GOODBYE 2025 

Have a great summer!

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Hello! I'm Sydney Anderson, coming to you off the page and straight through the screen. It has been so fun working alongside the newspaper crew to help get the physical and online versions out to you all this year. As I am graduating, I won't be able to see the physical versions of the newspaper, however if someone ends up following in my footsteps to keep this page up to date, I can't wait to see how the HCIS Times continues to thrive.

With the newspaper now turned into a class, I hope those who can will sign up and join the team for at least a semester, it's been a wonderful time full of goofiness and a treat to see a whole classroom come together to make something for everyone in the school. Get in and join the fun, I promise you won't regret it. 

 With no more physical prints being made this year, Mrs. Erdahl and I have collected some of our writer's miscellaneous work and have added them here for our online followers. 

Keep keeping on, push though the hardships, and enjoy your symposiums and summer!

-Sydney Anderson, and the school media team of 2025

Grizzly Bears

Some facts about bears.

1. Grizzlies can get to 8 feet long and weigh around 650 pounds.

2. Grizzly bears have a bite force of 1,100 psi which is enough to crush a bowling ball (or bones).

3. They can run up to 35 miles per hour and can swim up to 6 miles per hour. For reference, Usain Bolt’s fastest speed is around 28 miles per hour and Micheal Phelps can swim up to around 5 miles per hour. 

4. “Grizzly” bears are a subspecies of brown bear. There are many other subspecies of brown bear, but the most known ones are the kodiak and the eurasian brown bear. 

5. Grizzlies are omnivorous, and their diet usually consists of certain plants, small animals, ungulates and carrion. 

6. Bear 122, otherwise known as “The Boss” has been the dominant grizzly bear in Banff National Park for around 26 years. He weighs around 700 pounds, has been hit by 2 trains and survived with minimal injuries, is believed to have fathered around 70% of the Banff grizzly population and has no real predators besides the only grizzly that can rival him named Split-Lip.

FUDGY BROWNIE RECIPE

By Jade Larson

What you’ll need -

Ten tablespoons of butter

½ cup of Dark Brown Sugar

½ cup of White sugar

½ teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder 

¾ cup cocoa powder

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

½ cup of flour

¼ teaspoon of baking powder

½-1 cup of chocolate chunks 

Flaky sea salt for serving

Powdered sugar for serving 

First preheat your oven to 325 degrees so it will be ready for baking once we finish the batter. For this recipe we will be using browned butter so that’s what we’ll start with. Browned butter is created by heating the milk solids in the butter until they caramelize giving it a dark color and sweet, nutty flavor. Place your ten tablespoons of butter into a medium pot on high. Stir constantly until the butter achieves a deep brown color and nutty aroma. This should take around 5-8 minutes but you’ll be able to tell when it’s done by the color. After that add two ice cubes to the butter to cool it down a bit and return the water to it that was lost from cooking. Then you’re gonna add all of your sugars, salt, cocoa powder, and espresso powder and stir until you have an even paste. 

Now it’s time for the eggs and vanilla, add to them the mixture you’ve prepared, you can transfer to a bowl in this step but it’s fine to continue using the pot if it's big enough, then whisk until everything is fully combined. 

For the last few steps we’re going to add in our flour and baking powder and fold it in with a spatula. To finish the batter off add in your chocolate chunks and fold them in as well. Mix it for a while because you want the batter to be thick.

To bake, pour your batter into a 9x9 pan lined with parchment paper preferably but greasing it works just as well and spread the batter throughout. Then bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the edges are dry and the middle looks slightly underdone. Then allow them to fully cool before sprinkling some powdered sugar and/or sea salt on top, cutting, and serving. I hope you enjoy!

