Now in his freshman year of high school being in a wheelchair is nothing new. Unfortunately Gorton was paralyzed at a young age.

“I was in a car accident when I was three,” Said Gorton.

Gorton decided not to let that affect his ability to participate in school sports. He joined track and  is in many different events.

“For school, I’m in the 800 and the mile.” Said Gorton.

Gorton not only does school track but takes part in track and field as well as basketball at the Courage Center in Golden Valley.

“I’ve done the 100, 200, 400, 800, mile, shot put, javelin and discus there,” Said Gorton.

Gorton credits his interest in track to a friend who recommended it to him.

“My friend who is also disabled told me about this program, and I started going” Said Gorton.

When he’s not on the field, he plays basketball and travels around the country playing in tournaments.

“We are Wheelchair basketball national champions” said Gorton, “The farthest we went this year was Louisville, Kentucky.”

Picture By: Megan Metz

Track:

“I set up a workout for each day of the week to prepare,” said Senior Kailee Steen, “I tried increasing the intensity every week. To succeed and reach my goals, I have to rely on discipline more than natural talent.”

“I run a couple weeks before the sport starts,” said Junior Blaze Solberg, “so then I am sort of in shape for track and field.”

“I have been in two gym classes both coached by Karn,” said Senior Katie Glen, “I also workout after school with some underclassmen trying to help them get into the swing of how track will be. Not only is physically preparing for the sport important, but the mind frame of an athlete needs to always be improved upon as well. For me, I like to look at inspirational messages and people’s success stories to give me a boost when I need it.”

Softball and Baseball:

“I am in karate,” said Sophomore Colin Block, “it helps with footwork and agility.”

“I do dance in the winter,” said Sophomore Hailey Moser, “that is my way of staying in shape for softball, mentally and physically.”

“Personal lessons once a week,” said Senior baseball player Mitchell Annis, “also I practice 3 times a week, and weight lifting/cardio 5 days a week.”

“I am a pitcher,” said Junior Payton Speckel, “so i have been practicing different kinds of pitches in the off season but since i play a winter sport i sneak in pitching practice 2-3 times a week.”

“I hit and throw,” said Senior  Nolan Triden, “and stay in shape by playing intramural sports.”

Lacrosse:

“I run,” said Sophomore MacKinsey Witte, “and toss the ball around.”

 “I’m basically trying to understand the game and the rules,” said Senior Christina Aliu Carrascosa, “we don’t have lacrosse back in Europe and I’ve never played it before. It’s going to be an interesting season.”

Boys Tennis:

“During the winter there are a lot of USTA leagues so every other weekend I will go to the cities and play a couple matches,” said Junior Sean Harnois. “Every Tuesday and Wednesday we are able to reserve some of the BAC so we can set up the nets and play tennis. The Daytona Golf club by Elk River has indoor courts and they host drills and mixers and I have gone to a couple of those.”

“I do some running and body weight exercises,” said Sophomore Drew Borgerding, “but I usually let gym class and the tennis season get me into shape.”

Picture By Megan Metz

First comes finding the perfect dress. Ladies search far and wide, going all the way to stores like Glitz at the Mall of America or Mestads in St. Cloud. Some just check the local thrift stores in hope to find a good deal. For many, the hunt starts in early February until around the end of April at the latest.

“I probably won’t get my dress until like a week before,” said Senior Beth Weeks.

“Right now, I’m kind of just perusing [for dresses],” said Senior Rachel Koch, “Last year by this time I was freaking out, but this year I probably won’t get a dress till like a couple weeks before.”

Next comes the worry of finding a date or getting asked. 42% of 153 girls surveyed said their biggest worry is finding someone to go with while  44% of guys fear going solo to the big night.

“I’m still on the lookout [for a guy to go with], otherwise I’ll take Sully [Freshman, Sullivan McKinley] as a backup plan,” said Senior Katie Glen. 

 Prom has mixed reviews and opinions when it comes to the guys.

“Prom is hugely overrated,” said Senior Mitchell Annis

“I’ve been practicing my dance moves for the past 2 years and I’m ready to break them out,” said Junior Jacob Jungwirth.

Whether you end up finding the perfect dress or date, prom is a great experience for many.

“I’m excited, it’s going to be a blast,” said Junior Ryan Bunting.

Unfortunately this year there was no dance. For many years, the dance has been a success and a good time for students. However, last year had some complications when some students abused the privilege and acted inappropriately causing the dance to be cancelled this year.

“We had some issues last year with the Snow Daze dance,” said Track Coach Scott Palmer, “some people not having appropriate behavior, but also attendance kept diving throughout the years.”

