The Spectrum Newspaper January 2023

the SPECTRUM

Friday | January 27 | 2023

Community Assesses Integrity

Advisories explore definitions

Ali Hecker | Student Life Editor

Oxford Dictionary defines integrity as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.” Beginning this year, grade deans have introduced the school’s core values as themes for each quarter. Each quarter, students are asked to come up with a collaborative definition for one of the core values with their advisory. This quarter, the theme is integrity.

Lately, there has been much discussion amongst students and faculty about the meaning of integrity and how its definition applies to the school community. Sarah Warren, Assistant Director of the Upper School, says, “I think it’s often about your character and what it means to be a person of character, and that’s where that idea of wholeness comes in…when you are acting of integrity, your whole person is intact.”

Warren explains that with third quarter being the longest, this core value was intentionally chosen as a

reminder that integrity is an essential part of functioning in an academic institution. Aside from the academic honesty aspect of integrity, Warren adds, “[The grade deans] also

requires the community to reflect on the school’s values. Eloise Walsh ‘24 says, “I think that Blake creating a value per quarter is well intended, and as much as some students

sory activities, such as the four corners activity and defining the school’s values, were the result of an attempt to make better use out of advisory time while uniting the students and

Witnessing Gun Violence

Sophomore shares experience at Mall of America

Amelia Bush | Managing Editor

“Ijust wanted to call my mom,” said Macaella Sikhoya ‘25, a witness to the Mall of America shootings. The Mall of America has been no stranger to darkness, with prevalent is-

of what you can do; you just have to do what is being told ... the lack of control is kind of what shook me.”

On Dec. 23, 2022, Sikhoya witnessed her second Mall of America shooting, but this time, she was in Nordstrom–the location of the shooting. “Where the shooting happened and where it was, I was there with my cousins literally 30 seconds prior,” Sikhoya

are not just thinking of integrity as not cheating on a test; they’re thinking about it more broadly in terms of your character and how you develop.”

Differing from past quarter values of respect and love of learning, the meaning of integrity seems to be less straightforward, offering more room for meaningful dialogue. Although some students feel these advisory conversations can become redundant, many feel it

don’t agree [and] play along with it, I think it still makes everyone think about [the school values], whether you’re engaged in the conversation in advisory or not.”

Warren reveals that these values were initiated with the intent of creating a more purposeful advisory experience. “This year, we really wanted to have a sense that all students were having the same conversations,” says Warren. The planned advi-

staff in conversation about what the school stands for.

Upper School Director, Joe Ruggiero, explains, “There’s a lot of talk coming out of COVID about how we need to rebuild community and feel closer together to build spirit, and one of the ways to do that was both to think about the mission statement of the school and the core values.” Ruggiero concludes, “Why do we have these [core values] if we don’t reflect on them?”

Winter Dance Revived in Neon

SIAC hosts first winter dance in three years

Anna Tao |

Contributing Writer

Dances have long been a pivotal part of high school culture. The dance on Feb. 11, has generated a significant amount of buzz. This will be the first winter dance in three years. There is also a casual dress code and neon them; this gives attendees a clear idea of attire without having to buy expensive clothes.

Lucia Heathcote ‘25 says, “I don’t think it’s going to attract more people because people like getting dressed up… I think it would be better if each

Maddie ‘23 and Sarah Hsia ‘25 have dedicated copious amounts of their time to service learning over the years.

Student Spotlight Page: 16

grade had their own dress code, or each grade got to vote on it.”

Even though some students would have preferred more formal attire for the dance, many think that a casual dance can potentially be an opportunity for a differentiation in the type of dances hosted currently, like Prom and Homecoming, both are formal. However, many students wish that the dance was announced sooner to figure out plans and previous conflicts.

Sophomore Dean and faculty leader of SIAC Maggie Bowman expressed that the dance was particularly harder to pull together and announce efficiently because “SIAC approached us in early December about

the possibility of a dance and that timing is pretty late to start planning for an event.” Bowman also provides some perspective on why the winter dance has not been on the calendar since Feb. 2020, explaining, “The dance did not happen in 2021 or 2022 because of COVID[-19, but also because in 2020] it was not well attended.”

SIAC members are staying hopeful and bringing in multiple methods to garner

Boys’ hockey showed Breck who’s boss. Bears beat Mustangs 5-2.

Sports: Page 7

spirit and excitement for the dance. So far, attendance among students is high, however, some students are unable to attend because of previous commitments. The same weekend there is a debate tournament occurring. Uma Bastodkar ‘25, a debate team member, specifies that the scheduling conflict “sucks because a lot of people have the same tournament on that same weekend so they won’t be able to go.”

sues such as sex trafficking, specifically on the third floor girl’s bathroom, and child endangerment.

The recent surge in gun violence however, is something completely new for them. Sikhoya was present for not one, but two shootings at the Mall of America taking place in the span of six months.

Sikhoya’s Story

On Aug. 4, 2022, Sikhoya witnessed her first shooting. “I went for my birthday,” said Sikhoya. She and her family were celebrating at Cadillac Ranch when at 4:16 p.m. everything changed. “We heard this big boom and then our server was like ‘Everyone needs to get inside, like get inside the store!’... We were just rushed inside and we were just sitting there not really knowing what was going on,” said Sikhoya who doesn’t “think [she] was really [thinking].”

Sikhoya added, “As a kid, you always heard of these kinds of things happening like ‘Oh there was a shooting here’ but it’s a lot different when you’re actually experiencing it. So I guess what was going through my mind was ‘This is actually happening right now.’ You have no control

Blake’s DECA team proved membership numbers aren’t everything. Student

recalled.

Sikhoya explained, “We walked away and we just heard this ‘Boom! Boom!’ And we just saw everyone sprinting to the back of the store. So we just kind of followed everyone else and then, because Nordstrom has a little cafe, we were taken through the back of the kitchen and all throughout these secret tunnels almost so that I guess they could get the police in there and the EMTs and everything.”

Not only was being in Nordstrom during the shooting chaotic, it was also intense. Sikhoya “saw the guy getting CPR and we saw his friends around him crying. That definitely was a different and scarier experience.”

Director of Equity and Community Engagement

Tyneeta Canonge says that “the Mall of America shooting is a symptom of a bigger problem that we have in the world around gun violence… It’s a whole trail. If I am making a product and I’m mass producing this product and have no responsibility about who gets it, then that’s something that I think we really need to think about. There’s a lot of theories around where regular people on the streets acquire guns illegally and so

Continued on page 2.

Cleo Kilpatrick

“Just because it doesn’t affect you personally doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t care about it.”

- Macaella Sikhoya ‘25

Max Vinar ‘26 and Jack Mark ‘26 from Anna Reid’s advisory scavenge the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for Quarter three’s term, “integrity,” to broaden their understanding of the word.

SIAC announced the theme for the winter dance during the Jan. 19 assembly by throwing glow sticks and candy into the audience.

Eva Stegic

The Blake School 511 Kenwood Pkwy

Issue VI January 27, 2023

Editors-In-Chief:

Rowan Wallin | Zoey Ueland

Managing Editors:

Amelia Bush | Evan Vezmar

Photo Editor: Cleo Kilpatrick

Online Editor: Mackenzie Higgins

Copy Editor: Sofa Perlman

Arts & Culture Editor: Eva Stegic

Student Life Editor: Ali Hecker

Food Editor: Jason Rotenberg

Sports Editor: Yoni Zacks

Opinions Editor: Kate Rekas

Business Manager: Julia Zhang

Editors Emeriti: Oscar Walsh | Allyson Jay | Charlotte Opp | James Prince

Faculty Adviser: Anna Reid

STAFF WRITERS: Rhea Balachandran, Shruti Balachander, Clare Cao, Sam Tomczik, Raiden Chen, Ahan Devgun, Ethan Klaiman, Sonia Lerner, Ava Mittra, Eva Redmond, Andrew Richardson, Payton Smith, Jack Ulland, Winnie Ulland, Max Yousha, Klarissa Yu, Faith Zhao, Kaining Zhang, Gabi Marmet, and Bennett Wieland

STAFF ARTISTS: Julia Everett, Melody Lee, Julia Zhang, Katie Lattin

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Tyler

Vandersall

COLUMNISTS: Kevin Bizily, Uma

Bhardwaj

BECOME A STAFF MEMBER: Contribute to the paper three times consecutively to be promoted to a staff writer!

JOIN SPECTRUM:

Spectrum meets in Room 351 during both lunches every Friday. Please come if you are interested in writing, drawing, designing, podcasting or taking pictures for the newspaper.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

Disagree with something that’s in the paper? Have an opinion you want to share? Like to draw editorial cartoons? Take a stand and speak out. E-mail letters or editorial cartoons to spectrum@ blakeschool.org or deliver them to room 351. Please limit letters to 400 words.

MISSION STATEMENT:

The primary purpose of the Blake School Spectrum is to report news and to explain its meaning and signifcance to our readers and the community. We hope to inform, entertain and provide a school forum for the unrestricted exchange of ideas and opinions.

STYLE STATEMENT:

Spectrum uses Associated Press (AP) Style as of the February 2020 issue.

Corrections

A story on page 2 incorrectly spelled these student names: Phoebe Belfour, Toby Wieland, Jonah Yousha, Ruhi Kurdikar, and Jonah Spaeth. The staff list on page 2 misspelled these names: Jack Ulland, Kevin Bizily and Klarissa Yu. Spectrum apologizes for these misprints.

Continued from page 1.

we have to kind of follow the trail.”

Band-Aid Solution

Immediately after the shootings, the Mall of America installed metal detectors by the entrances and implemented bag checks, but as of now, these are gone. Canonge commented on the nature of these solutions, “It’s not a metal detector at the Mall of America. That’s not the solution for this giant systemic problem. And so I think these solutions are easy, but I think if we were really serious about the safety of our citizens in this country … it wouldn’t be as difficult to legislate or to control guns.”

Much like any other instance of gun violence, immediately after the shootings there was outcry for attention to gun violence. However, approximately a month after the Dec. 23 shooting, nothing is being discussed. Sikhoya noticed

that by the December shootings, metal detectors were gone from the mall.

Action Steps

While it may seem difficult to help with a large issue such as gun violence, there are ways. Canonge said that “we have to do more than just talk … I would love to set some goals and actions steps … We can invite speakers in, we can invite legislators in to help us understand the complexities of the conversations that they are having.” Canonge placed a heavy emphasis on the future. As students, the responsibility for change is placed on what we choose to do in the future. Canonge suggested voting for candidates that align with your goals and working for organizations that contribute to the conversation.

Impact on Everyone

Gun violence impacts everyone differently. Sikhoya shared that “my cousin was shot dead in November.

