Issue 4 - December, 2017

F r i d a y, D e c e m b e r 2 2 , 2 0 1 7

Vo l u m e 3 8 , I s s u e 4

6 7 5 4 Va l l e y V i e w R d . E d i n a , M N , 5 5 4 3 9

w w w. e d i n a z e p h y r u s . c o m

EHS artist profiles page 5

Learn more about the hidden costs of college pages 6 & 7

Young Conservatives Club’s lawsuit against school rocks Edina community

Lily Jones, Tanner Jones, Ellery Mahlum, Greyson Mize, & Jenna Simon page editor, online copy editor, print copy editor, page editor, & online editor-in-chief Press conference: Young Conservatives Club and attorney Erick Kaardal gather outside Creek Valley Elementary to announce lawsuit

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Junior Gold A hockey team shoots for success page 12

WEB PREVIEW Braemer Golf Course reopening delayed

Link Crew’s Cocoa and Cram

n Dec. 7, attorneys representing the Edina Young Conservatives Club announced they had filed a lawsuit against Edina Public Schools. The charges allege a violation of students’ rights relating to freedom of speech and association, along with violations of the U.S. Flag Code.

At 4:00 PM on the same day, students and their legal representatives held a press conference outside of Creek Valley Elementary School in Edina to explain why they are suing the district. YCC President Nick Spades, Vice President Lizzie Ebner, and club member Jazmine Edmond spoke at the conference along with Attorney Erick Kaardal and Edina parent & alum David Buyse.

“These students are proud of their conservative values. They have a passion for their beliefs, and yet they feel threatened to voice an opinion, and are bullied in the classroom and the hallways,” Buyse said.

“I’m one of hundreds of parents who are tired of this, and the lawsuit filed today will provide incentive for the school to move forward toward positive change and a genuine tolerance.”

In the lawsuit, the YCC asked to become “a fully approved club with the rights and privileges granted to all other fully approved clubs,” requested that the school “create fair and equal policies governing student groups who criticize [Edina School District’s] ‘mission, faith and beliefs,’” and that they be awarded “their costs of litigation, including reasonable attorneys’ fees.”

Erick Kaardal, the attorney representing the EHS Young Conservatives Club in their lawsuit against Edina High School and the Edina Public School District, is wellknown in the Minnesota legal community.

On his website, Kaardal boasts about “participating in over one hundred public law cases representing parties opposed to the government, government agencies and government bureaucrats,” and in the past three years he has brought suits against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and at least three school districts (St. Louis County, Washington County, and Sibley East).

To discover why Kaardal is so keen on opposing government institutions, one needs look no further than his book The Rebirth Constitution (self-published, 2013), in which Kaardal and his co-author, Thomas Dahlberg, propose ideological “war” and the writing of a “new, postmodern constitution.” They say this process will begin with force, and advocate that individuals sow discord in society, writing, “Neopopulism does not propose debate...but war.” More specifically, Kaardal proposes a “consummate war,” a war on all means of cultural production that includes “overt intellectual and moral disobedience of the establishment.” Under Kaardal and Dahlberg’s new constitution, the government would have no involvement in education. “No unit of government shall establish schools,” they write, “except for the purpose of training for government jobs.” They continue, “We will separate the state from all education and teach the people to ride roughshod over their government.”

At the Dec. 7 press conference, Kaardal said “the school won’t let [the YCC] be a club because they did not respect disrespect for the flag…That’s a violation of the Equal Access Act, violation of free speech rights, and it is unlawful under the U.S Flag Code.” Despite Kaardal’s claims, there is no evidence that the YCC was formally terminated because of

their stance on school policy.

The Equal Access Act states that all public secondary schools that receive federal funding are required by federal law to afford all student groups the same opportunities to form, convene on school grounds, and have access to all the same available resources.

However, it also states that a school may choose to not allow any student-led noncurricular groups. To have a case supported by the Equal Access Act, Kaardal must first prove that EHS administrators are allowing other groups more privileges than the YCC under the same circumstances.

The lawsuit also claims that the YCC’s rights were violated under U.S Flag Code.

“The school has a very important pedagogical purpose, and that is under the Flag Code they must teach respect for the flag,” Kaardal said. “When the school starts sponsoring disrespecting the flag, that is accommodating protesters, and requiring other students to respect the protesters, that’s unlawful.”

Despite Kaardal’s claims, the 1900 Supreme Court Case United States v. Eichman ultimately overturned the Flag Protection Act of 1989, invalidating the enforcement of the U.S Flag Code. The code remains in federal law and is used as a guideline, but cannot be used to criminalize first amendment rights.

Since the lawsuit was filed, many Edina students and alumni have voiced their opinions on the YCC’s action. The perspectives that people have on the YCC’s lawsuit can be boiled down into three fundamental opinions: there are those who support the YCC and believe that the school did in fact violate their first amendment rights, those who think the district was right to shut down the club’s GroupMe, and those who simply wish the drama would end.

Student Senate attempts to bridge gap between students, administration Jenna Simon & Will Schwinghammer online editor-in-chief, head staff writer

Orchestra Pajama Concert

For more, visit EdinaZephyrus.com

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n Nov. 2, 20 of Edina High School’s student leaders gathered for the first meeting of the high school’s new Student Senate. The Senate was introduced at the beginning of the year with a main purpose to bridge the gap in communication between the student body and EHS administration.

However, as the school year nears the end of first semester, several students still feel uninformed on the big issues within EHS, and many are unaware of the Student Senate’s existence.

The idea for a Student Senate was proposed

over a year ago, long before any students were aware of the concept. “The concept around the Student Senate started last year after the election when we had various opinions and thoughts on different aspects of the school, and we felt that we weren’t receiving the full voice and input of the student body,” Assistant Principal and Activities Director Troy Stein said. Stein currently works with the Student Senate during meetings as a representative from the administration, along with Principal Andy Beaton.

The plan was for the Senate to be comprised of students from several different activities, athletic areas, and pre-existing leadership bodies. The administration hopes the Student Senate can become a go-to group

of students for them to bounce ideas off of relating to potential changes in policy or procedure.

The administration made a point of choosing students for the Senate who could represent a wide variety of organizations at EHS. However, these organizations were not given the opportunity to elect their representatives. Many students were appointed by either the administration or their organization’s adviser.

“I’m in Link Crew, and Mrs. Ronglien came up to me talking about it, and said that I should try to get on the Student Senate,” senior Student Senator Prasoon Sinha said. (continued on page 3)

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COMMENTARY Friday, Dec. 22, 2017

Zephyrus staff Editorial Board Ben Gustafson, print editor-in-chief Jenna Simon, online editor-in-chief Maren Naegele, managing editor Ellery Mahlum, print copy editor Tanner Jones, online copy editor Max North, art editor Zoe Cheung, photography editor Will Schwinghammer, head staff writer Staff writers Kyra Bergerud Hans Janovy Meyer Isha Konety Jack Marker Max Morton Julia Nicholson Syd Pierre Alex Stenman Theo Teske Kerui Yang Lucy Yang

Page editors Morgan Sheehy, cover Eva Hadjiyanis, news Matthew Egger, student life Emma Bailey, features Lily Jones, in-depth Anjali Aralikar, opinion Greyson Mize, head to head Brooke Sheehy, activities Cecilia Orth, sports Simone Vaillancourt, sports

Letter to the Editor On the installation of female hygiene dispensers in EHS restrooms

Photographers Mimi Beringer Uma Bhati Margaret Sullivan Grace Wolf

photo by Zoe Cheung

Artists Katie Schiller Andy Youngstrom Videographer Joey Puckett

Adviser Sally Larkins

Policies

Zephyrus is a monthly publication produced by students of Edina High School; 6754 Valley View Road; Edina, MN 55439; (952) 848-3800 x3087. Zephyrus recognizes the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press, and abides by the Hazelwood standard. Opinions published in Zephyrus do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire staff, adviser, administration, or entire student body. Submissions and letters are printed based on space available. Letters should be no more than 350 words and mailed to the school or given to the adviser or a staff member.

Let te rs to t h e Ed i tor To share an opinon or voice a conern over issues in Edina or an article Zephyrus has published, submit a letter to the editor online at https://www.edinazephyrus.com/about-2/send-us-a-letter/.

Co rre c t i o n Zephyrus wrote that many of the songs in ‘Smokey Joe’s Café’ were written and originally performed by African American artists; the songs in ‘Smokey Joe’s Café’ were in fact written by two white men, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who occasionally collaborated with African American songwriters like Ben E. King.

