• 1 refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Place pie crust in 9-inch glass pie pan as directed on box for One-Crust Filled Pie.
2. In large bowl, beat eggs with wire whisk. Stir in remaining ingredients until well blended. Pour into crust-lined pan.
3. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F; bake 40 to 50 minutes longer or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Store in refrigerator.

Maple Glazed Sweet Potato Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes, or 8 small sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• handful of salt (or salt to taste)
• handful of ground pepper (or pepper to taste) OPTIONAL

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cube the sweet potatoes and chop the pecans.
3. Mix the butter, apple cider vinegar and maple syrup together in a small bowl.
4. Place the sweet potato cubes in a non-stick pan, and pour the maple syrup mixture evenly over the sweet potatoes.
5. Sprinkle the salt and pepper (optional) over the sweet potatoes.
6. Place the sweet potatoes in the oven for about 50 minutes to an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so to prevent sticking.
7. When there are ten minutes left on the timer, take the sweet potatoes out and sprinkle the pecans on the sweet potatoes, and place them back in the oven.

Sausage Stuffing

Prep: 30 minutes Bake:30 minutes Oven: 325 degrees Makes: 10-12 servings

Ingredients:

12 ounces bulk pork sausage

3/4 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup butter

5 cups dry white bread cubes

4 1/2 cups crumbled corn bread

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1) In a large skillet cook sausage until brown. Drain and set aside.

2) In the same skillet cook onion, sweet pepper, and celery in hot butter until tender; set aside.

3) In a large bowl combine bread cubes, corn bread crumbs, with sausage, and onion mixture. Drizzle about 1 cup of broth to moisten; add more if needed. Toss lightly to combine.

4) Place stuffing in a 2-quart casserole dish. Cover and bake in a 325 degree oven for 30-45 minutes.

CRANBERRY SAUCE

You will need:

• 3 cups of cranberries
• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of sugar
• Vanilla to taste (Optional)

 1. In a small pot, add the sugar and the water. Bring to a boil.

2. Once water is boiling, add the cranberries. If desired, add the vanilla at this point.  
3. Continue to stir the berries. Once the skin starts to pop, begin to mash them until all berries are mashed.

4. Pour the cranberry sauce into a bowl. Refrigerate for an hour.

 MASHED POTATOES

You will need:  

• 5 pounds of potatoes
• 1 ½ cup milk
• 1 stick of butter

 1. Wash and peel the potatoes.

2. Fill a large pot with water. Bring to a boil.

3. Once water is boiling, add the potatoes.

4. Turn down the heat to avoid boiling over.

5. Check the potatoes periodically. If you can stick a fork in them with no trouble, they are ready to mash.

6. Strain the water from the potatoes.

7. Put the potatoes back in the pot and add the milk and butter.

8. Mash the potatoes until they have a creamy texture.

Turkey

 People walking on the wrong side of the hallway. You’re in a hurry to your next class; you have to rush to your locker, stop by the bathroom and speed on over to Intro to Business. You take the same path you do every other day, and you aren’t exactly paying attention until all of a sudden, hello, there’s someone walking straight towards you. You both halt, trying to figure out who should go where, and before you know it you’ve lost about a minute of passing time. And when you have five minutes to get to class, that is quite a chunk of time you’ve just wasted. Seriously guys, the rules of the hallway are like driving; walk on the right side and look both ways when turning. A bonus word of caution- don’t walk right up next to the wall when you’re about to turn. Keep a little bit of space there, because chances are someone else is walking right there too. WHAM!

 Large Groups. Okay, groups of two or three are manageable. But when you and your three other friends decide to link arms and walk in a straight line down the hallway, you start to take up a ridiculous amount of room. People would like to be able to pass you as if they were driving on a divided highway- without going into oncoming traffic. And yes, people will want to pass you because chances are you will be walking slower than my old and very obese beagle. So please, do your fellow classmates a favor, and subdivide your large groups. Try walking in clumps, rather than lines.

 Public Displays of Affection (PDA). Let me just start out by saying, yes, I know I am a prude. I also know it is ridiculous that even hand holding can sometimes make me sick. But the gag reflex that kicks in whenever I see a couple together in the hallway, is not the only reason I am not thankful for PDA. Sometimes it’s just inconvenient, such as when a couple decides that the middle of the hallway is the perfect place to hug for the rest of eternity. Hey, I’m walkin’ here!

 At the CVSPA conference held November 3, I and other Paw Print staffers got the chance to discuss PDA with writers from other high school newspapers. One reporter believed that excessive PDA brings out the insecurities of couples and passers-by. On one hand, you possibly have the couple’s need to prove their love. Maybe their relationship is not going smoothly, and they feel the need to overcompensate for their private problems in public. On the other hand, you could have a lonely passer-by. Maybe they had just been through a bad break-up, or maybe they just feel alone.

