Humans of Sartell: Summer Edition
05.21.20
Here is an edition to help you all focus on the positives. Happy summer, Sabres.
“My cabin feels more like home than my house does.”
“I am excited for the weather to get super warm and to jam on the lake with my friends.”
“There is absolutely nothing better than a summer day on the lake.”
“I’ve clearly loved going to the lake since I was little.”
“My favorite thing to do at my cabin is going for pontoon rides, spending time in the sun, and enjoying the beautiful sunsets.”
Annette Lahn is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on attending Arizona State University this fall. Annette loves spending time playing lacrosse...
Humans of Sartell: End of Quarantine Edition
“I am in desperate need of a haircut when the salons and barbershops open.”
“I plan on going thrifting because I need more clothes.”
“I am going to get my nails done.”
“I’m gonna go drive to hang out with my friends.”
“Hang out with Colby.”
“I’m going to eat chicken strips with Annette.”
Annette Lahn is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on attending Arizona State University this fall. Annette loves spending time playing lacrosse...
Cullen is 17 years old and a senior at Sartell High School. Cullen plans on going into the design and video editing field. His favorite song by the one...
Emma Gent is a senior at Sartell high school and is 17 years old. Her plans after high school are to attend Moorhead State University to major in photography...
Humans of Sartell: Spring Sports Edition
05.06.20
Seniors reflect on past memories of their spring sports that they will miss out on this season.
“My favorite memory has to be hitting the game-winning home run against Sauk Rapids in the first round of varsity playoffs 2019.”
“What I’ll miss the most has to be hittin’ bombs with the boys.”
“My favorite lacrosse memory has to be scoring my first goal on an 8 meter, on the last game of freshman year (and braces).”
“I’ll miss our team the most, especially all the seniors that I’ve been playing with for so long.”
“I’ll miss the van rides with the boys and working every day at practice.”
“My favorite memory is all of the bus rides and also beating Brainerd last year.”
Annette Lahn is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on attending Arizona State University this fall. Annette loves spending time playing lacrosse...
Humans of Sartell: Senior Edition
04.23.20
Finding out what our seniors' favorite memories are from highschool, and what they will miss most when it is all over.
“My favorite memory was Winter Formal this year… DJ Blakk.”
“I will miss not only being on the tennis team, and connecting with my teammates, but also watching and cheering on other sporting events.”
“I will miss making memories with my high school friends and seeing everyone around school every day.”
“I think I will miss the people the most. I mean sure I will stay in touch when I can with my closest friends… but all the other cool people who I met. I’ll miss them and the teachers.”
“My favorite memory was this year’s volleyball season.”
“I’ll miss not being able to see my friends every day.”
Annette Lahn is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on attending Arizona State University this fall. Annette loves spending time playing lacrosse...
Humans of Sartell: Quaranpet Edition
04.17.20
Keeping up with the four-legged family members that are benefiting from their humans being home by being supplied with excessive walks, naps, and treats.
“Coco’s special birthday treat recipe:
Whipped cream with treats on top
Peanut Butter
Dried Coconuts
Popcorn.”
“Smelly Lindy has been getting a lot of baths.”
“The nap queen is not amused when I try to move her.”
“Timber needs to social distance from the treat cupboard.”
“When anyone gets within 6 feet of her…”
Annette Lahn is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on attending Arizona State University this fall. Annette loves spending time playing lacrosse...
Lauren Sip is a senior at Sartell High School and is 17 years old. If she could be BFFs with any celebrity it would have to be A$AP Rocky. If she could...
Humans of Sartell: Quaranteacher Edition
04.13.20
Keeping up with the teachers and their quarantined activities.
“Considering all of our social lives have become that of a 90-year-old, I decided my hobbies should match. Over spring break, I began my first embroidery project (the beauty you can see oh so very close to my face). It turned out pretty well, and I’m excited to start my next one as soon as I can get my hands on another hoop.
I also started playing my Ukulele, but that sounds horrific, and I will not share. Maybe at a talent show in 2030 :)”
“In the Henning House, we have been playing a lot of board games – I’ve been taking no mercy on my children. They need to learn that winning is something earned, not an entitlement. Furthermore, they must understand that I am superior to them.”
“Quarantine has Rose feeling pretty sick of losing at Scrabble by now… Maybe she should start playing better words.”
