Author: Hannah Seitz

Long gone are the days when a simple, “Will you go to prom with me?” would pass as a satisfactory method of asking your date to the dance. Along with the added stress of hoping your date says yes, prom proposals have arguably become just as important as the dance itself.

Henry Hose ’14 states, “It’s just the standard that the guy has to be creative. It becomes kind of a competition between the guys for who can do it the best.”

This cancels out the option of guys repeating proposals from  previous years. Hose believes that a weak proposal could send the wrong message.

“Proposals show how much the guy cares about who he’s asking,” he said.

This year, the junior and senior guys have been successful, taking their creativity to the next level.

First time prom goer Cole Norell ’15 surprised Evyn Schmidt ’15 when she received a phone call from Norell, who gave her directions to follow.

“He led me to a little path, and there he was with a picnic set up and flowers,” said Schmidt.

Along with the element of surprise, Norell knew that food was a great way to secure a date.

“He got Noodles mac and cheese, plus guacamole because those are my favorite foods. I think that it was really cute because it was nice to be outside in the Spring weather, and we got to spend time together after he asked,” said Schmidt.

Jeff Leggott ’14 took a more extreme route, asking Maddie Lerum ’14 to prom using fire.

Kate Pulles ’14  helped out with the prom-proposal, telling Lerum that they were on their way to a friend’s house.

“We were driving down a dark dirt road and it was really creepy. I told Kate to lock the doors when we saw smoke just down the road; It looked like a scene from a scary movie,” states Lerum.

Waiting for her there, was “prom?” spelled out in fire on the road. Leggott had carved the word into the road, and put tinfoil and coals in the letters. He then lit it, and Lerum, impressed with the creativity, said yes.

Whether you like extreme, romantic or funny proposals, having a creative method for asking a girl to a dance is a way to ensure a date and a fun night.

The last decade has been marked by an upsurge in the use of social media, where the constant checking and maintenance of different sites has become a norm. However, some Providence students are becoming irritated with the cons of social media, leading some to even deactivate their accounts.

Between Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, checking these sites daily is time consuming, and becoming even more so as people continue to make accounts. The distraction and time wasting social media creates are reasons people are becoming bored with it.

Christa Peterson’14 said,“I have not been on Facebook in months. There’s too many middle school girls on there putting up mirror selfies clogging up my news feed.”

By now, most people are accustomed to the fact that what you see on social media is only a glimpse of how someone’s life actually is. This realization takes away the excitement and pressure to be like another person based on what you see posted online.

“I don’t even go on social media anymore.” says Madison Lind ’15. “It has kind of lost its charm. People’s lives don’t seem as interesting to me anymore.”

More and more frequently, people are using social media as a means to passive aggressively vent about their daily problems with people. Doing this over Twitter is called subtweeting.

Kate Pulles’ 14 says,“There are some people who tweet three subtweets everyday, which gets annoying. It’s always really funny because you always know who the tweet is about.”

As news feeds are becoming filled with this deemed unimportant information, students are beginning to use these sites less, or are deactivating their accounts.

Eva Sullivan’14 recently deleted her Twitter account. She states, “I realized I didn’t care whatsoever about what other people were doing, and I didn’t understand why I would be putting what I was doing out there. I just find it kind of pointless.”

Even though social media has its cons, it remains a useful tool having many benefits. You can connect with your friends, and also find out about what events you missed.

Lind states, “I think people will always use social media, I think they will use it less frequently.”

With the heat blasting and seat warmers turned on, cars passing through the Schmidt Lake Road and Orchid Lane North intersection cannot overlook Providence’s security officers, directing traffic in these record breaking subzero temperatures.

Officer Tim Oie and Officer Dale Duerksen are the school’s current security officers, who prior to joining the PA community, had worked as police officers for 30 years.

After the 2011 Christmas break, they came out of retirement because they both… “wanted something else to do because we’re too young not to work,” stated Officer Oie.

Along with monitoring the school during the day, the officers journey out to the school’s entrance at 7:50 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to direct the traffic passing, leaving, and entering the school. Because Officer Oie and Officer Duerksen had been police officers, directing traffic is not out of the norm. The conditions they have had to do it in, though, are not routine.

On January 26th and 27th with negative temperatures and even more frigid wind chills, Officer Oie proceeded with his job and endured the cold despite the many issues it created. According to the National Weather Service, a person can get frostbite within 5 minutes of being exposed in temperatures of zero and below.

Each morning, the officers are outside for at least forty minutes. During this time, they not only have to direct commuter traffic, but they also must be prepared for unexpected weather conditions.

“There was black ice in the intersection and it was very hard to keep my footing, I had to watch my step. When it’s eighteen below, the rubber [on my shoes] got hard  it was like putting metal on ice,”  stated officer Oie.

Over the years, the officers have had to come up with special techniques in order to stay warm. Officer Oie wears a balaclava to keep his face warm, and doubles up on gloves with hand warmers inside. The temperatures have also created new difficulties. Officer Oie recently had a dilemma with his sunglasses.

“[My] glasses completely frosted over,” stated Officer Oie, “I couldn’t see out of them.”

To solve this problem, he purchased motorcycle glasses that are frost-proof, and won’t obstruct his vision.

Because of the recent temperatures, many schools, for the safety of its staff and students, have chosen to close. This year, Providence has had two “cold-days,” the first was issued by Governor Mark Dayton, and the second was a decision made by Headmaster Dr. Todd Flanders and the administration. When another day with dangerous temperatures occurred, instead of following along with the many other Minnesota schools closing, Providence stayed open.

According to Dr. Flanders in a letter sent out to the PA community, he chose to keep school open because, “I was convinced that the safety of our kids and community would not be compromised by holding school.”

While many of us complain about walking from our cars to the school,  Officer Oie and Officer Duerksen must endure these temperatures for extended periods of time, for our safety.