Activities at North this Year

Some students at North (especially freshmen) are probably wondering what North has to offer this year for activities. Everyone knows there are sports available, but some people aren’t interested in athletics, so what then? There has to be at least one activity for everybody’s interest here at North. Some activities include Newspaper, Drama Club, the always-popular Robotics Club, Yearbook, and a LOT more! An activity they have here at North is Newspaper, where students write stories and/or make activities and then they decide what gets to go into the newspaper. Every Thursday, the Newspaper staff meets in Room 206 (computer lab) and then come up with stories, either by themselves or together with someone, and then when the paper gets printed, so does their work for everyone to see. “I think a good newspaper is a sign of a good school,” said Mr. Simms, who is the Polar Prints’ editor. Better yet, you can also just contribute stories instead of just joining the newspaper if you want to. So if you like journalism or you want to increase your writing skills, this may be the place for you to go! One of the most popular activities that they have here at North is the Robotics club. Every year, the Robotics club gets a task they have to complete, using a robot that they build. Last year, they had to basically create a robot that played basketball. They got a limited amount of resources, the robots had to be within a certain weight and size limit, and there are rules they had to follow during the challenges. To make it a little more interesting, they only have a month to build, program, and test the robot. “I love the club; I’ve been in it since freshman year,” said Captain Jamie Kavaloski. “It’s lots of fun and lots of learning combined. The competition is my favorite part.” If you want to try to test out your mechanical/engineering abilities, you should seriously consider joining Robotics. If you’re interested in acting, you should definitely check out the Drama Club. The Drama Club has rehearsals every day for a couple of months, and then they perform a show, which include plays like The Curious Savage, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Foreigner, Once Upon a Mattress, and Lucky Stiff. North and Tartan also combine sometimes to make plays, such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Annie, and Children of Eden. In the fall, they usually do a musical. Then in the winter, they do the One Act competition. The One Act competition is basically a play that is one act long that different schools do together, and then they perform their plays to compete against each other. In the spring, they do actual plays. “I personally enjoy acting because allows me to open up and express myself without worry of judgment or what others will think of me,” said Grace Cardinal. “Because when I am acting, I become the character that I am portraying and am no longer myself!” Currently, the Drama Club is in the middle of making Hello Dolly, which will be performed November 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Do you have a slight interest in newspaper, but want to be more colorful, creative, and want to put all of your hard work together in one big “issue” at the end of the year? Then maybe you should consider joining Yearbook. Like the Polar Prints, the Yearbook staff also writes stories about different clubs, activities, and features that go on at North. Some of the clubs that they cover includes sports, Knowledge Bowl, Newspaper, Drama Club, Robotics, Art Club, and a LOT more. Some of the activities that they cover in big spreads include Homecoming, the Masquerade Ball, Sadie Hawkins, Coffee House Acts, Sno Daze, the Masterworks Concert, and one of the biggest events of the year: Prom. The Yearbook staff design all of the pages that go into the yearbook, which means that they choose the colors for all of the pages, they mask and edit all of the photos that they take, they write quotes from people that are going to be included in the articles that they write, and they also eat some good food while they’re doing it. “Being in Yearbook is really fun,” said Kelsi Koren, who is part of the staff. “And it’s a great way to be organized, consistent, and precise.” So if you like the idea of Journalism, but don’t want to do stories for separate issues and want to put all of your work into one big “issue,” then maybe you should consider joining the Yearbook. If you want to expand your knowledge of history, geography, biology, pop culture, or almost any other subject out there, then maybe you should consider checking out the Knowledge Bowl. Knowledge Bowl and Quiz Bowl differ slightly. In Knowledge Bowl, each team of four has a strip that they hit to answer and the members are allowed to debate the answer for fifteen seconds. In Quiz Bowl, each player has a buzzer that they hit to answer, but if one player buzzes, the rest of the team can’t. Both Knowledge and Quiz Bowl practices are on Wednesdays and captain’s practices are on Tuesdays. The captain’s practices are led by Captain Donny Clinton, who is also a great cartographer. Every year, Clinton draws a map of a new world and each member claims a territory. There is usually some down time during meets, so they bring the map and wage war on each other. It’s kind of like a big game of Risk. There is usually a part of the captain’s practice that is devoted to either editing the map or drawing natural features on it. The meets for Knowledge/Quiz Bowl are usually on Thursday nights or Saturday mornings. “Getting up early on weekends isn’t so great at first, but it is always a lot of fun when you are surrounded by your friends.” said Oliver Sueper. “The environment is pretty lighthearted and we joke around a lot. It is a lot of fun and you learn something new every meet!” So if you want to take Oliver’s advice and have some fun learning some stuff, you should seriously check out either Knowledge or Quiz Bowl! Like singing and dancing, especially together? Then think about doing the Northern Lights Show Choir next year! They put a lot of dedication in their work every year, with their practices starting all the way in early August, practicing for 3 days, 6 hours a piece learning the choreography. After that, they have some after school and some weekend practices, plus every other choir day they work on show choir songs (Northern Lights Show Choir is also a class that you can choose when selecting your classes for next year). In addition to shows and practices, they also have competitions they participate in, where their criteria have to do with their performance, costumes, and theme. The competitions can be almost all over the state since they are one out of nine show choir groups in the state, meaning they would have to travel hours at a time to get to their competition. Sometimes the competitions are even out of the state. At the competitions, they perform their show, they watch other show choir groups do their performances, and then a judge goes over what went well and what could have gone better, like TV competitions such as Chopped, American Idol, or America’s Got Talent. These competitions pretty much last all day. “I wasn’t going to try out at first because it looked like a lot of work that I didn’t need in my life, but I tried out anyways because it seemed like it could be fun,” said Ritter Lincoln, who tried out as a freshmen. “Now don’t get me wrong, It take tremendous amounts of energy and brain power to be part of Show Choir, but it’s so much fun and I enjoy every minute that I’m part of it. There are so many friendly people with the common interest of signing and or dancing; I have absolutely no regrets about trying out.” Unfortunately, tryouts for Show Choir have been over for a while, but when you choose your classes for next year, you should seriously consider choosing Northern Lights Show Choir for a class, especially when each trimester of it counts as a credit and a half a piece. There’s a lot more clubs to check out around North, but these are some of the most popular activities that North offers here. If none of these activities sound interesting, then you should check out what else they offer here on the school’s website or in the Activities Office. Some other activities are the Art Club, Ski and Snowboard Club, Link Crew, National Honor Society, Relay for Life (which will be held later this year), and Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). If you want to join an activity here at North, there’s more information online or in the Guidance Office.

