A Nuther Thing: Tonight in the NHS Auditorium

Matt Otte, Grade 12, is performing tonight (Jan. 31) in a one-act play called A Nuther Thing. Matt says, "There are no real characters. We are, for the most part, playing ourselves." He adds that it is a funnier show, and most audience members will find it different from a typical play. The show begins at 7 PM in the North High Auditorium.

Reminiscing Winter Weather Stories

Minnesota is known as the nation’s refrigerator and infamous for its snow storms. The winters are hard and the cold climate is brutal. Each one of us has a unique snow storm story. North teacher Karyn Hall-Dayle recalls a strange snow storm memory from her childhood. When Karyn was a child she lived in a big house and one day during the winter a huge snow storm occurred. The snow storm covered the entire neighborhood and all the homes in the area. Strangely only the front entrance to Karyn’s house was buried in snow. Karyn and her family went outside from the back of their house all the way to the front entrance to dig a tunnel from the mountain of snow all the way to the front entrance of their home. However the nieborghood was not the only place that was affected by the snow storm. The high school that she went to was also badly covered in snow. Karyan stated that “we had a snow day because there was no way to reach the school.” She also stated that “my mom was laughing about the whole situation.” In addition Karyan stated “I would be excited if this were to happen again”. “I enjoyed the phenomenon of the snow storm and what nature is capable of” says Karyan.

Ed. Center building at North High School being lock for the hold day

Tuesday 1/3/2012 the first and second door is locking in the E.C. building you have to use a key card to get in these doors. The door out on the west side of the E.C. building it also need to be lock at 8:00am, Student and Teacher who are late won’t be able to get in the building.
The problem I see in this is that what if student that has a pass to the office how would they be able to get back in the building if they don’t have a key card to get back in.
The person who came up with this rule is the District Administration; she/he wants to make it save for the kid at North High School.

YLC SWAG

The focus of district 622’s Youth Leadership Council (YLC) this winter is a project called SWAG (Students Working on the Achievement Gap). The Achievement Gap is a big issue that happens in this country, so this year the SWAG project will focus on closing the Gap when it comes to the difference in test scores of white and non-white students on the GRAD Reading, Math and Science tests. The test results show that non-white students are scoring lower on the GRAD tests.
At their November 11th meeting, YLC members decided to take the Achievement Gap into their own hands and partner with Richardson Elementary School. Richardson is a school that has lower test scores in reading and math. North High Students have been recruited to help close the Gap by mentoring a Richardson student. Every Tuesday after school, about 20 NHS students will go to Richardson and read to a student for one hour.
The purpose of YLC is to work to improve the community and also help other groups by giving grants for them to do service learning project to help the community too. YLC have been around for three year now, and meets once or twice per month to receive necessary training to help guide youth development programs.

YouTube Problems

We all know what YouTube is. We use it all the time and it is a constant resource for virtually everything we could ever want to watch. YouTube is a place to broadcast yourself or just your videos for everyone to see which is done by uploading a video. YouTube may seem to be a flawless website at times, but there are and most likely will always be reputable problems with the sight just like any other.

Uploading videos can be one of the biggest problems on the site. YouTube only offers surprisingly limited options for what format you want to upload your video in. People here in North definitely think so. “I made my movie with iMovie and it wouldn’t upload at all. I spent a lot of time trying to get it to work.” (Richard Bradley Grade 12) Videos are not always compatible with YouTube; even the videos in QuickTime format are not always compatible. Other problems with the two can arise as well. Videos can take a long time to buffer. It depends on what device is streaming You Tube with but it still can have slow loading speeds. Computers and mobile devices are the most likely to be used by people to stream YouTube. These mainly used devices can often of slow loading speeds. It depends on your connection strength but much of the time it is blatantly obvious that it is just YouTube itself of that is slow. ”This video isn’t even loading, even going back a page doesn’t work.” (Shon Rought, Grade 12) Other devices like a PS3 can also have problems where the video doesn’t even load.

YouTube may have problems but it is still and probably always will be the most immense source of information and videos on the Internet.

The North St. Paul "Quitters"

There’s a minute remaining in the second half. Erik Steele
and Nick Jones, the top two scorers for the game, are out on the court. Erik
weakly chest passes the ball over to Nick Jones as he trudges lazily down the
court, clearly bored.
The end
of a basketball game is usually the most intense part of the game, if the score
is close. In this case, the score is 86 to 31, North St. Paul in the lead. This
last minute of the game is anything but intense seeing as Maplewood has lost
all hope in winning.
“The
Quitters” is the name of the North St. Paul in house basketball team. Every
player on the team previously played for the North High school team, but
decided to quit and create their own in house team. During their first game
against Maplewood, quitting was the last thing on their minds.
“Our
main goal as a team is to achieve the state in house championship at the end of
the season,” explains Johnny Economy, “We have all played together before, so
we understand what it takes to work together and come out with a win.”
“The
Quitters” are more of an independent team. They lack a competitive coaching
staff, but rather leave it up to themselves to carry the team along. “I
couldn’t play in Sunday’s game because of an intense morning migraine, but you
better believe I was still there on the sidelines, cheering my team along,”
says Sam Shipstad.
Although
this group of athletes quit from the school team, they have no intensions to
quit from this team. They have great chemistry together and most of all they
have fun while playing a sport they all love.