On the cove r

Lily Goldaris guest writer I, alongside a few other female students (Bri Lee, Celeste Haberman, Medha Kaul, and Rania Kalaaji), have recently observed a major disservice being done to the girls at our school. The most basic of necessities, tampons and pads, are not readily accessible to our student body. While these products are provided in the nurse’s office, they are low quality and inconveniently located. With the influx of the 9th-grade girls, the need for tampon and pad machines in our female and gender-neutral bathrooms is at an all-time high. Younger girls tend to be very uncomfortable speaking about their menstruation, especially with a staff member such as the nurse. Installing and stocking these machines would help eliminate those potentially awkward situations. In addition, girls are losing valuable class time having to walk across our massive school from

their class all the way to the nurse’s to get a tampon or pad. Once obtained, these products are sub-par; it’s equivalent to being given a cheap Band-Aid that doesn’t stick. Because of these barriers, girls are being put in potentially dangerous situations and may wait until the day has ended to change their products, greatly increasing their chances to contract Toxic Shock Syndrome.

This fall, we decided to approach this issue by getting petition signatures in order to supplement our proposal to administration. Between our online and paper petitions, we gathered 262 student and staff signatures. We later had a meeting with Principal Beaton and the school nurse, Gretchen Gosh, in which we presented our proposal and discussed solutions. In the short-term, we are asking for higherquality feminine hygiene products to be donated to the nurse’s office as we work on finding vendors in order to obtain machines. We are looking forward to the changes yet to come.

S e a son’s G reet ing s f ro m Ze p hy ru s!

Art courtesy of Andy Youngstrom and Nick Gaudette. Photos courtesy of Olivia Janovy Meyer and Zoe Cheung

Online

Back row: Max North, Andy Youngstrom, Will Schwinghammer, Zoe Cheung, Jenna Simon, Ellery Mahlum, Maren Naegele, Ben Gustafson, Tanner Jones, Joey Puckett, Max Morton Middle row: Simone Vaillancourt, Matthew Egger, Sally Larkins, Anjali Aralikar, Cecilia Orth, Emma Bailey, Greyson Mize, Lily Jones, Grace Wolf, Margaret Sullivan, Isha Konety, Brooke Sheehy Front row: Theo Teske, Jack Marker, Lucy Yang, Kerui Yang, Kyra Bergerud, Mimi Beringer, Hans Janovy Meyer, Julia Nicholson, Syd Pierre, Alex Stenman

“They should fix [the WiFi], because less people could do school work, and it was annoying because I couldn’t do school work either. Most of the school work is online, on Portal, so we need it.”

Bennett Manley Manley, freshman

Counseling office monitors students’ search histories outside of school

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Lily Jones page editor

everal students learned earlier this fall that Edina High School can monitor student internet searches, not only when they are at school but also at home.

This fact was brought to light when students were brought into the counselors’ office after searching something that came up as “flagged” on the school’s monitoring software.

Junior Olivia Peters was recently called into her counselor’s office because of one of these searches. “I was at my house, logged into my school portal, and I was searching things about mental health.” She was specifically searching for information on depression and suicide. “I had a friend who was going through mental health issues at the time, and I wanted to see what I could do.” Her counselor was able to not only see the flagged searches, but all of Peters’s search history. “The creepy part was, it was essentially a screenshot of everything that was on my computer.” But, she says her counselor simply wanted to make sure she was okay. “I know it was with good intentions but it still really freaked me out.” Another student, a sophomore, had a similar experience. He reportedly was called into his counselor’s office after searching something loosely related to suicide after getting a bad test grade, simply as a joke to show his friends. The sophomore says he felt, “pretty uncomfortable, I think it was a breach of privacy.”

The Edina Public School’s acceptable use policy, that every student agrees when they log onto the school WiFi, states, “The district reserves the right to monitor,

read or copy the item on or using the district’s electronic technology including its network.” But these two students were at home when they searched the flagged terms, not using school internet. Zephyrus tried repeatedly to contact technology specialists in the district in regards to this aspect of the system, with no success. A source from inside the counseling office explained the system, “The software is called the Go Guardian Program. It’s an opportunity for the district and counselors to identify students who are looking for [information about] self harm and suicide.”

Most public schools around the country have a program similar to this one, but this specific program is brand new this semester to EHS. “Right now it’s turned off so we can better inform families about the program later and create the best practices around it. We’re always looking for ways to identify students who are silently struggling or who are supporting friends dealing with a lot more than they’re equipped to handle on their own.” Sara Swenson, the EHS media specialist explained, “The counselors have the ability to have a search history pulled to look at.” But the searches that are automatically flagged are ones that are “concerning or troubling.”

The unnamed counselor explained, “One in four students at Edina struggle with their mental health; it’s not something that’s rare.” They suggest that students who are struggling should, “go to a trusted adult. That could be a staff member, teacher, parent, guardian, church leader. Anywhere they’re connected.” EHS can expect more information in the future regarding the “Go Guardian Program” and monitoring measures.

NEWS

Friday, Dec. 22, 2017

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Technology failures plague EHS

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Kerui Yang staff writer

n Friday, Dec. 1, the Edina High School WiFi malfunctioned, leaving many students and teachers unable to access the internet. This isn’t the first time that technology at the school has malfunctioned this year. Portal, a software students use to access school sites and academic materials, had crashed many times before the WiFi went down on the 1st.

A few weeks ago, shortly after the new Portal was rolled out, it crashed twice. The new Portal was implemented to incorporate new programs such as QR scanning and to better protect users’ data. However, the new Portal ultimately crashed “because of traffic. . .You have eight thousand students hitting this thing almost simultaneously and it went down because of it,” Steve Buettner, the Edina Public Schools Director of Media and Technology, said. After analyzing the software, Buettner and his team decided that they should send the software back to the vendor and revert to the old Portal until the software problems have been fixed.

Buettner and his team had a hard time predicting the number of people that would access Portal at once. “It is hard to mimic 8,500 students accessing a system, and so the unfortunate thing is that sometimes [we] have to test by going live,” Buettner said.

After running non-stop for over ten years, the router malfunctioned early in the morning on Dec. 1 due to a bug in the hardware. The school tried to minimize serious system failure in the router with backup components. However, even though there are two of each component, at 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 1, both malfunctioned.

For the future, Buettner and his team are taking further precautions to prevent such technology breakdowns.

Student Senate attempts to bridge gap between students, administration Many students still in the dark on important school issues Jenna Simon & Will Schwinghammer online editor-in-chief, head staff writer (continued from front cover)

hopes to rectify this problem. “This is probably going to be held during the day, it’s not going to be held before or after school. It will be more like a student assembly situation,” Sinha said.

The goal of these forums is to facilitate a greater understanding between Edina students. With the first semester already being marked by several misunderstandings and disagreements that boiled over into major conflict, having a group centered around reaching a mutual understanding is important.

“Ultimately what we’re trying to do is just have people listen to one another, that’s the only thing we can do is listen to each other’s opinions and try to understand them and not just judge each other,” Sinha said.

The Senate recognizes the magnitude of the task ahead, and has come to terms with the fact that many of them may never see the fruit of their labor ripen. Many of its founding members are seniors who will graduate before much progress is made.

However, that hasn’t stopped them from recognizing the fact that it’s important to start now.

“I don’t think you can just change the climate in one year.

You can’t change the climate in a couple months. This is going to be a process that happens after seniors graduate. But it starts with listening to all the students, and listening to the perspectives of different students,” Sinha said.

photo courtesy of Troy Stein

“So I filled out the form that they had us fill, and I got in through that.” Other students were given the opportunity to volunteer to be on the Senate. “I’m in Student Council and our advisers said to us that Principal Beaton wants some sophomores on Student Council to be on Student Senate to look at it and decide if they want to be on it and to test it out,” sophomore Student Senator Shay Vogt said. Vogt attended a meeting and enjoyed the experience, deciding to join the Senate. “I went to the first meeting and I thought it was really interesting and really cool to be on along with my other Student Council members,” Vogt said.

Although the administration intended to have a wide variety of student voices present on the Senate, many organizations are still not represented. Following the Veterans Day Assembly Protest, where a group of students chose to stay seated during the National Anthem and ‘Taps,’ many students on the Senate felt compelled to discuss the event. However, the groups who were most directly involved in the protest and the surrounding events could not be a part of the discussion, as they were not a part of school activities that could be represented on the Senate.

The Young Conservatives Club expressed a strong opinion following the protest, but they are not a school sanctioned club, and the protestors were unrepresented since they do not align themselves with any one school organization.

“We didn’t have anybody coming from the YCC or the group of people who didn’t stand,” Sinha said. “I don’t know if the administration talked to students at all, but at the Student Senate meeting that day we didn’t have anybody come in.”

