North Pointe, Vol. 49, Issue 13 - May 3, 2017

LIFE PAGE 10 Merchandise for the band How About Sunday? Made up of all seniors, the group is a fledgling alternative band with an Instagram account that has over 1,200 followers.

HOW ABOUT SUNDAY?

NORTH

GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL

POINTE WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

SINCE 1968

UPCOMING EVENTS AP EXAMS

May 1-12 at First English Lutheran Church

GE

Wednesday, May 10 at 7 p.m. in the Student Union

PROM

DS

By Anna Post & Katie Thomas EDITORS

Saturday, May 13 at Mac & Ray's Harbor from 7-11 p.m.

SENIOR HONORS NIGHT Monday, May 15 in the Preforming Arts Center from 7-11 p.m.

SPRING CHOIR CONCERT May 16-17 at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center.

visuals are

breathtaking,

yes, but the content is not.

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EA

Gearheads win statewide outreach award

PARENT CLUB MEETING

The

H AR

ALL PHOTOS BY LAUREN SEXTON, BELLA DESANDY, CHLOE RIBCO & ERINNE LUBINSKI

LOUD AND PROUD | Students perform in school shows. The district-wide department was named one of the best in the country by the National Association for Music Merchants this year.

Music department garners national recognition

By Katelynn Mulder EDITOR With choirs, musicals, bands and orchestras the Grosse Pointe Public School System has many opportunities for students who are interested in music. Recently, Grosse Pointe was named one of the best communities for music education by the National Association for Music Merchants.

Junior Kirstin Bessette has participated in band, orchestra and pit orchestra. She said that she has noticed a difference between her old school’s music programs and North’s.

“I went to a school in Pennsylvania, and I think the music program here is a lot more diverse and a lot more challenging than what I had outside of Grosse Pointe,” Bessette said.

“Music has always been a big part of who I am.”

Only 527 communities nationwide and 14 in Michigan were chosen, with GPPSS being selected for the first

time this year to receive the award.

According to the NAMM website, schools that qualify for the award have demonstrated a high commitment and accessibility to music education.

Choir teacher Ben Henri said that NAMM considered not only one school’s music class, but all the music departments in the entire district.

Henri said that choir teachers Carolyn Gross, of Brownell Middle School, and Glenn Hipple, of Mason Elementary School, submitted the application on behalf if the district as part of their positions as districtwide music department chairs.

“It's not just specific to North or South or choral or instrumental— it's everything,” he said. “It's not just the high-school level. It's kindergarten all the way up, so it's the general music education.”

NAMM uses nine categories to decide which communities are listed each year. The categories are participation in music, scheduling, qualified faculty, opportunity, support from administrators, standards based learning and curriculum, community partnerships, technology and funding.

Junior Becky Lubera has been in the music program since freshmen year. She said that through her experiences in band and choir, she has not only met new people, but also has grown as a person and a musician.

She specifically noted the voice

@thenorthpointe www.northpointenow.org

VOLUME 49 | ISSUE 13

teachers and band size as attractive Both high schools have a staff of features of the music department. vocal coaches available to students Lubera also participates in the plays for an additional fee. and musicals.

In addition, there are summer “As a musician, I feel like I have programs for students interested had a lot of resources,” Lubera said. in singing, instrumental music “Our directors are really good. They or musical theatre for students in are experienced, and they know fourth grade and beyond. what they are doing.”

Middle school and high school Band teacher David Cleveland has classes also have drama classes been teaching full-time at North for available, and the high schools have 20 years. He said that receiving this music theory classes as well. award was an accomplishment for Henri said that his goal for his the district because of its prestige students is to enable them with the and low attainability. skills and tools they need to help He said in addition to directing them stay connected with music in the band program, he works with their lives. He said that he helps students outside of the classroom. match students with a voice teacher In addition to and ensembles, directing jazz improve their music band and the pit literacy skills and for the musicals, he exposes them to offers extra work advanced literature time after school. before college.

“This was “My goal by the a huge, huge time they graduate award,” he said. is for (my students) “It's hard to get, to have the tools to and it takes a keep music in their long time to get Becky Lubera lives whatever way the materials JUNIOR they want to,” Henri together to said. “My goal is to apply for it.” have given them the Grosse Pointe Public Schools tools to keep that music in their lives have a band, orchestra, choir and for the rest of their lives. ” drama program at all secondary schools and most elementary schools. South High School also offers a Beginning Piano course. Contributing: Alex Harring

News In-Depth

“

As a musician, I feel like I have had a lot of resources.

2-3 4-5

Reviews On Pointe

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An annual report from the National Association of Music Merchants named Grosse Pointe in the top 14 communities for music education in the state and in the top 527 in the nation

6 7

Editorial On Campus

8 9

Throughout the years, Gearheads has qualified for states multiple times.

This year is different.

Out of 450 teams in Michigan, the combined North and South High School combined robotics team placed in the top 120. To gain a state ranking, the team has to do well in competitions throughout the season. Over the course of six weeks, students have to work tenaciously to fund, design and build a functional robot that they will then present in front of judges.

Ultimately, the team with the best performance moves further into the competition.

For the first time in the program’s history, the Gearheads won the Chairman’s Award, which is one of the most prestigious awards a robotics team can win.

Winning automatically qualified the team for states.

In order to be eligible for the award, teams must not only be successful throughout the season, but they must also exemplify good sportsmanship during competitions and share their ideas with their community.

“I am overwhelmed and overjoyed that we made a good robot,” senior Claudia Dancy said.

“We worked together we were learning and problem solving, having good teamwork and it shows how awesome we are and how awesome our district is and that we were able to win this award.”

On top of winning the Chairman’s award, South junior Ponnette Rubio was a Dean’s List semi-finalist. Team mentors pick two juniors to receive the award and compete for a spot as a finalist. The Dean’s List is awarded to students who embody the values of FIRST, which stands for inspiration and recognition of science and technology.

Rubio is proud of her personal accomplishments, and is excited to see what lies ahead for the team.

“Being a semi-finalist is pretty awesome because it means I have not only received a lot from FIRST, but also gone on to accomplish important work for the team as well as helping others in my community through (science, technology, engineering and math),” she said. “I am extremely grateful for the experience.”

Moving forward, the team hopes to advance further in the competition each year. After each competition, the team comes together and reflects on their performance and tries to make the necessary improvements.

After states on April 13-15, the Gearheads team analyzed their season and discussed how to be more effective in future years.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Life Sports

10 11-12

2 – Wednesday, May 3, 2017 – North Pointe

NEWS

CAITLIN BUSH

Alumni-founded nonprofit expands, reaches Detroit Public Schools

By Ritika Sanikommu SENIOR ASSISTANT EDITOR An idea that found inspiration from the Freshman Assist program is now making waves in Detroit Public Schools. On March 1, 2016, North alumni Wendy Ishmaku and Michael Marchiori founded Giving Pack, a nonprofit organization aimed at donating schools supplies to underprivileged DPS students.

In its first few months of creation, co-presidents Ishmaku and Marchiori were mainly focused on contacting local businesses, churches and schools as well as utilizing crowdfunding platforms to collect school supply donations.They used these supplies to fill packs that they gave to various Detroit schools.

Since then, it has expanded into an eight-person team and is developing new events to promote awareness.

“First it was about figuring out how we were going to become a nonprofit, so a lot of it was a lot of forms we had to sign to get officialy recognized as a nonprofit by the government. Once we got that, we essentially went to the community and figuring out how they could support us. Initially we had this goal threshold of $3,000 that we wanted to raise, and we reached $2,500 within a couple weeks,” Ishmaku said. “It was a ridiculous amount of money, and everyone was so supportive throughout the Grosse Pointe community, which we absolutely loved, and seeing all that support we wanted to continuously move forward, and that’s how we got our confidence.”

This school year, the Giving Pack team filled 350 backpacks and hand delivered them to students at Carleton Elementary School. They have also branched out from school-focused philanthropy and developed other projects such as Operation Holiday Cheer, for which team members wrote over 400 cards for patients at Beaumont Hospital.

Giving Pack is also hosting a Bourbon, Beer and Tequila Fundraiser on Friday, May 19 to including a wider array of community members who want to contribute to the cause. Proceeds will benefit students from Bagley and Young Elementary Schools as part of Giving Pack’s second annual school supply drive for the 2017-18 school year.

Giving Pack’s Community Outreach chairperson, Class of 2015 alumna Karina Lucchese applied for her position. She contacts colleges, schools and businesses to ask for their support. Lucchese has made the process of spreading.

Giving Pack’s initiative more efficient. She said despite the organization being relatively young, it has positively impacted the community.

“We even have other schools and districts asking if we’d be willing to donate packs to them next school year,” Lucchese said via email. “It’s also great to see the community support us with fundraising and collecting supplies. We wouldn’t be able to accomplish our goals without their help.”

North has also supported Giving Pack through student-sponsored events. Student Association president Olivia Randazzo was eager to support Marchiori, who was a previous Student Association secretary.

“He was in Student Association, so it was really important for us to help out. Last year, we decided to do Hat Day for Giving Pack, and we donated all the money to that, and then we wanted to continue working with them this year, and we thought that penny wars would be a good way to do that,” Randazzo said. “So we kind of advertised for that so people would be more motivated to donate to it, and we took all the money and donated it to that. SA also matched the money that we made from penny wars.”

One of Ishmaku’s long-term goals for Giving Pack involves evolving it into a nationwide organization.

“We just want to make sure that we have a good foothold now and make sure we have a really, really strong team and the ability to deliver. Now I want to do this, but I want to do it bigger—I want to broaden it,” Ishmaku said. “That’s the same idea that Michael (Marchiori) and I both had, and that’s why we’re able to expand our team as well. There are not a lot of organizations that combine Grosse Pointe, but we are able to be that liaison.”

Now, Giving Pack is filling almost 750-800 packs for students in multiple schools. Marchiori’s passion for volunteering was a driving factor in creating his own nonprofit organization.

“Prior to founding Giving Pack, I had always been passionate about creating a nonprofit organization at some point in my life but struggled to determine what cause I wanted to support,” Marchiori said via email. “Last year, however, I finally decided to create an organization that would allow me to support countless causes by delivering a variety of individualized relief packs to different communities ... at its core, Giving Pack’s mission is my mission: to help anyone, in any way, as anything is more than nothing.”

