2. Window shopping on 16th Street.  This long strip of road has tons of cute shops that are based here in Colorado.  There are pianos that sit, waiting to be played.  It is a great, cheap way to hang out with friends and enjoy the summer sun.  There are great lunch places around as well such as, Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs, who is around town during the week serving up delicious hotdogs.  It is cheap and fun!

3. Have a picnic.  If you are on a small budget a picnic is one of the cheapest way’s to have lunch.  Have each of your friends bring either food, a blanket, or the basket.  It is a fun way to get outside and hang with your friends.  You can tan and enjoy the weather.  There are parks everywhere you can go to one close to your house or to the bigger parks downtown.  Washington Park is a big park that has lots of open space.

4. Have a water park party.  Water World and Elitches are expensive.  But having fun in the sun is easier than you think.  You can set up a slip and slide have the sprinklers going and have a specific spot for tanning.  Have a water balloon fight and invite your friends and family.  Then have a BBQ in your backyard.  It is cheaper than having to go out to lunch at a water park and more healthy.

5. Go to the Farmer’s Market in Town Center, Highlands Ranch.  The market lasts from ten to two o’clock.  It is a great way to buy locally grown produce and locally made items.  It is an open market that has great food and great people. You don’t even have to buy anything and samples are provided at some stands.

It’s officially that time of year. AP Exams start May 6 and continue on until May 17. Stressing out? Here are some tips on how to raise your scores to the very top:

1) Review. If you have a review book don’t put it away these last few days. Keep making sure you remember the important things. If you don’t have one yet you need to start going through one. Better late than never.

2) Take Practice Tests. Take them in your review guide, online, in class and wherever else you can find them.

3) Relax. When you’ve been studying so hard that your mind has stopped absorbing information, take a break. Workout, get a drink or chat with a friend. Then you can go back to working.

4) Don’t skip any readings. Read the entire review guide before you actually take the test and make sure to read everything on the test (AP English exams especially like to trick the students who didn’t read the whole passage).

5) Read something before the exam. Do not let the exam be the first thing you read that day. Read some of a book or an article before so your mind is already awake when you walk into the exam room. Otherwise your brain will just be waking up in the middle of the exam.

6) Watch the time. When actually taking the test make sure you have a watch so you know how much longer you have and don’t run out of time before you’re done.

KELSEY LUKE, TAYLOR YAW, and KENNA DAUGHERTY

Living in the suburbs, it seems as though there are limited places to fish close by. However, if you drive a few miles there is a plethora of fishing locations that will be sure to cure your school-related stress.

For just $8 a day and only about 12 miles away, Chatfield state park has a lot to offer. It’s full of catfish, bass, carp, trout, walleye and crappie so you’ll never end up empty handed. Just head towards Santa Fe drive and west on C-470.  The Colorado Division of Wildlife stocks the lake with rainbow trout periodically, but in the spring, the trout fishing is one of the best in the Denver area. “Sometimes after school, I go to Chatfield to get away. School can be stressful, and fishing is a nice way to relax,” Logan Relph, 11, said.

For a more Urban setting, you can try the Centennial Park Lake. For only 25 minutes away, the spring and early summer is wonderful for catching trout, bass and crappie. People are always seen taking home their limits. This lake is also periodically stocked and is known for being family friendly.

If you’re looking for some stream or river fishing, Waterton Canyon is located at South Platte River Road and W. Waterton Road. It is a free park in which the North Platte River runs through. With a short drive of only 25 minutes from Highlands Ranch and a minor hike to the riverside, you enter a lush canyon where mainly trout can be found. “The river is very calming,” Bobby Thomas, 11, said, “It definitely helps with stress.”

1) Sell it
2) Donate it to charity
3) Make it into something else (such as a pillow or quilt)
4) Decorate a window
5) Make it into a costume you can wear for Halloween

6. Balloon paint art- If you have seen Princess Diaries, you’ll understand. Fill water balloons with paint, staple the tops to a canvas and throw darts at them!
7. Skydive- Lets be honest, it just sounds like fun!
8. Climb a 14er- We live in Colorado people! You have to do it at least before you die! So might as well do it this summer!
9. Ride on a hot air balloon- There is no explanation for this amazing activity!
10. Ride a mechanical bull- Go to a place where there is a mechanical bull, pay for it, get on it, and ride it!

HAVE FUN!!!!!

Our two projects were more similar than they may seem at first. Obviously, they were both Spanish projects. But they were both also projects concerning foods from Spanish-speaking countries. Although food culture doesn’t really help with the Spanish language itself, we still have to learn it.

But why?

The answer is not that it tastes good, although that is very true. The real reason is motivation.

Have you ever been bogged down with long homework assignments and rapidly approaching exams and sometimes all you need is a coffee or a piece of chocolate to get you on your feet again? Well, same concept.

Learning a language is not easy, especially when you’re in high school and have five or six other classes to be studying for. It’s easy to get lost in lessons about the “past-subjunctive” and “preterite vs imperfect.” The idea behind the foods projects is simply this: it’s fun, it’s different, and you feel good about the final product. It’s a pick-me-up.

And it works. Even the most unmotivated students find themselves wanting to achieve something more when they try the wonderful Tostones and Pan de Muerto their best friends brought into Spanish class.

So the next time you’re wondering about just how useful a project is, think again. Could this maybe just be the coffee and chocolate to your struggles?

Spring break may be right around the corner, but one fortunate half of the school still has the glorious occasion of TCAP testing for the next two weeks.

Starting on Tuesday, March 5, everyones favorite standardized test starts, and will continue for the first half of the day.  The tests will continue on Thursday before a regular schedule begins anew on Friday.

Next week, a similar schedule will take place on the corresponding days of the following week.

TCAP, CSAP, or whatever other name you call it, may be a less than jovial time for everyone involved, but the fact remains that it is important both to you and your teachers.

Regardless of your opinions of teachers or the school, do your best on the tests to reflect well on both them and yourself.