The need for a student leadership body that could act as a bridge between the administration and the student body became apparent following the September dress code protests, where students protested what they assumed was a change in the district’s dress code policy. The general unrest proved to be a result of a lack of communication. With the more recent unrest over the Veterans Day Assembly Protests, the Senate is already working on connecting students and administration. “We’ve had very important conversations so far about what’s going on in the school and what we want to see improve,” sophomore Student Senator Amelie Black said. Bridging the gap between the administration and the students they serve seems to be the main focus of the new organization.

“Right now we’re focusing on connecting the bridge from students to administrators because there’s a gap and students don’t feel like they can go to their leaders in the school and be

able to talk about issues in our school. We’re the bridge to help students be able to feel comfortable talking to administrators and other people about any concerns they have,” Vogt said.

So far, the Student Senate has held two meetings during the students’ Flex Block. Although the Senate is up and running, many students do not know it exists, and struggle to view the administration as a reliable source of information. “[The administration] would not be my first choice if I was going to ask questions probably. I would probably ask a teacher more than the administration,” junior Michael Easley said. “A lot of times I feel like when I’m reading info from the straight up school administration that it’s very filtered, and I usually find that teachers have a more down-to-earth depiction.”

While the Senate has only existed a short time, they have big plans for the future. A new series of public forums are the current plan for bridging the gap. “[The forums are] going to be led by students, and so that will right away make it so that it’s not as formal and rigid and it will feel like the students themselves can speak during the forum, they’ll be more confident and wanting to speak,” Sinha said.

This more casual environment will hopefully be more conducive to student participation. Previous forums have been held outside of school hours, making it difficult for many students to attend. The three forums held already this school year have had poor turnouts as a result. However, the Senate

Bound together: Students and staff work side by side to sort out issues during Student Senate meeting.

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“I think [stick and poke tattoos] are quite dangerous. My brother has one and it says dank memes in Chinese, he got it off of Google translate. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

McElligott,, freshman Claire Anderson McElligott

STUDENT LIFE Friday, Dec. 22, 2017

U.S. Bank Stadium open to rollerbladers

photo courtesy of the StarTribune

Thirty years later, the same issues plague EHS

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t’s easy to forget that others have often faced our problems before.

While exploring our own Zephyrus (1980-present) and Buzzette (paper’s founding-1979) archives, we found one quirky feature of history. Please enjoy this opinion article on teachers expressing their political views in class, first published in 1987. It’s interesting to see how students of the past reacted to a similar problem, and hopefully there’s wisdom to be gained through their experience. Some things just never change.

Rolling through winter: Minneapolis rollerbladers pursue their passion in an unlikely setting.

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Syd Pierre staff writer

fter the demolition of the Metrodome and the announced construction of the U.S Bank Stadium, many Minnesotans were not only worried about where the Vikings would play, but where they would rollerskate.

Nearly 900,000 people skated at the Metrodome between 1991 and 2013, before the doors closed for demolition planning. Many Minnesotans have fond memories of skating the at Metrodome during harsh Minnesota winters, including math teacher Noah Franske. Franske reminisced about how his boy scout troop would go rollerblading on Monday nights, and how it was one of his favorite activities. Back then, the lower level of the dome was for families and beginner skaters, and the upper level was restricted to skaters that were sixteen and older; Franske noted that it “was a big deal when you turned sixteen and got to go to the upper level.”

Last year, it was announced that inline skating options would be available at the new stadium, and online message boards were flooded with concerns and comments. Were the corners too narrow? What about the pillar placement?

Franske said that many people were also concerned about

metal grates that protruded out of the floor by a few inches.

But, the inaugural skate was a success and the tickets sold out every night last year. This November, the U.S Bank Stadium released the schedule for inline skating this winter and Franske purchased tickets for every night he is available to go, which is mostly Tuesdays and Wednesdays. One night, he had a study session with a few of his students after he went skating, and when he showed up at Starbucks in athletic clothes, his students had a few questions. his study session thought it was super cool and wanted to know if they could join in. He mentioned it again a few weeks ago and the next time he went skating, three of his students came with.

Senior Ethan Ruwe is in Franske’s math class and said he and a couple friends became interested after Franske mentioned it in class and decided to go. Ruwe said he’d go skating again, noting that “it was pretty fun and [he’d] probably get more friends and go back.” Franske hopes that more students will come because “it’s a great way to exercise in the winter if you don’t play a winter sport and it’s a cool way to see kids outside of school.” Currently, U.S Bank Stadium is offering skating through December 28th, with family skating from 5 PM to 8 PM and athletic skating from 8 PM to 9 PM. Tickets are ten dollars and helmets are required.

No tattoo parlor? No problem EHS students make do with DIY stick and poke tattoos

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Cahill Bistro opens near Edina Market photo by Uma Bhati

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Matthew Egger page editor

s time passes, trends come and go. However, some trends tend to be more permanent than others. But that questionable hairstyle in middle school is much easier to forget than the name of an ex inked across your ribcage. In the past, there has been an undeniable stigma surrounding tattoos as alternative or even unprofessional, but today, they seem to be more common and accepted, even celebrated.

Since it is illegal to get a tattoo under the age of 18 without parental consent, and going to a parlor can cost a fortune that teens do not have, high schoolers have been turning to the DIY culture of hand poked tattoos more widely known as “stick and poke.” A technique that was originally practiced by cell mates and gang members has turned into a popular trend that does not appear to be going away anytime soon.

Junior Maria Lange is a self employed stick and poke artist, who took her love for art and body ink and unexpectedly turned it into a side hobby among her friends. She discovered the DIY technique while at camp and decided to experiment on herself once she got home.

“I have a little arrow and a moon, and I went online and looked around for inspiration,” Lange said.

These hand poked tattoos are done by manually poking the skin with a needle. Lange uses the “needle and thread tattoo technique,” where a sewing needle is attached to a pencil between the eraser and metal socket. Then a thread is wound tightly around the needle point. When the needle is dipped in India Ink, the thread absorbs the liquid and it is soaked into the skin as the needle is poked repeatedly about a quarter of an inch into the skin. The designs tend to look lighter and more faded than regular machine-done tattoos since a standard needle does not insert the ink as deeply.

Lange’s unofficial business was started when she was approached by one of her good friends, junior Julia Moran, who wanted a moon tattooed on her side. She then posted Lange’s tattoo art on social media and it sparked an interest among many other students. “Everyone was all of a sudden like ‘I want one!’ So then I’d have people come to my house and I’d have this little set up in my room with pillows. People would just lie down and relax and I’d do it,” Lange said. She charged people $5 per tattoo, since new ink was required for each person to prevent infection.

As cool as these DIY tattoos may seem, safety is still obviously a concern. If an unsanitary needle is used, it could lead to staph infections. Swollen red areas of skin that feel hot and tender may not seem like a big deal, but the infection can quickly spread to the lymph nodes or bloodstream causing more serious problems. If needles are shared, a bloodborne disease is a possibility such as HIV or Hepatitis B or C which can lead to bigger health issues such as liver cancer. Whether you see it as an opportunity for self-expression or an ugly trend with permanent consequences, this underground fad is without a doubt on the rise. Students should be aware of the possible danger that is involved with stick and poke before any ink touches their skin.

art by Andy Youngstrom

restaurant named Cahill Bistro recently opened nearby the wellknown Edina Market in the Cahill neighborhood of Edina. The restaurant focuses on serving Latin American fusion, but also prepares more traditional American food as well.

The restaurant is managed and owned by two brothers, Cristian and Carlos Pinos, both of whom came to America from Ecuador about 20 years ago. The restaurant puts an emphasis on keeping its food fresh, and offers a wide array of gluten free options. “It was a dream for us to open a restaurant that serves healthy Latin American food,” one of the brothers, Cristian Pinos said.

Cahill Bistro has received very positive feedback from the community, averaging five stars on Google Reviews. “The bistro serves delightful and delicious Latin American food!” wrote Elizabeth Harrington.

Its close proximity to Edina High School may make it a popular place for students to stop in during lunch or after school for a quick bite in the future. “We haven’t had much business from the high schoolers yet, but we plan on doing more advertising toward the students,” Pinos said.

Morgan Sheehy page editor

“I think that students transferring schools is good. It gives kids a chance to experience a different environment if they do not like where they currently are.” Khalid Abdi, sophomore

FEATURES

Friday, Dec. 22, 2017

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Artists of EHS share inspiration behind their work Four student artists give insight into their creative process

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Emma McIntyre

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Rachel Gutierrez

ophomore Emma McIntyre loves to make boring situations interesting through her photography. This photo is a portrait of her little sister Harper. She took the portrait while in northern Minnesota with her family. “I really like the shadows on her face and I love the wind pushing her hair to create a more dramatic affect,” McIntyre said. McIntyre hopes to continue photography throughout school and wants to eventually become a professional photographer.

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Olivia Janovy Meyer

his striking portrait was taken by senior Olivia Janovy Meyer. “I really like how it is a way for one to use their creativity and make connections with people. We have built a little community,” Janovy Meyer said.

