Hey Northwood community! This is Cody Betsch ’26, and I’m excited to welcome you to episode two of a new series where my good friend, classmate, and teammate, Parker Thompson ‘26, and I review all of the burgers in the town of Lake Placid. We’re here to give you all completely honest reviews of Lake Placid’s burgers on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best thing we have ever tasted and 1 being absolute garbage.

Photo: Parker Thompson ’26.

This week, we both decided to try a spot where we all like to go for a burger without spending too much time sitting down to wait, so we chose Noon Mark Burger & Pie Joint. Cody and I both decided to try the classic triple patty burger.

“The burger was great. Everything in the burger works. The bun is amazing, and the maple aioli is a must. For $15, I don’t know if you can beat Noon Mark. 9.0 flat for me,” said Cody, and I will give an 8.2.

Two really good scores for a place where you can enjoy the atmosphere of Main Street. I highly recommend you come give it a try because I guarantee that you will be impressed.

Photo: Parker Thompson ’26.

Another thing that we feel goes unnoticed is the taste of fries with the burgers. Here at Noon Mark, the fries were unreal, with great crunch and seasoning as well, and great size and shape, which made the overall experience here much better. Thank you for reading our review on Noon Mark Burger & Pie Joint, and we cannot wait for our next review.

Hey Northwood community! This is Cody Betsch ’26, and I’m excited to welcome you to episode one of a new series where my good friend, classmate, and teammate, Parker Thompson ‘26, and I review all of the Burgers in the town of Lake Placid. We’re here to give you all completely honest reviews of Lake Placid’s burgers on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best thing we have ever tasted and 1 being absolute garbage.

We are starting off hot with a very popular restaurant and what many people think is the best burger in town: The Pickled Pig’s Crack Burger. “The Pickled Pig has been a spot where the boys love to come eat whenever we have home games or just the opportunity to come into town.  The atmosphere and food are great,” said Parker.

The Pickled Pig Crack Burger. Photo by Cody Betsch ’26.

The Pickled Pig Crack Burger. Photo by Cody Betsch ’26.

Cody and Parker at The Pickled Pig. Photo provided.

Parker and I both got The Crack Burger: his completely plain, and mine with everything on it. The burger is priced at $19.95 (15% off with the local discount), including house-made chips and a pickle. The patties are thin, in smash burger style, and well seasoned. It pairs incredibly well with their house-made Piggy Sauce. There’s a lot going on with this burger, but it all works well together.

All in all, The Pickled Pig has a great atmosphere and some great food, but that’s not what we are reviewing. For the Burgers and the price point, I gave it an 8.3, and Parker gave it a 7 flat. Two solid scores to kick off what should be the start of a great series. These burgers will be hard to beat, so we’ll see what the town has to offer.

We hear there’s some buzz about this new series at The Mirror, and we’re excited to help Huskies find the best burgers in Lake Placid. “Being a new student here at Northwood, everything’s all pretty new to me.  I am excited to see what this series and town have to offer,” said Adam Sherman ’26.

The 2024-25 Girls’ Hockey Team. Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge.

It’s not about what you do but who you do it with. That’s a lesson we have all learned from our time at Northwood. We all come here for our own purpose: hockey, skiing, soccer, or outdoors. We all came here because we’re athletes and want to do something we love. We’ve all been doing our activities since we were young; that’s what drives us. We do it for our younger selves who had dreams of being where we are now.

As we’ve grown up and moved from team to team or place to place, we kept pursuing our dreams that once filled our younger selves’ minds. But somehow along the way, we ended up at a small school in Lake Placid, New York, with hundreds of years-old wooden walls filled with people from all over the world. It soon became not just why we do something, but now more about the people to our left and right with whom we do it.

So as graduation approaches, and this place we’ve called home for however long we’ve been here, turns into the past, the most important thing is the strangers that we once met have now turned into family. Goodbyes will turn into the hardest things we’ve had to do. So thank you to the people and places that have built us. Yes, we do it for our younger selves. But we’ve now learned to do it not just for our love of the games, but for the love of our teammates and the new family that we do it with. Thank you, Northwood, for the friendships and the memories tahat were unimaginable the first time we stepped on campus. Thank you for allowing us to fall back in love with the sports that brought us here, and for why we do it.