So just seeing all of these shootings happen repeatedly it’s just like, obviously I knew gun violence was an issue before but now that it’s really hit home and I’ve been there, someone in my family has died. Now it kind of makes me angry I guess. There is so much that can

that live in neighborhoods and have friends who have passed as a result of gun violence. We are all impacted by it,” said Canonge who continued to open up about her experience with gun violence, “Personally I have lost four family members to gun violence, all murders.

none of her children are okay. They have families of their own and I can see the impact of them losing their mom … They had to pick her brains up off the ground ... That impacted the whole community. Everyone knew, the whole city.”

be done but because it’s not an issue that’s talked about enough or it’s talked about for a little bit but then people forget about it. It gets kind of frustrating sometimes.” Gun violence impacts everyone, even though it’s not always visible. “We have students

Off-Campus Rules Confirmed

Privileges reviewed after COVID-19

Evan Vezmar | Managing Editor

S ince the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rules for off-campus privileges have been blurred. While in 2020 and 2021, students were actually encouraged to leave campus when they could to decrease potential transmission of the virus, Assistant Direc-

went home, the opportunity doesn’t present itself.”

In short, the rule explains that seniors are allowed to leave campus whenever they do not have a school obligation, meaning a free block, a lunch block, if they finish classes earlier, or start late. Similarly, juniors are allowed to arrive later and leave earlier if they do not have a class, but they are expected to remain at school throughout the entire day. This rule may

ing to the Ridgedale Mall and getting boba.”

Warren expressed that although many sophomores have their license, 9th and 10th graders must remain on school grounds throughout the duration of the school day. She said, “that’s the new question: Now that we have so many sophomores driving to campus, is there some thought if our policy is appropriate?”

She further explained, “During Covid, there was a degree to which we were wanting to de-densify so we were allowing students to leave, but we also, at least around lunch, wanted to make sure students ate with the same people so we knew who students had they’re masks off with.” Now that masking requirements have been stopped on campus, Warren described, “Especially coming out of Covid, there was both a tightening of rules as well as a loosening of some rules. And so, we’re looking at that, how did that work, and did the Covid rule make sense or do we want to go back?”

One was an assassination by a police officer that was involved in illegal activity and my cousin reported the illegal activity so the police officer put a hit on her in front of her house in front of her children. It impacts us all. The ripple effect,

As for the system of gun violence, Canonge said to “think about who has power and whose interests are we protecting? It’s not necessarily the lives of those babies. It’s not the people who keep getting shot up in night clubs, it’s not the people who are shopping in malls, it’s not the people who are on the street… we produce frustration and anger and then we go back to our lives.” Sikhoya also commented, “It deserves more than a band-aid or to be talked about for a little bit and then be brushed aside. People lose lives. Their families are never going to be the same again and just because it doesn’t affect you personally, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t care about it.”

New Electives Excite

Courses undergo strict approval process

Kate Rekas | Opinions Editor

Every few years, the course catalog advertises brand new classes. This year, new classes include Identities and Representations, Power & Place Twin Cities Histories, Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Advanced Topics Research, and World Politics & Film. The history course list has

new course will fill a gap that exists in the department’s course offerings. The new course Advanced Topics Research aimed to do exactly that.

The course’s teachers, Calderone and David Zalk ‘66 both noted that there has been an uptick in the amount of students requesting to do independent studies. Zalk said the goal of the class is to “provide a more structured way for students to do independent study and yet would also have scheduled advice from

tor Sarah Warren stated that students are now encouraged to continue to stay on campus to create bonds with the community. She explained, “To create community, people need to be together. So if we’re allowing students to come and go constantly, you sort of don’t have these natural opportunities. There’s a lot that happens when you’re in the hall just sitting next to someone. If you just

change for juniors in the 4th quarter to equal the same privileges given to seniors. Jackson Gammack ‘24 noted that “the privileges are a fun thing to have and it’s a good incentive to continue to follow the rules and perform in school.”

Caroline Epstein ‘23 has used her off-campus privileges often this year, explaining that she often leaves during her free block where she is “go-

While it is not certain if there will be any major changes to the off-campus privilege rules, Epstein argues that “juniors, anyone that can drive, should get this privilege.”

However, because a portion of the student body does not own a car, it is unlikely that off-campus privileges would be given based on car access, and rather privileges would be based on responsibility and trust.

Holocaust and Genocide Studies, taught by social studies teacher Mackenzie McIlmail McIlmail was surprised by the popularity, saying, “When I proposed the course I honestly thought no one would sign up for it because it’s kind of a dark subject, and I was really pleasantly surprised we flled 3 sections.”

Kate Rekas attracted ample interest from the student body.

Getting a new course on the course catalog is no small feat. Usually a faculty member has an idea for a course. Social Studies Chair

Beth Calderone detailed the process of creating a course proposal. She said, “[The idea] gets vetted in department meetings usually informally first and then in a formal way. We take the idea to the Upper School Administrative Council to get approval. It often also goes to Anne Graybeal and Anne Stavney.” Course proposals have to outline the goals and curriculum of the course but most importantly the proposals are meant to defend how this

faculty.” Calderone echoed this sentiment, explaining that “in academics, nothing is truly independent ... Giving and receiving feedback from each other in our work is a really important part of independent study.”

Holocaust & Genocide Studies, a discussion-based class, was proposed as the eighth grade Holocaust history unit was being phased out. Mackenzie McIlmail proposed the course around the time Russia invaded Ukraine. She recalls this time, stating, “I think one of the most important things we can do is educate students about issues of human rights and justice and our personal responsibilities as global citizens.”

Think about who has power and whose interests are we protecting. It’s not necessarily the lives of those babies. It’s not the people who keep getting shot up in night clubs, it’s not the people who are shopping in malls … we produce frustration and anger and then we go back to our lives.

-Tyneeta Canonge

Lunch is a popular time for students to utilize their off-campus privileges, and for those with a car, Chipotle is a frequent meal stop.

Cleo Kilpatrick

One of the most popular new course offerings is

DECA Dominates At Districts Competition on Jan. 11 Results

prove successful, many advance

Zoey Ueland | Co-Editor-in-Chief

Reporting by: Ali Hecker | Student Life Editor & Bennett Wieland | Staff Writer

With13 students, Blake’s DECA team pales in size compared to large public schools competing against them. Yet, at their District Competition

held on Jan. 11 at Jefferson High School in Bloomington, Blake proved membership numbers aren’t everything.

Josh Smith ‘23, co-President with Julia Jung ‘23, noted, “I think probably ¾ of the people who competed ended up going to state in one of the events they competed in which is compared to other schools, Blake has a really small team but we do really well.” While Molly Seidel ‘24, Vice President, explains that numbers have fluctuated over the years, she agrees that holistically the club has remained the same,

dominating at competitions and receiving success.

DECA, despite being a local club, is also a national organization. As Smith explains, “we do different competitions against other schools, as individuals or groups of two or three, that relate to business.” At said competitions, DECA hosts additional events for students interested in business. While DECA begins meeting upon return from summer break, districts are the first real competition. Thus, club members spend months preparing. Seidel

explains, “A lot of the preparation comes with explaining how the club works to new members because it is a bit confusing at the start…In my past three years, we’ve done mock roleplays prior to the competitions. We give overviews of how to write written events to those who are writing specific events.” However, she adds “most progress that you can make in your skill level in DECA is at the competitions and I think that the more competitions you are in, the more comfortable you become

sitting in front of a judge.”

Written events and role plays are two events that Blake encourages its members to compete in. Smith describes written plans as “ten to twenty pages in length and usually have some sort of 15 minute presentation when we go to our DECA event dates and those array from being business plans or marketing campaigns that students will write.” Students are granted 10 to 30 minutes, given a business prompt and present their ideas and solutions in front of a judge.

While to many, the months of preparation seem

overwhelming, Erik Jung ‘24 notes, “I just spread [the 10 pages] out over two months, I did it whenever I could.” This way, his extra work felt much more manageable. As a testament to his success, Jung, along with Carter Krenke ‘23, placed second overall at the tournament. As a leader, Seidel explains, “I want to continue emphasizing lower classmen participation [be]cause they are the future of the club at Blake. And, I want to continue preparing everyone well for the competitions so they can feel confident when they show up on competition day.”

Juniors Return to Upper School After First Semester Away

Two lifers seek new experiences

Gabi Marmet | Staff Writer

Over this past semester, many juniors traveled abroad, getting out of their bubbles, experiencing new surroundings/ cultures, and encountering different learning environments from what they’re used to. Each student had a different experience and learned what life is like outside of Minnesota. Many students loved their trip and made unforgettable memories as well as friendships.

Petra Ekstrom ‘24 traveled to Zaragoza, Spain. She lived with a host family and traveled around Northern Spain with her school and friends. She described her trip as “a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I would love to do it again, but if I did it again it would be different people, so I feel like I would compare it back to the year before.”

Donovan Schall ‘24 went on a very different trip, traveling to High

Mountain Institute in Glenville, Colorado. Schall was able to connect with many new friends in ways he didn’t imagine. Both students lived in very different environments from one another. Ekstrom lived with a host family, which she described as a very interesting experience where she was able to learn about Spanish culture. On the other hand, Schall lived on the institute campus with 10 other students in his cabin. Neither of them had gone into the trip knowing anybody, and were able to form amazing friendships. Although Ekstrom didn’t have a host family with siblings, she was able to find her own friends at her school and spend time with them.

On Ekstrom’s trip, phone use was allowed but not encouraged, allowing Ekstrom to live in the moment with her new friends. Schall’s trip was a different story, because his trip didn’t allow phones. Schall explained, “You become really close to everyone because you don’t have your phone or anything to distract you from just being with your friends.”

In the past, technology has become a barrier

to how people connect with one another, Schall and Ekstrom were able to form genuine relationships with their friends and have a great experience doing so.

Blake’s curriculum is harder than both Schall and Ekstrom’s classes abroad, so they appreciated being able to take more time to experience where they were. Since both Schall and Ekstrom have been at Blake since Pre-K, they loved having a change of environment and stepping outside their comfort zone. Ekstrom said, “It was so much easier than Blake, so in some aspects it was kind of like a vacation.”

“[Spain] taught me a lot of different cultures and also taught me a lot about myself. And I think it was really nice to get out of this cycle [at Blake], cause I’ve been here since Pre-K… And so it was really nice to see something different and experience something that’s totally new.” Schall was able to experience many new environments, “I’ve been at Blake my whole life, so I wanted to go get an educational experience outside of Blake, and that stayed true this semester.”

