This was the beginning of a 24 hour observation of the custodial staff.

7:30 a.m. – The Adventure Begins

BHS is known for being a tidy and well-organized school. Clean bathrooms, spotless floors, and organized classrooms make our school a warm and inviting place. Exactly how much work it takes to keep the school in perfect condition can sometimes be overlooked. The custodial staff, comprised of many characters and personalities, takes pride in what they do and work very hard to keep the school looking its best at all times.

The shadowing began with Jana sporting her “Jana-tor” nametag and walking with a syrup covered lunch tray. Jana had much to say, including what she does daily, “I wipe down the tables after breakfast, clean the locker bays, and wash the windows in the front of the school,” she said.

Jana is always smiling, and is friendly with her fellow BHS staff members. Like most custodians we talked to, she has a pet peeve when it comes to cleaning.

9:30 a.m. – Tractors and Trailers

Under a gloomy gray sky we trudged through the mud over to the bus garage. There we waited for Grounds Custodian

Dave Poirier to begin his daily routine. When we initially thought of “a day in the life of the custodial staff,” we thought we would just observe–we had no idea what was in store for us. From changing tractor wheels to learning about the giant lawn mower, we learned that custodial work is more than vacuuming classrooms and picking up hardened wads of gum.

Dave has been working at BHS for 34 years, and is retiring this June. “I’m ready to move on, but I love my job,” Dave said. “I’m going to miss the machines.”

Dave is responsible for maintaining the school grounds. One of his biggest responsibilities is mowing the fields. For this, he has a giant tractor and a massive lawn-mowing trailer that is towed behind it. Dave’s love for his machines was apparent from the way he talked about the cleaning and maintenance of the hydraulic system of his lawn-mowing trailer.

10:33 a.m. – Lunch Time

The next four hours were devoted to cleaning up spills and making sure the cafeteria remained in one piece. After all the students had left, Custodians Bryce Rodewald and Diane Yonak put all the tables and chairs away and then Zambonied the cafeteria floor and outside the PAC.

2:30 p.m.— Classroom Cleaning

As school ended for the students, work was just beginning for the custodians of the 2nd shift. What we thought would be observations turned into a hands on experience. Working alongside Sharon Myers, Brian Warzetha, Pat Pawelk, Rollie Dehmer, and Lloyd Lenart, the three of us were put to work. Emptying and changing garbage liners, vacuuming classrooms, drawing maps of classrooms, and putting away lunchroom tables were just a few activities we were able to help with. Everyday the custodial staff vacuums every carpeted area and makes sure each room is in great shape for the next day. It can take up to eight hours, but the custodians enjoy a clean and polished school. By cleaning alongside them, we realized just how much work they do.

Our ways to help out the custodians:
Stack your chairs at the end of the day. It saves them so much time while vacuuming.
Put recyclables into the recycle bin. They are there for a reason.
Gum belongs in the garbage. It does not belong under the tables and chairs or on the staircases.
If you see a big scrap of paper on the floor, pick it up and throw it out. Those can’t be sucked into the vacuum.

4:30 – Break Time

The custodial staff stops for a break a few hours after their shifts began, where we got to learn more about them.

Rollie was previously the school’s A/V assistant, but moved to custodial work four years ago when budget cuts eliminated his job. His pet peeve is cleaning gum. From his experience, Rollie says the senior hallway has less gum messes than other halls, which is the hallway we saw him spend most of his time cleaning.

Sharon has been at BHS for nine years and is known for her big personality and friendly demeanor. Brian previously worked in printing for 30 years, but moved to custodial work when the job left.

Lloyd had a similar experience to Brian. “I worked repairing electronics for many years, but when electronics got cheaper, it wasn’t worth the money to repair devices anymore. There are still some repair jobs in southwestern Minnesota, but my family lives here, I can’t move now; I’ll be able to retire soon.”

4:45 – Back to work

Up until 10:00, with another break and a half hour for dinner, the custodial staff returns to finish cleaning the “pods” (resource areas and classrooms).

