food. Culture. It’s like another world. Early wake up for school. Everything is far away from each other.
What made you want to study abroad?
Learn English. Discover the culture and have new experiences of another country.
What fun and exciting things you’ve done so far?
Valley fair. The sports. Food is totally different.
What advice would you give to someone who’s thinking of studying abroad?
To come it’s a superb experience. Meet cool people.
What your name?
Alessandro
What school did you go to back in France/ Italy?
Virglio High school
How are your schools different from Highland?
You can’t choose your subject, you don’t change class every hour
What things do they teach or do differently?
They teach philosophy and Italian literature
What are some experiences that you enjoyed most/ least?
I have enjoyed the school and the cities
What made you want to study abroad?
Learn a new language and discover the culture of a different country
What fun and exciting things you’ve done so far?
I’ve been to Chicago
What advice would you give to someone who’s thinking of studying abroad?
Be ready for big changes in your life. It’s such an amazing experience.
Hmmmm……What can you do with that lucky $2 you surprisingly found in your back pocket, especially on a Friday night? Come to Benstock on Friday March 11, held in the auditorium from 7-9:30 pm! Tickets are only $2 for students, and $3 for adults. However, if you bring in a canned good, you will save $1 off the ticket price.
At Benstock you can enjoy a series of performances featuring a variety of singing, dancing, not to mention it is a show of amazing talent.
Benstock has been a rewarding tradition for the past 17 years, and every year students have the chance to see their classmates show off their talent. In the past years, there have been performances by rock bands, breakdancers, spoken word artists and singers.
Benstock is also Highland’s annual student charity event, hence another fantastic opportunity to share back with the community. The amount accumulated from ticket admissions will be used to donate to a charity of choice, still to be decided. All of the canned goods will also continue to be donated to the local food shelf Francis Basket.
History
The original event began with a student’s desire for a trip to Australia. In 1999, student Ben Rosales organized a way to fund the trip by performing with his band on the school stage. Now where did the name Benstock originate from? His inspiration was developed from the music festival Woodstock. To personalize the name of the show, he decided to replace the ‘Wood’ prefix with his own name, thus the name Benstock was created.
The shows started mainly with performances from bands. Many of the past performers have grown successful musical careers. Eventually, the show expanded into a talent showcase encompassing a wider range of performances such as spoken word and both original and cover music.
It was not until 2007 that HPSH’s National Honor Society started to sponsor Benstock. This was also the same year Ms. Landreau became the adviser for NHS. The thing that makes Benstock special is that it is a production where everything is student led. Ms. Landreau and Ms. Hanson only stand back to support by the executive control.
Spreading the Word
In the recent years, promotion through social media such as Twitter and Facebook event invitations have been considered to be effective on some level. This method of advertisement is more relevant for student to student promotion rather than the way publicity was handeld in the past. The effects of media usage to spread the word about Benstock was more centered around Highland students, and therefore, more Highland students attend the event now in comparison to previous years.
T-shirts were originally a major factor towards promoting Benstock, as executive members would travel around town selling the personally designed Benstock t-shirts, and advertise by posting flyers around the neighborhood. As a result, historically, there the audience was more diverse in that that there were not only students, but also people from the local community, including more teachers.
Risk Takers: First Time Performers
Other than the fact that Benstock is a student organized production that is both fun and entertaining, it is also an amazing opportunity to encourage students to try something new and become risk-takers. Every year there are several students who admit that Benstock was their first stage performance in front of anyone. Yet, every year, Ms. Landreau is astonished by the audience members themselves. “They are just the nicest crowd, with wonderful affirmation, and every year the crowd shows their love to the people on stage. I want people to feel safe.”
All students were welcome to audition for Benstock. This year, there are even three acts that include freshmen. Ms. Landreau hopes for Benstock to continue in the future years to come, and for more teachers to come and discover and be awed by the talents of students and encourage individual voices.
People who will be featured in the performance include:
Raquel Loera
Ramona and Maeve
The Father
Maeve and Roland
Schyler Jackson Fish
Charlie, Alex, Thomas, Evan, and Fernanda
Owen Stanley
Olivia Mason and John Manning
Taji and Nehali
Kenji Callahan
Malik Griffin
Claudia Stensrud
Paige and Sydney
Leah and Maria
Pohla and Manning
Francisco, Zach, and Nathan
Sami and Sydney Linssen
Dean and Ricardo
Makeshift
People who have passed the auditions have worked hard and are proud of their talent, and therefore it is our obligation as awesome Highland classmates to come support the talent in our school.
