Meghan Onserio ’15 delivers Crush cans to upper school lockers for Valentine’s Day.
This year, Providence Academy gives a new meaning to Valentine’s Day. As tradition goes, Providence Academy Upper School Student Council sold ‘Crush’ soda for students to give to their significant others or friends. However, this year Student Council decided to give the profits to charity.
This is the seventh year that Providence has sold Crush cans on Valentine’s Day, but the first year where the profit goes to charity. Sharing and Caring Hands is a Minneapolis founded organization designated to help the poor.
The sodas were being sold February 12 and 13. Student Council decided to extend the sales an extra day to sell more cans.
As Providence policy, all students get one free soda. In the past years, the soda would sell for 50 cents. However this year, it was raised to a dollar to cover the cost and make a profit. A case of 12 sodas costs about $3.50, so for each case sold, Providence makes about $8.50.
Providence sells the sodas before they have them to make sure they don’t over buy. This year they bought and sold 45 boxes.
Senior boys gather in for a small group discussion during this year’s Senior Retreat. Photo by McKenna Happke ’14.
This year the class of 2014 participated in the annual “Senior Retreat”. This retreat is hosted by the NET team and Mr. Richard Carrillo, and is designed to prepare seniors for faith life after high school and into college.
All students had the opportunity to stay over Thursday and Friday night, but only a small fraction of the grade did. Some students didn’t feel it was necessary, some had to work and others had sports. Whatever the reason, students who stayed at the retreat longer say they got more out of it.
Allie Wooden ’14 who didn’t stay the two extra nights stated, “I didn’t get as much out of it as past years because it was so short.”
Christa Peterson ’14 stayed the night and said that her favorite part of the retreat was the praise and worship towards the end. This part of the retreat was only available to the students who stayed over.
The day retreat consisted of a few short games, NET testimonies, small groups, and student testimonies. NET testimonies is when members of the NET team present to the senior class their own personal stories and how they either converted to the Faith or when they realized they weren’t living for their faith and decided to change. Small groups are a time for a group of 6 or 7 seniors of the same gender, and one NET member, to discuss their own personal struggles in their faith life. Student testimonies was when students were given the opportunity to present their own personal conversions. Only a few brave seniors stepped up to the task, but this part was arguably the most moving part of the day.
Frances Christianson ’14 also stayed the night and said that her favorite part was when she, and her small group, were blindfolded and held a discussion. The goal of this exercise was to eliminate the distraction of their eyes and focus on listening to each other. They were then led (still blindfolded) into the chapel. Christianson stated that once in the chapel, “It was so quiet I felt like I was in the middle of the Universe.”
‘Tis the season of giving. Providence Academy relies on the generosity of the PA community in order to raise money in fundraising events.
Along with the on-going Captial Campaign, Providence participated in the Minnesota state-wide day of online giving called “Give to the Max Day” on November 14. According to PA’s Coordinator of Development, Mrs. Dawn Schommer, the website is designed to “call importance to the giving of charities.”
Give to the Max Day marked the beginning of fundraising for the Annual Fund which goes towards arts and athletics, financial aid, PA’s operating budget, faculty professional development, and everyday expenses at Providence.
Despite the fact that Providence didn’t set a goal for this year, the school did not make as much money as last year. This was most likely due to the Give to the Max website being shut down for five hours, which made many people not have the opportunity to give.
Mckenna Happke ’14 takes a selfie. (Photo by: Anna Lahti)
Snapchat, Selfie Sunday, you name it. Our generation has increasingly become comfortable with taking pictures of ourselves.
A few years ago, it seems that this action would be highly frowned upon. However, with the development of Snapchat, Instagram and other social media sites that focus on individuals sharing unnecessary and pointless information about themselves, this action has become common and acceptable.
Personally, taking selfies an extreme amount of times can make somebody seem self-absorbed. Selfies are an example of how our generation today is so highly focused on personal appearance. We are so fascinated with ourselves that we think others will be interested in our selfies.
In reality, most people just don’t care.
The goal of the stereotypical selfie is to convince, or in most cases trick, people into thinking you are good looking. The lighting, edit and type of duck face you make is all up to you.
But don’t give up after the first picture. Rarely, if ever, is the first selfie acceptable. Some people can take up to 50 pictures in order to find the gem.
Once you find that one picture, you post it on Instagram with a cute little quote, a few hashtags, and your personal favorite emoji.
However, this picture is not racking up the likes like you hoped it would, and you start to feel a little embarrassed. So, you look at the picture again. Thinking about it now… no… this selfie is horrendous.
Awful, actually.
You realize what a mistake it was for you to post it. So as quick as a snapshot, you delete it.
Selfies have become so acceptable that it’s not a matter of judging them as a whole, but knowing what is and isn’t acceptable when it comes to taking pictures of yourself.
For example, taking pictures of yourself while in public, taking selfies while on the toilet, taking selfies while driving, taking selfies at a funeral, taking selfies during a conversation, taking selfies during school, and seductive selfies are all unacceptable.
If our society insists on taking selfies, let’s at least do it right.