10:00 p.m. – Third Shift

An hour before the second shift ends, the two night custodians, Nicole Jude and Kent Melenich, arrive well-rested and ready to work. They are in charge of sweeping all the floors and cleaning out the locker rooms, respectively. While the night shift seemed difficult to us, Nicole and Kent both enjoy it because they have young children. “I get to come home after work, wake up my kids, sleep while they’re at school, and I’m up to help them with homework by the time they get home,” Kent said.

In the midst of shift changes, the custodial staff told us what they thought not many people knew about BHS.

“BHS has a ghost who messes with the lights and lives in the basement,” Kent said. “There’s also a lot of really big maintenance rooms around the school and the PAC has a trapdoor in the ceiling.”

To keep themselves awake through the night, Jude plays music through the PA. The station of choice for the night was Cities ‘97.

“Well we both don’t like country, so we don’t play that,” said Nicole. “But we don’t really even realize what’s playing, it’s kind of just background.”

While Nicole and Kent were working, we decided to explore the school and see all the work the custodial staff had done during the day.

Our wacky adventure included:
Cap’n Crunch
Secret Maps
Rooftops
Tractors
Men overboard
Ghosts
Card Games
Tile Counting
Tennis balls
Pillows and couches

7:00 a.m. – Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead

Our journey came to an end the next morning and with school almost out, the custodians are gearing up for a productive summer. “We do a full deep clean of the entire school. We scrub and wax all the floors, clean all the ceiling fixtures, basically empty all the rooms and scrub them down,” Lloyd said, adding that many students don’t know that the custodians work full time over the summer.

Through all of our experiences, we saw just how hard working and dedicated the custodial staff is. Each worker was very friendly and fun to get to know; they welcomed us with open arms into their daily routines, making it a pleasure to work alongside them. The work that they do isn’t easy, and should always be treated with respect. The custodial staff is truly a vital part of BHS, and the work that they do will always be appreciated. Please take the time to thank members of the custodial staff when you have a chance–they truly deserve it.

The following is a typical Buffalo school day comprised of real tweets from students.

Before School:

With a slight snow storm on April 23rd, students were curious as to whether school would be delayed or cancelled yet again. Many reacted using Twitter.

“Yeah, I was really hoping for that delay, but too bad it’s a gorgeous day out” 6:46 a.m.

“This mean we’ll have a really hot fall right?” 6:53 a.m.

“Parking lot is like an ice rink. hah.” 7:48 a.m.

First Block:

No matter how engaging a lesson may be, many students can think of nothing but how tired they are at eight o’clock in the morning. Tweets showed that some students were groggy and unalert, while others stayed positive and cheerful.

“School is just not my thing.” 8:06 a.m.

“I just want to go home.” 8:51 a.m.

“I can’t see I so tired” 8:53 a.m.

“Smile : ) its a good day” 9:00 a.m.

Second block:

Less BHS students were tweeting during second block than any other block. The tweets below show students’ feelings towards this part of the day.

“2nd block on a Tuesday #ugh” 9:14 a.m.

“I keep zoning out. Fack” 9:18 a.m.

“When Squad talks to his animations on his Powerpoints it just make me so happy.” 9:35 a.m.

Third Block and Lunch

Tweets from third block show students are more awake than in the first part of the day. Teachers were mentioned more, and lunch was a hot topic of discussion.

“Screw this german stuff” 10:10 a.m.

“Just had the sickest f—ing fruit snack.” 10:40 a.m.

“Lunch plz” 10:53 a.m.

“I didn’t know chickens had bones!” 10:54 a.m.

“Kief again with that bob marley full album status” 11:52 a.m.

“When Mccallum asks if im awake and I shout yea xD #AboutThatLife” 11:52 a.m.

“Kremers kickin me outta class ! I Didn’t think she had it in her !” 12:04 a.m.

4th Block:

The tweets posted during fourth block were random. Among the tweets was a BHS English teacher rejoicing in the long durability of a piece of food from his school days.

“Rebels taking the elevator” 1:08 p.m.

“I wish Reddit wasn’t blocked” 1:36 p.m

“Want to see an 18-year-old school lunch sausage? Here’s Sammy the Sausage on his 18th birthday today.” 12:27 p.m.

BHS students use Twitter as a way to express themselves and connect with each other when the school day doesn’t allow them to do so. The tweets show that students are eager to share their minds with the the high school community and beyond.