GIVING PACK

CELEBRATING | The team poses before delivering packs. Giving Pack has partnered up with Bagley and Young Elementary in Detroit for its second annual school supply pack drive.

GIVING PACK

FOOD FUNDRAISING | Alum Wendy ishmaku, Michael Marchiori and Emily Martinbianco smile with kids after delivering the packs

a climber are still ahead of us.The hopper has already seen several changes; too big, too small, in the way. There is still more to discover as we North Pointe – Wednesday, May 3, 2017 – 3 continue designing and prototyping.

Meet a Mentor

Gearheads CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

While building a successful robot is the main goal of the club, there are other factors that go into receiving honors such as the Chairman’s award. Through outreach to other teams and working with programs such as Diabetes Awareness, Rubio and her teammates are finding ways to help the community as well.

NEWS “To succeed in robotics means to work “The club is primarily about building diligently everything single day, whether skills and helping students discover a pasit is build season or not. A lot of the leg- sion for science and engineering,” Soswork was done during the off season,” Ru- nowski said. “Building the robot is simply bio said.

Matt“While Rigottiour presentation was vital a means to unify a group of people under a to demonstrating the impact of our team to single goal.”

- page 3the judges, what we do before the competiFor Rubio, teamwork is crucial to the tion is what wins us the awards.” team’s overall success moving forward.

For senior captain Ben Sosnowski, “My favorite part was coming together Onto the chassis was we next started adding Gearheads is much more than just winning as a team and leaving the state competition Play as elements. started withtogoing competitions.

He said the Game club allows a family,” We Rubio said. “Going states to Innovation challenge ‘17that the members to improve on time management, me means gettinga to compete with the top after the gears.

We designed holder that can -Page 4communication and teamwork that will teams in the state. It is amazing what can a safe carrybyposition, prepare them for the future.slide the gears into get accomplished high schoolthen students.”

hook them to the davit so that the airship personnel can pull them up. One of the early challenges to overcome with the gear holder was the problem that the gear might not allow enough clearance for the hook. One of the team members suggested the addition of a peg to the

GEARHEADS

Virus kills marine animals in Lake St.Clair Safety Comic

Residents near Lake St. Clair have been waking up to a peculiar sight outside their windows. Dead, bloody fish, float along the shoreline, -page 5scattered across the water.

What is killing the fish has been confirmed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. It is an outbreak of a viral hemorrhagic septicema virus, which is a very deadly pathogen for marine animals.

According to the www.wxyz.com, Detroit’s ABC affiliate, the fish are not dangerous for human consumption if they have been in temperatures higher than 65-70 degrees. The fastest way to save multiple fish from dying is by waiting for water temperatures to rise. The problem is, by the time water heats up to at least 65 degrees, many fish will already be dead.

Junior River Kirklin often fishes at Lake St. Clair. He is familiar with almost all of the fish that are being affected by the virus.

“I believe that it is important for people to know about this because it could affect the future of the lake and the fish populations,” Kirklin said.

“This will affect the environment by an overall decline in t h e p opu la t ion o f all the fish.

The fish populations rely heavily on each other as a source of food.”

The VHSv pathogen is responsible for causing the blood vessels in over 30 species of fish, such as the gizzard shad, largemouth bass, round goby and bluegill, to leak, causing the bloody patches on their skin. It has been detected in many lakes including Lakes Superior, Erie, Ontario and Huron.

Fishing season in Michigan began April 29, but sophomore Elizabeth Torakis, said she recommends others to avoid going fishing just for amusement.

“If you’re fishing for fun like I do, and it’s at the risk for endangerment, then I wouldn’t recommend it,” she said. “They might have a better chance for survival if you just let them be.”

Science teacher Kristen Lee thinks it’s important to spread awareness of this contagious virus.

“I definitely think it’s important for the general public to be educated,”

With all that started, next comes control elements like mounting the camera so that the drive team can see where the robot is going.

The new camera required a case and way to be fastened to the frame. We designed and 3D printed a case for the camera, based on measurements taken from the camera.

The climbing device was originally designed to use a slim high tensile strength rope, capable of holding masses greater than our ‘bot. But we still need to do alot of testing to see if the robot itself will resist bending when suspended.

We continue to update and revise the designs, tweaking it to make the best robot possible.

MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

BAD BLOOD | Fish found dead and covered in blood from broken blood vessels caused by VHSv. Lee said. “I feel like there can’t be enough data or research to prove that that I let the fish go from now on. I would rather let the fish go knowing this virus is not going to harm humans. I think that they should be able to that someone else can catch it again or it can continue to populate the lake for the future years.” make their own choice after knowing about it.”

Kirklin said the virus won’t prevent him from going fishing, but it would certainly change the way he does it.

“Lake St. Clair has never let me down when it By Syeda Rizvi comes to fish. I generally try not keep the fish to eat,” he said. “However, this will ensure

Varsity softball team to play Lakeview High School at U-M field On Saturday, May 6 at 6 p.m., varsity softball will take on Lakeview High School at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor softball field.

This will be the second year the team has faced LHS at the university. Junior Rebecca Alway, who played last year, said she is looking forward to competing on the large field because it’s more challenging.

“It is honestly amazing. It is so different than any field I think any of us have played on. It’s so big. It’s gorgeous. It’s so nicely prepared. It’s just great,” Alway said.

Alway said the fence at U-M is further than

the one at North.

“If you hit home runs, it’s obviously more of a challenge than having just a 200-foot fence,” Alway said. “The outfielders have to cover way more ground, but you know, I think it’s a challenge, but it’s good. It gets us ready if you want to play in college.”

Softball coach Ron Smith agrees.

“It gives our players an opportunity to play on a national champion’s field and experience the feeling of that setting,” Smith said via email.

According to Smith, his athletes were invited

by LHS last year. Admission is free.

Although the stadium seats more fans than a high school field, sophomore Kayla Kettler said there wasn’t a large supporter turnout last year because they played on prom night. She added that she’d like to have more spectators come this year.

“We had a pretty good showing last year, and hopefully this year will be bigger because more people will know about it,” Kettler said. “We’ve had more time to know about it, and it’s not on prom night like it was last year.”

Because this game exposes Alway to a collegiate field, she said the experience prepares

her for an athletic career in college. Smith and Alway said the team has a chance at winning this year.

“I think any game really is, you know, pushing yourself to be better as a player, but the setup of the field is definitely something I’m going to have to get used to if I want to play in college,” Alway said. “The last time we played Lakeview, we had bit of a bad inning, and I think we definitely have a chance.”

By Michal Ruprecht

ALL PHOTOS PROVIDED BY REBECCA ALWAY

GOOD GAME | Players high five after last year's game.

REBECCA ALWAY

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is looking for EXPERIENCED PHOTOGRAPHERS and GRAPHIC DESIGNERS. See Mrs. Adwers in B-302 to learn about joining our team.

BATTER UP| North plays against Lakeview last season at the University of Michigan's field.

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4 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - North Pointe

IN-DEPTH

Students try new food, lifestyles for health

By Amber Braker, Zoe Graves & Lyndsay Kluge ASSISTANT EDITORS & STAFF REPORTER

By the end of 2018, the massive amounts of candy at the front of some local drug stores will have decreased drastically. CVS Pharmacy has decided to abandon the candy counter in favor of more healthier food options. The company is rolling out a plan that will significantly reduce the counter space it devotes to junk food, like chips and soda, to make room for health foods, vitamins and supplements and cosmetics.

This plan takes advantage of a new trend toward healthy eating. According to Forbes, concerns about foods’ health benefits have increased over the past few years. In fact, 88 percent of consumers are willing to pay more for healthy foods. Lifeskills teacher Julie Cutler feels that this trend is a positive change and that CVS is smart to take advantage of it.

“I think it’s great. I think it’s a good marketing tool for them as well to get people into their stores who are into those trends, like ‘I’m trying to eat healthier, let’s go in and see what CVS has to offer.’ So I think if more stores did that and took away those not as good options, I think it could help,” Cutler said. “We’re so in tune with the marketing around us and if stores are more willing to offer healthy foods, I think it can only have a positive effect on our culture.”

It’s not just stores offering more healthy options. Certain healthy foods like kale, avocados and quinoa have become increasingly popular as many turn toward a more healthy diet. Some are even choosing to take on lifestyle diets, such as vegetarianism and veganism, that they believe will not only improve their personal health but also benefit the environment.

Junior Brandon Babcock is a vegan and found it relatively

simple to change his diet.

“It’s easy to eat in 2017 with all of the different alternatives that they have. In restaurants you can get vegan food and Kroger has so many different options,” Babcock said. “So all the stuff that I used to eat I can find a different alternative for so it’s pretty easy to steer clear of my old foods.”

Junior Sophie Kehrig said that the increase in the popularity of healthy eating help make society more physically fit. She says that a well balanced diet is important to her because she thinks that it will help her live longer and feel better.

“I feel like all that stuff and the culture of eating that way is what has promoted an epidemic of obesity,” Kehrig said, “It would be a lot better for people in our country if it was that way where (healthy food) was promoted and advertised to them.”

Diets and health terms Gluten free

GMOs

Gluten is a protein found in grains and grainlike plants including rice and corn, making it something people eat almost every day.

Gluten is not an essential part of a balanced diet. But by trying to avoid foods containing it, people may lack necessary nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and fiber.

One reason some people choose to exclude gluten from their diet is that they have Celiac Disease. For people with this disease, eating gluten can cause symptoms of bloating, nausea and other stomach issues. It can also eventually lead to permanent damage to the small intestine.

Sophomore Maddie Mills’s mom has Celiac Disease. So, a few years ago she decided to adopt a gluten-free lifestyle.

Initially it was to support her mom, but when Mills began consuming gluten again, she felt its adverse effects.

“I stopped eating it a couple of summers ago. I just did it over the summer. Then I started eating it again and I started getting really bad headaches and stomach aches,” Mills said. “So, my mom was like ‘you’re not going to eat it anymore.’ So it’s kind of by choice, kind of allergies. It’s a little bit of both I guess.”

Mills said that from time to time she’ll eat gluten versions of foods such as pasta or cookies, but doesn’t eat them as often because they aren’t as healthy.

Contrary to popular belief, gluten-free foods can actually be more unhealthy than foods that contain it. When removing gluten from a food, more sugar is added, causing the foods to have more calories.

Vegetarian Meat is a staple in the average person’s diet, and has been for thousands of years. Vegetarianism is one of the many diets that avoid eating meat altogether.

