The Bison – September 7, 1990

A 30-minute, 300-clipping video, set to modern and popular music, including graphics and special effects, will be produced by National Video Yearbook (NVY), in cooperation with Student Council.

“It’s for everybody. It’s not just a sports video, we go into the classrooms and the lunchroom. We include everyone,” said Doug Johnson, a NVY representative based out of Minneapolis.

Throughout the entire year, one or two professional cameramen will be shooting clips of sports events, academic pursuits, average student life, student dances, even prom, graduation and other spring events. It is mailed home mid-August, so all seasons can be covered.

“One thing we try to do is cover everything. We try to get in as many faces as possible, in all fairness,” said James LaFond, another NVY representative.

The Student Council will be marketing the videos over a one-week span. The video costs $34.95, including a $15 deposit. Student Council has its own incentive for high video sales. If members sell over 150 copies, NVY will give them $5 per video. If sales exceed 300 copies, everyone who purchased a video will benefit by an extra-long version.

“It’s not just the profit, it’s a service to the students,” said Laurie Raymond, Student Council adviser.

Although the filming will be done solely by professionals, students can become involved in the over-all production of it. “Students can get involved by writing scripts. We have worked with creative writing classes and newspaper staffs in the past,” said LaFond. The background music is also students’ choice. A national survey is distributed about every month, and results are tabulated, with the top sections being used. National Video Yearbook is also getting large enough to have their own music scores and bands, according to LaFond.

Although the video will be marketed to BHS students, it will not replace the printed yearbook.

“You can’t mess with tradition. One thing is that this is never, ever to replace the printed yearbook,” said Johnson.

Vicki Cary, the new yearbook and newspaper adviser, expressed concern. “I think that video publications may have a place in high schools, but my main concern is that this should be a student-run project. I’m hoping that this would soon evolve into a publication produced completely by the students for the students. We shouldn’t completely rely on the pros. Kids could do this.”

Speech Pathologist, Carla Finke, completes the new teachers course pictured Sue Sodeman. Seven new teachers joined the BHS faculty, as follows: Vicki Cary, English; Connie Crocker, Spanish; Carla Finke, Speech Pathologist; Neil Fletcher, Social Studies; Tim Nestrud, Technology; Judith Titcomb, Life & Family Sciences; and Gail Zimmerman, EAGLE.

On August 15, 1990, selected parents in District 877 received a letter from Marilyn Hall, the Food Service Director, in regards to a proposed school breakfast program. The letter asked questions as to whether or not his/her child would participate and why or why not. It also listed a sample menu for one week. Some days would include: orange juice, fresh fruit, cold cereal, cinnamon rolls, toast, and milk.

“I don’t eat breakfast, but the program would help people that are hungry and don’t eat, so they don’t rush in the morning before school,” said freshman Nicole Jorgenson.

The breakfast program is a “federally funded program which is similar to the National School Lunch Program and all children can participate,” stated the letter. The breakfast would cost 70 cents. For those students eligible for free or reduced price lunch, reduced priced breakfast would also be available. The reduced priced breakfast would be 30 cents.

"It affects you in a positive way," said freshman Zara Wren.

The food service recognized that available breakfast in the morning helps: students who ride the bus long distances, students that attend early morning activities, students that have early morning jobs or chores, and parents that work and must leave before their children leave.

"The idea is a good one because for some kids their breakfast is not right there when they leave the house," said senior Cara Schwann.

The only negative to the program is that if accepted, the school day would be 15 minutes longer.

“But, breakfast is the best meal of the day,” said junior Carmen Blair.

Being mentally prepared, having activities during the week, and focusing on the game are some of the things football’s Head Coach Kevin Schmeling does to prepare his team for games. Especially the Homecoming game on September 21.

“I think that the team will win over St. Francis, but it would be the first [homecoming] win since I’ve been here,” said Schmeling. “Our team's strong points are quickness and good talent. If we lose against St. Francis it will hurt our chances for playoffs,” said Schmeling.

Student Council is also considering sponsoring a bonfire. The bonfire was removed due to it being a fire hazard. “Some extra things we might need for a bonfire would be fire permits and chaperones,” said junior Carmen Blair, student council member.

Along with mod activities and the homecoming game an International soccer game, bonfire, and Jam the Gym are being planned. There will also be the annual dance after the game.

Due to the re-surfacing of the track, the parade will not be held on the track.

“Instead of having the parade on the track they might have it downtown. The floats would be made by the classes, headed by the class officers,” said senior Natasha Hance.

Terrorists attacked and nearly annihilated the school this summer.

No, Iraqi terrorists did not hold the faculty hostage. A group of unknown individuals "paint bombed" the school. Special guns discharge the inserted paint capsules, and when shot, they "splatter" upon impact.