“I like when students have something to do at school,” said Activities Director Tom Bauman, “and I can honestly say, I wish students were more responsible, a few kids can just ruin it for everyone just because we had to tighten things up a bit, and wish that never would have happened, but I would not be opposed to having a dance next year or any other year.”

Fortunately though the problems at the dance last year will not hinder the plans of other upcoming events.

“This will not affect future dances, like prom,” said Bauman. “Kids get that we are really tight at prom, almost like you are going through an airport.”

The Snow Daze dance was not just for fun but it was also a lucrative fundraiser and it will be difficult to make up for the lost money.

“It was a good fundraiser for the track team,” said Palmer, “we definitely relied on some of that money, so we will have to be creative and come up with some other ways to fund what we need for this season.”

“We didn’t have much time to teach the kids the dance,” said Sophomore Mia Woodwick, “We had two and a half hours to teach them the dance, then an hour to eat and play games.”

Each kid paid a fee to be able to participate in the evening performance. This included a pizza dinner, and the T-shirts they performed in.

“It was a nice way to raise money for the dance team,” said Senior Jessica Faust, “but it was even more fun to have a chance to do something laid back and fun with the team before the season ends.”

“It felt kind of rushed,” said Senior Amber Doebler, “but luckily we were in the same boat as Cambridge, seeing as they didn’t have school either.”

The rushed practice didn’t seem to affect their scores. The top scores of the night were: Eighth grader Alex Zeiss with a 9.375 on floor, Senior Michaela Perz with an 8.575 on beam, and Freshman Allie Merz with two top scores on bars having an 8.3, and on vault with an 8.525. The final team score for Varsity was 133.65. Junior Varsity finished with a 127.2, which is the second highest JV score in Buffalo’s history. Both Varsity and JV scores were the best scores all season.

“It really hurts us to not have practice,” said Coach Driscoll-Nelson, “so it was surprising we did as well as we did.”

“Worst day of my life,” said Sophomore Ryan Bunting.

Everybody has a story about how they discovered Santa Claus wasn’t real, some more tragic than others.

“I was in fifth grade,” said Junior Alyssa Baldwin. “I was sitting at the lunch table when my friend, [Junior] Cleo [Lammers], told me that her mom told her that Santa wasn’t real. I was so sad I started crying.”

“When me and my brother pulled an all nighter,” said Sophomore Carlie Schmidt, “my mom came home with tons of toys, so then I knew.”

While some find out tragically, others find out in a more lightly mannered way.

“Basically just superstitions,” said Junior Levi Bean, “then my mom told me he wasn’t real, but said to still believe in him so I could get more presents.”

“I never really found out Santa wasn’t real,” said Sophomore Danielle Maas, “I found out about the Easter Bunny and just assumed.”

Some students are a bit more sneaky, and find ways to search for presents.

“I went looking for presents and found them, said Junior Hunter Bruhn. “Then when Christmas came, they were the same presents that Santa brought.”

Finding out from older siblings is a common way that kids find out also.

“My mom always hid presents in her closet,” said Junior Regan Miller, “and my brother, [Senior] Justin [Miller], went into the closet and saw a present that said: ‘To Justin from Santa,’ and then he told me.”

Finding out Santa Claus isn’t real, can be a tragic and horrifying event for young children , but everybody finds out someway at some point in their life.

“If you’re on a public machine, don’t stay logged in,” said Interim Technology Director Ed Cox. “More people than just you use that computer.”

People who stay logged into G-mail and Google Docs leave themselves open for security problems, the next person who uses the computer after you don’t log off has access to your messages and google docs. Some people take advantage of when you don’t log off, and send messages to other people so it looks like it is from you, or write a document and save it under your name. The messages and documents are severely inappropriate and the person who forgot to log off is blamed.

“ Being in a journalism class, you’re on the computer a lot,” said Junior Megan Metz. “ And I guess I just forgot sign out, so the next day I logged on and went to my documents and found that someone had gone on and made an inappropriate document, I was really frustrated, I mean yeah it was my fault for forgetting to log off, but I would have just appreciated if that person would have just logged off for me.”

Students can log off Google Docs and G-mail by clicking their username on the top right corner of the screen.

Family and Consumer Science (FACS) teacher, Julie Mundahl received the FACS Teacher of the Year award from the Minnesota Association of FACS Teachers.

Mundahl will formally receive the award in February, whenshe will have to deliver an acceptance speech.  To be chosen for the award Mundahl had to select a project that she does in her class to show the other board members. The project Mundahl chose was ‘My Life at 25,’  where students practice the financial aspects that they will have to deal with later in life. This same project won another award last year from the Minnesota Economics Association.

“The recognition is very satisfying,'” said Mundahl. ” It is very encouraging.”

Mundahl is now applying to be a candidate in the American National Association where she could become the   National FACS teacher of the year.