Submitted By: Donovan Schall

Submitted By: Petra Ekstrom

Submitted by: Molly Seidel

Submitted by: Molly Seidel

Traveling with a friend, Ekstrom (right) visited San Sebastian in northern Spain while on a weeklong school vacation trip.

Schall and friends take a photo while backpacking at the Grand Gulch Canyon in Utah.

Carter Krenke ‘23 and Erik Jung ‘24 placed second overall at the Districts competition for their written Innovation Plan on Principles of Hospitality & Tourism.

DECA performs at their Districts Competition, with every member advancing to State.

Music Groups Travel to Chicago

Choir, orchestra, and band tour the “windy city”

Gabi Marmet | Staff Writer

TheChicago Music Tour was an amazing trip, from Jan. 12th-15th, filled with new experiences, adventuring, performances, and fun. We went to Chicago by bus with Choir director, Natalia Romero Arbeláez, and the Band and Orchestra teacher, Brian Lukkasson. Chaperones of the trip were Jen Vance, Maggie Bowman, Kyle Geissler, and Ben Cady. I am part of the choir that went to Chicago, and also documented the trip on Spectrum’s Instagram.

During the trip, we sang with and performed for two schools, South West High School in Minneapolis, and North Shore County Day School in Illinois. They both had a lot of students who were very enthusiastic about choir and were so kind to us. It was a great experience to see a little bit of the environment of a different school. North Shore had a very small choir of 9 students, and it was impressive to hear them stay so strong on their singing parts with only a few kids in each.

We also went on many adventures around Chicago, which were beautiful and a really fun experience. In groups of students, everyone was able to go around the Chicago Botanic Gardens, exploring Michigan Ave, The Bean, the Field Museum, as well as the Navy Pier. I especially loved the view

Twelfth Night Rehearsals Begin

at the Navy Pier, which contained Lake Michigan, cool-looking shoreline boats, a ferris wheel, and a skyline view. Aside from performing for the two schools, Choir, Band, and Orchestra performed at the Field Museum, and Orchestra participated in a String Clinic.

On the night of our arrival to Chicago, we went to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in con-

King” was an unforgettable performance that I won’t forget!

Overall, I loved going on tour and experiencing Chicago for the first time as well as forming new friendships with other students. Although I loved everything about the trip, my favorite parts were seeing “The Lion King,” exploring Michigan Ave, and spending time with my friends. I look forward to going on another music tour in the future.

Spring musical takes innovative spin on classic

James Prince | Editor Emeritus

Thisspring, a classic of the 17th century will be coming to life as a musical. Although Twelfth Night will be staged in the MPAC stage in March, preparations for the Shakespeare production are already underway. Upper School Choral Director Natalia Romero Arbeláez, who will be leading the performance’s music, explains her excitement,

“I’m really excited to tell this story that is creative and human. It is just going to be fun.”

The hour and a half production features a jazzfunk score that Romero describes as “really special… it is going to challenge students to dig into many musical aspects of their voice.”

The playwrights transformed the traditional Shakespearean English into modern, easier-to-understand words. Since this modern version debuted in 2018, it has been lauded by theatrical critics The Hollywood Reporter and The Washington Post.

Thespian Officer Declan O’Connell ’23 believes it will be “a lively show with the number of people we have. I don’t think we have worked with this big of a cast since coming out of COVID-19. I think this is going to be a real resurgence of Blake theater.” For the next two months he and the rest of the 30-member cast are under the lights, O’Connell notes that they will have “a little less time for homework, a little less time for fun as we are going to be putting all our energy into polishing up the show.”

cert. The movie played in the background as the orchestra played the exact music from the movie. I loved watching the violinists’ hands while playing certain sections, they were moving incredibly fast and hit the precise notes.

On our second night in Chicago we went to “The Lion King” at the Cadillac Palace Theater. The traveling Broadway cast was incredible. The costumes were gorgeous, and because each of the characters were animals, their costumes were very intricate to illustrate which animal they were. Many characters had heads of their animal right above their actors’ heads, that could move around depending on the position of each person. “The Lion

Binging over Break

Winter, best time for new tv shows

Zoey Ueland | Co-Editor-in-Chief

While temperatures

drop to below negative, all I want to do is curl up with my computer and binge a TV series.

Especially during winter break, when mindless activities are commonplace, I found the time to binge two shows in the span of two weeks. The first, “My Unorthodox Life,” chronicles Julia Haart navigating her family life. From a Jewish orthodox community in upstate New York, Haart went on to become Chief Executive Officer of Elite Model Management, part of a conglomerate her husband just happened to own.

“My Unorthodox Life”

proved to be just the drama filled anecdote to a somewhat boring winter break. The second season follows Haart’s messy divorce and family life. Despite its seemingly soap opera-ish plot, the Netflix original tells the story of a woman who is nothing if not a fighter.

Another Netflix original, “Emily In Paris,” is a similar upbeat drama. By the third season, which premiered earlier this winter, the characters are well established but the plot continues to be fresh.

Similar to the first two seasons, the third follows Emily’s life in Paris as she attempts to straddle two love-interests and two jobs, one at an American firm and the other at a Parisian one. While the show feels far from reality, Emily always swoops in and saves the day, the

New & Old Books to Re-Read Science fiction books expand our definitions

Science fiction has an expansive definition–there’s a reason we spend an entire day just on the definition in 9th grade World Literature. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, it just has to either think about the implications of science (“actual or imagined”) on lives, or have a focus on science in some way. However, I think the broadness of this definition is intrinsic in the genre: bending limits, questioning definitions. Here are a few of my favorites.

this book by reading it at an older age, and I think that’s part of what gives it its charm.

fantastical element is part of what makes the show so watchable. The fashion, scenes of Paris, and fun marketing campaigns make Emily in Paris both a fan favorite and a fun winter escape.

Karin Lund ‘25 also found time to rewatch the first season of one of her favorite TV shows over winter break, “Gossip Girl.” She noted, “I don’t binge that much but when I do it’s always over break.”

“A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle, which follows a nerdy girl and her brother’s interdimensional search for their father, is oftentimes seen as a middle or lower school read, and I think it totally can be. But I decided to include it here because there’s simply so much in this book that goes deeper than what you can get out of it when you’re twelve. It’s one of those classics that becomes a classic because it’s able to adapt to the situation and the circumstances in which it’s being read. I have gotten something new out of

“They Both Die at the End” by Adam Silvera is, as the title suggests, one of the saddest books I’ve ever read. It reads like realistic fiction, but takes place in a world where everyone gets a call on the day they’re going to die. It centers around two boys who meet on their “end day” and try to figure out how to spend the (very brief) rest of their lives. A lot of science fiction asks about the end of the world, but “They Both Die at the End” tries to answer a different question: what if it’s not the end of the world, just the end of your part in it? What do you do with yourself, knowing that that’s the case?

Lukas Stockton ‘24 has a lot of good things to say about the “Mysteries of Cove” series by J. Scott Savage. It tells the story of “a boy who is a really good mechanic but his ability is shunned by society so he tries to escape,” writes Stockton. Stockton’s advice about how to enjoy science fiction? “Try and like immerse yourself in the world…take it as if it was a real story, cause that’s the best way to find meaning in it,” writes Stockton.

Uma Bhardwaj | Columnist

Gabi Marmet

Submitted by: Declan O’Connell

Gabi Marmet

Julia Zhang

As a part of their visit to Chicago, the group visited “The Bean,” centerpeice of the Mellenium Park Plaza.

Students explored the Chicago Botanical Gardens in small groups, one of many stops.

Students begin rehearsals for new spring musical“Twelfth Night.” The cast will take the stage in March to debut their musical work. Performances will be held in the MPAC at the middle school.

Serena Van der Woodsen, from the hit show Gossip Girl was played by Blake Lively.

Eva Stegic

Eva Stegic

Bakeries to Make Your Winter Which Soup is Soup-perior?

Kate Rekas | Opinions

The Minneapolis area boasts numerous quality bakeries, all serving delicious delicate pastries and treats, but some outshine others. Some of my personal favorites are Rustica, Bellecour Bakery, and Isles Bun and Coffee.

Each bakery has its own specialty. For great coffee and a cookie or scone, go to Rustica. Rustica has been a long loved study spot, and for good reason. The cafe offers specialty and classic coffee drinks, and all of them are arguably top tier.

For those not a fan of coffee or prefer a pastry to go with, there are endless options. My personal favorite would be any variety of scones or cookies. I particularly love the current scone and ginger cookie.

If you’re looking for a croissant, delicate sandwich or chilled patisserie dessert, stop by Bellecour Bakery, located inside the store Cooks of Crocus

Hill. The croissants are on par with the pastry’s Parisian ancestors and are always freshly made every day. There are also excellent sandwiches and French patisserie items that come pre-made and are ready to go from an open display fridge.

The bakery is named after a bustling town center in Lyon, France called “Place Bellecour.”

Prior to the pandemic Bellecour was a full restaurant and Bakery located in Wayzata on Main Street. The restaurant/ bakery had to close but the bakery aspect and its delicious pastries were

relocated to the Minneapolis North Loop area.

A childhood classic and beloved spot by Minneapolis dwelling teens is Isles Bun and Coffee’s Puppy Dog Tails. These delicious cinnamon roll morsels are the perfect size and true to the name. They are about the length of a dog’s tail of cinnamon roll pastry with cinnamon sugar and a delicious spread of cream cheese icing on top. If those don’t sound tempting enough, Isles Bun and Coffee also offers scones, cookies, and more sweet buns.

Wonderful win ter snack divides students

Cleo Kilpatrick | Photo Editor

With the weather being cold, and the sun setting early, a nice cup of soup suits the winter season. I like to think there are two different types of soup. There’s brothy and creamy soup. Personally my favorite is creamy soup like chicken wild rice, corn chowder or the classic tomato soup. Schifman ‘24 ed her favorite soup is to ma to basil because she thinks, “It’s just so rich and creamy and with a good grilled cheese, it’s so good.”

I taste test ed three different

New Year, New You, New Diet

great time to start achieving your goals.

Max Yousha | Staff Writer

Thestart of a new year means the start of many new years’ resolutions. As 2023 commences, people create goals for themselves for the new year, including fitness, traveling, spending time with family and friends, do this, see that.

One resolution that is particularly common for Americans is starting a new diet. Whether that’s trying new foods or cutting back on foods to lose weight, there are many reasons for one to have a food diet goal.

Many people use the new year to start exercising more and eating healthier for many reasons, one being they think they want to look better. Another being because they want to be healthier in the future. The new year is a

Stephan Gustafson ’24 (pictured right) wants to eat more protein and less fat to “get more jacked.” This is one example of a student changing up what they eat to be stronger and look better.

