The Royal Page Print Edition: Volume 37 Issue 4`

HOPKINS HIGH SCHOOL 2400 LINDBERGH DRIVE MINNETONKA, MN 55305

DECEMBER 21, 2018 VOLUME 37, ISSUE 4 hopkinsrp.org

RP.

College plans get creative As college costs rise and wages remain the same, students are having to get creative with how they approach paying for their further education.

In-Depth pages 6 & 7

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INSIDE NEWS 2 FEATURE 4 IN-DEPTH 6 OPINION 8 SPORTS 10 VARIETY 12

FDA regulates Juul sales, impacts teenagers Bennie Goldfarb Staff Reporter "Juul Labs," formally known as “Juul," was created in 2015 as a way to help people quit smoking cigarettes, but, since then, Juul has turned into a market dominated by high schoolers.

Juul Labs is just one company in the electronic cigarettes, or “e-cigarettes” business, but this company is by far the largest. This year, in June, it was reported by Bloomberg that they accumulated 16 billion dollars.

The founders of Juul, James Monsees and Adam Bowen, are two ex-smokers that believed it could help others with similar habits.

Releasing flavors such as Mango and Créme Brulée, has attracted the eyes of high schoolers. The use of e-cigarettes has risen 77 percent since last year among high schoolers and 50 percent for middle schoolers, with 3.5 million students vaping in the beginning

of 2018.

HHS has felt the impact of this increase in “juuling” as well. These devices are easily concealable and look similar to a USB drive, making them hard for teachers to notice in classes, bathrooms and the lunchroom.

Although most high schoolers may not take the risk of bringing them out at school, they will keep them at home to use when hanging out with friends.

However, the FDA, Food and Drug Administration, announced a plan to regulate Juul sales.

They intend on banning the sale of flavored pods (besides methanol and mint) in gas stations and convenience stores.

Another part of their proposal is to set an age limit for online purchases.

These e-cigarettes taste fruity and sweet, but, in reality, they are filled to the brim with nicotine. One pack of cigarettes has the same nicotine content

Photo by Isaac Richert

A student blows a puff of cloud out of a Juul. Juuls have been on the market since July of 2017 and have taken over the vape community.

as one Juul pod, which are sold in packs of four.

These changes are primarily targeted at students, and the FDA hopes to decrease use among the youth while making sure they are accessible to adults.

If these adjustments aren’t effec-

tive, they will take more extreme measures in the future.

The idea of limiting Juul sales was originally proposed, in part, because parents’ fears of their child using these devices.

Upon learning about the dangerous addiction that can come

Frost bites student drivers Josh Friedman Staff Reporter Most students at HHS have been through plenty of Minnesota winters, but this year will be the first time driving in it for many.

Savannah Johnson, junior and recently licensed driver, has many concerns about the upcoming winter. Despite having gained driving experience with a permit, driving alone is a different ballgame altogether.

“I takes forever to get places and everybody gets in so many accidents,” Johnson said. “The roads are so icy and people drive so slow, other drivers are also unpredictable so I never know what’s going to happen on the road.”

A report from the MN Department of Public Safety stated that in 2017, the amount of crashes in MN increased by 3000 from November to December alone. It’s clear that winter months are the most dangerous for drivers, but safety precautions can be taken.

Jacob Kampf, senior, has been driving for several years now, meaning he has some winter driving experience.

“I always make sure to take my time in the snow, spinning out is kind of fun but it’s scary.

I’ll also make sure that I really know where I’m going, it’s an issue if you can’t see the road,” Kampf said. “The roads are a ruthless tundra during the winter, you can never be too careful while driving.”

Seasonal activities and win-

News

Jason Schumacher Staff Reporter

Photo by Isaac Richert

As winter hits Minnesota, students have to deal with icy roads and cold weather.

ter sports are some positive aspects to the arrival of snow.

“I’m super excited to start skiing and being able to just get out on the snow. Winter is short so I like to get the most out of every snowflake,” said Nick Kanitz, senior. “I also really like to mess around in the snow in general, like making snowmen and going sledding, there are infinite possibilities to

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have fun in the snow.”

The winter months can cause much alarm for students.

From driving to having hay-fever while it blizzards out, there are plenty of reasons for students to stay in. Even with this, students are getting out and taking advantage of everything winter has to offer.

Each school year since 1963, the Spanish Concordia Language Village has welcomed thousands of students through its doors.

The village is located in Bemidji and is also known as “El Lago del Bosque.” The overnight village includes cabins that resemble authentic Spanish architecture, along with a plaza and fountain also similar to Spanish culture.

This year, four students and Ms. Kimberly Foster, Spanish, visited El Lago de Bosque from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. They were also joined by around 150 other students from around the state.

“I really liked it. I made new friends, learned new words, and learned about different cultures,” said Amelia Merfeld, senior.

Each weekend the village

Opinion

Zach Greenwald, junior, leaps into Federal Court

A November mass shooting sparks Greenwald keeps up his fight to dance conversation surrounding gun rights. competively on the Hopkins Royelles Dance team for the 2019-2020 season.

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facts relating to the costs of vaping.

With these provisions, their goal is to curb the amount of students getting addicted to nicotine and spread awareness of the effects it can have on a person’s health.

Spanish students partake in a language excursion

Feature

Black Friday shooting and Second Amendment controversy

from Juuls, these concerns are understandable.

Along with these regulations, the FDA has also created “The Real Cost,” a campaign focused on e-cigarette prevention. They have run ads and have a website created to share

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represents a specific Spanish country and the students spend time learning about the specific culture of that country. During this particular visit, the village resembled Mexican culture.

Along with speaking Spanish and learning about different cultures, the students chose from various activities. These activities included art, sports, cooking, acting, singing and dancing.

Foster believes that attending El Lago del Bosque not only gives the students a great experience of learning about Spanish culture, but it also correlates towards success in the classroom.

“I see that students get to meet other students who are also interested in speaking Spanish. Their speaking skills with Spanish improve greatly by the end of the trip,” Foster said.

Sports

'Into the Spider Verse' springs into theaters

Inside look at Division One athletes

The new animated movie gets praised for great representation in diversity and amazing design.

Students train in the offseason to prepare for their future in division one sports.

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DECEMBER 21, 2018

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the royal page Tasteocracy is a good way to make research easy and accessible.

Sam Sikink, senior

Entrepreneurship gets a taste of Tasteocracy Entrepreneurship students exercised their creative marketing skills by taking a field trip to Tasteocracy headquarters Lexie Stoesz Staff Reporter It is not common for taste testing to be a part of a school curriculum, but the Entrepreneurship class is all about being creative.

The students took a trip to Tasteocracy’s headquarters in

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“The trip was really interesting. I was able to connect what I’ve learned in Entrepreneurship to the real world,” Moktarian said.

During the field trip, students attended a lecture about Tasteocracy and their objectives. Students then went on to tour the taste testing facilities.

I think Tasteocracy has room for improvement and has a lot of potential, but has not hit the ceiling yet Mats Hansen, senior

Plymouth to learn about how they use ordinary people to create a demographic they can cater to more effectively. They are using their experience at Tasteocracy to practice marketing strategies.

Lauren Moktarian, sophomore, is one of the students that attended the field trip.

The Tasteocracy community helps provide feedback for consumer product testing, which can help companies make products as appealing as possible to customers, or change existing products. Most products tested are food products, and are reviewed by ordinary people.

Tasteocracy has locations

Stephenson Photo by Alexis Stephanson

Dante Reminick, senior, tries to use his entrepreneurship skills to persue viewers of his Tasteocracy presentation.

in California and Minnesota.

People in these areas are eligible for testings as soon as they create a profile. Then, when new tests are released, members answer questions to see if they’re a good fit for the test, and if so, can partake in the testing.

Some tests are meant to be performed at home, online or over the course of multiple days.

The class has also been seeking solutions to some of the obstacles at Tasteocracy.

“We’ve had to create presentations for the past few

weeks to address the problems and list solutions, such as new and engaging activities they could include in their program,” Moktarian said.

On Dec. 5, Moktarian and her classmates gave their presentations. The presenta-

tions analyzed Tasteocracy’s strengths, weaknesses, target market, objectives, budget, and key metrics, or how activities will be effective.

Groups also had to take into consideration the locations in Minnesota and California and their accessibility. They had to identify areas that housed their target market.

“The presentations went well for most groups. Some groups even went to present to Tasteocracy, but many of them just presented to our teachers,” Moktarian said.

Mats Hansen, senior, and his group were some of the few that had the opportunity to present at Tasteocracy’s headquarters.

His group was selected for their strong presentation skill, realistic ideas and easy implementation into Tasteocracy’s agenda.

Tasteocracy benefits from direct feedback by high school students to reach people that fit into that target market.

“I think Tasteocracy has room for improvement and has a lot of potential but hasn’t reached its ceiling yet,” Hansen said.

Bilingual students further language endeavors Lauren Schaffler Staff Reporter Celeste De La Cruz, junior, has been speaking Spanish ever since she could remember and is one of the many students involved in the Juntos program.

“Ever since I was young, I have actively been speaking Spanish with my mom and the rest of my family. However, my mom enrolled me into a Spanish-Immersion program in elementary school in order to

perfect it,” De La Cruz said.

