As I’m coming to the end of my four years at La Porte High School, I’ve found myself reflecting on everything that’s happened throughout my time in high school.

Freshman year, I came into the high school with an optimistic attitude and was so excited for the next four years. And you know what? Freshman Gabby was right to be excited.

I have made so many memories in high school. I have made my best friends in high school. I also learned so much about myself.

I learned what I look for in friends. I learned what I need in a relationship. I learned the importance of keeping good people around me.

There have also been a lot of rough parts of high school for me, but I wouldn’t change anything that happened because I believe everything happens for a reason.

When I think about all the rough things that have happened to me in high school, I think I really gained my best friend from all of it.

My best friend Lilly has been the best part of high school for me. I met Lilly at the end of my sophomore year on the cheerleading team. We weren’t very close at the beginning of the season, and I will forever be grateful that we became close.

At the beginning of my junior year, I started dating Lilly’s boyfriend’s best friend. After that, Lilly and I have been inseparable.

Lilly has really taught me what a good friend is. She is also the only person I’ve ever felt that we are literally the same person. She just understands me more than anyone else.

I think my biggest advice to underclassmen is to make as many memories as you can. I know that everybody says that it goes by so fast, but it really does.

So much can happen in four years, but I really think that it’s important to make the most of it. You only go through high school once, so you might as well try to have fun while you’re here.

Math teacher Alicia Harper has been making a valuable contribution to LPHS since she started working here in the fall of 2023.

Harper went to Nicholls State University in Louisiana. She received her undergraduate diploma in history and mathematics and has a master's in secondary mathematics education.

Harper knew she wanted to teach from a young age.

“I remember when I was in elementary school, I always wanted to grade papers. I used to get so excited when we would switch papers and grade our neighbors. I guess I just knew at a pretty young age that I wanted to teach. I actually do not love grading papers, but I do love being in the classroom and helping others make connections to math,” Harper said.

At LPHS, she teaches Geometry, Algebra 2, and Trigonometry. Next year, she will be teaching Trigonometry and a new math class, called Tech Math.

“I love teaching. Not just being in the classroom but all the extras too- sporting events, community service opportunities, prom...” Harper said.

Harper is also in charge of Key Club and the Junior Class Committee. She enjoys providing the kids in these clubs with the opportunities to make connections that will help them in the future.

Through her classes and committees that she’s a part of, Harper has been able to make connections with her students. One of the biggest goals she has is to make sure her students know that they matter.

“I enjoy hearing about their lives and experiences and sharing my own, often trying to connect them in some way to mathematics,” Harper said.

In Harper’s free time, she enjoys spending time with her dog, reading, and doing puzzles. She also enjoys exploring the parks of Indiana and Michigan since she’s not from La Porte.

Harper is grateful that she has made her way to LPHS, and she feels like she has found a home here. LPHS is lucky to have her.

The fall is a gorgeous season, in my opinion. I think that the fall is my favorite transition of the year. I think there is something beautiful about all the colors of the leaves and the temperature cooling down; however, it can be somewhat of a depressing season because it signals that winter is coming.

Lana Del Rey does a beautiful job of capturing the feelings of fall in some of her albums. The first album that comes to mind is Norman F******* Rockwell.

This album is one of the most beautiful ways to poetically describe the sadness of fall. While it’s one of my favorite seasons, I always seem to go through the most challenging moments during the fall. This album has really helped me get through it all.

I can cry for the whole hour and seven minutes of this album, and it never fails to make me feel better. No matter what I’m going through, I can just always relate to the lyrics in this album.

Some of my favorite songs on this album are “Venice B****,” “Love song,” and “The greatest.” I just think that these songs beautifully showcase Lana’s poetry.

Two of the most popular songs on this album are “Norman F******* Rockwell” and Cinnamon Girl.” I usually don’t like the songs that are popular because I feel like they are overplayed. However, I love every song on this album.

I think this album perfectly captures the impending doom that fall can bring but shows how beautiful that impending doom can look and sound.

The LPHS Choirs performed for the ISSMA (Indiana State School Music Association) Organizational Contest in Concord on April 23rd.

Each of the choirs each performed three songs and performed sight reading. All the choirs that performed received Gold, and two choirs received Gold with Distinction.

Gold with Distinction is where the choir scores perfect or almost perfect on their performance and sight reading.

Sight reading is where the choirs are given three different pieces of 16 measures of music to sing. The three different pieces of music were rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic. The choirs are given a certain amount of time to practice the music, then they perform it for the judge.

The choirs are given one minute to practice the rhythmic sight reading. Rhythmic is just a rhythm that the choirs perform in unison. Then, the choirs are given two minutes to practice the melodic sight reading. Melodic is where the choirs all sing in unison. After that, the choirs are given three minutes to practice the harmonic sight reading. Harmonic is when the choirs are divided into their vocal parts.

The Beginning Treble Choir performed “Homeward Bound”, “Adieu Said the Rose”, and “Three Little Maids”. They scored a Gold for their performance and received a perfect score in sight reading. They were one of the choirs that scored a gold with distinction.

The next choir that performed was the Treble Chorale. They performed “Nigra Sum,” “Warrior,” and “Worthy to be Praised.” They scored Gold on their performance and in sight reading.

The last choir that performed was the Chorale Choir. They performed “All Too Soon,” “I Am Not Yours,” and “Daemon Irrepit Callidus.” They scored Gold in their performance and almost perfect in their sight-reading. They were the other choir to score a Gold with Distinction.