 Crowded lockers. We all have had the experience of shoving our way through people to get to our lockers. It’s not anyone’s fault, it’s just the way it is, and sadly it is not reasonable for the school to spend money to space out our lockers. But there are ways to reduce the amount of time you spend fighting for room at your locker. Try to cut back on your trips to your locker. if you have a class, such as Keyboarding or Band, that doesn’t require more than a pencil, bring your books for your next class with you. If you have classes that are right next to each other, you might as well bring your books for both classes with you. You won’t be carrying them that far, and those baskets underneath your desks are there for a reason.

 The Green Hallway after first block. What is it about the Green Hallway that makes it so much more crowded than any of the others? Even when there aren’t cookies being sold, it is so crowded. Anyway, if you don’t wish to enjoy the deliciousness that is the Otis Spunkmeyer cookie, I suggest avoiding this hallway in between first and second block.

“I think it went well; I presented the information that we have so far on different types of schedules, and they want to get some more information on that,” said Chambers. “We will be interviewing and talking with a number of schools that have different schedules to get more information.”

 The school has now set a timeline for making this decision; the school board will decide in February. The administration has many points to consider in the meantime.

“It’s hard to come up with real solid data to say that this particular schedule makes smart kids…there are so many factors in what makes a good learning environment,” said Chambers.

 The main thing is to decide if a 45 or an 85 minute class is better for students.

 ”One of the things we’re looking at is to see if it’s better for a student to be in a class for 45 minutes, or is it better for them to be in class for 85 minutes. Where do they learn better?” said Chambers.

 Another issue the administration has to consider is which classes will benefit from a a shorter class period, and which will benefit from a longer class period.

 ”Changing the schedule, whether its from a block to a seven or eight period day, that might help music classes because music wants to be 45 minutes,” said Chambers, “but it might create problems for Biology or Chemistry where they want to do bigger labs. It certainly would create problems for tech ed. when they want to go out to the house to build and they only have 45 minutes, and they have to drive for 5 or 10 minutes one way. ”

Other departments, like math and foreign language, would like to run all year long. Those departments would benefit from a 45-minute class length.

“By solving one problem we’re creating another problem, so we have to be really careful on how we make change, and why we make change,” said Chambers.

No matter how much thought the administration puts into this decision, not every scheduling conflict will be solved.

“You’re never going to solve all scheduling conflicts because you’re always going to have a certain number of teachers, a certain number of students and a certain number of courses you can offer. A student is never going to be able to take every single class that is offered. It’s physically impossible to be in two places at one time,” said Chambers.

But it’s not necessarily about solving every problem; it’s about creating a better learning environment for students.

“We want to do what’s best for the learning of the kids; it’s not what’s convenient for the teachers [...] or even what’s most convenient for a kid’s schedule. It’s what’s most effective for their education,” said Chambers.

 The classes offered at the virtual school will be classes that are not already offered at BRFHS. They are meant as a way to expand the academic horizons at BRFHS. 

 “It looks like it’s going to be for students who are advanced students, and it’s going to be for enrichment,” said Chambers. “Students would have a full schedule here at the high school, and then would enroll if they would like to fit in an additional course.”

 Students who are considering a virtual class have a few things to think about. Can they handle independent learning? Are they going to have the time to continue learning after school? Will they be able to push themselves to get the work done?

 “[Student requirements are a] 2.5 grade average, no failed classes the previous term, a full schedule, and they have to be someone who is self motivated and can handle the additional work,” said Chambers.

 Most of the classes offered give students one semester to finish, and each class is worth half a credit.

 Another thing the administration has been spending a lot of time thinking about is scheduling. The administration is considering many alternatives to the block schedule BRFHS has now.

 ”We have several models. We have the possibility of going to a traditional schedule with seven or eight periods a day. We also have the option going to an ‘A’, ‘B’ block, where you have block classes, you have four one day and four the next day that are different classes,” said Chambers. “A third option would be to have a traditional schedule where some classes doubled up, so they are like blocks, but most classes will be 45 minutes. So classes, like lab classes, we would double up those classes and the rest of the classes would be regular classes. Another option is to stay with what we have, but to increase the number of skinnies.”

One of the shows that took the music department (but not only them) by storm last year was Glee. It’s about 12 kids who join Glee Club, which is basically a show choir, and about their struggle to remain a club. The school doesn’t feel it has enough money in its budget to support the Glee Club, and the principal gives them an ultimatum–if they can place at Regionals they may remain a club. But if they don’t, they will be cut from the school’s budget. Glee begins its new season September 21.