Another reason why students might change up what they eat in the new year is to try new foods. This can be a resolution to try different cuisines, try to eat more veg etables, try something your parents always wanted you to, and more.

Charlie Wright ‘26 (pictured left) wants to not only cut back on foods,

but also try to eat different foods. “I’m trying to cut back on snacking throughout the day … I want to try and include more healthy fats in my diet like yogurt and avocados,” says Wright. Wright also expresses that he wants to try new cuisines too. “I’d love to try more Moroccan cuisine … I went to New York and had some really good Moroccan food.”

Although a great new years’ resolution, food dieting is something that people need to be careful about.

Mara Noel ‘24 (pictured above) shares, “It is bad for your metabolism … you don’t want to lower your metabolism too much by eating too little [because of your diet] because then if you start eating more it causes weight gain and bad metabolism.”

food for me.

Cole Eckes ‘26 commented on what his favorite type of soup, saying, “It depends because some soups are better with the broth and some are better with a creamy texture.” In the end Eckes added, “I would have to go with brothy soup but chicken wild rice soup takes the win.”

Blaze Pizza Serves Absolute Heat

Outstanding pizza, underwhelming salad

Yoni Zacks | Sports Editor

To celebrate the first week back, my two friends, Eddie Shen ‘25 and Tony Liu ‘25 , and I decided to celebrate by getting pizza after school. It seemed fitting for a Friday afternoon, so after school we drove to Blaze Pizza in Hopkins.

The first thing you see when you walk in the vestibule is a sign that says “follow the flame.” This made me even more intrigued by what I would find inside. We walked in to no line, which wasn’t surprising since it was 3:30. They started taking our orders immediately, and while my friends had no trouble deciding, I stared down the unfamiliar menu with interest.

Our order was two cheese pizzas and one build your own pizza, as well as a salad, a cheese bread, and two drinks. Something we found helpful is that a threetopping pizza and a seven-topping pizza cost the same, which allowed us to purchase a pizza loaded with meat (as someone who keeps Kosher,

ordered a caesar salad, which was extremely disappointing.

I ordered the salad thinking it would be made fresh with the ingredients that I observed while ordering. However, upon receiving it, I realized the opposite was true. It was a very small, premade salad, which was extremely frustrating since it meant I had no option of customizing it.

For drinks, we decided to try their signature blood orange lemonade. It was amazing, with a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness, and since the drinks were self-serve, it allowed us to try it before making sure it was what we wanted.

Then, we had to go to the counter and

pick up our pizzas and cheese bread. To say it was incredible was a massive understatement. This was an exquisitely cooked pizza, with a perfectly crunchy crust and the right ratio of cheese to sauce. But the cheesebread was on its own level. The bread was flawlessly cooked and there was a special kick to it. The one complaint was that some pieces had a lot less cheese than the others, but even that seemed minor.

For dessert, I ordered their signature s’more. They offered to warm it up for me, which I had never heard of before. I made the right choice. Everything was perfect, from the melted chocolate to the marshmallow to the perfect crunch of the graham cracker.

Cheese pizza that was just enough to fill one person. Blaze Pizza is open from 11a.m.- 9p.m. every day of the week.

Yoni Zacks

Nearby options have a lot to offer

Editor

Some students have goals to be healthier in 2023

Kate Rekas

Jason Rotenberg

Jason Rotenberg

Jason Rotenberg

Jason Rotenberg

Rivalry History: Bears & St. Paul Academy Go Back Over 100 Years

Former rivals unite on the football field

Steven Cao | Staff Writer

One of Blake’s biggest rivalries against Saint Paul Academy, or SPA, has a very interesting history and connection today. Both schools are very similar: both are private schools which were founded in 1900 and located in the Twin Cities area. Blake and SPA compete against each other in many sports. That’s

because the two schools compete in the IMAC conference.

Both schools had many fierce games throughout the years in many sports, such as soccer, swimming and football, with Blake winning the 100th Blake-SPA football game 49-8 in 2011. However, in 2015, Blake and SPA combined with Minnehaha Academy to create our football team today, the SMB Wolfpack. The final tally for wins/losses in the Blake-SPA series in all 88 games on record was 28 wins, 52 losses, and 8 ties, giving

SPA the edge by a wide margin, in part due to their rivalry record nine year winning streak. This created an interesting dynamic between supporting each other at football, but also competing hard in other sports. Baseball player and Blake superfan Dom Cornforth ‘24 noted “For a lot of kids [the rivalry is] important to them and that’s a driving reason why they show up to those games. On the baseball team you can definitely see that the boys are hyped up because they want to win.”

Grayson Okoronkwo ‘24 plays football on the Wolfpack with SPA players, but also competes against them during the basketball season. Okoronkwo noted during the Blake-SPA basketball game, “The crowd was hyping me up and I could feel the energy from the rivalry as soon as the game started.” Okoronkwo competed in basketball against fellow Wolfpack teammate Ethan Carter from SPA, Okoronkwo noted “It’s a fun and intense matchup, and even though we are friends outside of basket-

Teammates Share Bond Both On and Off Court

Chemsitry leads to better performance as group

Jason Rotenberg | Food Editor

Team chemistry means everything when you are playing a sport. Many professional sports teams nowadays strive to form super teams, when multiple good players in a sport sign with a team to try and win a championship with a stacked team. This strategy has proven effective with teams like the 20212022 Los Angeles Rams, who won the Superbowl, or the 2012-2013 Miami Heat, who won back-toback championships. The super team strategy has also proven ineffective, when teams go all in on good players on short contracts, just for it all to backfire. For example, the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers and the 2020-21 Brooklyn Nets went allin on superstar-caliber

players only to fail to win a Championship. A big factor that many of these teams encountered when falling short of winning is due to chemistry issues. As proven by professionals, it is very important to build chemistry with your teammates to be successful. How does one achieve team chemistry in our own school sports teams nowadays?

Jackson Gammack ‘24 , a member of the JV boys’ hockey team, states that the team has “done a few team dinners. I’ve gone

over to [teammates’] to go team build, and have fun, and do secret Santas. In the locker room before [games, we] play music, and, you know, jumping around and having a good time.” Gammack also plays soccer and says that “before practice, running around on the field, or staying after practice and working on shots helps build community too.” Gammack says that when playing with good chemistry, “you have a better idea of what [your teammates] might do, or you get to know

them better and know what they are going to do with the puck, or off the puck. You also have more confidence in them when you give them the puck to make a play.”

Hakuto Higuchi ‘24 , who is a member of the varsity boys’ hockey team, also mentioned that the team did a “secret Santa where we gave each other stupid gifts, and that helped us be better friends, and communicate better with each other.”

Marina Battig ‘24 , a member of the girls soccer team, describes how “[the team has] gone to lunches or early dinners before to just talk about our goals with our team…and how our team chemistry was going to work out.” Battig thinks that goal setting lunches “builds more comfort in everyone, and that’s really important in soccer because you need to be able to be comfortable with your teammates if you want to succeed more.”

ball, there is no friendship on the court.”

Many SPA students and athletes share the same passion for this rivalry, SPA student Ben Macedo believes “both schools are very ambitious and both schools being private schools adds to it.” SPA tennis phenom Zahir Hassan says “When facing Blake, SPA always wants to win because of the rivalry, it’s always fun because Blake is always such a tough opponent.”

In 2022, Blake has had many fierce, entertaining, wins against

SPA, such as a 1-0 Boys Soccer win, a recent 7364 win for Boys basketball as well as wins in both Boys and Girls tennis. The boys won 6-1 and the girls also defeated the Spartans. In addition, the boys’ hockey team dominated SPA by a score of 6-1, and the volleyball team swept their series against SPA, winning both matches by a score of 3-0.

Next month, The Spectrum will be covering the history of another rival, Breck. Stay tuned for a dive into this long -chronicled rivalry!

Upcoming Home Sporting Events!

Saturday: Girls Basketball! JV plays at 5:30, Varsity plays at 7 against Legacy Christian Academy

Tuesday: Boys Hockey! JV plays at 5:30, Varsity plays at 7 against Cretin-Durham Hall

Tuesday: Boys Basketball! C Squad at 5:30, Varsity plays at 7 against Brooklyn Center

Thursday: Girls Hockey! Varsity plays at 3:30 against Breck

Thursday: Boys Hockey! JV plays at 5:30, Varsity plays at 7 against Gentry Academy

Thursday: Boys Hockey! JV plays at 5:30, Varsity plays at 7 against Gentry Academy

Thursday: Swim and Dive Senior Night! Swim at 5:30 at Breck, Dive at 5:30 at Blake

Boys Varsity Basketball gathers together before a game to motivate each other, showing a connection that stretches beyond the game.

Left: The Bears defeated SPA 33-20 in 1966. The Bears were led by former head coach and biology teacher Dom Mezzenega, defeating the Spartans for the ffth time in six years; Right: After merging football programs with SPA, athletes from both schools now take the feld together, as shown here at the homecoming game in Oct. 2022, a 24-0 victory for the Wolfpack.

Left: Submitted by Neva Fuller; Right: Liam Coley

Tyler Vandersall

Fencing Practices at Unique Location

Requirements, popularity force relocation

Winnie Ulland | Staff Writer

The fencing team had a prolific 2022 season, placing in the top two of every single state event they competed in, both girls and boys. In addition to this extraordinary record, there is one more thing that sets the fencing team apart: they are the only athletics team to train in the Upper School gym space, a room that is often closed off to the student body.

Fencing captain Matthew Sun ‘24 explains, “I speculate that part of it is because many winter sports are indoors, and so the best place to really perform those sports is indoors. The middle school gym, of course, is very popular, and many sports congregate there, and possibly more popular sports might be there because of larger gym space,” acknowledging that the Middle School gym tends to be claimed by the basketball teams throughout the winter months.

Fencing also requires strips, the set playing area, which is required to

Bears Dominate Mustangs

be fourteen meters long, and between one and a half to two meters wide, with hashmarks on the last two meters of each end to warn a fencer before they back off of the strip. Something unique is that strips are the same for high school fencing and professional fencing. While the fencing team needs to tape these onto the middle school gym when hosting the Minnesota State Tournament, as they did last year and plan to do this year, they’re actually painted onto the floors of the Upper School gym, making it the perfect place for the team to practice.

Evan Vezmar

January’s Mystery Athlete

The Bears and the Breck Mustangs went head to head in a rivalry game on Tuesday night, Jan. 17. Boys hockey crushed Breck 5-2. The student section had lots of energy with signs pushed against the glass and cheers spreading throughout the game. Students from all grades in the Upper School were there to support their fellow classmates. There was no fighting in this game, both teams stayed respectful. Rowan Heithoff ‘23 Oliver Duininck ‘24 Carson Clark ‘25 , and Landon Bell ‘26 all scored goals that night and Erik Jung ‘24 scored his first varsity goal.