School dress code; enforced enough?

Is the school dress code still intact here at North? When I look around, I definitely wouldn’t get the answer the school is looking for. For as many rules as they have, the school dress code rules seem to be slipping away more and more as the year goes on. If this keeps continuing, girls will be practically wearing nothing! Samantha Ortiz a junior at North says that “The guidelines for how to dress at school aren’t really followed by the students. I don’t really care though; they should be able to dress according to their style. If they want to dress provocatively then go for it.” Another student Noah Keen a senior feels that “there should be a stricter dress code. Girls come to school in the winter wearing way to short of skirts like it’s the middle of July.” On the other hand, Emily Gill another junior believes that “students should be able to wear what they like and express themselves the way that they want to.” But still believes you should follow some of the guidelines for dressing at school. “Kids (mainly girls) don’t even dress according to the season anymore, they just try to wear as little of clothing as possible.” One of the rules is that your shorts and skirts must be at or below the fingertips. Emily has figured that most girls here at North tend to wear shorts that are much above the guidelines. The school seems to enforce dress code rules much less than the rules that apply for people simply wearing hats or gloves in school.

Noah Keen, Gaga over Gaga!

Noah Keen is a senior at North High School, although this handsome caramel colored man was born and raised in Minnesota one day he’d like to live in L.A or West Hollywood because he “loves the fast paced life.” Noah also enjoys listening to pop music, one of his favorite singers is Lady Gaga “She’s amazing, has talent, and lot of values in her music!” He says that Lady Gaga’s best album is definitely ‘Born This Way’ because “it’s not really pop, it has different sounds in it.” One of his favorite Lady Gaga outfits would have to be the meat dress because he knows there is lots of meaning behind it and he really likes beef jerky. Noah has a favorite song off of every album; he likes “Love Game” off of the album “The Fame”, “Monster” off the album “The Monster”, and lastly “Electric Chapel” off of the album “Born This Way”. The music video’s he enjoys watching are “Judas” and “Marry the Night” both which are also by Lady Gaga. Knowing music statistics is a big hobby of his, he likes to know everything about a musician. Another thing that Noah likes is Dolphins he likes them because they’re blue and he loves sea animals, unicorns are also a favored animal of his because they “ride rainbows and eat flowers.” Noah shops at a lot of stores “I just like gathering things and putting them together.” Noah Keen love making new friends, so if you ever see him in the halls, or have him in a class be sure to say Hello!

Melissa Arntzen, Alternative Goddess

Melissa Arntzen is a junior at North High School. She was born in Minnesota, USA. One of her favorite colors is turquoise or teal, because she “loves bright colors”. When asked about music, Melissa explained that she loves “Post-hardcore metal”, and her favorite band is A Skylit Drive.

Melissa also loves the fall season, because “the leaves are pretty”. One of Melissa’s favorite things to do is play volleyball. She also obviously loves music and doing her hair. Her favorite store’s to shop at are Forever 21 and Hot Topic. She said she loves those stores because “they have really tight pants yo!”

Melissa adores Johnny Depp because “he can many roles and be unnoticeable like in Alice in Wonderland”. Her favorite actress is Zooey Deschanel, because “she always has the best roles and plays them really well and she’s also gorgeous!”. Her two favorite movies are Edward Scissorhands because “it taught me to love everyone no matter what” and (500) Days of Summer because “it’s fantastic”. Her favorite TV show is House because “he’s always angry and I can relate to that”.

Her favorite food is fruit and her favorite fruit are Mangoes and she added “they’re so good!”. Her favorite topping on pizza is cheese because “I have a food touching issue!”. I asked Melissa how she would want to die and she responded, “I would want to die a non-slow or painful death and it couldn’t involve water”. Melissa’s favorite 90’s pop band is The Backstreet Boys. Her favorite board game is CandyLand because “it doesn’t take any thought process and it’s colorful”.

