As Senior Courtney Elsenpeter entered the building she was taken by surprise. Courtney said,” I didn’t think it was going to be here already. I thought it wouldn’t be here til next week. I can’t believe there’s only 10 days left.”

You could stop and see people taking pictures and hearing them talking about.

Class Cabinet members have spent hours  after  school for two days to complete the banners. Senior Paige Baldwin said,” Our class quote is from Walt Disney, so we decided to put little Disney themes or drawings on the numbers. We were all pretty proud of the way the posters turned out.”‘

 1st block-

Porter is learning the Hindi language and about the culture. Bordak is learning the Russian language and culture. And Lepinski started learning banjo then switched to dog training. Their group project is about how to improve education.

 3rd block-

We sat in on the third block class to see what it was like.  It seems like a very fun laid-back environment. The first block class even decorated the room with ribbons and streamers and brought in bean bags as one of their ideas to improve education. During class time they mainly just work on their own in silence but they also have many short random conversations or randomly comment about what they are learning about or doing. They all get along really well and seem to have a good time being around each other.

Bunkers started off with drawing and has recently switched to American Sign Language. She has had thoughts of maybe going back to drawing again. “[My favorite one is] drawing,” decided Bunkers. “I didn’t have to have to learn much it was more just practicing.”

Fonkert has changed topics four times and is considering switching again. “I started with interior design, then did drawing for a little bit, and then I tried to learn different study techniques,” said Fonkert, “now I am customizing my own pair of shoes, which is my favorite one so far.”

Fonkert may try forensics also. “I called myself flighty and then Cary said I was just terminally curious,” said Fonkert.

Steen started to learn Spanish on her own and then switched to Medical Company/Organization research. Some of the organizations that she is researching are: Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Medical Teams International, World Relief, and some more. Right now she is getting CPR certified online. “I like learning about the medical organizations because it inspired me to want to do something involving one of the organizations,” said Steen, “ I’m trying to do everything career related, but I might also try meteorology for fun.”

McMullen is doing reading. She reads books and watches the movie and compares them. She also sits in Squads room and talks to him.

 4th Block-

Capps has been looking at different scholarship opportunities and is now writing a clown gag.

Miller started out researching theater and memorizing lines. She has also been looking at scholarships. Now Miller is researching Les Miserable

Hage has been splitting her time doing College Algebra and the Drive Project. “I have been switching back and forth with math and things doing with linguistics and neuroscience,” said Hage.

Reed researched and made some knives with a homemade forge.

Moy has been doing different devotionals. It is a way of studying/meditating on the Bible.

The Final-

“Our purpose of doing this is to give back,” explained Steen. The Drive Project students have to come up with a final project that involves giving back in their own way and must present it at the end of the quarter to Pam Miller, the Buffalo Director of Teaching and Learning, and Ed Cox, the High Potential Services Coordinator. The students can choose to do a formal presentation or a “round table” presentation, where the students sit around a circular table with Miller and Cox and discuss what they did for the final project.

“We have seven days to do our own stuff and then three days for collaborative discussions,” explained Steen. On the collaborative discussion day the four of them talk about different topics. Cary will put stuff on her website with ideas to talk about. “She posts a lot of TedTalks for us to watch,” said Steen, “one time it was all about love and that was really interesting.

For the final project, McMullen is going to help her mother’s first grade class build birdhouses and the other third block students may join her. The first block class is focusing on coming up with ways to improve school and education as their final project.

The Drive Project is available for seniors in their fourth quarter who have an open block. The Drive Project is a great way to end the year exploring new topics and learning about what interests you.

Senior Levi Bean, as well as one of the 2013 captains, shares his feelings on graduating the year that there is a new coach. “I wish I would have been able to experience having Bouman as a coach, because it seems like he will be doing great things for the program in the future. On the flip side, I’m really glad I was able to have Rohl in his final year because he is a wonderful guy. He always taught each and every player that there are more important things in life other than football and he had an emphasis on those aspects, especially family.”

As for the players who will be getting a chance to have Bouman as a coach, they seem to all be looking forward to the opportunity. Sophomore Tyler Wurm shares, “I am actually excited to have Bouman as a new coach. I think we will have a great team and have a lot of fun since he is very creative, and he knows the game. It will be fun to see some of the formations and stuff he will run.”

Sophomore Alex Garrett has high hopes for this coming year. “Bouman knows what he’s doing, and he’s gonna be a great coach. I also think we’re going to have a fun and very successful year,” Garrett says.

The hopes are high for the upcoming season with Todd Bouman at the front.

Photo from www.bigcatcountry.com

When asked what the start of all this was, Sophomore Maxwell Hershey replied, “We were bored in AAA and just started experimenting.”

The big question though was, why send it to every student in the high school?  Senior Zachary Wellsted answered this question saying, “We had been getting some responses from other people in class so we thought it  would be funny to just send it to everyone.”

Senior Cameron Sonju, after seven pictures being sent, decided to make an effort to stop it. He replied to all saying, “Stop sending us pointless pictures.” Sonju said that he thought it was really annoying and that is why he decided to tell them to stop.

Since Sonju’s email back there has been no more sight of these odd creatures in people’s in-boxes. Whether or not Sonju was the cause, the emails seem to have come to an end.  Some found it as humorous, others found it annoying.

 “We were just boys being boys,” said Hershey

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.”