This summer checkout is an experiment that Buffalo has never done before, so it will be changing over the coming years.

“In the future, we are planning on having switching days where students can come in and switch out their books for new ones,” English Teacher Amy Sparks said.

If a book is lost or becomes overdue it will be dealt with the same way as if it was in the school year. Sparks said that the school is doing because the school library should not be a warehouse for books. It should be more like a community where students can talk with each other about things they are reading or want to read and same with teachers.

“My motto is ‘Better a lost book than a lost reader’,” said Sparks.

The goal of this experiment is to get students and staff more engaged with text whether that is body language, films, written stories, books, or digital stories. The summer checkout is also to help promote literacy in the school, get more people talking about reading, and make a community of readers for both the students and teachers.

“We need a full community of readers,” Sparks said.

Bennet Eld is 15 years old, and one of the youngest sophomores in Buffalo High School. Despite his carefree attitude and friendly persona, he is dedicated to his school work, with one subject in particular: Math.  Throughout middle school, Bennet participated in Math Counts and made it to state every year. His hard work paid off when he qualified for the Minnesota All-State Math Team, which only accepts 60 students from the whole state.

Based on his scores from Math Team, a BHS extracurricular activity, Bennet was invited to tryouts for the MN All-State Math Team. He was the only person from Math Team that qualified for these tryouts. “His natural skills for doing complex formulas in his head is really something that constantly surprised me,” said Bennet’s mom, Heather Eld. After answering 10 graded questions, Bennet learned that he had made the team. “The experience was pretty cool,” he said, “I was surprised I made it, as there’s a lot of really good kids in the state.”

In preparation for the American Regions Mathematics League (ARML) competition, Bennet has to practice with his team. There are 4 teams of 15 people that participate from Minnesota. “It isn’t official, but we’ve figured out that the teams are ranked, best to worst, gold, maroon, white, blue,” he recalled. This was based on the observed skill level of each team, and the order the teams were shown at the first meeting. Bennet is on the white team, and overall is pretty happy with his teammates. “My team is really nice, and also really smart,” he said.

Practices are located in Minneapolis at Augsburg College. “I think the person most affected by this besides me is my brother because he has to go on a two-hour car ride for something he doesn’t even participate in,” said Bennet, “because my mom won’t let him stay home alone.” Besides official practices, Bennet will also be practicing for the competition with problem sheets he does at home.“I’m happy he has an avenue that he can pursue that he has such talent and drive in,” said Heather Eld.

On June 2nd Bennet, along with over 2,000 other students, will be competing at four locations nationwide. He will be competing at the University of Iowa, and will participate in a team round, where the entire team has 20 minutes to solve 10 problems, a power question round, an individual round, and a relay round, where one team member solves a problem and passes the solution to the next team member, who plugs that answer into their question, and so on. “I hope to do well,” said Bennet, “I think there is a slim chance of winning, but I will try my best.”

“FIRST Robotics Competition is the ultimate Sport for the Mind. Under strict rules, limited resources, and an intense six-week time limit, teams of students are challenged to raise funds, hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game.”-FIRST Robotics

Every year the game is different; and this year the game was titled “FIRST POWER UP”. The game involves two alliances of three teams each, with each team controlling a robot and performing specific tasks on a field to score points. The game has a retro 8-bit theme and teams are required to place milk crates, or “power cubes”, on large balancing scales or switches to tip the scale and gain ownership. Alliances can also trade power cubes for power ups in the vault, which gives them a temporary advantage in a match. In the final seconds of the match, robots can climb the tower earning them additional points.

Last year at the FIRST Robotics competition The RoboHerd had an amazing robot. They were ready for anything! Then the unthinkable happened; the team ended up in 63rd (last) place behind a team whose robot never moved. A RoboHerd team member explained “The reason why our robot got last was because of ranking points. The number of ranking points the team has is divided by the number of games, and that ratio determines the rank you get placed in.”

This year to improve their chances for a higher rank, they made a robot that could do all the tasks, but during the competition they focused on having the robot do a specific task, the vault. Their robot also had a useful autonomous that helped them get some needed ranking points. Lastly, their team members did a lot more scouting to help the drive team formulate a strategy. Through their perseverance and hard work, at the end of the placement rounds they were in 19th place.

Next came the choosing ceremony the top 8 teams lined up to choose two other teams to join with for the final rounds. The choosing went from first to eighth and back again. Top eight teams are allowed to choose each other as long as the other team hasn’t chosen yet. The first team chose, followed by the second, third, fourth, and fifth. But the fifth said “We chose team 5542 RoboHerd”. The RoboHerd waited for a few seconds making sure what the fifth place team said was true, then they jumped for joy because they had been chosen for the first time ever.