According to school officials, "no one" shot paint pellets at the doors and windows. Just because custodians scrubbed the paint off, leaving barely a trace of paint -- which isn't officially there -- that means it's okay, and since no one can see it, this never happened, right?

Hm, it must have been the Paint Pellet Elf, right?

Wrong!

Administrators placed the rock, a symbol of BHS, for the students to express creativity, vent their anger, and to dissuade students from painting on the school. Yet some forms of vandalism still continue to deface BHS.

Purple and white "BHS is #1" decorations covering the sidewalk have been a problem in the past. When vandals paint the sidewalk, the school district must shell out thousands of dollars to sandblast the damage. A waste of money on a few immature people who love to destroy school property.

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The Bison feels that if this group of people love to play war, shoot at people, and spend other people's money, they should make sure to sign up early for the selective service. To those responsible: Make sure to put down that you love to shoot at people, and that destroying property does not bother you. But aim well, when you shoot, because maybe the people who get blown to bits will lower our gasoline prices.

The Bison believes in the importance of creative expression, but when this expression turns to obscenities, vandalism, and the destruction of the school, then "the creative expression" has gone a little too far.

Changes. Unless you live in a timeless vacuum you're going to have to face them. Unfortunately, I do not.

The biggest change in my family's life is that Eric, my brother, the keeper of the English language, is leaving for college. Despite the rumors, he is not attending Herbert Hoover University. I promise if there was one in existence he would attend it -- he would probably be the president. Even with excellent PSAT scores he will be attending Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota. No kidding.

Bethany will be a challenge even to Eric. He's even trying to start the Bethany chapter of the unofficial Herbert Hoover Fan club. He'll be the president there too. (We have one here at BHS also, with a membership of two. Well, now it's down to one.) I kid you not.

Even though I'll miss our "Dinner time debates" and our "It happened on this day three centuries ago" discussions. I'm sure the change for Eric will be ultimately for the best.

There is another change in the Bakke household. My little brother is changing, of all things, his mind. Kyle has traded in his cape for a shell, a turtle shell. Clark Kent now makes him yawn; he's become a ninja dude. Oh, please.

Gone are the days when a simple red farmers' handkerchief made him a happy camper. We now spend our days hiding the steak knives -- Raphael, (Kyle's favorite) says they make awesome daggers -- and our nights fixing broken make-shift nunchucks. For Kyle, change is dangerous.

And finally, I'm going through some changes. As I come back to school this fall, a senior, the 12 years of work are finally starting to pay off. Graduation looms in the near future, June 7 to be exact. In 273 days I will no longer be in high school: It freaks me out just thinking about it. Change freaks me out.

Even through all these changes, one episode remains the same. Homecoming is just around the corner, and remember, you owe me! A crown. That's all I ask. I deserve this title. After all, I spent the entire summer going to parades to see the pros in action. No kidding.

And for those faithful few, here's another slogan for your campaign buttons: "Vote Bakke. Maybe this will shut her up!"

The Bison feels it is imperative to restate its purpose and policies for the 1990-1991 school year. Bison policies are designed to reinforce its concern for readers.

The policies reflect its obligation to accuracy and student opinion and its opposition to censorship.

The Bison's sole purpose is to inform high school students of issues that affect them. It is our responsibility that the news we print is accurate and unbiased. The Bison will print a correction statement if a mistake is found. The correction statement will run in the following issue.

The Bison will strive to clearly name their sources and only print current news that is beneficial to the whole student body. Instead of printing a slanted story, The Bison hopes to present both sides and let readers draw the conclusions. Only news will be published and will appear in a non-biased manner.

The Bison will resist any and all attempts at censorship either before or after publication. All content on The Bison's editorial page reflects student opinion on major issues. This page serves as an outlet to students, allowing them to voice their feelings. Editorials state the opinions of The Bison editorial staff. Columns are signed and reflect the opinion of the writer.

The Bison encourages students to write letters to the editor and express their opinions. The right to decline or shorten a letter to the editor is reserved by the Editorial Board.

The Buffalo Senior High School newspaper, The Bison, offers advertisements to organizations that find it beneficial to do so. The Bison assumes full responsibility for advertisements. The Advertising Manager can refuse any ad. The Advertising Manager will negotiate with a potential buyer so that they will not only read the advertisement, but act on the offer. The Advertising Manager assumes responsibility for any advertisement that contains false or incorrect information and will negotiate with the advertiser in case of a complaint.

This year Buffalo Senior High School will become part of the North-Suburban Conference. Due to shifts in enrollment, some schools lost students while other schools increased student enrollment. The conference switch was needed to balance enrollment. Also, the conference was spread apart wider than necessary.

