Students want Open Campus Lunch

Feature
By Stacy Vo
Husky Herald Reporter

 Ever thought about having a enjoyable lunch instead of just eating at the school? At Port Huron Northern, our lunch schedule is the same every week, and students should have the opportunity to leave school to go get lunch wherever they want.

   Open campus lunch has been a controversial subject for the Port Huron Area School District. Students have been asking why we don’t have an open campus so we can leave school to go get lunch and come back to finish the rest of the day.

   It also gives students the freedom to go get their lunch of choice instead of eating the typical lunch food at the school that most people loathe.

    There are many different options in the Fort Gratiot/Port Huron area for lunch; Ted’s Coney Island, Buffalo Wild Wings, McDonald’s, Qdoba, Red Pepper for Taco Tuesdays. Those are just a handful of popular restaurants students at Port Huron Northern prefer to go to.

   “On Tuesdays, I would like to have open campus lunch so I could go to Red Pepper with a few of my friends to enjoy their $.50 tacos, instead of waiting after school to go,” said Dane Wirtz (‘16).

   Giving students the freedom to go and eat at whatever place they desire creates a little more expression from the students, they can choose what they want to eat at any restaurant.

   They can even decide to go home to fix something up quick.

  “I would like to head home sometimes to eat at home, instead of spending money on food,” said Michael Triebwasser (‘16).

   “The only thing I like from the school is the chicken bowl. It is a dupe for the Kentucky Fried Chicken famous bowl,” said Jenna Koppinger (‘17).

   There are of course a lot of students who enjoy the cafeteria food, but eating what is desired is better.

Vaughn Haynes Shows his Talents at Michigan Music Conference

News
By Sara Jex
Husky Herald Reporter

  Vaughn Haynes (‘18), an accomplished musician at Port Huron Northern High School, has been to selected to perform his own musical composition at the Michigan Music Conference (MMC) this winter. He will be performing with an ensemble of his choosing to show off his piece to a prestigious audience of professionals and students.

 Musical composition requires someone who is naturally gifted and is willing to invest a lot of time and effort into a goal. The MMC carefully reviews each arrangement that is submitted and chooses only the best young composers to perform at the conference.

  This challenge didn’t seem to phase the baritone saxophone and tenor drum player.

  By using online tools that allowed him to hear how the parts he wrote for each instrument fit together, Haynes was able to differentiate between what rhythms sounded correct in the arrangement and which ones did not. “If it sounds good, then I put it in,” Haynes said.

 Though he had been piecing together the composition since for weeks prior, the selection date only allowed for two months of  practice. “I submitted my piece in October and got selected in December,” Haynes said.       

  The Michigan Music Conference will be held Thursday, January 21st to Saturday, January 23rd, 2016 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

  “We have been having practices two times a week, and I have been working at it on my own at home” said Jasmine Bryce (‘17), a snare drum player for Vaughn’s piece. The ensemble rehearses as a full group as well as in specific sections, which includes various percussion instruments.  

  Bryce was able to perform at the MMC last year, with a different group of students from Port Huron Northern. “It is a huge thing where there are booths from different music companies,” Bryce said about her past experiences.

  Another experienced percussionist was asked to join Haynes’ ensemble. Noehl Bingham (‘17), upon being asked of why she decided to join the group, said “[Vaughn] asked me and I have performed at the conference before, so I was excited to participate again.”

  Last Thanksgiving, Haynes was also selected to participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. He played his marching band instrument, the tenor drum, in  Macy’s Great American Marching Band.

  Hayne’s achievements show just how much hard work can pay off.

How to Properly Communicate Over Text

Feature
By Ashton Wimbury
Husky Herald Reporter

  Texting can be quite complicated.  Considering people overthink what is being said and it is possible for messages to be misinterpreted.  

  It can truly take strategic ability to properly communicate over text.  So ask yourself,  what must you do in order to master the “art form” of texting?

  First things first, stop with the constant “lol”, or “haha”, odds are, it is not funny.  People have a tendency to put it after what is being said or they simply do not have anything else to say, therefore they opt to supposedly laughing.    