RANKING RESIDENT EVIL 2, 3, AND 4 REMAKES 

By: JJH 

Perhaps you have heard of the Resident Evil video games? If not, allow me to give a short description. Resident Evil is a horror franchise developed by CAPCOM games in Japan. The basic premise of the games is survival, and figuring out why strange horrific events happen. Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 originally came out in the late 90s and early 2000s. But in recent years, all three of those games have been remade to fit the modern day graphical standards for video games. Now that some context is laid out, it’s time for me to rank them based on my own opinion. First off, I’ll say this. None of these three games are bad. In fact, I think all of them are fantastic. I’m just ranking them and comparing them to each other. My number one of these three would have to be the Resident Evil 2 Remake. It is easily the scariest of the three, and is in general a better horror game. While the others also don’t shy away from gore, 2 just tends to be scarier because of sudden loud noises, lack of visibility, and being chased by zombies and mutants in abandoned places. And who could forget the absolute anxiety you feel when Mr. X chases you around the abandoned Police Station. That alone makes me put Resident Evil 2 at number 1. Downsides of RE2 do include occasional framerate stutters, but nothing terrible. My number 2 would have to be Resident Evil 4 Remake. This game tends to lean more towards action/adventure, than pure horror. Still, there are moments when the horror elements emerge, but there is much more combat than the other two games. Graphically and gameplay-wise, RE4 is definitely the most polished and refined. It is the newest release, so it makes sense why that’s the case. RE4 also had a considerably longer story than the other two games, which I appreciated. In last place is Resident Evil 3 at spot number 3. This game, while in my opinion being really fun, also does have a few issues. The major complaint was that the story was too short, and I can agree with this. It takes about 5 to 6 hours to complete compared to the other games which ran from 10 to 20 hours. This understandably disappointed people. But despite the length of the game, for what it was, I still thought it was a blast to play.  

WELCOME BACK LOONS!

There they are, the magnificent birds, with their striking black and white color on their body with the red eyes, the Loons. Loons are a symbol of the natural beauty of Duluth. Many months of the cold winter, have you ever seen any loons in the past time of year? No, that is because of the seasons that change and the ice all over our beloved lakes that make their life harder. But now spring has come and it’s time for them to return home back to Duluth again soon in late of this month, April and start of May.

When the cold winter comes, the lake will be very cold and it freeze up, the loons can’t find can’t food which mostly is fish and their legs are not made for them to walk on the land, they can only use for diving into water or to swim so then they have to fly over away from their home all the way south to the ocean (fun fact: baby loons can swim almost right after they hatch and they also are amazing swimmers and divers), to the place where the water is not freeze, have fish in the water to eat. But then when time passes by, the loons will start to miss their home, their beloved lakes, so that’s why the loons choose to come back to Duluth every year, which can mean that our lakes are good and healthy. Also when the loons move to south in the winter their look change by molting, they will lose some of their feathers and grow new ones which their black and white striking will gone, most of the neck is white feather in front and in the black is gray-black and their eyes change color to kind of darker too almost black. Loons are a sign of a healthy environment and if we want loons to keep coming back to our lake we have to take care of them.

The return of loons to our beloved lakes in Duluth is very soon now. We should keep our lak clean to welcome them and to make them come back to the environment they depend on, So get ready to see and hear the iconic sounds of our loons friends again and also ready for the weather that’s going to get warmer and summer is on its way.

THINGS I THINK HIGH SCHOOL SHOULD BE TEACHING:

• How to do your taxes

• Self defense 

• Proper hygiene and access to said products

• General goings on in the world as a whole 

• The accurate history behind racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc..

• How to check/change fire alarms

• Emotions and how to properly regulate them

• Mental health awareness and emotional intelligence 

• Sexual assault prevention 

• Safe sex for all sexualities 

• How to manage school, work, friends, and life

• How to have progressive and respectful arguments and conflict

• How to establish and maintain basic morals

• A basic understanding of how to live on your own 

• Money management, investing, and saving

• Time management

• Healthy communication and relationships

• Critical thinking

• Media literacy 

• Clothing repair/ living sustainably 

• Self awareness

• How to limit carbon footprint 

• How to buy a house or rent an apartment 

• Healthy, safe, and balanced eating habits 

• Driving & how to change a tire/basic care maintenance 

• Detailed options other than college 

• Community building after highschool 

• Basic cooking skills/safety 

• Self care 

I understand that this itself is a long list, and parents should be expected to be teaching their children a lot of these things. However, we can't rely on parents to teach topics every child deserves & needs to be taught. Their overall education shouldnt falter and they shouldn't fall behind due to their parents. Some of these topics may seem “out there” for school, however I think basic life skills, and lessons are just as important as things like math and english classes. As an 18 year old about to be on my own for the first time I have no idea how to do taxes, invest and manage my money, or rent a place to live on my own. That being said, I believe and wish schools could teach students these things so they can feel more comfortable and prepared for adulting in the real world.

❂ SUMMER IDEAS ❂ 

If you're like me, you wish for warm sunny weather all year round during the dreary and frigid winter, but when it finally comes you end up staying inside a lot more than being outside if you don't have anything specific to do. Here is a list of simple activities and ideas for you to think about when summer comes around, so you can get yourself out of your room and enjoying the sun while it is out during the three precious months we get. 

1. Put a blanket out in your yard (or somewhere outside, preferably in the grass) and lay on it while doing something you enjoy such as reading, writing, or doing arts and crafts. If ants crawl on you, start reading them your book, writing a story about them, or draw them. 

