Penny Foster: Student All Over Again

Penny Foster: Student All Over Again

Penny foster is not your typical student at Anoka Ramsey.

After graduating high school she wasn't quite sure what to do so she joined the army. She enlisted for active duty for eight years and was stationed in Afghanistan for two years. It was tough to be away from her only daughter, Chelsie, for so long but they were still able to talk to each other and write letters which helped a lot. Chelsie had been in her early teens when her mom was sent over seas, so she moved in with her dad down in Missouri until her mom came back from the war.

Foster was sent home from Afghanistan a few months early than she was supposed to due to problems with her back. This had been from natural causes. Foster was not injured from the war. After she returned home she had by then put in her eight years and put in 12 more years in the army reserves. By the end of the 20 years she had put in she retired. She was ready to fully get out and get a job that did not require a “camouflage uniform.”

Foster, now 46, is attending Anoka Ramsey Community College in Cambridge where she receives money off of her tuition due to her being a war veteran. She works 36 hours a month at Skelly's Drug in North Branch. Her goal is to become a Medical Lab Technologist. In order fro her to be a MLT she has to complete a total of four years of schooling. “Going back to school after so many years is one of the hardest things that i have ever had to do,” explains Foster. “Its hard due to all the changes in technology and styles of teaching.” With the classes that she is taking, Foster is in the Vocational Program. Is this program it is required that the students meet with a Rehab Counselor just to make sure things in the students life and grade wise are all going well. Foster feels that this is a great way to help keep her on track with her grades at Anoka.

It has been 28 years since Foster has been in school. She explains how technology has become way more confusing and that she is not used to using a computer to do homework. Todays kids are taught, starting in fourth grade up until they graduate, how to use computers and how to keep up with technology. Where as back then schools did not have computers and everything was done out of books. “One of my classes required that we create a power point for our final project. Well this was a problem for me because i had no clue how to make one,” says Foster. Foster and the teacher had to come up with an alternative project because not only did she not know how to make a power point, but she didn't have the right applications on her home computer to create one. “It is almost like the technology changes every day and i am always trying to catch up,” says Foster.

On top of catching up to all the new technology she is trying to catch up with the younger students as well. Schools are teaching children at higher levels every year. Things that were not required when Foster was in school is required now. A good example would be Algebra's one and two. Those are classes that Foster's generation learned in high school while todays generation are taking those classes in junior high school. In her college math class most of the kids already know some of the problems while all of them are brand new to Foster. Being in college, the teacher does not hold the students hand to lead them through. It is expected of the student to able to learn and do most of the work on their own.

Foster is a hard working student and does her best to catch up and continue with classes. It was not easy going back to school after so many years but she feels that it is worth it. As a bonus she gets more of a benefit than any average war veteran. Because of her back injury, and proof of the injury, Foster receives more off of her tuition for her schooling. She plans to take full advantage of it and plans on getting a degree as a Medical Lab Technologist or maybe even an accountant. Foster has not completely made up her mind yet. But this coming fall she is going to a term off to help her daughter Chelsie, now 21, plan her wedding that will be held sometime this coming November. The following spring Foster plans to go back to school and work towards her degree.

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Dylan Koran: St. Francis hockey      

  Dylan Koran has been a dedicated hockey player since he was about eleven years old. He played for

the St. Francis middle school and high school teams. He became interested after the Minnesota Wild was

introduced and after they had gone to playoffs. The following summer, before sixth grade, Koran went to

summer camp with St. Francis Saints Hockey Association. At camp he made outstanding progress and the

coaches told him that he would no doubt be on the A team. In middle school they do not have varsity and

junior varsity, but instead the A team and the B team. The A team is the highest of the two teams.

All through middle school Koran was on the A team. Every year his skills improved more and more. In

eighth grade at the last game of the season, the game came to a shootout. Koran was picked by the coach.

He looked t the coach and said, “Are you nuts?” The coach told him to just do what he does best and

Koran managed to score the winning goal.

        After he entered high school Koran steadied out a bit and just worked on his skills up until his senior

year. He said that his senior year and graduating class was magnificent and a big part of what held their team

together. Growing up playing hockey together is what gave the graduating class an advantage over the

underclassmen. They, unlike the younger kids, knew each others strengths and weaknesses. That is what

also helped them beat Totino Grace the entire season. Totino is a well trained private school. They had not

won a single game against Totino in 20 years up until their senior year. The first game against Totino, St.

Francis won 3-2. Koran helped assist on the last goal even though he had a split open wrist from a hockey

skate blade. He cut his wrist in the beginning of the game but stayed to finish and waited until the game was

over to go to the hospital where he received eight stitches. This helped Koran score some brownie points

with the coach and amazingly this did not effect his season. He was able to get right back to playing.

The biggest moments of Koran’s life while playing hockey was the last game of the season when they played

the Andover Huskies. The huskies were a rival team that had beaten St. Francis multiple years before. St.

Francis started out on fire. Koran was on the first line for the first time ever. He assisted his team mate Joey

Benik on the first goal. Shortly after Andover scored making the score a tie. In the second period Andover

scored again taking the lead, but with less than a minute on the time clock Koran scored a goal tying the

over all score once again. After the third period was over Andover had made a come back and crushed St.