Hurricane Sandy

Hailey Pagani
Staff Writer

On November 29, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. 16 states were affected by this storm leaving millions without power, a lot with damaged homes and some even had to leave their homes for safety reasons. Before the storm hit, millions of people were found stocking up on supplies such as, food, water, blankets and other necessary items. The storm started with wind and rain which caused a crane in New York City to break among other damage. Soon, the stormed turned from wind and rain to a very large storm.

It wasn’t until after the storm went through that they realized just how much damage there really was. Many roads and houses were flooded, a lot of trees and power lines were down. The storm left millions without power.

In those states that was affected, some people didn’t have power a week after the storm. The weather conditions were very cold and very cold weather conditions and no power equals very cold people! A week or so after the storm, another storm swept the East Coast leaving many families freezing and still without power.

A couple weeks after Hurricane Sandy hit, some people are still without power, some just don’t even have a home and some are still in search of somewhere for them and their families to move to.

Legalizing gay and lesbian marriages

           Legalizing the gay rights for marriage has been a big controversy for the last couple of months. People have very different opinions on the topic over all. Some people are all for letting gays and lesbians marry, but some think it should be limited to one man one woman. Holly was one of the voters this year that stood in line to vote and when it came to that section of the ballot, she voted yes to limit Marriage.

          She says, "I think the definition of marriage is one man one woman, that’s how our culture has been and our understandings have been for years!"I then asked her if she has gay or lesbian family, friends, neighbors, ect.. She responded with a yes, but still feels marriage should be limited.

Holly and others have found this to be a big controversial issue around the United States today. She however feels like the vote yes will pull through in the end but you never know because it could go either way. She has been at the voting area since six a.m. and will remain there all day working. These are her opinions and vote for this year, what is yours?