Almost immediately after the choosing ceremony was over the semifinal rounds started The RoboHerd played the fourth place alliance for their first two rounds. If they won both they would be able to advance to the finals. Their first round was underway, and for the first half of the round their alliance was ahead, but then one of the alliance member’s robots malfunctioned and stopped responding to their commands. When the round ended the alliance had lost by a narrow margin. The RoboHerd had a short time to recuperate before their next match, and most of that time was spent trying to help the teammate whose robot malfunctioned. During the second match the same teams robot lost connection again, the game ended, and the RoboHerd was out of the competition.

All in all it was a good season for the RoboHerd. The season had its ups and downs from the design coming together perfect to remaking a part four times. It taught the participants not only how to problem solve, but to find the problem than find a solution. FIRST Robotics is an amazing program and I look forward to joining next year.

As Buffalo students sign up for more core classes such as English, History, Science, and Math to complete their graduation credits, they are also signing up for more and heavier textbooks to carry around. Many students have at least one textbook weighing over five pounds, plus all of their school supplies and daily necessities in their backpack, which they lug around all day to and from their classes. If students try to cram too much into their backpack or wear their backpack in a way that is unintended, it can actually cause physical damage to the body.  “At least once per month we have a student come down to the health office complaining of back pain,” said school nurse, Karen Schultz. This pain may even end up sending you to a physical therapist or chiropractor.

The Effect of Heavy BackJared Schultz | Hoofprint.netpacks on the Body

Overweight backpacks can distort the natural curvature of the back, causing muscle and joint strain. Teen’s Health says, “When you put a heavy weight on your shoulders in the wrong way, the weight’s force can pull you backward. To compensate, you may bend forward at the hips or arch your back. This can cause your spine to compress unnaturally.” However, it’s not all about being overweight. Many students use backpacks incorrectly by only wearing it by one of the straps, causing one side of the body to be forced to compensate for the other. This can ruin your posture, and over time you can develop lower and upper back strain. Backpacks can also get on your nerves – literally – when they aren’t made correctly. Tight, narrow straps can dig into your shoulders, pinching nerves and cutting off circulation. If this happens, you may develop tingling, numbing, and weakness in your hands and arms.

Gathering Data

We conducted a survey in a classroom setting that asked students for their backpack to weight ratio, as well as if they experienced pain from wearing their backpack all day. The average backpack to weight ratio was 10.57%, just over the maximum recommended ratio from the American Chiropractic Association. “Backpacks should optimally be five pounds, and if it’s anything over that, we recommend using your locker between classes to store some of your stuff. The general rule is to listen to your body; if you can feel that it’s too heavy, it is,” said Schultz. We found that 71% of the students in our survey have back pain caused by their backpack, and 88% of these students had backpack to weight ratios over 10%. Additionally, every person who did not experience pain from their backpack had a ratio of lower than 10%.

Student Experiences

We interviewed some BHS students about how their overweight backpack affects them.

Nick Isbell, sophomore, has never used his locker once this year. “All of my classes are at opposite ends of the school,” he said, “I figured out early on it would be easier to take my backpack with me so I didn’t have to go out of my way to get to my locker.” Having a backpack to weight ratio of 12.5%, he’s carrying 1/8 of his body weight around with him all day. “When I’m walking down the hallway, I can feel my backpack pulling me back and hurting my spine”, Nick told us. “I’ve visited a chiropractor for the pain, and they told me my spine was compressed.” Another factor in Nick’s back pain could be how he wears his backpack. “I normally use one strap, worn on my right shoulder,” he said, “which has a lot more problems than my left shoulder. It hurts more and is less flexible.”

Bennet Eld, sophomore, carries around 16.6% of his body weight on his back. When asked why his backpack weighed so much, he responded: “There are about five pounds in my backpack that I don’t need, but you never know when you’ll need a textbook or a folder that you don’t usually use.” Unlike Nick, Bennet always uses both straps, as “it will kill my back if I use one.” Having such a big weight on his shoulders, Bennet gets some back problems. “I visit the chiropractor occasionally to get my back straightened out,” he said.

A Possible Solution

As the world invents more technology that keeps people sitting at computer screens, people’s postures will get worse, and this, combined with heavy backpacks, will have detrimental effects on our bodies. However, there is a solution that will cause less strain on your back, but still serve the purpose of a backpack. They’re called “rolling backpacks”, and, like the name suggests, they have wheels on the bottom and a handle so you can roll it down the hallway. Imagine a cross between a suitcase and a backpack.  “Rolling backpacks are a great option, especially with the heavy loads that classes demand,” said Schultz. These rolling backpacks cost an average of $45, which is a one time payment, in comparison to trips to the chiropractor, which are about $65 every session. They are definitely a cheaper option, but only one out of many possible solutions for this growing problem in schools across the country.