“Who needs an Apple Watch? Smith just needs an Apple box, and she is set to teach!”
“I have been watching TIGER KING on NETFLIX and building fly fishing rods.”
Annette Lahn is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on attending Arizona State University this fall. Annette loves spending time playing lacrosse...
Humans of Sartell: Quarantine Edition
03.23.20
“My parents have me quarantined in my house for 14 days with 3 rules:
1. Wake up at 10 am for absolutely no reason at all
2. Complete 1 hour of physical exercise before 5 pm
3. No one is allowed outside unless it is for a walk/ run. In this case, you must maintain 6 feet away from anyone who is not a family member
And no I am not exaggerating. I decided to use the little power I have and retaliated by dying my hair pink. Love you mom and dad:)”
“I am taking this time off school to acquire some real-life duties…
starting with doing my own laundry.”
“I’ve been working on my Tik Tok career.”
“Just a girl and her quarantined sister trying to have a nice sit-down meal.”
“I’ve been going to church a lot, you know, reading the bible.”
Annette Lahn is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on attending Arizona State University this fall. Annette loves spending time playing lacrosse...
Humans of Sartell
02.25.20
“I was braiding someone’s hair, and then everything started shaking.”
“It was crazy, because everything around us just crumbled to the ground, except our orphanage. It was like a big bubble around us.”
“I could do Voyageurs. I was in Boy Scouts, and we went to the Boundary Waters for a week… and I was fine.”
“He loves to stare, OH MY GOD.”
“He kinda went off the rails, he had a kid… blah blah blah… dropped out of high school.”
“My grandparents are my only family, besides my brother.”
“Mrs. Box or Vosler. They’re really nice.”
“I got like bit by a dog, and I was really scared that I was gonna bleed out, ya know.”
“Its actually not a scarf, it is just a blanket that I forgot to take off my shoulders.”
“Yeah, I have really started to care less about what happens.”
“Chocolate chip cookies, they are just so good.”
“Dogs. 100%. They’re just overall better.”
Annette Lahn is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on attending Arizona State University this fall. Annette loves spending time playing lacrosse...
Humans of Sartell
02.18.20
“…and I miss Venezuela. My whole family is there, I only have my mom and siblings here.”
“People starve there actually because, with their jobs, they don’t pay good. So it’s hard, you don’t find water or any of that stuff.”
“I was drifting, and I hit the side of the road and my truck flipped.”
“You don’t need to work on a farm to wear cowboy boots.”
“I have to say, middle school sucked.”
“The Wild Thing: I was screaming my head off like there was no tomorrow. I was so scared, but at the same time I loved it after I got over the fact that it was really high up.”
“I don’t like learning, but I like the atmosphere.”
“Yeah, I’m really comfortable talking in front of people, so I don’t really care.”
“I might go to UND; my mom went there.”
“I might go into teaching- most likely elementary school teaching because I like kids.”
“I got a pretty large part in The Lion King, so that was pretty cool for me.”
“Halfway through the year, and it’s good.”
Annette Lahn is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on attending Arizona State University this fall. Annette loves spending time playing lacrosse...
Humans of Sartell
02.10.20
Humans of Sartell is a feature the LeSabre does to highlight the best part of our high school: the students.
“I wouldn’t say I’m that famous yet, but I gained like 400 followers yesterday or something like that.”
“Yeah, I talk to some of them, probably right now I talk to like 60 of them.”
“It was pretty chill, I didn’t do too much.”
“I’m taking some pretty difficult classes.”
“I rear-ended someone.”
“I don’t know what’s interesting about me.”
“When we won our first football game in three years, against Alexandria.”
“…and then catching a touchdown to seal the win.”
“…and my mom was in the hospital because her heart stopped working. I thought I may have lost my mom.”
“Right now, it’s pretty much between us and Forest Lake for the State Title, so we’ll see how that goes.”
“It’s a great experience- it’s really nice working with Steinberg.”
“Sometimes I draw animals, like realistically, but it’s not usually- I’m usually focusing on like Anime.”
“I like learning Japenese.”
Annette Lahn is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on attending Arizona State University this fall. Annette loves spending time playing lacrosse...
Humans of Sartell: Foreign Exchange Students
This Week on Humans of Sartell, we got to see what it is like to do an exchange in America from students from all over the world!
Our first Foreign Exchange Student is Alexander Sorg from Germany.
