“Cole came up with the idea,” said Robinson. “He saw other people get big by starting out like we are. Everyone just laughed, but I thought it was super cool and I wanted to be a part of it.”

Robinson isn’t the only one with a hungry attitude. His business partner, Ehresmann also has a fiery determination to succeed.

“Some people don’t think I’m serious,” said Ehresmann. “It hurts a little bit, but that just gives us something to feed off of and attack our goals that much harder.”

The team spent a long time coming up with a name but The Hive Apparel is what stuck with them. The next important step was to create designs that went along with their brand.

“Ehresmann drew a couple designs up,” said Robinson. “We’ve also been having people draw up designs and if we like it we’ll give them a free shirt.”

The Hive Apparel is not to be taken lightly. Their business is growing and so is their product line.

“We’re getting bucket hats, flat bills, and safari hats in our next shipment,” said Robinson. “We have three-quarter tees, regular tees, tanks and even fitted clothing for women coming in as well.”

hey everyone! if you think you have designing potential ! let us know, you might even get the design on a shirt! DM us!

— Hive Apparel (@TheHiveApparel) June 5, 2014

Money has got to be on the mind of such young entrepreneurs.

“We’ve had one shipment and are profiting already,” said Robinson. “Our goal is for the company to make a million dollars. Once we hit that who knows what could happen.”

This isn’t just a minimum wage, burger flipping job. The retail team is taking legal steps into ensuring they have the best shot at success.

“We got the LLC, legal trademarked at the Bank,” said Robinson. “It cost quite a bit to do, but now we each have our own business credit cards and registered with the IRS saying we’re a real business. Our website is being built as we speak.”

The two creators of The Hive Apparel have big plans for the future. Ehresman plans to attend University of Minnesota Duluth to major in business and Robinson will be attending one of the schools in St.Cloud to major in marketing. So in the future, when you see that iconic honeycomb trademark in stores, remember your BHS roots, and what a little persistence and dedication can do.

If you want to check out The Hive Apparel in the next couple weeks check out hiveapparel.com Also, give them a follow on Social Media.

Instagram: the_hive_apparel

Twitter: @TheHiveApparel

“We talked to the other schools about their past books and future ideas and came up with ideas and themes for our next years book,” said Junior Joshua Fischmann.

Guest speaker, Jeff Moffitt, came to speak about designing a yearbook and ways to sell many books. The group then had the chance to come up with their own ideas.

“We listed out a ton of ideas and themes that we want to incorporate into the book and now we’re trying to narrow it down to a few things that we want,” said Junior Jordyn Prince.

As the group started to work together as editors, they have started finding their strengths and weaknesses.

“I think we’re gonna be a really good group. We can all put in our opinion without anyone getting offended and no one gets upset if someone else doesn’t like their idea. The criticism works well in our group,” said Junior Adam Skelly.

“We all get along really well, but there’s so many of us so it’s hard to agree. We have to use talking sticks or else everyone is talking and stating their opinions at the same time,” said Prince.

In June, the group will be attending an annual Yearbook Camp at St. Johns University for 3 days to finalize their book’s details and get input from professionals. The 2014-2015 Tatanka editors have many other plans for the upcoming summer.

“We are planning to have lots of summer yearbook meetings, along with group bonding bonfires and lake days,” said Fischmann. “I’m exciting to see what the summer has in store for us.”

“They’re one of the drum corps that gets to the finals every year. They tour across the united states for the entire summer. I heard about it from my former instructor at Minnesota Brass because he teaches there. I then decided to go to the audition camp in November. I got a callback to the January camp. I went back for my final callback and I made it,” said Soden.

The Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps tours from west to east during the summer and is based in Colorado.

“We’ll start in Washington, Or, California, and then we’ll go through the western states like Colorado, and Wyoming, and then we’ll go to the east coast. Finals is in Indianapolis, so that’s where it finishes. We perform at really large venues, like football fields. Finals is at the Colts Stadium in Indianapolis,” said Soden.

For Soden, Drum Corps is more than just playing hours on end to get better at his instrument. It also teaches lessons that will stay with him for the rest of his life.

“It does a lot for your playing. I’m looking forward to improving my playing. I heard it kind of changes your life in a way, because you meet so many people,” said Soden.

This opportunity to play with the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps comes with a price. Soden has had to fundraise throughout the year to be able to be a part of this group.

