First of all, here’s the parade schedule for this year:

Saturday, June 16, 6 – 9:30 PM – Buffalo Days Parade 

Wednesday, June 20,  6:30 – 11:00 PM – Foley Parade 

Thursday, June 21, 5:30 – 10:30 PM – Milaca Parade 

Friday, June 22, 6 – 10:30 PM – Sauk Rapids Parade 

Sunday, June 24, 2 – 7 PM – Lake City Parade 

Monday, June 25, 6:15 – 11:00 PM – Roseville Parade 

Saturday, August 4, 11 AM – 4:30 PM – Hanover Parade

To get prepared for all these parades, practices are held from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday, June 11th to Friday, June 15th, with a parent performance afterward on Friday. This infamous week is nicknamed “sweat camp”, because of all the sweat the members accumulate while marching and playing outside in the heat. “Always wear a hat,” said 3-year veteran marching band member Luke McGorry. “This is for multiple reasons: It keeps the sweat from dripping into your eyes and onto your face, it gives some sun protection, and if you don’t bring a hat you have to take one from the “box of shame”. The box is provided for anyone who forgets, but it’s not exactly something to rely on. “The hats have been there forever, and probably have lice,” said McGorry. On top of that, by sweat week all members are expected to have their music memorized.

Sweat Camp Week is an especially big deal for The HERD as it is where 80% of their rehearsals come from. They spend the week preparing for their marches in the scorching summer heat. It builds up the band members stamina and allows them to get to competition level of performance quality, but HERD Band Director Scott Rabehl says there’s more.

“Because we dedicate this week to most of our season rehearsals, we don’t clash with other activity schedules, which allows more kids to participate. Because of these we will have one of the largest bands in the state.”

But it’s not all about the music. Despite many people disregarding marching band as a sport, it takes a lot of strength and endurance, as well as willpower. Carrying an instrument and marching ramrod straight for multiple blocks takes work. For Luke, who plays the snare drum, this is especially difficult. When asked what it feels like to carry his drum during a parade, he said: “Imagine trying to stand up straight with someone leaning on your back.” Another factor is the heavy black uniforms, with shoulder pads, that they have to wear. The more the members sweat, the heavier their uniforms become.

With so much work and the heat and all the other factors that make marching band hard, it seems like people wouldn’t volunteer for it, yet more and more people join each year. When asked why he chose to be in marching band, Luke said “Nobody really knows the answer to that question. It’s terrible, but everyone loves it. It sounds cheesy, but it is literally like a family. It’s a really good bonding experience.” The band has traditions just like any other family. “The low brass section always has a little pep talk before every performance,” said Tommy Chalupnik.  Each year everybody gets a name tag, and the returning members keep their name tags on their hats, so people who have been there for a long time have a hat covered in name tags.

“I can’t wait to see how the group we have will grow each year. The level they start at is miniscule compared to the level they end up at the end of the season….. I can’t wait for our Buffalo, Hanover, and Montrose parades. Performing for our hometowns is a great opportunity and the students always make it great.” – Scott Rabehl, The HERD Band Director.

Beginning a landmark 30th season with BHS, The HERD marching band has its sights set on another great season of marching and performing. With the students ready to put in their best effort and work to be the best they can be, we at Hoofprint.net wish The HERD the best of luck this summer.

Edit: Edited to include interview of Scott Rabehl

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.”

One thing, until a week ago, preventing Darwin from building up a large community was that it cost $15. The game is now free, which will open the door for all of the players who don’t spend money on video games to try Darwin out.

Fortnite has a few things over Darwin that might keep DP behind. Its content creators are already consistently racking in millions of views a day. From Ali-A on Youtube to Ninja on Twitch, Fortnite is consistently gaining publicity and popularity. Fortnite’s building is still something that no game has yet to match. Popular battle royale games like PUBG and H1Z1 focus on weaponry, while one of Fortnite’s biggest draws is its unique function that allows you to create structures within the map. Also, with season 4 coming out today, Fortnite has added many new skins to draw more people in, and has added meteor landing spots where players can experience low gravity fights.

Lastly, Darwin is well behind Fortnite in its weapon variety. From assault rifles to submachine guns to pump shotguns, you’ll rarely have a repeat experience in Fortnite. Because of Fortnite’s high player count, Epic Games has needed to keep up with player growth by consistently adding weapons and new items into the game, as to not bore its players. Currently, The Darwin Project has only two weapons. The ax and the bow. Some people, however, think just the two weapons make for a better experience, like sophomore Skyler Busch.

“DP has better combat. You only have your bow and your ax. No crappy bullet and gun physics, just point and click.”

Despite the betters of Fortnite, Darwin Project maintains a higher level of reliability in its maintenance. With less crowded servers and a more consistent number of players, Scavengers Studio is able to keep up with bugs and make sure things stay smooth in Darwin Project. Darwin also allows you to craft reusable powers with electronics, which makes fights more random and unpredictable than in Fortnite.

“I’ve played PUBG, Fortnite, and Darwin Project, and my favorite is definitely Darwin project. DP has a more survival based, collecting, gameplay… You have a set amount of time to prepare and collect resources and when the time is up you fight each other… Fortnite has a massive audience and an easy to play game-style that relies less on skill and allows you to have a fun experience without dedicating a large amount of time to the game,” said Busch.

Darwin’s attempt at realism and clear connection to the popular series, The Hunger Games, will definitely keep it in the running as one of the top battle royale games. Within 24 hours of this article being written, The Darwin Project hit a new high of 12,513 concurrent players and continued its download climb to 500,000 players. It’s safe to say DP is joining the ranks of the top played battle royale games. But can it really challenge Fortnite? That’s up to the public to decide.

April snow has kept spring sports inside for their first practices, but the season must continue with competitions against other schools. The Boys Tennis Varsity team participated in a tournament with Becker, Brainerd, and Delano on Saturday, April 7th in Becker, and the Junior Varsity team hosted Delano in the Bison Activity Center.

This tournament was not really about winning for the team, but more for the practice gained from the experience. Luke Dahl, dubbed “sweater boy” by Varsity Head Coach, Ben Watkins, for his effort and improvement throughout the tournament, said his matches went “pretty crappy, but it was good to get the rust off at the start of the season and to get those first match jitters out of the way.” Luke has to wear a tennis-themed sweater Coach Watkins found at a thrift store for introductions during the next match, and for the whole day before that. After each match, a new “sweater boy” is crowned to keep the sweater until the next match.

The tournament was also a good way for the team to come together and encourage each other. You could hear the players calling out to other courts to encourage their teammates using their custom nicknames. A chorus of “Let’s go bus stop!” and “You got this kaleidoscope!” echoed through the Becker Field House. Once the snow clears up, the tennis team is ready to get their season on the road.

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.