If you’re interested in seeing the LPHS choirs, their next concert is May 13th at 7:00 p.m. in the PAC.

Daniel Olson has been a significant member of the La Porte High School staff since he started teaching here in 1994.

Olson went to college for his undergraduate degree in math at Purdue University and his master's degree in business at Indiana University.

He decided to go into math because he loves logic and deductive reasoning, which he displays daily in his teaching.

Olson has taught AP Calculus, AP PreCalculus, Probability and Statistics, Algebra 2, Algebra 1, and Geometry throughout his years at LPHS.

“I am very passionate about teaching! I mean, I'm not in it for the money!” Olson said.

He is dedicated to ensuring students learn and take away all that they can from his class.

“I hope that students learn how to learn. And by that, I mean they discover that "blue cow" is not learning at all!” Olson said.

The phrase “blue cow” is something that Olson uses frequently in his class to describe situations that his students may have been taught in math without any reasoning behind it. An example of this would be the area of a circle is r2. Students are just told this and never get explained why, but Olson likes to inform his students of the reasoning behind the formulas that they use.

Olson has been able to find a special connection between himself and his students through teaching.

“The fact that I haven't been fired for about 45% of my jokes is a testament to a special connection I have with students. We laugh all hour, and I sneak in some math too,” Olson said.

In Olson’s free time, he likes to golf, fish, walk, eat, and binge TV shows.

Every day that Olson teaches, he makes an impact on at least one of his students by making his classroom a fun but also enriching environment. He will definitely have a lasting impact on LPHS students.

LPHS is happy to welcome back Ms. Jennifer Mount after she took the first semester off this year due to a cancerous mass in her eye, but she is thankfully cancer free now.

Mount started teaching at LPHS in 1986, making this her 41st year teaching.

Mount graduated from Portage High School and then went to Ball State originally majoring in Music Therapy in Psychology. She changed her major five more times before deciding on mathematics education.

“The whole time from freshman to junior year, I was tutoring people in math, sometimes two-three people at a time, and enjoyed it. One semester I had no math class and felt lost. It was like God slapping upside the head telling me that's what I am supposed to due. I did have to go one extra semester to do my student teaching. Changing your major six times kind of puts you behind,” Mount said.

Mount still has a love for teaching, and she wants her students to learn the best they can from her class. Mount believes that everyone is capable of learning math as long as they decide to do it.

“I feel it is important to learn how to reason, think, and work through problems whether we are talking about math or not. I try to get kids not to memorize math but remember the process to get solutions,” Mount said.

In Mount’s free time she likes to hike, workout, play disc golf, spend time with her dogs, and play her viola in the La Porte County Symphony.

The halls of LPHS feel a bit more familiar and happier with this LPHS staple back in the classroom. Mount's resilience and impact cannot be understated.

Summer to most people is the happiest time of the year. The weather is hot, there’s no school, and the sun is always shining.

However, for Lana Del Rey, I’m not sure if she has a happy time of year. She somehow has made me learn that summer can be sad, too.

In her music, there are definitely songs where she showcases the happier sides of summer, but most of them show that the summer brings her a sense of longing for what she wishes she could have.

The first album that I associate with summer by Lana Del Rey is Lust for Life. This album is a very hopeful one. It talks about being young and in love when the world is in a crisis.

This is considered one of Lana Del Rey’s most political albums. Where she mentions some of the political struggles in the world in songs like “When the World was at War Before We Just Kept Dancing”.

My favorite songs in this album are “Lust for Life” and “Love”. Both of these songs talk about being young and in love and just enjoying life. I think that these are my favorite because they showcase the happy parts of summer.

There are also songs on this album that showcase the melancholy and longing that can also be felt in the summer like “13 Beaches” or “Heroin.”

The next album that I associate with the summer is Chemtrails over the Country Club. This is definitely a sadder summer album, which glamorizes the original American landscape that she referenced in some of her earlier albums.

My favorite songs from this album are “Chemtrails over the Country Club,” “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost,” and “Tulsa Jesus Freak.” The most popular song on this album is “Chemtrails over the Country Club.”

I think that both of these albums capture all of the emotions that can be felt during the summer time. I also think that they give the audience a glimpse of what the summer months mean to Lana Del Rey.

Spring is a more hopeful time of the year. The snow is melting, and nature starts to come alive again. I hear the birds, the leaves come back to the trees, and flowers start to bloom.

Spring can also be even more of a depressing time of year than winter though. Some days I think it’s almost summer, and then the next day it’s snowing. It’s almost a false sense of hope.

I think that Lana Del Rey perfectly captures the feeling of spring in a few of her albums.

The first album that I think of when it comes to spring is Blue Banisters. This album to me is the depressing parts of Spring.

Blue Banisters is considered by some to be one of Lana Del Rey’s saddest albums. The album showcases the hardship of the contrast between promise and reality, and there is also several mentions of spring in the album.

My favorite songs on this album are “Beautiful”, “Nectar of the Gods”, and “Thunder.” One of the more popular songs on this album is “Living Legend.”

Another album that I think could be associated with spring is Honeymoon. This album shows an exploration of doomed romance, and it also mentions a yearning for California.

My favorite songs on this album are “Honeymoon” and “Swan Song.” I don’t really think that any of the songs on this album are well known.

I think that melancholy style of Lana Del Rey’s music captures the sadder parts of spring that are hopeful but deceiving.