Serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the 2019-2020 staff, Kerui Yang was tasked with overseeing the print and online editions of Zephyrus. Although she’s known for her outgoing personality and invigorating classroom announcements, Kerui will be remembered as a leader who helped Zephyrus grow into a community much more than a newspaper organization by expanding the staff’s creativity and potentiality beyond published work. “Getting to know all of the students on Zephyrus was probably the best part about being on staff. The content that we pushed out was great, but the interactions, relationships, and memories that we build are still very valuable, and I will definitely take them with me.”

When she wasn’t leading the day-to-day processes of Zephyrus, Kerui filled her limited amount of freetime by participating in multiple different school clubs, competing in numerous national science competitions, acting as a board member for the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief, and volunteering for the Fairview Southdale Hospital. “It never really fully sank in how much of an effect students can have on the community.”

Despite her unwavering commitment to her extracurricular and academic endeavors, Kerui concludes her time at Edina High School with a sense of personal growth. “Being so detail-oriented will make you miss out on the bigger picture,” she said. “Just live life to the fullest and take advantage of all of the wonderful opportunities and the student culture. You never realize how much you wish you had partaken in those activities until you don’t get to anymore.”

Next year, Kerui plans to pursue a pre-medical track and study Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University. In the words of Zephyrus’ beloved Editor-in-Chief, “Boola Boola!”

Jack Marker is finishing his third and final year on Zephrus as the outgoing Online Editor-In-Chief. Looking back at his three years on staff, Jack recalls spending time with the senior group, going through the process of picking next years’ editorial board members, and managing the website as highlights of his time on Zephyrus. Jack will be remembered as a social staff member who created a positive and fun environment. He would always be found talking to fellow staff members and spent the most time with Hans, Theo, Gaber, and Max. 

Jack’s favorite memory on staff was being 15 minutes late to the new staff breakfast because he had trouble finding a new staff member’s house. The multi-talented soccer and golf player, avid catcher of Mr. Simpson’s baseball, French Club President, Hornet Mentors Cabinet, 212 leadership, and Hornet Connections member led by example and left a positive impact on his community through his many activities. Next year, Jack plans to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study finance in the business school. While Jack will miss his time at Edina High School and on the Zephyrus staff, he looks forward to attending sporting events, meeting new people, taking engaging courses, and using his French language skills while studying abroad in France over the next four years at college.

Outgoing print editor Syd Pierre will be attending Ithaca College in New York with a full ride through the Park Scholar Program. A tenacious and driven writer, Syd plans to major in Journalism and write for the student newspaper at Ithaca; she also hopes to explore other forms of journalism, such as long-form articles or documentary studies, and eventually write for a larger publication. Formerly a hockey player for nine years, one of Syd’s most memorable articles is a piece she wrote about the 2019 Girls’ Hockey State Tournament, where she got to sit in the press box and observe. With her no-nonsense attitude, Syd has kept Zephyrus staff in line for the last year. She’s been the backbone of the newspaper, ensuring that issues get out to the student body, and it has been a privilege for Zephyrus to have her as a writer, page editor, and print editor. 

Beyond Zephyrus, Syd has had a great experience at EHS; some of her favorite classes have been AP Environmental Science, Film Photography, and Creative Writing. The “boring” lessons she’s taken away are about time management and responsibility, but Syd has also learned about maintaining friendships while staying true to your own interests. For current EHS students, Syd’s advice is to stay true to yourself and to trust the process for finding your passions. She would like to give a shout out to former Zephyrus advisor Sarah Burgess and current Zephyrus advisor Daniel Amborn for their part in her writing journey. As for the future of Zephyrus, Syd is confident that next year’s editorial board will be a success.

Julia Nicholson has left her mark on Zephyrus as the copy editor for the 2019-2020 school year. Her responsibilities included editing every article that was written this year and laying out expectations for the writing staff’s grammar and style. However, she is most known for keeping the writers on their toes with style guide quizzes, staying after school to help with page layout, and always being a friendly face in the Zephyrus publishing room.

In addition to the countless articles she has written, Julia said that her “favorite part of Zephyrus is meeting people in the high school that [she] would not have met otherwise and making really good friends.” When looking back on her years at EHS overall, Julia is proud that she stayed true to herself. 