I have a question, who actually took time to do their personal project?
After asking 10 different sophomores, 8 out of 10 said that they had.
The IB MYP Personal Project is a project completed by sophomores at Highland Park Senior High. It is an opportunity to express a personal interest as well as the development of a student’s writing and thinking skill. The project consists of three parts: journals, a paper, and the product. The paper is typically due in the middle of February and the final product is presented in a showcase around spring. The full completion of the project overall takes a year.
The project is first introduced to students at the end of their freshmen year. This gives them the chance to explain and decide what they actually want to do for their project. Then later at the beginning of sophomore year, students are assigned an adviser who will help them and lead them through their project. Each adviser is assigned about five students. This gives them (the advisers) a better chance to actually sit down one-to-one with each student to keep them on track. Each student gets the chance to meet with their adviser three times before actually completing and turning in their project.
Now that you know about the project, let’s ask a few of our HPSH sophomores about it. I asked 10 students (the same 10 from the beginning of the article) the following question: Do you think you were provided with enough help? Here are some of their answers:
Danasaja: “No I didn’t {Receive help}. I had to ask other students.”
Mohan: “Little help on the journals, but I did fine on the final paper.”
Sydney: “There was not enough structure, but yes, enough help was provided.”
Even though there wasn’t a lot of positive feedback, the project does help us prepare for being independent for our adult lives. The project can become time consuming when we have other homework to focus on.
After taking a poll from the same 10 students, 6 out of 10 were proud of their final products. Even thought it wasn’t favored, many were proud of their final product.
Highland Park Senior High is having a Winter Arts Show at Edgcumbe Presbyterian Church (2149 Edgcumbe Rd, St Paul, MN 55116).
The art show will take place from February 14th to March 14th, Tuesdays through Wednesdays, from 1pm to 4pm, and Thursdays from 10am to 1pm
This art show will be showing paintings, photographs, sculptures, and anything artsy. The art show is to represent Highland’s art department, and to bring Highland into the community. Also, it is for connecting and promoting the accomplishments of students. Everyone is welcome: parents, children, and anyone who knows about this can come.
All students that take Spanish, and who are in the Spanish Immersion program, went on a field trip to the Minnesota Zoo.
Why the zoo? The zoo hosts a Spanish language day where students from Highland Park Senior High and Great River School attend.
There were presentation boards set up around the zoo, and there were presentations as groups of students came around. The presentations were in Spanish and were presented on animals that they have at the zoo. The groups presenting where normally groups of two to three.
There was a specific set-up where you were meant to follow a path so you could see all the displays. You would need to follow a brochure that they gave you at the start of the trip. The students went in a circle and ultimately ended back up at the aquarium.
The whole field trip took 5 hours, and all students were back at school by 7th period. Overall, it was a fun day of learning, as students were able to walk around and explore outside of a typical classroom.
Of all of the clubs in our school, there will definitely be one that suits your individual personality and interests. Whether it has to do with your cultural background or a personal hobby, clubs and extra-curricular activities are something that will promote diversity in the school environment. Here I have decided to spotlight a few of the offerings here at Highland.
Anime Club – Meets in room 2401 (Ms.Shomion’s classroom) every Thursday from 2-4pm.
As a devoted member who consistently attends these meetings, Lily Berg is the president of Anime Club. A wide variety of students join, but often times the people who are interested would overlap with members of the Asian Culture Club. According to Lily, these members tend to either be eccentric or quiet, but even so, anyone is more than welcome to join. Not only will you get to stay after school to play games and watch anime, this is also the perfect opportunity to make new friends.
On average, there are 11-12 members involved in the Anime Club. The number of members who attend these meetings around the spring time will gradually decline as more students participate in spring sports. Therefore, Berg is hoping for a more diverse group of anime lovers to come and join in the fun of foreign entertainment. All that she asks of prospective members is to be open minded and accepting towards the differences in preferences. “Not everyone will like the anime shows we watch, so be open minded,” says Berg. “At the same time, our options depend on the sensitivity of students, but we do still try to include some mature anime.”