Janovy Meyer’s favorite part of this photo are the colors and the fog behind the model. She has said that she doesn’t want to go to school for photography, but she would still like to continue it as a hobby.

Janovy Meyer is one of the leaders of the Digital Arts club and encourages other artists to join.

rtsy her whole life, senior Rachel Gutierrez has used everything from paintbrushes to potter’s wheels in her work.

Gutierrez, who works almost exclusively in ceramics, is inspired by everything around her.

In this sculpture, she incorporated mythical elements into the subject matter. “I drew inspiration from a mythological Filipino creature, which cuts itself in half,” she said. “It’s called an aswang.”

Gutierrez’s style shines through in the details of her work. After the form of her piece is established, Gutierrez uses a variety of techniques to embellish the form’s surface. “I don’t really like it if it’s plain. I want to add something to it.”

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Bruce Acosta

ven though his work has won awards, senior Bruce Acosta describes art as a “secondary passion.” “I don’t really do art outside of school,” he said. Instead, most of Acosta’s free time is spent making music.“ I wanted to take [music] and combine it with drawing and painting,” Acosta said. Since junior year, almost all of Acosta’s art has focused specifically around themes of jazz music. “My junior year, each work tried to represent the jazz aesthetic and imagery,” Acosta said. This year, Acosta has plans to further explore how to represent jazz in his artworks. “I assigned each color to a different key, so I choose colors based on the song I interpret,” he said. “I wanted to make it so that you wouldn’t say it was music when you first saw it.”

articles by Max North & Lucy Yang art editor, staff writer

Hennepin Technical College Nursing Program allows interested students to jumpstart their healthcare career

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Ellery Mahlum print copy editor

through a clinical experience where they go to nursing homes and work with real patients.

Dickson likes how the class focuses on relationships with patients and offers lots of hand on experience. “We work with people in nursing homes who can’t feed themselves, who can’t walk by themselves or can no longer speak,” Dickson said. They get to use everything they learn in a real life setting which makes the experience more impactful. “The nurses and the nursing assistants are the ones that make you feel comfortable and studies show that that actually helps with recovery,” Dickson said.

All three of these seniors said this class helped them figure out what type of healthcare career they want to pursue in the future. Johnson plans on pursuing a career in nursing in the future, Garrity is undecided what she wants to do medically but is leaning towards nursing or being a physician’s assistant, and Dickson wants to be a child psychologist or a pediatric doctor. “It is a good experience before college to make sure that you do want to do something in the medical field,” Garrity said.

art by Gillian Mousseau

ennepin Technical College gives students the opportunity to become a certified nursing assistant through just a one semester class. The course mainly focuses on health care terms, basic patient care, and preparation for the exam taken at the end through which students can certify to become a nursing assistant.

Seniors Kate Johnson, Claire Garrity, and Bella Dickson spend their fourth, fifth, and sixth periods of the day at HTC. Their small nursing assistant class consists of

about ten high school students from around the metro area who are interested in a career in the medical field.

After senior Kate Johnson heard from her counselor that this course was offered, she knew she wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. “I knew I wanted to do nursing and this was a good option because you have to take it as a pre-req in college so I might as well get it out of the way,” Johnson said. This free class gives students the opportunity to save money in college and come in already certified as a nursing assistant. The class itself consists of 10 units; for the last month students get to put their knowledge to use

EHS warmly welcomes transfer students

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Max Morton staff writer

very year, Edina High School attracts substantial numbers of students from other metro area school districts and even from other states and countries through programs like A Better Chance. EHS is nationally known because of its exceptionally high performance in academics, sports, and extracurriculars. Out of 1,309 high schools in the state of Minnesota, including private high schools, EHS ranks fourth. Zephyrus interviewed two students new to EHS this year.

Freshman Marcus Crawford is new to EHS this year after moving from Orlando,

Florida and settling in Edina over the summer. “Although I came from a challenging school in Florida, I came to Edina because of its national reputation for academics. I’m thrilled to be in Edina and ecstatic about being a Hornet,” Crawford said. Even coming from a smaller private school, Crawford has found EHS to be a welcoming environment. “In Florida, I went to a small private school with only 800 kids for seven grades, but at Edina, the school is obviously much larger and has way more students. I find that having more students in school allows you meet more people and make more friends,” Crawford said.

New to EHS and the state of Minnesota, sophomore and recent transplant from Texas

Alex Mawn felt that making new friends in Edina came easy for her. “Luckily I met my friends a week before school started hanging out with them because one of them lives near me. Since I have been in this new town and they have included me and introduced me to their friends, I am thankful for them,” Mawn said. Edina Public Schools are well known for their academics, but they differ from other schools from an educational perspective. Edina tends to be further ahead in some core classes per grade. “I think Edina more advanced in some classes because in Texas, geometry is a sophomore class and here you take it as a freshman so that is a big difference since math is such an important subject in school,” Mawn said.

Students new to EHS have to adjust to a new school culture. Some schools tend to be more strict, while on the other hand some schools tend to be more lenient with their rules. “In Texas they are more strict on the dress code because it is hot year around but here they seem to let a lot slide probably because it is only warm for a couple months then it is freezing the rest of the year,” Mawn said.

With all its positive ratings and topnotch educational offerings, EHS is a great to school to transfer to. Although it may be notorious for its “Cake Eater” nickname, that does not represent the core values of EHS: strong academics and a warm, welcoming community.

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OPINION

Friday, Dec. 22, 2017

“I think people have lost the true meaning of Christmas from a religious perspective. Christmas is now just about companies trying to market and advertise instead of being about giving and happiness.”

Zoe Lelas, sophomore art by Katie Schiller

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Emma Bailey page editor

t’s November 1st. You walk into Target only to be overwhelmed by a sea of Christmas decorations. You think, ‘But what about Thanksgiving?’ Before you know it, Christmas trees begin to appear everywhere: in malls, restaurants, and just about every living room in Edina. After all, what is Christmas without a tree?

Ornaments? Lights? Ribbons? Cookies?

Marketers purposely bombard consumers with Christmas accessories earlier and earlier in the year to make them feel behind, as if their holiday embellishments should have already been bought. The “essential” yearly purchasing of new Christmas accessories is almost mindless. Why do we do it? Well, because it’s Christmas.

We have to! Additionally, when we are constantly surrounded by Christmas scenery, we feel a heightened need to be in a festively decorated home as well. Constant purchasing only nourishes corporations that keenly take advantage of the vulnerability of holiday consumers.

Celebrating Christmas in the US has almost become an expectation. To put it into numerical perspective, 92% of Americans celebrate Christmas, but only 65% of celebrators believe the story of Jesus’ miraculous birth, and 81% of non-Christians in the US celebrate Christmas (Pew Research Center 2015). The pressure to be included in the thick of the holiday spirit is almost crushing. Although we have good intentions, we rush to buy gifts for those close to us, unaware of alternative ways to demonstrate our appreciation and feeding into the capitalist machine. And for some of us, Christmas has been about giving presents and getting presents for as long as we can remember.

Clearly, the spirit of giving and receiving has become much more materialistic than the original Christian meaning of the Wise Men giving frankincense, gold, and

myrrh to Jesus. It’s not as if every modern-day family must carry out their celebrations with the intent of fulfilling the Christian meaning of Christmas, however, it is important for us to derive our own modern interpretation that is close enough to the original meaning while still remaining open to the differentiation in cultural norms.

Originally, the symbolism of the Wise Men giving their gifts to Jesus meant to serve as a way to exchange gifts in order to encourage us to demonstrate affection by being jubilant with those around us. While gifts aren’t entirely pointless, we can still be festive without dropping thousands of dollars. Yes, a pricey gift enveloped in golden wrapping paper can be an excellent way to convey love, but something simple—and free—like a handwritten letter or a driveway shoveled on a snowy morning, grants the exact same message. The spirit of Christmas is about giving, but giving does not necessarily depend on materialism and tangible items.

In many ways, the pervasiveness of Christmas culture exemplifies modern cultural adaptation and transformation.

The origins of Christmas remain Christian, but celebration now takes place in several different religious and nonreligious settings. However, instead of extending Christmas to include other religions, shouldn’t we be increasing our knowledge and appreciation of non-Christian holidays? December is an important month for a plethora of religions, and there are many more holidays than just Christmas and Hannukah. Understanding how consumerism affects the giving portion holiday season has become increasingly important.

Oftentimes, we forget what the spirit of the holidays are really about: showing others the extent to which we care about and value them. This year, remember that love is incredibly abundant, but doesn’t always need to come topped with a bow.

