North Pointe Extra Nov. 21 2013

NORTH

GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL

brigitte smith

SINCE 1968

POINTE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013

Thousands of Norsemen have walked through these doors, just like you, and accomplished amazing things. six norsemen are being honored as the second class of distinguished alumni on friday, nov. 22, 2013.

They took what North had to offer and made their mark. How will you leave yours?

2 – Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 – North Pointe

ALUMNI

The recipients of Grosse Pointe North’s Distinguished Alumni Award have taken different paths to success. It takes courage and commitment to pursue one’s dreams, and the

Norsemen being honored as the second class of Distinguished Alumni possess these attributes.

Courage and determination have lead our alumni down different roads, and we’ve honored a range of successful Norsemen from former major baseball player William Babcock to Broadway star Sandra Joseph. This year’s honorees have continued North’s legacy in a wide variety of fields – from geology to film animation and special effects. All of North’s Distinguished Alumni, past and present, took what North had to offer and made the most of it. A member of the committee in charge of choosing the alumni, Judi Preston, said, “We thought it would be nice if the community and the students, in particular, would be able to say, ‘Gee, these are some people that walked our halls. These are some people who went through the same things we did, did the same things we did, and when they left high school, look what they went on to do.’” These honored alumni are meant to serve as an example and inspiration for Grosse Pointe North’s student body and the community at large. They demonstrate the result of hard work and dedication and show that any one of us possess the potential to animate the next Dreamworks film or coach the next state championship basketball team.

This is what we do here.

MOGK

3 – Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 – North Pointe

David Mogk lets his earthy interests and research lead his career path

By Audrey Kam & Gowri Yerramalli

very involved in science education.

That is the second part of my career.”

Mogk has received many awards “Dull as a rock” has never described for his contributions. The most presgeologist David Mogk’s life. tigious award that he has won was “I was always interested in being the Excellence in Geophysical Eduoutdoors and in science. There were cation Award. two early influences that influenced “I won this award from the Amerime,” Mogk said. “One was that my can Geophysical Union. This is an inparents would take me out to places ternational group that has over 50,000 around Michigan, like state parks members, and I was the person that and beaches. I would always pick up was awarded in that year,” Mogk said. stones on the beach and put them in “It was for contributions in Geoscience my pockets. The second thing is that Education that had a global impact.”

I had a really good science teacher in Besides geology, Mogk enjoys runBrownell who encouraged me.” ning. He was a part of the North cross Mogk was a part of the first class to country team. spend all four years at North. While “We had a pretty good team. We here, he was in the accelerated math weren’t state champions, but we aland science programs. Since there ways won league championships,” weren’t many diverse science classes Mogk said. “The work ethic applied by at the time, Mogk did an indepenTom Gauerke (Mogk’s cross country dent study with biology teacher Jack coach) really had the most long-term Edwards his senior year. But Mogk impact. As a distance runner, we had wasn’t motivated to be a geologist unto work hard and develop a passion for til after graduation. the sport. This kind of asset has turned “Three days after I graduated from over into my professional career, both North, I traveled to Jackson Hole, and I as a researcher and a teacher.” took this field course in geology,” said It wasn’t all smooth sailing, Mogk. “Once I did that, I never looked though. Mogk ran into some trouble back. I just found my calling and was due to colorblindness. a geology major at the University of “Because I can’t rely on color, I have Michigan. I just kept going.” to look for evidence in other ways.

After his many successes at UniverMany of my students look at things and sity of Michigan, Mogk went on to be say that it is a given color, so it must the Program Director of Undergradube a particular mineral,” Mogk said. ate Education at the National Science “Quite often that is incorrect. Color is Foundation(NSF). He was responsible important, but it is not the only thing.” for reading and reviewing grants subBecause of how Mogk has helped to Photo courtesy of David Mogk mitted by faculty around the country. advance the area of geosciences, his “The way the National Science Foun- “Some of the rocks we work on go back as far as 3.6 billion years ago. Our studies dad, Bill Mogk, nominated him for the dation works is, the faculty submits pro- reveal that plate tectonics, is how the earth operates today, were operating as far Distinguished Alumni award. posals to do work, like research,” Mogk “I knew one of the recipients that back as 3.3- 3.5 billion years ago. That is pretty cool because you can figure that said. “When faculty submits a proposal, won this award previously,” Bill Mogk my responsibility was to send it out to that is three-quarters of the earth’s history,” Geologist David Mogk said. said. “I felt that people should know other faculty. I would take those recommendations astronauts and all the things they needed to prepare about the wonderful things he does, too.” and decide whether or not to fund the proposal.” for their mission. There were many other scientists Mogk shares some words of wisdom for kids who The NSF isn’t the only major science organization there, and it is always something to ask questions are struggling with school or who are unsure of Mogk has worked with. Mogk has also worked with and learn from.” their path.