Outside of Zephyrus, Julia is a spirit captain for the Edina Girls’ Ultimate Team, a member of the Site Council, and an “inept but dedicated” house soccer participant. Outside of high school, she works as a camp counselor over the summer.

Next year, Julia is planning to attend the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities to study Cinema and Media Culture. While the entire Zephyrus staff will miss her, we know that Julia has a bright future ahead of her!

As half of the Visual Editor team and a photography connoisseur, Mimi Beringer now says goodbye to Edina High School as she ventures outside of Minnesota to attend Drake University in Des Moines. She plans on pursuing a major in Music which is fueled by her long term commitment to the tuba and bass guitar. 

Since elementary school, she has been mastering the tuba and in middle school took on the task of learning the bass guitar. In high school, when she was not in the pubs room, you could find her participating in both jazz band and pit orchestra. One of the highlights of her band experience was traveling to Hong Kong with her concert band peers and participating in POP’s. Mimi, in addition, competed as a member of the Music Listening Competition team at Edina. 

She was also an avid member of Edina’s Mock Trial team and partook in competitions downtown. Although she has a promising career in music, Mimi’s talent as a defense attorney illustrates her abilities in all fields. 

Mimi’s favorite Zephyrus memory is the slumber party in which staff members prepared for and designed t-shirts for the new staff. Although Mimi will be missed by all staff members, we know that she is going on to do great things and can’t wait to watch her flourish wherever life takes her. 

Hans Janovy Meyer, one of the two outgoing Visual Editors, worked incredibly hard with the Zeph art staff to ensure that quality art is being published both in print and online issues. Before becoming a Visual Editor, he joined Zephyrus as a staff writer and became a Page Editor the following year. The amalgamation of his different roles on staff along and outside artistic experience enabled Hans to help many staff members on a variety of topics. Hans dedicated many hours to talking with page editors and writers every cycle to generate art ideas, which helped the art staff create better work. He also aided many of the photographers with Photoshop to improve the quality of the paper. Zephyrus was a collaborative environment for him. “One major thing I learned from Zephyrus was how to work and problem solve in larger groups,” Janovy Meyer said. “It’s one of my favorite parts of the paper actually, when we’re laying out a page, and it is super close to the deadline, and we run into an issue that we need to work around. It’s stressful in the best way possible.”

Outside of Zephyrus, Hans raced for the Edina Varsity Cycling Team and is very involved in almost all cycling disciplines. In his free time, Hans works as a mechanic at Freewheel Bike. In the fall, Hans will be attending Union College in Schenectady, New York and hopes to major in Computer Science or in a field of engineering.

Zephyrus would have collapsed early in the school year if it weren’t for the tireless efforts of our outgoing manager, the hilarious and reliable Mihika Sathe, in bringing snacks every week without fail. Mihika, who has also been a staff writer for Zephyrus, will be attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study chemical engineering next fall. An article that sticks out from her time on the newspaper is the dramatic saga of 212 Leadership Club’s relocation to a flex space last school year, which she remembers especially for the attitudes of the people she interviewed. 

Mihika has made a lot of memories during her time at EHS. Some of her favorites include the dances she’s attended with friends (and the TiKToKs they made). One particular lesson she will carry away is how to be an aggressive driver, and she leaves this message for all those who have entered the gauntlet of the parking lot with her: “Sorry to all the cars I almost hit in the parking lot, but you really have to be mean if you want to make it out of the parking lot before 3:30”. She’d like to shout out all her teachers and also her carpool for singing One Direction with her in the car, and her advice for current students is to get involved in as many activities as possible.

Kyra Bergerud, the outgoing administrative coordinator, avid opinion and head-to-head writer, and future Minnesota Golden Gopher, has found her time on Zephyrus to be invaluable. “One of my favorite things about Zeph has been the ability to find my voice and have a platform to discuss issues that are important to me,” she said. Kyra has used both her voice and platform to their full potential through her articles that send a powerful, important message. Her impact on Zephyrus is most visible through the opinion and head-to-head sections she’s taken under her belt. 