Anime club:wild card by Natalie Klasinski

Relay For Life Kick-off Week

The Election Watched around the World

            President Barack Obama led the Democrats to victory on Tuesday over challenger Mitt Romney and the Republican Party. The election results were announced at about 10:20 on Tuesday night with the president being declared the winner, and it was the call heard around the world as people from all over the world celebrated the news of four more years. The president officially won with an Electoral College count of 303 to Romney’s 206, and a popular vote of 60, 840,934 to 57,940,881.

Minnesota voted Democrat for the tenth consecutive election, along with neighboring states of Wisconsin and Iowa, while North and South Dakota voted Republican. In a more general breakdown most of the South and Midwest voted Republican while most of the Northeast and West coast voted Democrat, a common pattern these days.

            Here at North the majority of students (though most couldn’t vote) favored Obama to win the election while a smaller minority favored Romney. Mr. Hagel’s Political Science and AP U.S. Government classes voted on the issue and the polls came back with 91 votes for Obama and 35 for Mitt Romney, similarly the majority of votes were against the marriage amendment, against the voter ID amendment and for Senator Amy Klobuchar’s reelection.

            Mr. Hagel, the political science teacher here at North, said, “I was not surprised about the outcome of the presidential election because of Nate Silver, a respected statistician with the New York Times, but I was surprised by the outcome for the two amendments because I thought that rural Minnesota would have a greater influence.”

            North student Sheldon Saccoman, a Republican, said, “I was not happy about the outcome of the election, but I’m willing to support the president if the rest of the people believe he deserves a second term.” Another North student said, “I wasn’t too shocked, it kinda seemed that Obama was gonna win from the start. It didn’t seem like Romney was put together, except for the first presidential debate.”

            It would seem as though the American people and the people of Minnesota made a decision that closely mirrors that of the students here at North, perhaps the future is being set by the youth these days, four more years with president Obama before the election in 2016, and by then most students at North will be able to vote, and who will win then? Only time will tell.

Assassin's Creed Reignites the American Revolution

By Tom and Angela Indykiewicz, Staff Writers On October 30th, Ubisoft released the third (really the fifth) installment of the Assassin’s Creed series. This time, the game takes place in the 18th century, when it’s the dawn of the American Revolution and rebellion will soon happen. History now takes on a more fictional concept as it also works in the ongoing clash between the Assassins and the Templars. Throughout the series, you play in the present as Desmond Miles, a man reliving his ancestor’s lives through a machine called the Animus, which is how he lived through his ancestors. Desmond learns of allusions to the prophetic end of the world in 2012 from a former Animus test subject, Subject 16, as well as from holographic figures of a species pre-dating humanity. Many years ago a massive solar flare nearly wiped out all life and a second threatens to do the same. With the second solar flare fast approaching, it is up to Desmond to use the memories of his ancestors to acquire their knowledge, learn the truth and find the Pieces of Eden to save humanity. Throughout the series, you relive Desmond’s ancestors’ lives as the assassins Altair Ibn L’Ahad (Assassin’s Creed) in the Crusades, Ezio Auditore (Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations) in the Italian Renaissance, and now in Assassin’s Creed III, Connor Kenway (his Indian name is Ratohnhaké:ton), a Mohawk Indian ready to take revenge on the British Redcoats for slaughtering his tribe, more specifically his mother. As Connor, you will meet historical figures from the American Revolution, such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Lee, and a lot more. In addition to adding in real events and people during the period, the game developers added in historically accurate environments to play in, such as Colonial Boston and New York, the Freemason’s Tunnels, and the American Frontier. Gameplay has been completely revamped as well; in ACIII, new battle combinations were created along with use of different weapons: muskets, a bow and arrow, dual flintlock pistols, rope darts, and a tomahawk that is shaped like the Assassin symbol along with the trademark hidden blades, which are Connor’s primary weapons. The game also allows you to hunt animals in addition to you hunting enemies so you can sell pelts. Like Assassin Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations, you can also keep upgrading an area for more revenue and citizens, which in this game is called the Homestead. Assassin’s Creed also added in a new feature specifically for this game, which is naval warfare, where you control a ship called the Aquila. Not only has the game been changed, but so has the multiplayer portion of it. In the game, now they added in sounds that determine how close you are to a target or how close a pursuer is to you. The closer you are to a target, you hear a faster heartbeat, but the closer a pursuer is to you, then you hear whispering that gets louder and louder based on proximity. There are also a new set of characters to choose from, new maps, new abilities and perks, a third slot for an ability, a new game mode called Domination, where you have to capture territories like in some first person shooter games (examples: Call of Duty, Halo), and they made it so killing and stunning are the same button instead of switching buttons. This game is available now on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Macintosh/Windows computers. Soon, it will be out for the new system coming out soon, the Wii U. Go buy a copy today (I would recommend playing through the series first to understand the full concept of the game).