  There is typically one person to carry the conversation more so than the other, yet there should be balance.  If you are the individual slacking, put effort in or just stop texting.  Just don’t text that person if you don’t feel like it, it is that simple.  Although if you are the only person that is putting in the effort, maybe just end the conversation.

  Misinterpretation is a significant problem with texting.  Since you cannot hear the person saying it, you do not know their tone or how they are necessarily feeling.  

  If you are overthinking the messages you receive, stop.  The other person is probably communicating normally.  

  “I can’t stand when people misinterpret the tone of my text, I hate that,” said Garrett Lance (‘16).

  Excessive emojis are not cute. They do not count as words. Sometimes there is an exception but not all the time.  That shows that you are not the best at keeping the conversation, but you attempt to cover it up with emojis.  You aren’t fooling anyone.

  A lot of the time when people are texting a person they like or have a crush on they ask themselves “Do I text right away or wait?” Text the person when you can.  If you cannot reply right away then you can’t. Don’t wait a long time on purpose to text back.

“I like when people read and reply right away because if I were getting attacked by the Tasmanian Devil, they could save me,” said Mike Mahaffy (‘16).

  Grammar errors are a common issue when it comes to texting, which is understandable at times.  However, if you do not know the difference between their, there, they’re,  your, you’re, or to, and too, you should reevaluate on whether you should be texting or not.  So if you do not know the difference between them I advise you to google it.

  There are two types of people, those that have read receipts on and those that do not.  Some like it on because then you can see whether someone has read the message you sent.  Others prefer having it off because they just do not care when others see the message.

  “I prefer read receipts off, ignorance is bliss,” said Carmen Rankin (‘16).

  People have different ways of texting, but it’s in everyone’s best interest to follow this advice in order to become a “texting expert”.

A New Lifestyle Comes with the New Year

Feature
By Allie Wight
Husky Herald Reporter

  ‘Tis the season when people decide that they want to make an attempt at a lifestyle change! Many people see the New Year as a perfect opportunity to start fresh and make something more of themselves.

  New Year’s resolutions may be easy to start, but once the motivation and excitement of starting something new dwindles down, following through the entire year proves to be very difficult. Very rarely do people keep with their resolution the whole year.

  Olivia Ramsey (‘19) has made a New Year’s resolution for 2016, and is sticking to it rather well. “For my New Year’s resolution, I decided to push myself hard at every basketball game and every practice and do the best that I can do to become a better player,” Ramsey said.

  “Usually when I make New Year’s resolutions I don’t really follow through with them for the whole year because over time I either forget about them or just get bored with what I planned on doing.” Ramsey said. She also said that she wants to keep her New Year’s resolution for as long as the high school basketball season continues.

  Sarah Wight (‘19) has also made a New Year’s resolution. “This year I’ve decided to make my diet a lot better and almost always eat healthy foods. I chose this as my resolution because for the past year or so I’ve been eating a lot of junk food and I decided that I want to be healthier,” Wight said.

  “I’ve actually stuck to my resolution really well so far. Other than the occasional slushie, I’ve been strict with my diet and have been eating all healthy foods,” Wight said. “My friends have been giving me grief about it because I’m pretty skinny and they say I don’t need to go on a diet, but the point is for me to be healthy.”

  Anna Vanderheuvel (‘18) didn’t make a New Year’s resolution. “I usually don’t ever make New Year’s resolutions because there’s not really anything I feel like I need to change about my life. Even if something comes along that I want to change, I don’t need to wait for it to be a new year to do something about it,” VanderHeuvel said.

  

Senioritis Plague Swarms Northern Students

Feature
By Sophie Reinhard
Husky Herald Reporter

  Senioritis is a rare disease that only high school Seniors can contract. Symptoms of this disease include, but are not restricted to: laziness, irritability, and being late for classes.

What is Senioritis? It is when Seniors become lazy and stop caring about their grades, appearance, or classwork.    

  For the most part, Senioritis only really sets in when the individual has been accepted to and has committed to a university of their choosing.