Alexander Sorg is from Germany and has been in America for seven months. He has many years of English under his belt because his school back home teaches them English. In Germany, Alexander would be a junior but in America, he is a senior. His exchange so far has been chill, and he enjoyed being in football, wrestling, and track. Alexander is staying with the Snyders (not Mr.Snyder). Alex communicated with the Snyders through facetime before getting to America.
Alexander’s favorite memory would be at his last wrestling match. In Germany school is entirely different; they have twenty-minute breaks and more freedom during school. Alexander attended homecoming but was not able to go to Winter Wonderland because he was out of state.
Alexander has enjoyed Marty Anderson’s company and class. All of the classes Alexander has taken or is taking have been extremely easy for him School back home is hard; this is why Alexander enjoys attending school in America. One thing that confused Alex when he came to America and found weird is, Americans tend to care about the tiny little things that normally wouldn’t be noticed by others.
Our second foreign exchange student, Andres Latorre, from Spain.
Andres Latorre is from Spain and has been in America for several months now. So far his exchange has been good, and he has enjoyed being in a different culture. The family that is hosting Andres is the Dumonceaux’s. Their host family has the opportunity to go to Mexico and Andreas has claimed that trip to be his favorite memory so far.
Andres has gone to multiple football events, both at Sartell and at St. John’s University. Out of all the teachers he has had, Mrs.Benson would have to be his favorite. Benson loves having exchange students every year, and Andreas loves how open she is with each of the exchange students.
Back home in Spain, Andreas heard some stereotypes of Americans that they love their fast food restaurants and food in general. He has treated many different kinds of American food but Texas Roadhouse would have to be his absolute favorite! He also found that he thinks wearing pajamas to school is a little weird. Back in Spain, wearing your pajamas to school would be unacceptable.
Wenbo Xu is our third Foreign Exchange Student from Japan.
Wenbo Xu is from Japan and would just have started his Junior year back home but Wenbo is almost done with his junior year! He attended an all boy school back home and has loved having both guys and girls at school every day. Wenbo’s host family is the Pacsuns.
One of his favorite trips so far was going to Arizona, he is someone who loves being warm and not enjoys all this snow in Minnesota lately! He misses the warm weather back home in Japan and the food as well.
Wenbo has attended multiple school events like the homecoming dance and game. He has also gone to Winter Wonderland and the Christmas Choir Concert which he enjoyed very much. The trend for the level of easiness of school has been extremely high for all of the other students compared to school back home which was usually really hard for them. AP Psychology would have to be Wenbo’s favorite class he has had so far. He also enjoys having Freddie as a teacher.
One thing that he thought was unique about Americans when he first got to America was how much Minnesota Nice was showing up everywhere. People here tend to be more extroverted and outgoing compared to Japan. In Japan, everyone is an introvert for the most part and only talks when it is absolutely needed in school.
Wenbo had the opportunity to join the Sartell High School’s basketball team for a few weeks and loved every second of it. In his elementary school years, he played basketball, but it was never just for fun, his team was always focused on competition not just having fun with their teammates.
Our last Foreign Exchange Student from Italy is Luna Escalona.
Luna Escalona hails from Italy and is set to spend the entire school year here at Sartell. She is 16 years old and should technically be a sophomore, but she has been mostly taking senior and junior classes. Luna has been learning English since elementary school. Luna has very much enjoyed her stay in the U.S. so far, and highlighted that by saying, “I think the people here are pretty much open.” In regards to Sartell, she said, “I really love the environment of the whole school…like pep fests and dances.”
Luna enjoys school in the U.S. because it is incredibly more sociable as opposed to how it is in Italy. She also appreciates choosing her own classes, because in Italy students choose a major at 13 years old (Luna is a science major) and focus on classes in that major.
Luna has had a fun time getting to know her host family, “I just missed home during the Christmas break, because you always stay with the family. But then it was pretty fun because me and my host family went to Florida.” Luna explained how the host family assignment process is completely random, “I just knew they had two small kids, and I don’t have any siblings so I didn’t really know how I was gonna do that but it’s been pretty nice.” She mentioned that her host mother’s father was from Italy so she knew some Italian, which made getting to know her host family that much easier. She said initially it was a little awkward but she has no problem helping around the house and watching the kids from time to time.