NASA. At NASA, Mogk worked with ancient rocks Apart from his work at these esteemed institu“Be passionate. It is really important to get up evfound in the mountains of Montana and also with tions, Mogk has made many other contributions to ery morning and have something in your life that moon rocks. the geosciences. you really have to do,” Mogk said. “To succeed, you “NASA was great and exciting. One of the reasons “I have done a number of different things. My have to be really passionate about what you do.” was that I was there exactly at the time of the first research is on how continents form and how they shuttle launch,” Mogk said. “I was also working in evolved with time,” Mogk said. “I have also taken a the Johnson B. Center, right next to where the astro- deep-sea research cruise with the Oceanographic nauts trained. It was really cool getting to see the Institute. But for almost 20 years now, I have been assistant editor & intern

coutilish

4 – Thursday Nov. 21, 2013 – North Pointe

I AM TRUGPN. Class of 1982 graduate adapts to the unexpected in his career path and in life as a father

By Izzy Ellery life editor

If Ted Coutilish’s high school self could have seen his future, he would have been a little surprised.

“I wouldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what to expect when I left high school, but I didn’t expect the life that I have. I thought I would be a professional journalist somewhere, covering sports teams — someone more like Mitch Albom than where I am today.”

Coutilish always dreamt of becoming a journalist, but plans change. After realizing that sports journalism wasn’t where he belonged, he entered the world of marketing. He currently works as Associate Vice President of marketing at Eastern Michigan University. There, he has helped launch the “TRUEMU” campaign.

“I’m comfortable at where I am today: the university,” Coutilish said. “I feel I’m in a great position. We are experiencing record enrollment growth for the second year in a row, which is great. Our numbers are great overall, and we’re getting a lot of students to consider EMU, and that’s what you want to from a marketing perspective. That’s my main focus, is to get more students to recognize and consider EMU.” Coutilish loves the central purpose of marketing and has seen firsthand the effects it can have.

“We enjoy relationships. We enjoy stories, and that’s what marketing is about, sharing the key messages of the university to key audiences in different ways,” Coutilish said. “I’m very proud of the team that I work with and the work that we do, and I think that as you can see with the ‘TRUEMU’ campaign, it’s been very successful on many fronts; certainly prospective students have responded to it.”

Coutilish’s success may seem surprising, considering that he didn’t get a degree in marketing and had never taken a marketing class before.

“I did not get a marketing degree, so I’m almost self-taught, but I’ve had some very outstanding mentors along the way that help me learn, and I think you can learn things you don’t always have to learn in college,” Coutilish said. “What college taught me to do was learn how to learn. Once you learn how to learn, you can apply that to anything. I always say: never refuse to learn.”

Coutilish has seen success in other areas of his life as well. His son Andrew is affected by Fragile X syndrome, a genetic condition caused by changes in the X chromosome, which results in intellectual disabilities, behavioral and learning challenges. Fol-

lowing his son’s diagnosis, Coutilish and his wife Mary Beth have immersed themselves in efforts to raise awareness of the disorder.

“Number one, I think, is just using my marketing communication skills. I’m chair of the Communications Committee for Fragile X Foundation, and the foundation looks to me for guidance on branding, marketing, advertising, communications. I feel that those are important roles I can play in terms of communicating and in positioning the foundation,” Coutilish said. “The second role I play is a board member to help with governance and critique and review issues that come up and help people and help the board look at different ways to communicate and make decisions.”

While Coutilish’s efforts are more focused on the national level, his wife Mary Beth uses her background in counseling to help other families affected by Fragile X Syndrome at the local level.

“You’re signing up to a group that has emotional attachments, and a diagnosis like that also comes with a lot of questions,” Mary Beth said. “I know how much I was helped by the first people that spoke with me and gave me the assistance they could. I enjoy helping others through that process. It’s a non-paying job, but it’s a pretty important job.”

Courtesy of Coutilish family Their son’s diagnosis was a curveball for “He can’t speak, he’s really affected by Fragile X Syndrome, Coutilish and his wife, but Coutilish sees how and yet we communicate in many ways, the most imporpositively his son has impacted his life. tant way we communicate is with love. I have love for him.

