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

After the Hulk movie was released MCU officially kicked off the series by creating the first “Iron Man” movie. Scoring a 79% on Metacritic and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, and grossing an extremely high $595 million, Marvel movies became a tradition for many households across the globe. MCU releases become a semiannual occurrence and Marvel Studios blossomed into a successful industry-changing film behemoth.

With solo releases for each of the Avengers, hype for the first team-up movie was at an extreme high. In 2012, the hype reached its peak as “The Avengers” was released. Marvel’s routine post-credit scenes left audiences staying in the theater well after the end of the movie. “The Avengers” post-credit scene became a historic one. The introduction of the extremely powerful comic book character, Thanos, started Phase 2 of the MCU.

Now in 2018, Thanos is the protagonist in one of the highest grossing films in history. In only 11 days, Avengers has topped the $1 billion mark at the box office and is on its way to 2 by the end of the summer.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

“Yay! Finally, a movie where the bad guy wins,” said Jared Schultz.

In opposition to the usual tone of MCU movies, Thanos wins. Nearly every one of our beloved heroes vanishes into dust and disappears, all after brutal deaths of other beloved MCU characters like Heimdahl, Loki, and Gamora. Rocket Raccoon and the Avengers featured in the 2012 film are the only survivors. With half the universe turning to dust, people expected a resolution or at least some glimpse of hope. Instead, the credits roll, leaving many in shock

“I heard that almost every hero died and I was in shock because the heroes aren’t supposed to die,” Logan Miller said. Logan has yet to see the movie but has since been motivated to avoid the end of the shocking film.

“It was stupid as s***. Why do they need to kill everybody? It would’ve been fine if the hammer thing just killed Thanos.” said freshman Tsadik Sargeant. “I felt like I wasted my money on that s***.”

Many were shocked or angry or sad after watching the stunning film. Will Marvel redeem itself with Avengers 4? I guess we will see. For now, BHS and everyone across the world will keep trying to process the film and predict what will happen next.

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.