FCA

On Monday, November 23, Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) gathered at Junior Nina Downer’s house for worship. This was the fifth meeting of the year.
FCA students meet every other Monday at various places. Math Teacher’s Joel Peterson and Stacie Eggers are the leaders of this group of students.
This past Monday the head leader of FCA Jake Venada came to speak to the group of students. A lesson relating to your relationship with Christ was the first topic of the night. Most of the night was spent sharing stories of our fellow classmate, and to some a teammate, Jon Kramnic, who had recently died that following Sunday, November 22, due to a fatal car accident.
“Monday was especially good because Jake was there. Many parents were also there for support which was great too,” said Senior Megan Downing.
Next FCA meeting will be held on Monday, December 7 starting at 7:30.

Buffalo Boys Bounce Back Onto the Courts

The basketball season has begun at Buffalo High School. The season runs from November to March, depending on how well the team does. You must win the section games before you can advance to state. There are four different teams- The ninth and tenth grade teams, as well as the JV and Varsity.

The ninth graders tried out November 16th through the 18th after school from 2:40 to 4:40. The tenth through twelfth graders tried out November 23rd and 24th. They tried out before school from 6 to 7:15 and after school, from 2:40 to 5. The teams have already been posted, tryouts officially ended today (Tuesday, November 24th).

The Varsity coach is Nick Guida, and the Junior Varsity coach is Ross Mjelde. The tenth grade team is coached by Dan Dehmer, and the ninth graders are led by Mr. Starns.

The practices start Wednesday, November 25th. The Varsity and JV already have a scrimmage on Saturday against Orono. The boys are excited for the season, but know there is a lot of hard work ahead of them.

“I know the practices are going to be long and hard,” says Freshman Ethan Freer, “But it will all be worth it in the end once the section tournament comes around.”

If you click here you can enter the Buffalo site that will allow you to reach a link to the Buffalo boys basketball page. However you must be an atual member of the activity to be allowed into this site.

The photo is from http://www.aa.psu.edu/sports/mbasketball/

A Day Of Thanks

Students at BHS favorite Thanksgiving Foods

“Get together with family and stuff ourselfs,” said Junior Morgan Lubben. “Then we top it all off with grandma’s famous pumpkin pie.”

According to The National Turkey Confederation 46 million turkeys- one fifth of the annual total of 235 million consumed in the United States in 2007- were eaten at Thanksgiving. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota is the top turkey producing state in the United States.

“It’s [ . . . ] the time of the year I set aside to see all of my family together, ” said Junior Michael Thielen.

Hockey Season is Here

The Boys Varsity Hockey team has been preparing for the 2009-2010 season since their Captains Practice began in October. But, the teams official try-outs did not began till Monday, November 16th. Throughout their week of try-outs the coaches evaluated players, and began to determine the players that would play on varsity and junior varsity. The week will finish with a Scrimmage Festival held at Buffalo Civic Center on Friday, November 20th and Saturday, November 21st. This is where players will be able to showcase their skills for the last time before the season starts.

The team has lost 12 seniors from the previous year, so many players are being asked to step it up in order to fill positions that are necessary for the team. During try-outs there were several freshman that could be seen trying to earn a spot on the team.

“We’re asking a lot from everyone this year, but it’s gotta be done,” said Senior Austin Perkins. “We lost alot of talent, so it’s going to be a big challenge for us. But, we’re excited to get it started.”

Things to Look Forward To:
The team will play in two different tournaments throughout the year. Their first will take place at Plymouth Ice Center on November 27th and 28th. For their second tournament they will be going to Duluth on December 28th through the 30th. There will also be a game featured on FSN (Fox Sports Network), and it will be the first game to kick off Hockey Week in Minnesota. It will be a double-header against the Rogers Royals, in which the girls varsity hockey tam will play at 5:00 and the boys will play at 7:00 on January 28th.

Winter Sports Blast Off

On October 16th the Bison kicked off the beginning of the sports winter season.  Boys and Girls Basketball, Boy and Girls Hockey, Boys and Girls Nordic Skiing.

Girls Basketball has their first game on December 3rd away against Elk River , and the boys will open their season game on December 4th away against Osseo. Nordic Skiing will start off  racing at St. Cloud Tech.  Girls Hockey started off with a first game against North Metro and on Tuesday November 17th and next they will play against Edina on November 24th. Boys Hockey  will play their first game against Wayzeta on Friday November 27th.

“I’m excited for the season to start, but I can’t get too excited because it is such a long season, I have to save my excitement more towards the end of the season,” said Head Basketball Coach Nicholas Guida.

With the Girls Hockey starting late September and preparing for the season with captains practices on Sunday and Wednesday nights. the girls won their first game against North Metro. Last year’s game didn’t end so well with a loss of 0:4, but this year ended differently, the Bison ended with the win with the score of 3-2. In the first half we were losing 0:2, but the Bison came back in the second half, with 2 goals from Senior Francie Varner and one from Sophomore Prentice Basten.

“We were the underdogs going into this game, because they beat us badly last year, this win definitely set the tone for the rest of the season,” said Basten.