New additions at EHS fail to include student necessities

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Eva Hadjiyanis page editor

art by Gillian Mousseau

he shape of Edina High School has changed in many ways over the last year. A new wing was added and learning spaces were updated throughout the building. All of the rooms were renumbered and there were changes made to nearly every other aspect of the school in preparation for the addition of freshmen at EHS. While on the surface the school seems more modern, in reality many necessities have been omitted.

After passing a 125 million dollar referendum focused on renovations, the school district chose to allot most of EHS’ funds to superficial updates and turn a blind eye to student needs. Glass replaced the walls of classrooms to create a modern atmosphere and let in the ‘natural’ light from the hallways. Flex spaces were added along with flat-screen televisions that nobody uses-- except to play video games. The new, rarely open, glass school store, used by few students, was constructed near an impressive looking staircase. The school, as a whole, looks much more modern after the construction.

Yet, some of the most crucial aspects of the school remain broken or unusable.

The girls’ bathroom nearest to the Commons, for example, is nearly impossible to use. It is not hard to list the numerous problems in this bathroom that could be fixed on a low budget: one stall is missing a lock, another is missing a garbage can, the green paint on the stalls is peeling, there are many missing ceiling tiles, the walls are filthy, and the smell is noxious. Almost no one is willing to step into this bathroom, or the one near the cafeteria, preferring

instead to wait in a long line to use one of the two bathrooms in the new wing.

The water fountains also display extremely obvious problems. Throughout the school, many of the new water fountains have not functioned all year due to poor water pressure. The water bottle filling stations work slowly, if at all. Overall, there are only a few working water fountains.

Hydration is important to enable learning performance.

Perhaps even more important than modern decorations?

The glass walls and other new decoration throughout the school are nice, but the lack of working fundamental necessities continue to pose problems for students. Sure, it’s nice to be able to sit in a glass room to do homework once in awhile, but I would much prefer to have functioning water fountains and bathrooms. With such a huge budget for construction, the essential parts of the school should have had priority over superficial modernized decor.

Under Pressure

art by Andy Youngstrom

American focus on consumerism dilutes true meaning of Christmas

High academic expectations unhealthy

Simone Vaillancourt page editor

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he desire to achieve success in high school can be a heavy weight on students’ shoulders. With constant pressure to enroll and excel in Advanced-Placement (AP) courses, maintain a high GPA, and receive high scores on standardized tests, students may end up biting off more than they can chew academically. Add to that an extracurricular activity, and it’s no wonder why so many of today’s students are feeling increasingly stressed about their schooling.

Sometimes, parents are to blame for the pressure their children feel to obtain the best possible grades and test scores. Some students at Edina High School’s parents take away privileges (like cell phones or time with friends) after their child receives a bad grade. “Anything below an 80% is considered a bad grade in my family,” sophomore Nicole Chrysler said. “If I get anything below an 80% I am not allowed to hang out with friends until I improve my grade, or I have to show that I am trying to improve my grade by studying or going in for extra help.” Senior Harini Josyer’s parents also put pressure on her to receive good grades. “While I’m happy being pushed to be better, the culture and pressure of academic achievement that envelops Edina can definitely impact student learning, but more importantly, student health.” Josyer said. It is situations like these that promote unhealthy stress and pressure; not only does it communicate the idea that failure is unacceptable, it also takes away the things that students use to de-stress (such as hanging out with their friends). This unhealthy cycle can lead to depression and an unhealthy amount of exhaustion as they juggle their academics and extracurriculars without taking time off to decompress.

In a study conducted by the American Psychological Association, “Teens report that their stress level during the school year far exceeds what they believe to be healthy (5.8 versus 3.9 on a 10-point scale) and tops adults’ average reported stress levels (5.8 for teens versus 5.1 for adults).” Furthermore, the APA found that “many teens also report feeling overwhelmed (31 percent) and depressed or sad (30 percent) as a result of stress.” William Deresiewicz, author of ‘Excellent Sheep’ (a memoir which highlights his time working for the Yale admissions committee and as a teacher at Stanford University), believes that the American higher-education system is to blame for part of the students’ stress. “[They] are made to understand that they have to be perfect, that they have to do everything perfectly, but they haven’t turned to themselves to ask why they’re doing it,” he said in an interview with The Atlantic. “They have never been given an opportunity to develop their ability to find their own direction… of course they’re stressed.”

Some colleges have tried to ease the pressure by emphasizing that high GPA and test scores are not the only important requirements for admission. For example, Harvard University released a statement ensuring students that they keep various attributes in mind when considering candidates for admission: “Strong personal qualities, special talents or excellences of all kinds, perspectives formed by unusual personal circumstances, and the ability to take advantage of available resources and opportunities” are a few of the things on that list.

However, according to PrepScholar, Harvard University continues to have an average ACT score of 34 and average GPA of 4.1. Even if a student meets these requirements, they may still have a slim chance of getting in, given Harvard’s 6 percent acceptance rate. The message sent to students is clear: they may “consider” aspects other than GPA and test scores, but in the end those things won’t get you into the school.

It isn’t only high schools that put pressure on students to obtain high test scores and grades. Parents and universities are just as guilty of perpetuating a culture of academic pressure. It’s no wonder why so many students suffer from deteriorating mental health as they struggle to meet such high expectations.

HEAD TO HEAD

“I don’t think art should be separated from the artist because the artist might have made certain choices with said art that reflect his or her viewpoints.” Gabriel Antoine, sophomore

Friday, Dec. 22, 2017

Separating art from artist: can we do it?

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Art has its own meaning

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ohn Lennon is considered by many to be one of the greatest musicians of all time. His song “Imagine” is world famous. He was also a major creative force in The Beatles, considered by many to be the most influential band ever. However, John Lennon confessed to abusing his first wife. Why doesn’t this come to mind when listening to your favorite Beatles song? This question has been troubling people for generations, and is especially relevant in the modern day. The #MeToo controversy has reignited debates about whether a Louis CK fan can appreciate his standup, and whether a movie buff can enjoy a movie produced by Harvey Weinstein.

I contend the very fact that John Lennon’s abuse of his wife doesn’t come to mind is proof that art is, and always has been, separate from its creator. Art does not depend on its author for meaning, and it’s actually counterproductive to assign meaning to art based on its author.

Everybody reads ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in ninth grade English class, and many are able to find meaning in the text. However, few understand the context in which its author was writing. Fifteenth century England was far different from the modern era, and Shakespeare intended to have meaning in his play that would communicate with fifteenth century audiences.

The fact that ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is able to thrive outside of its original context and speak successfully to a global twenty-first century audience shows that it can exist beyond its author. Shakespeare could never have dreamed of a car, let alone a computer, and yet his plays are regarded as artistic masterpieces by people who depend on cars and computers every day. No matter what Shakespeare intended his play to communicate, it speaks for itself, independent from him.

ability to speak for itself.

Next time you find yourself enjoying a movie, ask yourself how much you know about the director. I would guess it’s very little, and almost certainly not enough to know how they would want you to understand their movie. Then ask yourself how much you care about that lack of knowledge. Again, I would guess it’s very little.

That’s because you’re enjoying the movie for what it is, on its own merits.

You probably do this all the time without realizing it. Every time you do, you’re tacitly agreeing that art and artist are separate. It’s ridiculous to suggest you should be applying a standard to how you appreciate art that is centered around the creator (such as refusing to appreciate art because of its creator’s misdeeds) at the point where the creator and the art are fundamentally separate.

If you enjoy Louis CK’s standup, continue to appreciate it, and know that it can exist artistically outside of Louis CK himself and what he has done.

art by Andy Youngstrom

Art is able to mature of its own accord and take on a life of its own beyond the time in which it’s written.

Modern interpreters of any work of art may apply it to modern situations, such as hot-button social issues or political topics. However, a Renaissance-era painter could never have imagined the political issues of today’s America, and could not have crafted his art to apply to them.

A friend and I were recently talking about Bob Dylan’s song, “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” To my friend, this song is a message of hope, telling him that the hatred surrounding the 2016 election and its aftermath--the furor encapsulated by the words “Make America Great Again”--would eventually pass.

My friend may be staunchly anti-Trump, but Dylan couldn’t have been when he wrote his song. Donald Trump was an unknown teenager when “The Times They Are a-Changin’” was released.

Another major issue arises because in saying that art and artist can’t be separated, the implication becomes that art cannot be interpreted outside of how the artist intended for it to be interpreted. However, this is simply false. It’s easy to appreciate the beauty of a painting without knowing anything about the painter, or to find something that speaks to you in a song without being familiar with the singer.

It’s clear not only that art can easily be separated from the artist, but even should be separated from the artist to allow for art to be interpreted without having to learn the life story of the artist first.

