Our Lady of Grace couple Dan and Sheryl Moran spoke to BSM seniors about marriage. (Emma Eldred)

Vocations classes host speakers from the Archdiocese

May 11, 2012

Giulia Imholte and Katie Sisk

The hype turned out to be more than the actual event. In November the Archdiocese announced plans to have speakers on marriage visit all of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Catholic Schools, and what students expected to be a controversial discussion––after reading about the heated question and answer session at DeLaSalle––ended up being an uneventful,... Continue Reading

Next News Story »

All News Stories

Ryan Collins is one of two sophomores that have recently made the decision to play for the U.S. NTDP next school year. (Emily Kruse)

BSM hockey players weigh options for their future in the sport

May 9, 2012

David Nelson and Peter Best, Staff Writers

Hockey is a fast-paced sport that lives off choices that need to be made in milliseconds. It’s a sport where one wrong choice can be the difference between success and failure. Sophomores Jack Glover and Ryan Collins were given the opportunity to play in the USA National Team Development Program (NTDP), based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This decision... Continue Reading

Next Sports Story »

All Sports Stories

Juniors Eleanor Raether and Alex Rios are two of BSM's bilingual students who are either from one of the various language immersion schools in the area or have grown up speaking a second language at home. (Megan Beh)

Foreign language teachers work to balance the curriculum for bilingual students

May 10, 2012

Kellen Gill, Staff Writer

Within the past ten years, language immersion schools have been growing, becoming more popular, and expanding to different languages. Benilde- St. Margaret’s is home to a number of bilingual students who are either from one of the various language immersion schools in the area or have grown up speaking a second language at home. Bilingual Spanish... Continue Reading

Next Student Life Story »

All Student Life Stories

The band experimented heavily with hip-hop inspired beats and auto-tune––though Ruess’s crystalline voice doesn’t need it. (Vinyl Records)

Fun. releases ‘Some Nights’ album

May 2, 2012

Lauren Effertz, Staff Writer

Three years after dropping their first album, “Aim and Ignite,” the New York-based indie pop band fun. released “Some Nights.” fun. is a supergroup of sorts; lead vocalist Nate Ruess formed the band after the break-up of The Format, guitarist Jack Antonoff also serves as the frontman for Steel Train, and keyboardist Andrew Dost is from Anathallo. Overall,... Continue Reading

Next Reviews Story »

All Reviews Stories

Anna Landis, Juliet Beckstrand, Rachel Hogen, and Sian Last represented BSM at the State Speech tournament where they all placed in the top eight. (Maura Brew)

Four speech members place at State tournament

April 30, 2012

Shannon Galvin, Staff Writer

On Saturday, April 21, BSM speech team members headed to Chanhassen High School to participate in the Minnesota State Speech tournament. At the end of the day, four students, seniors Anna Landis, Juliet Beckstrand, Sian Last, and junior Rachel Hogen, all placed in the finals. Landis placed third in Poetry, Beckstrand placed second in Great Speeches,... Continue Reading

Next Activities Story »

All Activities Stories

Graduating seniors give advice about college

The Road to Prom

Boys’ hockey takes home the State championship

Pond Hockey tournament organized to raise money for Jablonski

Rising actors partake in Les Miserables performance

Sport	Date	Opponent	Result	W/L
Boys Lacrosse	Tue, May 15	Spring Lake Park	21-0	W
Baseball	Tue, May 15	Bloomington Jefferson	7-5	W
Softball	Mon, May 14	St. Francis	3-4	L
Baseball	Mon, May 14	Fridley	13-2	W
Boys Lacrosse	Sat, May 12	Minnetonka	6-16	L
Baseball	Fri, May 11	St. Louis Park	7-3	W
Softball	Thu, May 10	Blake	23-1	W
Softball	Wed, May 09	St. Louis Park	18-6	W
Boys Tennis	Wed, May 09	Robbinsdale Armstrong	1-6	L
Baseball	Wed, May 09	Irondale	10-2	W
Boys Lacrosse	Tue, May 08	Totino-Grace	13-3	W
Girls Lacrosse	Tue, May 08	Spring Lake Park	13-11	W

