“I heard about it on twitter,” said Raitor. “I just had a sinking feeling; like, oh crap, this is happening.”
Raitor was worried that his parents might have been two of the many injured in the bombing. He just wanted to know that they were okay.
“It was about 20 minutes until I heard from them. They knew I would worry and see it, so they were pretty quick about it,” said Raitor. “They knew they only had a few minutes to get a message. They sent it five to ten minutes afterwards, but it just took that long to get out.”
Raitor’s parents were in a shopping center because his father had just finished running. They were eating at a restaurant when they looked up at the screen of a live broadcast of the marathon and noticed something was wrong.
“There was a camera guy and my dad saw him looking at the ground and the sky, and his first thought was ‘Man this guy is going to get fired’ because he was on the race before and how do you screw that up? The camera was running to get near the explosion,” said Raitor.
Raitor’s parents didn’t hear, see, or feel the explosions. They were also not injured. Instead they were watching the bombings from inside on the TV. The bombings had happened right across the street.
“Then everyone said ‘Shelter Down”. It was the phrase everyone used in the building they were in.” said Raitor “So once the guy at the booth next to where my parents were saw what was going on, he told my parents and they all had to hunker down by the booths. They said it was surreal to be watching the streets right outside the building you’re in on TV.”
After the bombing, all of the cell phone towers and transportation was shut down. Raitor’s parents had to walk miles to get to where they could be safe. They didn’t see anyone who was injured by the bombings, however they did see someone get hit by a car in the hectic and panicked traffic.
When Raitor’s parents returned home, they were relieved to be safe and at home. They had many stories to tell. Although, the constant questions and calls about the bombing got tiring after a while.
“I feel like I was more angry than my parents were. I was just upset that someone would attack an innocent place and innocent people,” said Raitor. “They were just more sick of talking about it. Everyone was asking, calling, and texting. They were grateful that people were curious, but after a week of people talking about only the bombings, it was tiring.” ]]>
Sammy belongs to English teacher Ryan McCallum. On April 24th Sammy turned 18. Sammy has been all over the world, and has become an overnight internet sensation. It all started 18 years ago, when McCallum was a sophomore at Buffalo High School.
“I didn’t enjoy the school brunch menu because it was at the same time at lunch. So I made a statement by going to the front of the line and taking a breakfast sausage” said McCallum. “I was a really stupid kid.”
McCallum had kept a locker for Sammy to stay in near his for the rest of his high school career.
“On the outside of the locker we had a sign to slide numbers in and out of to show how old he was in days” said McCallum
When McCallum became a teacher, he would show Sammy to his students and they were fascinated by the aged sausage.
“I think I had heard about Sammy before” said Junior Jay Mason “When I saw it, it had shock value. I didn’t expect it to be that surprising.”
Once Sammy was known to students, they started to bring him along when they went on trips and vacations. Sammy has been to every U.S. state and on every continent except Antarctica.
“It was really fun to bring him to the Dominican Republic.” said Junior Emma Rodelius “All my friends there loved him and when I went back in March, they were disappointed I didn’t bring him again.”
On April 25th, a day after turning 18, Sammy made his star debut on Reddit.com. McCallum posted about Sammy and his story and travels. He also answered people’s questions on ‘why’ for over four hours . Currently the post has 12,000 up-votes and 10,000 down-votes and the photo of Sammy has over 800,000 views. And the numbers are rapidly rising.
“I am just waiting for the day that the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) confiscates him, or another government disposes of him.” said McCallum “But until that day, I will continue to enjoy the many stories that Sammy is able to create.”
]]>All this week athletes and coaches have been up in arms because the athletes sporting events have been getting canceled, “Next week isn’t too promising. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are options but it’s supposed to snow again next week.” states Palmer
Other sports like Boys lacrosse have had slightly more luck, “We’ve only been inside but the places we have had to play own turf so they just blew all of the snow off the turf field. But today we had a home game and it got canceled.” Says Junior Lacrosse player Wyatt Wentland
Through thick and thin athletes are dedicated to the sports they love, for instance yesterday morning and this morning the boy’s tennis morning have had practice at 6am before school.