  There is a very thin line that seniors have to be careful not to cross, because if they completely fail their classes during the rest of their Senior year after acceptance, there is a possibility that the college they have been accepted to may withdraw their acceptance. That is the most common mistake that people make their Senior year.

  Colleges do not want to accept people that are not dedicated to finishing something until the end. By analyzing Seniors’ grades after acceptance, they are able weed out the people who do not have a good work ethic.

  Senioritis can occur at any point in an individual's Senior year. It usually is at its worst after Holiday Break, where students get two weeks off in the middle of winter.

  One of two reasons why Senioritis sets in after Holiday Break is because the school year will be over in only five months for Seniors at that point, and after three years of hard work in High School, they are too tired to continue. The other reason why is because most seniors think, despite what administratives tell them, that after a certain point into the second semester, the Seniors’ grades stop being taken into account.

  All Seniors count on this piece of information so they know they only have to get through a certain point in the second semester and then Senioritis can really kick in.

  With all of these factors put in, Senioritis is especially noticeable during the end of the year.

  Can you blame them? All the seniors can think about is their graduation party and hanging out with the friends over the summer for the last time and getting packed and heading off to a huge university by themselves. They are eager to get their lives started and can't really be bothered with high school work they would not affect them in the long run.

New Lab Equipment Needed for a Better Learning Environment

News
By Sophie Ahmed
Husky Herald Reporter

  Students are required to take at least one chemistry class at Port Huron Northern and can go on to take more advanced science courses such as AP Chemistry and AP Biology.  All three of these courses involve laboratory work to meet curriculum standards.  

  Much of the AP exams for both AP Chemistry and AP Biology are lab-based, meaning that the questions are based upon experiments students were supposed to conduct throughout the school year.  Some of these experiments are quite excelled, given that AP classes are a college course equivalent, this is to be expected.  

  But what is also expected is that the students are given the appropriate materials to carry out these experiments.

  Port Huron Northern’s laboratory equipment often fits the bare minimum prerequisite for these classes’ laboratory work.  Dated, damaged, and defective, the chemistry lab equipment is in need of a serious revamp and the science students of Port Huron Northern agree.

  “It would be good if Northern invested in some new equipment, it would simultaneously be an investment in the success of the students,” said Aishah Ahmed (‘16).

  According to bbc.co, better equipment leads to higher productivity and efficiency.  Because of the high volume of regular-chemistry students, an increased efficiency level can allow more classes to complete more experiments per year and prepare entry-level class students for higher level class labs.

  A gradual update of equipment could also be a viable option.  Some lab pieces are in good condition, such as the titration equipment.  Titration is a major part of the AP Chemistry exam and often appears in both multiple choice and free response questions.

  “One thing that was really good last year was the titration equipment, I really got a grasp for the topic because of all the labs we did with it,” said Andrea Johnson(‘17), referring to her experience as an AP Chemistry student during the ‘14-’15 school year.

  Students aren’t looking for a complete turnover of the chem lab, just some of the basic equipment.  “The ring stands sometimes slide down in the middle of testing,” said Ruchi Wankhede(‘17).

Northern’s goal of increasing the rigor and success of STEM classes must acknowledge the necessity of updating some pieces of lab equipment.  “It has the potential to raise enthusiasm and scores” said Ahmed.

Hockey Season Is Here

Sports
By Colton Fockler
Husky Herald Reporter

  High School Hockey has just started and it looks to be an exciting season for Port Huron Northern’s Hockey team.

  “We are full of young kids this year after losing twelve seniors from last year, but these new kids are already developing quick and learning the system” said Andrew Barlass (‘16). With several new “rookies” and only three returning seniors on the team, this seems to be a building year for the Huskies.

   “We have a small team (this year) and a key will be to be healthy through the whole year,” said Garrett Yarger (‘17), “With only 18 players, two less than last year’s team of 20.”