Junior Lee Daniel has been a vegetarian for almost eleven and a half years, and doesn’t plan on going back to eating meat anytime soon.

“When I was five, I was talking to my mom one night after dinner and I was like ... ‘Mom, I feel bad for the animals I don’t want to eat meat anymore,’” Daniel said. “And she had been thinking of going vegetarian anyway so she did it with me and I just kind of stuck with it.”

Vegetarian diets run some of the same risks a gluten freediet does. It can lead to nutrient and iron deficiencies, among other things. Foods like legumes, nuts, dairy products and meat substitutes are necessary for vegetarians to maintain a healthy diet.

But as long as they make sure to supplement the nutrients that meat generally provides for a well balanced diet, vegetarianism can have health benefits. For instance, a diet high in fruits, grains and vegetables and low in saturated fats can reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and other chronic illnesses.

“Once you figure out, I guess just like substitutes for meat and different meals, it’s really easy,” Daniel said. “(It’s) a lot healthier and better for the environment to be vegetarian.”

Vegan Veganism is a diet in which vegans refrain from consuming animal products including meat, dairy, eggs and other animal substances.

Junior Brandon Babcock has been a vegan for a little over a year. His sister became a vegan two years before him which sparked his interest in the diet.

“I was researching stuff on the internet about the different types of diets. A vegan video came up and then I just started watching all of these videos on it,” Babcock said. “Just seeing all of the videos of the animals being harmed in the factories for meat and dairy-I couldn’t eat it anymore.”

According to Babcock, there is a variety of food alternatives to substitute for meat and dairy. A few of the alternatives Babcock eats include vegan chicken tenders, burgers, and cheeses.

After his switch to veganism, Babcock said he has had more energy than before, and began to feel better as he began eating more nutritional food choices.

“Before I went vegan I just felt like eating healthy was never really on my mind,” Babcock said. “Now I just feel like I’m making a conscious effort to eat healthy and it is affecting the planet in a positive way. It’s all around such a good diet.”

AMBER BRAKER & ZOE GRAVES

In recent years, genetically modified organisms have become one of the most controversial terms in the food world. Stores such as Whole Foods have even began removing foods containing GMOs from their shelves.

Junior Sophie Kehrig said that the negative way people view GMOs comes from the fact that people aren’t properly educated about them and understand what they do.

“I think they can be used in a really great way,” Kehrig said. “(There’s) a lot of fear-mongering and people don’t necessarily read the right sources. So instead of a website that might be a little more intimidating or a little bit more challenging, it’s easier to just look at a blog or something like that and sources that aren’t as reliable.”

Lifeskills teacher Julie Cutler has a similar mindset in the way that she feels more people need to educate themselves about GMOs before fprmulating an opinion.

“This is a controversial topic, and I’ve heard both sides where some people will argue that GMOs are really good because they’re helping people grow higher quantities of food.

But then others will argue that it’s taking away that natural, earth way it’s supposed to be done, it’s like messing with mother nature,” Cutler said. “I know where I stand, I’m not going to say, but again I think if somebody’s interested in it they need to research it and figure out if they think GMOs are in fact bad or if they aren’t bad, but it’s a personal thing.”

Foods that are labeled as “natural” have the same connotation issue as GMOs, but in the opposite way.

The Food and Drug Association doesn’t have a lot of requirements for what types of foods can be labeled as natural, so many foods that aren’t necessarily healthy have used the label because it is associated with being healthy.

“Natural is a rather subjective term, so it’s really hard to put a set guideline on it, and because it’s so subjective it’s something people like to use as this hot-button word to make people think it’s healthy even though it’s not,” Kehrig said. “So it’s less about the FDA regulating what is set as natural and what it’s said that isn’t, and instead people just educating themselves that that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good.”

In the same way, organic and natural have almost become interchangeable, even though they are completely different. The FDA has a lot more guidelines and requirements pertaining to what can be labeled as organic than it does for what is labeled as natural.

Organic foods, for example, are one of the best ways to be able to tell if a food is genetically modified or not since organic foods prohibit the use of GMOs. Cutler thinks that if someone is interested in healthy eating, they need to really take the time to educate themselves about what labels like organic and natural mean.

“There’s different levels of all natural and organic, and I’m not an expert on knowing exactly what those are,” Cutler said. “So I think if that’s something someone is interested in they need to look at those labels and see what they actually mean, because each label can mean something slightly different.”

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IN-DEPTH

North Pointe – Wednesday, May 3, 2017 – 5

LYNDSAY KLUGE

Healthy alternatives: Q & A with Lifeskills teacher Julie Cutler North Pointe: Why is it important to eat healthy?

Julie Cutler: I believe if you eat healthy, you’re physically going to feel better. You’re going to have more energy, you’re going to be able to think better.

So it’s really important for your body to get those proper nutrients.

NP: What are some common problems that people face when trying to eat healthier?

JC: I think in our society, food that’s not as healthy for you is so easy to find ... it’s just always right there. So I think that’s the biggest struggle is putting the effort into finding and preparing healthy foods, instead of doing those fast, easy, not as healthy foods that are so easily ready.

NP: What are some things people can do to avoid cravings?

JC: I don’t really know a whole lot about avoiding cravings, I think if you do want to start eating healthy though, the main thing is you need to put in the time to prep your food, prep those healthy foods. Or be willing to pay a little more to have somebody prep them for you. Because the healthier the foods, you have to take time to prep them yourself.

NP: What types of food should people try to avoid?

JC: I think sugar is probably ... the worst thing you can eat, and it’s snuck into a lot of foods. It’s added to a lot of things you wouldn’t even think it’d be added to, like pasta sauce or something. For me, personally, I try to avoid sugar, I think it’s the worst culprit.

NP: What are some healthier alternatives people can eat when looking for a snack?

JC: My go-to thing is nuts, like a handful of nuts, dried fruit, because they fill you up. They have good protein. Fruit in general is kind of my go-to snack and also baked snacks instead of your greasy chips and stuff.

NP: What foods should people eat more of?

JC: I think fruits and vegetables, raw fruits and vegetables, are the best things I would say for you. Whole grains, I try and do quinoa and brown rice and stuff like that. Just try and venture out and eat natural foods, not things that come in a bag and are already made for you.

NP: Are diets like veganism and vegetarianism necessarily more healthy than a normal diet?

JC: Again, I think it’s a personal thing. You need to look at your family history and see if anything runs in your family, like high cholesterol or heart disease and stuff like that, and you might want to avoid certain (foods). I know some people personally who try and avoid meat altogether because they believe it leads to certain types of cancers, high blood pressure and higher cholesterol levels. So again, you have to look at what is important to you and your health and your family history and figure out what diet is best for you. But if someone wants to try a vegetarian diet, I think it’s great.

NP: Do you think that healthy eating has become more popular or almost a trend in recent years?

JC: Yeah, I would think so. I think it’s kind of a millennial thing.

People are looking into GMOs and maybe doing vegan and vegetarian diets, so it is sort of trendy. But I think it’s good because obesity rates have gone up so high and quickly over the last thirty years.

AMBER BRAKER & LYNDSAY KLUGE

REVIEWS

6 – Wednesday, May 3, 2017 – North Pointe

Bored in China:

Animals take backseat in over-narrated documentary

By Abbey Cadieux EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Imagine taking a trip across picturesque, untouched China. From one extreme to the other, the highest frozen peaks of the Sichuan mountains to the barren Qinghai plateau, China’s terrain has so much more to offer than one may think. In Disneynature’s new movie, “Born in China,” native animal families are captured surviving in the captivating natural habitat.

“Born in China” switches between three storylines in three different geographical areas. The stories follow animals that are native to the area and are living out their genuine daily struggles.

Among these are a mother panda who cares for her newborn cub in a lush bamboo forest, a golden monkey that feels isolated from his family and turns to a pack of other outcasts and a snow leopard who works tirelessly to feed her two newborns.

Narrated by actor John Krasinski (“The Office”), the documentary relies heavily on additional commentary. While the goal is to bring nature back to the silver screen in a powerful way, Disneynature keeps in mind its younger audience’s short attention span.

Krasinski talks nearly every second of the film, le av i ng little time f o r the

“Born in China” (2017) Directed by Lu Chuan Rating: G

audience to truly take in the beauty of the landscapes presented. Unlike other Disneynature films like the popular “(Planet) Earth” and “African Cats,” the narration in “Born in China” is overbearing. While Krasinski has a nice voice, every now and then one may want the opportunity to just take in the scenery.

Without a doubt, the cinematography in the film is superior to any other Disneynature specialty film.

The actual act of obtaining the footage in the high altitudes of the Sichuan and Qinghai is impressive in itself. Being very centered on the animal storylines, viewers miss out on objectively viewing the landscape itself. One can gain a look at the vast rainforests that grace the country, but only in limited amounts.

Disneynature puts its own special twist on every film, making sure that the younger audience they bring will still have some laughs. The excessive narration warranted many opportunities for goofy one-liners from Krasinski, admittedly making the viewing experience more enjoyable. But following around playful monkeys will almost always guarantee some laughs, regardless of what they’re doing.

However, it is hard to not get bored of the storylines. The three animals are supposedly the stars, with extras like the straggly antelope and redcrowned cranes.

Some may find meaning in the trials and tribulations of the critters, but the plot shows no real noteworthy action. The specific storylines of the panda and snow leopard are very similar in their theme: struggling mothers have their maternal senses on overdrive and take care of their curious new babies. Visually, it’s always beautiful to see the bond between mother and cub. In every other aspect, it’s pretty overdone and is a very pedestrian concept.

The visuals are breathtaking, yes, but the content is not.

Perhaps the documentary only serves to entertain the true beauty and highlight the relatability of the animal kingdom, but that is about it.

The film is well done, but for the most part fails to stand out against any other nature documentary.

If one is specifically interested in the landscape of China or appreciates a decent nature documentary, the movie is a worthwhile watch. Otherwise, it really is not—except for the maybe the footage of the adorable baby panda.

DISNEY

GAME

ALBUM

APP

BOOK

LIBRA

THE SEARCH FOR EVERYTHING

BLUK

MADAME PRESIDENT

Libra is a retro style horror game.

After the player takes refuge from the night rain in a dark mansion, they soon find they are not alone.

