Open Lunch?

Dominic Belmares

Journalism I

Students leaving school during lunch to choose other food options and then returning.

            This is the new debate that has come to a head this year at North High. Students are for it, some teachers are on the fence, and administration has mixed feelings. Administration commented that, “If my children are going to school, I want them to stay in school.” Teachers however are more open to the idea. “If it was based on your GPA and how many tardies you have, and clear set rules for returning, I would be more open to the idea.” School teachers who undecided gave the argument for and against. Stating that “It is a safety issue if I don’t know who my child might be driving with. However, Tartan has open lunch and it’s unfair if we are in the same district and we don’t have it. It’s a double standard.”

            As we can all assume students are going crazy for the idea, but what students are coming up with is impressing teachers and staff.

            Students are willing to work for this privilege and even stating that it should be a reward.

Robert Oberfrank, 12, says, “ Over crowded lunch rooms and lines leave sometimes only five minutes to eat lunch! It should be a reward. If we left we could get a variety of foods. I think I earned it.”

            Yesenia Pattorson, 12, also thinks it should be a reward based on your GPA and tardies. “It should be based on tardies. If you want to be able to leave for lunch, you need to make it to class on time.”

            Mr Simms, an English, Journalism, and Myth and Legends teachers here at North, says, “I’ve heard it works well at other schools.”

            With more support and still growing, some are calling for a test run. Try it for a trimester and see how the system works. If you have something students want to work for, it is an incentive to bring up your grades.

North's AFROTC Program Featured in Ramsey County Review

The North High AFROTC program got a writeup recently in the Ramsey County Review.  Master Sergeant David Wilkinson, one of AFROTC's teachers and coordinators, calls the article "very nice."  He adds that this is "well deserved recognition for our cadets."

Here is the link for the article:

http://review-news.com/main.asp?SectionID=64&SubSectionID=130&ArticleID=11697

North High School students at the University of Minnesota

Some students of North High School got the chance to go to the University of Minnesota for a CIS Composition on September 16, 2011. CIS composition is a course taken by students at North High School that can enable them to earn credit at the University of Minnesota while in high school, and it’s required that students who take this course go to the U for a join assembly- where students from different schools meet there to discuss a specific topic. Among the North High students who attended, Kevin Xiong was one of them. Kevin Xiong, who has been attending North High School since his freshman and in the school district since fourth grade, tells me that the field trip to the University of Minnesota was quiet educational. They were lectured about “Ethnography”- the process of observing, studying, and understanding other cultures. The lecture lasted for 90 minutes. Not only did they have to listen to the lecture, according to Kevin Xiong, they have to study different culture, and write a paper to their teachers who are teaching the course. When the lecture was over, he says that “they were given access to tour the campus."
Kevin Xiong history begins from Laos. His parents immigrated from Laos to the United States. When they came to the United States, they moved to California. Then move to the Minnesota. Kevin Xiong is very happy this year; he is the homecoming king this year for North High School. Xiong had no idea if he were to be king; he just heard the news from other students that he had been selected as homecoming king.
For his research, he hasn’t yet decided what he will do.

Mr. Larson takes group to far east

Over the summer Mr. Dan Larson took a group of students to Japan for 12 days. Mr. Larson said of the trip, “It was amazing and I’m sure it will be something we’ll never forget.”
The group traveled all throughout southern Japan which was far away from Sendai and the damage from the devastating tsunami that hit northern Japan last spring. They visited Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Nagasaki and ended the trip with three days in Tokyo.
“The greatest part about going was that every student had a different favorite part of the trip.” Mr.Larson said. Marcelo Neblett, one of the students on the trip said his favorite part was , “Going to the Tokyo Dome and just meeting new people.”
The students that were interviewed abouth the trip all had the same thing to say, “It was amazing”. And if your interested in going to Japan talk to Mr. Larson. There is another trip going in 2013.

Opportunity For All

Polar After Hours program provides all North students’ academic assistance and quiet study with available resources and teachers, every Monday through Thursday until 5pm in the Library. Mr. Richter, North’s Associate Principal, says, “This program gives students’ the power to choose how far they want to go in life.”
The purpose of this program is to give students’ the opportunity to have resources available for learning and quiet study. The library has all sorts of resources available, such as computers for typing and research, books for research and homework, and tables for a firm workplace. There are teachers in the library from all the major courses, including math, science, social studies, and English. The library is also available before school at 7 am.
The program was originally started for only those in need of credit recovery and those who were expected not to graduate on time. But it has evolved to be open for all students. This program helps those in need of credit recovery, tutoring in any subject, and academic recovery (for those who miss school, tardy to class, and so on).
Statistics have shown that from the start of this program, success of students has greatly improved. “Students learn better when given the opportunities, we want to place the control for success in the students’ hands,” Mr. Richter said.

Revenge of the Smartboards

One day, a teacher may simply be teaching a class using their trusty Smart board, but then the Smart board misclicks and then all of the work that they put on there is gone! Could it get any worse than that? Oh, yes it can.
Smart boards are notorious for misclicking, freezing, the invisible words (the words aren’t writing), accidentally closing websites, delaying the words, and list goes on and on. “I call my Smart board a dumb board,” says Mrs. Cook, one of the victims of the Smart board experience. Some might say (teachers and students) that Smart boards have minds of their own, which can make lessons a little harder to teach.
“I think that it’s pretty funny,” says Nick Hicks (Junior). “It wastes like five minutes of class time to try and reboot the whole thing.” It’s understandable why the students might find the Smart board messing with the teachers funny. It sometimes misclicks when the teachers try to fix it, making matters worse and hearing the occasional “No! I didn’t want to do that!” or maybe writing in a place two feet from where the teacher’s actually writing. But nonetheless, that can get pretty annoying when you’re trying to learn something and then the things you want to copy for notes disappear in front of your eyes.

Kidnapping: Fun or Hazing?

Kidnapping: Fun or Hazing?

The recurring homecoming tradition of kidnapping has often been questioned as hazing or innocent fun? Kidnapping is when an upperclassman goes to the home of an underclassman early in the morning, and wakes them up, usually unexpectedly, then drives them around while telling them to do things that can be embarrassing at various places they might decide to stop. After that they generally take them out to breakfast, dress them up in an outfit that was not of their choice, and sometimes tell them things they can and can’t do during the school day.

When asked about his opinion on kidnapping Mr. Sowah (North High School staff member) said” I can see how it’s meant to be fun […] but it’s easy for a situation that’s supposed to be fun to turn bad”. In Mr. Sowah’s opinion he feels it kind of sounds like bullying. When asked Zanab Tiamiyu (15 ) described her experience of being kidnapped as “fun [and] exciting” and she also said “I hate how they [administration] try to ban kidnapping”

Regardless of where the thought of kidnapping stands in the minds of North High School staff and students, it’s important to consider Mr. Sowah’s closing remarks on the issue, “ [It’s] up to the students to make sure they don’t go out of line [with kidnapping]. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt which should be considered by both the kidnapper and kidnapped in the recurring homecoming tradition of kidnapping.

North High Polar Prints class shows school spirit on Homecoming Day!

Welcome Back!

The 2011-2012 School Year is off to a great start so far! Keep watching the blog for new stories. Notice that these new stories may be put on a corresponding page. Also keep watching for the Print issues to come! From all of us at Polar Prints, we look forward to another GREAT year here at North High School!!!