“I would like to say ‘thank you’ and that I will miss you guys.  I think these few words capture as well as I can possibly say without rambling.” -Principal Mark Mischke

“Good luck, be kind, and next year you’re freshman again.” – Social Studies teacher Devin Davidson

“Muy buenas suerte.” -Spanish teacher Daryl Boeckers.

Then comes graduation on Friday.  That will be the last day that all of us seniors are in one place together.  After Friday our lives will start.  We will be done with high school and ready to move on to college.  But as far as goodbyes go, our senior class has some things they would like to say before they are done with Buffalo High School.

“Do something meaningful with your life.” -Presley Rumsey

“Its been a fun and good ride, but it will be weird not being in an environment where you know everyone.”- Henry Harris

“I’ll miss seeing you guys everyday.” -Alyssa Baldwin

“We have been through a lot as a class and because of that we will still be close with everyone in a few years.  We will always be 2014.” -Megan Mets

“Eat enough fiber and good luck or something… good luck to you all.” -James Remer

“Make your life successful and have no regrets.” -Taylor Simone

“Have a lot of adventures.  It’s better to say ‘remember when’ instead of not doing it.” -Hayley Downing

“One fish two fish go to college and succeed.” -Jackson Piechowski

“It has been fun being a part of the class of 2014. They were very welcoming. I made a lot of friends. Its going to be sad to go back to Spain and say good bye to all of them. It has definitely been a good experience.” -Foreign exchange student Cristina Aliu.

Good Luck Class of 2014!!!

Melanie Lewis

“Well technically Mat and I had been together for six months before we had our first date.  My parents wouldn’t allow us to go out alone until I turned 18.  We were very excited to not only be going on our first date but also to go out alone for the first time.  We had been friends for four years so it was a long awaited time together.  Mat planned the whole day as a surprise for me.  He showed up in the early afternoon to pick me up with a big bouquet of roses.  I was so excited to finally be able to spend alone time with not only my boyfriend, but my best friend.  I had wanted to get my nose pierced ever since I can remember so the first thing we did was drive into uptown to St. Sabrina’s, a famous piercing and tattoo parlor.  My heart was beating so fast but as soon as I got onto the piercing bed I tried to close my eyes and stay calm.  It hurt so much less than I thought it would.  While I was trying to stay calm, Mat saw the needle go through my nose and he got grossed and a little scared seeing a huge needle go into my nose.  I was in no pain. That is until we get into the car. I didn’t talk at all on the way home, because moving my lip meant my nose moved which equaled a lot of pain.  After a long car ride back I started to feel better and we were able to go out to dinner.  We had talked about going to red lobster, so he surprised me even though its not his favorite food. Then we went to Nadia’s cake for the first time for me and picked out a special cupcake.”

Not every date goes according to plan though.

Marcell Mikkelson

“I was in sixth grade and we [my date and I] went to see the movie with Will Smith and he was the last guy on Earth…I am Legend is the movie.  I don’t remember what movie we were going to see but it was sold out so that’s why we saw I am Legend.  So while watching the movie I got up to pee like six times.  It was a scary movie then.”

‘Les’ Stuhr

“One time me and my girlfriend went out to eat at Ahola Chinese in Buffalo.  When it was time to pay I realized that I didn’t have my wallet, so my girlfriend had to pay for our food.  It was embarrassing.”

First stop- Stafford Photography. Here students were shown how much work is put into creating one perfect image. Many shots need to be taken and lots of food is used. When trying to find the perfect colors for an image they gather many options of one color just to find the best one. The photographers can’t eat the food they use, but they can/do give it away to others.

The amount of food that they said they use was huge. All for just one image. It was interesting seeing all the different colors they had of things to try make the image look the best it could. If you couldn’t find a certain color dish in the room full of dishes, I don’t know where you would find that it.

“Whoa! If you need a colorful dish you know where to find it!” said Junior Paige Miller.

After Stafford Photography the next stop was Le Cordon Bleu. It is a college that deals with culinary arts. Those who want to be a chef might go here to get more training and become a professional chef, and potentially open their own restaurant.

A sweet end to a fun day, Nadia Cakes was the last stop before heading back to school. They sell many different types of cup cakes with different flavors every day.

Jordan Bjorklund

“Me and my boyfriend were at the intersection by Target [in Buffalo] we had a green light and the car on the oncoming traffic looked far away but he wasn’t.  Both of us tried to stop but it was too icy out so we ended up hitting each other.  So then we called the cops and when they came they asked us where the dope was ‘cause I guess our truck smelled like it.  So they searched our truck and this one female cop said to us “ I’m going to give you one more chance to be honest with me” but we didn’t even have any dope on us!  We were clean.  So then I got a ride home in the cop car and they told us [my boyfriend and I] that he [boyfriend] would be going to jail.  But later he called me and he told me that the one cop dropped him off at Walgreens.”

Kyle Gerdes

“Me and my brother-in-law were at Chipotle. The car battery died, so we called my step-dad to come jump us. Afterwards we decided to go to Subway for cookies. I was driving and didn’t see the patch of black ice as I was coming up to a stop sign. I hit the brakes to stop but  just kept going through the stop sign. I hit someone -a mom and her son- in the passenger rear side. The mom freaked out and called the cops and the boys father. The cop came and ran my permit and brother-in-laws license. They called the tow truck for there car because the body of the car went in the tire so the tire couldn’t rotate. The cop made me call my parents because I was a minor. Then I was just told to go home.”