It’s a classic ITCH.IO point-and-click adventure game that uses this cliched premise as a convenient contrivance for terrifying antics to commence. The user moves by clicking arrows on the screen. The meat of the game involves picking up and examining objects strewn about the room. The player uses these objects to solve puzzles and uncover the mystery hiding within the ominous estate.

The controls are clunky and cumbersome, exactly the way it’s supposed to be. This gives the player a sense of disconnection and lack of control that is vital in achieving the sense of helplessness needed for a genuine horror experience.

Libra’s aesthetic evokes art styles reminiscent of vintage 1990s adventure games with pixelbased graphics. It looks more like someone drew on a black background with a lavender pen in Microsoft paint than a legitimate art style.

But, that is not a bad thing. The dark, spartan tones help to provide the sense of hollow seclusion, like even the image itself doesn’t want to be there. The player can’t make out things with detail. Scenery consists of skeletal purple outlines vaguely resembling doorways, chairs, statues, paintings and all other landmarks normally found in a haunted mansion.

Coupled with these visuals is an equally eerie sound design. The game is devoid of sound, save for when the player interacts with objects and startling audible cues accompanied by the pixelated face of a monster, signaling that death is nye. The soundtrack is simple but gorgeously haunting with ambient 16-bit hums adding to an ominous atmosphere of dread and discomfort.

As a whole, Libra is a refreshingly vintage take on a genre that has lacked in the art of subtlety lately. The antiquated style gives a feeling of nostalgia not attained with contemporary titles. It is a great choice for anyone wanting some foreboding atmosphere with their adventure game.

Singer-songwriter John Mayer has made a name for himself with his intricate mix of acoustic sounds and contemporary rock.

He boasts almost 10 million monthly COMPLEX listeners on Spotify, and fans of Mayer have been anxiously awaiting new music since he released “Paradise Valley” in 2013.

Now, after almost four years of little to no new music, Mayer has released his seventh studio album, “The Search for Everything.”

Although some of his fans loved the album, it left others disappointed. Like many of his other albums, “The Search for Everything” featured a wide range of different sounds, from the acoustic vibe and contemporary rock Mayer is known for, to hints of jazz, folk and funk.

That being said, it wasn’t anything special. After waiting three and a half years for new music, fans were expecting something more. Yes, it filled the void the lack of music had created, but it was more of the same Mayer has been making for over a decade.

He’s been known to experiment with his albums, and his personal sound has evolved since his first release in 2001.

But many tracks on “The Search for Everything” incorporate his all-toofamiliar smooth guitar solos, giving it a repetitive feel.

The only track that stands out is the leading song “Still Feel Like Your Man,” and even that got old after two or three listens. It has funkier feel than the rest of the album and probably has the fastest tempo as well, but Mayer repeats the main phrase of the chorus, “Still Feel Like Your Man” 21 times throughout the four-minute single, not including the times he only sings fragments of it, such as “I still feel.”

Overall, Mayer’s new album was a let down. From the large variety of styles to how repetitive many of the songs sounded, it leaves fans expecting something more.

BLUK is a fun little casual game with a couple more problems than it lets on at first glance.

The music is constant throughout the game: an eerily haunting piano tune YOUTUBE.COM with a strange, metronomic or railway-like ticking in the back.

It would have been better to see that change as the game advances, especially considering the dramatic change in ambiance among all the stages. However, the music admittedly does fit well and makes the game feel a lot more desolate than without the it.

BLUK’s gameplay itself is actually very fun. It’s a physics-based platformer with only one goal—to get to the end of the stage by jumping across all of the columns.

Here’s where the game encounters its first hiccup. Throughout the stage, players encounter coins suspended in the areas between columns, which they must leap to collect.

The only use for those coins is to save checkpoints at new stages so players won’t have to go back to the start of the game every time they play. It seems that there is no other way to spend coins, but perhaps that will change in the future.

As players advance, they find themselves picking up runes, a very clever way to give them new abilities to help them as they get to more difficult stages. But one of the runes, specifically the leap rune, is a lot harder to use than it sounds.

The idea is that players can use it if they find their trajectory off-course in midair, sort of like a double-jump. But most of the time, players will realize their jump was off right before they miss the column, which is where the leap rune is supposed to come into use, but it doesn’t Most of the time when it is activated, players will still end up missing the column.

Perhaps it’s a matter of skill, but it’s still infuriating when no matter what they do, players are fated to fall.

Despite its issues, BLUK is still a fun, challenging game that should get even better as it is constantly updated.

“The Search for Everything” John Mayer, 2017, Available for $11.99 on iTunes

BLUK, Pixel Ape, September 1, 2016, Android and Apple, Free and $1.99

“Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,” Helene Cooper, 290 pages, 2017, Available for $27.00

By Zoe Graves

By Tarun Sanikommu

By Amber Braker

Libra; Ebriosus Beati; Windows; April 12, 2017

By Giuseppe Parison

Helene Cooper’s “Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf” chronicles the journey of the first female ever elected president in Africa.

It follows Sirleaf from predictions of greatness when she GOODREADS.COM was an infant through her abusive marriage and stellar career in global economics, to her fight, with the help of the women of Liberia, to acquire and maintain the presidency after a civil war that left the country ravaged and hurting.

While Cooper presents Sirleaf as a positive influence on Liberia, she does not portray her as faultless. She considers both the positive and negative aspects of Sirleaf’s time in office with equal attention. This adds to the credibility of the book as a relatively unbiased and informative take on the events surrounding her presidency.

Though the story centers around Sirleaf’s life, Cooper also tells the story of Liberia’s struggle through government corruption and war that can be traced back to the social caste system set up by the nation’s founders. Ironically, freed American slaves imposed the same second-class status they were fleeing from on the native people who lived in the new colony.

Rather than causing confusion, as it certainly could have, this dual focus adds even more depth. It helps a reader unfamiliar with West African history navigate the high and low points of the story.

With a familiar and knowledgeable voice, Cooper tells this inspiring tale in such great detail that it’s like witnessing the events in person. The events to feel personal to the reader, as it is personal to her as a dual citizen of both Liberia and the U.S. Alongside her meticulous retelling of the country’s history, Cooper gives graphic accounts of massacres and other acts of brutality committed by soldiers in its 14-year civil war and the violent coups that led to it. While these images are important to bear witness to the suffering of the Liberian people, and to understand why the women of the country were willing to go to great lengths to elect a female president to hopefully prevent more carnage, some readers may find this upsetting.

“Madame President” is a harrowing and informative account of both Liberia’s struggle through war and Sirleaf’s personal journey to becoming one of the most widely renowned statespeople in West Africa.

IDEAS

1

North Pointe – Wednesday, May 3 2017 – 7

ON POINTE

Movie

KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD

Top 10 things we're talking about this week

2

Charlie Hunnam stars as Arthur, who grows up on the streets after his uncle Vortigern (Jude Law) takes over the throne from Arthur’s murdered father.

However, when Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, he realizes he has to chase his birthright.

Opens Friday, May 12.

By Billy Moin SENIOR ASSISTANT EDITOR

Sports

DETROIT TIGERS

The Detroit Tigers will take on the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers, in a six-game home stand Tuesday, May 16 to Sunday, May 21. Games times vary, so check m.tigers.mlb.com/schedule/ for details.

WWW.DETROIT.TIGERS.MLB.COM

WWW.FREEFORM.COM

3

4

Event

Television

TESTING

WWW.UHEF.ORG

5

Advanced Placement testing started Monday, May 1 and runs through Friday, May 12. Lastminute schedule checks can be done on the school website.

Logic’s third album releases Friday, May 5. The album will include title track “Everybody” and “AfricAryan.” The album features 12 people, including Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Album

EVERYBODY

AMERICAN GODS

AMERICAN GODS

Neil Gaiman’s award-winning novel, “American Gods” is about a war between the old gods, from myths and legends, and their contemporary counterparts: media, the internet, television and the stock market. As the groups struggle for power, human ex-con Shadow Moon gets caught in the middle. Premiered on Starz Sunday, April 30.

6

In the final stop of his Kloser 2 U tour, rapper Lil Wayne will put on a show at the Fox Theater Thursday, May 11 at 8 p.m. Prices range from $47 to $314.

Concert

LIL WAYNE

LOGIC WWW.FLICKR.COM

7

Game

THE SURGE

8

From Deck13 Interactive comes “The Surge,” a single-player action game set in a dystopian future. The player wakes up in an industrial complex and has to battle enemies on their way to discovering the truth about the mysterious CREO. Release Tuesday, May 16 and costs about $60.

Movie

ALIEN: COVENANT

In the sixth installment of the sci-fi thriller series, the crew of the Covenant stumbles upon a seemingly perfect planet. However, they soon discover something sinister was lying in wait of their arrival. Premieres Friday, May 19.

WWW.TWITTER.COM

WWW.ZITOMEDIA.COM

9

10

WWW.TWITTER.COM

TV Show

Show

CYRANO The Michigan Opera Theater will perform “Cyrano,” an opera about a swashbuckling poet whose looks cripple his efforts to find love, at the Detroit Opera House. Four shows are scheduled between Saturday, May 13 and Sunday, May 21. Tickets range from $29 to $152.

MASTER OF NONE The second season of Aziz Ansari’s Netflix series’ second releases Tuesday, May 15. Season two picks up with Dev (Ansari) in Italy, where he is learning to make pasta before heading back home to New York City to face more family, social and career challenges.

Don't pull the trigger MY TURN TREVOR MIECZKOWSKI On April 20, 1999, Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their classmates before committing suicide. 15 dead.

On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho opened fire on his campus before killing himself. 33 dead.

On Dec. 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot his mother, then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary and opened fire on both students and teachers. 28 dead.

On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen shot up

Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. 49 dead Two weeks ago, on April 16, Steven Stephens killed Robert Godwin, 74, streaming the whole shooting live on Facebook.

Those are just a few examples of the many mass shootings and deaths caused by guns that could have been prevented.

We need better gun control.

Right now in America, only 13 states require a background check to be performed on all gun purchases, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. So in 37 states, people with mental illnesses who shouldn’t own guns can walk into a gun shop and buy a weapon without a background check.

After the San Bernardino terrorist attack in California, Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan stated, "People with mental illness are getting guns and committing these mass shootings." If he knows that people with mental illness having guns is a bad idea, why has he continued to push legislation that

WWW.WRTI.ORG

increases the availability of guns for everyone, including those with mental illnesses I was in seventh grade when my mother told me about the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. I remember it specifically because it was Dec. 14—her birthday. That is when my passion for journalism began I started watching the news every night, listening to politicians talk about how they were going to fix our gun control, and I got excited that they were going to take action But, months passed with minimal action, and I started to wonder if a room full of first graders couldn’t change Congress’s mind, what would.