Furthermore, by keeping art tied to the artist one limits the possible interpretation of that art. Art speaks to each person in a different way, and people get meaning from art on an individual level. However, tying art to the artist makes the artist’s intended meaning the only correct meaning. This not only denies people their own personal interpretations of art, but also confines art’s

Theo Teske staff writer

Art is connected to the artist

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Kyra Bergerud staff writer

he poet Adrienne Rich has described the connection between art and artists as an inseparable connection; artists’ concerns and motives are inextricable from the finished product of their work. Saying one can dissociate a work of art from its artis is foolish. Art is not simply a visual aesthetic, but instead aims to convey a deeper message: the artist’s message. This connection is especially relevant today as we ponder the relationships between work and reputation.

As human beings, we often find excuses to separate artwork from its creators because it means that we don’t have to connect another human being to a piece of work. This disassociation justifies our nature to gravitate towards certain visual aesthetics even if the artist behind the piece has commited bad deeds in their life. However, just because we feel the need to separate work from the

art by Andy Youngstrom

creator, doesn’t mean that we should, or that we even can.

When art has meaning, conveys a beautiful message, or even portrays what we have conceived as aesthetically pleasing, we celebrate the abilities of the creator of that art. The Mona Lisa, for example, is connected with Leonardo Da Vinci. He has been praised for his work and the many other works he did that benefited society.

Because the Mona Lisa itself is globally celebrated work, people feel that they can also celebrate the work of Leonardo Da Vinci because of what he did.

It’s arguable that the justification people need when separating art is eliminated when the creator of the work themselves is by societal notions, good. However when the artist themselves is considered wrongful by societal views, it feels more justifiable to separate the art from them.

Take, for instance, a dancer. The work a dancer puts forward is transferred to other people, as they absorb what they watch before their eyes. The audience could view the dance to be completely meaningless and even the dancer who created the piece could say it doesn’t have meaning. But when we think about it deeper and about how that dance came to be, it was created by a mind. People can celebrate the beauty in the choreography, but if they don’t acknowledge who the choreographer is, they’re not seeing the whole meaning.

There was some decision to put certain steps in the dance for certain reasons weather they are acknowledged or not. The piece comes from another person, it’s a representation of what they think about, or how they view the world. Cutting ties between the creator and their work doesn’t acknowledge the motives behind the piece of work.

In society today, it’s important to distinguish where the point of “too far” is. Again the concept of justification based on our human nature comes into play.

It’s notable today that many people in high positions of power are being of inappropriate behavior. It becomes

problematic when these allegations surface and people are forced to decide whether this person’s body of work is corrupted by this information or if their body of work can be appreciated separately from its creator. The problem is the crime and the individual, like the art and artist, are connected and indistinguishable.

This doesn’t just apply to specific works, but the entire population of artists that are creating works.

Although we often view the finished work, one must acknowledge the process behind the work. Every painting started with an idea or at least some mental choice of the artist to complete that deliberate stroke.

Every poem started with the author writing a word and thinking about why would come next. Every artist is the creator, art comes from nothing, but somehow in the end it’s magnificent. The way it came to be magnificent is due to the artist that created it.

In society it’s not just art that people attempt to disassociate from, but it is observable that in all realms of life, disassociation is the dominant strategy. In politics this same strategy is applied. When accusations ranging from sexual assault to fraud allegations come to light, people often use the works of these members to justify their ignorance about the allegations. This connects back to the way that people tend to justify peoples actions, looking at it through a one sided lens and not seeing the whole picture. With politics, its covering up the politicians actions with all of the good actions they’ve taken. With artists, its recognizing only the aesthetic elements of the art and not looking deeper at who the artist is and what they stand for. However, again, not acknowledging that the two are fundamentally connected is skipping over the entire process of the creator.

Art and the artist their work must be connected.

Justifying a person’s actions for the sake of their work, although it feels easiest, is not actually acknowledging that the two are connected. We must begin holding people accountable for their actions rather than just looking at the visual or aesthetic aspects in their work.

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“Skiing at Hylands is really great, especially with your friends after school, because there are a lot of great runs. Hylands does a good job of taking care of the hill. The terrain park is really fun because there are a lot of great jumps.” Thomas Sebek,, sophomore

ACTIVITIES

Friday, Dec. 22, 2017

EHS winter athletes hit the hills at Hylands Ski and Snowboard Park

photo courtesy of Highlands Ski and Snowboard Area

hred gnar. Knuckle. Steezy. Park rat.

These terms may sound abnormal, but go to any skiing and snowboarding area and you are bound to hear them. Skiing and snowboarding are two popular activities among Edina High School students. Despite Minnesota’s cold and harsh winter, there are plenty of ways to enjoy this season.

Hyland Hills Ski and Snowboard Area is the closest ski hill to Edina, which makes it the most convenient logistically. Hyland has attempted to keep the slopes fresh by creating their own snow using snowmakers to help combat Minnesota’s mere five inches of snow so far this winter. Sophomore snowboarder Cameron Francis describes the slopes at Hyland as “different than places like Colorado” where there is much more powder this year.

Sophomore skier Joe Wohlford describes the conditions as “icy and fast.”

The lack of snow won't take anything away from the new chalet that was constructed at Hyland. Recently, they spent fourteen million dollars to construct what Wohlford describes as a “big and modern” chalet. The chalet replaces the worn down structure that has been around for decades. The new chalet provides a lot more space and new dining options.

A less positive change made at Hyland this year was the new lift ticket checking process. Previously, people went into the chalet only if they needed to rent skis or purchase a one day pass. If you had a season pass you could skip the line and go straight to the runs.

“The new lift ticket checking process is frustrating because you have to go into the chalet every day even if you have a season pass,” Wohlford said. This process was implemented to tighten up security issues.

Both Wohlford and Francis enjoy and participate in freestyle skiing and snowboarding. They spend most of their time on the two terrain parks at Hyland. The small park as re-

ferred to by freestyle snowboarders and skiers is great for rails and boxes while the big park is better for jumps. A skier’s and snowboarder’s talent is directly translated to what tricks they can perform and how much air they can catch. You can find more snowboarders than skiers at the terrain parks as snowboarders typically focus on their trick repertoire while skiers enjoy the thrill of downhill slopes.

There is a common misconception that an underlying conflict exists between snowboarders and skiers. “Some people think there is but I don’t,” Francis said, setting the record straight. However, this misconception may have arisen because conflicts sometimes occur when one group feels as if they have been cut off by the other, especially on the tow rope.

Hyland’s remodel is sure to offer something for everyone from terrain parks to ski slopes and a new chalet to keep you warm on snow-filled Saturdays.

Tow Rope: Sophomore Joe Wohlford waits in line for the tow rope at Hylands Ski and Snowboard Area.

A summer well served

photo by Uma Bhati

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Jack Marker staff writer

Veggie Club promotes health and environmental awareness

Veggie Club founders: (From left to right) senior Emily Ruschy, junior Clara Bils, junior Eva Hadjiyanis, and senior Elise Bernstein.

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Ellery Mahlum print copy editor

alling all vegans, vegetarians, or curious eaters! Edina High School’s Veggie Club is open to anyone interested in veganism or vegetarianism. This year, senior Emily Ruschy and junior Clara Bils turned a GroupMe chat with friends into a formal Veggie Club open to anyone who is interested.

Ruschy and Bils are both vegan and inspire each other with new recipes and recommendations for restaurants that serve vegan food. Ruschy became vegan last January at first for health benefits and then kept it up for environmental reasons. “I read ‘Cowspiracy,’ then I watched ‘Cowspiracy,’ and then I watched ‘What the Health?’ and that was a major turning point,” Ruschy said. Bils was intrigued by Ruschy’s diet and decided to take on the challenge of cooking and eating vegan last April. She read ‘The China Study,’ the most extensive study ever done on diet, and never looked back. “[The study] showed that a lot of proteins in animal products are an immediate cause of cancer so that was a major no,” Bils said. She also was inspired

by Netflix documentaries that exposed all the environmental impacts of meat production.

“How much water it takes to make one burger is ridiculous,” Bils said.

After six months of talking with other vegans through GroupMe, Ruschy and Bils wanted to open up this vegan community to the rest of the student body. The club was created with the goal in mind to “to eat good

food, share recipes, keep each other encouraged and keep people vegan,” Ruschy said.

The first meeting took place after school on Monday, Nov. 13th.

The club has some exciting plans for the rest of the school year. One of their upcoming events is a tour of Spring Farm Sanctuary, an animal sanctuary, where club members will get to interact with the animals. “If people got to see and play with cows then they would be like, why would I want to eat this?” Bils said. Another outing the club has planned is a visit to Vegan East, a small vegan bakery in St. Paul that is run by a couple out of their own house. Bils currently works at Vegan East and hopes to share this experience and inform others on creative ways to eat vegan.