Secrets Revealed About the 2012 Yearbook

The school yearbook is one of the
most highly anticipated events during the final weeks of the school year. The
day that the yearbooks are handed out seems to be a very distracting time in
which teachers are forced to constantly nag on students to put their yearbooks
away.
Most
students that receive the yearbook are interested in shuffling through the
pages, reminiscing about the past school year. What most kids don’t realize is
how the yearbook is put together and what it takes to create the craft in front
of their eyes.
No
yearbook can look exactly the same. There must be something unique about each
one. “The younger staff this year have really helped to bring in new ideas. I
feel like we have a wider variety of people in the actual yearbook rather than
the same people,” says Anna Reubish, Head Editor of the yearbook committee.
Creating
such a big book takes a lot of time and effort. The yearbook committee usually
stays after school on most days doing page layouts, taking pictures, writing,
editing, and submitting. This seems like a very fun, but frustrating process.
“The
majority of the frustration comes from deadlines. We have to send in our page
layouts page by page to a company called Jostens,” explains Anna. “There can
also be minor frustrations when working with the same people every day in a
small, crowded room but we give each other constructive criticism rather than
conflicts.”
On the
other hand, the cover of the yearbook is what catches most people’s eye. This
cover has to be one of the most creative pieces of the entire yearbook. Anna
shares, “We actually designed the yearbook cover in the summer at yearbook
camp. The background is scattered pictures from the start of the school year
which creates a more lively effect.”
If
you’re interested in checking out the 2012 yearbook cover, there’s a copied
picture of what it looks like outsides of Mr. Reynolds room.

School Lunches, Good or Bad??

Everyone says they hate the school lunches and that they are gross. The lunches have chicken in them almost every day seven out of ten people said they would rather have chicken in the lunch than nothing at all. “We have four lunch lines that people can go to if they don’t like what’s in one line” also you could bring a cold lunch if you don’t like any of the food or don’t like to wait in long lines for food.

Eight out of ten people that I asked don’t mind eating lunches at school. The more popular lunches we have are pizza, chicken tenders, popcorn chicken, nachos, tacos and soup in a bread bowl. While turkey burger, french toast sticks, grilled cheese, sub sandwiches, and cheese bread with marinara sauce are less likeable for others.

A person says that they only bring cold lunch when they know they won’t like the lunch that is being served that day but she does like school lunches. I asked ten people if they would rather have chicken in lunch then no chicken at all and eight out of ten people say they would want chicken because they like meet in their lunch. “If people don’t like the chicken then they can either bring a cold lunch or go in the salad and the all-a-cart line”.

Seeing Strange Habits

North student Brigette Mitchell has some strange and interesting habits. Ranging from sleeping habits to everyday chores, they can be observed at her home daily. Brigette’s habits are quite unique.

Brigette states that when she sleeps “I sleep on my stomach with the covers over my face or wrapped around my head when sleeping on a couch.” If Birgette falls into a deep sleep she must be woken up by being hit 11 times or being startled by a loud noise. Among her strange sleeping habits Brigrtte also talks in her sleep and sleep walks.

Brigette mentioned that she also has strange everyday habits. When Brigette sorts through her clothes she separates them into two categories, one for the day and the other for the rest of the week. She also has strange laundry habits. When she does the laundry she will separate the clothes into two piles, one pile is cleaner the other dirty. After separating the clothes she will wash the dirty clothes first and then the clean clothes.

She also mentioned that if she puts something in a specific place or sets something up a certain way then it has to stay that way otherwise if her things are rearranged she will become very angry. Brigette stated that her family does not think anything of her strange habits. Brigette says that “my habits don’t bother me very often.”

Meet the staff and students

Benilde-St Margaret Hockey Player Jack Jablonski Impacts North High

16 year old Jack Jablonski of Benilde-St. Margaret, received a paralyzing check from behind during a JV hockey game in Wayzata last Friday. After receiving such a blow, Jablonski was unable to move his legs, and needed to be taken to the hospital.
Alex Kroska, of North’s JV hockey team says that what happened to Jablonski affects both him and his team tremendously. “We all know that every time we step on the ice, that that could have been any of us. We all have the same risk.”
Jablonski received surgery the Wednesday following his incident, and was unfortunately informed that he would never walk again. However, even in this tragic situation, family, friends and outside supporters are hoping that Jablonski will prove the diagnosis wrong.
Kroska says that if he could say anything to him right now, he would tell Jack to “keep trying his hardest to re-cover, and maybe he’ll be able to skate again someday. We’re all supporting him.”
Not only have local hockey players and teams taken note of Jablonski’s incident, but students here at North with absolutely no connection to Jack or the sport have taken a huge interest in his story.
Megan Donovan and Michelle Sauvageau, both seniors at North, agree that the little things, like showing support through social networking sites and wearing white to show support really make a huge difference. “These things definitely spread the word about Jack’s story. More and more people are learning about his injury and how easily it could happen to anyone they know,” says Donovan.
Whether you are a close friend, family member, or just someone who has heard and been impacted by his story, any sign of support benefits Jack. His story has pulled together a wide variety of people from many different areas, and proven that people are truly capable of working together to turn a tragic event into something hopeful and inspiring. We wish you the best Jack!
According to his Facebook page you can support Jack by spreading the word and donations can be made to the Jack Jablonski Fund, in person, at any Wells Fargo bank or donations can be mailed to the Jack Jablonski Fund, P.O. Box 16387, St, Louis Park, MN, 55416.

