Out with the Old School . in with the New Page 8&9............Climate Change’s Impact . on North Dakota

Out with the Old School in with the New

— Leah Emineth, Opinion Editor

The new Mandan High School is projected to be done in 2024 and with it comes a lot of major changes. As the number of students attending Mandan High increases, so does the need for a new school. “The new school is projected to be between 290,000 and 295,000 square feet and will be built to hold 1,400 kids,” principal Mark Andresen said. “The commons areas and gym area are gonna be built to fit roughly 1,800 kids.” The current high school only fits about 1,200 kids so the new high school will be of big importance as the younger classes move up. The school is going to be three levels and built diagonally from the sports complex. “The main level will be in the middle of the building, there will be two academic wings and one will be two floors and the other will be three,” Andresen said. “The third floor will be the CTE wing so there will basically be five academic wings.” In regards to the old high school demolition is being considered . The property then would be sold to developers to make apartment buildings or other residential areas. “The all seasons arena would not get demolished because it is owned by the park district,” Andresen said. This high school will have a completely different look than the old highschool with higher ceilings and a lot of natural light making it look and feel a lot more spacious. “When you walk into this building you will walk into a commons area that is going to be very large with lots of flexible seating and natural lighting,” Andresen said. “There is gonna be a lunch room that has probably three to four lines in it of different food options. There will also probably be a coffee bar and consessions to replace the a la carte that we have currently.” When walking into the new school directly to the right is where the gym will be located and diagonal to the commons will be the auditorium which will hold 800 seats with a balcony. “The typical classroom will probably be between 850 to 900 square feet so there will be a lot more room in the classrooms,” Andresen said. “I think the design we are going with is going to be for the future. The library is going to be very different it is going to be an open format that overlooks the cafeteria and commons.” Each wing of the school will have a commons area with different seating for kids to sit in between classes or during lunch. Mandan currently has an auto shop, tech shop, and welding shop. “We are planning to have a welding shop, two Ag shops, a construction and technology shop, and a family consumer science and health careers lab,” Andresen said. “Down in the commons kind of by the library we will have a school store and the DECA classroom right behind.” “Another key area down by the commons will be our culinary lab, a full cooking lab with glass on the windows so people walking by can see students cooking,” Andresen said. The design of the school is inspired by a High School in Sartell Minnestosa. The school will have a lot more space in general with natural light, higher ceilings, a lot more parking and seating for kids and more room in classrooms. The school is still in the developmental stages but it is full steam ahead. As of late September ground has been broken to start the new school.

Photo by Ariana Gonzalez Pictured above is the ground work for the new high school covering around 295,000 square feet.

Climate Change’s

The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, run by the United Nations, published the first part of their sixth assessment report this August. This report is noteworthy for its certain language and conclusions it has for the world.

“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land,” the IPCC said. “Each of the last four decades has been successively warmer than any decade that preceded it since 1850.”

While the IPCC has essentially concluded that climate change is man-made, the effects it will have on humans iarenot so certain. While natural disasters and weather events are guaranteed to occur, the severity depends on actions to quell the climate crisis from policymakers. “Scientists were shocked at the extent [to] which we’ve messed with the atmosphere of the entire planet,” said Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Steven Travers. “They’re saying we don’t have a lot more time.” Furthermore, the effects of climate change are seen globally. The IPCC states that compound extreme weather events will become more common, thus exacerbating the effects of already unfavorable events. “Global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least the mid-century,” the IPCC said. “Global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades.” Similar issues have been cropping up in North Dakota. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, issues such as droughts, flooding, and high temperatures are expected to become more common in North Dakota.

Impact on North Dakota

— Jasmine Patera, General Reporter

“The big one is the variance; we’re going to have a huge variance of extremes [from] absolutely no water to floods,” Associate Professor Travers said. “That lack of predictability is a really bad thing for farmers.” These weather changes result in extra costs and problems for agriculturists in the state. Droughts in particular increase costs for feed and cause significant crop damage, harming both livestock and farming industries. For example, the NCSL estimates that the 2006 drought caused $425 million in crop damages, and $32 million to the livestock industry. With droughts becoming more frequent and paired with other disasters, the damages to North Dakota agriculturists is likely to worsen. “Extreme heat and minimal moisture causes crops to be completely unprofitable, and can even cause farmers to go bankrupt over just a few bad drought years,” said senior FFA student Ashton Boehm. However, the economic effects are just as bad for ranchers. With some weather events directly putting cattle in danger, lack of feed can also cause ranchers to decrease their herd or wipe them out completely. That reality has been experienced by local agriculturists in particular. This past year has been “harsh on everybody” that farms or owns cattle. “This year, farmers have experienced drought like no other,“ junior Medora Ellingson said. “A lot of farmers and ranchers have been selling their cattle to sale barns because they can’t physically keep up and feed that many cattle.” Part of this issue is because of a lack of feed. There seems to be little surplus available for those who need more hay than they own. “With some extremely high temperatures and minimal rainfall, crops have been hard to raise,” Boehm said. “We are not expecting to make much of a profit off of crops or from selling any hay as we have no extra this year.” Though the IPCC’s most recent report has only the first part published, subsequent parts will be published in 2022.