“Glee is an inspiring show that gets me really excited for band and choir,” said senior Cassie Olson.

There’s a reason so many enjoy a competition. A chance at fame and fortune? Some really talented people, and some not-so-much? Unlike other shows like it, such as Dancing with the Stars or American Idol, America’s got Talent has it all–from singing to dancing, to just totally random tricks.

“[I’m excited for this show] because there are some really cool stunts on there,” said sophomore Bryce Kopp. “Some aren’t, but the bad ones are fun to laugh at.”

Another show that some may be looking forward to is Modern Family. Sophomore Justice Thompson knows she is.

“It’s really funny,” said Thompson, “and it makes my family look nice.”

The administration is looking at alternatives to the block schedule.

“We do have a group of teachers working on scheduling,” said Principal Tom Chambers. “We’re looking at visiting some schools… [and] talking to the teachers and the administrators from those schools to get some ideas.”

According to Chambers, there really are only two major reasons behind the switch– achievement and the scheduling conflicts that always seem to occur.

Virtual schooling is another change that is happening in the not-so-distant future.

“We’re still working on the details for that,” said Chambers. “Generally, [students taking virtual classes] would be students who have a full schedule and want to take additional courses.Virtual schooling is basically online classes.

“Students would be able to enroll in an online class. There’s a teacher on the other end, and then there is what’s called a local educational guide, or LEG, in the district,” said Chambers.

The main LEG for the school district would be guidance counselor Eric Erickson, and at the high school the main LEG would be biology teacher James Klos.

“They would work with the students to make sure that they’re getting assignments done and things, and the teacher on the other end is the one who actually does the teaching and grades the assignments,” said Chambers.

“There are different language courses, French and German, I think Japanese,” said Chambers. “The classes that would be available to students are ones that aren’t already offered at the high school.

Keep reading next week to hear more about virtual schooling!

Courtsey of Jason Cosper, Flickr

Change is coming to the BRFHS advising program 2010-2011 school year. Students will meet with their advisers during focus period every Monday.

“It’s been a work in progress since we started it [the advising program], and I think we’ve come a long ways,” said Spanish teacher Jennifer Rukavina. “And we’re still trying to tweak it to make it effective for everyone.”

The advising program is still in its beginning stages; there are still changes to be made every year, and one of the main goals behind this next year’s change is to make it more useful for students.

“There are some students who will want to touch base every week to make sure they are on track,” said Rukavina. “But we also want to work in more information and work a little more with the character piece beyond ‘have you done your homework this week?’ If so, ‘good job’ or if not, ‘work on that.’

The plan is to create different activities for the advising groups to participate in every week.

“Next year we are planning to create activities for the teachers to do with their advisees. There are so many awareness weeks in the year, and some of them are pretty fun–like, there’s National Joke Week,” said guidance counselor Sue Leadholm. “Students like advising when there are activities and things for them to do.”

Another issue throughout the years has been time; how much time is too much time, and how little is too little?

“The first year we had advising, we had it on late start Fridays, and that got to be too much time,” said Leadholm.

Advisers hope that meeting with their advising every week will help them do more with their students.

“[With a more consistent schedule, we will be] having more time and given more freedom to do different, fun things. We think it will change students perceptions of the program,” said Rukavina.

This year, the vibe on advising Mondays has been a negative one; students would rather it was a collaboration Monday.

“This past year we had it scheduled against collaboration, which made advising seem not as fun. Every other week students thinking ‘Oh, what a drag. I have to go to advising.”

So, teacher collaboration will be held after normal school hours next year.

“I think they [students] will get used to it [not having collaboration]. I think that after a few weeks students will forget that they ever got to leave every other week. Maybe some will still hold on to that,” said Rukavina. “You can’t change it, so don’t waste your time being mad. Just look at the positive side of it.”

The real wish is that this change in advising will bring students and their advising groups closer together. That with more consistency and more fun, it will become more like an advising family.

“Hopefully, all the things we’re putting together will make more of…a community or family atmosphere because what we’re doing is trying to make it easier for teachers to do a great job and find that kind of bond,” said Rukavina. “I know some teachers have done a stellar job, but I think they’ve almost made it another prep. They’ve prepared for it like another class, and that’s a lot of work. ”

Rukavina is part of the committee that is putting together the different weeks, such as “Teacher Appreciation Week,” and others. So every week, along with guiding students through their high school career, advisers will also be doing other activities to make advising more of a fun, learning environment. And they will be given help in that area.

“So over the summer we are working hard to put things together for people and include different choices so that teachers can say, ‘Okay, I have three choices today, I’m going to pick this one’ and no matter what they choose, it will be something fun and help make connections,” said Rukavina.