Senior Ethan Fabel was one of these players, Fabel added with a sigh, “Yeah we had 6 am practice yesterday and today and we had to shovel off the tennis courts.”
Although Minnesota weather may be unpredictable the athletes of Buffalo high school know how to get down to business when times are tough.
]]>About 400 students will be graduating from Buffalo High School on June 7th, 2013. Many Seniors have mixed emotions about heading off to college. On average 68% of Americans who graduate from high school go to college the following school year.
“I have been scared [about college] up until this point in life because I have lived a the same life, but, I’m excited to grow up and meet new people,” said Senior Mandi Davidson.
Leaving for college is a big step, it’s closing one chapter and opening the next in your life’s story. Most are worried about leaving home when they are only 18 years old. College means making your own decisions, forming your future, and learning how to live on your own.
“I’m nervous but more excited to be independent,” said Senior Chandler Engle.
Decisions are the key learning experience in college. Either you regret them or you’re thankful for them in the future.
“I’m going to miss them [family]. I will only be five hours away from my family. It’s for the best,” said Hogan.
]]>“I thought earlier in life I would teach as long as my father did, which was for 38 years,” said Emmel. “And I’ve never gotten that ‘tired’ feeling.”
Emmel has gotten so used to the routine of being a teacher and coming to school every morning, the hardest thing for him will be stepping outside of teaching for the first time.
“I’ve been teaching for so long, it has defined who I am,” Emmel said.
Being a teacher comes quite easy to Emmel. But along with things being easy, his job comes with it’s share of hard and even very scary times.
“Everything outside of the classroom is hard. The meetings, the workshops. They take you away from focus,” said Emmel. You have to have focus and keep your goals in mind. But once you’ve done it enough, it’s easy to maintain goals and keep your focus.”
Emmel experienced a very scary moment a few years back and it is one of memories that still lurks him to this day.
“One of my students fainted while watching a janitor replace a socket. When his head hit the ground, the sound was like a bowling ball hit the floor. His head whiplashed and bounced back up and his glasses went flying across the room. He laid there unconscious, and not breathing.” said Emmel. “I checked and he still had a pulse, but I pinched his nose and as I was about to give him a breath, he started to breathe on his own. All I thought was ‘This is it. I’m never going to teach another day in my life’.”
With all of his experiences, good and bad, Emmel has learned quite a lot of lessons that helped him through his years of teaching.
“I’ve learned that kids never change. Even though people say they do, they don’t. They always stay kids. They always have to have a passion for learning to stay engaged.” said Emmel.
Emmel remembers back when he first started teaching. He felt like a young kid himself. But then as he grew up and went through different stages of his life, the students never did.
“I’m an old guy, but in some ways I’m still the young guy from 1973. But with a much different perspective,” said Emmel.
Waking up on September 3rd will be hard for Emmel. He doesn’t come back to everything that he has ever known.
“The one thing that will go through my mind is ‘Hey, this is just like any other Saturday’,” Emmel said. “But I will be glad to be away from bells. They have regulated my life.”
The easiest part for Emmel is being able to have that second cup of coffee in the morning, which is something he rarely gets to do.
Even though Emmel is retiring from teaching, he will continue to teach Drivers Education and coach track.
“Not many people have asked me questions about retiring,” said Emmel. “Some I haven’t even asked myself. But I’m looking forward to it”
Photos by Jake Willmert
]]>Instagram is a photo sharing app that enables it’s users to take and apply filters to their photos. Users are able to share them among many social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter.
The Hoofprint Instagram is completely run by students at BHS, so all of the pictures that are posted are from the eyes of the students. The Hoofprint Instagram will be used to post pictures of current events that are happening at BHS.
Instagram is currently blocked on the Buffalo Hanover Montrose District’s internet, but is being suggested to be unblocked for student use.
If you have any pictures of current things happening at BHS, feel free to email them to [email protected] and they will be reviewed and posted.
Link to @thehoofprint ‘s Instagram: http://instagram.com/thehoofprint
]]>The Arts Magnet students preformed a showcase on January 24 to show off their talents and what they have done in school. An audition was required to get a spot in the show and only about 23 acts were chosen.
