Denfeld High School Posts

Denfeld Lip Dub 2016: “We Run this Town”

Apr 25, 2016 No Comments

UPDATE: As is plainly visible, a copyright claim on the music used in this video resulted in it being pulled from YouTube after one day. Follow this link to see an updated version without the Jay Z track.

Denfeld Lip Dub 2016Denfeld High School 2016 lip dub project. Full disclosure, I work at Denfeld as some kind of educator. The third annual all-school lip dub dropped today, something students and educators worked on closely for the past couple of months. It’s a mash up of Beyoncé and Jay Z’s “Crazy in Love” and “We Run this Town.”

If this is the future of Duluth, I think we can all be very hopeful and proud. Particularly noteworthy for me is the way that we see strong, confident and successful women portrayed prominently in the video.


Music, Videos ,

Video Archive: 1986 Denfeld Hockey

Feb 18, 2016 5 Comments

Denfeld 1986 Hockey DNT photo by John RottWith high school hockey playoffs underway this week, PDD takes a look back 30 years to Denfeld’s first trip to the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. The video above includes TV news clips of Denfeld’s Section 2 playoff wins (2-1 over Duluth East, 8-2 over St. Cloud Apollo and 6-2 over Anoka). The photo at left is from the victory over Anoka, shot by John Rott of the Duluth News Tribune (as featured in the DNT archives).

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History, Sports, Videos , ,

Duluth’s Mark Sertich on CBS Evening News

Oct 16, 2015 No Comments

Tonight Mark Sertich became the second Duluthian to be featured on the CBS Evening News in the past month. Just 18 days after St. Scholastica Saints kicking coach Sister Lisa Maurer was profiled on the program, Sertich was featured in a segment with “On the Road” correspondent Steve Hartman.

Sertich is a 1939 Denfeld graduate and World War II veteran who, at age 94, still plays hockey with a group of Duluth firefighters.


News and Current Affairs, Sports , , ,

R.I.P. Mr. Richard H. Gastler

Oct 16, 2015 4 Comments

Richard Gastler

Longtime Denfeld High School economics teacher Dick Gastler died on Thursday, Oct. 15, at the age of 79. Among many great teachers at Denfeld, Mr. Gastler would have to be considered the most famous of his era. He was a ham. He broke into song all the time. He frequently digressed into stories about growing up in Chaska. He wore cheesy leisure suits, famously sporting the same one every day during a stretch of 1984 when he was raising money to fight hunger — a stunt that landed him on Good Morning America. The suit was burned when Mr. Gastler reached his fundraising goal. The ashes are still in a trophy case at the school.

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R.I.P.

Trouble in Zenith City!

Aug 07, 2015 1 Comment

ruckus


History ,

Select Images from the 1930 Denfeld Oracle

Jun 04, 2015 No Comments

The Oracle 1930 Denfeld High SchoolWith graduation ceremonies taking place this week, we look back 85 years ago to see what the Denfeld class of 1930 looked like. That year the school’s Oracle strove to inspire students “with a steadfast purpose to build well upon the foundations of the past,” and was dedicated to “the spirit of industry and progress which has existed in the hearts and minds of the citizens of Western Duluth.” The inside folds of the book feature a “Decorative Map of Western Duluth, with which we begin this post.

The senior class held two successful paper sales, a Christmas card sale and a class play to fund the yearbook in 1930. The organizations that typically funded the Oracle instead gave money to the pipe organ fund; Denfeld’s pipe organ had been purchased in 1926 for $25,000.

Decorative Map of Western Duluth

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History, Photos ,

Denfeld Lip Dub 2015: “It’s In My Soul”

Apr 16, 2015 2 Comments

Videos

Select Images from the 1934 Denfeld Oracle

Dec 08, 2014 2 Comments

Denfeld1934-1Art

Back in the day, Denfeld art students competed in the Proctor and Gamble contest, the Scholastic Award or the House Beautiful Cover Design contest. Miss Genevieve Bancroft was the art instructor, with the assistance of Miss Nellie Smith.

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History, Photos ,

Duluth school principals defend short skirts

Aug 31, 2014 3 Comments

For your back-to-school reading pleasure, from the Oct. 2, 1921 Duluth News Tribune:

1921-Duluth-school-principals-defend-short-skirts

 


History , , , ,

Duluth Mystery Photo: Denfeld football players from 1951

Aug 24, 2014 1 Comment

Help name these Denfeld Hunters. The image above is one of three dated Nov. 29, 1951 that were listed for sale on eBay. The description read: “These three photos were of the football players from Denfeld High School in Duluth, Minnesota. The sign in the background says Public Schools Stadium. The photos are from 1951. Two of the boys are identified: Eli Miletich and Richard Wilson. Eli Miletich gained some local celebrity later in life on the Duluth Police force.”

So, who can name the other two gridiron greats from West Duluth?

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History, Photos, Sports , , ,

Denfeld Lip Dub 2014: “It’s Always a Good Time”

Apr 14, 2014 No Comments

Videos

Duluth Denfeld Sing-along Drone Video

Apr 07, 2014 4 Comments

Footage by Liftoff Aerials.

The Halls of Denfeld (alma mater)

Oh, we love the halls of Denfeld
That surround us here today.
And we will not forget,
Though we be near or far away.

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Videos , ,

Video Archive: 1989 Denfeld Hockey

Feb 21, 2014 2 Comments

It’s been 25 years since Denfeld played in the 1989 Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. Through the miracle of shaky old VHS tapes, we take a look back. Above is the gloriously cheesy video profiling the school, produced for between-period entertainment.

Below are local TV news highlights of Denfeld’s route to the tournament.

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Sports, Videos , ,

Video Archive: Flipping the bird across Duluth, from east to west, decade to decade

Aug 26, 2013 3 Comments

The video above, by Mark Ryan, is a collection of film footage from 1970 of dudes hanging out at the old London Inn and other places in eastern Duluth, flipping off the camera. It first appeared on PDD in 2008.

I brought it back for this post because I just came across some footage I shot in the halls of Denfeld on Oct. 17, 1988, that I hope is of similar quality.


History, Videos ,

Video Archive: 1988 Denfeld Hockey

Aug 22, 2013 6 Comments

Part of the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament experience is the creation of a cheesy music video highlighting the school and the team. The Hunters did not disappoint with this clip. Yes, there are all the mullets and protruding bangs you would expect, along with plenty of guitar air-jamming.

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