Carter Wold is a Freshmen Student and North High school and a freshmen football player, and hockey player. He is enjoying this year very much and is better than middle school, it’s a hard transition from middle to high school but he as figured it out.

　

Carter plays for the North high freshmen team and is doing his best to contribute to the team.

Carter goals are to play college football and to the Nfl "I hope I can make it there someday", he says. It’s a hard road ahead for him but he knows he can do it and will try his hardest to achieve that dream

His team is not doing so good there record is 0-8! Wow what a bad, bad season "we are not doing well really poor", he says. Carter his going to play for the sophomores next year he thinks.

Carter’s plays cornerback in football but has no forced fumbles or interceptions? We will just wait and see.

Carter just doesn’t play Football he play hockey as well, Carter is talented but needs work and will improve the next few years.  ( Stephon Frimpong )

Hello Dolly, Review and Summary

College, hiding in a High School by Natalie Klasinski (School related Article)

Physics students Become Engineers

            North high’s physics students became engineers on Monday as they as they tested out their home made catapults. The point of the test was to apply the concept of projectile motion to the real world.

            The students met in groups of three or four and figured out how to build a catapult that could launch a projectile the farthest possible. They were allowed to use materials such as wood and super glue, but the rest was up to them.

            Mr. Morgan, one of the three physics teachers here at North, believes that physics is easier to learn when applied and said: “If you wanna learn about projectiles you gotta get out and fling some things around.”

            The project is widely enjoyed by students as well. Physics student Donny Clinton sarcastically said: “It was a good way to waste perfectly good marshmallows.” Another student, Thomas Indykiewicz, said: “Lots of fails but, we improvised and we got a better score.”

            The project was all-together considered a success by both the teachers and the students and this week physics students were assigned their newest project: the bridge project. Seeing as how this project is so beloved by North’s physics students one can be fairly confident in saying that it will surely be around for years to come.

Some Black Friday Survival Tactics

Thanksgiving: one of America’s best holidays. We always look forward to meeting up with family and friends for a big turkey dinner and to talk with each other. But the real “fun” begins late at night after Thanksgiving. It’s the one holiday that most stores dread: Black Friday. Black Friday is the time of the year where stores discount pretty much everything in the stores and the store is flooded with customers trying to get their hands on that discounted merchandise. However, it’s happened more than once where someone gets trampled, lost, or hurt in the midst of the crowd, and I’m going to tell you some ways to make sure you aren’t any of those people. Survival tactic #1: stay close to someone. It’s ridiculously easy to lose someone in the mass of people and before you know it, you’re at one end of the store and he/she is at the other end. Stay as close as you can to someone, which includes holding hands, grabbing someone’s arm, or even stay behind that person as much as you can. Survival tactic #2: cell phones. In the event that survival tactic #1 didn’t help you, make sure you and that other person are both carrying cell phones. Modern day technology made it easier to communicate with each other, so make sure you use it in order to not lose anyone. Survival tactic #3: DON’T EVER STOP!!! The masses of people will keep moving you guys and if you try to attempt to stop, you WILL get hurt. Shopping aisles on Black Friday are like highways: you have to keep moving at a certain speed or you may get rammed or you may ram other people. If you absolutely need to stop, hide out in one of the pharmacy aisles. No one’s going to try and flood those aisles (they want the entertainment items, not discounted toiletries), so you’re going to be safe there to make a call or talk to someone. Survival tactic #4: know where people are going to be headed. The traffic will be headed for specific items, usually electronics. This area is where you’re going to have to stay alert because I saw a girl get trampled last year by the video games and it wasn’t a pretty sight. I’m not saying you’re 100% safe anywhere else, it’s just that electronics are where most of the people are going to be headed to out of the whole store. These are just a few ways to keep you safe during this nightmare of a shopping trip. A lot of people have different experiences on Black Friday, but just keep in mind that you CAN get hurt if you’re not careful. Happy Thanksgiving/Black Friday everyone!