Being bilingual is a valuable skill. Studies show that knowing a second language strengthens the brain and allows it to absorb more information, not to mention the appeal it gives when someone is applying for a job.

“I went to a Spanish elementary school and have been continuing to learn Spanish through my high school career, going to college next year I feel like I wouldn’t be taking

advantage of being bilingual if I didn’t take a language class,” said Anna Erickson, senior.

Most colleges require foreign language classes with their core classes. Studying abroad is a way many students attain these credits. Going to school in another country allows students to experience the culture of a certain language and get a feel for the life outside of the country they originate.

“Being a student athlete it would be hard to study abroad,”

Erickson said. “I would only have the opportunity to go for a few weeks when my sport isn’t in season, but after college I will for sure plan to travel abroad.”

The younger somebody is, generally the easier it is to learn a language. Even though De La Cruz already can speak two languages, she also has shown interest in learning more.

“I would really like to learn a new language! I feel as though Italian or Portuguese would be best,” De La Cruz said. “This is

“ Celeste De La Cruz, junior not only because the language is interesting, but because they are somewhat similar to Spanish, and therefore would most likely be easier for me to learn.”

Ever since I was young, I have been actively speaking Spanish with my mom and the rest of my family.

Celeste De La Cruz, bilingual junior

New conference system brings forth discussion Alexis Horowitz Staff Reporter For this most recent round of parent-teacher conferences, HHS made some notable changes to the way conferences are run.

The new format had parents scheduling their students’ conferences by filling in time slots for each teacher. During first term conferences, there were long lines as parents were waiting to meet with teachers.

Doug Bullinger, principal, saw room for improvement after first term conferences con-

cluded.

“We saw a big increase for first term conferences, but having open time wasn’t good for parents or teachers. Parents would show up hoping teachers were available, but then they would have something scheduled. It didn’t really work,” Bullinger said.

The new changes for second term drew more families to attend conferences.

“We thought about more ways to be proactive to get more families here, because we believe in a strong partnership between the school and the

home, to bring about success for students. What we were doing before wasn’t working,” Bullinger said.

Across the nation, schools have been slowly reworking conferences. Low turnout rates have been a big cause for the changes, as administrators view conferences as an important part of a child’s educational growth.

“After looking at patterns from past years, fewer people show up for second term and fourth term conferences,” Bullinger said.

As schools across the coun-

try have been changing, it is causing change for events like parent-teacher conferences.

According to The Washington Post, Academic ParentTeacher Teams, also known as APTT, has been worked into many schools across the country. APTT’s goal is to engage parents and teachers. It hopes to help parents contribute to the growth and achievement of their kid.

Wayzata High School uses a similar strategy like APTT to help parents engage with teachers. According to a brochure provided by Scott Gengler,

Wayzata High School’s principal, the school has a Curriculum Night once a school year. This night helps provide parents the necessary tools to help aid their student outside of school.

As well as Curriculum Night, they have conferences once a term.

“Curriculum Night is an opportunity for parents, especially incoming 9th grade parents, to learn more about our curriculum sequences, course offerings and other programs,” Gengler said in an email interview.

The new format introduced during second term will

be in place for third and fourth term as well.

“Conferences are a way to ensure that there is a communication method between school and family. We don’t want parents or students to feel surprised by what’s going on in class academically, socially or emotionally. We want to make sure we are building in structures to insure we have conversation taking place,” Bullinger said.

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DECEMBER 21, 2018

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Assault rifles create problems in our society and school shootings could be prevented if we just banned access to them.

news

Kate Nissen, junior

Second Amendment gets students fired up Max Lacey Staff Reporter

With almost as many mass shootings in the U.S. as there are days in a year, it is not out of the ordinary to turn on the news to find another tragic incident.

Just recently, on Black Friday, there was another mass shooting at a mall in Alabama.

Once officers arrived on the scene, they saw a black man with a pistol, which resulted in the killing of 21-year-old Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. Bradford was not the active shooter and was legally carrying the firearm. This has sparked discussion about racism and the Second Amendment.

Jacob Gonsior, senior, feels completely safe exercising his

Second Amendment rights and has over 20 firearms in his home, three of which he owns himself.

“I think it’s abhorrent that someone was killed for exercising their Second Amendment rights. Regardless of race, I believe everyone should feel comfortable exercising their rights as an American citizen,” Gonsior said.

While the Second Amendment applies to all Americans, some don’t feel safe exercising that right. In today’s media, black Americans are stereotypically depicted as using firearms for gang-related activities, which changes the perception of blacks in society negatively.

“Being black in today’s society can be a scary thing at times.

In the news there’s always a story of a black man losing their

life over something that seems like nothing,” said Yahya Mire, senior. “With all the media coverage of these things I definitely would not feel safe carrying a gun in public.”

On the contrast, Mohamed Ali, senior, says that he feels safe exercising his rights.

“Being a black man in America, it can be hard seeing the violence towards other Americans,” Ali said. “Saying this however, I disagree with the claim that black Americans shouldn’t feel safe legally carrying a firearm. If I did own a firearm I would see no issue in legally carrying that weapon in public.”

Tragedies like these show how important it is to discuss race in the conversation surrounding gun control in America.

Infographic by Maya Kupritz

Metro Transit zooms through district Olivia Cohen News Editor

Photo by Isaac Richert

Local politicans of Hopkins and Minnetonka come together to celebrate the start of the new Metro Transit contruction.

To tie up 2018, more than 70 million dollars have been pushed towards expanding the Metro Area light rail.

After twenty years of development, the additions will finally be taking place, with substantial construction that will start in 2019.

Collaborative Corridor Planning partnered with the Southwest Light Rail of Min-

neapolis and Hennepin County, to increase the numbers of counties and cities the Metro system travels through. It now includes the cities of Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie.

One reason for the Metro expansion is to increase ridership. With the new additions, students here will now have access to ride, due to its new routes in Hopkins and Minnetonka.

Student volunteers see midterms wrap up Bennie Goldfarb Staff Reporter

Though unable to vote, Elliot Berman, sophomore, felt like he was able to make an impact politically within his community.

Berman was door-knocking on election night until polls closed, and afterward went to parties for some of the winners including Patty Acomb, Minnesota State Representative for House District 44B, and Dean Phillips, the first Democrat to

Choir collaborations The HHS Choral Department collaborated with prospective choir programs at West and North Junior High Schools for a joint winter concert. Concert Choir singers had the opportunity to show the younger students what high school choir is like and how it differs from junior high cho-

be elected to the third congressional district in decades.

On the other side, the formation of the club Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) has increased conservative representation here. Sam Schachtman, senior, campaigned for incumbent Erik Paulsen, Phillips opponent.

“I wasn’t thrilled with the results. However, I do think Dean is going to do a really good job and I am looking forward to him being congressman here,” Schachtman said.

rus, even singing an upbeat song, “Amazing,” as a collective.

Fetal pig dissection Students in the CIS Anatomy & Physiology class started their dissection of a fetal pig on Nov. 10, in preparation for their lab practical. A lab practical being a test with different stations set up for students to rotate around each lab sta-

Photo provided by Elliot Berman

Elliot Berman, sophomore, partnered with Dean Phillips to raise awareness about the past midterm election.

IN BRIEF

tion answering questions.

This specific lab practical will be aimed at students knowing the anatomy of a fetal pig.

Early college apps Students heard back from colleges about early application decisions. Early decision is the binding agreement that you will attend the school you applied to for early decision. Students

can only apply to one school for early decision. A handful of students at HHS have been accepted to their first choice college through early decision.

2019-20 school year registration Registration for 20192020 classes will be Jan. 2528, registration night being

Students displeased as bathrooms remain locked Sam Leervig Managing Editor In recent months, some bathrooms have been on lockdown during class time in attempt to keep students in class.

Bathrooms have become a popular place for students to hangout when they want to avoid going to class, and also has emerged as a place for students to vape during class.

Hall paras may not see them on their sweeps, so it’s harder for them to get swept back to class. Administration has sought to fight this problem by limiting the amount of bathrooms that are open during the day.

“This whole situation is

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completely unfair for students who follow the rules,” said Yoseph Yisehak, senior. “I have to walk across the entire school just to use the bathroom, and I’m not even the problem.”

Also controversial, students who use the gender neutral bathroom will now have to get a key from Nathalee Morse, Learning Lab in order to access it. This was done by administration is response to direct misuse of these restrooms by students.

“Why do they have to punish the kids that do nothing wrong? Kids got to stop vaping and screwing around in those bathrooms because this is going to get very annoying,” Yisehak said.

I have to walk across the entire school just to use the bathroom, and I’m not even the problem Yoseph Yisehak, senior

Jan. 28. Sophomores and juniors will have extended advisory at that time, teachers will be distributing the registration materials students need to preview what they would be interested in studying, for the upcoming school year.

HEF grants district with ACT tutoring

Last week, the Hopkins Education Foundation (HEF) announced that 38,000 dollars in grants will be given to Hopkins schools. The various grants will be used to enhance school curriculums. These grants will help pay for ACT tutoring at HHS, which is free for students during TASC.