There were some stereotypes Luna knew about before coming to the U.S., “Some stereotypes were like junk food, and for the school, everyone thinks of High School Musical…” but for the most part she said, in reality, they do not hold up. She also talked about how people have dinner much earlier in the U.S. and the general attitude towards it is much more relaxed, “In Italy, it’s more of the whole family coming together and sitting down together…” Luna said the biggest change is the transportation, everywhere in Italy is walking distance but in the U.S. a car is a necessity.
Stay tuned for next week’s article, Humans of Sartell: Lunch Ladies/Guys!
I have lived in Sartell for 4 years now, and I am a senior at Sartell High school. I have a tenth-grade brother who attends SHS and three other siblings...
Humans of Sartell: Seniors
This week, Humans of Sartell got a taste of our Class of 2019 Senior’s lives!
Our first Senior is Elizabeth, aka Izzy, Kucala is on the Sartell High School Dance team and does everything dance. She also has an identical twin, Anna Kucala.
Izzy is ready to hit the road to college. “I will definitely not miss the homework load, but I am going to miss the people I have known for 13 years.” Izzy’s favorite teacher would have to be Gregory James Henning because he inserts himself into the lives of his students. Izzy has taken a whole lot of classes that seem to be stressful and have a larger homework load. But she feels like those classes tend to be more interesting than your regular core classes. Nyle Dimarco is someone that Izzy would love to hang out with for a day. “He is deaf…he won Dancing with the Stars and couldn’t hear the music, but he still won.”
Izzy is one of the many seniors leaving the Sartell dance team this year. She has plenty of friends in all of the grades that are on the dance team and seems to know a big chunk of students who are underclassmen along with upperclassmen. Izzy’s favorite genre of music would have to be early 2000’s pop.
…The good oldies, … our oldies.” — Izzy Kucala
One of her favorite artists in that genre is Beyonce, Jason Derulo, early Rihanna music. “They’re just so… CLASSIC”
Our second senior at Sartell High School is Thor Anderson.
Our second senior, Thor Anderson is a theatre junkie and was nominated for 2019 Homecoming Royalty.
Thor is super excited to be heading to college and thinks he won’t miss high school for the first few months. Out of all the years of Thor’s high school career, Mr. Snyder has been Thor’s favorite since he started AP classes. Thor enjoys having Snyder because of how laid back he is and how fun class is. Thor has enjoyed taking AP classes because of the challenge it gives him to be better in the subject. Thor’s friends consist of every grade and a little bit of different personality in each friend.
Thor’s greatest legends would have to be MLK, Jesus and Honey Badgers. If he could choose one of them to hang out with it would have to be Jesus. Thor’s favorite genre of music would have to be rap. Thor’s favorite rap artists are Chance the Rapper and Lecrae. The reason why he enjoys these artists is because
Rap gives a different perspective then what I am living.” — Thor Anderson
Our third Sartell High School Senior is Nate Stoebe.
Nathan Stoebe is a senior at SHS and is involved in various activities such as hockey, golf, choir, and Student Council. He also was voted Best Dressed for the Senior Hall of Fame. With the year coming to an end, Nate has a pretty clear picture of high school, “High school has been awesome; I think that high school has afforded me a lot of educational opportunities that I otherwise wouldn’t get at any other school, and the friends that I’ve made in high school through athletics and other activities, such as music, have been awesome.” Although he enjoyed his time at high school, he is looking forward to the future, “I’m excited for the next stage of life because that’s all you can do.”
Like most seniors at SHS, Nate partakes in college and AP classes. He commented on the difference of advanced classes and regular classes, “I wouldn’t say I like them better but they’re a ton different in the curriculum that they pursue. It’s not as fact-based, it’s a lot more analysis.”
Nate may not go out of his way to create friendships with people outside his grade but when he does he truly appreciates it, “I have actually quite a few friends that are outside my grade. I have a few sophomore friends through sports – I met my neighbor through golf – and mixing ages up allows for a better perspective on life and allows you to enjoy it better instead of sticking with one single group of people.” Nate touched on the myth of upperclassmen hating underclassmen, “Personally, I think it’s your obligation to give back to your school because the upperclassmen gave to us as freshmen. I think we should do the same and be kinder to younger individuals.” He also expanded on what he thought differentiated the older grades from the younger ones: “There’s definitely a difference, not only in age and stature but also in how you conduct yourself and in maturity.”