They even hope to educate younger students about what it means to be vegan. “We want to go to elementary schools and middle schools and teach other kids about their options,” Bils said. These leaders are excited to inform and promote veganism to their members through experiences in the community.

Right now, the GroupMe has around 25 members and is growing. Bils and Ruschy want to inform and encourage students to join and consider going vegan or vegetarian. It may seem daunting at first, but there are many ways to experiment with veganism. Punch Pizza has a vegan Gigi Pizza and Sebastian Joe’s has vegan ice cream flavors ranging from chocolate to Oreo that are great alternatives at no extra cost. Ruschy and Bils both hope to encourage their club members to do something good for their bodies and our world.

Students earn Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award

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Isha Konety staff writer

photo by Grace Wolf

tudents at Edina High School have a variety of options open to them when it comes to resumé-building activities. From lettering in community service to gaining job experience through TA positions, every student has the ability to explore their passions and be recognized for their efforts. In recent years, many EHS students have opted to participate in the Presidential Community Service Program in order to be awarded for their dedication to serving their community.

This service program, run by the office of the President of the United States, recognizes citizens who have completed a minimum of 26 hours of service. EHS was recently certified through this program, making it easier than ever for high school students to participate.

The program provides bronze, silver, and gold awards to applicants, depending on the hours of service completed. 15 year olds are required to complete a minimum of 100 hours of community service within a 12 month period in order to be eligible for the Gold Award; applicants 16 years and older are required to complete 250 hours within the same timeframe. Citizens are eligible from ages five and up; they are free to choose from a variety of

service options, rather than being bound by focus areas. Unlike the Edina Service Letter, this award serves as a form of documentation and does not require any letters of recommendation or reflective components.

“I mainly focused on educational [service], and a specific section was tutoring or just participating in the day-care program that Edina provides over the summer, ” junior and Gold Award recipient Kendrew Chen said. Many award recipients choose to volunteer at Southdale Hospital, Feed My Starving Children, or focus on education-based service. These and many other options are easily available to EHS students, and applicants can contact the Youth Serving Youth Coordinator, Mary Fink, for more information on service opportunities.

Most students complete the service hours during the summer, giving them freedom to devote a substantial amount of time to a cause.

“At first I thought that volunteering was boring and pointless and I also thought that I was only going to do it because of college applications, but once you actually start to do it, it becomes more fun,” junior and Gold Award recipient Rahil Modi said. Modi served at his local library and at The Gifted and Talented Institute, a Burnsville-based community education program. He received the award as a 15 year old and is attempting to receive it

Gold award recipients: Juniors Rahil Modi and Kendrew Chen smile for the camera after sharing about their community service experience. once more this year. Through his service, he has learned various skills and met new people, which has made his experience all the more enlightening. “I learned how to interact with those who are different from me,” he said.

In addition to benefiting the community, the award enhances recipients’ college applications. “It lets colleges know that you are committed to one subject or one topic and that you are doing everything you can to try to help,” Chen said. Students also have the ability to use their service hours to letter through the

Edina service letter program, which requires specific focus areas.

“It might seem like a lot of hours but if you stick with it and…you try to focus on the topic you [can] easily achieve the award,” Chen said.

Although the Presidential Community Service Award requires a great deal of effort and planning, the program seems to have an equally great pay-off. Applicants have the opportunity to learn about their community through hard work and dedication, and it seems that colleges look favorably upon the award as well.

“I haven’t heard that much about gymnastics yet, but I also have a couple of friends on the team and they say it’s a lot of fun and I don’t think that they would ever drop gymnastics to do anything else.”

SPORTS

Friday, Dec. 22, 2017

Annalee Friedman, freshman

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Dancers spin for different teams Dancers decide between studio season, high school season, or both Julia Nicholson staff writer

photo by Zoe Cheung

Shrinking gymnastics gym is a growing concern Jam-packed: Overcrowded equipment cramps the gymnastics team’s style.

Alex Stenman staff writer

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ecently, Edina High School has seen major construction updates throughout the building. However, missing from these additions is an upgraded facility for the gymnastics team. The EHS gymnastics team has been requesting renovations for their gym from the school district for several years. The size of the gym has caused a few safety concerns for a few of the members of the team. Because of the lack of space, spectators at meets are forced to sit right along the edge of the spring floor in folding chairs.

“With how tight the space is, it’s nerve wracking to have all these people around you to begin with, and to have them right by the floor feels very claustrophobic,” sophomore varsity gymnast Mara Bowden said. “In my first season, we actually had our floor very close to a wall, so there were a couple times I had teammates over-rotate on some tumbling paths and almost hit the wall.”

With a history of safety issues affecting the team, it would seem like an agreement should have been reached between the team and the district to increase the size of the gymnastics gym. However, despite multiple discussions between the Athletic Director Troy Stein and the team’s managers and captains, a gymnastics gym expansion was not granted in this year’s major rework of the school’s infrastructure, nor was the team permanently relocated to a larger gym for meets.

“We did try to talk to Troy Stein, but

it’s just difficult because all of the different sports need an area,” senior captain Maeve Swackhammer said. “Youth basketball is the one taking up [the main gym] right now, which is a little frustrating because we’re a high school sport and they’re a youth sport.”

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ike most sports, dance has a “club” -- or in this case “studio” -- season and a high school season. Unlike most sports however, some dancers at Edina High School continue doing studio even when the high school season comes around. For athletes, this can be compared to cramming two seasons into one.

The Edina Dance Team’s season takes place during the winter, and is known for being extremely competitive.

With practices four times a week along with a conference meet and an invite meet, there leaves little room for other activities in an EDT dancer’s schedule. “Dance team takes up so much time that it’s hard to be in things other than that, just because we have practice two hours a day and dance six days a week,” junior EDT member Haley Kellenberger said. However, in total, EDT and studio dance likely take up the same amount of time

Minor construction over the last two years has caused the gymnastics gym to be slightly smaller than originally. The school understands the team’s confusion and frustrations over not being allowed into the larger space.

“The concept of [the additional gym space] was that we’re moving the ninth grade to the high school, and need more PE and personal wellness space,” EHS Athletics Director Troy Stein said. Stein noted that the district wanted to move some of the ninth grade after-school programs out of the two middle schools and into the high school as well. “There’s the perception that we’re building all this gym space and it should be open, but it’s actually just reallocating and providing a little more opportunity for our middle school kids.”

While a permanent solution has not been agreed on, the Athletic Director and the team did reach an agreement which allows a few key home meets during the season to be in the main gym rather than the less optimal gymnastics one.

“We felt lucky enough when Troy Stein told us that he’s letting us go into [the main gym] for a couple of our home meets,” Swackhammer said. “At least that’ll help, because those are the meets that we get the most people to come to.”

throughout the year. “Dance Team is a short season so they pack a lot into a shorter amount of time but our studio time commitment is more spread out,” junior Eileen Schauerman, who dances at Platinum Dance Center, said.

Therefore participating in the two is like doing double the amount of work in a very short time period. That’s why the majority of dancers choose to either stick solely with studio, or switch over to EDT in the winter.

However, some dancers choose to show their extreme dedication to the sport by sticking with both. Although it is a big time commitment, they look at it as an opportunity to use one team’s practice to further their success in the other. “The reward of doing both is that during studio I mostly get a lot of my technique from ballet classes.

Then dance team really helps my turns and jumps,” sophomore Mary Mendiola said. Mendiola is of the few dancers at EHS who compete in EDT while also continuing at their studio, where they

dance two to three times a week for three hours. With this decision, however, comes sacrifice. “Usually you always go to dance team practices over studio dance because the dance team’s competition season is earlier than studio’s.”

Mendiola said.

Most dancers don’t have a problem with determining where they want to dance when the winter season comes around because of the vast differences between the two.

One of the biggest differences is that the high school team’s chemistry is generally stronger than that of a studio because they practice more frequently and every member goes to EHS, whereas at studios, there are dancers from many different schools.

Another thing that determines where people end up dancing is where their talents lie. “Dance Team is like sharp jazz and it’s all about the skills you have and I’d say studio dance is more about technique and body movement rather than just skills,” Schauerman said. courtesy of Eileen Schaureman

Reaching high: Junior Eileen Schaureman dances year-round.

Girls’ hockey: where athletic and academic dreams meet Multiple players commit to Division I schools Hans Janovy Meyer staff writer

W photo by Margaret Sullivan Bright futures: Senior Emily Oden (left) is committed to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and senior Loli Fidler (right) is committed to Harvard University.

hether it’s driving by yard signs, living across the street from an ice skating rink, or having friends that play the sport, it’s very hard to avoid hockey in Edina. In the past, both Edina boys’ and girls’ Varsity hockey teams have done extraordinarily well, with the boys boasting 12 state championship wins, the most in Minnesota history, and the girls’ team coming fresh out of a state championship win in 2017.