2. Find a tree to climb. Be careful, but you can even challenge yourself to climb one that looks super difficult to climb, or one that is very tall. Inspect the little bugs crawling on the tree and the pretty patterns of the bark.

3. Lift up a rock and see all the little bugs! There are so many tiny creatures to look at and going on a little adventure to find them is great. Challenge yourself to find one you have never seen before.

4. Get a snack and simply sit outside. It could be anywhere, just take in the scenery of nature and enjoy your snack. This could also include a walk to get to your sitting destination.

5. Balance pebbles and rocks, this is easiest on the beach of course because there is an abundance of rocks. If you are at the beach or a place with a big slab of rock, you can always try drawing on it with another rock to entertain yourself, although not all rocks work. It's a quest to find one!  

6. Do a photoshoot outside. If you have someone to take photos with, that's great, but if you dont you can always take a fun little picture of your stuffed animal in a tree or your action figure in a puddle or something.

7. Make fairy houses! This works best in the actual woods because there are so many natural items for you to find, but you could also add pieces that aren't necessarily from nature and won't harm the environment. Try constructing one up against a tree or higher up inside one.

DONNIE DARKO & A LESSON IN EXISTENTIALISM 

By Jocelyn Petrovffsky

Chances are that at a point in time you’ve experienced an existential crisis. That sentence itself could be cause for one, but let us not get caught up in that. Existentialism is a term that gets thrown about a lot, one you probably don’t fully understand, as all of the terms and concepts can be confusing and convoluted. The term's founder, Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard, describes existentialism as “a rejection of all purely abstract thinking, of a purely logical or scientific philosophy; in short, a rejection of the absoluteness of reason.” This idea can be scary; we all like to reason out our thoughts and experiences, but existentialism forces us to understand less by understanding our realities more.

Existentialism will always vary from one person to another, as the idea rests solely on one's idea of reality. With such an intimidating yet needlessly intriguing and personal idea come countless interpretations. Thousands of songs, movies, and novels deal with the terms' contents. Out of these thousands, millions probably, one always stands out: Donnie Darko. Infamously head-achingly confusing to the point a director's cut had to be released 3 years after its original release and a whole website was developed to try and add some explanation. Even so, it remains a cult classic that maintains its relevance 24 years after its original release.

To those unfamiliar, Donnie Darko is a 2001 horror/sci-fi film about a high schooler whose life is saved by a mysterious 6-foot-tall rabbit. Donnie feels indebted to the rabbit and starts committing crimes it requests of him. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the title character, with other notable actors such as Patrick Swayze, Drew Barrymore, and Seth Rogen in the supporting cast. Such an out-there plot may not immediately click in our heads as something that turns out to have major themes of existentialism and nihilism, but alas, that's what it came to be. Before we get to the meat of this, a quick heads-up that there will be many spoilers in the rest of this article.

Instead of focusing on the film as a whole, let's take a look at a few different interpretations of the ending. The first interpretation, which we’ll call the butterfly effect, focuses on Donnie's place in the world and the necessity of his sacrifice. Donnie was going to die either way, but the world allowed him a chance to understand why things had to turn out the way they did (i.e. if he didn’t die many others would.) Sort of a 10-year prior, 2-hour long exploration of the question at the end of Shutter Island, “Which would be worse–to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?” While going through this pre-chosen path the world is showing him, he begins to question the purpose of life. We see through his many therapy sessions the increasingly desperate his existentialist worries are becoming. At the end, once he realizes the harm he causes, he decides to accept his fate, “I just hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief because there will be so much to look forward to.”

We’ll call this second interpretation: the second chance. In this theory, similar to the butterfly effect, Donnie was always going to die but some higher power chose to allow him to live a little longer; allowing him to make peace with himself and the people around him. It was also a chance to experience the things dying so young wouldn’t allow him to achieve. He finds a girlfriend, repairs his relationship with his family (in some ways), and he’s able to expose the true nature of the world to those who don’t question their reality (i.e. Cunningham's perverted nature.) This interpretation takes his existentialism as a price for the second chance he’s been given. Living this “fake” life that has a 28-day countdown starts to affect the way Donnie views his surroundings. 

At the end of the day, we all gotta struggle with existentialism, it's a part of life. Logic and reason can only get you so far. Sometimes you gotta think outside the box and pay the price for that. It’s a weird world we live in and as society takes the turns it's taking– especially here in the USA, life is going to get even more difficult. All we can do is try not to go crazy and seek for hope in whatever comforts us. Unfortunately for us we can’t confide in a tall guy in a bunny suit who forces us to do the things we’ve wished we could for years, but we got good movies, and I think that makes things kinda alright.