It has now been over four years since Sandy Hook. Nothing has been done on the federal level, other than two senators proposing bills that would restrict access to assault rifles and limit the size of ammunition magazines, but neither got enough votes I applaud the seven states who have taken

action by banning assault rifles, limiting the size of ammunition magazines and restricting access of guns for those with mental illness. In those states, it is working.

In Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook shooting took place, they passed strict gun control laws. The state saw its lowest number of incidents since 1967.

If our government would take action, maybe we wouldn’t have to worry about who is next. Maybe the classroom full of first graders would still be alive. Maybe the 49 people killed at Pulse Nightclub would still be alive. Maybe Robert Godwin would have survived his walk home from celebrating Easter with his family.

Until action is taken, these atrocities will continue to occur.

We must learn from the tragedies.

EDITORIAL

NORTH

Firing foxes

POINTE

“Grosse Pointe Public School administrators and teachers are responsible for encouraging and ensuring freedom of expression and freedom of the press for all students, regardless of whether the ideas expressed may be considered unpopular, critical, controversial, tasteless or offensive.”

BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY Abbey Cadieux EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Lindsey Ramsdell EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Caitlin Bush MANAGING EDITOR

Alex Harring MANAGING EDITOR

Anna Post EDITOR-AT-LARGE

Michal Ruprecht EDITOR-AT-LARGE

Allison Lackner BUSINESS MANAGER

Katelynn Mulder LIFE EDITOR

Katie Thomas IDEAS EDITOR

Sonny Mulpuri Amber Braker SPORTS EDITOR ASSISTANT EDITOR Our editorial represents the opinion of the North Pointe Editorial Board consisting of the editors above. Members who have a conflict of interest with an editorial topic do not partake in that meeting or vote.

OUR EDITORIAL

North Pointe – Wednesday, May 3, 2017 – 8

Between sexual allegations and the illmannered hosts of Fox News, the company is in hot water. Bill MY VIEW O’Reilly, a ERIN KALED host for the cable company since 1996, was fired because multiple women accused him of sexual assault.

Just a couple days ago, Jesse Watters made an unsavory joke towards the way Ivanka Trump held a microphone during a panel discussion in Germany. Soon after, Watters announced he was going on an abrupt vacation just like O’Reilly did before he was dismissed. Although there is not yet sign of his being laid off, the backlash of the event would lead one to believe this is the beginning of the end for Watters at Fox. Roger Ailes, founder and former chairman, resigned because of a history of sexual assault. Those charges and the fact that O’Reilly paid $13 million to women over the years has put the company under scrutiny. It’s unknown whether or not Fox News has chosen to believe or blatantly ignore the victims, but the sudden rising tensions and secrets within the business are of concern.

If Fox News hopes to stay out of the negative spotlight, they should consider hiring people they know who haven’t assaulted anybody. If the hosts desire to keep their jobs, they should try not harassing colleagues.

It’s a lesson plenty have learned—no means no, and yes means yes. There should be no sympathy for liars. Money doesn’t heal emotional trauma, especially if you’re a fa-

mous conservative host who’s constantly in the limelight.

According to AWARE, fifty-four percent of females in the workplace have been sexually harassed in some form. It’s unacceptable. Sexual innuendos aren’t funny, and money can’t make everything go away. If a person says no, it means no. It’s one thing to be harassed by a man in private, but a married man, on television, that is despicable.

The truth is bound to come out in one way or another. Jokes about women being at “that time of the month” or how they’re “PMSing” are neither funny nor appropriate. They’re insensitive and ridiculous and cast the man making them at the intellectual equivalent of a young boy.

The public is sick of the mindless comments made on air and towards women, especially powerful ones. Reasons like masculine insecurity could be a factor, but if nobody finds the joke funny, why make it?

When a host makes someone else uncomfortable, the character of the channel as a whole is tarnished. So Fox News can cover up their hosts’ unbelievable behaviors, pay off the millions of dollars in damages and hope that the rumors never get out, but the truth is, they will get out, the personalities will get fired, and the business in general will look bad. Advertisers will pull sponsorship, families will be ruined, and lawsuits will commence.

If a dog knows what no means, certainly grown men, especially those with wives and families, know as well.

JOSIE BENNET

Goodbye and good riddance As June rolls around, underclassmen will be opening letters sent to their houses about AP meetings and class requests. But, unlike years past, select students won’t be receiving invitations to the underclassman awards ceremony, which was cut this year.

The Editorial Board supports the discontinuation of the underclassman awards ceremony. While there is merit to wanting to praise student work, the invite-only awards night was exclusive and subjective. Titles like Student of the Year elevated the departments’ recipients and made them a model for their peers. And while praise is undoubtedly deserved for the select few chosen, the recognition was almost unnecessary—a resumé booster for the winner and a blow to the hard work of the other students.

These awards amplify the academic competition already naturally occurring in high school.

Doesn’t the student that manages a part-time job on top of school work deserve the same acclaim as the student who doesn’t work and studies after school? Or what about the students that sacrifice hours a week designing robots or organizing class council fundraisers.

There aren’t enough awards for every deserving student, and not every student, no matter how accomplished or intelligent, will fit an award. Awards are great for the students who fit the cookie-cutter mold of a perfect GPA with superior participation, but at the same time, diversity is not celebrated.

A ceremony limits how many people can be recognized and the number of areas students in which students can be recognized. We should celebrate accomplishments—no matter how big or small they may be—every day in the classroom, not once a year in the Performing Arts Center.

That said, an awards night has some admittedly good qualities to it, and those should not be lost. Praise is always good, especially when it’s given to those who may need extra encouragement. Recognition is important, but it doesn’t need to be limited.

A Student of the Year is one student. But a student of the month in a class or a participation award offer the same opportunities for praise, and also allow all students to feel supported and equal. This encourages individuality and day-to-day application, instead of pushing students to be like a peer.

Students should work every day to be the best versions of themselves, not someone else.

For the students who are usually invited to awards night, this change may come as a let down. Hard work doesn’t and shouldn’t go unnoticed. But at the same time, commitment and work ethic can come in different forms and in different places, and things that may not poise a student for an awards night certificate are equally as important as excelling in school. These students should find comfort in their grades, and if they are truly going above and beyond in a class, it will show in letters of recommendation.

There was no need for an underclassman awards night, especially when there is already a senior one that covers the class’s journey for all four years. Senior honors night is a tradition that’s a very exciting event for students and adults alike. It is a nice way to celebrate all students for their varying accomplishments throughout high school.

It is enough, and coupled with daily recognition from staff, should be adequate acclaim for students.

The best award a student can receive is knowledge. We go to school to learn, not to win titles. While praise is encouraging and definitely appropriate in a school environment, this should be ongoing, not like a relay race where points are tallied at the end and a winner is crowned Student of the Year.

“I play sports. I make sure I go to sleep at a reasonable time.”

“(I) work out and exercise a lot. I also eat fruits and vegetables.”

Dominic VanDoorne

Lexi Poulos

SOPHOMORE

FRESHMAN

“I try to work out as much as I can, even though I don’t get to go to the gym that often. I try to drink a lot of water, and stay away from pop.”

Lily Schmidt JUNIOR

YOUR TURN: What do you do to stay healthy?

By Dajai Chatman & Gowri Yerramalli

“I work out everyday and eat somewhat healthy.”

“Now that it’s getting warmer outside, I like to spend my free time walking in the park or gardening.

In the summer, I do a lot of sailing as a physical activity.”

“I try to eat right, and I attempt to exercise.”

Ryan Doss

Noah Zogas

Julie Pappas

SENIOR

NORTH

ORCHESTRA TEACHER

POINTE

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF: Abbey Cadieux, Lindsey Ramsdell MANAGING EDITORS: Caitlin Bush, Alex Harring EDITORS-AT-LARGE: Anna Post, Michal Ruprecht SECTION EDITORS: Katelynn Mulder, Sonny Mulpuri, Katie Thomas BUSINESS MANAGER: Allison Lackner

MATH TEACHER

every two weeks. It is in practice a designated public forum without prior review.

Comments should be directed to the student editors, who make all final content decisions. The views expressed are solely those of the authors or the student editorial board and do not reflect the opinions of the Grosse Pointe Public School System.

We are a member of the Michigan Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association, National Scholastic Press Association and Student Press Law Center. We subscribe to McClatchy-Tribune Information Services and iStockphoto.com.

One copy is available free to all community members. Additional copies may be purchased. Our editorial policy and advertising rates are available online at northpointenow. org. The North Pointe is printed on 100% STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katie Link, Alyssa recycled paper.

McLarty, Lauren Sexton, Kennedy Williams CONTACT US STAFF REPORTERS: Rory Angott, Erin 707 Vernier Road Kaled, Lyndsay Kluge, Bella Lawson, Tarun Grosse Pointe Woods MI, 48236 Phone: 313.432.3248 Sanikommu, Billy Steigelman Email: northpointe@gpschools.org Twitter: @TheNorthPointe INTERNS: Jamie Brewer, Maggie Carron, Maggie Dollar, Nadia Fama, Colin Haroutu- Website: northpointenow.org nian, Mariah Loper, Brooklyn McWhorter, FACULTY ADVISER: Shari Adwers, MJE Adam Schwartz ASSISTANT EDITORS: Elizabeth Ballinger, Amber Braker, Zoe Graves, Sofia Ketels, Syeda Rizvi

The North Pointe is edited and produced by Advanced Journalism students at Grosse Pointe North High School and is published

EDITOR'S DESK KATIE THOMAS

#Activism

Through technology, our world is more connected than it's ever been. Amidst this cyberunity, however, social issues still arise and people are turning to technology to spark a change.

In recent years, the idea of activism for the world’s injustices and wrongdoings has become associated with social media. Posts on websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram now hold the same effect that a speech from Dr. Martin Luther King had decades ago.

From the haunting #BringBackOurGirls in 2014, to the empowering #BlackLivesMatter that has created an entire movement to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain which became one of the most loathed or loved phrases during the presidential election.

Hashtags such as these have not only garnered attention from millions around the world, but have changed the definition of social movements and activism forever.