This season our girls’ team is poised to do equally well starting the season off strong with a 7-0-0 rating. The athletes on Varsity Girls’ Hockey are obviously some of the best we’ve seen in a long time, and along with that comes a large number of college commitments.

Of the 17 players on the team, seven have officially committed to schools to play hockey.

Senior Emily Oden is one of the team captains.

Oden is going into her fifth year playing varsity hockey and is committed to the University of

Minnesota right here in the Twin Cities. “They have a great coaching staff, and the team is awesome, and I really want to go to a bigger school and right here in Minnesota is so convenient. Growing up it was like a dream of mine just to play for the University of Minnesota,” Oden said. Loli Fidler is another senior on the team. Fidler made the varsity team her freshman year and committed to Harvard when she was a sophomore. “It’s in Boston and my whole family is in Boston so I’ll get to see them a lot. I like the coaches a lot too,” Fidler said.

Sometimes sports teams struggle to keep up their reputation, but this year’s team is feeling optimistic and wants to take advantage of some of the momentum from last year’s victory into this season. “We’re doing really well so far, we have a lot of depth in our team this year.

We have great senior leadership and also the younger kids are really stepping up this year,” Oden said, “It’s mainly an older team of juniors and seniors, but a lot of us were on the team last year...so we kind of know what it’s like, and everyone wants to get back to that.”

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SPORTS

“The Edina Girls’ Swim and Dive Team winning state was very exciting and fun to watch.” Sara Shrag, freshman

Friday, Dec. 22, 2017

Junior Gold A hockey team shoots for success

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Tanner Jones online copy editor

photo by Zoe Cheung

t’s 10:00 PM on a Monday night at Braemar Hockey Arena and a rowdy crowd of about two dozen student fans is exiting the stands. After a satisfying 4-2 victory over Minnetonka, the team that defeated them last year in the state championship, the boys hockey team heads towards the locker room.

This wasn’t a typical high school boys hockey game. The Edina High School Pep Band wasn’t there, the stands weren’t packed with long-time Minnesota hockey fans, and the game wasn’t held on a Saturday night. This wasn’t the varsity team. This was Edina Junior Gold A: Edina Hockey’s B-Team. But don’t be fooled, with nine state championships and a second place finish at the U.S. National High School Hockey Tournament in 2015, Edina JGA is one of the most impressive teams in America.

Senior forward Logan Cole says he doesn’t need the varsity spotlight, “It’s not about how many fans show up, it’s about trying to be the best team we can be. Plus we go to nationals, varsity doesn’t.” Per Minnesota State High School League rules, all varsity hockey teams are barred from the national competition.

As a result, JGA gets sent to nationals instead.

“Who wants to be a varsity state champion when you can be a national champion?” Senior forward J.J. Martinez joked.

Perhaps the reason why Edina JGA is so successful on the national level year after year is because, after maybe the most competitive

tryouts in the nation, Edina inevitably has great players who miss the cut for varsity and end up on JGA. Among them is senior Andy “Mundy” Munderloh, who is hoping to pursue professional hockey in the NHL minor league system after he graduates. “He’s just incredible on the ice. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Cole. Senior student manager Grant Kohner further emphasized Munderloh’s talent, saying “Mundy should never leave the ice. Pure grit. Edina’s top talent.

I don’t see why he’s not on varsity.”

When Munderloh heard this high praised he laughed it off with his typical modesty. “Look, that’s nice of them to say, but honestly it was a tough decision [to choose JGA over varsity].

Ultimately, after a long talk with Curt (the Varsity Boys’ Head Coach), I decided JGA was the Going for the goal: Forward Andy Munderloh weaves between Minnetonka Warriors defenders. best way to set myself up for success in the minors next year. The chemistry has always been an important part of rowdy and for having a lot of fun...It’s a lot fact is, JGA has made more state JGA. “I’d challenge you to find a better group easier to win games when you go in with a championship games than varsity in the past of boys anywhere.

Our team is growing closer good attitude like that.” few years.” together every day,” said senior forward and With only one game and two practices For Cole, the most compelling part of two-year JGA player Landon Tselepis. under their belts, the JGA team has barely even JGA is the teammates. “I didn’t even consider The attitude of a JGA game is also siggotten started. “We’re already taken down the trying out for varsity. I wanted to be with my nifi cantly diff erent than that of a varsity game. reigning state champs. We won’t stop until we boys, that’s all there is to it,” he said. With 17 Cole explained how this has contributed to have a national title,” said Tselepis. seniors and three juniors, having strong team the team’s success, “We’re known for being

Students optimize off-season in new EHS sports facilities

Girls’ Swim and Dive wins State with undefeated record

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photo byMimi Beringer In training: Athletes Max Manley and Lauren Oyalo in the new Activities Center.

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Greyson Mize page editor

his year, Edina Girls’ Swim and Dive won the Minnesota state meet by an overwhelming 100 points: 382.5 points to Minnetonka’s second place of 281.5 points. For the second year in a row, ESAD defended their undefeated status. “It was really fun to see the parents get super excited about it,” said junior swimmer Lucy Wittmer.

Their success is due to committed leadership.

Head Coach Jeff Mace is known for his sleepless nights working on organizing the team lineup and joking about his seasonal divorce from his wife in order in order to focus on the team. “It’s something I really look forward to every year and I like being there. It’s what I really enjoy doing, just being around young people who are so enthusiastic about swimming and diving,” Mace said.

Unfortunately, great student leaders will be leaving the pool this year. Edina swimming will be losing their four captains who led the team to the state meet. Each of them plan on swimming at Division I schools: Kelli McCarthy at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Sophie Clarkowski at the University of California-Los Angeles, Ashley Post at Dartmouth College, and Raime Jones at Yale University. “It’s going to be hard losing four division one athletes, but I think that next year will be fun no matter what,” junior swimmer Emma Berdelman said.

Additionally, Girls’ ESAD have created a team

atmosphere that enables the group’s success. If you stop by their grueling practices from 3:45-6:15 PM, you’d immediately notice the close-knit team that high fives each other after every set. “We all work super hard at practice and it’s a good energy and attitude in the pool so it’s easy to work hard in that environment,” Berdelman said. Similarly, their swim meets are never quiet because the team cheers for every teammate. “It’s really fun to be a part of a team who cares about everyone so much and cheers super loud for everyone,” sophomore diver Jozie Meitz said.

However, the hard work isn’t limited to their three month fall season; it continues year-round. The key to success: “hard work during the other nine months,” Mace said. The swim and diving team’s triumphs are hard-fought during every practice whether it’s the fall, winter, spring, or summer seasons. Every swimming or diving practice leads up their success.

“We all work really hard at practice and…a lot of us train offseason which will help a lot,” Meitz said.

Unsurprisingly, the team set many new EHS records: Kelli McCarthy’s 200 freestyle time of 1:49.25, Raime Jones’ 200 Individual Medley time of 2:02.83, and freshman Sophie Curran’s 100 backstroke time of 56.53. Despite having hurt her ankle two weeks prior, sophomore diver Megan Phillip shattered the school record she had previously set and became the state champion. The team remains optimistic about winning state for a third year in a row; and “trying to carry on that legacy,” said Wittmer.

photo courtesy Edina Girls’ Swim and Dive

hile their time to shine is at big competitions and races, EHS athletes who want to be on top of their game for the new year work hard to build up strength and skill during the off-season too. Students on the varsity basketball, cross country, and track teams make use of both off campus activities and school facilities to train for their respective sports.

When not playing on the court with her fellow Hornets, junior girls’ varsity basketball player Lauren Oyalo plays even more basketball. “I have to do AU (Athletic Union), that’s what I usually do for training. It’s where you go across different states and play basketball against different teams for college scouts and scholarship opportunities, and then at least once a week we go to the weight room,” Oyalo said. “Off-season training helps because it can keep you in shape and definitely makes you be ready for the competition during the season so you can be the best player mentally and

physically.” With a regular season spanning from November to March and the summer season from June to September, Oyalo is kept busy year round.

Junior and track and cross country athlete Max Manley participates in a running club at EHS to help build up speed and endurance in the off-season.

During the summer, students who do cross country can sign up to log their running progress for 10 weeks and be assigned daily mile average goal. Additionally, Manley trains with his teammates in the EHS weight room. “We have our own trainers and coaches [in the weight room],” Manley said. “They can help when people need insight on weightlifting and other things.”

With an improved weight room on the brink of completion as well as the new field and gym, EHS athletes can look forward to another year of productive in-season and off-season training.

Months of work go into the mere hours that spectators see play out on the court, track, and field; it’s up to the player to make sure they count.

Cecilia Orth page editor

State champs: The Girls’ Swim and Dive Team poses following their state championship win.