“My favorite role in life, by far, is father. As diffi- He has love for me,” Coutlilish said of son Andrew. cult and as challenging as being a father to a child with special needs is, I know this was done for a Dividing his time between work, parenting and reason, to make me a better person,” Coutilish said. his efforts at the Fragile X Foundation and Inter“I think it was all done for a purpose. I work hard national Association of Business Communicators in Fragile X Foundation because I wanna help other (where he used to be president and is still a memkids like him.” ber) takes a toll on Coutilish. The drive from Grosse In attempting to help others affected by Frag- Pointe to Eastern Michigan University is an hour ile X, Coutilish realized that Fragile X had actu- long and is especially bothersome in the winter. But ally helped him. he can’t imagine living anywhere else. Grosse Pointe “I would not have thought I would have a child is his home, which is what makes this award so spewith special needs, and the one thing that surprises cial to his family. me is how much patience Andrew has taught me be“He’s been a part of the community since he was cause I was not a patient person growing up, and I just a few years old, and although I didn’t move to would be the first to admit it, and now I’m a much Grosse Pointe until I was in my late 20s, I think both more patient person, and my love for him is beyond of us were definitely eastsiders,” Mary Beth said. “To what I could comprehend when I left high school,” have a community award like this is a real honor and Coutilish said. “I think President Obama said it best makes you feel like your family is even more a part of when he said that having a child is like having your the community.” heart walking around. That’s what it’s like, and you wanna protect it and see it do well.”

HARDIN

North Pointe – Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 – 5

Living the Alumnus Dave Hardin pursues passion for animation as a senior character animator at Dreamworks in California

By Melina Glusac ideas editor

It took a few insects and some artistic talent.

“We had taken a field trip to go see the movie A Bug’s Life, the Pixar movie. I saw that in 10th grade. Our animation class went on a field trip and saw it. After that, I was like, ‘I wanna go and do that stuff. I wanna do 3-D film,’” alumnus Dave Hardin said.

Hardin is a senior character animator for DreamWorks Studios, t he production company behind starstudded hits like Kung Fu Panda.

In his job, Hardin is still pursuing a talent that manifested early in his life.

“Well, I think I used to draw when I was really young,” Hardin said. “I would do little drawings of video games that I liked from Nintendo.”

His mother, North classroom assistant Wendy Spreder, remembers her son’s budding aptitude for the arts.

“He drew ever since he was a little child, and he always used to draw like war figures and people getting hurt and injured,” Spreder said.

“And he also was really creative in his bedroom – he would set booby traps. You’d open up his door of his bedroom, and this fan would spin around, and army guys would f ly off what would be connected to a string, which would pull another cord, and you’d get hit in the head with something, and then something would get thrown at you. You know, he always had a really creative mind.”

North allowed Hardin the freedom to hone his creative energy with the help of inf luential staff members.

“Mr. (Ray) Marchesi, he was my photography teacher. I learned a lot from him. Mr. (Rob) Thies was my art

topnews.in iconarchive.com openseason.wikia.com

teacher; he was great... I really liked taking those classes. And Mr. (Brian) Stackpoole taught me a lot about video, as well,” Hardin said. “He taught me a lot about stuff that I still use today, about stuff like film composition and stuff like that.”

The variety of art classes offered at North also enlightened Hardin to up-and-coming software.

“I took animation basics, like 2-D and 3-D courses, at North. And there was actually one student named Mike Parker that actually came in and told me about this program called Brice 3-D. It was a 3-D landscape generator. And I remember we were all doing these 2-D assignments, and he had brought in this assignment that he had done in 3-D, and it blew my mind.”

This passion eventually led him to the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, the birthplace of his love affair with making art come to life.

“I actually wanted to get into visual effects, like for film. When I went to college, I actually had no interest in animation at that time because I didn’t really know much about it,” Hardin said. “So yeah, I went to col-

lege for visual effects, doing explosions and stuff like that, particle effects – stuff that’s more technical than animation is. But then my sophomore year of college, I took an animation class because it was a requirement for the visual effects field, and that’s kind of when I fell in love with animation.”

After college, Hardin was immediately hired by Sony. His career has helped spawn an array of more-thannoteworthy films like Open Season, Surf’s Up, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and Kung Fu Panda 2.

“My favorite animated movie, one that I could watch over and over again, would probably be the first Kung Fu Panda. Kung Fu Panda 1 was my favorite film,” Hardin said.

“Actually, that’s the reason why I quit Sony and came to DreamWorks, was because of that film. And I actually came [to DreamWorks] and worked on the sequel to Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda 2. Yeah, I really wanted to be a part of that franchise because I loved the first one.”