DECEMBER 21, 2018

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the royal page I feel like the removal of advisory is a good thing because it gives us more time to work on school.

Abdullahi Said, junior

Bush’s connection to the community Nearly three decades later, the RP explores the history of the school being recognized for greatness.

Ali Winter & Mia Sparrow Feature Editor and Design Editor

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ften times good deeds go unnoticed, or seemingly monumental events never reach nationally regarded levels of status. For Hopkins’ own Dan Conrad, though, that was not the case.

The efforts of this former Hopkins social studies teacher to create and implement the Community Involvement program here at HHS earned him national recognition from the late President George H.W. Bush, as apart of his Points of Light initiative during his presidency in the late 1900’s.

Bush’s administration created the Point of Light Award in order to honor individuals who initiate change in various communities across America.

Today, 6,000 change-makers have received the award, with one recipient being Conrad.

“At first I was just teaching a regular sociology class where we would talk about our society,” Conrad said. “So then we had the idea that maybe you could learn more about your society by actually being in it.”

The effects of this win had a ripple effect across the country, and today there are thousands of identical programs at highschools throughout America, all thanks to the imaginative idea of one, Dan Conrad.

“Students have been sitting in classrooms for 12 years and learning about this, and seeing movies about all this, so the idea is that at some point you should learn about the world by being in it,” Conrad said.

Conrad started the Community Involvement program in 1970-1971 at Hopkins as a way to involve students more in their community. This program was the first of it’s kind at the time, and since it’s creation more than 50 years ago has become the longest-lasting high school community service class in the country.

“I was teaching a sociology class and about a few weeks in, I remember saying, ‘You know, this is kind of boring…’ and I knew sending students out in the world would teach them more than movies and a textbook,” Conrad said.

Just how the class functions today, students were sent out of the building to a place of their choice (such as schools, retirement homes and animal

shelters) once a day to earn academic credit. However, Conrad shared that his original class definitely wasn’t as structured as it is now.

“We would spend the hour that we had for class to go wherever the kids wanted to and do something interesting,” Conrad said. “Our transportation system consisted of carpooling and getting other students to take our kids where they needed to go.”

In 1989, Community Involvement was one of six nationwide youth-service programs to win an award sponsored by IBM Corp., U.S. News and World Report Magazine.

Hopkins received a lab of 24 computers upon winning. Just a year later, Conrad was notified that he had been nominated and received the 54th Point of Light Award from Bush’s original board of directors.

Conrad awaited the landing of Air Force One along with two other Point of Light recipients from the state of Minnesota. Bush met and took a picture with each person.

“I may not have agreed with all of President Bush’s decisions, however I did feel he was sincere when we met. He thanked me for my efforts and knew in-

formation about the Community Involvement Program that impressed me,” Conrad said.

Conrad was at Hopkins for 17 years, and he also worked at the University of Minnesota and Stages Theatre Company

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during that time, but ultimately ended up returning to HHS. “I left Hopkins and went to the University of Minnesota, where my main job was to work with schools around the country to start similar programs,”

Conrad said.

Overall, Conrads service to Hopkins and the country as a whole has brought about a life-changing program that will show students the value of volunteer work for years to come.

This is America...a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky -President George H.W. Bush at his inauguration speech

Photo provided by Dan Conrad

Dan Conrad meeting the late George H.W. Bush as he gets off of Air Force One in Minnesota. This visit was apart of Bush’s “Thousand Points of Light” initiative.

34 water fountains, 34 different tastes Ivy Greenberg Staff Reporter

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here are about 34 drinking fountains within the building, including the ones in Lindbergh and excluding the ones in the locker rooms.

What is it that makes water so good? Some think that all water tastes the same, but some prefer certain drinking fountains.

Is it the water pressure?

The temperature? The convenience?

A fair amount of people opt out of drinking from the school drinking fountains and instead buy a water at lunch or bring water from home. Of

Winter One Acts set to impress The cast for the Winter One Acts has become finalized. The pieces will take place in early Feburary and are comprised of four different performancesPaper Thin, Between 2 Friends,

the students who do use them, these are their thoughts.

The drinking fountain in the music hallway is particularly popular amongst students.

Isabel Freeman, junior, likes it because she feels like the taste is the least metallic among the water fountains.

“I occasionally drink from the school drinking fountains.

The one in the band room is my favorite because it is cold,” said Isaac Lipschultz, sophomore.

Sarah Jonas, junior, and Sarah Fogel, senior, agree that the temperature of the music hall drinking fountain makes it stand out, but also mentioned that the water bottle filler has a bonus.

12 Angry Jurors and Speech.

Mental health takes on the spotlight

On Tuesday, Dec. 13, Royals United hosted a mental health awareness campaign during TASC in the little theatre. Royals United’s goal is to

Infogrpahic by Mia Sparrow

According to @fountainofwaterreviews on Instagram, an account that ranks the quality of drinking fountains at the

school, the overall quality of the music hallway one is 7/10.

Specifically speaking, the user ranked the temperature as

reduce stigma, raise awareness and provide mental health resources. Students on an advisory board are given a platform to voice their concerns, plan events to promote awareness, and collaborate with community partners to best support the student body.

Therapy dogs provide comfort to students

IN BRIEF On Dec. 11, NSTA, or North Star Therapy Dogs, brought three of their dogs to HHS, where students were able to interact with them during lunch. The goal of having

a 7/10, location as a 6/10, flow as an 8/10 and the taste as an 8/10, noting this music hallway drinking fountain has “arguably the best water bottle filler in the school.” With all that being said, the account ranked the music hall drinking fountain as an astonishing 9/10 all across the boards.

Mats Hansen, senior, really likes the drinking fountain on the outskirts of Lindbergh and the one near the nurse’s office, noting the aesthetic of it. Camille Brimmer, junior, really likes the water fountain near the career center, because of the taste and the water bottle filler.

The Instagram drinking fountain review ranked the worst drinking fountain as the

one in the classroom of Mr. John Sammler, science. It is ranked with an overall score of 1/10, which comes as no surprise since it is actually an eye washing station.

Second worst, the drinking fountain near room W256, a 3/10. The location is an 8/10 and the worse feature is its flow at 2/10. The temperature was rated 7/10 and the taste was given 6/10.

To end things on a positive note, the account’s favorite water fountain is the one in the art department. An amazing overall score and an 11/10 flow are some of the reasons this user describes it as “literal perfection.”

therapy dogs in the school is to help reduce stress and anxiety in students and hopefully brighten their days.

few trial weeks where in Monday TASCs, there is no advisory.

Students will be allowed the full 45 minutes to talk with their teachers and get started on their homework.

Weekly advisory cut from Monday mornings This December, HHS has made the decision to have a

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DECEMBER 21, 2018

The drinking fountain by the woodworking class is incredibly cold. It’s definitely the best fountain in the school.

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Aiden Farrell, junior

HHS student finds escape in art Nikki Bank Staff Reporter

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Photo by Isaac Richert

Teddie Bernard, senior, creates comics. They attend many comic and art conventions, and are in the process of making a comic website in 2019.

rom a young age, Teddie Bernard, senior, has been engaged in art and the community surrounding it.

In grade school, Bernard was placed in time outs, rather than traditional forms of punishment, where they would do art in order to calm down.

“In kindergarten it was an essential part of my day and even now that I do not have issues with anger I have still stuck with art,” Bernard said.

Bernard loves the ways in which art can be used to aid in society, culture and people in general.

“It really intrigues me that art can be used to bring about

political action. It is interesting that it has an impact on people and we can use it to communicate issues to each other or not communicate issues and just escape from the world. It is a really good form of escapism,” Bernard said.

Their favorite kind of art is to make comics, which is why they are in the process of making a comic website in 2019.

“Comics is what I do in most of my free time; it allows for someone to take a break from their own life while also still educating themselves about issues. I also love writing and comics is a form of art that includes writing,” Bernard said.

Bernard started to truly appreciate art, in junior high, but before that they were good at it but did not focus a lot of their

time on it. Now, art is an integral part of their life.

“I go to many comic and art conventions, as well as I also publish and sell my artwork, so I am already getting that first level exposure and know the first step into the industry.

Within HHS I am a part of Art and Photography Club and am in AP Art,” Bernard said.

In the future, Bernard hopes to go to art school and pursue a career in the art field.

“I am applying to a lot of art schools (around five or ten) and I am probably going to get a BFA in college and I hope to be a cartoonist or a graphic novelist, but if I can just get a career as any type of artist, I would be happy,” Bernard said.

Student profile: Emerson VanWiele

Riley Jouppi Staff Reporter

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eople tend to forget that music sometimes just starts out as a bunch of words, but Emerson VanWiele, sophomore, never seems to forget.

“Music is a safe place for me because you don’t have to do any certain thing or say any certain thing,” VanWiele said.

VanWiele is the band’s newest lyricist and member in a band called Thotland Rd, which is made up of eight other students at HHS. She has written and produced music for herself but never for a band.

“So far I am really loving it and it’s not even the fact that I can be like ‘hey I’m in a band!’, even though that’s pretty cool too,” VanWiele said. “It’s that

we are really comfortable with who we truly are, you don’t have to be a certain way. You are in the band because you have this creative input.”