Sport	Date	Time	Opponent	Location
Baseball	Fri, May 18	4:15	Totino-Grace	Totino-Grace
Boys Lacrosse	Sat, May 19	12:00	Holy Angels	Holy Angels
Boys Track	Sat, May 19		True Team Opponents	TBA
Girls Track	Sat, May 19		True Team Opponents	TBA
Baseball	Mon, May 21	4:15	Holy Angels	Home
Boys Track	Tue, May 22		NSConference Opponents	Totino-Grace
Girls Track	Tue, May 22		NSConference Opponents	Totino-Grace
Girls Track	Tue, May 22		NSConference Opponents	Totino-Grace
Boys Track	Tue, May 29		Section Opponents	TBA
Girls Track	Tue, May 29		Season Record	TBA
Boys Lacrosse	Tue, Jun 05	1:00	TBA	Chanhassen
Girls Lacrosse	Tue, Jun 05	1:00	TBA	Chanhassen

Sean Simonson –– Activities Editor

After descending from the heavens to bless all people with his pure awesomeness, Sean Simonson has found Earth to be quite sub-par. Chancing upon few people who could handle the high levels of magnificence that permeate his being, Sean was force to befriend a man who taught pandas to play guitar, a woman who believed herself to be a cat, and a banana, and, upon finding it impossible to hold an intelligent conversation with all but the banana, Sean donned a sweater vest and set out to fulfill his role as a beacon of wonder for all. In the most recent advancement in his quest for other awesome people, Sean stumbled upon the staff of the Knight Errant who welcomed him among their ranks. In exchange for finally being able to spend his day discussing other ideas than the effects of not being yellow enough on one’s self esteem, Sean has agreed to send in tales from his journeys to the KE.

Stories Written by Sean Simonson

Irena Cich

Sean Simonson, activities editor
May 24, 2011
Filed under Tremendous Twelve

For senior Irena Cich, the sciences are more than just a normal passion. Not only does she love physics, but she also enjoys advanced competitive science and AP Biology. From a very early age, Cich has loved engineering. “I went to a hippie school [for 1st grade]. During recess they would... (more...)

Safe schools for All Bill should be passed

Sean Simonson, Activities editor
March 16, 2011
Filed under Opinions

I would like to think that the protection of all students regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender is universally desirable. However, after the state legislature passed the Safe Schools for All Bill in a bipartisan vote in 2009, our then-governor Tim Pawlenty decided that... (more...)

2010 debate season starts

Sean Simonson
September 7, 2010
Filed under Activities

Headed by a new coach, social studies teacher Ms. Kathy Green, the debate team will be seeing many changes this year. The season will kick off on September 8, with a meeting and a practice open to anyone who is interested. The debate team plans to start moving away from BSM’s traditional... (more...)

College Fair

Sean SImonson
May 5, 2010
Filed under News

As the school year enters its final months, college fever enters the junior class with the college fair. Almost 120 schools were present at this year’s fair which took place on April 20, and Benilde-St. Margaret’s students visited representatives from schools from around the nation. This... (more...)

Internet textbooks

Sean Simonson
April 19, 2010
Filed under News

With the introduction of laptops in the senior high next year, technology will change many standard tools of education, most namely, textbooks. Only a few classes in each department will shift entirely to online textbooks, but teachers are optimistic that more will make the change in the future. The... (more...)

Prom Coronation 2010

Sean Simonson
April 19, 2010
Filed under News, Student Life

As the end of April approaches, the upperclassmen are all buzzing about one thing: prom. This year’s prom is happening on April 24, 2010, with Grand March starting at 6:00 p.m. and, keeping with tradition, the buses returning students to Benilde- St. Margaret’s at midnight. Families and... (more...)

Think you know your Facebook friends?

Katie McClurg, Addie Reine, and Sean Simonson
March 11, 2010
Filed under Features, Top Stories

The Facebook Experiment Are you friends with Claire Simmons or Ben Erickson on Facebook? Well guess what? They don’t exist. The Knight Errant created two fake profiles as an experiment about students’ online interactions with social networking. The two profiles had info about themselves,... (more...)