Calli Durst and Mandy Samuelson

Varsity Girls Basketball Starts Practice.

The Varsity girls basketball team opened their season this week with their 1st practice on Monday. The Bison said good-bye to 11 seniors after last years state appearance and had 9 new faces at practice on Monday. When asked about the 1st practice of the season coach Scot Sorenson said,

“It was a practice to get the rust out (from last season) and learn new faces.”

With nine new faces this year and only one returning senior, Kristen Jeske, the Bison have a very young squad which means they don’t have as much varsity game experience.

“Losing that experience hurts,” said Sorenson, “but that leaves a lot of doors open for playing time.”

One advantage of having a young team is that in future years the girls will have the experience and talent to know what to do.

Last season the Bison were 16-13 overall and were tied for 3rd place in the mississippi8 conference title. Despite not being conference champions the girls went on to win the section 8AAAA championship and get a bid in the state tournament. Unfortunately for the girls they lost in the first round of state to Centennial 62-58 in a very close game. The girls goals for this season are win the mississippi8 conference and defend their section 8AAAA title.

The team’s first game is in Elk River on December 3 at 7 p.m.

“Elk River has two solid posts and two really good guards and they play a physical game,” said Sorenson, “so we need to crank up the tempo because they are going to try and get us back since we got them twice last year.”

The Captains are not yet selected for this years team but since Jeske is the only senior on the team that means there will be at least one junior captain.

“That is ok because we have a strong group of players below them that can step up and be leaders.” Said Sorenson.

The Lockdown Drill

Buffalo High School has five lockdowns a year. Students go through the procedure of turning off the lights in their classrooms and quietly waiting for the “all clear.” They are not supposed to answer the door for anyone they are not familiar to and they are to remain calm. The principal is responsible for every person in the building including the teachers, the staff, the volunteers and the visitors and the teacher is responsible for every person in the classroom. There needs to be a head count during the drill.

Students are prohibited from using their cell phones. They should sit on the floor away from windows and doors (a.k.a. the “line of fire”).

“We practice lockdowns for two reasons,” said Principle Brandon Prell, “one reason for them is to practice being safe and it is required by law.”  Every time there’s a drill, the administrators debrief and discuss the drill afterwards. They also bring it up to the staff in meetings which shows that they take this very seriously.

PLAN ahead.

On Tuesday November 17th, and Wednesday November 18th sophomores took the PLAN test. The PLAN is a practice ACT test and also and guide on picking a collage/career. It is taken in the sophomore year to help them plan the classes that students will take in their junior and senior years, along with collage courses.

“These test were not hard at all,” said Sophomore Colton Thomas, “Everything on the test we learned in class. The hardest part was that it was timed.”

There are 4 sections to the PLAN: math, english, reading, and science. It is a timed test, where you get 30 minutes for english, 40 for math, 20 for reading, and 25 for science. They are scored very similarly to the ACT, where you can score anywhere between 1-32.

“I can’t wait to see what my score is in January,” said Thomas, “This test has really sparked my intrest in where my strengths are, and got me thinking about what comes after high school.”

Got Courage?

Every year in the middle of November the Youth Frontier Organization takes there time to come to Buffalo and involve themselves with all seventh grade students to put on a Courage Retreat; which includes 3 separate days of fun with an average of 150 seventh graders per day. Youth Frontier leaders and around 95 (30 each day) BHS staff members step up to show there leadership and a positive example for these younger kids to learn from. Youth Frontier’s vision is to change the way young people treat each other in every hallway, lunch line and classroom for every school in America so that today’s young people can make tomorrow’s world better- courage may be the answer. For some, seventh grade may be a breeze but for others it just may be a time for them to figure themselves out and start realizing right from wrong, or even realizing its okay to just be yourself (which takes courage).

“I think they got their message across really well because my whole group went up during pebble in the pond and apologized to everyone and confessed their act of courage,” said Junior Staff member Andrew Ortmann.

Youth Frontier leaders take there time to talk about a variety of situations a majority of seventh grader face to help them realize what may lie ahead. Speaking on situations on how we all have a fear – whether its rejection or just plain old fitting in. Following your heart and not following the crowd in certain situations may be the bigger – yet harder step. How just a small act of courage can make yourself feel better as well as another person you may have never expected, even if its only for a moment.

“I definately thought that the Youth Frontier leaders spoke very efficiantly. they caught the childerens attention and were very energetic. They made it fun and interesting for the seventh graders,” said Junior Staff Member Ana Melgard.

Suessical- What was, what is, and what’s to come.

September 2009 the musical was chosen. By September 21st the cast was picked. Throughout October and the beginning of November the cast and crew spent hours nearly of day of the week practicing their roles. Now the performances have begun.



“Were all excited for opening night,” said sophomore Amelia Haggen, “But I’m really afraid I’ll screw up. All that practice builds up a lot of pressure on you.”

The Suessical began with a special performance for 900 elementary students on November 18 . Performances for the general public will be on the 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd.

“All of our hours of work are put on display in just four showings.” said Haggen, “So we can’t mess things up, because there aren’t any do-overs on stage.”

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