Looking back at the 60s and 70s, when some of the most defining social movements took place, activism required patience, a daring leader and a strong foundation of dedicated supporters to create a successful social movement. In 2017, all it takes is Wi-Fi and a catchy phrase to gain the attention of millions in less than 24 hours.

With the use of a single hashtag, any ordinary person can ignite a social movement, and in turn change the world.

Gaining this sort of attention for a cause can be amazing. Shedding light on injustice is the main goal of any social movement.

However, with the fast-pace and embarrassingly short attention span that the internet fosters, social media can sometimes harm a movement rather than helping it.

Resources such as Twitter and Facebook are meant to as outlets to express thoughts and give opinions. It’s only natural for people to share their views on world events and movements via social media, in fact it’s encouraged. However, it’s what happens after we leave the app or close the website that counts. It’s when we return to our daily endeavors that activism truly matters and could contribute to the causes we claim to support or be passionate about online.

Too many people jump onto the social movement bandwagon with no other reason but to say they did. Along with removing the seriousness of issues, the internet can turn social movements into a superficial trend that will soon be forgotten by the end of the week.

Unfortunately, it’s millennials who are most frequently the culprits of jumping onto the movement fad. Young people can sometimes turn to social media as their only form of expression, thinking that by tweeting about an issue, they are taking action.

While posts can truly help a movement and publicize an issue in society, social media can only do half of the work. It's up to people to go past a screen and go out to make a difference, this includes young people who may feel that the only value they add to a movement is posting a hashtag.

Not everyone wants to be an activist, and that’s okay. But those who do want to make a change need to start by looking away from the phone screen. By joining clubs or even paying a small amount to an organization, people can certainly help to make a difference. From the Women's Day protests, to Black Lives Matter protests or the March for Science protests that lined the streets on Earth Day, there is something special about a large mass of people coming together, that a 120 character tweet just cannot compete with.

Undoubtedly, social media is an extremely useful asset to have as we engage in social movements, but we need to know when to stop hiding behind the hashtags and get involved.

ON CAMPUS

North Pointe - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - 9

The Diversity Club held a peace rally and placed a peace pole in front of the Science Building during lunch on April 26

Planting peace

By Chloe Ribco STAFF REPORTER ALL ABOUT ACCEPTANCE | A group of students from the Diversity Club hold up posters promoting peace during lunch. "We want to remind students and staff members that each student is here to learn and grow and each staffer and teacher is here to get us there, but there is more to it than that," senior Shannon Gabriel, Diversity Club president, said. "This building and these fields and these people are shaping us everyday, so it is vital that we embrace each other with an open mind and compassionate heart."

WELCOME | Senior Shannon Gabriel holds a sign outside during the peace rally. "We wanted to show our club and school support for every student at North. That's why our posters said things like 'You are welcome here,'" Gabriel said. "With the turbulent climate of the country recently, we wanted to reinforce that North is a place for everybody."

SPREADING AWARENESS | Diversity Club vice president Julia Gehlert holds a sign reminding people to sign the peace pole during lunch. "For me, this is important because there still is much to be done about people from various backgrounds integrating themselves into this community," Gehlert said. "And as a community, it is important that we help that process any way we can, so even something simple like the peace pole can diminish those fears of not being accepted."

PLEDGING PEACE | Junior Fiona Byrne signs the peace pole. "The purpose of the peace pole is to give a solid base to the idea that 'hate has no home here' and the addition of students signing the pole factors into that idea," Diversity Club vice president Julia Gehlert said. The pole will be displayed in front of the Science Building.

FIVE MINUTES WITH

Speech pathologist Sarah Hunter

By Bella Lawson STAFF REPORTER

COURTESY OF WENDY SPREDERI SARAH HUNTER

TOGETHER | Special Education teacher Sarah Hunter and her fiance Reid pose for a picture in the Loire Valley in France.

Speech pathologist Sarah Hunter, who is finishing her first year here, enjoys spending time with her almost-1-year-old nephew, reading and going to the movies.

But what few know about Hunter is that she commutes from Canada every day to teach her students.

“I was born and live in Windsor currently, so I take the Investor Bridge over to work each day,” Hunter said. “This is probably my tenth year of commuting to the U.S. everyday for school or work, and it kind of just becomes a part of your morning.”

Hunter previously worked at Detroit Public Schools and commuted there from Windsor as well. She was also in Detroit for undergraduate and graduate school at Wayne State University.

She sa id she appreciates how

welcom ing the sta ff a nd envi ron ment a re in Grosse Pointe.

“I work mostly with special ed (teaching) staff, but even all of the regular ed staff that I maybe don’t work with as often...when they do see me, they’re very engaging, and I appreciate that,” Hunter said. “It’s nice while being a new person in a new place."

She said there are positives of both Detroit and Grosse Pointe schools. Hunter said she admires the open-mindedness and professionalism of the staff here.

“It has been nice because the team is very consistent here ... it’s nice that (at) North, myself and the social workers and psychologists are all in the building full time to collaborate and work together,” Hunter said. “The team here has been very accepting and the families are all open to ideas and suggestions which has been working well.”

FACES IN THE CROWD Nia Crutcher

Freshman Nia Crutcher considers herself to be a renaissance woman of the arts. She plays cello, sings for her church and has been drawing for years.

She’s been drawing and painting since before she can remember. To advance her drawing career, she submitted three pieces to be showcased at the War Memorial. She said one painting will be displayed at their art show.

“It makes me feel like I have something important,” Crutcher said. “I can’t even remember when I started (drawing).”

Besides art, singing is one of her main ways she expresses her feelings. She says that without it, she would feel lost. Crutcher has been involved in her church’s choir for years, and participates in the musical events they host.

She finds singing and drawing to be a way to escape reality and express how she feels in a creative way.

“At first they forced me into it, but then I started liking it.” Crutcher said.

“Sometimes we have concerts at my church, and musicals, and I've been in them.”

Clyde Nelson

Cartoons are a form of self-expression and future career path for freshman Clyde Nelson.

“It’s mostly just what’s inside me (that motivates me). It’s my morals and my spirit,” Nelson said. “I want to show others my morals through animation.”

Nelson has dreams to show off his comedic side while managing to convey his views on current events. He hopes to work for Disney or an another studio one day.

He said his inspiration comes from the lessons and values shown in the cartoons he watches. Nelson also said cartoons can be more realistic than reality TV, which is why he chooses to watch them, and one day create them.

“Seeing cartoons today, when they handle more serious topics in the world, you can actually respect them over things like the ‘Kardashians,’” Nelson said.

Victoria Simmons

Instead of going to the mall to pick out clothes, sophomore Victoria Simmons designs her own.

Alongside her everyday activities like homework, running track and playing volleyball, Simmons works on designing clothing for herself, and possibly for a future fashion line.

Most of what she designs is athletic and casual clothes, some of which is inspired by her aspiration to become a doctor.

“I want to be a doctor later, so (what I design is) more like athletic and casual,” she said.

Simmons said she would like to expand her clothing line with a new website, and that the work ethic and dedication required to make clothes can help her pursue her dream of becoming a doctor.

She hopes to manage a career in medical practice while still working on her dream designing clothing and sharing it with the public.

“Eventually I hope to make it into a bigger, real thing,” Simmons said.

By Maggie Dollar

FAVORITE MOVIE I just saw “Beauty and the Beast” and that is currently my favorite movie. I thought they did a really nice of keeping the storyline and a lot of the elements the same, and I thought the digital animation that they did was absolutely fantastic and it was just really enjoyable to watch.

FAVORITE THING ABOUT NORTH I think the team here, just the amount of inclusiveness. Being first year here and just coming in, everyone is extremely welcoming.

FAVORITE BOOK I just read, not too long ago, “The Light Between Oceans.” They did a movie on it recently as well.

FAVORITE VACATION I’m getting married in the summer and in August I’m going to Croatia. So I haven’t been on it yet, but that’s what I am looking forward too. We started to get an itinerary from the travel agent in Croatia working through this trip for us. I think that will become my favorite vacation. Previously, I have been to Paris and that was my favorite vacation.

LIFE

10 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - North Pointe

Q&A: How About Sunday?

Seniors Anaijah White, Sarah Kolakowski, Connie Ferguson and Bianca Jason start a band

We sat down with the senior girl band How About Sunday?, to get to know the origins of the band and find out what makes the music work. This is what they said.

NP: How did How About Sunday originate?

What’s the backstory?

Anaijah White: We were studying for midterms last year, no it was finals, and we were outside and we were all just really bored so we decided to start singing. And we were like ‘oh we sound okay, why don’t we start a band?’, jokingly. Then I think it was Bianca who said ‘why don’t we start a band, we have free time all the time, so why not?’, So we decided to do that, and we asked each other what days we would be off, be free, and we were like ‘oh how about Wednesday? No we’re busy. Then we were like, how about Sunday?’ So yeah.

Connie Ferguson: That ended up being a

really good day for us. That actually became the day that we came together as a band and we hadn’t come up with a name yet. We were still thinking; we were thinking for a month on what name we should have. We had a bunch of these other weird ideas, and then we were like ‘How about Sunday.’

NP: What was the motivation behind the band starting?

Sarah Kolakowski: I never really get to hang out with my friends much so this would be an opportunity to bond with my friends more. It would be an opportunity to bond over music at that because music keeps me going.

CF: When they first asked me if I wanted to join, it was ‘okay, can’t let my friends down. I’ve got to do something.’ Then after that it was like Sarah said, music keeps me going. I know that I don’t go a day without

HOW ABOUT SUNDAY?

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION | White and Jason play the guitar while Ferguseon plays the drums and Kolawski sings in the Grosse Pointe North library.

ALL PHOTOS FROM ANAIJAH WHITE

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT| How About Sunday practcies togther. “I think we’re supposed to be doing a friend’s graduation party soon. We have been offered stuff by friends of parents and then like bars and clubs, which is difficult,” White said. listening to music so making music with don’t have the time to go and compose the people that make me happy would be them, with school and everything even better.

BJ: We’re exploring a lot with the covers, but I think what we’re going for is kinda Np: What kind of music do you guys play? like a 5 Seconds of Summer or an All Time Low kind of feel AW: I think it originated as alternative rock and it’s slowly morphing into more indie, NP: Could you give me the names of indie-pop. everyone in the band and what instrument they play?

NP: Could you tell me what a typical rehearsal looks for you guys?