Pawlenty’s budget too stingy

Sean Simonson
March 9, 2010
Filed under Opinions

Facing a Minnesota budget deficit of almost $1.2 billion, Governor Tim Pawlenty’s first reaction is to cut, cut, and cut some more. While on the surface a cut-spending-and-taxes tactic might appear to be beneficial, those who are hardest hit by the recession are also receiving the brunt... (more...)

Winter Olympics

Sean Simonson
February 25, 2010
Filed under Opinions

Too few people take the time to support the men and women representing our county. No, I’m not talking about the soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan, though they don’t receive proper recognition from the American people either, but rather those proud athletes in the winter Olympic games.... (more...)

Valentine’s Day: depressing and shameless

Sean Simonson
February 3, 2010
Filed under Opinions

Every year, at the end of January, as chocolate roses take their annual place next to every cash register, I dread the start of the worst holiday season of all: Valentine’s Day. Yet another example of a Christian tradition, originating from the martyr St. Valentine, gone secular (and... (more...)

Comic books in English class?

Sean Simonson
January 18, 2010
Filed under News

English classes typically force students to read books filled to the brim with text, not pictures. But this year, the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman joins literary classics like Lord of the Flies and Macbeth in the 10th grade English curriculum, much to the enjoyment of teachers and students... (more...)

One-to-one laptop program to begin next year

Sean Simonson
January 5, 2010
Filed under News

Many thought that it would never happen, but starting next year, every student at Benilde-St. Margaret’s will be given a school-owned Apple laptop computer. The one-to-one laptop program will imitate the current junior high program and is designed to prepare students for technology that... (more...)

Living the rockstar life at NCYC

Sean Simonson
December 11, 2009
Filed under News, Student Life

As everyone in the stadium lifted their cell phones into the air and swayed back and forth, the crowd of 21,000 people at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri focused all their attention on a group of 12 BSM students. From November 18 to November 22, this group of BSM students led the... (more...)

New internet access for students

Sean Simonson
November 29, 2009
Filed under News

Starting in November, students will be able to access BSM’s wireless Internet with their own laptops brought from home. The idea is to arm every student with their own username and password, giving them access to the Internet, while outsiders would be denied. But the technology department... (more...)

Future Problem Solvers

Sean Simonson
November 28, 2009
Filed under Activities, Student Life

A new activity has been added to the Benilde-St. Margaret’s roster this year: Future Problem Solvers. Headed by Ms. Kathryn Green, FPS is intended to prepare students for 21st century problems by teaching them how how to think, not what to think. Participants work by themselves or on... (more...)

BSM’s unhealthy habits

Emily Busch, Meredith Cannon, Dann Fry, and Sean Simonson
November 23, 2009
Filed under Features, Student Life, Top Stories

Too Many Activities Spending an average of almost 13 hours on activities every week while still maintaining her high GPA, junior Francesca Sifferlin participates in 16 different activities this semester. On a normal day many students like Sifferlin run from one activity to the next, often... (more...)

Masses of students too sick to go to school

Sean Simonson
November 2, 2009
Filed under News

With only the healthy students remaining at school, the reduced traffic in the hallways is one of the major indicators of the H1N1 pandemic at Benilde-St. Margaret’s. The student body was hit hard this last week, with a peak of about 250 students out sick on Tuesday, October 27. Such... (more...)

America’s absurd obsession with lawns

Sean Simonson
October 26, 2009
Filed under Opinions

As the settlers began moving West, they reportedly encountered purple mountain majesties and amber waves of grain instead of immaculate, ankle-high, waste-of-two-hours-of-my-Saturday that is often referred to as a lawn. But the problem is not just my lawn; it’s the 23 million acres of lawns... (more...)

Bruce Willis’s latest action-thriller “Surrogates”; a lot of flare, little substance

Sean Simonson
October 22, 2009
Filed under Movie Reviews

Experiencing life from the comfort of one’s own living room without having to risk injury or disease––all while having the body of your dreams––is a fantasy often dreamed about. The latest sci-fi thriller “Surrogates” takes place in a world where everyone lives safely... (more...)

English department parts with tradition

Sean Simonson
October 6, 2009
Filed under News

Returning students may be shocked to hear of a change beyond imagination: Mr. Wallestad is teaching regular freshman English. More shockingly, he’s not the only teacher participating in the English Department’s attempts to shuffle things up; others are also dabbling in some new... (more...)