“I want to do it as much as I can, but its really expensive. I saved up through work, but at the beginning, when I auditioned, I didn’t think it would be able to do it because of the money. I decided to use a site called Go Fund Me where you just kind of post what you’re doing and people can donate to you,” said Soden.

To help Soden raise money for his summer journey, you can go to his Go Fund Me page.

“Seeing all the different monuments and memorials made historic events more alive and real,” said Senior Kailee Steen.

After riding the train to the capitol, the group was in for a huge surprise when they had the chance to eat breakfast with Al Franken and meet Amy Klobuchar.

“Getting to meet our two senators was very interesting because the stereotypical politician is just this old guy in his mid 60s, balding, with white hair, but they are people,” said Freshman Carson Reichardt. “Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar are smart people. I mean to actually talk to them about what they thought about certain topics was really interesting.”

Other than getting to learn about the government, the group got the opportunity to observe the lifestyle of a neighborhood in D.C.

“Our bus was assigned to ninth street. We were supposed to observe the neighborhood and get something to eat,” said Reichardt. “It was a gentrified neighborhood, which means white people went through it and made it better and invested money into it. It was a very poor community beforehand and there’s still reminiscences of that.”

Through this experience, Steen and Reichardt learned many lessons they will use throughout their lives.

“I learned to be more of an active citizen because everyone’s voice matters and deserves to be heard,” said Steen. “Being active is the only way things will change.”

Students decided to take this journey for various reasons, from learning more about the government to seeing monuments they had learned about for so many years.

“I like politics and I wanted to learn more about them,” said Reichardt. “I thought visiting the nation’s capital was a great way to do that, and it was.”

At State, the boys were able to cheer each other on as they competed.

“It was a great bonding time with Josh Muntifering and Jordan Dick, who came as our manager,” said Brings. “It was just a fun experience.”

In the off-season, Muntifering and Brings are planning on doing a lot of training to prepare for the next Swim and Dive season.

“I swim with the Sea Devils, which is a club in St. Michael,” said Muntifering. “We swim 6 days a week.”

Brings takes a slightly different approach to training in the off-season.

“I haven’t done anything [in the off-season] in the past couple years,” said Brings. “I’ve only played baseball. This year I’m looking into a couple clubs, one in Indiana and one in the Twin Cities.”

Something Muntifering and Brings have in common is the inspiration from their older sisters, who are 2013 graduates.

“I watched my sister for a couple years. I think is why I’m good at it,” said Brings. “As I watched her, I picked up on things that she did. It helped a lot after watching her for like four years.”

Muntifering and Brings’ goals are set high for the years to come. After not meeting their goals this year, they are determined to achieve them in the next three years. By Muntifering’s senior year, he hopes to make top eight, while Brings’ goal for senior year is to make top three.

“It was the best game I have ever seen,” said Senior Danielle Odeen, “but it was also the scariest game I have seen.”

I’ve been a hockey guy my whole life, but that game tonight was one of the top 5 games of any sport at any level I’ve witnessed, or covered.

— Rob LaPlante (@laplante71) March 7, 2014

The team entered halftime trailing by nine, 28-19. They couldn’t get all the quality shots they needed and their nerves led to some rushed possessions.

”Our team missed a lot of easy shots in the first half. That was our biggest downfall,” said Senior Sam Ortmann. “We just had to get back to how we were playing in the beginning of the year.”

“I just think we were playing a little timid and scared in the first half,” said Senior Collin Olmscheid. “Probably because everyone was kinda nervous.”

With the gym being so loud you couldn’t even hear yourself think, it pushed the boys even more to get the win. “It sounded like we had about two times more fans,” said Ortmann. “It motivated me in the beginning of the game when they just announced the teams. Our fans were a lot louder, I thought that was going to set the tone for the whole game.”

They started to come back in the second half. The team pushed it into the first of many overtimes and the crowd got louder and louder as the game went by.

In the fourth overtime, St. Cloud’s star player, who had the majority of their points, got fouled out. “Momentum changed when he fouled out,” said Olmscheid. “We had the momentum already and then we were all pretty fired up about it. It was kind of the turning point for us.”

The turning point of the game was in the middle of the fifth and final overtime. The team started to get the lead on St. Cloud Tech.

“The moment I realized this game was ours is when [Junior] Jonathan Senger got a steal and they had to foul and he made two free-throws that put us up by four and sealed the deal,” said Ortmann.

“It’s unreal. I mean some people are good at sports and some people are good at music. I’m good at predicting the future,” said Cox. “You tell me which is the best. It’s a God given talent.”