Since then, Hardin has most enjoyed creating the drama-free Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.

“I really liked that film a lot. The end result was really fun; people really responded to it rea l ly wel l,” Hardin said. “And just working on it was great. The directors were really young guys, and they were really laid back. It was their first feature film themselves, so they didn’t have like a hidden agenda, they didn’t have an ego. They were just like super excited to be a part of the filmmaking process, so it made it really fun for the crew as well.”

Even after all his glamorous success, which includes being nominated for an Annie Award for his animation in Sony’s Surf’s Up and a Golden Globe for Rise of the Guardians, Hardin still aspires to improve.

“I kind of want to probably get into directing animation as well. Hopefully that will be before 10 years time. But I think it would be really nice to actually be a director, as well, but I know that you kind of have to go the story route to become a director for a feature film. So I would have to get into story-boarding and stuff,” Hardin said. “But right now I’m just kind of set with animation. I kind of like doing what I’m doing.”

6 – Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 – North Pointe

Sharing

HUCKINS

THe LOVE

By Kayla Luteran INTERN

Salutatorian of the graduating Class of 1971, National Merit Scholar, top five in the Michigan Mathematics Competition, U.S. History AP Achievement Award and Daughters of the American Revolution Michigan High School Student of the Year.

This laundry list of achievements marked the beginning of Cheryl Huckins’ journey outside North and into her medical and volunteer work around the globe, earning her a Distinguished Alumni Award.

Huckins moved from St. Clair Shores to Grosse Pointe in 1965 and attended Brownell Middle School.

She then attended North when it first opened in 1969.

“I was in the second graduating class. So, we started school on the first day that the school opened. I was in tenth grade, and there was an eleventh grade, and there was no senior class at that time,” Huckins said. “So, I remember that it was pretty exciting to be starting a new school and kind of building and developing relationships that—and traditions that—hadn’t existed before,” Huckins said.

During high school, Huckins was a part of the debate and quiz bowl teams. She was also a varsity cheerleader and candy striper at Cottage Hospital. Candy stripers are hospital volunteers nicknamed for the red-and-white-striped gear they traditionally wore. This guidded her toward the medical field.

“I’m not exactly sure when I wanted to be a doctor, but it has sort of always seemed to be there.

I liked science a lot and just kind of kept moving in that direction. I went into college as a pre-med and continued on,” Huckins said.

After graduating in 1971, Huck-

ins attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts and received a Bachelor degree in Molecular Biology.

“I graduated after three years because I had AP credits from North.

So, that bought me a little more than a semester of credit in college, and then I took some winter term class and summer school classes to finish it off. And then I went to medical school at the University of Michigan,” Huckins said.

After medical school, Huckins did her internship, residency (a stage of graduate schooling with training in the medical field) and chief residency at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor.

Since college, Huckins has opened a private practice, worked as a physician in the St. Joseph Mercy Medical Group and Washtenaw Medicine, PC and started a family.

Huckins has been awarded the Trinity Health Excellence and Innovation Award for Effectively Managing our Portfolio of Resources. She also was recognized in Michigan Medicine magazine.

Huckins has dedicated much of her time doing relief work around the world. She has volunteered at pediatric clinics in Nicaragua, ventured on a medical trip to Pakistan and worked at the embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan with her husband, all in the past 10 years.

“I have volunteered in Ann Arbor locally at the Hope Clinic, but then after the tsunami in southeast Asia in 2004, I went in 2005 to Sri Lanka, off the Indian Coast and helped on a relief mission, a relief trip, there to help at an orphanage,” Huckins said. “It just so happened that they were opening up an elder care

center, and that’s what I do—my medical work is taking care of older people. So, I became very involved in the design and the opening up of (it).”

Huckins has returned to Sri Lanka three times, taking her youngest son with her once to aid in the building of the elder care center, which is named after her.

She was nominated by her father, John Huckins, who saw an ad for the Distinguished Alumni program in the Grosse Pointe News last year.

He believes that his daughter’s compassion for volunteering and aiding people qualifies her for the award.

“She was very active during high school—she was a varsity cheerleader; she was on the debate team.

She was on all kinds of things. She was a very good student,” John said.

“She does things freely because she wants to help people, and I always thought that was outstanding. So, that’s why I thought that, well, she might be a good candidate from Grosse Pointe North. She’s a very caring, caring person. I think that’s all I can say, actually.”

He is also the proud parent of a salutatorian—the senior with a GPA second to that of the valedictorian.

