“We’re doing a ropes course in Kronberg, which is the town we’re staying in. And I’m personally going to France the first full weekend we have there, with my exchange partner, Caroline, but I don’t know what everyone else is doing,” said Junior Emily Linderholm. “I guess we’re just kind of traveling around, going to Frankfurt. I think the thing I’m most excited is to see Caroline, because I haven’t seen her in a very long time. I’m also super excited to go to Berlin, we are going to see the Berlin Wall.”

While some are looking to see the sights and meet with friends. Other students are looking forward to other sides of the trip such as eating some delicious food, parties and having a good time.

“We’re going to be going on a cruise along the Rhine River, which is gonna be pretty cool,” said Junior Parker Peterson. “We’re gonna eat a lot of German food, it’s gonna be pretty good, I’m a big fan a food. I wanna go to German parties, I feel like they’re gonna be way better than American parties. I’m definitely excited for the high ropes course and canoeing, but anything outside and anything active, is just gonna be fun, always good to keep an open mind.”

Either way, the German students should have a great time experiencing a different culture on the other side of the world. They will be doing different things with different people whether it’s going to parties or going on tours, they will have a great start to the summer.

Instead of just normal numbers on the posters, like in past years, this year’s Senior Class Cabinet decided to make the posters relate to this years quote which is, “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end,” by Ernest Hemingway. “We had to come up with the quote and Anna Demgen found that quote and we all decided we liked it so we all figured out what could go with it,” said Senior Madi Phyle. “We did things that had to do with journey and moving, like there’s a bike, a boat, one’s a parasail and the one for the last day is a rocket ship.”

The Senior Class Cabinet members are proud about the creativeness of the posters. They worked hard on the posters to make them different from past years’ countdowns. Some students may like it more because it’s something different, while some students don’t like the fact that there is a countdown at all.

“I think it’s a more creative idea [this year],” said Senior Jon Thielen. “There was more design to it than previous years. However, having the countdown constantly there and wanting to remind people how long they have left really doesn’t go well with trying to enjoy every single moment.”

Students are not alone in this view, some teachers such as English Teacher Joel Squadroni feel that “The more you count down, the less time you have to enjoy life.” Read more in a previous hoofprint.net article here.

What do you think?

When Pearson was old enough he didn’t really have a choice in whether he helped trained the dogs or not.

“I was born in the family and then I started one time, I don’t remember when and I liked it, so I stayed with it,” said Pearson

The dogs are purchased before they are trained and begin training when they are 10-14 months old. It takes 9-12 weeks to train the dogs for patrol and drug detection, while it takes about 14 to train for bomb detection. The dogs he uses are German Shepherds for patrol otherwise they are “sporting breeds” like golden retrievers and labs.

“[For training dogs for bombs] You put the powder in a little can and you tell them to smell it, and once you can tell they smell it, you make them sit and you give them a ball, or a treat,” said Pearson. “After they get it you start to hide the can and make them find it.”

To train the dogs for drug detection, it’s the same principle, except using drugs instead of bomb materials.
For patrol it’s a little bit different to train the dogs. Jon needs to train them to bite someone.

“You use a tug, and you tug them, they think its fun and they want to bite you. Then you get a sleeve, same thing but on your arm, and then you run away [and have them chase you],” said Pearson. “It’s fun to run away from them and feel them bite, as long as it doesn’t go through the sleeve.”

Once the dogs are trained they send them to police departments or other places like the military. They have sent dogs all over the country, including some in Canada. But for dogs that they sell to the military, the retirement age is five years. One dog was going to go to Afghanistan but it was four and a half so by the time it started duty there, it would have been too old.

It’s tough not to get connected to animals that you’ve been around for a long time, but Pearson has learned to not build a relationship and not get too attached to the dogs. “I learned not to get connected because they go away,” said Pearson.

“I didn’t take any practice tests this year, I did nothing, I was just like, ‘Oh I have the ACT on Saturday.’ Which I remembered the Wednesday beforehand and I was like ‘Oh ok,’ so I woke up Saturday morning and went and took the test. […] I probably should have [studied], but I didn’t, “ explained Scherber.

This year, the state has added the ACT to graduation requirements, but many BHS students, including Josh Polzin and Andrew Scherber, had already taken the ACT before the Minnesota state test day. By requiring all juniors to take the ACT on April 28th, the state spent extra money on students like Josh Polzin, who already had a achieved a perfect score of 36 and will continue to spend extra money on underclassmen like Andrew Scherber who achieved a 36 at an earlier grade level, unless the requirements change.

“Everyone should take the ACT at some point and I think that it is a good statistic to see how everyone is doing and to plan curriculum but I don’t think everyone should need to take it on the same day,” said Polzin. “If students have already taken it on a national test day, they should be able to use those scores to fulfill state requirements. Personally, I think that the four hour test I spent my time on was time I could have spent on classes that were more important at that point. It was a waste of resources on the state’s part.”

In order to improve the overall fairness, effectiveness, and economics of the test date, the restrictions should be changed to accommodate students who have already achieved scores that they are proud of and that meet college benchmarks.

“The state should change rules surrounding the ACT and not force everyone to take it on the same day without any exceptions. If you’ve already taken the test before the time (state test date), I don’t think you should have to take the test again, you should just need to submit your score to the state for statistic purposes so the state knows that you are on track as a student,” explained Polzin.

The team practices two days a week until Spring Break, when the team gets back from Spring Break, they have two games a week until the end of May. The practices and games are on Monday and Wednesday this year. It changes every two years between Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday

“I really love sports and coming into teaching that was one thing I thought about started getting into, but the first year I started here there happened to be an opening and the coach asked if I was interested and I thought it was just a very good fit with the job I do, plus the sports that I love” said Co-Head Coach Dave Kaufmann.  “[My favorite thing] is to see the growth from the beginning of the season, to the end of the season.”