The advising program at BRFHS is very out of the ordinary.

“When I was in high school, we didn’t have anything like this,” said Rukavina. “I saw a guidance counselor once a year, and hardly anybody talked to me about what I wanted to do. I had ideas, and I had a family that supported me, but if I hadn’t had parents that said ‘Oh yeah, you should do that,’ or knew the steps to take when going to college and filling out all that paperwork, I would have been pretty lost.”

SMILE! Freshman Jeffrey Modica makes sure everything he does is fun.

Freshman track athlete Jefferey Modica seems to always have a smile on his face during practice.

“[I enjoy] running with friends and the friendly competition,” said Modica. “I like being active.”

Modica keeps himself busy; he runs in the 100 meter dash, 110 hurdles, 200, relays and 300 hurdles.

“300 hurdles [are the hardest] because they’re so long,” said Modica.

The exercise is fun, but for Modica socializing with friends is a crucial part of the track experience. Having fun conversations keeps Modica and his friends cheery.

“I get to see my best buds, Kyle and Brian, and everyone else,”said Modica. “We joke and make it a fun time.”

It’s not all laughing and messing around though. Getting better at his events is also important to Modica, and he gets plenty of help along the way.

“Mr. Moretti and Mr. Thurow [are my favorite coaches],” said Modica. ” Moretti believes in me, and always believes I can get better. And Thurow is teaching me how to do the long jump.”

Not only are his coaches there for him, but his friends are too.

“Bryan Smetana and Dustin Dittner [are inspirational to me]. They always cheer me on and help me to get better,” said Modica. “They’re always there for me.”

“I decided to become a teacher my freshman year of college,” said Young. “I was going to get a degree in business, but I decided that I liked explaining math to people, and I was pretty good at it.”

For Young, math was the obvious choice.

“Math was by far always my strongest subject. I actually am not certified to teach any other subject,”said Young.

Choosing another subject to teach would be difficult for Young.

“I think [if I had to choose another subject] I would choose music,” said Young. “Not because I would be good at reading music necessarily, but because I always enjoyed band in high school.” As a band student, Young enjoyed pretending to conduct.

His love of math was influenced by his teachers. Young’s elementary school teacher, Mrs. Lins, had a way of “making drill work not seem repetitive and boring.”

“My favorite kind of math would probably be statistics and probability, more so probability,” said Young. “We teach them more now than we used to, and I think kids find it fun to figure out what the chance is of something happening.”

Like any math teacher, Young has his opinions on the Core vs. Traditional debate.

“I’ve taught both [Core Math and Traditional Math]. There certainly are pros and cons for both, but I think the Core math we have now teaches kids how to use the math, rather than how to do the math,” said Young.

An awful gift can cause your mother to pay you back in the most torturous ways possible. She will quietly accept it and have a gloomy attitude the rest of the day. She won’t even do it on purpose, which makes it that much more painful a pay back.

Lesson number one when buying Mother’s Day gifts– if your gift is going to be a joke, think it through very carefully.

“I was watching Ellen [The Ellen Degeneres Show] one day, and she had these creative, new things coming out, like underwear with words, so that’s what I decided to get her,” said sophomore Savannah Markee.

Lesson learned: sometimes, what may seem extremely hilarious to you, can be completely offensive to your mother.

“We got her underwear, and then we stitched in words. These aren’t your grannies’ panties,” said Markee. “She laughed, but I think she was offended.”

Of course, not every mother will be totally bummed out if she isn’t showered with gifts.

“[The worst present I ever got my mother was] nothing at all,” said freshman Bryce Kopp. “It wasn’t really that bad. It was when I was younger, so she didn’t really expect anything from me.”

Freshman Camille Gunning’s worst present could also be considered nothing.

“We all work on Mother’s Day, so we don’t really celebrate it,” said Gunning. “She doesn’t care, we normally get her a card.”

Freshman Justice Thompson believes in the “sharing is caring” approach to Mother’s Day.

“I brought her a rock and a cupcake one year,” said Thompson. “But I ate half the cupcake.”

While her mother thought this was very cute, and told her it was “really nice,” Thompson had an alternative motive other than making her mother happy at the time.

“It was payback for my birthday that she missed,” said Thompson.

And then there are the times when the present doesn’t quite make it home. Your mother may not be disappointed, but anyone who brought flowers home for their mother in elementary school knows the anguish of realizing that a bus is not the safest place for a marigold.

“[The worst present I ever got my mother was] probably a plant that got ruined on my way home on the bus,” said freshman Remington Stittleburg. “I felt really sad that my plant was ruined.”