Many people view this with excitement, anticipating an even challenge.

"I think we’re going to see a lot more sports making it to state because of the competition," said Gerry Bakke, head coach of wrestling. Football coach, Kevin Schmeling, is also keeping a positive outlook. "This is our first year in the new conference. I think we'll be in the middle or up," he said.

While there are those who are looking forward to the change, problems remain, such as becoming acquainted with the new schools. Nancy Bergert, Activities Advisor, has attended meetings bi-monthly for the past year, to help make the transition smooth.

There are also those who think the competition will be too stiff.

"It will be tougher. The teams will be a lot harder to beat," said one freshman.

Because BHS is a "rural" school, facilities may be another disadvantage. City schools will have closer and better facilities due to location. For example, some sports, such as hockey, are more easily able to practice year-round.

The move will open more doors to students wishing to participate. Many new ninth grade sports have been added and more competition in the most recent sports, such as swimming and soccer, will be available. Overall Principal Nick Miller feels there is only one direction -- up.

Sometimes new equipment is needed to help teams do better in a certain sport. The track team's new equipment includes a new all-weather track.

Most of the students on the track team feel that the new track will be a big improvement and will benefit the team and the school.

Principal Nick Miller thinks that the new track will bring more people into the sport and that the track can be used throughout the community. Senior Amy Rhodes thinks that the track is the right equipment for the team. Rhodes also says, "I thought it would never happen. It gives us a better chance for winning."

When asked about his feelings concerning the rumor of extra expense of construction due to the rain, Miller replied, "No extra cost really, just time delay."

Other members of the track team cannot wait to run on the new track.

Miller agrees that the color of the track should be red not blue or any other color. He also thinks that it will help physical education during their long distance running and testing.

Ed Saxton, track coach, said that the new track is "great without a doubt." He also said that now the teams can have better home practices.

Soccer will finally reach the junior varsity level this year. The soccer program will now be competing in the North Suburban Conference at the junior varsity level. Previously, soccer was an intramural sport only.

"We’re going to need to work extra hard in the North Suburban Conference," said Coach Rick Toso. There is already great participation by the students. "I think that is great," said Toso.

When asked why they signed up for the sport, team members replied that they've been playing soccer for the better part of their lives. Many students gave up other sports to join soccer. Two examples are senior Scott Boris, who gave up football, and freshman Kim Parchem, who switched from cross country.

Although the program is not co-ed, many girls have joined the team to compete at the boys’ junior varsity level.

However, competing for the first time in a new conference poses some big tasks for the new team. "The biggest problem is our previous lack of competition," said Coach Toso, "but hopefully by next season we will be able to play at a competitive level."

The administration added soccer to the sports program because of the popularity of a community program organized by the parents. Last year, a team was organized for seventh and eighth grade students and ninth grade students. The tenth through twelfth grade team was set up on an intramural basis. All teams were co-ed. This year, there will be a seventh and eighth grade team and a ninth grade team in addition to the junior varsity squad.

The Bison cheerleaders recently attended a National Cheerleaders Association camp where they received the highest honors. The camp was held at St. Olaf College in Northfield, where there were over 100 cheerleaders from the cities around Minnesota.

While they were there, the Squad took first place and won the Award of Excellence. They also brought back the Spirit Award, a Spirit Stick, which was voted on by the other squads and Buffalo was chosen. They also obtained Squad Achievement Awards, and received top ratings.

"It was totally unexpected...it's a great way to start our last year," said senior Cristen Holtorf.

As the winning squad of the Award of Excellence, they now qualify to compete in the NCA 1990-91 High School Cheerleaders National Championship held this December in Dallas, Texas.

"Awesome...Undescribable. It’s good to know what we’ve accomplished, but we still have higher goals," said one Squad member.

Varsity football cheerleader, senior Molly Simmons, was also selected to compete in the individual competition for All-American Cheerleader after performing for the rest of the camp and the judging staff of the NCA.

"I was a nominee and one of the top nine girls at camp. Then you have to have a run-off, like a pep-fest, and do a cheer by yourself," said Simmons.

This honor qualifies Simmons to travel to Ireland and Hawaii, and participate in the Macy’s Day Parade. She has received the invitations, but is not sure whether the money is available.

"We're working hard and practicing all the time. We're fundraising, too," said Simmons. The squad held a car wash and is considering selling raffle tickets at the football games, according to Simmons.

To celebrate their achievements the cheerleaders painted the rock: "Dallas or Bust!"

About 307 freshman will be entering BHS, and they will be confronted with problems ranging from what activities they should be involved in, to being slammed into the lockers during passing.