Yoga, S&C Provide Variety, Options

Students find variety of ways to meet sports requirements

Eva Stegic | Arts & Culture Editor

At Blake you have to complete a certain number of sports in order to graduate. Due to COVID-19 and its effects, the lines of sports requirements have become blurred due to recent health restrictions. Thus, alternative

options have become popular for students who want to go about the requirement in another way. Yoga, along with strength and conditioning, has recently become popular among students to meet this requirement.

Xavier Gomez ‘25 has done yoga in the past to meet this requirement, saying, “You can earn a sports credit through [yoga] which I think is a lot of the appeal.”

With practices only on Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30-5:30p.m., yoga

can be a peaceful sport for students who want to complete the sports requirement. Gomez continues, “It wasn’t very difficult, but it felt repetitive because we were doing the same poses every day.”

Despite the repetitiveness of yoga, Gomez remarks, “It was definitely an easy way to meet sport requirements.” If you are thinking about alternative ways to meet the requirement, yoga may be the option for you.

Ten fun facts about this month’s mystery athlete:

1. He is the tallest person on the Boys’ Nordic Ski team.

2. He works at a fsh store.

3. He likes to fsh.

4. He has two cats and one dog.

5. He loves to mountain bike.

6. He goes camping up north annually.

7. He plays guitar.

8. He likes Star Wars.

9. He has been to Spain.

10. He is a Lego fan.

A metal strip, the playing surface for fencing, can be seen underneath the competitors. Strips are regulated across all divisions of competition for fencing from middle school to professional.

The Athletic Training facility, also known as the ATF, is the home of the Strength and Conditioning program. It features a wide array of dumbells, barbells, resistance bands, and pulleys.

Eva Stegic

Cleo Kilpatrick | Photo Editor

Tyler Vandersall

Submitted by this month’s athlete; Photo Illustration: Yoni Zacks

A Deep Dive Into The Unknowns

Creative Cloud

Creative Cloud promotes artistic endeavors

Rowan Wallin | Co-Editor-in-Chief

Adobe Creative Cloud (Adobe CC) is an expensive, exclusive hub for all things Adobe.

These Adobe CC applications are used for graphic design, video editing, web development, photography, and more. Adobe CC is a subscription based service that provides access to all of Adobe’s creative tools and services, including the most popu-

lar applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and After Effects.

For access, Adobe CC costs $54.99 per month. But for Blake students and faculty in Photography, Advanced Printmaking, or Journalism courses, Adobe CC is essentially free. Additionally, it is free for students and faculty on FLASH magazine and the yearbook, Refections.

Student publications, FLASH, Refections and The Spectrum all use Adobe InDesign for the formatting of their pages. Anika Rodriguez ‘23 , a leader of FLASH, says, “It’s pretty

diffcult for people new to InDesign to be able to fgure it out, so in terms of working with it for FLASH, it slows down the design process a bit. As helpful as some online video tutorials are, just getting the basics for the program down is quite complicated, so there’s limited opportunity to try more ambitious designs. As reliable as the program is, it sure has its challenges.”

All Photography classes interact with Adobe Photoshop as well. Brian Sago , arts teacher and Photoshop expert, says, “Maybe six years ago, Adobe ended their education dis-

counts, so [Blake] pays full-price for each user that is granted access. [The way that access is granted is] I tell [ Justin ] Karels which students need to use it and he manually subscribes them to Adobe CC. At the end of the semester, those students get taken off.”

If a student or teacher needs access to Photoshop, for example, but they are not in any of the aforementioned courses or organizations, they can use alternate editing websites such as GIMP software (which is free) and Affinity Pro and Affinity Camera.

Rowan Wallin Sago mentions GIMP, a free program that provides similar resources to Photoshop, saying, “It’s a crowdsourced software... they’re trying to keep up with every innovation that Photoshop does.”

“Libguides has 36 data bases that range from history to science and everything in between that [the school] subscribes to for students to access.”

- Kali Olson

Unknowns of Our Laptops

Often overlooked helpful publication

Yoni Zacks | Sports Editor

The New York Times.

Those four words can invoke one of many opinions. The Times as it is also known covers everything from Broadway to the NFL to the White House.

The normal price of a subscription is $1.50 a week or $6 a month. That price includes News, Cooking, Wirecutter (product reviews), Games, and The Athletic. With the subscriptions provided by the school, we don’t have access to Games or The Athletic.

The biggest resource students receive is news. News can be anything from the latest discoveries in science to Auburn University banning TikTok and everything in between. This is the bulk of the New York Times, with 15 of the 26 masthead editors in News or Opinions, according to their website.

Avid Times reader Liam Coley ‘25 takes advantage of a different type of the podcasts. “I listen to podcasts because it is a quick and easy way to listen to the news from a variety of sources... I don’t just listen to the news though, I also like paranormal, true crime, and history shows too.”

News isn’t just used for

Canva

Easy to use platform allows for quality artistic work

Claire Cao | Staff Writer

Canva is a graphic design platform that Blake students often use for their projects in various classes. Among other design programs, Canva doesn’t especially stand out, but its access to premium features sets the program apart.

Although Blake has used Canva for a long time, Blake has used other graphic design websites, including Piktochart. Nat Gilsdorf capitalizes on this idea: “We used to use a service called Piktochart for years…but they actually changed their business model right around the same time Canva approached us to make it so then you would have to pay to print your product and a lot of the other alternatives are the same…So, that’s a big part of why

fun. Classes such as Janet Williams ’ Chemistry class and Amanda Pomerleau ’s Comparative Politics class often use the Times. Pomerleau states, “One of the reasons I assign New York Times articles is because it’s one of the major publications in the U.S. that tends to be pretty reliable in terms of fact checking… also because it is really accessible.”

Chemistry student Zac Gartner ‘25 says, “I only use it for [Williams’ chemistry and Stacy Helmbrecht-Wilson ’s U.S. History] class, but I can see how it would be helpful if you like to follow the news and stuff.”

The Cooking section is massive, featuring ba-

sic and advanced recipes, recommendations for what to cook, and even the ability to create a grocery list within the times.

The other major part of the Times is the Wirecutter section, which is mostly reviews of products. The Times reviews every product you can think of, from kitchen essentials to clothing. This can be very helpful if you are looking for deeper reviews than can be found on websites like Amazon and Target. The two downsides, though, are what students do not have access to. You are unable to play the large crossword or several levels of the non-daily games without paying for a games subscription. However,

there is still some access, unlike The Athletic.

The Athletic is a subscription-based sports news website, with writers covering almost every team in the NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB. Unfortunately, our New York Times accounts do not give us access to these, even though it is a property of The Times and comes with a paid subscription. This may be due to the fact that their adjusted operating loss for Q3 of 2022 (the most recent available) was $9.6 million (they lost 9.6 million dollars in the third quarter of last year). However, a subscription for just The Athletic with the current promotion costs $2 for the first year.

we like Canva.” Not only does Canva allow features that would have otherwise been restricted from other services, but Canva also offers an additional unique factor.

Many students may have noticed the premium feature on Canva and the additional benefts it provides, however, little is known about how Blake originally got Canva in the frst place. While a typical user would pay around $120 per year for premium, Blake received it for free. Gilsdorf further

explains: “They gave it to us, for free…Canva launched their education program last year and I think as a part of trying to advertise and get people involved in Canva, they gave it out to a bunch of schools so we actually got the Canva premium.” As a result of this education program Canva provided, all Blake students have access to benefts that would’ve otherwise cost money.

So, what do Blake students think about Canva? Tony Liu ’25 states, “[Canva] is help-

ful because it’s really easy to organize all your information that the teacher usually makes you put on for like a presentation.” Liu also believes that no other alternatives are better.

On the contrary, Daniel Hasday-Erbsen ‘26 disagrees with Liu’s statement: “Canva is more [for] educational use and making like posters… whereas photoshop is actually good at editing and if you want to make something more professional…it’s more useful.”

Melody Lee

Twin Cities’ Air Quality Depleted, Unsafe Due to Temperature Fluctuation

Climate change disturbs air quality

Amelia Bush | Managing Editor

“Air quality alert!”

These words have been popping up everywhere in my life for the past week, whether it’s on my phone or on road signs when I’m driving. But what does it actually mean? And why does it matter?

The Air Quality Index was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to alert the public about the danger in air quality, specifically the pollutants watched by the Clean Air Act. There’s ground level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide.

According to the Co-

of air movement, like there hasn’t been a fresh air mass of air to come through and push this air mass away. It’s just been stagnant…when that happens, all of the particles that our cars are emitting…if that goes in the air and there’s not a fresh air mass coming in then it just gets stuck in the air and hangs there.”

Rowan Wallin

In Minnesota, the winter air quality is the worst it’s ever been since 2005 and there hasn’t been an air quality alert since August 2021 in which the alert was issued due to smoke from forest fires.

According to MPR

News, “There’s been a temperature inversion in the atmosphere, acting as a lid of sorts to keep pollutants near the ground. And the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says that with temperatures near freezing, moisture released by

BEARBOTICS CLUB SPOTLIGHT

Shruti Balachander | Staff Writer

Wheeled around the school to admissions events and used in last year’s senior prank, the robotic blue couch is a quintessential symbol of Blake. A product of the Bearbotics club, the Upper School’s robotics team, the couch was created along with other niche projects prior to competition season. Nat Gilsdorf, the former Bearbotics adviser, recalls, “There isn’t anyone left who even remembers it being built; [It must have been] six or seven years ago.”

Beyond creating the blue couch, the club learns about engineering fundamentals and builds robots in preparation for competitions. The club participates in many competitions, all leading up to regionals, expected to take place Mar. 23-26 this

year.

The faculty advisor is Madeline Burton ‘07, taking the position Gilsdorf held last year. Gilsdorf adds that “the coaches are two guys, Aiden and Alex, who are both students at Dunwoody Technical College.” With the Upper School campus being a mere few steps from the Dunwoody Technical College, robotics coaching is quite accessible.

Alongside the coaches, there are many captains that help lead the club. William Anderson ‘23 mentioned how “this year is my first year as captain. For me when I joined, I was interested in the engineering side of things and there were a lot of opportunities in robotics.”

All of them help the students prepare for the mini-competitions leading up to regionals. Gilsdorf mentions that these are “smaller competitions that are not official where teams don’t advance, just opportunities for the team to meet and practice.”