With his years of experience Nate talked a little bit about his favorite teacher, which is a little surprising, “My favorite teacher is Mrs. Keller, who works at the Sartell Middle School. She has done wonders for my life and also enabled me to come in and work with her as a teaching assistant this year. So yeah, she really helped me out and furthered me and enriched English and because of that I’ve gone very far in English.” He also talked about what are some of his favorites outside of school, “I actually just got done watching The Handmaid’s Tale. I don’t know about music… I enjoy every type of music so I don’t know what’s my favorite.” Finally, he decided what in his opinion are the three greatest legends of all time:
Jesus is great, he’s a legend, I think Ronald Reagan is a legend… and I think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” — Nate Stoebe
The last of the seniors is Emma Rasmussen. She was once a player on the tennis team, but she mainly focuses on her job at Barnes and Nobles and school now. She was voted into the Senior Hall of Fame for Most Likely to Model. She took a look at her own high school experience and shared her thoughts, “I think it’s a lot better than people make it out to be… It’s not the best, but I still enjoyed my time here and I made good friends and I found the people that I like, and you make the most of it.” She acknowledged that she will most likely miss the familiarity of it all but followed it up with, “I’m probably a lot more excited to go than I am worried about missing still being here. Like I’m kinda over it.”
Senior year has been good for Emma, “It’s just so much more fun being a senior, it’s so much more chill… maybe it’s because it’s kinda the end of the world as we know it… like nothing I do even matters.” Popular opinion says that there’s a noticeable difference between being an upperclassmen and an underclassmen, and Emma agrees with this. She feels that it’s “all-mental” and that it is essential to go through all those years of experience to finally be able to see the large differences that most upperclassmen see. Emma has not befriended any underclassmen simply because she never really had any place to interact with them. “I became friends with people who were in my classes… it just happened to never really be underclassmen,” she said matter-of-factly. Emma was honest when it came to how nice she would be to an underclassman if she were to have a run-in with them, “I don’t think I’d be mean to them but I wouldn’t go out of my way to be super nice to them, so like that’s not inherently nice so I don’t know, you tell me.”
AP and college classes are fairly popular at Sartell, and Emma is no exception. She shared why she thinks getting college credit is so important and why she took so many AP and college classes, “College is expensive, yo. I took them solely because I wanted college credit, and I needed to save money.” Emma also enjoys college and AP classes wildly more than regular classes, “It’s more fun and not as annoying. You do a lot less busy work and daily work… you just write papers and take tests and participate in debates. The teachers just treat you so much better. There’s more respect and responsibility that comes along with it…there’s a lot more trust.”
Emma raved about her favorite teachers Mrs. Rollings and Mrs. Nelson, “Rollings has that brash, but honest personality, and I really enjoy it because you don’t really get that from a lot of people especially from teachers. And Nelson’s just a sweetheart, and I love journalism and I love art, so it kinda just adds up.” Her runner-up though came from the Social Studies department, “History teachers are great, they’re so fun, they always make me laugh the most.” The classes Emma enjoyed mainly tied to the teachers she loved, “Love journalism, took that a lot, I really loved AP art, I loved any history class… I like how you can always tie in current events to history classes, along with journalism.”
Emma watches and listens to a variety of TV shows and music but she seems to know what her favorites are. “You got the classic trifecta of New Girl, The Office, and Friends,” which Emma seems to just have running in the background whenever she finds herself bored. For shows, she likes to actually sit down and watch she said, “Always love Queer Eye, it’s just paradise the whole way through, you never feel bad. I’m winning, they’re winning, it’s all good.” Emma has been grooving to mostly Radiohead recently, and anything that “sounds like spring.”
Emma easily named who held the title of greatest legends of all time in her eyes, “I love Angela Davis, I love everything about her. Love Muhammad Ali, spend a lot of time watching Muhammad Ali boxing videos. Jimi Hendrix, what an icon, what a revolutionary, love him. Those are my three.”
Stay in tuned for next week; Humans of Sartell: Foreign Exchange Students!
I have lived in Sartell for 4 years now, and I am a senior at Sartell High school. I have a tenth-grade brother who attends SHS and three other siblings...
Rachel Ditmarson is a senior at Sartell High School. She enjoys making collages and cutting her bangs, only to regret it the next day. Rachel is notorious...