Summer spot

Are you bored of the same old pretty lake that has a lot of people in Duluth during the summer times and want a quiet, relaxing, and chill place by the water? In Duluth have some very great spots along side of the lake that not as much people as the know well lake oe park, many of it have a very nice views that you can go hang out or picnic to enjoy that lake and summer without all bunch of people walking around all over the place. In this article the author will tell you about some of the less popular spots that you can go and enjoy.

The first place is the hidden beaches song the lakewalk: while the park point beach get too much people and you want to relax without much people if you try walk further along the lakewalk toward the eastern end, you will find the smaller, rockier openings in the trees, that lead to more secluded spots right by the Lake Superior, it’s not a big sand beach but they will be less people and can still enjoy the beach, the view, the weather and be relax.

The second place isn’t that much of a secret but still is a very peaceful place to go, the Chester Park trails along Chester Creek: well, I bet almost everyone knows Chester Park, but do you know that they have trails that run along the Chester Creek. This place has quiet spots by the creek and also has small waterfalls, so you can enjoy nature, have a little walk and listen to the waterfall's sounds.

Another place that I will talk abou is Park along the Skyline Parkway: this place has a lot of view to look at and also has smaller parks too, like the valley of silence overlooked behind St.Scholastica. It might still have some people but it will be less crowded so you can have a quiet place, listen to nature with the great view.

The last place that I will tell you is the Amity Creek trail: This trail follows Amity Creek toward Lake Superior, has a great view of the creek, has small waterfalls, and also a more natural environment that you can enjoy, less crowds than the more central Lakewalk.

So that will be all I have for today! These places might take a little bit of looking around but when you finally find your own favorite spot that makes you feel calm and peaceful then it is worth it, it could be the best summer adventure that you won’t forget and can go back in anytimes. Lastly, I hope everyone enjoys summer.

LOW RATED MOVIES I LOVED AS A KID

By Jocelyn Petrovffsky

Have you ever been a child, thoroughly enjoying a random movie your parents put on only to find out later that everyone else hates it? Well, I have! Many times. Maybe I just had bad taste in movies as a kid and now am blinded by nostalgia, but I think the more plausible option is that I just have taste that transcends a regular human mind. Usually, I rewatch these fateful films right away to truly understand if it was something I could only love as an 8-year-old or if they still hold up nowadays; and usually, they do! Though occasionally I do find that one movie that actually is pretty bad and sometimes borderline (or flat out) racist. Not my point, though; I want to specifically highlight those nostalgia-ridden films that I still think are still really good; maybe even better now that I have developed a bit more brain. 

National Treasure: Coming up with 46% critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 3.3 average on Letterboxd, National Treasure is the best film on this list and one of my favorite movies ever made. Who cares if it's not historically accurate? I genuinely couldn’t care less! The movie is ridiculously entertaining; in fact, the wild plot makes it all the more thrilling. Refusing to steal the declaration of independence, then the second someone else says they will, you go “not if I steal it first.” Hysterical! Sure, it's unrealistic and a little stupid but it's hilarious and fulfilling; and that's all I ask for in a PG film. While double checking the rating I realized that this movie has a 2-and-a-half-hour runtime! It's so good that I’ve never noticed it. Also, they made a direct sequel that I only really watched once as a kid but I’ve rewatched a couple times throughout the past few years and it's also actually really good. Great franchise.

Click: With a whopping 34% critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 2.9 average I do recognize that it’s not a perfect film. I’m already not a fan of the crude humor in most Adam Sandler comedies—movies like “That’s My Boy” are the bane of my existence. While Click does rely on his regular crude, slapstick style this film works surprisingly well as an emotional drama. I kid you not I always almost cry at the scene near the end when he crawls out of the hospital in the rain; and that's coming from someone who's cried at a grand total of 3 movies. Even though I dislike this style of comedy I still find joy in the “& Beyond,” joke. 

The Pagemaster: It’s practically just “The Neverending Story” but half animated; how does that warrant 19% critics on Rotten Tomatoes? Honestly, I don’t remember much since I haven’t rewatched it in like four years, but I remember being really angry when I saw how it was rated. I’ll just go with those feelings because even if it doesn’t hold up much on rewatch it definitely is not bad enough for a 19 out of 100! 

I’m sure there are many more I could name; these are just the first three that came to mind.