   “We have to play tough teams, but it helps us develop as a team and we will be ready for the end of the year. We just have to keep our heads up and keep getting better every day.” said Travis Hughes (‘17)

   Going into the Larry Manz Tournament, they had lost their previous games to Detroit Catholic Central and Cranbrook Kingswood. However, that didn't deter them that weekend. They just won their sixth straight Larry Manz Thanksgiving Tournament in a crazy fashion.

   Their first game was against their crosstown rival Port Huron Big Reds in which they won 11-1. The championship game was then played against the Anchor Bay Tars which took extra time to decide the winner.

  The game winning goal was scored by Port Huron Northern’s Dakota Truscott, keeping the streak alive.

   “It was a great win and feels really good right now, but we still have work to do to be ready for the playoffs,” said Dakota Truscott (‘17). Northern Hockey has many tests to see how they have developed including a tournament in Sault Ste. Marie and a showcase in Trenton later this year.

   “We are going to be ready for playoffs after playing tough teams this year,” said Corey Easton (‘17) “the new kids will gain experience and skill which will make us even more successful next year.”

   Even though Port Huron Northern Hockey is a young squad, the team is optimistic and should have a thrilling season.

Test Strategies Used To Ace Tests

Feature
By Ashton Wimbury
Husky Herald Reporter

  The dreaded part of school that basically every student cannot bare is testing.  There are multiple test strategies students can use in order to ensure a good grade.

  “I make sure to start studying a few days before a test,” Erica McClelland (‘16) said.

  Studying is the best route to go.  A lot of the time students are instead  distracted by other things and push studying off to the side.  Although taking the time to look over the content that is to be on a test is the best option, since it can help students’ memorization.    

  Testing can put a person under a lot of pressure, considering they are usually a large part of a student's overall grade in a class.  The stress that students receive from tests can greatly affect the grade results.  

  “I try to not let the nerves of testing get to me,” Mike Mahaffy (‘16) said.

  It is best to try to focus and carefully observe the questions being asked on a test.  Sometimes rereading the questions can help to ensure an understanding of what is to possibly be the answer.  

  If you are an individual that struggles with testing and just simply in  need of help, group studying may be a good idea.  Group studying can allow students to work together and share their different tactics they use to get the best grade possible.  

  “For some classes, I study with my friends so that we can quiz each other on what we need to know for a test,” Abby McClelland (‘18) said.

  Studying by yourself or with friends, does not work for everyone.  Typically, if both strategies do not work, tutoring is a great option.  

  Tutoring is provided for free by our school’s  National Honor Society, as well as there being different tutoring programs outside of our school.  It can help students be prepared for when a test comes around.  Tutoring can help a student more thoroughly understand the content, instead of possibly having to cram information just a few days before testing.

  Preparing for a test can take different strategies because people have divergent ways of making sure they have the grade that they want.   You just have to find the right fit.

Students Have Fun On And Off The Slopes

Entertainment
By Katlyn Mathers
Husky Herald Reporter

  Here at Northern, Ski Club is offered and is directed by Mrs. Houle in room 201.

  “ We are an organization where we plan Friday trips to local ski clubs and go have fun and ski,” Houle said.

  Ski club is a fun place for students to join and encounter leadership from their own peers and make new friends.

  “Curtis Isaacson is a huge part of Ski Club, and has been for many years,” Houle said.

  Ski Club is more than just going to ski, and being committed to a season. “It is a lot of fun and it is really chill, if you want to go skiing one week you show up, if you don’t, no big deal,” Isaacson said (‘16).

  Ski Club is offered to anyone who would like to join. “Anyone can join Ski Club, and it is never too late to join, you can come at any time,” Houle said.

   There is a fee to participate on Friday ski trips, but you just pay for the Fridays you want to go. “There is a three dollar fee for each week, which covers lifts and other fees like that,” Houle said.

  Along with the three dollar weekly fee, you can bring your own skis or rent from the hill. If you rent from the hill, the cost will be more for the rental. “Lots of people rent from the hill, the price isn't too bad depending on how many people go, we might have a group discount,” Isaacson said.

