Holiday Gift Guide
Happy Thanksgiving!
Our look at products with Eden Prairie ties
Forest Hills Elementary School students share their artistry.
Pages 22 & 23
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2011
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Southwest Light Rail Transit line Southwest Light Rail Transit stations Existing stations Planned stations
Graphic by Lorris Thornton
LRT planner: ‘Real work begins now’ EP Chamber hears update on transit project BY LEAH SHAFFER lshaffer@swpub.com
In a time of dwindling public funds, the question posed was, ‘Why invest in light rail transit?’ After sharing a grim picture of the fi nancial challenges facing Hennepin County, County Commissioner Jan Callison offered up her own LRT pitch. It has to do with national and even international competitiveness, said Callison, addressing the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce Thursday.
“We’re talking about how do we keep a jobs base?” she s a id , a nd how t he r eg ion keeps highly employed workers here. “How do we make this an attractive region?” she said. “Southwest LRT is one of those ways.” Southwest LRT is next in the queue for light rail projects in the region, following the construction of the Central Corridor. Southwest would link downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie in a 15-mile corridor with 17 stations. However, the $1.25 billion project is entering a political atmosphere averse to funding. Callison argued for the benefits of light rail transit.
LRT to page 11 ®
PHOTO BY DANIEL HUSS
Lake’s best to battle for state’s best Eagle Nation (above) will spend its post-Thanksgiving Friday cheering on the Eden Prairie High School football team as it battles the Wayzata Trojans in the Class 5A state championship game. Eden Prairie punched its state finals’ ticket Friday with a 49-7 victory over Totino-Grace. Wayzata punched its ticket with a 42-0 win over Cretin-Derham Hall. Friday’s game, at the Metrodome, is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. For more on Eden Prairie football, go to page 12.
EDEN PRAIRIE SCHOOL DISTRICT
EPHS ahead of the curve District earns a spot on the Advanced Placement Honor Roll for second year in a row BY LEAH SHAFFER lshaffer@swpub.com
BELIEVE IT … STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
PHOTO BY DANIEL HUSS
A week ago, Eden Prairie sophomore Kira Zubar posted the fastest 500 freestyle time at the Section 6AA Swim Meet. On Friday, her state-meet preliminary race was the fastest of the meet. Saturday, she completed the trifecta, swimming her 500 to a state championship. Zubar’s time was a team record 4:52.45. In addition, she’d place fifth in the 200 freestyle. For more on the state meet, go to page 12.
Eden Prairie High School put an effort into increasing participation in Advanced Placement courses over the past few years. The high school now offers 14 AP courses, anything from AP statistics (the most popular choice) to more obscure offerings, such as AP macroeconomics. For students, the benefits of AP classes are plentiful. The time you spend in AP equals money saved for college courses. If students take AP tests and score 3 or higher, they can get college credit. Nikhal Kapil, who has taken nine AP credits, agreed that it saves money and time. “That’s how I see it,” he said, during a recent AP chemistry class. His lab partner Ben Dardick is also a veteran of EPHS AP classes, including AP calculus. Dardick said he plans to be an engineer so, even with the AP credits he’ll have plenty more science and math ahead of him. But taking AP classes and testing out of some of the
general courses allows him more options in what college courses he takes. “That’s why the AP classes are nice here, because I can get out of some of the math classes,” he said. EPHS recently earned a spot on the College Board’s AP Honor Roll for the second year in a row. It’s one of only 367 districts in the nation to earn such a spot. According to a news release from the College Board, districts earn a spot on the honor roll, “for simultaneously increasing access to Advanced Placement course work while maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP exams.” Achieving both of these goals is the ideal scenario for a district’s AP program because it indicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are likely to benefit most from AP course work. The majority of U.S. colleges and universities
AP Classes to page 11 ®
PHOTO BY LEAH SHAFFER
AP Chemistry Teacher Carol Snyder looks over some temperature results with Andrew Easton. The lab project was “Determination of Molecular Weight by FreezingPoint Depression.”
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