AJ: I play guitar, Bianca plays bars guitar, Connie Ferguseon plays drums and Sarah Bianca Jason: We usually get up and get Kolawoski is on the vocals. together in the morning, and we make breakfast and have time to hang out and NP: What do you think that being in a band then we just kind of, start by just playing has taught you guys? songs that we enjoy playing and then we get down to more practicing and creating AW: It’s definitely taught us lots of compromise, an original that we’re working on. because there are a lot of songs that maybe I’m SK: Personally, I look forward to even not too confident with or maybe Sarah, it’s out the nonsensical things that we’re going to of her range, so we always have to find ways be talking about. We just have fun even to work around obstacles. Other than that, when we’re not having actual conversation speaking on a cheezy level, it’s taught me to and being around each other our spirits get be a more loyal friend. After having dedicated so much time into these relationships with my lifted. friends, it teaches me that I could never ask for NP: So do you guys mostly do covers or do anything better than that. you do originals too?

AW: We do mostly covers, but we’ve By Gowri Yerramalli & Sarah Wietecha all written a couple of songs, we just Senior Assistant Ediors

Alumnus returns to GP to direct local political club

By Erin Kaled STAFF REPORTER

Alum Colton Dale has his sights set on a career in politics. After receiving his bachelors degree at Wayne State University, he is now bringing his passion back to Grosse Pointe.

Dale is currently the executive director of the Grosse Pointe Democratic Club and At-Large Officer of the Michigan Democratic Party State Central Committee.

“The Grosse Pointe Democratic Club’s main goal is to basically raise money and raise awareness for democratic candidates so the club can help those candidates win in elections,” Dale said. “ I definitely want to make a clear for myself somewhere in politics or somewhere in government.”

Members of the club vote once a year on 20 individuals who are the best representation of the club to serve on the board. As a board member, Dale’s job includes planning events, endorsing candidates and deciding what to invest the club’s funds into. Dale says he’s a part of the endorsement committee, campaign activities and is in charge of putting out the press releases.

Dale is politically active in various

political clubs at Wayne State.

“R ight now I’m apa r t of the Wayne State Un iversity Democrats, but I’m just a member r ight now. I also sta r ted a student orga n ization on ca mpus called No Labels,” Dale sa id. “I sta r ted that in my sen ior yea r of (my undergraduate), a nd I graduated shor tly a fter that so somebody else is in cha rge of that now. It was basically a political orga n ization sur rounding the idea of br inging Democrats a nd Republica ns together to get th ings done.”

He is also a member of Essentially Alternative Spring Break, and volunteers in Detroit with the group once per year. Alumna Rachel Backer, Dale’s girlfriend, is also politically involved. Backer is transferring to Wayne State, and is joining Grosse Pointe Democrats this summer.

“Once I’m more involved in the GP Dems, I would like to have it expa nd even more a nd have more younger people become involved,” Backer sa id via ema il. “I’d also like to see them have more politicia ns spea k at meetings.”

Backer said she supports Dale and tries to attend the events he supervises.

“I feel as if we make a great team, and being a part of what he’s doing I

feel encourages him,” Backer said. “I tr y to attend all the different events he goes to, for suppor t a nd because I a m interested as well in politics.”

Dale credits Grosse Pointe Democrats vice president Jack ie Kalogera kos as a mentor.

Kalogerakos, a democratic campaigner since the Joseph McCarthy campaign in 1968, has worked on every campaign since.

Kalogerakos said she strives for social justice, equal opportunities and protecting the “safety net” that’s been put in place over the past few years.

“My cu r rent focus is to let p eople k now what t hey ca n do to resist t he rad ica l cha nges t hat a re com i ng f rom t he cu r rent ad m i n ist rat ion,” K a logera kos sa id. “I let p eople k now how, a nd where to ma ke t hei r voices hea rd.”

She said she admires Dale’s persistence and attitude towards the club and government in general.

“As for Colton, his passion is obvious,” Kalogerakos said. “He is one of those people who shows up.

He is passionate about what he takes on, and gives it his all.”

MEET AND GREET | Dale poses with Sen. Dick Durbin. Dale previously worked as a campaign manager in Iowa.

FIGHT FOR RIGHTS | Dale portests with his girlfriend, alumna Rachel Backer, during a healthcare rally at Macomb Community College.

R A L LY ING F OR CH A NGE | Alum Colton Dale with girlfriend Rachel Backer at a Planned Parenthood rally. Dale is executive director of the Grosse Pointe Democratic Club and officer of the Michigan Democrat’s state central committee.

2018 | Dale and Backer sport Gretchen Whitmer for Governor stickers and pins with Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Backer and Dale have volunteered for Whitmer, who is running for Governor in 2018.

ALL PHOTOS FROM COLTON DALE

SPORTS

North Pointe – Wednesday, May 3, 2017 – 11

HEAD IN THE GAME | Junior Abby Kanakry looks on during a volleyball game. In addition to playing volleyball at North in the fall, Kanakry also plays for Michigan Elite in the spring. “I’ve always loved volleyball, it’s kind of just my passion, it’s my sport.” she said.

STUDENTS JUGGLE TWO SPORTS PER SEASON

JUMPING FOR JOY | Junior Lauren Sickmiller runs in one of this year’s track meets. During the track season, she both runs and high jumps.

MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL | Sickmiller dribbles the ball during a game.

“I think that training for both sports kid of makes me better at each one,” she said.

By Sofia Ketels

ASSISTANT EDITOR

With the start of spring, it is the beginning of everyday practices for many student athletes. However, for athletes like Abby Kanakry and Lauren Sickmiller, who play two sports in the same season, it means attending twice the practices and games.

During the spring sports season, Sickmiller is on both the girls soccer and track teams. Every school day, she brings her track gear with her to soccer and changes between her practices. Sickmiller gets home at 6 P.M. “It takes a lot of time management,” she said. “And sometimes I can be really tired after both of my practices, so it can be hard to get homework done.”

According to track coach Diane Montgomery, playing two sports is not the best fit for every student athlete. On the track team, there are only five student athletes with sports that take an equal or greater time commitment than track. Though she says she believes it overly taxes student athletes, Montgomery also said that students who are able to balance two sports and an academic life have great communication and productivity.

“Usually the students involved in more than one sport at a time are your more organized and focused,” Montgomery said via email.

“From my experiences, they have been among the top students.”

Junior Abby Kanakry plays travel volleyball in the spring, which overlaps with track for almost the whole season. In hopes of one day going to college for volleyball, Kanakry has made it her main focus.

Still, she says she made a commitment to track and does not want to disappoint.

“Sometimes I just have to figure out (if) I have anything big for volleyball coming up,” she said. “If not, track becomes first priority.”

Despite the time management and commitment that double sporting requires, Montgomery believes it is well worth it. She said that students who play two sports have the opportunities to prove themselves as all-around athletes, and that colleges tend to look for athletes involved with more than one sport. However, Montgomery also said that it will eventually force students to make very difficult choices about both practices and competitions.

“If it means I would have fewer athletes if they couldn’t double up, I’m willing to take the compromise,” she said.

For Kanakry, sometimes it can be hard to be on time to backto-back practices. She has to leave track early in order to make the 30-minute drive to Michigan Elite Volleyball Academy in Warren where she plays.

She says that while it makes neither coach happy, she has to leave

early or arrive late in order to make it to practice. Kanakry says that some days, she barely even has time to eat before she gets home, which is usually at 9 p.m.

“When I’m done with my track practice, I don’t really have time to go get food,” Kanakry said. “I’ll have to go get fast food and then go to volleyball because I’m late.”

Sickmiller finds benefits to playing two sports as well, despite how taxing it can be. According to her, training in both sports makes her stronger not only overall, but for each one individually. For example, she says the running she trains for in track is also a large part of soccer.

“I’ve always been really passionate about my athletics, and I can’t really imagine giving up one of them,” she said. “I’m really grateful that I’m able to do both of them in the spring.”

After three years of this two-sport schedule, Kanakry has grown used to it. She says that with a schedule like this, she doesn’t have a lot of time for herself, but also that it’s worth it. To her, it feels amazing when she can succeed at one of her spots. Like Sickmiller, Kanakry would never imagine giving up either.

“I love both of them, and they just happen to be at the same time,” she said. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

By Lindsey Ramsdell EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

JUMP RECORD

JUNIOR TIES HIGH

JUMPING FOR JOY | Junior Meredith Kraus clears the 5’4” hurdle at the girls track meet against Eisenhower where she tied the school record. “I was so happy for Meredith. She works really hard at high jump and she deserved to get the record,” Kraus’s teammate junior Stephanie Schaefer said.

TEAMWORK | Kraus poses with her teammates at the meet where she tied the school record.

Pistons should have been patient SONNY’S SIDE NOTE SONNY MULPURI There has been plenty hype about the newest venue coming to Detroit. The new $1.2 billion, 650,000 square foot Little Caesars Arena will be home to both the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons starting next season. This marks the first time since 1974 that all four Detroit sports team will play within the same city and the first time the Pistons have played in Detroit since 1978. However, there’s just one problem.

The Pistons made their monumental decision in November that this season would be their last season playing at the Palace of Auburn Hills after 29 years. After three championships

and countless memories made in the palace, the Pistons were ready to move on. But why? The Palace just upgraded their seats along with the addition of a state of the arc Jumbotron. In total Palace Sports and Entertainment (PSE) has spent over $100 million in renovations. Now PSE has to decide what they are going to do with the Palace.

Oakland County rejected an offer from Pistons’ owner Tom Gores to buy the Palace for $370 million believing that it could turn into Pontiac Silverdome 2.0. They had good reason to deny that offer. Much of the business that the Palace received outside of the Pistons were concerts, but with the emergence of Little Caesars Arena that extra revenue will be gone. A potential option could be to sell the 103 acre property to Fiat Chrysler for redevelopment. Since Fiat Chrysler’s North American headquarters are located in the Auburn Hills, they could repurpose it into a place or demolish that helps them boost their profits.

Still, PSE and Auburn Hills don’t deserve to go through all the hassle. Yes, the Palace was an inconvenience for fans to drive to and Little

Since the 1980s, the girls record for the high jump has been stuck at a solid 5-foot-4, and only one person in 2007 was able to hit it, sharing the record. Now, junior Meredith Kraus adds her name to the list.

Kraus was able to tie the record during a meet against Eisenhower High School on April 18, also placing her first in her event.