  Since it is never too late to join Ski Club, there will be meetings weekly for anyone who would like to join. These meeting cover locations and dates. “We will try to have meetings every week or every other week to talk about what trips are coming up and things like that,” Houle said.

  This year, Ski Club is adding  new locations to the club. If local ski clubs do not satisfy you, you can attend the new ski trip in February. “We are planning a trip to Blue Mountain in February, which will be very exciting,” Houle said.

Archery Club Comes to Port Huron Northern

Sports
By Corey Wilczynski
Husky Herald Reporter

  Port Huron Northern will be opening a new Archery club that will take place every other Monday, starting January 4th, 2016. This club invites any students that shoot archery or that hunt and would like to keep in tune through the winter months.

  Never shot before? That’s okay, come check it out at Blue Water Sportsman's Club. Mike Wilczynski, coach and founder of the club will tell you all about the sport.

  The club is working on getting other schools around the area to compete with Northern in the future. As of now  students can shoot at targets and compete with friends.

  “I’ll be more than happy to help out any kid who wants to try archery.” Mike Wilczynski said. Mike has his own Archery shop and has taught many people to shoot in the past.  

  As of now kids will shoot at 10, 3-D targets, three times to give a total of 30 shots. They will score all shots at these animals.  

  “We’d like to have as many kids shoot as possible so we can hold competitions within the club with all shooters.” Mike said. Shooting will start at 5:30 and run until 8:00.

  Students do not have to stay for the whole time, once they are done shooting they may turn their score cards in and leave.

  The club’s goal is to get students involved in archery and to keep other archers involved through the winter months. Any student is welcome to join! If you’ve never shot before that’s okay. Come on out and learn all about the sport!   

  Please remember even though this is a club, there will be absolutely no bows, arrows, or any archery equipment allowed on school grounds.

  This equipment is to be brought from home to the club. Not to be brought to school under any circumstances. If you have any questions please see the main office.

New Year, New Mock Trial Team

News
By Sara Jex
Husky Herald Reporter

  The Mock Trial team this year at Port Huron Northern High School is full of new faces: only one student is a returning member and there is a new teacher advisor. In spite of these seemingly difficult setbacks, the students are working hard to make the team as successful as it has been in previous years.
  For aspiring lawyers and government workers, Mock Trial is the ideal program. “You see a new side to the workings of a court,” said new member, Madeleine Frank (‘17).  

  During the first meeting, the group was split up into two teams: The Blue Team and the Gold Team. Unlike Varsity teams and Junior Varsity teams, however, these groups were set on an equal playing-field with an even distribution of  skills.

  Mrs. Desjardins, the new teacher advisor for the team, said “I’m really excited to see the students interact and think critically.”

  When asked why she was interested in becoming an advisor for Mock Trial, Desjardins said “I wanted to become involved in the Northern community.” With practices for each team once a week, she is definitely becoming invested in students’ successes.

  Each team was set up with three prosecuting attorneys, three defense attorneys, and six witnesses. Students were able to pick which role they would like to play, as each role is extremely important to the accomplishment of the team.

  Samantha Jex (‘18) is playing the role of Dr. Avery Atkinson, a witness that presents valuable information on the case. “To get prepared, I’m memorizing my character,” said Jex.

  The case assigned to every Michigan High School Mock Trial team this year involves the prosecution of Casey Campbell, who allegedly placed a bomb in the lunchroom trash can at his school. However, Sawyer Simpson, the school bully, may have framed Casey.                   

  As common with most things, there are two sides to the story. It is the Mock Trial members’ jobs to convince a jury of practicing lawyers and officials and a judge with facts and good presentation that either Casey should have a reduced sentence or no sentence at all, or that Casey was a troubled teen that took his anger too far.

Schools Advance Technology

Opinion
By Mckenna Sweeney
Husky Herald Reporter

  When times change, technology changes. Although that is an obvious statement, it holds very true.

  Changes in technology have happened in slew of different areas of today’s society, prominently in schools. Here, at Port Huron Northern, a select few of my teachers have changed their curriculum from paperwork to mainly computer work.