VanWiele has been writing music since her aunt got her a songwriting notebook, but she thinks she didn’t get serious

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Wiele said.

She still remembers the first thing she wrote, even if it was just a verse.

“I’m pretty sure I was in third grade, and I was at my after school care program, and I drew a picture and wrote a little verse with it, and it was about

So far I am really loving it and it’s not even the fact that I can be like ‘hey I’m in a band!’, even though that’s pretty cool too Emerson VanWiele, sophomore

about it until she was 15. She doesn’t really remember why she decided to start writing music, she’s just glad she did.

“I write whenever I am feeling like I have too much in my head and it can’t all fit there. So it’s anything at all, important events, people in my life,” Van-

angels or something like that,” VanWiele said.

But the first “real” song she ever wrote, she remembers just as well.

“I was in fifth or sixth grade and it was about autumn. During the verses I talked about the autumn leaves on the ground,

but in the chorus I wrote about being independent and not needing anyone,” VanWiele said.

VanWiele comes from a very musical household. Her mom, dad and brother are all into music.

“We played a lot of music around my house. A lot of different kinds but mostly singersongwriter, indie stuff which is why I play the way I do,” VanWiele said.

While still being in a band, she still likes to do her own thing. And recently she has begun playing at the Depot. She first performed there at the Band Society’s “Show Me The Money” fundraiser.

“It was a really great experience because it was finally a chance to share my thoughts and creations with people,” VanWiele said. “I wasn’t as ner-

Photo by Isaac Richert

Emerson VanWiele, sophomore, writes music and participates in a band called Thotland Rd alongside other students here.

vous as I thought I’d be because there were so many supportive and talented people there and I was thrilled to share everything.”

While you can’t listen to her music on streaming services right now, she does want to.

“I don’t have it anywhere

right now, just playing shows, but I want to put it out soon maybe on Soundcloud,” VanWiele said.

Even though you can’t listen to VanWiele’s personal music. You can listen to Thotland Rd’s newest and first single on Soundcloud.

Zach Greenwald leaps into Federal Court Greenwald awaits the decision that would give him the opportunity to compete alongside the Hopkins Royelles

Maya Kupritz Editor-in-Chief

Z

ach Greenwald, junior, has not given up on his goal to be a competitive dancer for the Hopkins Royals Dance Team (HRDT).

Ever since being told by the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) that he was not allowed to dance competitively for the dance team due to his gender, Greenwald has been fighting for the right to dance.

He was only allowed to dance during the fall season, which is during half time at the football

games.

Alongside him is a student from Roseville Area High School, Dmitri Moua, who is in the same situation as Greenwald.

“At the end of July, beginning of August, Dmitri and I filed a court case to sue the MSHSL for gender based discrimination,” Greenwald said.

“On Sept. 26, we appeared in court for the first time, to file an injunction, which would help speed up the process so Dmitri and I could dance for this season or next season.”

The first injunction that was filed got struck down by

the court, but that did not stop Greenwald and Moua on their fight.

On Dec. 12, Greenwald and Moua appeared in Federal Court, for their last step of the process to try for another injunction, along with three lawyers to help with the case.

“After they said no to our first injunction, we appealed it to the Circuit Court of Appeals and they are still deliberating, as of now,” Greenwald said.

If it passes, Greenwald doesn’t know if he will be able to dance for this season, but he will hopefully be able to dance for his senior year.

Court cases can take years and years, but Greenwald and Moua are trying to get it in a couple of months so that they can dance.

“The court case will go on to the court system for a much

“

sion till after I graduate high school.”

If the case goes through and Greenwald is allowed to dance, some routines will most likely have to be changed, like getting dressed in the studio,

I entered this process to hopefully get to dance for my school, but I think more importantly, I entered this process so that every boy after myself doesn’t have to

longer time, for suing for permanent effect, while this is just a temporary decision,” Greenwald said. “They most likely won’t make a permanent deci-

Zach Greenwald, junior but the girls are accepting and most importantly, supportive of Greenwald.

“Zach would be a good addition to the team because it

would be really cool to have a guy since we have never had one before,” said Kyra Tahmaseb, junior. “While it would probably change the dynamics and look of the team, everyone on our team is empathetic towards the change.”

Greenwald and Moua hope to hear back from the Federal Court before winter break begins.

“I entered this process to hopefully get to dance for my school, but I think more importantly, I entered this process so that every boy after myself doesn’t have to,” Greenwald said.

the royal page

December 21, 2018

06

in-depth

College Plans get Creative Story by Eve Clarkson Copy Editor

Design by Mia Sparrow & Maya Kupritz Design Editor & Editor-in-Chief Background Image by Stephanie Saunders

As wages remain stagnant and college tuition is on a steady incline, students make compromises regarding their post high school plans. Students involved in art likewise feel pressure to abandon their creative sides and opt for a lifestyle of expected stability.

Forever in debt Representative-elect from the Bronx, 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is bringing a fresh perspective to Congress, being the youngest person ever elected.

The fact she is still paying off student loans and just recently attained health insurance sets her apart from Congress, whose population is currently filled with millionaires and people who qualify for a senior discount at Perkins.

Though Ocasio-Cortez’s story may shock many Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, her back-

ground is something many fellow Millennials and Gen Zers can relate to.

According to a 2018 Washington Post article, Americans collectively have around 1.5 trillion dollars in student loan debt, a staggeringly high number. This has not always been the case. David Beckman, science, was able to support himself through college and end up with no debt.

“My dad’s company went bankrupt when I was a senior in high school, so I enrolled at the University of Minnesota,

knowing that if I worked for up to 40 hours a week, I would be able to afford college without taking out loans. It wasn’t easy; it took me seven years to get my undergraduate degree, but I graduated without debt and am happy with my college years,” Beckman said.

However, as Forbes reports, the cost of college is rapidly increasing, while wages are much more stagnant in growth. Due to this, the idea that a student today could work through college the way Beckman did is becoming more unattainable.

“There were tradeoffs of course. I didn’t go on spring breaks, I had to take advantage of free stuff on campus, but I enjoyed college. If I had to pay myself through college today, unfortunately, I do not think it would be possible,” Beckman said.

Jonny Trudell, sophomore, thinks it is important to recognize the changes that have happened throughout the years.

“Between the difficulty of classes and finding a well paying job, it is frustrating to see

older people criticize our generation for being lazy, without taking into account our circumstances,” Trudell said.

Where a student lives can greatly impact their economic status, with UC Berkeley finding that, to graduate without debt, a student would have to work more hours than there are in a week to live in the pricey Bay Area on a minimum wage salary. With that being said, student loan debt is a stark reality for millions of Americans all across the country.

Americans collectively have 1.5 trillion dollars in student loan debt.

The Federal Reserve reports that there are 6.8 million student loan borrowers between ages 40 and 49.

washingtonpost.com

cnbc.com

the royal page

DECEMBER 21, 2018

07

in-depth

A lost art

The road less traveled In regards to combating this student debt epidemic, Jeff Johnson, Minnesota’s Republican nominee for governor this year, emphasized to students the advantages of attending vocational school.

In a Feb. 2018 opinion piece to MinnPost, Johnson wrote “graduates [of vocational college] avoid the crushing student loan debt that currently haunts millions, the starting salaries for skilled trades are often much higher than for four-year college graduates and finding a job is almost immediate.”

Johnson is right. Even though the cost of vocational school is also quite high, someone with a welding degree is provided with a practically guaranteed job after graduation, not to mention a generous salary. This is not usually the case scenario for those who have a liberal arts degree, which makes one’s future more unpredictable.

Amidst the increase of college tuition, trade school isn’t the only way students are getting creative with how they approach college. Mia Cytron, senior, is utilizing Post Secondary Enrollment Options

(PSEO), a program where high school students can earn free college credit in the states Minnesota and Ohio.

“I chose PSEO because it opened doors to so many opportunities. I only have class two days a week, allowing me to work at the Adath Childcare (Gan). My sisters both did PSEO and always told me how nice it was to have credits going into college,” Cytron said.

By the end of her senior year, she will possess 24 credits through PSEO, equivalent to a year of college. Next year, Cytron is planning to study abroad which will put her a year behind the rest of her grade. However, thanks to PSEO, she will still graduate on time.

“I’ve also found my classes to be easier than AP classes and the best part is I don’t have to take a massive test at the end to get a chance at getting college credits,” Cytron said.

Scholarships, enlisting in the military and utilizing reciprocity (reduced tuition for Minnesotans in places like Wisconsin and Manitoba) are other ways students can aid the cost of college.

Even with all of these options, a common message artistic individuals receive is that if they want to make a living, they may have to opt out of pursuing their creative passions.

“I do not know what career I want to pursue yet, but ideally it will pertain to art. I am really interested in character and world design for animated films and such, but it is very competitive; the same goes for most jobs in the field,” said Molly Redmond, junior.

Redmond also noted the surge in America’s emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and business careers in the 21st century, which as Pew Research Center reports, has in many ways been America’s attempt to compete with other developed nations.

The integration of STEM in the past few decades has received a lot of praise, but has also received criticism. The Observatory of Educational

“

Innovation lists lack of emphasis on creativity and critical thinking, along with disproportionate demographics as some of STEM’s shortcomings. Mr. Christian Blanck, art, had a very different experience than many other creative individuals.