The major competition

includes 25 teams who all compete in individual games “which are between two teams of four; i.e. Blake and three other schools against four other schools,” according to Gilsdorf. Anderson adds that “every year, there is an event called kickoff where they introduce a video and all the rules for the competition. This year there are cubes that we need to pick up and be able to move around.”

Each round lasts for three minutes and the events vary depending on what was decided beforehand, such as using robots to move cones and maneuver around obstacles. Points are accumulated throughout all the different competitions, which helps each individual school and the total amount gained for the team of four schools.

“The top eight teams advance to a final round and they get to pick other teams to come with them,” says Gilsdorf. Afterwards, the top four teams advance to the national competition where

the final winner will be assigned.

Another important aspect of the competition are the stands each school has set up to fix robots and advertise what has been built. While teams are repairing the robots, people scout out the competition and build alliances by visiting the booths. These alliances can be beneficial in the context of the competition because the top eight winners at regionals are able to take their friends with them from other schools.

Regarding the actual club, Anderson mentions, “The club meets every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. There’s the postseason and pre-season where we cut back a little bit.” Gilsdorf adds that the “majority of the members are upperclassmen” and that more sophomore and freshman participants are needed. Even if someone isn’t interested in building the actual robots, there’s equal importance placed on advertising the team.

Before anyone joins the club, there are some assumptions that Anderson clarified about, including that the club “is super intense and you need to have a lot of experience in engineering and that really isn’t the case. Even if you haven’t done anything at all, there are a lot of great options available.”

Gilsdorf adds that anyone who has an interest in robotics, machinery or engineering would be encouraged to join the club, especially since it’s a low-stakes commitment without any pre-requisite of knowledge.

melting snow also has helped trap particulates near the surface.”

Science teacher Rebekah Johnson says, “There’s been a lot of foggy weather which means there’s a lot of moisture in our air and there hasn’t been a lot

Carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles seem to be a major cause for the Twin Cities’ recent lingering poor air quality. The majority of vehicle exhaust emissions are composed of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water vapor, and oxygen in unconsumed air. lumbia Climate School, “A level of 100 is deemed safe for each pollutant. An AQI number under 100 signifies good or acceptable air quality, while a number over 100 is cause for concern and triggers an alert for vulnerable groups.”

Johnson also says that students can “think about anything you do that puts particles up into the atmosphere. On the individual level it’s mostly driving, like if you have a car that burns fuel, that combustion process can put particulates up in the air. Also, if you have a backyard fire, burning stuff – those particles have to go in the air. These days, with the bad air quality, you don’t want to drive as much, burn stuff and that type of thing.”

BLOOD DRIVE SUCCESS

On Wednesday Jan. 18, Forum organized the Upper School blood drive to help reduce the nationwide shortage of blood.

Sofia Perri ‘23 , the senior class representative and proponent of this blood drive, says, “This year, [we offered] gift cards to those who donated and more community-level promoting [of the blood drive] by talking to people about what giving blood is like and why it’s important… that personal relationship, I think, is why we got so many people to donate this year.”

Perri concludes, “For this blood drive, we got 29 whole blood units and four double red blood cell units; this is really great, particularly for the double red blood cells. It’s usually quite hard to get people to donate blood and we met the goal and are making a change in the Minneapolis community.”

Club leader, former faculty advisor provide

Rowan Wallin

Kate Rekas

Kate Rekas

By donating, both Theo Fechtmeyer ‘23 (above) and Mira Sutherland ‘23 (below) had the opportunity to win gift cards.

Rowan Wallin | Co-Editor-in-Chief

Students’ Decide: Best Free Block on the Schedule

Students’ generally satisfied with free blocks

Sofia Perlman | InDepth Editor

Each different free block comes with its own benefits. If you have a free block first thing in the morning, or at the end of the day, you can arrive at school later or leave early. Some eleventh and twelfth graders are lucky enough to have a schedule with two free blocks, sometimes both of them falling on the same day. This semester, I have no free block in my schedule. After having block 2 free last semester, I’ve realized how helpful free blocks are in staying organized and on top of my work. Having block 2 free also gave me the option of coming to school later on some days when this block falls at the beginning of the day.

Shireen Dalton ‘25 currently has Block 2 free,

and she shared the appreciation for having flexibility in the morning time. Dalton noted that if she could choose, she would have a free block “at the end of the day, like [blocks] 6 or 7 so that I could leave early.” In a survey out of 158 upper school stu dents, the major ity of people would like to have block 7 free if they were to change their free block.

KateRekas

‘24 has block 4 free, he states, “I think generally it’s nice at times to be able to choose which lunch I eat.” Block 4 is a common free block among students, as the majority of survey respondents have this free block (breakdown shown in

pie chart). Many students noted that it is helpful to get assistance from teachers during free blocks if they are available. An anony-

of the day because I’m at school and motivated to do work and so I’ll be able to get work done.” Hardy echoes Flikke’s comment, noting, “It also coincides with lunch and so if I have a lot of work to do I can work through lunch and give myself an extra 40 minutes to work.”

Hardy also had block 2 free first semester, however

mous survey respondent noted that their “[P]hysics teacher is available to help” during their block 4 free block.

Sam Hardy ‘24 has block 5 free, he says, “I like having it in the middle

Lunches Leave No Crumbs

Students see improvement in lunch quality, lunchroom layout

Winnie Ulland | Staff Writer

Returning to school af-

ter a semester abroad came with many surprises, but the most notable was the dining setup, tech, and style transformation. Contrary to last school year’s lunches, in which students were served the main course throughout the lunch block, the main entree is now self-serve at times, offering students more freedom with their portions—a definite perk. The layout improvements don’t end with the two self-serve stations. The cafeteria also has incorporated two grab-and-go stations, a power bowl line, and three spots to pick up dessert.

In addition to these changes, students are offered more flavored water options than ever, encouraging hydration throughout lunch. The salad bar also boasts more options than ever, with fresh fruit, vegetables and dressings. The grab-and-go station carries various options that allow students to grab lunch and take it with them to study, attend club meetings, and socialize during lunch outside of the busy dining hall.

One of my preferred graband-go items is the BBQ chicken sandwich. This option has definitely become a favorite to pick up

something I can eat in the cafeteria, and the increase of options and improved layout have shortened the lines that used discourage

Surveyed 158 Students

he appreciates having to be at school for block 5, stating, “it was great because I could sleep in a little bit on some days but having block 5 [free] just allows me to get more work done during the day and put less things off…I think I’m more productive with block 5 [free].”

One anonymous student shared this perspective, noting, “It’s a much more productive time than when [I] work at home so I’m able to get a lot more work done in less time. For some reason being at school and working is just

less distracting.”

Another anonymous student pointed out a difficulty they face, stating, “I like having free blocks but I have trouble effectively using them because I can’t find a quiet spot to do work.” Overall, students share a great appreciation for the flexibility and extra time to work free blocks allow. From having a break in the middle of the school day to going home early, free blocks prove to be very beneficial. An anonymous student stated, “I love my free block. It’s the only time [I] do my homework.”

Survey Response

Winter Activities Delight

Cold weather creates opportunities for fun, athletics

Sam Tomczik | Staff Writer

Though the winter season can often be dreary and dull, the outdoor activities it provides are truly the season’s best gifts. Whether you decide to ski, snowboard, or skate on one of the countless lakes across Minnesota, you can be guaranteed an enjoyable experience. Those who likewise chose to brave the cold agree.

when homework piles up and my lunch block turns into an impromptu study hall to finish remaining homework.

As someone who hasn’t eaten school lunch since the fall of my freshman year, this year has made a significant difference. There’s always

me from even attempting to dine in the dining hall. Overall, the thought that has been put into improving the dining experience encourages students to actually attend the lunch period, and eat the food provided, a welcome change from years past.

After starting to ski this winter, Obi Nwokocha ‘25 now finds no outdoor activity he doesn’t enjoy. “[Skiing and sledding] are something you’re doing outside and feel like a change of pace from your normal day,” says Nwokocha.

Like Nwokocha, Molly Seidel ‘24 relishes both the fun nature of the activities and the valuable time with friends and family. Seidel also enjoys the more nostalgic winter activities, “I attempted to make a snowman, however, the snow wasn’t sticky enough at the time, so no snowballs would form,” she said sadly.

Sinclair Christie ‘26, who skis and skates competitively, says, “skiing and skating for fun [is] a lot less stressful” due to the more relaxed environment. Similarly,

Seidel also finds skating outdoors enjoyable, despite not skating competitively. She says, “I like to ice skate in the winter… there’s an [outdoor rink] that my dad and I usually go to.”

The variety of activities available is another appeal to these winter pastimes. While skiing and snowboarding can become fun, full days with family and friends, skating and sledding can be quick yet enjoyable activities. “It depends on the day, sometimes, you feel like doing an activity, and sometimes, you just feel like enjoying the scenery,” says Seidel. Whatever your mood is,

Submitted by: Obi Nwokocha

there’s a perfect winter activity for it. The only negative to winter activities, according to Nwokocha, is “the cold; it can be really bad. But as long as you dress properly for it [it’s still worth it] to go out with your friends.”

Not only are winter activities fun in and of themselves, but according to Seidel, “after you get to go inside and be all warm, that’s the fun part.”

Whether you have a leisurely day of sledding and snowmen-building, an intense day of snowy-downhill sports, or spend a few hours skating with your friends, the winter season offers fun to everyone!

Kate Rekas

Melody Lee

“Free block is a time where I can just get some time to organize, plan and complete homework.” -

The grab-and-go station provides pizza to students twice every week and is always one of the biggest hits during lunch.

Winnie Ulland

Obi Nwokocha and his family goes skating in Plymouth, MN.

Defining community core values

At the beginning of the school year administrators introduced quarterly advisory themes, based on the core values that the school strives to embody. While these themes were intended to re-engage the community after COVID-19 and help advisory be structured and productive, the result is limited participation.

For quarter three, the focus core value is Integrity. The school defines Integrity as “honest, moral, fair, and considerate behavior is expected of all members of the school community” whereas Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines integrity as a “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values: incorruptibility, an unimpaired condition: soundness, or the quality or state of being complete or undivided.” Both definitions are filled with big adjectives that can be difficult to fully comprehend, especially when students are completely disengaged. Asking students to define words and have debates over which interpretation is the most fitting creates the feeling that the school is trying to fill a quota of promises made to the families of the students, especially considering not all advisories do the activities. This dilemma then raises the question of how to

make the conversation surrounding the community’s core values more engaging.