Some members are also given the option to watch their own anime of interest on their iPads if they don’t like what is being played on the screen.
Earlier this year, the Anime Club had helped ACC with the Hmong New Year performance, and they are also looking forward to participating in Culture Day to represent Japanese culture. Berg is currently looking for new members, particularly sophomores or freshmen who are interested in becoming the new president after seniors leave. Berg is also hoping to organize a field trip to an Anime convention in the near future.
Book Club – Meets in the east side of the library every six weeks (or once a month) with Ms. Sabota as the adviser. Sarah Zaephel is the president of the club. They call themselves the Book Table, a book club for teens. Their acronym for Book Table goes as follows: Book Talking About Books in the Library while Eating.
Are you one of those kids who gets nagged at by the teacher for gluing your eyes onto the pages of five inch books in class? Then come join book club! Anyone is welcome to join and come every six weeks. To join, make sure to talk with Ms. Sabota beforehand. Most students agree that they joined the club either because they like reading, or because they were invited by a friend.
As a member of Book Table, students should be committed towards reading the books and to coming to the meetings prepared to discuss with the 25-30 other students in the club.
As a treat, students who attend these meetings will have the pleasure to indulge on slices of pizza, candy, and pop while talking about the book. Another bonus— you get free books!
“Anyone who is willing to read the book and talk with people should definitely come and join,” says Nelson, a book club member. “I joined the club mostly because I was invited by a friend, but at the same time I enjoy reading during my free time. It is something that takes you to a world where you get to decide how the story looks like.”
During each meeting, Ms. Sabota would start off the discussion
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with a few questions. “The process is nothing intimidating like in English class,” says Xe Chang, a book club member. “No hand raises. If you have something to say, you just say it!” She mentioned that developing a community of book lovers that can gather around a table to simply talk about books is one of the significant accomplishments of Book Table.
Among some of their goals as a club is to organize field trips to meet some of the authors whose works they have read over these past months. Like any other club out there, they are also hoping for more students to take an interest in joining, despite already having 25-30 frequent members. “We want to show people that it’s not just about being a book club, it’s more than that.”
The biggest struggle for them is getting people to actually finish the book and come prepared to discuss. Nelson admits that there were some awkward moments for newbies which he could relate to, but once people start seeing how open minded we are as a group, you notice the sense of acceptance and comfort from feeling belonged.
Math Team – Meets every Monday and Wednesdays in room 2305/2304 led by math teacher, Mr. O’Connell.
Are you a good math student who is looking forward to fulfill math, science, technical, and professional majors in college? Join Math Team! Math Team is an opportunity to unleash your ability to creatively think, potentially become a better math student, and meet both students in and out of our school. The benefits of joining Math Team includes: gaining extra assistance with math problems and homework, getting time to prepare for college entrance exams, learning to solve problems quickly, increasing chances for scholarships, and even earning a Highland letter.
Math Team has a current record of 21 years at state tournaments. Last year they came in tenth place for state divisions and first in the St. Paul division.
Union Latina – Meetings are held every Wednesday from 2:15 to 3:15. Lesly Gonzalez-Barragan and Zaira Gutierrez are the presidents of the club and it is advised by Ms. Romero.
Union Latina is another perfect opportunity to meet more people and be a part of a cultural club. This is the third year since the club was formed at Highland, but this is considered to be the first year where everything is much more organized with people cooperating. Members of the club are known to be individuals who want to achieve and change the community in out school. They strive to change the views of how people see Latinos and minority groups.
Walking into one of their meetings, one will find themselves in the middle of a discussion revolving around ideas for what they what to achieve in the future. Earlier during the school year, Union Latina had joined forces with the Asian Culture Club and Anime Club for the production of Hmong New Year. Currently, they are starting to make plans for the Cinco de Mayo performance in the spring.
Their biggest achievement this year was their participation in the tailgating event during Homecoming week. “We were able to sell tamales that earned satisfaction from parents and students, and at the same time were are able to raise enough money for the club.”
Among some of their top goals for Union Latina is to develop new ways to promote their club and include more members who are not just Latinos.
On Tuesday, February 2 Saint Paul Public Schools did not cancel school. There is no specific policy in place about closing schools due to snow as there is for cold weather days.