"They have to deal with being the youngest and the newest," said principal Nick Miller. Because of age and inexperience, freshman must deal with new problems.

“Expectations and maturity is one thing ninth graders seem to lack. When they get into ninth grade they are expected to act more maturely, to get good grades, and to get their homework done, that is one of the biggest problems," said Peggy Pasche, freshman adviser.

Drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancies, and skipping are problems facing freshman, but these are experienced by members of the other grades also. Since the change to high school is such a difficult adjustment, an orientation was held August 27 for the newcomers to the school.

"I think that orientation really helps the students and they seem to adjust quickly," said Miller. Pasche agreed. "Orientation is a good way of getting the kids used to the school," she said.

There is a variety of benefits for freshmen. "Freedom, mods, dances, and responsibility," Miller commented. Treated maturely, freshmen are encouraged to join high school sports or academic competitions, to experience a variety of environments.

"A lot of ninth graders participate in school activities. Most of them have no jobs so they have more time to do activities," said Miller. "I want to do well in school and in my classes. There will be more pressure because college is so close," commented freshman Jill Scott.

"I think that ninth graders handle themselves pretty well in high school," said Miller.

Recycling continues to be a hot topic this year.

"We should recycle as many of the products that are recyclable as we can," said science teacher Boyd Emmel. In the past, BHS has been involved by recycling paper and aluminum cans.

"Everyone is welcome to pitch in. There’s been a real increase on logging in Minnesota," said Emmel. There is also an increase in the amount of paper used in Minnesota. Most of this paper can be recycled.

One class, the Environmental Conservation class, taught by Emmel, has been especially involved in recycling. Emmel stated that his class did a lot last year to emphasize the importance of recycling, including a can recycling contest resulting in 20,000 cans in five days. Also last year the class had a ditch clean-up and observation.

If more people used recycled paper, more people would be driven to recycle, according to Emmel. "There might be a mandate that schools recycle cans and paper," he said. "I think that people should just want to do it, not have to do it," said sophomore Nicki Landeck.

The Student Care Committee also recycles cans. The money goes to buy cards and gifts for students that are sick for a long period of time. The SCC earns about $7 a week.

Polka-Dot Recycling Center ships out 80 tons of paper per week and about 30 thousand cases of pop cans per week. Besides curb-side pick-up, and individual delivery, Polka-Dot also services schools, such as, Monticello, Montrose, and Buffalo. The majority of recycling material comes from the curb pick-up, but on Earth Day the number of objects brought in doubled.

Polka-Dot sends the recyclable products to several plants, but they mainly send to Cellulose Insulation. They turn regular newsprint into box board, insulation for houses, and newsprint. Polka-Dot is now recycling various plastics, but because there are over 100 variations to plastics they only admit things like detergent, oil, and anti-freeze bottles, and milk and water jugs.

Boys' and Girls' Cross-Country: G. Bakke & J. Hanson
Fall Cheerleading: M. Holland
Girls' Tennis: C. Keifenheim
Football: K. Schmeling
th Grade Football: J. Brady & P. Nunnink
Volleyball: D. Axel
Soccer: R. Toso & C. Davis
Swimming and Diving: R. Schneider
Fall Musical: C. Swenson & M. Walsh
Girls' Basketball: R. Vander Walde
Boys' Basketball: N. Fletcher
Hockey: C. Davis
Wrestling: G. Bakke
Slalom Skiing: R. Toso
Gymnastics: M. Driscoll
th Grade Boys' and Girls' Basketball: B. L. Erickson & G. TBD
Winter Cheerleading: L. Fildes
One-Act Play: C. Swenson
Knowledge Building: TBD
Speech: E. Saxton
Odyssey of the Mind: J. Prazak
Mock Trial: L. Raymond
Bison Newspaper: [unclear]
Peer Helpers: M. Leff
Boys' Golf: P. Specht
Girls' Golf: D. Miller & R. Sanderson
Boys' and Girls' Track & Field: E. Saxton
Girls' Softball: TBD
Baseball: L. Erickson
Boys' Tennis: C. Keifenheim
th Grade Baseball & Softball: TBD
International Club: Foreign Language Teachers
Future Farmers of America: J. Rambow & V. Cary
Tatanka Yearbook: V. Cary
Student Council: L. Raymond
Student Care Committee: K. Swenson
Compeers: G. Rose
National Honor Society: M. Leff & K. Rebischke
Youth of Retarded Citizens: TBD
BHS Singers: M. Walsh
Jazz Band: R. Mohwinkel
Reading & Discussion: J. Squadroni
Amnesty International: J. Ause
Men's Chorus: M. Walsh