For the fifth consecutive year, Buffalo’s Knowledge Bowl team is headed to State. Coming off a seventh place finish last year, the returning team of now seniors Cassidy Brown, Michael Hank, Mark Lee, and Levi Walls are ready to compete. With their unique talents, the four are prepared to receive a higher place at the state competition April 11-12 at Cragun’s Resort in Brainerd.

“I think our team is special in the fact that we have our own little niches, but we all contribute with each other,” Walls said. “It’s not one person does one thing and one person does another thing. We all kind of know a little bit of everything.”

Cassidy Brown

Nickname: Cassitron 3000

Specialties: Geography and Math

Description: “I’m the spokesperson, so I’m the one who actually has to give the answers to the reader and make sense out of everything that they’re all telling me.”

Fun Fact: Owns 41 chickens

Teammates’ Description: “She’s a ginger,” Hank said. “She’s also the unofficial leader and makes all the decisions because she has to. If she really doesn’t like the reader in the room then she gets snarky.”

“Unofficial? It’s pretty official,” Walls said of Brown being the leader.

“Cassidy is incredibly patient to deal with us all the time,” said Lee. “She has to do a lot of discernment to know which answer to choose because there can be times when we have four answers written down and she’d have to pick which one—and she often chooses the right answer. She’s not afraid when she knows she’s right. There can be three of us against her, she’ll say her answer and we’ll just say ‘ok Cassidy, you were right.’ I couldn’t ask for a better spokeswoman.”

 Michael Hank

Nickname: Courtaud P. Tinkledeath

Specialties: Math and Science

Description: “I am the runner. Once the scores are posted or a little before if we get information from the other schools’ coaches, I basically run to whatever room we’re in and reserve table A. Normally I don’t have to run too fast unless Buffalo 2 is there and then I have to beat Robbie [DuBois] because he’ll do the same thing. I can sprint pretty fast, but I just can’t run really long because I get really, really tired. If people are closer, I run faster. Sometimes if we’re pretty sure that we’ll stay in the same room, I’ll leave my stuff there, but sometimes other teams move it. Then we get vengeful, and when we get vengeful, we fight.”

Fun Fact: Uses a GPS to drive to school.

Teammates’ Description: “How do you describe Michael? He’s eccentric,” Brown said. “He’s very in to knowledge bowl; he takes it very seriously. If the competition is really close he can get really stressed out and then he starts yelling at me. Then I get mad at him.”

“Where to start? He can be spastic, obnoxious, OCD. He runs to the rooms,” Walls said.

“He’s a sweetheart. A little odd, but he’s a sweetheart,” said Lee. “He’s incredibly smart. Sometimes he’ll lack a little bit in the common sense area of life, but he’s going to go far, I’m sure.”

Levi Walls

Nickname: Gimli Snorlax

Specialties: Science Fiction literature, and “Science stuff”

Description: “I would consider myself to be the buzzer. I have to anticipate what the question is going be and make sure that everybody keeps thinking about the question [and that] they don’t tangent.”

Fun Fact: He can recite verbatim the dialogue from all the Star Wars movies.

Teammates’ Description: “He’s very slow to respond. Dude, we have 15 seconds,” Brown said.

“He knows wars and biology,” Hank said.

“Levi, like Michael, is incredibly smart,” said Lee. “He’ll pull out answers that I’ll have no idea where he got them from in terms of history, or science. He knows all the terms and dates. He can be a little impatient with Michael, understandably so. Levi’s a great guy, love sitting with him on the bus.”

Mark Lee

Nickname: Marcus Aurelius

Specialties: Ancient History, Biblical and Middle Eastern History

Description: “I try to keep Michael and Levi apart as much as I can. I usually sit between them in the table scenario. I don’t always come up with an answer, but I can usually lend a second opinion in support or against an answer. I usually have inklings, and these inklings are sometimes right, so I stay on.”

Lee also uses “Mark Points” to determine how he personally would do in competitions.

“When I have the right answer, and I know I have the right answer and I say it, and then they’re all like ‘uh no, Mark, that’s probably not the right answer,’ and then they say their stupid answer and then they get it wrong. Then I get a “Mark Point.”  It started with Mark Points, but now everyone keeps track of their personal points in the same fashion. It just makes me feel good about myself.”