The district specifically states that if the temperature is projected to be -35 degrees, with windchill, school will be cancelled. This is very specific. The district snow policy states that if school buses cannot get through the streets, and it is extremely dangerous for the bus drivers to get to work, then school will be cancelled. This policy is more vague and can be left open to interpretation.
On the 2nd, there was at least 12 inches of snow that had fallen.
The Saint Paul Pubic School district has come close to canceling school this year, but has not yet done so. There was one day, specifically, that was -30 degree windchill, but the district decided that it was not cold enough and that kids needed to go to school.
I feel that it is crazy that it has to be a -35 degree windchill for school to be closed. I think that -20 or -25 is a more appropriate temperature.
When the district does not close school, and it is super cold, kids don’t want to come to school. Class sizes are impacted, and teachers then have to change their plans because half of their students don’t come to school. This ends up affecting overall student learning because there ends up being just a wasted day.
On January 29th, the StarTribune reported that Scott Masini, principle of Bruce Vento Elementary School, decided that the school would no longer celebrate “dominant holidays”. Of these holidays are Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day.
In late January, principle Scott Masini sent a letter to the students’ parents saying that the school would no longer be celebrating dominant holidays. “I have come to the difficult decision”, Mansini stated in the letter, “to discontinue the celebration of dominant holidays until we can come to a better understanding of how the dominant view will suppress someone else’s view”. Mansini’s student body is largely non white, filling the school with a majority minority population. Mansini explained in the letter that he wants to “honor and engage in holidays that are inclusive of the student population”. These dominant holidays will now be just another day at Bruce Vento Elementary School.
Most of the holidays listed make sense to most people. Halloween could be seen as satanic to some religions, Thanksgiving suppresses Native Americans, and Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.
But Valentine’s Day?
Valentine’s Day, although often portrayed as a day of love and commercialism, has Christian roots. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia there were at least three Saints by the name of Valentine, all of whom were martyred on February the 14th. The most well known of the three was Saint Valentine of Rome. Saint Valentine of Rome was a priest who lived during the ruling of Roman Emperor Claudius II. During his ruling Valentine reeling against the rules of the emperor helped arrange marriage for soldiers. Valentine also healed sick children and through his journey converted people to Catholicism. When Claudius found out he was outraged and Valentine was sent to death. While Valentine was awaiting his death in prison, Valentine received cards and letters from many Roman children. Knowing the common roots of Valentine’s Day, it’s plain to see how the story of the Christian Saint Valentine could suppress other religions if the day were celebrated.
Although Scott Mansini is trying to enhance the celebration of holidays for minorities that fill his school, what about the children in his school who do celebrate dominant holidays?
It’s very likely for a student to be a minority and celebrate at least one of the canceled holidays.
So, what if Saint Paul Public elementary schools didn’t necessarily celebrate all holidays, including dominant ones, but rather educated the students on the holidays? This way the beliefs of every culture are outwardly acknowledged, but not celebrated in a way that would suppress other cultural groups. Students could learn the history of everything from Hmong New Year to Cinco de Mayo to Chanukah to Ramadan to Valentine’s Days. By acknowledging all holidays, all students are honored. Educating students on all cultural celebrations from a young age would build cultural respect and understanding, which you can never have too much of.
Bruce Vento Elementary School should at least recognize and honor the fact that Valentine’s Day, along with all other holidays, are very likely celebrated holidays among their student body.
Looking for a class to fill your empty schedule? Well look no further!
Small Animals is a class where students get to learn about the history of domesticated animals. Students learn the material by watching videos, working on group projects, and by participating in interactive activities. You learn the knowledge of what to do when buying or taking care of a pet. The class touches on the topics of reptiles and amphibians, pocket pets (i.e. hamsters), and common household pets.
As someone who took the class, I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to pursue a career in the veterinary field, or anyone who wants to gain more knowledge on pets.
Still not convinced? I asked a few students to share their opinion about the class along with any new information gained, they said:
Serene: “It’s a really nice class. You learn a lot and Ms. Wedger is a very nice person.”
Betty: “It helped me prepare for the expenses of taking care of it (A house pet). If you’re not planning on raising a pet, do not take the class.”
The class is taught by Hannah Wedger, also known as Ms. Wedger, and is located in room 3206. Ms. Wedger also teaches Floral Design and Fish & Wildlife Management. She is also the leader of our Future Farmers of America (FFA).
Taking this class for one semester will will earn you both of your Tech credits.
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