“The school I went to was very generous with financial aid, and I went to college to learn without there being some preconceived idea of what I should do. I realized after a few years, it became clear ceramics was the career for me and that idea evolved throughout college,” Blanck said.

However, Blanck notices overt and subtle cultural pressures, along with financial concerns that discourage many of his students from pursuing art, even if that is what they are truly are passionate about.

“Money is a necessary tool that we all eventually have to make, but I have found that if money is my motivating factor, I’m not going to do well and

I’m not going to succeed. For genuine reasons that is more rewarding than a paycheck,” Blanck said.

One of Redmond’s favorite aspects about art and what she finds specifically rewarding about it is how subjective it is.

“There’s no one-path to being a ‘good artist’ and no setstyle that every person works towards mimicking. Artists are able to experiment with different subject matter, styles and mediums in order to find what makes them happiest with their work,” Redmond said.

With that being said, she recognizes that this specific reason is why art is such a complex career path.

“At the end of the day, if the people don’t like what you produce, you won’t make money,” Redmond said. “There’s just not the kind of security that you would get if you followed a STEM/business career, in which work is much more objective.”

...I have found that if money is my motivating factor, I’m not going to do well and I’m not going to succeed. For genuine reasons that is more rewarding than a paycheck

Mr. Christian Blanck, art

About 97% of first-year students receive merit scholarships at St. Thomas.

STEM-related occupations increased 79.5 percent from 2005-2015.

stthomas.edu

dpeaflcio.org

DECEMBER 21, 2018

08

opinion

“

the royal page There might be a peer pressure culture within friend groups, but I feel as if HHS does a good job minimizing it.

Will Stein, senior

STAFF EDITORIAL It all started when I hopped off the bandwagon of having my personalized avatar (Bitmoji) appear on my location, in the Snap Map. Shortly thereafter, I deleted the application all together.

Why go off the grid?

What sparked this was when I found myself at a party with a group of friends, where I met someone who was, to put it best, overeager to add me on Snapchat. Subsequently after the party, this individual preceded to make comments regarding my whereabouts.

“What are you doing here?”, “I was there too!”, “I didn’t know you knew this person!”

These discoveries were made by one thing: the Snap Map and its ability to track the location of your phone, the last

time you opened the application, who you are with, whether you are in a car or not and even if you’re listening to music or not.

It dawned on me what these actions truly meant. It meant that my private life wasn’t all that private because people like my cousin’s ex-girlfriend could see where I was and that one guy from eighth grade science class who would stare at girls too long for comfort could see the last time I was on my phone.

All of these elements the Snap Map contains adds up to a nifty tool for “stalking” that could be accessible to any third party who is on the app. This could also permit someone to exact valuable details, resulting in theft. In fact, in addition to theft and invasions of privacy,

Facebook live streams also have led to location tracking, resulting in violence and sexual assault, not to mention the increased popularity of Spyware.

You can argue that the Snapchat map features and overall installments of tracking one’s location is a good thing, that there are positive connotations, like parents being able to track their kids, but they aren’t immense when compared to all of the drawbacks.

In response to those who praise the ideals of having your every single move tracked and monitored, it is true that you cannot access someone’s location on the Snap Map unless they have added you back, in other words, say it’s okay that you see it, and yes, you can take yourself off the the map, or en-

able “Ghost Mode.”

Although these may be seen as positives, a study has shown that in eight out of ten cases of rape, the victim knew the individual who assaulted them prior to being assaulted. When the vast majority of violent sexual assault is committed by persons known to the victim, is it any wonder why I am hesitant to participate in an app that has the capability to constantly broadcast my location?

And due to cultural standards where “unadding” someone is seen as an insult to the person, the guilt associated with it often stops people from limiting who can see their location.

Aside from the negative connotations that sharing locations provoke, do you really want to see other people’s loca-

tions?

You want them seeing yours? Is it important? Helpful?

Personally, if I wanted someone to know where I was, I’d tell them and I’d imagine someone would do the same for me, given the roles were reversed.

So why is our society so focused on other people’s whereabouts? Why is our generation always jealous and wanting what they cannot have? To me, it all ties back to social media, and yet again, social tracking.

The Snap Map feature of showing what people are together is a strain on our society. People spending their time constantly checking the map to see if so-and-so had replied has created a divide on what is truly important.

I am just one person, and

I can only name a handful of people who do not have Snapchat in our adolescent society.

However, I can wholeheartedly say that I don’t miss Snapchat in the slightest.

I don’t miss being on edge about who and how many people have seen my “story.”

I don’t miss wondering why mystery dude from lunch hasn’t responded to me in four hours.

And I certainly don’t miss wondering what it is like seeing myself on the map through someone else’s eyes.

ruary, large production companies are finally beginning to recognize the importance of diversity in popular culture.

This carries a large implication for young minorities, many of whom have never been able to see a popularized representation of themselves as their favorite superhero.

The best part of it is thatb it doesn’t feel like a diversity grab. There’s nothing intrinsically different about his story, the color of his skin does not change anything. Rather than forcing diversity, they are normalizing it, which is a really important step in the right direction.

Upon first glance, viewers will initially notice the unique and vibrant style of the animation. The developers worked hard to imitate a funky, comicbook-style of animation, utilizing callouts and onomatopoeia to make you feel like you’re watching a moving comic strip.

The visuals aren’t the only aspect that draw inspiration

from comic books. The pacing, which is near-perfect, keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole experience. There are no lulls, no sleep-inducing scenes for character exposition, no long-stretching dialogue.

The action seems neverending and is intertwined with story development and character growth, which cleverly

mimics the non-stop action of the comics on which it was based.

Throughout the story, we follow the journey of Miles Morales as he attempts to navigate his newfound spiderlike abilities, all the while attempting to dismantle the web of Spider-People haphazardly thrown together from different

dimensions.

These Spider-People include well-known gems such as Spider-Gwen and a middleaged Peter Parker, while also referencing more obscure adaptations such as Peni Parker and Spider-Man Noir. Of course, one could never forget SpiderHam, so memorably voiced by millenials’ favorite comedian: John Mulaney.

When it comes to the plot, the writers made a clever choice in combining your typical, formulaic, coming-of-age superhero origin story with one of the more complex, compelling arcs from Spider-Man comics.

It’s as crowd-pleasing as it is unique.

The film has an almost imperceptible perfect balance between character arcs. They recognize that the function of the story is to introduce audiences to Miles Morales, but seamlessly weave in the development of the other characters, not so much as to make it an ensemble flick, not too little to

make the figures seem flat and uninspired.

The movie has been in production for less than four years, but seems well developed enough to have been in production for much longer. The success of this movie is an obvious result of the pent-up imaginations of the brilliant creators, who have waited years to see a film like this finally come to fruition.

For new fans, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the perfect introduction to the complexities of Spider-Man comics. Additionally, for the die-hard fans, the film is a fulfilling experience that will make you want to re-read the Ultimate Spider-Man comics all over again.

The film is a testament to the importance of telling unique stories, and for the little kids who see a superhero who looks like them once in a blue moon, they can finally say,

‘Into the Spider-Verse’ swings into theaters

Nafi Soumare Staff Reporter While Spider-Man has been fairly well represented in Hollywood in recent years, with three live-action film interpretations so far, former takes on the superhero have been fairly one-sided. Peter Parker’s story has been told time and time again, so often that we have the phrase, “With great power comes great responsibility,” practically imprinted into our brains.

The thing is, Peter Parker is not the only person to take the role of the masked hero.

Spider-Man comics boast a very rich history, and many different characters have worn the mask throughout its fifty year run. The new animated feature, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, recognizes this and expands upon it to create a Spider-Man story completely unique to the general viewing population.

With the success of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther in Feb-

staff Maya Kupritz Luis Felemovicius Sam Leervig Olivia Cohen Ali Winter David Campbell Sam Buttress Mason Arneson Mia Sparrow Isaac Richert Eve Clarkson

Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor News Editor Feature Editor Sports Editor Opinion Editor Variety Editor Multimedia Editor Photo Editor Copy Editor

Jeff Kocur Adviser

A few Royal Page reporters had the chance to attend an early screening of the new animated Spider-Man movie. The film has received a nomination for Best Animated Film at the Golden Globe awards.

Staff Reporters Nikki Bank Josh Friedman Julia Fromstein Jake Lehman Lauren Schaffler Nafi Soumare Gianni Tejada Max Lacey

Evan Natoli Zoe Roemhildt Aric Anderson Abbie Ansel Amelia Carrizales Sophia DeSanto Jackson Destiche Caleb Hemstad Alexis Horowitz Riley Jouppi

Sarah Rothman Cole Segal Brooks Shragg Cale Sparrow Lexie Stoesz Etai Wert Cole Anderson Ben Borenstein Ashanti Boyd Paige Bueckers

EDITORIAL BOARD VOTE AGREE

DISAGREE

9 2

“Hey, you’re like me.”