Despite the accuracy of Cox’s predictions, he has received mixed reactions to his talent.

“People take it as a chance to crucify me, but I don’t have time for haters. I’m too busy getting compliments to even think about the haters,” said Cox. “Most people are constantly congratulating me.”

One of Cox’s twitter followers,  Junior Dan Holland, is a committed follower of Cox’s magic.

“Its only a matter of time before Cox becomes a professional meteorologist,” Holland says confidently.

When Cox’s weather predictions are correct, he likes to spend his days with his friends in his natural habitat: McDonald’s.

“What else are you gonna do on your day off other than MacDons,” said Cox. “It’s good for the soul.”

We all know that such fame can be hard to deal with, but Cox says his friends are very supportive about his special talent.

“I can’t be around my boys because they influence my decisions and I don’t need that. That’s bad,” said Cox. “That’s the few times I’ve been wrong, they’ve been saying stuff in my ear and I just have to drain that out.”

But the question on everyone’s mind is how does Cox work his magic?

“First you got wind. You got to look at wind first, because wind determines everything,” said Cox. “Windchill is everything.”

Predicting something as big as a school closing isn’t easy Cox says,

“Is it tough? Yes it is tough,” said Cox. “It’s taxing on the mind, physically and mentally.”

And if you need proof for Cox’s success in Meteorology, head over to his Twitter page.

“Before my predictions started, I was sitting at like 190 followers [on Twitter]. If we look at my Twitter right now, 245. It’s almost all strictly because of that, too.”

As for the future, Cox plans to attend U of M twin cities for Accounting and Sports Management, but don’t worry BHS, his special talents aren’t gone yet.

“I might do this next year, just for the fun of it. I like it. I like making people happy.”

As for Twitter enjoyment and healthy controversy, Cox has provided his Twitter followers anticipation and excitement for our snowy winter.

“ I’m just this dyslexic boy trying to get through this life in one piece,” said Cox. “And I think I’m doing a pretty good job so far.”

“I didn’t expect that they were going to do ‘Wrecking Ball’. It sounded pretty good! Some people were laughing and I was like ‘What are they doing?’ and then my friend told me that they were being really dramatic during the chorus part,” said Senior Michelle Lee.

Performing at the Variety Show was a last minute decision for them. Two weeks before their performance, Hage came up with a harmony to go along with the music Capps had found online.

“It all sorta started when we were talking about our drive projects for CIS writing Mickey had expressed how he wanted to play the recorder,” said Hage. “I jokingly suggested that he play ‘Wrecking Ball’. Then it actually happened.”

While practicing for the show, Capps and Hage did not only get cheered on for their “out there” performance. They were even criticized by friends.

“Digory Anderson tried to give us that ‘parent smile’, like ‘These are my friends. I’m going to be proud of them no matter what’, but he thought it was the dumbest idea ever,” said Capps.

Minutes before performing their act, Capps and Hage made up their final choreography.

“I was kind of scared that I was gonna start cracking up [during the performance], because we had never practiced without one of us breaking and I did kind of break,” said Hage.

After their performance, Hage and Capps enjoyed the reactions they received.

“Someone’s mom came up to me and asked if I was going into college for music,” said Capps. “And I said ‘No, no.’ but a lot of people came up to us and just said ‘That was so funny’ and how great it was.”

What started off as a drive project for CIS Writing, turned into an act that was talked about by many. Even days after the show, Hage and Capps are still getting compliments for their “quirky” performance at the Tri-M Variety show.

“I am doing this project for my Girl Scout Gold Award, but the project is really on my own,” said Kolling. “I started this in the August of 2013 and I will be traveling to Haiti in July 2014 with about ten others and we will be delivering the instruments and teaching music there.”

On January 11, Kolling hosted a pancake breakfast at the River Inn to raise money to buy instruments. Through the breakfast and other donations she raised about $2000.

“I’m so grateful for the generosity I’ve experienced,” said Kolling, “l get random emails from people I’ve never met that say ‘I have an instrument for you’.”

Kolling is now preparing for her trip coming up this summer and anticipating what will be waiting for her when she gets there.

“Right now I’m in the process of planning out what I will be teaching in Haiti,” said Kolling. “I will be teaching a recorder unit with kids in an orphanage. They won’t know how to read music at all and it will be interesting teaching because the people there speak Haitian Creole. I’m excited to see where this adventure will lead me.”