  Online work could be using programs such as Google Classroom or McGraw Hill Connect. Overall, I have found that I like working with pencil and paper much better than working online, though some teachers use a mixture of both, which I have found works the best.

“In my ELA class we mostly do things the way we’ve always done things and not using computers, but for certain things we use Google Classroom to turn in our work,” Sammy Ziarko (‘16) said. “I don’t really like how teachers make us do work online, it just makes everything harder.”

  Google Classroom is a better program but still inferior to the classic paper work, in my opinion. By using Google Classroom, teachers can make an online assignment, but are still able to grade it them themselves, instead of letting the program doing it for them. That is a lot better because then students wouldn’t get answers wrong that were actually correct.

  In McGraw Hill Connect, teachers can create assignments, similarly to Google Classroom. Once the student is finished with a problem there is a “Check my work” button, then they can turn the assignment in for points, which are scored automatically.

  I think McGraw Hill Connect makes classwork a bit more difficult. Even though there is a “Check my Work” button, if the content you type in as your answer is not exactly what the program has as correct, it marks your answer as incorrect. For me, this adds more stress in trying to figure out exactly what the computer wants, rather than what your teacher wants.     

  “I prefer to not use computers as our class work,” said Nicole Truscott (‘16), “Computers have too many difficulties. They shut down in the middle of doing assignments, and sometimes they don’t connect [to the internet], which makes me stress out if a paper is due on a certain day.”

  Computers are better for transferring documents from students to teachers, such as in an email, but when there is a specific assignment where you must answer specific questions, paper and pencil work the best.

  “Where I live, my internet is really patchy,” Connor Friedle (‘16) said, “When  I’m in the middle of doing my work I'll lose connection, then lose all the work I’d just done. I think it's better to not use computers for work.”

  Although there are good and bad points to both sides of the argument, overall using pencil and paper for schoolwork is the most effective way to go.                                                                                                                                  

Biggby Comes to Port Huron

News
By Karson Schenk
Husky Herald Reporter

  Biggby Coffee, a brand native to Michigan with a headquarters located in Lansing, is coming to Port Huron. It is currently in construction, and is expected to open in the spring.

  It is located less than a mile from Port Huron Northern High School: all students have to do is take a  left down Kraft road while exiting the Northern parking lot, and turn into the new business located  across from Kraft 8 theatres.

  Complete with a drive through and walk-in options, will Biggby Coffee pose a threat to the Tim Hortons and Starbucks diehards? Or the gas station coffee junkies? “I think it will affect some people’s daily routine.” Marissa Hartman (‘17) said. “It is conveniently close to the school.”

 Biggby offers coffee, tea, herbal tea, made-to-order beverages, assorted food, and smoothies. In September 2011, the company was named the fastest growing coffee chain in America by CNBC, which ranked the chain number one, based on their growth percentage from the previous year.

  “Biggby coffee will change people’s daily routines. I've heard the coffee is good and it is really close to the school.” Maddie Frank (‘17) said.

  From an economic standpoint, Rachel McClelland (‘17) said, “I think Biggby coffee will be great for this area and attract students as a place to eat and hangout.” Along with its famously cheap (and still good) coffee and iced beverages, it also brings opportunity of new jobs to Port Huron Northern's students.

  One cup of medium coffee from Tim hortons costs $1.79 (14oz) Biggby coffee costs $2.09 (20oz) and Starbucks remains the most expensive  at $2.10 (16oz).

  Biggby was ranked above other popular brands such as Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and Caribou Coffee, and was also named a top 30 food franchise in the United States by Franchise Business Review in both 2011 and 2012.     

  The report compiled results based on surveys from franchisees in the food sector, representing more than 75 brands and 20,500 franchised businesses. Micaela Muzzarelli ('17) a Starbucks Gold member and devotee for the past 5 years stated, "Even with the new Biggby Coffee, my adoration for Starbucks will remain untarnished, it will always be the superior coffee in my eyes."

  Should we as Michiganders be backing native Biggby? Or will Northern students continue to start the day with Canadian Tim hortons and Seattle Starbucks?