One quarterly theme Spectrum agreed did work was the core value of a love of learning. We’ve concluded that this success is due to the fact that there is something to be uncovered and there are experiences to be shared. Rather than contemplating the definition of a love of learning, advisories were able to apply the theme to their lived experiences. It is a well known fact that people love talking about themselves, and therefore talking about what the theme looks like or has looked like in your life will be the most effective way to get the conversation around the core value started. Instead of making the theme of integrity hypothetical, encouraging students to talk about how they’ve experienced integrity or a lack of it would be far more productive.

So what does integrity look like? In order to accurately accomplish the task of diving into integrity, it is important to have concrete examples of what it might look like in the school community.

For example, the mere fact that certain advisories don’t participate in the advisory activities is a lack of integrity. It is a fracture in the community. Academic honesty plays a huge role in integrity as well. If others break the moral standards, it hurts the community.

Instead of trying to define each core value, people can share their own experiences where

“ I T’S JUST L IKE HO M IE, YOU KNOW?”

- N EVA B AKSHI ‘25

“ I L IKE THE E M OTIONA L ASPE C T.”

- MA L IKA CHEBA CL O ‘25

they won’t feel like they are ratting out others. An example of what integrity looks like that isn’t academic honesty is picking up plates and trash. When the weather is nice out, some students decide to sit in the courtyard for lunch. What starts out as a great privilege becomes ruined when you walk outside at the end of the day only to see countless plates left behind on the steps. This lunch plate debacle reveals something about our community. If a fracture in the community is present, people are a lot more likely to fix something present than to address a crack no one knows about. Other students that don’t contribute to the trash often end up picking up the plates themselves in an attempt to repair the fracture in the community.

The staff recommends that you do the advisory activities. Don’t just push them to the side but instead learn from them and absorb what the administrators are trying to teach us. Find ways to engage yourself and come up with examples. Don’t weaken the integrity of the community by refusing to do the activities. If you see someone acting without integrity, don’t let them get away with it. Instead of rushing to clean up abandoned plates yourself, try and get the litterers to do it first. Be considerate of the people around you, and respect the activities the administrators have created. There is no integrity in ignoring these activities, and isn’t that what they are all about?

MN’s Superior Ski Slopes

Nearby ski hills perfect for fun day outdoors

Oscar Walsh | Editor

Emeritus

We are lucky enough to be surrounded by countless ski areas within an hour or so of Minneapolis. Ease of access to skiing is about as good as it can get. Terrain may always be fairly limited, but the variety of slopes and lodges can keep anyone willing to try their hand at skiing or snowboarding busy all winter long. I hope to make the decision a little bit simpler by listing the pros and cons of some of the closest and best options.

Beginning closest to Minneapolis, Buck Hill and Hyland Hills both offer easy access and various terrain options. Both hills have very similar daily lift ticket prices of around 40 dollars. It’s

important to note that Buck Hill offers a ten dollar discount on tickets purchased online.

Hyland Hills offers skiers and boarders a more complex and more substantial terrain park than Buck Hill. The slope terrain offered by the two hills is fairly similar, however, Hyland only boasts 175 feet of vertical incline whereas Buck Hill sports a vertical incline almost double at 309 feet. Buck offers a little more variability in its runs and steepness, but the overall experience is not too different. The Hyland Hills chalet is more modern and the layout is more friendly to first-time visitors, while Buck Hill has a more spread-out style with a classic lodge feeling. Buck Hill has recently improved its food options, but either way, expect to pay a premium for chalet food no matter where you choose to visit. On a typical weekend,

Buck and Hyland can become busy quickly, but each offer extra parking with free shuttle buses to make up for the full parking lots by mid-day. For those who have skied larger terrain outside of Minnesota, Buck Hill’s vertical is not the most impressive. If it’s steeper terrain and more options you’re looking for, Afton Alps presents the ideal option. Only about 20 minutes further than Buck or Hyland, Afton Alps provides 17 different chairlifts compared to Hyland’s eight and Buck Hill’s three lifts. Here, you can find the most interesting and fun runs accessible only 50 minutes from Minneapolis. At Afton, it’s easy to spend an entire day skiing or boarding different runs and chairlifts. From beginner’s runs to a mini back bowl, Afton Alps boasts the most entertaining and fun snowsport experience in the area.

Hot Takes from the Halls

“CARIBOU HAS BETTER PASTRIES.”

- H ARRIS S TO C KTON ‘23

S

M ORE.”

- CH L OE LIPHA M ‘23

“CARIBOU’S H OT CHO C OL ATE IS BETTER. I T’S JUST BETTER.”

- ELL A T UTTEROW ‘25

“COUNTRY IS JUST BORING.”

- G RADY R ANNOW ‘24

S ONG S UGGESTIONS: “COUNTRY G IR L” BY LUKE B RYAN AND “ B EFORE H E CHEATS” BY CARRIE U NDERWOOD.

“ R ESO L UTIONS USUA LLY FAI L .”

- ELL A K VITTE M ‘23

“ P EOP L E ARE C ONSTANT LY C HANGING AND SETTING GOA L S, THE NEW YEAR SHOU L DN’T BE YOUR SO L E REASON.”

-J A C KIE W ETHINGTON ‘23

Kelly Deng and Charlotte Palmby | Staff Writers

TARBU C KS .VS. CARIBOU

“[ S TARBU C KS HAS] M ORE VARIETY, I HAVE FRIENDS THAT WORK THERE, AND I L IKE THE VIBES

Kate Rekas

personality types re-charge differently

Extrovert

Grace Gullickson | Contributing Writer

What makes an extrovert an extrovert? Merriam-Webster defines it as “a typically gregarious and unreserved person who enjoys and seeks out social interaction.” Growing up, I always wanted to relate to this definition, but because I grew up with a family of introverts, I felt fixed in the category of introvert. As a child I tended to copy the behavior of those around me, being my family. So, growing up in a family of introverts, I acquired the belief that I too was an introvert. My family also tended to be self conscious and shy, and so I followed along with that belief.

I distinctly remember one time in my 7th grade English class when I was called on to answer a question. I began getting visibly stressed and after few seconds quickly answered “word thingies.” I felt so embarrassed because everyone knew I just messed up so badly. I thought it was better to be quiet and unknown, than have the potential to be disliked or talked about. I felt safe being quiet and shy, I didn’t want to face judgments of others. Over time, I realized being shy and quiet was no longer serving a positive purpose in my life. I felt bored and unfulfilled. This made me realize that I might not be an introvert, since introverts tend to feel better being alone. I decided to make a change and figure out who I truly am. Since I was going to switch schools the following year (ninth grade), I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to face my fears of speaking up in class. I didn’t care if others judged me, because I wasn’t going to see them again after that year.

I discovered my love for talking. I noticed talking more made me feel more energized, fulfilled, and happy. This was an important milestone in my journey of embracing myself as an extrovert. Then, over the summer of 2020, I decided to work on my confidence, since that had also been lacking throughout the years of being shy. I decided I no longer was going to be affected by the judgments of others.

Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, my first year at Blake, I discovered the importance socializing has in my life. I began embracing myself as an extrovert more and more each day.

Today, I feel my most comfortable when I am talking to others and speaking up in class. I feel so much more confident and happy now that I have embraced my extroversion. Developing confidence and embracing my extroverted personality has genuinely changed my life. I do better in school when I am actively speaking up in class and talking to my peers and teachers. I feel happier when I am talking to people, whether it be strangers or friends. I feel so at home with myself and happier than I have ever been before.

Faith Zhao | Staff Writer Ambivert

JoJo Arlowe | Contributing Writer

Ihave always hesitated to call myself an ambivert, as it’s such an arbitrary term, since no one is 100% introverted nor 100% extroverted. Oxford Languages defines ambivert as “a person whose personality has a balance of extrovert and introvert features.” Rather than being constrained to just one personality type or the other, an ambivert might function with a blend of traits from each side.

Saléya Scott ‘25, an ambivert, noticed that the amount she talks and acts in an extroverted manner in class has a strong correlation with what class she’s in. “It depends on the classes, like when I’m in one class that I have with friends I might talk a lot, or even if I don’t have friends I might talk a lot, but it all just depends on the class,” said Scott. Scott’s level of comfort with speaking depending on which class she’s in could provide an advantage for her, as she finds that in classes where she is relatively quiet, she feels just as engaged with the material, and says in fact, she sometimes learns more, because she’s less distracted. On the other hand, she’s also able to understand the material better by conferring with her peers by asking questions and sharing ideas.

Ella Tutterow ‘25, an introvert, gave her opinion about the impact, or lack thereof, her introversion has on her social life saying, “I don’t really feel the need to spend time with my friends every single weekend.” Tutterow also doesn’t “really seek out new people, but still [has] friends” she values.

Rather than “ambivert,” I think of myself as an introverted extrovert. I love spending time alone drawing, reading, watching TV, exercising, and more. But I definitely get more energy from my interactions with friends, teammates, family, coaches, and teachers. One advantage of being an introverted extrovert is that I get to recharge with down time, but I also have more fun with friends. It’s a different kind of reenergizing, and for me it’s all about keeping the right balance between the two.

What do you first think of when the word “introvert” comes up? A shy and quiet person? Merriam-Webster’s definition is “a person whose personality is characterized by introversion: a typically reserved or quiet person who tends to be introspective and enjoys spending time alone.” In the 1900s, psychologist Carl Jung was the first person to use the term “introvert,” explaining how these two personality types are sorted into how they obtain and spend energy. An introverted person may feel more comfortable being alone and dislike big crowds, prefer to write rather than talk, have few friendships but are very close with the friends they do have, dislike being the center of attention but are observant and make thoughtful decisions.

A few of my introverted friends have agreed with these statements, sharing that they dislike group discussions and are not comfortable with sharing their ideas. This does not pertain to the fact that introverts don’t speak at all, or that there is no room for growth and risk taking. Taking risks helps a person grow and learn, and introverts are fully capable of doing so. Jack Dillon ‘26 says that “I think overall the teachers at Blake are really good and just school as an institution it does very much award [talking] directly to the classes.”

Some common misconceptions that I hear are that introverted people don’t have friends and they can’t be leaders. Many introverts I know have different levels of being one. Some have characteristics of extroverts, talking loudly and feeling completely comfortable with a group of people. Others on the more introverted side don’t talk as much, but are still able to have a good relationship with others, like simple and kind actions. Introversion doesn’t mean an isolated life, but rather being comfortable with being alone. Dillon says, “I don’t feel as much of a need [to] converse with other people as much, like you’re okay with being on your own for a bit but then, you do enjoy being with your friends.”

A person can still talk and share ideas while being introverted, recharging by themselves in their own time. Dillon explains that “it’s a lot more than a simple binary, one definition that I really liked was, introverts are people who recharge on their own and spend their energy to interact with other people.” Dillon points out the fact that “if you’re an extrovert or an introvert it doesn’t mean it’s going to be that for the rest of your life or even that it’s going to be constant, [people] change and have different moods.”

