St Louis Park High School - Echowan Yearbook (St Louis Park, MN)

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Different faces, clothes, foods cause foreign students Taking things for granted. That was what a lot of us did. This year, however, we had many students who enjoyed the small things we didn't always notice. Senior Van Tran moved here from Vietnam almost eight years ago. In those years she enjoyed much about St. Louis Park. But of all the plusses, Tran most liked the freedom and the right to do whatever I want. Another student agreed with her. Jam-shid Mahmoodi. senior, came to Park after he left his home country of Iran a year and half ago. Mahmoodi also enjoyed the freedom. and added that he liked having many new friends from everywhere. He also said that he liked our school system much better than Iran's. Iran's school system was much harder, but there is more variety here. One of the best things here was the girls. said Senior Spanish exchange student. Sergio Fuchs. Fuchs, who was here all year, said that he enjoyed the differences between Spain and the United States very much. He liked being able to experience American music and leisure time activities. He also had a good time getting lost for two and a half hours in a car with five other people. Of all the things liked by Park's foreign students, the people ranked the highest. “People of all ages could wear every kind of clothes without being noticed.” — Agnes Toth Caroline Piraud. senior Swiss foreign exchange student, said she enjoyed the fact that teachers were students' friends. Israeli student, junior Tal Weissman. commented that he enjoyed the people s kindness. While students liked Park a great deal they found many things to wonder about. Romanian student, Senior Agnes Toth, said she thought it was weird that people of all ages could wear every kind of clothes without being noticed. Different clothing and experiences made Park a bundle of laughs for students. Piraud said her funniest experience was asking a guy to Sadie Hawkins. Now that I've survived the first time ask- ing out a guy. I wish Sadie Hawkins would be more than one time a year. said Piraud. Seeing snow for the first time was a funny experience for Tran. Vietnam doesn't get snow in the winter, so seeing snow for the first time at nine years old was was one of the most unusual experiences Tran could remember. New foods also brought humorous experiences which were shared by all this year Weissman. thought it funny the amount of ice you got with a coke. He thought it was just too obvious that they were trying to make him pay more money for less coke. Another food anecdote was shared by Mahmoodi. He ordered a salad in the school cafeteria, but didn't get quite what he had expected. He got something that looked appetizing, but in the end it didn't satisfy his tastebuds. He said it didn't taste good at first because he hadn't tasted it before. Things did change though. Mahmoodi tried the salads again and decided that he really did like them. The small things were definitely appreciated a great deal this year. We all learned a lot from our foreign students and we hoped that they could learn a lot from us. Getting in a few words before class. Caroline Piraud talks to a favorite teacher. Richard Koch, about the day's experiences Foreign Students 25

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 Fun classes are what Phouc Nguyen looks forward to everyday. He enjoys creating his dream house in Architectural Drafting class. Linh Nguyen can often be caught browsing through the racks at Knollwood He loves, the variety of clothes and the individualism they portray.” Entertaining her friends Shahnaz Arminpour tells Jamshid Mahmoodi of a humorous event that happened to her over the weekend. 24 Foreign Students

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Athletes reach for dreams, improvement with off-season Come on Grosie. push it! , friends yelled at Junior Jeff Grose, as he strained with all his might on the bench press bar. Grose finally got the weight up. his maximum. and sat up with a smile. He was typical of many people who put in hours of sweat and pain, training on their own for their sports and activities, all of it necessary for success. A starter on the football team since his sophmore year. Grose was voted one of the top 100 players in the metro area at the beginning of the 1987 season. He had dreams of playing Division I football in a few years. To reach that dream Grose used the off-season to train, mainly by weight lifting which he felt helped to give him strength and bulk and conditioned and toned muscles. He said. I got started in sixth grade when my uncle gave me a pair of dumbells. Grose added that It got discouraging sometimes because I plateaued and didn't gain anything. Although football was Grose's first love, he also ran track, in part, to help train for football. Football camps such as the one held at North Dakota State were part of his summers too. To keep up my diving I always have to strive to be better. Staci Thayer Another person who trained in the offseason was senior Staci Thayer, one of the top divers on the girls’ swim team. Because all of the good diving camps were out of state and very expensive, her coach suggested training in the Minnesota area. Thayer worked throughout the summer with her coach. Al Hudacek. She practiced diving at the Minneapolis Golf Club each morning and at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center each afternoon. Thayer agreed with Grose that summer training, helped me to stay in shape and to keep up my ability for the season, but she also believed training could be discouraging when I chicken out on a dive or did a belly flop . Thayer said she was hoping to dive in the future and training during the summer helped to enhance that plan. To keep up my diving I always have to strive to be better. It wasn't only athletes who trained in the off-season. Sophomore Valerie Beugen worked throughout the summer to keep up her cheerleading skills, doing gymnastics and aerobics. It improved my flexibility and endurance and it helped me to make the team this year, she said. Like Grose and Thayer, she sometimes got discouraged with training all year long, but she said. It's all worth it because I love cheerleading. Beugen was a varsity tennis player as well as a cheerleader. Her sister. Vicki, who graduated from Park, got her started in tennis. Beugen went to tennis camp and she went to lessons at Northwest Club this summer to help sharpen her tennis skills. These three were just a few of the many Park students found that to acheive their goals and potentials, off-season sports and training were necessary. It was the only way to go. even if it always meant pushing it . 26 Out of schoot sports