Fun Fact: Has had the same hairstyle since December 27th 2010.

Teammates’ Description: “He doesn’t have quirks. He’s so normal! But that’s a good thing; he holds us down,” Walls said.

“He’s the sane one on the team,” Brown said. “He’s the calming influence and when the rest of us are all going off on tangents, he actually gets us back on track. He’s really good at making up answers that are right. He puts things together that turn out to be right.”

“He’s the least insane, most calm one,” Hank said. “He does “Mark Points.” Any time he gives an answer and we don’t go with it but it ends up right he gives himself a Mark Point. Once another team overheard us and gave “Mark Point” as an answer.”

“We send a handful of kids each year,” Chapter President Marah Moy said. “At least we’re consistent.  [Last year Junior] Aaron [Hamann] and I had a lot of fun in Chicago [at Nationals]. We visited a couple museums and his roommates were fun to hang out with. One of my favorite adventures was the field museum where we learned about animals and Africa.”

Moy and Hamann will be competing at Nationals along with fellow juniors Emma Schneider and Rachel Koch.

“Emma, Rach, and I are advancing for Torch which is very similar to NHS,” Moy said. “Rather than work[ing] towards hours, you work towards points.”

The Torch Awards Program gives points to members who complete certain activities. Once a certain number of points are attained, the member’s resumé is submitted for review. All three girls completed the minimum of 70 points in each of seven categories—enabling them to attend Nationals. Unlike the girls, Hamann is competing in Financial Math and Analysis.

“I like it [Financial Math and Analysis] because it’s the one that has the most to do with what I like and what I’m good at,” Hamann said. “There are so many different events that everyone can find ones that are appealing.”

BPA is an organization designed to help students prepare for careers in “business management, office administration, information technology and other related career fields.” However, not all students join to help further themselves in such fields.

“I joined my freshman year because my friend’s sister thought I would like it, and I really have,” Moy said. “I don’t have an interest in the business field that much—I just like the experience BPA has to offer.  I think it’s a good foundation for professionalism and I’ve met some cool people at Regions, State, and Nationals. I love making connections with other students from across the state and country.”

Moy wasn’t the only one who joined for reasons other than preparing for a future in business.

“I joined last year because I was looking for something to do,” Hamann said. “It turned out to be something fun that doesn’t require a huge time commitment.”

This year, the four juniors will head to Orlando, Florida May 8-12 where they will be amongst 5000 other BPA members and advisers. The competition isn’t the only reason Hamann is excited for Nationals.

“It’ll be a lot of fun getting to go hang out with friends in Florida for five days,” Hamann said. “Who wouldn’t like that?”

Twenty students sit in a large circle, discussing human nature using a Paul Laurence poem entitled “We Wear the Mask.” The AVID students share their thoughts on why society hides their feelings.

“Everyone knows there’s something wrong, but we play the stupid game, […] like it’s bad to be different.” said Sophomore Latimer Fuller during the discussion of the poem.

This discussion, known as a Socratic Seminar, is a student-led group conversation that encourages original thought and critical thinking. It’s one of the many ways students are taught maturity.

Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), a 30-year old program, is a new course offered at BHS this school year. The elective class was eligible to this year’s 10th grade students who had GPAs between 2.0 and 3.5. An application was required for consideration.

“[AVID] is for the kids who don’t always get a lot of attention, for students whose parents have maybe partially gone to college.” said School and AVID Counselor Kristen Lane.

Students work on preparing for the future. In addition to talking about college plans, and even visiting universities throughout the three-year program, AVID students learn how to take Cornell-style notes, neatly arrange their binders, and how to better organize.

“AVID is about having kids work on working together, forming study groups, how to communicate, and ask questions without giving answers,” said Lane. “It’s about forming good peer tutoring groups and asking good questions. The other piece is that focus towards college. A lot of the students might be first generation [college students], there’s a lot of reasons a student might be in AVID.”

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

Beyond AVID’s preparation of students for the future, the group is a support network. Many high-schoolers lack emotional or academic support from friends and parents, but AVID can help these kids.