Sherie Seppala

“Last summer my family planned a day to go to a waterpark as a family get together. My brother asked me if he could ride with me to my sisters house because I was driving separate. I told him to go ask mom but while he was asking I just left. I don’t know why, but I just did. On the back roads to Monticello I stopped at a stop sign to check my gps. Normally I would have taken a right but since I didn’t know where I was going, I followed the gps straight. I put my phone back on the seat. Continuing on I got to an S turn. All of a sudden I sneezed just as I was rounding the gravel corner and lost control. I did a 180 and flipped twice down the embankment. Landing upside down, I panicked because it was really hard to get out and my cell phone had flown out the window and the car landed on it. Finally managing to crawl to the back side door that wasn’t squashed I got out. A nice lady and man came by and helped me clean up the blood and call the cops and my parents.”

Andrew Novotny

“I was at work and I was let off to go home, and before I left we were all talking about car crashes and I said that I’ve never been in one.  Then like five minutes later as I was driving I got in one by my house.  That day it was snowing really heavily.  There was this lady who was trying to catch up to her husband in his vehicle (she was driving separate from him) and she started to come into my lane.  So I went into the opposite lane so I could avoid her but we ended up hitting each other.  Both our passenger sides were hit so no one got hurt but her daughter was screaming during the crash.”

Every week the Hospitality Foods class goes over yet again another packet.  You might say that you do this a lot in other classes; but is reading those packets benefiting you in some way?

Hospitality Foods offers students the opportunity to become “servsafe certified”.  Being servsafe certified means you are knowledgeable in safe food handling processes.

“It makes you certified as a manager in food safety.” explains FACS teacher Bonnie White.

Throughout the semester, you go through 14 packets and do activities to help better comprehend the material. Then you take quizzes after every packet to see what you learned.  The certification test -provided by the school- is only $30! To take it on your own it is around $100 or more.

When looking for a job in the food industry this benefits you because having this certification ups your qualifications for jobs. Even if your not going into the food industry having servsafe on your resume still looks good.

This is a great opportunity for teens.  A lot of first jobs for teens are in a fast food restaurant, and having this puts you above the others trying to apply for the position.  Also if you want to go in the food industry you’re eventually going to have to get it. So why not do it now when its free through the school?

** You need to take creative foods and gourmet foods before you can take hospitality foods.

“Feature Teacher is one [activity] that the student council puts up.  I’ve been advising [for] 10 years of student council and that was an activity that had started before I did.” explains Social Studies teacher Evan Ronken.

“Each year we have a couple students who are the chairs of the committee; Mattie Lubben and Paul Bjork are two of the chairs right now. They always pick a department area and then we put up a list of all the teachers that are in that department. Later we ask ‘who knows these teachers’ and if we don’t [know them] then I’ll say something about…who they are, and we let the students vote on them.”

“Last month they wanted to do it a little differently. They said ‘we want to feature one of the new teachers.’ So we got a list of all the new teachers put the names on the board; where they teach and everything, and the student council voted on that. And then if anybody that we know is going to retire we try to feature them at some time during the year too.”

Becoming Feature Teacher isn’t an ‘easy’ process; there are many steps that the student body most likely doesn’t know about.  Now we have more insight as to how our ‘Feature Teachers’ are decided.

Juniors Lucas Leiferman and Joshua Nevala are both going on the trip. They give a more in depth look at what the [musicians] will be doing when they are in Nashville, TN and Chicago, IL.

Well you as a reader are about to find out some numbers about our school that you most likely didn’t know before.

 Stairs

8 steps leading up to the PAC

22 steps on one side of the main stairwell

Lunchroom

13 high tables

16 longer tables

26 circle tables

Pictures

7 large art pictures

19 National Merit Scholars

48 Homecoming candidates

56 Hall of Fame candidates

Library

5 Mac computers

27 other computers

Other Cool Numbers

22 water fountains

25 security cameras*

55 college flags in the counselor office

105 fire extinguishers**

*Number thanks to Mr. Mische

**Number thanks to Mr. Underberg

All other numbers Taylor Simone and Sherie Seppala counted

“We want to train and enhance the energy system that they’re going to be competing in.” said Social Studies teacher Scott Palmer.

Some athletes run one mile, two miles, the 100, 200, or 400 meter dashes. There is a wide variety of events to choose from. Not only is there the option to do long distance running or sprinting, but there’s also the option to do events like; pole vaulting, long jump, and high jump.

“Each event area has a specific training area. There’s individual workouts for each area.” said Palmer.

“I run two miles every day during the week.” Freshmen Joey Clipson. Clipson is training to run the 1 mile, two mile, and 400 meter dash.

“I run for over an hour two or three times a week.” Sophomore Kyle Kukla. He is preparing himself for the 100 and 200 meter dashes.

“I was surprised at how well we did” said sophomore Lydia Jagodzinski, “I never expected we’d get a superior rating.”

After practicing their songs for a little over a month it was time to show the judges what they could do. Judges then evaluated them and gave tips on how they could make themselves even better than they already are.

“It’s nice to see other kids our age perform. The judges were very helpful” said Sophomore Solveig Nelson