Pine and Lakes Echo Journal

3 days ago | pineandlakes.com | Tom Fraki

CROSSLAKE — It’s been 10 years since Crosslake Community School’s first student graduated in 2015, and the school’s class of 2025 is its largest group of graduates yet. A total of 76 students graduated from Crosslake Community School’s online program at a commencement ceremony Friday, May 30. “Savor the moments. Savor the big ones like today. Take the pictures, even the corny ones. Thank the people who got you there, celebrate with your family and friends.

4 days ago | pineandlakes.com | Travis Grimler

PINE RIVER — While graduation for the Pine River-Backus High School class of 2025 was an occasion for celebration, there was bitterness mixed in with the sweetness. A bouquet of flowers here, a handprint and quote on a mortarboard in the second row, a tear being wiped away by students here and there,and a slight hesitation and cracking in Ayla Richards' voice when she spoke of Keylah Kendrick, the classmate who died only 21 days before the May 30 graduation ceremony.

5 days ago | pineandlakes.com | Travis Grimler

PINE RIVER — Sometimes high school seniors still have years before they will know exactly what they want to do with their lives. But sometimes life gives others some ideas, such as with Kelsey Bergem, a Pine River-Backus High School senior who has learned a great deal of maturity at a young age. Bergem has grown up in a very close family. Her parents once both taught at Pine River-Backus School.

6 days ago | pineandlakes.com | Deane Morrison |Minnesota Starwatch

As the summer stars move into prominence in the evening sky, the spring constellation Leo, the lion, slinks away in the west as it begins its descent into the sunset. Facing the same fate, Mars, with its relatively high orbital speed, resists its inevitable tumble. Between June 15 and 17, Mars and Regulus, Leo’s brightest star, slip past each other somewhat low in the west. Mars will be just above Regulus, the base of the Sickle — a backward question mark of stars outlining the lion’s head.

1 week ago | pineandlakes.com | Conrad Engstrom

BREEZY POINT — Angus Laing first heard about Northern Lakes hockey when the boys' job opened at the end of the season. After sending in an application, he got a call from Pequot Lakes’ activities director, Bill Magnuson, explaining that although the boys’ job was filled internally, he would love to interview Laing for the girls’ job. The 25-year-old accepted the job to take over the Lightning program that has lost in the Section 6-1A finals the last two seasons.