Malik Compton the athlete

Malik Compton is a sophomore at north high. One of his favorite hobbies is basketball with his friend or like watching basketball, no matter how good the game is. He also loves listening to rap music. He love traveling to Illinois to the city of Peoria, he goes there every two months to see his family member and spend the holiday with them.
One of his favorite basketball team in the NBA is Mavericks, he like the Maverick basketball team because of the players that is on the team. Malik Compton love fashion his favorite shoes bend is Jordan and Vans. He also likes to wear Aeropostale and Hollister.
One thing e like to do his free time is watching scary movie with some
homemade pizza and fried chicken. He love cars one of his favorite is a BMW 745 and it also the car he dream of owning in the future. One of the most remember able moment was on his fifteen birthday when he receive six hundred dollar from his friend and family member.

for by four interview

Spring Break

Minnesota Boy

Saul is a 15 year old sophomore at
North High who has spent his whole life in Minnesota. With the exception of
Wisconsin, he has never traveled beyond the Minnesota boarders, “I go to
Wisconsin to visit family, but I’ve never been to another state,” he says.
Saul has two sisters and one brother who “get
special treatments.” His sister is on a competitive dance team who may be
traveling to Las Vegas sometime this year, “I’m really excited to go there.
Plus, we would drive so I would get to see even more of the country.”
When Saul was younger, he almost
got hit by a car. “I was too young to remember to look both ways and the car
just barely knicked my leg,” he says. Saul also developed a fear of heights,
but explains, “I can handle most roller coasters. Some are just too tall.”
In the future, Saul plans to go to college.
Considering he hasn’t seen much of the country, he is thinking about attending
school in Boise, Idaho. “I’m interested in their academics and sports,” he
says. Maybe someday, Saul will no longer be considered a “Minnesota boy.”

Opinions!

Jequone Hill, Friendly North High Student

Talthau Lo
Journalism I


Moving to
North High School his freshmen year; Jequone Hill had no problem making
friends. During and after school, Jequone will most likely be found with
friends. Age, ethnicity, culture, or status does not matter to Jequone.

“I hang out with a variety of friends,” he says. His friends range from ages 14-28. Freshmen or senior, you will be welcomed by Jequone.

Being an only child, Jequone makes his friends his family. “If I had to estimate how many friends I have, I wouldn’t know. There’s too many.” He chuckles.

Jequone may seem like a popular guy, but he doesn’t take notice of it. He’s just an
average person, who’s easy to get along with, and that’s good enough for him.
Whether he’s in school, at the mall, a Chinese restaurant, or watching TV, he’s always with
company. He explains, “The only time I’m alone is when I sleep.” Jequone is
never too lonely.

Being at North High school for three years has gained him all
the friends he needs. Jequone is a guy who hates sports and is good at
computers. So how can be so popular? Hm… Maybe high school has changed. Or maybe you should just be friendly like Jequone.

Helpful Hobbies

North High Student Justin James (grade 12,) has unique hobbies that could help save many people. “One of my hobbies is Police and Fire explorers’ job training says Justin James”.

Justin has done interesting things in his life, he has traveled around the United States and plays guitar. His favorite sports are MMA and Football. Justin appears to be a typical teenager. During the interview Justin mentioned a unique hobby called Police and Fire explorers.

He explained what Fire and Police Explorers is by describing some of the scenarios that he trains for. Justin told me that Police and Fire explorers is a job training program that simulates real situations that Police Officers and Fire fighters face in their daily careers. Justin began with explaining the concept of Fire explores training by stating examples of what Fire fighters have to be prepared for and the knowledge that they need on the job. Justin listed examples of situations that a fire fighter must train for such as:

· Search and rescue

· Life support

· Medical training

Justin is also involved in Police explorers. In Police explores Justin deals with many situations that can be dangerous and difficult such as:

· Warrant searches and Arrests

· Crime scene

· Domestic Violence

· Traffic accidents

· Burglary

· Pulling people over

Justin said that the best way to handle these situations is to “keep a calm figure”. Justin stated that the simulations that he is put through both in Fire and Police explorers is very realistic just as if he was in that exact situation. Justin said that he has an outgoing personality and he is willing to try a new thing which stands true to his character and personality.