The idea that introverted people can’t be leaders is false, as very successful people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Albert Einstein, Emma Watson, Maryl Streep, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, and Abraham Lincoln are more introverted and have been able to change the world with their ideas.

Students comment on challenges of programs

Rhea Balachandran | Staff Writer

Althoughmany students were ready to return to school on Jan.

3, Swiss Semester students came back to Minnesota from Switzerland for the first time in three months.

Leyla Lyu ‘25, Uma Bastodkar ‘25, and Obi Nwokocha ‘25 described their experience in Switzerland and their subsequent return to school.

The students spent their school time as a resident of a school in Zermatt. For Lyu, her favorite part of Swiss semester was “skiing on the mountains.” Bastodkar says that her favorite part was “going to Venice, hiking, and climbing.” The students’ curriculum was heavily condensed to make room

SOPHOMORES explore Switzerland

for activities. Because of the condensed classes, students only had a twohour period to complete all their homework for the day. Nwokocha says this rigorous schedule developed his “time management since [he didn’t] have all the time from getting home after school.” Bastodkar agrees, saying she “developed really good time management because we had no time to do anything.”

Although those experiences seemed fun, Bastodkar reflects on some of the more challenging and surprising aspects of taking a Swiss semester abroad. “I didn’t expect it’d be tough and challenging… the hiking was ridiculously hard, and I realized I had a fear of heights.” She also adds the impact on her wellbeing, “My mental health was pretty much badly impacted because I was struggling every day… I would be crying every

Below: Pihlstrom and her friend Daisy pose in front of the cloud covered Thunersee Lake at sunset after taking the gondola up. Groups of 10-17 attended the different weekend trips.

single night.” Although Bastodkar was heavily impacted by her trip, she says “it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my life.”

Nwokocha says that the trip pushed him to try different things: “You’re in a completely different environment, and around different people… you get pushed out of your comfort zone a lot. Whether it’s the activity, or meeting new people.” Bastodkar also encourages students wishing to do Swiss semester to keep an open mindset, adding, “I was really just scared to do stuff and I wasn’t pushing myself, but later on I started pushing myself. But if I pushed myself, in the beginning, I would have gotten a fuller experience.”

Above: View from the top of the Neiderhorn gondola where students stayed the night in a mountain hut. Below: Pihlstrom, Bastodkar, and Lyu complete a two-day hike to the Trift

Vivien Pihlstrom ‘25 describes semester abroad

Zoey Ueland | Co-Editor-in-Chief

Nestled between the peaks and valleys of the Swiss mountains sits Swiss Semester, a highly competitive three month study abroad program for high school sophomores, Pihlstrom chose to attend for the first semester of the school year.

Inspired by both her cousin and sister’s great experiences in Zermatt, Pihlstrom said she “didn’t have any doubts about applying.” She adds, “The activities were a deciding factor and also being in another country was also something really cool.”

Swiss Sem combines rigorous academics with the picturesque landscape. Students would wake up

around 7 a.m., eat breakfast as a group, have a morning meeting and either three or four classes. Students then had an activity block where, “you’d either do a hike, you’d climb, you’d have a science lab for geology, or you’d go back to your classes.” In the winter, this time was spent skiing down Switzerland’s slopes.

The schedule was jam packed, often Pihlstrom and fellow Swiss Sem members “found it really hard to complete all of their homework in that time frame.”

She continues, “Specifically for the languages, we’d learn a verb tense in a day and then have a quiz on it the next day.” Yet upon return, “you’re pretty ahead in most other subjects,” Pihlstrom explains.

Weekends were dependent on the weather rather than a normal five day week and two day weekend, but were untraditional in more ways than one. The longest “week” of school was eleven days straight. “It was crazy,” Pihlstrom recalls. Bike trips, hikes, museum visits, ice climbing, and mountain hiking were all offered over two day periods. Pihlstrom recollects, “I choose to do a lot of the bike trips… I went to Bern, the capital, and then I biked

to Guerre. And then I went on this glacier walk.”

Other times, groups went to Venice and Annecy where they walked among canals and through old churches. Pihlstrom explains, “You had an assignment packet to complete where you’d visit a bunch of monuments and churches but basically after that you had a lot of free time where you got to walk around these really cool cities.”

Bonding is embedded within the program by operating completely free of electronics. Pihlstrom noted, “I actually really liked [not having my phone].” Students could bond during limited breaks, playing foosball, soccer, and going on runs through the alps. After graduating, they created both a Snapchat group and Instagram account. “I keep in touch with my roommates and then a couple of my other close friends,” Pihlstrom adds. Over Presidents Day weekend, they are hoping to meet up.

Strong bonds go beyond friends, Pihlstrom explains that she continues to keep in touch with her teachers from the program, adding, “They were such interesting people that it was just cool to be around them.”

Submitted by: Pihlstrom

Submitted by: Pihlstrom

Hut, above Zermatt. Other attendees not pictured include Nwokocha and Sophia Peterson ‘25

Submitted by: Pihlstrom

“I would say it’s one of the most rewarding things

I’ve done in my life.”

-Uma Bastodkar ‘25

Hsia Sisters Explore Passion for Service

A result

Mackenzie Higgins | Online Editor

Fromleading the Hunger Committee and Community Service Board (CSB) Leadership Committee, to volunteering at Learning in Style School, Every Meal, and Feed My Starving Children, Maddie and Sarah have dedicated copious amounts of their time to service learning over the years.

Both sisters cite their upbringing as motivation to pursue service. Sarah explains, “Growing up, my parents, my mom in particular, really reinforced the idea of giving back to the community and helping those that are less fortunate than us.” Maddie agrees, adding, “My family loves to volunteer. If I’m volunteering, they’re also likely volunteering.”

One organization that

Both Maddie and Sarah maintain their passion for service by remaining involved in various communities. Over winter break, Maddie volunteered with Alight, at organization that helps to resettle Afghan refugees. She explained, “we had a bunch of different events that I ended up going to, including a fgure skating event to teach Afghan youth how to skate ... It was hard for them because they kept falling, but really heartwarming to see that they were laughing.” Sarah attended events at Everymeal and Feed my Starving Children. In the future, she hopes to continue to volunteer with those organizations and branch out to discover new ways to help.

graduation she hopes to “continue to engage in community service,” adding, “because I think wherever you are, it’s important to give back to the community.”

The sisters’ dedication to service certainly does not go unnoticed by the Blake community. Daphne Dresner ‘24, another member of the CSB Leadership Committee explains, “They’re really good at coming up with ideas, they’re both full participants in everything they do for causes they genuinely care about.” Taara Verma ‘24, a fellow CoChair of the Hunger Committee and member of the Leadership Committee agrees saying, “This speaks to both of them, but they [have such good] initiative. [They] bring up new ideas and make sure things are planned.” Verma continues, “Anytime there’s some sort of volunteer spot that needs to be filled, one of them is always the first to sign up.” For anyone interested in getting involved with service, Sarah recommends joining CSB and talking

Sept. 30, 2022. Sarah interviews a staff member from Every Meal on Legacy Day. Included in the service work that day was packing fortified oatmeal which was then distributed to local children in need via Every Meal.

Maddie has spent a lot of time with is Learning in Style School, which teaches adult immigrants and refugees English. Her initial interest was sparked by a personal connection to the work they do; she explains, “The main driving factor behind [my interest in Learning in Style] is that all four of my grandparents were immigrants. They were given chances to succeed in the U.S., and I want to help other immigrants succeed.” Maddie continues, “There’s kind of a family aspect to it. My family experienced [immigrating to the U.S.] and now I want to pay it forward for other families coming to Minnesota.”

Taking after her sister, Sarah works with Learning in Style School as well. “I started getting

May 2021. A then-chair of Hunger Committe, Maddie organized an online cooking class with Chef John Sigimura and Taher staff. Participents made Gyoza from their kitchens and donated to Every Meal via ticket sales.

into Learning in Style because of [Maddie]. She got to know the organization before I did, so I kind of went with her for that,” she notes.

Their roles at Learning in Style have varied, Maddie describes, “This past summer, I was doing some office work and organization for them.” Sarah adds, “During [COVID-19], I worked in their food shelf, which provided food and other necessities for their students. I also worked in the classrooms with them, tutoring their adult, immigrant students.” Sarah explains her favorite part of the service she does is “the relationships and connections I build. For Learning in Style, I get to know the students and some of the teachers… It’s fun to get to know more people that are

like-minded.”

Within the Blake community, the sisters are also very active in service. As a member of the CSB Leadership Committee, Maddie explains she’s “currently [working on] a lot of CSB stuff … in the next few weeks, we’ll be going over fundraising applications, which it’s always fun to see how creative committees can get and what they’re interested in doing.” She continues, “Using that creativity to do something good and to help the community is really cool to see.” Sarah is a Co-Chair of the Hunger Committee which entails “[working] with our partner organization Every Meal and [doing] packing events and other fundraisers.”

A goal of Sarah’s for the Hunger Committee

Apr. 2022. Maddie and fellow CSB members decorated the Blake Dining Commons with collages made on Legacy Day for the upcoming Iftar dinner organzied by Alight in partnership with Blake. The event drew in over 150 familles to break their fast.

is “spreading more awareness about the issues

focus on like food insecurity,

All photos submitted by: Lisa Sackreiter

Feb. 2022. Maddie and Sarah worked with Alight, an organization helping to resettle refugees in the Twin Cities community. They helped to set up an apartment for an Afghan family new to Minnesota by moving furniture, stocking supplies, and making beds.

Úpcoming CSB Events

Feb. 9 & 10: Leters of Love wil sel cards and candy for delivery to othrs on Feb. 14.

Feb. 15: CSB Leadership Commite is hosting a food colection for Highcroft kindergartners as a part of Inerfaith Outreach. Bring donations to advisory.

Mar. 11: Unifed Commite Invites Middle and Upper School Studens to participate in th Special Olympics MN Polar Plunge with partners Th Western Wings.

it is in Minnesota.” While Maddie’s time with CSB is coming to a close, after

Mar. 11: Habitat for Humanity wil host a build. Site to be determined.

Apr. 20 & 21: Environmenal Commite wil hold thir annual plan sale. Al donations wil go to Dream of Wild Health.

to [Lisa] Sackreiter. “She has a lot of good opportunities, she is really knowledgeable, and she has connections with a lot of different places that are great to start volunteering.”

Cleo Kilpatrick

of family upbringing, Maddie Hsia ‘23 and Sarah Hsia ‘25 enact change

we

and how prevalent