Photo provided.

Warm summer days, the sweat building between your fingers as you carry cardboard boxes that hold your belongings. Tired legs carry them up the stairs to set them down in the room you will settle in for the coming year. Windows open at night, fan blaring in need of the cool air, to be closed in the morning in hopes of obtaining that temperature. We know it all starts with the smell of the air.

Soon, the boxes are fully unpacked, and the windows stay closed for most of the day, rarely too warm to open them. This is the time of year when everything is in motion. Sports are starting to kick into the depths of their season, and the wind is turning colder by that day. We are all longing for a break when the snow is up to our kneecaps, and knowing we are halfway done.

Footsteps lead the way to the doors of the school, where everyone is returning from a needed break. Even with the heat low, the rooms can get toasty after two weeks. The windows are then cracked.

The big ‘N’ on the mats by the door is faded with mud from the melting snow. Moral hangs low with the seasons ending and the groggy weather outside. The windows stay closed to all unless you like the sound of rain. We all feel the weather changing, everything sprouting.

Finally, the sun is out. And the windows are back open. Outside, you can hear laughter and competition in the spring games. The smell of rain still lingers, but morale is up now. We are in between the hardship of a losing season, and for many of us, thinking about graduating. This is the time we enjoy the most.

Finally, the day has come. The weather is warm again, but the cardboard boxes are being packed. Our hands were sweaty as we retreated downstairs and placed them gently in the back of the cars. The last walk upstairs was to do final checks, and this is when you close the windows for the last time.

Eliza Quackenbush ’25. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

The final buzzer sounded, and my skates slowed as I neared the net in my best attempt to keep our season alive for one more game. The sound of the other team cheering on the bench and pouring onto the ice. They made it to the finals, and I had just played my last period of Northwood hockey, ever.

The silence in the locker room was deafening, a silence that was soon broken with soft sobs and the sound of heartbreak. It wasn’t just the loss that made for these tears, but the fact that leaving this locker room would mean taking off the Northwood jersey I had worn with pride for the last three years. There was nothing like it.

After a time, players began to pack their bags and leave the locker room, never to be with that group again. Soon, there were 6. The six who couldn’t bear to take their jerseys off, the six who sat in the locker room and cried, who talked and made jokes, then cried some more. We were present with each other, and it will stay a moment I will never forget.

This is the power of presence. How being connected and intent with the people you are with creates a bond that makes the last so much harder. The last game, period, second. The previous locker room songs, warmup, and bus rides. And being able to appreciate these things when there are no more makes you grateful that you were present when it was in action.

Be present with your friends, no matter what stage of life you are in. Be present with your family and acknowledge how much they have done for you. Be present with yourself, know your feelings and intentions towards everyone, and how you want to be portrayed. Be present with life and appreciate all you have, and know that the harder the goodbye, the more present and connected you were. And there is nothing more powerful than having something so good that it hurts to say goodbye.

The 2024-25 Girls’ Hockey Team. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

The 2024– 2025 school year is coming to a close. Relationships have bonded so tightly over the past months and years that these people that we didn’t know would have such an impact on our lives are now considered family. Similar to the family feeling of our peers, Northwood is now a home, not just while we live here now, but for years after we graduate. We will always be able to call these people family, and this place home.

Spring break is beginning this week, and it’s the last time we will all be separated until the final time after graduation in mid-May. As I’ve walked around campus these last few days leading up to break, the buzz around the school is not just about all the tests and assignments that have filled the students calendars, or the departure day plans, but most importantly, all the talk about leaving Northwood and the people behind for two weeks with less than a month from graduation.

That is Northwood. This place is a school, but it is much deeper than that.

“I think separation from anyone, or anything, gives you the chance to miss it. But I know for all of those who won’t be returning to Northwood next year, separation feels like dread right now because of how little time we have left,” Eliza Quackenbush, ‘25.

Students here experience it firsthand, you don’t realize what you have until you don’t. So, as we go on break, cherish the time spent with your loved ones and the greatness of being able to miss something and some place so special like Northwood. And as we return, knowing that the last few weeks of the year are upon us, remember that feeling of being away and fall in love with this place all over again before we say goodbye on May 17th.