Marley Comito Bennie Goldfarb Jacob Goodman Joseph Hurth Noah Levitt Mary Murphy Diego Sojos Lindsey Sperling Olivia Trudell Ati Hernke

Editorial Policy The Staff Editorial represents the opinion of the Editorial Board. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the administration, the student body, or the adviser. Viewpoints with a byline represent the view of the writer. The Royal Page operates as an open forum student publication, and student editors make editorial decisions regarding content.

“

the royal page

DECEMBER 21, 2018

There is peer pressure culture at Hopkins just like any high school, but if you have a strong personal moral and stay loyal to your own beliefs then you’ll be totally fine.

09

opinion

Sally Reed, senior

Vine Time

Are you sharp enough on your Vine history to solve this wacky puzzle?

ACROSS

5: Official name of the HHS yearbook.

7: This fighter in the new Smash Ultimate game is in fact made of vines!

8: “Take those out” is a common phrase used by teachers about these wireless gadgets.

10: Home of the Royal Page.

11: A nifty place to play board games right next door to our school.

12: Everyone’s least favorite part of Monday morning that has been recently phased out.

DOWN 1: The best place to be just chilling while you lose the presidency.

Puzzle by Sam Buttress Made with puzzle-maker.com

2: What’s nine plus ten?

3: This new beverage from Jaden Smith has been making a splash at Hopkins.

6: Spider-Man’s favorite day of the week, my dudes.

4: Stop! I almost dropped my ______!

9: Raven would be having a happy birthday, if she knew how to do this.

A refresher on peer pressure Sam Buttress Opinion Editor

Peer pressure is something we hear a lot about as students.

We are warned about the dangers of peer pressure from a young age. Before we even know what we want, we are told that people will try to make you do things that are bad for you.

For me, I always saw peer pressure as some lanky older kids smoking cigarettes on a street corner, saying, “C’mon, it’d be so cool if you tried one,” maybe even with some unspoken threat of bodily harm if you don’t.

But peer pressure comes in many forms, and very rarely is it the form of Shaggy from Scooby-Doo cornering you and making you feel physically unsafe. Peer pressure could be seen as any instance of telling a peer they should do something that they don’t want to do or are hesitant about.

By this definition however, not all peer pressure is bad.

Good friends often encourage you to do things you don’t want to do because they know it’ll have a positive effect.

In sixth grade, I was very scared of big theme park rides, but was pressured to ride the Rock Bottom Plunge at Nickelodeon Universe by my friends.

I’m glad I was.

Unfortunately the term peer pressure has a negative connotation to it, and this makes it difficult to categorize what exactly is and isn’t peer pressure.

If Todd calling me a loser for not wanting to ride a 100 feet tall death trap was peer pressure, but it was good for me, then peer pressure can be necessary sometimes, and it’s much harder to teach kids about the dangers of something that isn’t always dangerous.

“

Your opinion may carry more weight than you think.

If peer pressure is only when you are forcefully getting someone to do something that is bad for them, then it’s easier to categorize peer pressuring as an evil on par with bullying, but this discounts a whole brand of pressure.

It’s the middle ground which I believe is the most dangerous. Pressure where nobody is being made to do anything, and all parties are left with free will, but it still feels a little more than just a friend expressing their opinion. the area where what exactly is and isn’t peer pressure becomes blurry.

For example, let’s say that my friend wants me to jump on a trampoline, tells me it has no adverse health effects and is re-

Top

ally fun. But trampoline jumping is illegal in this town. And my parents have always told me to stay away from trampolines.

I in fact have no interest in jumping on a trampoline. I like who I am just fine on the solid ground. Would I like to eventually try jumping on a trampoline, sure, maybe in college. But

not right now.

So I tell my friend these things, and that seems to be the end of it. But he keeps bringing it up. Keeps telling me how harmless it is, how much fun it can be, even though I’ve expressed several solid reasons for why I don’t want to.

He can say that he isn’t peer pressuring me because I have free will and he isn’t forcing me to do anything, but does that make it fine? Is he being a good friend when he repeatedly lists to me all the reasons why I should do something that I clearly don’t want to do?

Pressure can be exerted in many ways. As insecure teenagers, we are so subject to outside influences that a friendship with someone can be very powerful. Be conscious of that, and before you try to convince someone to do something, ask yourself if you really have their best interests in mind.

Be aware that your opinion may carry more weight than you think, and with great power, comes great Spider-Man quotes.

10

10

Biggest disappointments of 2018

You weren’t at elf practice

9

T-Series lost to Pewdiepie

8 7

Fortnite wasn’t Game of the Year Papa finally abandoned Johnny Johnny

6

The Thanos snap wasn’t real :/

5

Live action Lion King is an animated movie

4

They didn’t make John Mulaney the permanent host of SNL

3

YouTube Rewind 2018 didn’t have my favorite ‘tuber, Morpheus the Dream Lord

2

Getting rejected from my topchoice clown college

1

The standard politicians are held to now is lower than the air quality of the bathrooms here.

DECEMBER 21, 2018

10

sports

“

the royal page Our goal for the year is to win state and improve after any practice, meet and race.

Joe Fahnbulleh, senior

Inside look into the offseason of a D1 athlete Luis Felemovicius Editor-in-Chief Gianni Tejada Staff Reporter After an athlete completes their last game of a season, many believe it’s time for rest.

For Joe Fahnbulleh, senior, this is clearly not the case.

“I use the offseason to get my body right. I spend hours in the gym,” Fahnbulleh said.

Fahnbulleh works a lot of leg excercises into his daily routine to help him with running track. Upper body naturally gets incorporated into his workouts.

“For me, mainly legs because the upper body strength will come from me running a lot,” Fahnbulleh said. “My hamstrings, my glutes, my quads, my calves, just a lot of lower body workouts.”

Fahnbulleh has a strict weekly schedule he uses to make gains during the offseason.

“Mondays I lift heavy, Tuesdays a recovery day along with speed workouts, Wednesdays I lift as well as more speed work,” Fahnbulleh said. “Thursdays and Fridays are the days where I focus on nothing but running.”

For many athletes including Fahnbulleh, the offseason is a time to increase muscle mass while in-season is used as a time

to sustain athletic ability and endurance.

“The in-season is just for maintaining general fitness, offseason is more for grinding and gaining good weight,” Fahnbulleh said.

Now that Fahnbulleh is committed to run at the division one level at the University of Florida, he is looking to get a head start on his training.

“Now that I’m committed, I’ve contacted the strength coach about where I need to be at as far as max lifts, my weight, and the level of fitness I need to be at in order to compete at that high of a level,” Fahnbulleh said.

For Wyatt Nelson, senior, arm care is key as he is an important part of the Hopkins baseball pitching rotation.

“Throwing in the offseason is super important to me, I like to keep my arm in shape and also build up on the strength I had acquired through the season,” Nelson said.

Other than just general conditioning, Nelson has been lifting weights over the offseason.

“In the offseason I work on dry mechanics and weight lifting at a small facility in Edina called MacStrength,” Nelson said.

Nelson has begun his training for throwing, using a num-

Photo provided by Joe Fahnbulleh

Joe Fahnbulleh, senior, finishes a race strong in a meet with runners from Irondale and Minneapolis Washburn. Fahnbulleh made it a necessity to train hard in the offseason to try and improve his game before he moves onto the University of Florida.

ber of different exercises.

“I just recently started my throwing program. It consists of J-Bands, plyocare, and different movement throwing,” Nelson said.

J-Bands are rubber bands which help work out the rotator cuff as well as creating and maintaining arm strength.

Plyocare is another arm work out in which you are down on one knee, grab a weighted ball off of the ground and throw it backwards. Plyocare is a much

less straining work out than just pitching with weighted balls.

“I have done weighted balls in the past but I am not a huge fan, I prefer plyocare which is a less aggressive movement that has many of the same effects of weighted balls minus the risk,” Nelson said.

According to Nelson, working out your arms isn’t the only thing necessary for a pitcher.

“As a pitcher, I work very hard on my legs. Legs are a huge part of where your velocity

comes from so having a strong base there really helps,” Nelson said.

Nelson has a weekly workout regimen which consists of exercising his core, arms and legs, along with one day per week to do yoga.

“I have a four day workout routine with yoga on fridays.

Each day alternates between core, legs, and arms,” Nelson said. “It’s also great because Hopkins guys train there too.

Luke Polyak, William Stein,

Jake Perry, Ryan McGie and Sam Sikkink.”

Being an athlete takes commitment. High-level athletes such as Fahnbulleh and Nelson believe that the amount of work someone puts in will be the amount of success they get.

“Don’t complain that your times aren’t where you want them, the offseason is where you put in the work,” Fahnbulleh said.

“Grind in the winter and shine in the spring, it’s that simple.”

Football players score All-District awards, honorable mentions After fall season, student athletes earn recognition and look to improve their game next year David Campbell Sports Editor After a four win and five loss season that ended with a tough loss against the eventual state champions Lakeville North Panthers, it’s time for the HHS football team to celebrate.

The Royals held their annual banquet on Dec 2 and with that banquet came the announcements of the AllDistrict team and Honorable

Mentions.

Hopkins took home six first team awards as well as four honorable mentions. Seniors Jadon Washington, Sam Segelbaum and James Klecker took home first team honors as well as juniors Demetrius Patton and AJ Campbell, and lastly, sophomore RJ Chakolis.