Students find a safe place in AVID. Through spending time with each other, AVID students are able to open up.

“AVID is like a family,”explains Sophomore Lily Kotilinek. “I know I can go to any other AVID kid and get help with homework or anything.”

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

These students can relate to the mask metaphor. The seminar is as much a reflection on personal habits as it is a discussion on human nature. While the conversation progresses, the AVID students begin to lay bare their personal feelings. Though we all wear masks, the AVID classroom is a place where students can take their masks off.

Robbie, along with his older brother, Joe DuBois, is exceptionally gifted.

“He worked with a professor from the University of St. Thomas and they tested his IQ and his grade level equivalencies and determined he should start school early,” Mrs. DuBois said. “I know when Joe was four, they tested his academic level and he was 10th grade, four months. They both are child prodigies by their IQs—they are [well] above the norm for IQs.”

Both Robbie and Joe attended Big Lake Elementary and Middle School before transferring to BHS. Even though they’re three years apart age-wise, Joe transferred after ninth grade, Robbie after eighth.

“Um, [we skipped] three each, although technically it isn’t as straight forward as just skipping,” Joe said. “It would be difficult to describe without a chart about what we did and did not do, but we never skipped a grade equally across.”

Mrs. DuBois described how these “skips” were early in their academic career.

“[Robbie and Joe] did kindergarten and first grade the first year in school,” Mrs. DuBois said. “The next year in second grade by Christmas time they tested him and decided he knew everything in second grade. The teacher didn’t think she could do anything for him, so they wanted to move him to third grade. He was about three years ahead then, which is about what he is now.”

High intelligence can pose unique challenges, however. Choosing to send Robbie ahead or keep him with his age group was a difficult decision; neither option was ideal.

“If you leave Robbie with age mates, by the time he was in school, he would be so far ahead and his language capacity at that age was so advanced that he couldn’t relate to kids his own age, so they thought that would be a problem,” Mrs. DuBois said. “They also thought there would be a problem if we were to accelerate, so everyone sat down and tried to figure out what was the worse of two evils.”

The decision was reached to accelerate Robbie, which has left him content.

“Yeah, I guess I’m happy,” Robbie said.

“Haha, I get it…because docks are like piers!” said Senior Jonathan Wirkkala.

The lunch room jokes, a staple of BHS, has been making students chuckle for years.

“Oh, I don’t know how many years ago that [the jokes] started,” Food Service Assistant Nancy Allen said. “I’ve been probably here ten years, and [Food Service Assistant] Katie [Lohse] started it before then. The kids liked it. If there isn’t a joke there, kids get upset.”

Once the lunch staff arrives at 6:25 a.m., they sift through books looking for the joke of the day.

“We have joke books, and once in a while we get them from the students,” Allen said. “They come in and say, ‘I have a joke, can you put it on the board for us?’ but typically the jokes come from the books.”

The jokes aren’t the only way the lunch staff tries to make lunch more enjoyable.

“The facts just started towards the end of last year. We had Valentine’s Day cookies yesterday and we started last year the ‘Lunch Lady Day,’ which is pretty much just giving you [students] a treat. We do different things throughout the year such as giveaways. We’re going to do a ‘Beach Party’ and give away beach towels and all that kind of stuff.”

The one act play, The Magically Marvelous, Wonderfully Wacky, Seriously Silly Center Ring Circus, is about a circus and its owner who plans on selling the business. The circus performers, hoping to purchase the circus from its evil owner, work to raise money.

The One Act Play group has been working hard and clowning around during their practices.

“The first two weeks of practice, we worked on clowning and other special skills we needed to know for the play,” said senior Michael Raitor, who portrays a clown.

Other clowns featured in the play include Erica Hoops, Emma Hage, Katelyn Miller, Mickey Capps, and Julia Bothun.

“Julia Bothun is a professional clown, and is really fun to work with,” said Raitor.

The group will be performing their play on Saturday, February 2 at sectionals in St. Michael. They hope to progress to State on February 8th at St. Kate’s O’ Shaughnessy Auditorium in St. Paul.

There will be a public performance of the 35-minute long production tonight, Monday January 28, in the PAC at 7:30 p.m.