Photo by Alyssa Baldwin

Is it really worth all the stresses of the class?  “[The amount of stress]  depends on what kind of person you are when it comes to doing homework.  If you enjoy working hard to do well then these classes will provide you with the opportunity to show what you’re made of.  If you like learning things and don’t necessarily like all the homework and the repetition that might go along with it maybe it isn’t right for you.  I don’t even know if it’s right for me.” said Sophomore Taylor McNitt.  Who is currently taking AP Biology and AP U.S History.

There are many things that can push you away from taking an AP class.  Like the extra workload or the amount of stress it will cause.  What students have to consider is if they are going to pass the class with the grade they want and how a potential college credit balances that out.  “I’m going to try to pass it [the AP exam], but if I don’t pass it, at least I will semi-know the material.  I can always study up and try to test out in college.” said McNitt.

The AP exam itself can also be very stressful, studying and trying to make sure you know as much as possible to give yourself the best chance of passing, while also having to keep up with the class itself, as well as all of your other classes, can be a lot of work. But for many students it’s all worth it in the end, because they receive the credit so they don’t need to take the class in college.

But AP classes aren’t the only option for college credits.  CIS classes are a good alternative.  “I prefer AP classes over regular classes but not over CIS classes.  Those [CIS classes] are only two terms and they aren’t based on a test.” said Sophomore Andrew Scherber

Even though the majority of students don’t use their AAA time for homework, there are some student who still use it to their advantage.   “Normally I use it for homework, but if I go with friends it makes a difference on if I choose to work or not, because sometimes they can be distracting.” said Sophomore Dylan Meyer.

We went into five different AAA’s and observed their activities. Of the students we observed only thirty-six students were working.  Eighty-seven students were not working. That’s only about one in three students using the work time they were given.

The extra time is also helpful for the teachers to work with the students to learn a subject better or work on their homework.  Spanish Teacher Jessica Nickelsen said “For me it [AAA] is because I need to get additional time with my kids.” “I’ve had a lot of people come in for AAA and Bison Time academically, this semester. Last semester it was more visiting, this semester has been much more academic.”

Should work be mandatory in AAA?  Or is AAA supposed to be a time to hang out with friends?  Either way AAA is just 20 minutes of whatever.

Buffalo has gone to state seventeen times, ten of them under Hagstrom Durant and won a total of nine stars , six of which were under Hagstrom Durant’s direction. Even after being a director for a total of thirty-five years, and being the director at Buffalo for twenty-three years, Hagstrom Durant says its still important to her when the cast does well. “We won last year as well, so it means a lot to me,” said Hagstrom Durant.

“They were very well prepared, but they’re also kids and you hope it’s going to be solid, but you never know if the nerves will get to them,” said Hagstrom Durant. Clearly that didn’t happen with the cast having a fantastic performance and receiving yet another star.

Photo by Rebecca Kohnen

For some, the feel of going to state is different than the other competitions.  “I like the atmosphere at state because you want everyone to do their best, you’re not directly competing against anyone anymore you’re just kinda like, here’s what we do, its just an atmosphere of trying to be the best show you can, and you want everyone else to do their best as well.” said Sophomore Jonah Schmitz.

While last year at state, the cast had a lot of seniors, this year is quite different. One Act has only one Freshman, four Seniors (two of which are crew), the majority is made up of Sophomores and Juniors.  The Seniors are trying to be good role models and telling the underclassmen how they should behave and later become the respected upperclassmen.

[At sections] all the seniors were turning to us and saying ‘Hey, if they announce our names; if they announce our names, don’t scream, don’t react, just sit there politely.’ they announced ‘Gold.’ and all the seniors jump up and start wailing at the top of their lungs.

–Sophomore Emily Twardy

After receiving a star in last years state competition, and doing so in past years, other schools aren’t always friendly to the Buffalo cast. “I think everyone thinks we’re jerks, because we have a reputation for winning and then we walk by and we say, ‘Good luck!’ and they gives a look like ‘I hate you’” said Swartzer.

Buffalo’s performance is Friday, February 13 at 11:00 AM.  The show will be in the O’Shaughnessy auditorium at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul.  Tickets are $10.00 for a single session or $15.00 for a daily pass.

Photo by – Mackenzie Malewicki

“The hours are actually really flexible to be honest,” said Young. ” In the summer I typically do 20 hours a week, and its flexible, where as I can go five hours each day or I can just go two and a half.” During the school year however, Young is a substitute, so if one of the custodians gets sick or can’t come in to work, Young fills the spot and gets to work. On days he substitutes he will work four hours right after school.

He likes not having to drive to “really weird places,” and have to put on a uniform. “I literally just drive in, grab my route for the day, and I do it.”

While being familiar with the environment he’s working in is a plus, there are still some down sides. “My least favorite thing is that I have to bend over a lot to get to the trash cans.”

Along with not only his least favorite things, Young shared some things that can get frustrating to the other custodians as well. “Squeaking on the floor with their shoes leaves marks all over the floor, and when someone has to mop that up that can get really annoying. Another thing is the paper towel dispensers, when you rip off a paper towel sometimes you leave those tiny little shreds and fragments all over the ground and you have go out and pick each and every single individual one of those up.”

While many would look at a job at the school the worst thing possible, Young seems to be doing just fine. Something like getting to know the custodians and other staff is something not everyone gets to do, maybe he has an advantage.

The school district is now looking for people who want to work as custodians in the summer. You can apply online at bhmschoools.org