RANKING RESIDENT EVIL 2, 3, AND 4 REMAKES 

By: JJH 

Perhaps you have heard of the Resident Evil video games? If not, allow me to give a short description. Resident Evil is a horror franchise developed by CAPCOM games in Japan. The basic premise of the games is survival, and figuring out why strange horrific events happen. Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 originally came out in the late 90s and early 2000s. But in recent years, all three of those games have been remade to fit the modern day graphical standards for video games. Now that some context is laid out, it’s time for me to rank them based on my own opinion. First off, I’ll say this. None of these three games are bad. In fact, I think all of them are fantastic. I’m just ranking them and comparing them to each other. My number one of these three would have to be the Resident Evil 2 Remake. It is easily the scariest of the three, and is in general a better horror game. While the others also don’t shy away from gore, 2 just tends to be scarier because of sudden loud noises, lack of visibility, and being chased by zombies and mutants in abandoned places. And who could forget the absolute anxiety you feel when Mr. X chases you around the abandoned Police Station. That alone makes me put Resident Evil 2 at number 1. Downsides of RE2 do include occasional framerate stutters, but nothing terrible. My number 2 would have to be Resident Evil 4 Remake. This game tends to lean more towards action/adventure, than pure horror. Still, there are moments when the horror elements emerge, but there is much more combat than the other two games. Graphically and gameplay-wise, RE4 is definitely the most polished and refined. It is the newest release, so it makes sense why that’s the case. RE4 also had a considerably longer story than the other two games, which I appreciated. In last place is Resident Evil 3 at spot number 3. This game, while in my opinion being really fun, also does have a few issues. The major complaint was that the story was too short, and I can agree with this. It takes about 5 to 6 hours to complete compared to the other games which ran from 10 to 20 hours. This understandably disappointed people. But despite the length of the game, for what it was, I still thought it was a blast to play.  

Prediction of school in 2050

In the past decades school trends have changed a lot, well I mean not just the school trends, the things around have always changed, social media, how people open heart about sexes, technology, and a bunch of other stuff. Well I would say the past is the past, we should focus on now but wouldn’t it be fun to think about the future that is coming in a few years? 25 years look soo long but trust me, when you know yourself again it will already come. School is the place that we spend times on it alot to learn thing, find yourself, find your people, and try something news before you meet the real world, also is the place that you can try new trend that been going on in each time and find yourself what you are, what you like, and what is your style. Now, I want you to think with me about the future in the next 25 years, what will the school look like

Think about this, when you walk into school in 2050 it will look different than it does look like today. Well the one thing that I think will change for sure is your backpack, it will be a lot lighter or you won't even have to carry any backpack. Instead of carrying a bunch of math worksheets from Gina, a poem pocket, and a book that you have to read for literature, we may put everything into a small tablet. I know that today we also have a chromebook to use but sometimes we still have to do something on paper. Also maybe in the future learning will be more personal too, maybe technology can help teacher create lesson just for each student, like when you are very good at math or other subject, you can move ahead faster but if you need extra help with something the technology can give you more practice in specific thing, like you have your own teacher and your own lesson but if you have a problem then technology can help you contact with teacher or people that can help you to understand more. Classrooms might also change too, in my opinion, I think we can just take the lesson from anywhere that will make you feel relaxed and comfortable in learning but sometimes you still have to come out with other people to try to go into society and try the real experience. 

Even the school might look different in 2050 or not, you still get to learn new thing and have a grown in your life, even in next 25 years you will still have teachers to help and guide you, sometimes teacher that teach you a lesson don’t have to be a teacher that teach in school, they just a people that have many experience in life and want to give you advice so you can grow and get ready for the world.

Farther.

I look around me and there is all but silence. Noise fills every mild crack and gap of space in this area. We are all entirely accustomed to the never ending ruckus. This city is new, and old. Made new, but has been resting in its place beyond hundreds of years. I do not know entirely the history of it being here. Only that it is old but new. In the past twenty years thighs have changed though. New glamorous and metallic buildings have risen from the ground. Sidewalks of marble  in many different colors. Trees are less and often decorated lavishly with borders surrounding them. The ground is clean but it is no longer “ground”. It is a floor. Everything is new and sterilized. I look all around me and I see people from my left to my right. People on their way to their designated jobs in the workforce, residents traveling to school. I look up above me and I see the sun reflecting off of the sky way systems. The skyway systems here are our way to travel the city. We have no land- roaming vehicles. The skyway systems are large long vehicles that run through a cable system. They have many stops going through the city. The vehicles all have bathrooms on them and small stores offering refreshments. As a child we would spend all of our money at these stores after the school days ended. There are seats all the way through the vehicles. However the skyway system does  not take you past the city. I do not think I would even know how to get farther than the city line. No one here chooses to speak on the subject. When we do it seems all very hush hush. We refer to it as the “father”.  But no one would ever dare to venture into the farther. 

Facts about extinct animals 

By: Hannah McGilivray