Tag Archives: featured

Feature & General

Sheyenne’s Super Staff: Mr. Klaman

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When you think of science, many think of genetics, evolution, or even how sound travels. Mr. Klaman, a biology and physical science teacher, has been educating students on these things for 22 years.

Prior to his time at Sheyenne, Klaman attended Dickinson State University for a year and later transferred to North Dakota State University (NDSU) where he completed his studies.

Before becoming a teacher, Mr. Klaman was interested in chemical engineering, but then chose a different path towards civil engineering. He made another switch to exercise science before finally landing on teaching.

With his experience in exercise science, Mr. Klaman used his athletic training degree at Cheney Middle School to help their athletic program.

If Mr. Klaman was not teaching, his dream job would be a food cart vendor. His reasoning behind this includes being able to travel around the city to see new places every week.

Mr. Klaman, his wife, and three daughters.

His love for traveling does not only involve being a theoretical food cart vendor. Mr. Klaman has visited many places, his favorites being New York City, Guatemala, and Banff, Canada.

Some of his other favorite things are reading, card games, and spending time with family at the lake. He describes his ideal day as a bright, sunny day on the water with a breeze light enough to cool the 85-degree air but still perfect for time on the boat. As the day winds down, it would be wrapped up with a campfire and some hotdogs to roast.

Arts & Entertainment

Sheyenne Artists Excel: Caiden Eriksson

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This year, artists at Sheyenne High School have exceled, achieving local and national recognition. This series of posts features those artists and their artwork.

Caiden Eriksson, grade 12, submitted three pieces of artwork to the competition, all using digital photography media, and received many outstanding awards.

“Smoke on the Water​” awarded with the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Gold Key.
“Wheel in the Sky​” wins the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Silver Key.
“Fire in the Sky” earning the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Honorable Mention.
Arts & Entertainment

Kanye West and The 808 Drums

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Ye “Kanye” West released 808s and Heartbreak on November 4th, 2008, to mixed reviews. Some hated the new sounds and use of 808 drums while some found the album to be the best Kanye album to date.

The album had an innovative use of synth’s, 808 drums, and melodic lyrics which previously had only been found in underground hip hop groups with Kanye bringing it to the forefront of modern hip hop.

Younger artists such as Lil Uzi Vert and The Weeknd both have taken major influence from the album.

Background

Before the making of 808s Kanye’s mother, Donda West tragically passed away. After, Kanye and his then fiancé Alexis Phifer split.

Before the death of Donda West, Kanye met soon to be up and coming artist Kid Cudi in a Virgin megastore with Kid Cudi introducing himself to Kanye and after Kanye turned down some of his music he claimed “we’ll be working together one day soon”.

Kid Cudi ran into Kanye again at a BAPE store. Kanye would later hear Cudi’s single “Day ‘n’ Nite”, soon after he would sign Cudi to his label “GOOD Music”.

The Making

While working on 808s, Kanye had two artists to help on the album as a whole, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi and Faheem “T-Pain” Najm. Kanye wanted an album much like T-Pain’s first album “Rappa Ternt Sanga”, with Kanye listening to T-Pain’s first album and calling in T-Pain to make 808s sound more like it.

Kanye and Kid Cudi worked together on four tracks, “Heartless” being the chorus, “Welcome to Heartbreak” being featured, “Paranoid” being background vocals, and “RoboCop” in which he helped write.

Both Jeezy and Lil Wayne inspired Kanye with their use of auto-tune with both getting a feature on the album. Kanye’s sad and melodic lyrics took inspiration from his recent breakup with his ex-wife, with many lyrics talking about her and the whole song of “Heartless” being about her.

After The Album

The album would peak at the top spot of the Billboard 200 and sell 450,000 units in one day, being the worst selling Kanye album at that point.

Two months after the album came out it became a certified platinum selling 1,000,000 units. Now the album is a certified triple platinum selling over 3,000,000 units as of 2020. After 808s and Heartbreak

Kanye West would find himself in hot water during the 2009 VMA awards, after a drunk Kanye walked on stage and said that Beyonce deserved the award for Best Female Video over Taylor Swift.

Kanye would then go into a secluded state recording “never see me again” and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye’s magnum opus. Most look back at the album now as the forefather of modern hip hop.

With many artists such as The Weeknd saying “[808s] is one of the most important bodies of work of my generation”.

Feature & General

Sheyenne Celebrates Its Seniors

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By Brooke Markworth

There are many things to celebrate about our senior 2022 class at Sheyenne High School. They have worked hard to become the people who they are today and will go into their future with lasting memories from their time at Sheyenne. Grace Widjaja, Keona Munowenyu, and Christine Nwaigwe are some of the outstanding seniors who have made a great impact at Sheyenne.

Grace Widjaja is president of the Student Council, captain of the Sheyenne Speech Team, principal violist in the pit orchestra for “Bright Star,” principal violist for the Fargo Moorhead Area Youth Symphony, and member of the National Honor Society. Grace is also a kindergarten youth group leader, math tutor for 4th and 5th graders, and gives viola lessons on the side. After high school, Grace hopes to attend a four-year university in the Northeast to study Molecular Biology and Biochemistry with a minor in Music Performance on the Viola. One of Grace’s favorite mantras is “Be unapologetically you!”

Keona Munowenyu is in Student Congress, Sheyenne Debate, Student Council, and the National Honor Society. Throughout her high school career, Keona has won a championship title and national qualification for Student Congress. She is also a champion in Debate in the Public Forum Division. She has been to the National Speech and Debate Tournament twice to compete on the North Dakota World Schools Debate Team during her sophomore and junior year. Keona is now officially a state qualifier for Speech in poetry and humorous duo. Once Keona graduates, her plan is to land a job in Los Angeles at a production studio, like Warner Brothers or Universal Studios. Her life dream is to create her own production company to create major motion picture films. Keona intends to go to Columbia College in Chicago to major in Film and Television with a possible minor in marketing or journalism. Her favorite quote to live by is “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, compassion, humor and style” -Maya Angelou.

Christine Nwaigwe is part of the National Honor Society, Sheyenne Student Council, Student Ambassadors, Diverse Cultures Club, Student Congress and French Club. Christine is also on the Sheyenne Track and Field Team. Once she graduates, Christine wants to become an Economist or an Economic Consultant on Policy Making. She hopes to attend Williams College in Massachusetts or Brown University in Rhode Island. Christine’s favorite quote is “Life teaches you a lesson every day, if you are attentive enough in the class of life”-Invajy.