“I was extremely excited as soon as I cleared the bar,” Kraus said. “My friends and I all started screaming.”

Kraus began running track in seventh grade. In addition to the high jump she also competes in the 400-meter dash.

Although she would consider running track in college, her main sport is volleyball, so she focuses most of her time on training for that.

Junior Stephanie Schaefer runs track with Kraus, and is one of her close friends on the team. She was able to watch Kraus clear the bar, and celebrated with her afterwards.

“Meredith works really hard at practice and she gets along with everyone. I love being able to practice with her and to cheer her on at meets,” Schaefer said. “I knew Meredith could get the record so I wasn’t surprised. It was only a matter of time until she did.”

Although she loves bonding with her teammates, Kraus admits it’s always a challenge to push herself to run after a long day at school. But, the practice has paid off. The Eisenhower meet was her first of the season and since then, Kraus has continued to find herself on the podium. In a meet against Romeo High School on Tuesday, April 25, she placed second in the high jump with a height of 5-foot-2, and at the Sterling Heights Invitational meet on Saturday, April 29, she placed second in the high jump, third in the 400 meter dash and her four-by-four relay team finished second as well.

While Kraus’s goal is to finish in the top 15 at states, Schaefer has higher hopes.

“I think Meredith will continue to improve, and she’ll eventually beat the record because she’s really good at high jump and she works really hard,” she said. “She can officially jump over my height.”

Caesars Arena is in the heart of downtown Detroit. However, that’s what made the drive to watch the Pistons so memorable. The suspense leading up to the game, not knowing what will be the result of that day’s game, and what sort of new memories will be made. The Palace was one of the only two arenas not to have a corporate sponsor for their arena, with the other being Madison Square Garden. It’s one of only eight NBA franchises to be owned by their respective teams. The Palace paved way to the emergence of the Pistons, especially during their “Bad Boys” era in the 1980s and 1990s and the “Goin’ to Work” era in the mid 2000s.

The Pistons relocated from Pontiac Silverdome to the Palace in 1988. That’s when the franchise started to emerge as a contender for the NBA championship. Only a season after filing into the Palace did the Pistons capture their first championship and followed it up the season after with another one. They moved into a brand new arena with the reputation of a consistent winning franchise. The current day Pistons just

missed the playoffs for the seventh time in the last eight seasons. They’ve been wildly inconsistent over the past few seasons and can never seem to find the pieces that will bring them the amount of success that previous Pistons teams have had.

It made sense for the Red Wings to move to Little Caesars Arena because Joe Louis Arena was getting outdated and their owner is the head honcho of the new project.

But for the Pistons, the Palace was just renovated and has only been used for 29 seasons. They hadn’t even left a lasting impact on the Palace before they departed. The Pistons made a rash decision to move to Little Caesars Arena. Once they start having successful seasons consistently, that’s when they should’ve made the move to Detroit. If they send their fans home next year with disappointing losses and lackluster outings, the Pistons will suck the vivacity that the Little Caesars Arena will bring to Detroit.

SPORTS

12 – Wednesday, May 3, 2017 – North Pointe

Students take administrative role in community sports

By Sonny Mulpuri and Billy Steigleman EDITOR AND STAFF REPORTER

GO FOR GOLD| Senior Justin Rheaume poses with his team of 5th and 6th graders at Our Lady Star of the Sea.

BATTER UP | Senior Nate Campbell looks on as a player prepares to bat. “I get to be around a game I really like and care about,” he said.

While some students take the field and court for the Norseman, others choose to participate in sports management.

Senior Justin Rheaume spent time coaching basketball to fifth and sixth graders at Our Lady Star of the Sea this winter. He noticed a big difference when coaching compared to playing.

“Coaching gives you a completely different outlook because your job is not to win especially at that age level,” Rheaume said. “Your job is to teach the fundamentals and help them become better players and prepare them for their future in the game.”

Rheaume enjoyed seeing the kids grow their game and be able to accomplish goals.

Another important part of games are the people who have to make the decisions on the f ly.

Senior Nate Campbell has been umpiring Little League baseball games since his freshman year. Campbell’s favorite part of the job is getting to spend time outdoors.

“I get to be around a game I really like and care about,” Campbell said. “Some of the best parts are you’re outside having fun, just being outside doing something instead of being inside and doing nothing.”

Junior Shane Gafa and his father Ken umpire baseball games Little League. Ken started four seasons ago after coaching baseball for 12 years. He’s been able to use his years of coaching to see things in the game others wouldn’t.

“When you’re coaching, you fix the mistakes and tell the kids how to play the game, but in umpiring you are just judging it based on what they are doing in that place and time,” Ken said. “You see if that kid gets the tag down while when you’re coaching you teach them how to get the tag down. When umpiring you really get to see how good those coaches are at teaching that stuff and how good their kids are at naturally adjusting and getting through the game.”

Throughout his four years umpiring Ken has seen a lot but still says his favorite moments are seeing the players joy when doing something unexpected while growing at the same time.

“There’s always that ‘Little League moment,’” Ken said. “Where someone does something that is completely unexpected and wonderful and nobody saw it coming and you just get that Little League moment. You get to see players develop and see the grow into their bodies and positions.”

When Shane learned that the league needed umpires for the younger players and he became eligible to start umping, he submitted his application and hoped to gain another perspective of the game. After recently umping his first game, Shane learned that there are plenty of things said off the field.

“Some of the positives are when people come up to you and tell you that you did a good job. Negatives are when you blow a call or when you have to tell a kid something they don’t want, like when they strike out and they give you that look,” Shane said. “(Umpiring has) made me a lot more sympathetic for refs just because you have to aware of everything all the time.”

Whether students are coaching or umpirng, Rheaume said they gain a different perspective of the game.

Sometimes, they can apply what they learn to their games as players and as a result build a greater love for the game.

Not only did Rheaume create memories for his players, but he gained the experiences of coaching and made his own memories.

“I really do hope that I get the chance to coach in the future because it was one of the most enjoyable experiences in high school,” he said. “Actually winning two of our three tournaments made it an unforgettable experience I look forward to doing in the future.”

The luck of the Irish

Sophomore heads to Dublin for Dancing World Championship the different areas of her dance that she needs to work on more, in order to help train her mind and body,” McParland-May said. “Last, but not least, I also try For two consecutive years, sophomore Michaela to find ways to help her prepare mentally, especially Cosgrove has qualified for and placed at the World when we are preparing up for a major competition.

Irish Dancing Championships.

It is very important for all athletes to remember that Cosgrove has been dancing since she was 4 and placed mental preparation and focus is just as important as at her first competition at age 10. She attended her first the physical training.” world championship in Glasgow, Scotland in 2015.

Michaela also takes private lessons to better prepare “This year I came in with a harder drive knowing for her competitions. what my goal was knowing what I wanted to do and “The past couple years are definitely where I’ve had that was to be in the top 50 out of almost 200 dancers a big amount of lessons just because there’s so much this year,” Cosgrove said. “That’s what I came in to work on and nothing is ever perfect—there’s always wanting to do, and I achieved that.” something you can fix,” Cosgrove said. “It’s really The competition does not always take place good to have because they can see your progress and overseas. However, the 2016 competition was held in you can ask them questions, as to where in a big class Europe once again. Cosgrove and her family got to visit sometimes it’s just so many people so you wouldn’t Dublin, Ireland for the most recent championships. get as much attention as a private lesson. Especially “Last year when we were in Scotland we asked her for major (competitions), leading up to those they if she wanted to take a trip to go definitely are very beneficial.” over to Dublin for a little bit and During her performances, judges she said ‘No, I don’t want to go don’t solely critique the technique. until I qualify to be there.’ So According to Michaela, the judges at that made it even more exciting the world championships have a more for her this year that she set her holistic approach. own terms about going on this “It’s really subjective on what they trip,” Michaela’s mom, Katie like and also they look at your face a Cosgrove, said. lot to see if you’re drawing them into Michaela’s first exposure to your performance,” Michaela said.

Irish dance was a Riverdance “Since this is such a big competition, performance in Florida. A few it’s basically like a huge performance, months later, Michaela and her so you need to just lay it all on the stage mother attended a fundraiser at Michaela Cosgrove and you can’t hold yourself back and Assumption Greek Orthodox JUNIOR they need to see that you have attack Church for Michaela’s current and will and desire and that you are the dance studio. whole package. When I was dancing, I Katie said her daughter was drawn to Irish dance was in front of one of the seven judges and they were because she loved to perform and because it was so just looking at my face the whole time.” different from other types of dance.

Katie was proud of her daughter for achieving “I thought it would be something I just did for fun her goal and had faith in her while watching her and it would kinda be like something just for me to do, performance. an extracurricular thing,” Michaela said. “But now all “She was very confident in her dancing that day,” of my events are planned around it. It’s such a big part Katie said. “I knew it was important that she danced of my life. I’m so happy I’ve stayed with it for so long.” her best no matter what and she felt like she did. She Michaela dances at Ardán Academy. She practices on looked really strong up on stage and she was just Mondays and Wednesdays every week. To prepare for beaming the whole time she was up there. I know we the world championships, she added Friday practices couldn’t ask for anything more out of her.” to her schedule every Friday. Now, she is preparing What began as an extracurricular activity for fun for nationals and practices are on Saturdays for that has shaped Michaela’s life, and she is happy that she competition. Each practice lasts two to three hours. continues to pursue her passion.

According to Megan McParland-May, one of Michela’s “I just love connecting with the other competitors teacher, practice isn’t just preparing physically. and dancers because we all have this in common “We do a lot of cross training and different exercises and it’s just nice that we can all support each other,” to improve strength and conditioning. I also review Michaela said. “Irish dance is so unique. It’s just so all of her dances and give her a breakdown of what different from any other sport.” pieces need more attention and work, as well as how to make improvements. We then do drills related to

By Mora Downs

SENIOR ASSISTANT EDITOR

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EYES ON THE PRIZE | Sophomore Michaela Cosgrove displays the medal she recieved at the World Irish Dancing Championships. This year, the competition is in Dublin, Ireland.

Irish dance is so unique.

It’s just so different from any other sport.

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MICHAELA COSGROVE

DANCING THROUGH LIFE| Sophomore Michaela poses in her costume before the competition. “(I’ve been dancing) since I was 4-and-a-half and I’m 16 now . So, we did not know that it would be such a big part of my life.” she said.