Throughout her time at EHS, she’s pursued her passions even further as captain of the Edina Policy Debate team and member of the speech team. Above all, what Kyra will miss most about Zephyrus is the people, especially the senior class that the paper has brought together over the years. “I think that the lessons you learn from working in a tight knit group like Zephyrus carry through to a lot of aspects of life,” she said. While Kyra values the Zeph community, it’s no doubt the community values her even more, for her friendly demeanour and skill as a writer. Always impressed by her kindness and passion, our Zephyrus family (and the opinion section!) is sad to see her go, but has no doubt she will continue doing great things! We wish her the best time in college.

As a third-year staff member, Alex Stenman oversaw social media and worked on various multimedia projects under his Media Coordinator position. Alex took special care to film and interview Zephyrus staff for his documentary, which was unfortunately unable to be completed due to COVID-19. Some of his favorite Zephyrus memories include his methodically planned Zonding sessions, specifically when staff competed to see who could build a structure to best withstand an egg-drop test. However, his projects involving video production, such as the Valentine’s Day Z-Harmony skit, were a close second. 

In class, you could find Alex cheering on the first years and documenting the staff perspective on Zephyrus’ in-class discussions. He continued his work to bring staff together despite COVID-19 imposed challenges by curating weekly Zonding events.

Alex plans to further his education at the University of Missouri studying Journalism. He’s excited to meet new people while simultaneously doing something he enjoys. As for his last words to those remaining on staff, Alex wishes to leave behind a legacy of leading by example. Through his hard work to make the first years feel welcome, he strived to act as a role model to those who remain on staff.

Creative, curious, and outgoing, out-of-class artist Tiffany Qian’s unique art became a staple for both Zephyrus members and Zephyrus readers alike. Although she started on Zephyrus as an out-of-class artist as a junior, her presence was always felt within theZeph room. Her cartoonish-realistic style is very recognizable, and she has completed countless artworks from online quizzes to student life pages. Tiffany’s favorite memories from Zephyrus include working on the senior issue and drawing the head to head and in-depth sections. Her personal favorite piece of art was the iconic Gordon Ramsey at the center of this year’s in-depth page about food. She hopes that staff in the future will be able to add their own personal and stylistic touch to their art. 

Outside of Zephyrus, Tiffany still likes to draw in her free time, and is the founder and president of the Art Club, a french horn player in the Concert Band, a member of the Math Team, and a manager of the Badminton Team. After highschool, she plans to attend Columbia University and study engineering. Although she does not plan to pursue art as a career, she will continue to do it and be passionate about it.

Photographer Erik Magnuson, known for his outgoing personality and technological knowledge, became a beloved member of the Zeph family this year! Though it was his first year on staff, Erik quickly became immersed in his role on the visual arts staff and worked tirelessly to improve the visuals of the paper. Erik is also an employee at Bruegger’s Bagels, where he can be found chatting with EHS Band students and some of his Zeph friends. His favorite high school memories stem from his appreciation for the arts, specifically in Concert Band where he played the Euphonium. Erik recommends that everyone joins the Edina High School band, and says it was the highlight of his high school career. He also ran the soundboard for the theater department during his Junior and Senior year and used his technical skills to help out the Zodcast more than once (which was greatly appreciated). 

Though he will miss the friendships that high school has brought, Erik is looking forward to next year where he will be attending Iowa State University and studying architecture. Erik wants to close out his senior year with an iconic quote that he shouted during the POPS concert: “What’s cooler than being cool? Ice cold!”

Despite senior year being his first and only year on Zephyrus, Gabe Antoine was a valuable member of the team. As a member of the art staff, he used Adobe Illustrator to design art for the paper; some of his best projects include partnering on the cover for cycle 3, A$AP Rocky art for an online article, and designing Zephyrus merch (which unfortunately never made it off the computer). Next year, he’s taking his art skills to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, where he will be majoring in product design.

Although he joined Zephyrus for a creative outlet and a way to become more involved at Edina High School, he also enjoyed the community. Some highlights of the year for him include hanging out with friends during class and the tradition of Friday snacks. Zephyrus was a great way to end the school day and the week. 

Some of his favorite memories from his EHS experience are similar in his favorite memories from Zephyrus–the unique camaraderie between the EHS Class of 2020. He enjoyed the student life of EHS–especially football games–and developed close bonds with fellow classmates which will last far beyond high school. Even though French Club only met about twice a year, Gabe was a proud member. Zephyrus appreciates Gabe’s contributions to staff this year, and he will be missed.