“Auditions for me were really easy,” said Freshman Danielle Maas. “We really didn’t have to try. He just said good job, and clean it up. No one in my class was cut, but there were people who did get cut.”
Many different types and styles of acts were performed at the show. Whether it be singing, dancing, acting, or even a fashion show, they were all individual.
“I loved making my own fashion show,” Freshman Naomi Baker. “The outfits were amazing at how they showed off what I made.”
The Zenon dancers also performed 4 of there dances that they learned in their Arts Foundations class through the Arts Magnet Program.
“The ones performed were ‘The House of Joy and Ashes’ by first block students, ‘The Reluctant Warrior’ by second block students, ‘The Wanderers’ by third block students and ‘The Celebration Dance’ by all the arts foundation students,” said Freshman Paige Miller.
“A student of mine showed me a website where you can create your own website and it sounded like a good idea. So we created one to show off the cakes the students made.” said Mundahl.
This is the first year, and the first quarter the class has chose to use the website as an alternative to the competition. Even though the website has only been up for a few days it is already growing. The website is featured at http://gourmetcakebakes.webs.com .
“The website has a homepage, and a gallery with two separate folders for the two classes. In them are pictures of the students cakes during the making process and the final cakes.” said Mundahl
The website was created to be an easy way to showcase the cakes to other people besides just students at BHS.
“For a teen, it’s easy to navigate throughout the website well” said Senior Daniel Bonn Mundahl’s students have had positive feedback to the making of the sight and are enjoying seeing the site progress, instead of doing a competition.
“I like the website because it is really simple and it is a work in progress,” said Senior Quinn Parks “It shows all of the hard work and dedication we put into the class.”
Story by Molly Kwakenat and Dan Holland
]]>Last week Freshman Jojo York got the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles, California to model for IMTA, the International Modeling and Talent Agency.
“The trip to L.A. I would say was life changing. The people I met I would have never been able to meet if it wasn’t for IMTA.” said York
York decided to take modeling classes at Caryn International with one of her friends, just for fun. Just one year later, she had auditioned to model for IMTA. She being one of only 25 girls in Minnesota, and being one of 700 country wide made the cut to take the trip to L.A. She spent 7 busy days there modeling and being involved in a life changing experience.
“My average day there was full of competitions from 8 in the morning to as late as 10 at night,” said York “You would be split into age divisions. You would have to line up and when they called you number, you’d walk out and pose and walk the runway. You’d be wearing your number pinned on your leg so that all the judges could write it down if they want to work with you. All the modeling competitions I did were fashion, swim suit, overview, make up, TV beauty, jeans, and commercial print. After all the competitions were over and it was the last day of IMTA, you go to callbacks.”
Callbacks are when you go meet with all the agents that want to work with you and they take your measurements and pictures. The average girl at IMTA would get only one or two callbacks to work with the agencies. York got the opportunity to get over 10.
“It was great meeting with all of the agents and knowing they are as interested in me modeling as I am. I’d say my favorite part of IMTA was mostly walking the runway and being able to meet with all of these amazing agents.”
Story By Molly Kwakenat and Dan Holland
Photo by Emma Rodelius
]]>
“They are really fun to wear and it’s sweet to see other peoples reactions when they’re really weird” said Bunting
Today, and previously always the day before winter break, is the school’s annual ‘Ugly Sweater Day’ to
get students excited and pumped up for the upcoming winter break and to celebrate Christmas time.
“I like wearing ugly sweaters because they are ugly” said Sophomore Jay Mason
Mason is one of the many students participating today, by wearing a Hunchback of Notre-Dame Disney sweater vest. Of 50 BHS students surveyed, roughly 80% will participate on Ugly Sweater day. Only a fraction of students will not participate.“It’s not like I didn’t want to wear a sweater,” said Freshman Paige Hasledalen “I just didn’t have one and I didn’t want to go out and buy one or ask someone to borrow one.”
Story by Molly Kwakenat
Photo by Ben Leipholtz