Francis. Although they lost Koran was very proud of the team. They had really put up a good fight and

played a great game.

       

         Even though Koran has graduated and does not play for St. Francis anymore he still plans on

participating in hockey, whether it be for a rec. league or coaching. Hockey is a big part of his life and is

very important to him. One way or another he plans on continuing with it.



Blog 5 murder interview



            Yesterday around 9 a.m. a robbery occurred at the North Point Inn leaving one man dead.

            Nina Cortez, a bookkeeper at the North Point Inn, arrived to work a little before nine that morning.

She entered the restaurant through the employee entrance in the back which she had a key for. On her way

in she saw a car in the parking lot that she did not recognize. The car did not belong to any of the employees

that worked there, but she didn’t think much of it at the time. Cortez went to her office to begin her day. Not

to long after Kevin Blohm came into her office. They chatted about what had gone on in the restaurant the

night before. Blohm went and made coffee for himself and Cortez. After he returned the two of them walked

down to the corridor. That was the last place Cortez saw Blohm.

           Cortez returned to her office and began counting the receipts and cash from the previous night. She

took everything out of the safe to count. When she was done counting everything, cash, and receipts from

credit cards, there was a total of $6000 dollars. Only a minute or so after she finished counting the money a

man with a knife in his hand walked around the corner.

           Cortez began kicking and screaming knocking herself onto the ground. The man who she described

as 5’’10’ to six feet tall, medium build, and around his 20s grabbed $130 dollars worth in $5 bills and

walked out. Cortez could not describe the man very well. She said that he had on blue jeans, a blue plaid

button-up shirt, blue tennis shoes, and a floral scarf that covered the bottom half of his face. She had never

seen this man before. And although she did not see another man Cortez thinks that the one was not alone.

She heard a voice say, “Get the money out of there.” then someone tried to open her office door. Luckily for

her she had already locked it.

            About five minutes had passed and finally the police arrived. Cortez walked into the hallway with the

police where she found Kevin on the floor in the reception room. There was blood all over the walls and the

floor in the room. Blohm had been stabbed in the chest and hand.

           Cortez does not have an explanation as to why the men would have stabbed Blohm. She thought that

Blohm could have either recognized the robbers or were in their way to getting the money.

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                                                          New Cruisers or Not?         A heated debate went on between the sheriff and the county’s commissioners on Thursday over whether or not the Sheriff’s department should receive money for new police cruisers and new deputies. Sheriff Gus Dicesari feels that, unless given the money, the lives of the people of the county will be in jeopardy.
          Commission President, Anne Chen, feels the exact opposite. She claimed that the county had a budget for the year of 1$26 million dollars and that the county already put $30 million dollars into a new prison due to lack of space in the old one. Commission members, Anita Shenuski and Raymond Laybourne,
disagreed with her. Shenuski said,” We never had problems until we began letting migrants come to this county to work. They are a problem to our law enforcement, our schools, and our healthcare system. They take away jobs from decent people and work for next to nothing and if something gets stolen, you can bet that it is one of them that has taken it. We need to protect local residence from them.” Chen denied that immigrants were the problem. She explained how immigrants were hard working people that took the jobs no one else wanted and that by blaming them people were just being hypercritical.
         Over all the county did not have the $580,000 dollars that the sheriff’s department needed. A suggestion was made to help the problem with the old police cruisers. Chen said that instead of taking the cruisers home the deputies should just leave them at the station to keep from adding more miles to the vehicles. After a 5-2 vote the request for the money was denied. Thus the sheriff’s department would have to wait to get new police cruisers and hire new deputies until next year.

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At 6:45 this morning a bad car accident occurred on interstate 790. Two tractor-trailers collided causing a chain reaction car crash. Although an investigation is still underway, Sgt. Albert Wei stated that four tractor-trailers were involved along with 14 cars. One of the four trailers was a tanker carrying diesel fuel. Wei said that it was lucky the tanker did not flip, spill fuel, and cause a fire. According to Fire Chief Tony Sulluvan, 2 drivers were killed and 20 others were injured. Four of the 20 people were critically injured. Life Flight had to fly two of those critically injured to the trauma center at Memorial hospital that was 50 miles away from the scene. Tony Sulluvan described the scene as a " War Zone" when he arrived at the accident. He said there were wailing sirens from fire trucks and ambulances, seriously injured people, and emergency workers running frantic trying to help as many people as they could. Last heard the interstate was still closed down at 10 a.m. and Wei did not know when it be re-opened. Traffic was sent to interstate 690 where it was backed up for three hours.

Introduction

hey everyone! My name is Bethany Lynn Lichtscheidl. I am a PSEO student from Chisago Lakes High school. I am still at my high school and that is why i needed an online class. Also I took this class because i really enjoy writing and i hope to become a stronger writer through this class.  I am a musician and i write my own music so i hope that skill will come in handy with this class.

Right now i have to jobs, one at wild mountain and the other at a gas station in a small town called Almelund. Another thing to i hate Chisagao Lakes high so i am still going to high school but i am transfering to North Branch High school. I am very excited and cannot wait to start there!

Even though this is an online class i still hope to get to know everyone through blog and email!

new school semester

Time to begin a new semester which means a fresh start with new grades!