“It feels really good and I’m happy but I also believe that since I got it last year in foot-

ball and wrestling and this year for football and hopefully again for wrestling, I set goals to reach junior all metro and all state senior year,” Chakolis said.

Chakolis has always been somebody to strive for more.

“I guess I just try to set goals and reach them and me being young is just a bonus so that I can try to do more things than other people,” Chakolis said. “I have been put in a place where

many people haven’t and I just want to take advantage of it.”

Yakob Ekoue, Rhegan Holmes and Will Stein, seniors and AJ Torfin, sophomore were awarded as Honorable Mentions to the team.

While Torfin did not win All-District first team, he isn’t angry about it.

“It doesn’t bother me at all to not get all district. It’s something I can work up to and

hopefully go even further to state recognition my junior season,” Torfin said.

“I’m proud of all the guys that returned from last year and really wanted to strive for a different result from the season before,” Torfin said. “We did a good job on staying focused on what our goals were which lead to some success in our season this year.”

Another player that won a

All-District award was kicker Sam Segelbaum who got the award in his first year of playing football after he decided to quit soccer.

“I did not expect getting any awards since I had seen better kickers than me,” Segelbaum said. “I will definitely save these awards as amazing memories with the amazing Hopkins Football team.”

New foes join the Lake Conference

Boys basketball bounces back

Girls hockey off to steady start

Boys hockey to change their fate

Nordic seeks new terrain this winter

Gymnastics swings into action

Early last springs, St Michael-Albertville (STMA) and Buffalo High School (BHS) both announced their intentions to leave their conference, the Mississippi 8 that consist of ten schools as of now.

If Buffalo and STMA follow through with their intentions the conference will go back to its original number of eight.

The boys basketball team have won three of four games this year including wins against Wisconsin commit Tyler Wahl of Lakeville North and uncommitted Chet Holmgren of Minnehaha Academy.

Before the break, the Royals will face off against Orr Academy from Chicago, Illinois at Minneapolis North High School.

The Hopkins/St. Louis Park girls hockey team has played ten games this far. Splitting the games even with a 5-5 record.

The team has had a few big wins including a 7-2 win vs. Waconia, and a 7-1 win at Rochester John Marshall. With a majority of their losses being a 2-3 score game. The squad is led by seniors Erin Brosseau and Mary Gleason.

The Hopkins boys hockey team’s season is underway. The team is currently 1-5. They have lost to Mankato East, Woodbury, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Buffalo and Armstrong/ Cooper.

However, the team’s first win of the season came when the Chanhassen boys came to the pavillion. Hopkins won that game by a score of 4-2.

The HHS Nordic ski team hosted a Ski-a-thon on Dec. 7 as a fundraiser to help get the team bussing to events.

As of Dec. 17, the team has raised over three thousand of their five thousand dollar goal.

On Dec. 11, the Royals attended their second meet of the year, and attended their third on Dec. 18. Caleb Dunnewind, junior, leads the Royals.

The HHS Gymnastics team has attended three meets so far this year, two at home and one away. One of which was there first win against a conference opponent in six years, beating Minnetonka on Dec 13 at home .

The Royals next meet is an Invitational at Princeton High School on Jan 5. Royals are led

by Kay Murphy, sophomore.

IN BRIEF

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the royal page

DECEMBER 21, 2018

11

“We’ve shown a lot of potential and overall our goal is to show more and more progress.

sports

Sydney Urban, senior

Young swimmers ride the wave of success Brooks Shragg Staff Reporter This upcoming boys swim season has started back up, and for sophomores, Nico Shrestha and Elliot Berman, they plan to make a splash.

This season, Berman and Shrestha are ready to pick things up right where they started as some of the best young swimmers in the state.

“I plan on trying to break multiple school records that haven’t been broken in over 30 years,” Berman said.

For Berman, swimming hasn’t always his main passion, he started out log rolling in water. Once he turned nine, his instructor told him to give swimming a shot.

“Once he told me to get into swimming and I’ve been in love ever since,” Berman said.

What really sets Berman apart from his competition is his skill-set underwater. His best events are the 100-yard butterfly and backstroke. There, he stays underwater as long as he can and that’s where he really gets his speed.

Berman’s offseason is very small and is pretty much swim-

ming all year round. But when he isn’t swimming, he is playing for the Hopkins Ultimate Frisbee team in the spring with his main focus on staying in tip-top shape to perform at the best of his abilities.

For Berman, he sees swimming as not just a high school thing.

“I plan on swimming in college, so I have to work as hard as possible in high school to get where I want to be,” Berman said.

For Shrestha, swimming was a just a secondary sport under soccer but fell in love with it at the high school level.

“Once I got into high school, I really got into the competitive aspect of it all,” Shrestha said.

Shrestha’s best events are in the shorter races.

“My best events are the 100yard butterfly, and freestyle, as well as the 50-yard freestyle because they involve using a lot of speed in a short duration of time, I love letting everything out at once instead of doing in a long portion of time,” Shrestha said.

Since Shrestha got onto the high school scene, he hasn’t looked back. Since making var-

sity as an eighth grader, Shrestha has placed first in the state in his age group for multiple butterfly events.

“Nico is a swimming prodigy, he’s been breaking times as a child that most swimmers don’t until they are in high school. He crushes competitors all around the Lake Conference,” said Americo Sculati, sophomore.

In terms of preparing for this season, Shrestha hasn’t skipped a beat since the last season ended.

“I do a lot of strength training and conditioning. There aren’t any rest moments for me because when I am not swimming I am doing another form of training to prepare,” Shrestha said.

Being smaller than all of his competition, Shrestha is often viewed as an underdog and people don’t expect much out of him. This is where he gets his passion to succeed.

“It’s nice being the underdog a lot of the time, nobody expects you to win but when you do, it feels amazing,” Shrestha said.

Photo by Brooks Shragg

Elliot Berman and Nico Shrestha, sophomores, prepare for a meet. Berman and Shrestha are two swimmers who will look to step up this year.

Photo provided by Sally Reed

The Hopkins Royals Dance Team take their team picture. The Royelles have been working hard non stop to prepare for this season and all the obstacles that accompany it.

Royelles look to kick dance season into full gear in Jan. HRDT prepares for tough road ahead by hardworking practices, long nights Jake Lehman Staff Reporter As the dance team’s winter season was approaching, the girls put in the hard work to get ready for their fist meet which was over a month ago, Nov 17.

“I am super excited for what this upcoming season has to offer. This is my senior year, so I am going to do everything I can for my team to compete at the highest level one last time,” said Sydney Urban, senior.

Some people underestimate how hard HRDT works everyday in practice, six days a week.

Including seven hour practices every Saturday.

“Making the state tournament this year would be huge for our team as a whole, as well as overall improving the program’s overall reputation,” said Josie Sandford, senior, captain.

The competition for the Royelles is always extremely tough competing in the Lake Conference, which include some of the best teams in the

state.

The Wayzata Trojan Dance team, whom the Royelles have to face off agaisnt every so often, has been to the state tournament 11 of the past 12 years.

“It is fun having very tough competition. It really pushes you to your limits and competing with them is a huge confidence booster for our girls,” Sanford said.

The Royelles emphasized growing the younger girls and paving the way so they will be successful when they get to become upperclassman.

“It’s really fun showing some of the newer Royelles how much fun we have as a team. We’re all so close off the court as well as on. We try to do as many team bonding excercises we can do to really show them how much fun we have as a whole,” said Sally Reed, senior.

The Royelle seniors want to go out with a bang this upcoming winter season, as they really feel they can make noise this year at plenty of different com-

petitions.

Coaching will also play a big role in the Royelles’ success, as choreography is a huge piece. The senior captains as well as the coaches will create all of their dances.

“I trust the coaches and their process creating our dances. We get a say while choreographing but I think the coaches know best and will get the final say,” said Sydney Urban.

The Royals started their season back in November and will look to finish strong all the way.

“We’ve worked really hard this offseason and I’m very excited to see the result of all the effort we put in,” Reed said.

“The grind has never been harder, which means the reward will never be greater.”

Last season was highlighted by a halftime show performance. This season will look to be highlighted by a Lake Conference crown.

Girls basketball avenges state championship loss to Eastview Mason Arneson

Variety Editor

Over the past few years, the Hopkins Royals and Eastview Lightning have been the Red Sox-Yankees of Minnesota girls basketball.

The two teams have consistently been among the top teams in Class 4A and have clashed in multiple high stakes games. Going into the 2017-2018 season, the Royals knocked Eastview out of the state tournament in three consecutive seasons, with two victories in the semifinals and a 2015 state title triumph.

However, the tides turned during the 2017-2018 cam-

paign. Eastview headed into the state tourney with an undefeated record that touted a twogame sweep of Hopkins in the regular season. The Royals had an opportunity to erase those regular season defeats in the state championship game, but dropped a back-and-forth affair by a score of 68-63.

The loss capped a trifecta of runner-up medals for Hopkins.

That fact does not sit well with Dlayla Chakolis, senior.

“We’re coming in with absolutely no mercy, and we’re trying to redeem ourselves because they took our ring last year and that’s a real personal thing for me and my teammates,” Cha-

kolis said.

