How to Make Whipped Cream

Cooking is a science you make into your own

By Julia Bennett

“The key is to make sure that the cream whips long enough,” says Scarlett Bleeker, an avid baker who is a senior at Ames High. Homemade whipped cream is a fickle thing. It has a short window in between over mixing and under mixing. Too little air incorporated into the mix can result in a soupy mess while too much air will turn your cream grainy. 

Whipped cream itself is a simple concept to grasp, but a hard task to master.  While it can only take one ingredient to make, perfecting it requires a delicate balance of sweetener and flavor. Start small. One tablespoon of sugar at a time. Then, slowly build up while tasting it at every increment. 

Once you are comfortable with making the basic mix of cream, vanilla, and sugar, you can start to experiment with multiple different flavors. A simple method would be to swap vanilla with other bottled flavors. Mint, almond, and orange are all popular essences that can be found in most grocery stores. 

As soon as you have mastered pre-bought flavoring, you can really fly from there. You can start to make your own flavoring elements that are harder to incorporate. You can be creative. Melted peanut butter and expresso are both delicious elements to incorporate. But be careful! The thicker your flavor extract, the smaller amounts you must add at a time.

Keep in mind that every person has a different flavor preference. You are making this for yourself, don’t let other people take those decisions from you. Cooking is a science, flavoring is an art. Make it your own. “I make sure to add tons of vanilla,” Bleeker says. “But there are dozens of amazing flavor combinations.”

Discipline: Crucial or Cruel

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Parents across America are in constant debate on how to raise their children. Kids are our next generation and they deserve to be safe. Some parents raise their kids with strict regiments and give brutal punishments. Other parents give their children freedom to make their own choices. Both sets of parents believe they are doing what is best for their kids. However, studies show that kids with discipline are happier and better off as adults. 

Raising your kids in a disciplined household has many benefits. It gives them more freedom to make choices. It prepares them to interact with the world and leads them into adulthood. And, good discipline leads to stronger relationships. 

There is more freedom in limitations. Imagine a fish in a lake. It fumes at how unfair it is that it can not go out and explore on land. One day the fish goes out of the ocean, thinking that being outside of the boundaries is good for it. What it doesn’t realize is that limitations are placed for a reason. This leaves the fish with a fatal reaction.

The same could be said for humans. A study was done on playgrounds years ago. Landscape architects discovered that when there is no fence around a playground, kids stay close to their teacher or supervisor in reluctance to be out of their view. However, if there was a fence around the playground they would feel the safety in restriction to run around the entire area. Awareness of safety is found in discipline. 

Having discipline also teaches kids healthy boundaries. If a parent lovingly sets and enforces guidelines, their adult kids will have grown past their mistakes and learned to trust and respect them. Limitations teach kids that it is okay to have boundaries. This is an important factor to figure out so they do not get taken advantage of in the future. 

Unfortunately, there are many ways to use the power of a parent. Micromanaging gives children the fear of making a mistake. There is wisdom in refraining from being a ‘helicopter mom’. However, there is a difference between micromanaging and discipline. Micromanaging is excessive control while discipline is training to act in accordance with the rules. Discipline is not for creating conflict or controlling children. It is a tool to help guide them away from mistakes that they have made.

Kids should have discipline. There is freedom in limitations. It creates opportunity for them to make their own choice but also acknowledge that there are consequences in life. We need to be aware that discipline is a healthy and loving tool for our society.

  • Network, The Learning. “How Should Parents Discipline Their Kids?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2009, archive.nytimes.com/learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/how-should-parents-discipline-their-kids/. 
  • Research Ceneter, Pew. “Parenting in America.” Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project, Pew Research Center, 17 Dec. 2015, www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2015/12/17/parenting-in-america/. 
  • Lee, Katherine. “Surprising Reasons Why We Need to Discipline Children.” Verywell Family, Verywell Family, 13 Feb. 2020, www.verywellfamily.com/surprising-reasons-why-we-need-to-discipline-children-620115. 
  • Horn, Andrew. “The Playground Study – an Important Lesson in Meaningful Gathering.” LinkedIn, 13 Dec. 2022, www.linkedin.com/pulse/playground-study-important-lesson-meaningful-gathering-andrew-horn/.

What High School is Like in 2023

High school is about finding your individuality. Students are now getting to the age where they have acquired basic levels of knowledge. Their perspectives have now changed from focusing on school to focusing on themselves. Students have to find out personally what they believe in. Not what their family, teachers, or peers are pushing them to pursue.

It is a struggle to fight against the screaming opinions of those around us. It is a constant tug-of-war battle between approval and our values. So many things are being waved in front of us that it is hard to tell what we actually want to pursue. Sports, academics, and clubs are all wonderful resources but with all the options being held with high regard and vying for our attention, it is difficult to discover what really gets us excited. 


It takes the full four years of high school in order to figure out what we are really striving for. Freshman year brings in nervous excitement. We are assured we have time before making big life choices. Sophomore year we are glumly aware that we have another three full years of stress.

Junior year is when the chaos arrives. The world is telling us we have to decide what we want, how we want it, and where we want it to take place. Walls enclose around us and we are worried what people will think about us during the end of our academic race. Students who want to pursue a high form of education are pounding at walls and digging through options, all to find themselves drawing a blank. This sets back their determination, and quite frankly, their confidence. The unrealistic expectations thrown at them can shovel in unnecessary anxiety and self-doubt.

Finally, Senior year rolls in. Our lives are now encompassed by one question; what are you doing next year? Some students are excited by it, others are filled with existential dread. Either way, a ticking time bomb fills our stomachs. Our 12-year marathon is turning into a mad dash to the finish line. Our time is finally up and we take our first uneasy steps as adults.

Our culture is roaring for our validation. But without the challenges and disruptions, our core values would never be sculpted. Individuality is forged, not found. After stepping through the flames of high school, we emerge holding only our strongest values. Keeping true to your beliefs is what solidifies who you are. High school is filled with its ups and downs, but sticking out through the turmoil will ignite the strongest parts of yourself that are waiting to be lit.