The No. 1 ranked Royals enter this game as expected for the best team in Minnesota; undefeated (3-0) with all of their wins coming by a margin of more than 20 points.

“We feel like we’re ahead of the curve. We’ve been preparing for the season over the summer and during fall league, but we’ve still got to work hard if we want to win a lot of games,” Chakolis said.

While this game did not have the state tourney stipulations attached to it, the Royals got some of their wind back from last season by handily defeating the defending champi-

ons by a score of 75-48.

The first few minutes featured the back and forth action one would expect from a bout between two top five teams in the state. The team traded buckets until Eastview grabbed an 11-10 lead early.

That would be the last time that the Lightning would have the upper hand in the matchup.

Paige Bueckers, junior, and Kayhla Adams, junior, sparked a 25-6 run midway through the first half to give them a solid 40-24 advantage going to the locker room at halftime.

While the offense was on full display for Hopkins, their defensive performance was

excellent as well. Hopkins used a full court press throughout the duration of the game and made ball movement extremely difficult by tipping passes that came in their direction. Amaya Battle, freshman, locked up Eastview’s perimeter by switching off screens with ease and not allowing her opponent to drive the lane.

Speaking of which, the lane impenetrable while Eastview was in their half-court offense.

They relied on their mid-range and outside shooting as well as their trips to the charity to muster their 24 first half points.

Hopkins ran their offense through Bueckers, who finished

with 25 points, but also received important contributions from the rest of the starting five. Two other starters, Battle and Chakolis, broke into double figures in the scoring column.

Following this game, the Royals had two games against Tartan and St. Louis Park, which they both won before they hit the road and head to Sioux Falls, SD. “We went there last year and we won all of our games against some good teams. It’s a good bonding experience and it should be fun again this year,” Chakolis said.

DECEMBER 21, 2018

12 Variety

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the royal page Talking about drugs and violence isn’t good for the kids. But the creativity is what inspires us the most.

Bruce Daraphet, senior

Hip-Hopkins making waves

From the current meta of trap to the underground eccentricity of experimental rap, students here start to garner attention for their music.

Thotland members pave way for success Zoe Roemhildt Staff Reporter

Photo provided by Audry Ensminger

Audry Ensminger, sophomore, performing at Man Up North Minneapolis. Ensminger has released many songs on SoundCloud.

ENZYROSE growing into full bloom Mason Arneson Variety Editor To many, it may seem that on the outside Audry Ensminger, sophomore, is a typical teenager, but on the inside, there is a heart that thumps to the beat of a bass drum and a mind that is packed to the brim with song ideas.

That is because when Ensminger is not in the classroom or on the basketball court, she can usually be found in her home studio penning lyrics for a new single or cooking up instrumentals that she can rap over.

Ensminger is also known under the stage name ENZYROSE and has received attention on SoundCloud. Many of her tracks have surpassed 1,000 streams, with one track, “MISS ME,” totaling 85,000 streams on the service.

The amount of success ENZYROSE has attained up to this point still bewilders her.

“My first professionally mixed and mastered single is coming out soon which is crazy. I’ve also been posted on Karl-Anthony Towns’ and Josh Okogie’s Instagram, so a lot of people have been hitting my manager up,” Ensminger said.

Ensminger has even taken her show on the road a couple times and has performed at places such as the 7th Street Entry.

There is no one specific reason as to why Ensminger started rapping. All she knows is that she likes to do it.

“I’ve always been a really good writer and my uncle and goddad both rapped, but I never really had a main person or reason why I started rapping. It just happened,” Ensminger said.

ENZYROSE utilizes musical styles from many artists, some are household names for fans of modern trap music while others are more recognizable within the Twin Cities.

“I pick up a lot of stuff from

artists like Young M.A. and Lil Uzi Vert when it comes to autotune, but I also like a lot of local artists like Jamar Lewis and Yung Gravy, but honestly I tend to go my own way,” Ensminger said.

Ensminger’s current situation of being a 15-year old girl in the rap scene seems like a difficult road to navigate, but she is not phased by either her age or gender. While she says that there are both pros and cons to her relative youth compared to the rest of the members of the music industry, she considers her age to be, in some ways, an advantage.

“A lot of people don’t take me seriously cause I’m 15 and I’m like ‘I want to work with you’ but then they come back and say ‘You’re just a kid,’” Ensminger said. “But it’s also to my benefit because they think it’s crazy that I’m doing all this stuff at 15 years old and they want to help you out and give you resources, so it’s sort of a

50/50.”

As for being a female, Ensminger likes the welcoming atmosphere of the rap scene in the Twin Cities, though she will admit there are a few detractors.

“Here in Minnesota, they treat us equally,” Ensminger said. “A lot of people think that just because I’m a girl, I can’t rap, but I haven’t been treated differently by any other artists that I’ve worked with so far.”

Despite all of her success so far, ENZYROSE is not content with just doing this as a side hobby. She wants to make hip hop her life.

“I want to make this into a career. I don’t want to have a boring job and sit in a cubicle all day or go to college and study something like business,” Ensminger said. “I just want to be in the music scene in whatever way I can, whether it’s producing or mixing and mastering or even being the artist because I love being a part of that.”

Rhe-Banzz sets his sight on his future in music Jake Lehman Staff Reporter Rhegan Holmes, senior, is an up-and-coming rap artist who believes that his success here could translate into more profit and success.

Holmes, also known as RheBanzz, just came out his debut mixtape, Ascension, which consists of seven songs and includes features from other students here such as Cole Kristal, senior, and Alan Morales, senior.

“It is so cool seeing my dream of making music become

a reality. It’s all about giving the people what they want and making good music,” Holmes said.

Holmes does a lot of his work with his classmate Sam Haberman, senior, who produces and makes all of his beats.

“It’s super cool seeing Rhegan grow as an artist. By the time he started up until now, he has made so much progress and has really worked hard on his craft,” Haberman said.

Holmes started making music back in his freshman year, but got more serious and started

Photo provided by Rhegan Holmes

Rhegan Holmes, senior, strikes a pose. Holmes released his debut mixtape, Ascension, in November.

working harder at it his junior year.

“At first, I sort of made music just for fun, but when I started doing it for hours and hours a day, it became more

than just a hobby,” Holmes said.

“It just feels so good to see my friends here at Hopkins support me.”

His music is not just on SoundCloud though and is fea-

In early October, Dante Anand and Spencer Erie, juniors, were hanging out in an online chatroom when Erie sent in a clip of a beat he produced. Anand proposed that if Erie completed the song, he would rap over it. Since then, they have welcomed more new members and together decided to form the art group, Thotland.

The group’s name originates from Thotland Road in Golden Valley near where a couple of the members grew up. As a band representing a community, they saw the street name as a perfect representation of the group’s dynamic and function.

Thotland is an art group in which all members bring their unique talents they have. The group is open to those with the passion to make something unique.

In terms of music, there is no intended genre. Members are encouraged to bring any talent they have to the table and share what they love about the world.

“Even if our artwork doesn’t strike a single chord, the fact that we’re giving so many community members the outlet to make what they need is beneficial enough,” Anand said.

Dante, “Dantés” Anand, Ben “Newt” Kodet, Sam “Fryboy” Randall, Mason “Eddie Mac” Arneson, Aleksey Lidiaev, Clara Copps, Gareth “Böse” Clark, Spencer Erie, Nolan Hartley, juniors, and tured on both Apple Music as well as Spotify, both of which give artists a platform to showcase their music. Holmes isn’t just a rapper though. He was also a captain of the varsity football team, leading the Royals defense.

The football team finished up the season 4-5, but Holmes knows that when one door closes, another one opens. After the football season, he found himself with way more time on his hands to work more on his music.

“I just love making music.

Seeing people I know listen to it and jam out to it is the cherry on top cause I really just do this for myself,” Holmes said.

Emerson VanWiele, sophomore, are the ten members who make up the group.

When Thotland first came together, there was no expectation for what the outcome was to be. However, they found the drive to create a place where passionate artists were able to share their feelings with others.

“It was a lightning in a bottle sort of event, and we’re trying to harness the energy it created to take it as far as we can,” Anand said.

Copps and Erie are in charge of the group’s media.

Erie as producer, photographer and director, and Copps as the social media manager.

Erie and Anand work together to form a creative baseline for the group, brainstorming ideas for promotion, production and songwriting.

VanWiele had never sought out to join a band, but when Anand presented her with the opportunity, she decided to see what it was all about. Since then she has become a part of a supportive community where she feels comfortable sharing her creations in a group.

VanWiele grew up surrounded by music, with both her dad and brother playing the guitar. She later discovered an appreciation for lyrics and began to write those of her own.

“Music makes me feel safe.

It’s not something that can go away or be taken from me. It’s always applicable to my life and there’s a song out there for every time, place, or emotion,” VanWiele said. It’s not some-

Hip-Hop Starter Pack

Curated by Mason Arneson -Freddie Gibbs & Madlib: Pinata -Joey Bada$$: 1999 -Black Star: Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star -The Game: The Documentary -JAY-Z: The Blueprint -Kanye West: The College Dropout -Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly -Travis Scott: Astroworld -Lil Wayne: Tha Carter III