Huckins encourages students to take what they’ve learned in high school and go beyond their limits.

She applied what she learned at North and took her efforts to help people global.

“My advice for students in general is that: stretch yourself. Don’t accept just that you meet the basic requirements, but push yourself,” Cheryl said. “And challenge yourself—it’s a lot more fun that way.”

Sri Lanka 2005-2006 Working at a girls home

Sri Lanka Volunteering at an orphanage

Haiti 2013 in Marigone Seeing women patients

Pakistan 2010 Primary care in Ranjapu r

PHOTOS BY CHERYL HUCKINS

JONES

North Pointe – Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 – 7

Captain Steve Jones: Reeling in success

By Haley Reid ASSISTANT EDITOR

E JO

NES

In his early 20s, after toying with the idea of starting a fishing business, Jones equipped himself with a charter license, allowing him to take paying customers out on the waters, preferably Lake St. Clair.

“While I was in between jobs, I left a stack of cards in a local tackle shop, Lakeside Sporting Goods, and I was amazed at the calls I was getting, and I just met some of the right people that helped get me started,” Jones said. “ I wanted to meet people that had a lot of knowledge, that were reputable in the field as well, so I could pick their brains and kind of see what they do. I would start giving seminars at local boat shows, and I would meet other people that were nationally known — people to look up to.”

STE V

“We’ve had scary experiences. We’ve had tornados go right over our heads and touch down on the other side of us while we were out on the water. Sometimes we can’t control what happens out there.”

Unpredictability has been a theme throughout distinguished alumnus Steve Jones’ life. After leaving North with the graduating class of 1970, he faced the impracticality of his childhood dream, ruling out fishing as a career.

Jones deals with change on a daily basis as a local fishing tour guide, providing his charter boat and knowledge to the community.

“I’ve always had a love for fishing, but I never thought it would become a career. Never in a million years when I was younger, but I loved it enough,” Jones said.

“I had the gear and the tackle, and every chance I got, I would always go fishing, especially for muskies.”

Jones’ mother, Joyce Cook, has seen this passion from a young age.

“I used to sit down at the park while he sat on the edge by the water, before he ever had a boat, and watch him fish. He loved it from the time he was born,” Cook said.

The far-fetched dream diminished when Jones was hired as the manager at several Burger King establishments in the area. Co-ownership of a pizza parlor with his father also took up much of his time. Both jobs payed the bills but didn’t enthrall him the way casting a line did.

“I kind of got frustrated in not knowing what to do and knowing that I couldn’t really do what I wanted to do,” Jones said.

With a new start and a demanding business, Jones began to sculpt his hobby into a way to provide a charitable service to the community. Opportunities presented themselves, including Joann’s Derby, an annual fishing event that gave handicapped children a day of activities.

“Joann was a handicapped kid about 12 years old in a wheelchair, and she was a daughter of a good friend,” Jones said. “I would donate my boat and services, and we would take handicapped kids out fishing.”

In addition to the derby, Jones played a part in auctioning off fishing trips to doctors at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing to help raise money for a new cancer wing.

“Michigan Outdoors, to help sell it for maximum dollar, pledged that if you buy the fishing trip and the money goes to a good cause, not only will you go on the trip, but you will be filmed on TV,” Jones said.

Jones is more-than-familiar with being in front of the camera. With three television guest appearances under his belt, he was asked to co-host Fishing Michigan and stuck with the program for two years.

“It didn’t pay, but it was great for reputation and fun to do,” Jones said. “From there, as you get to be known, it kind of snowballs.”

Since the additional publicity, the booming charter keeps the fisherman fully employed with no further need for the fast food industry.

“I’ve always wanted to do something outdoors or at least not be tied up in a building or surrounded by four walls,” Jones said.

Jones said he is rarely found indoors and, although he spends each work day chartering, it never becomes a routine drag as his past jobs had proven.

“I’m not doing the same thing on the computer all day. A lot of things can happen out there,” Jones said.

“You can go out fishing one day, and it’s terrible, and the next day you can be killing it. You never know what to expect when you go out, so every day that I work is unscripted.”

The fisherman hopes to see plenty more unpredictable days out on Lake St. Clair.

“It’s what I’ll continue to do until you have to carry me on the boat or something,” Jones said. “Right now, I’m healthy, and I plan on going for a few years still.”

8 – Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 – North Pointe

bennett

man of math & maxiumum effort

Gary Bennett, girls basketball coach and recently-retired math teacher, has led his life with the “mentality of a marathon runner” according to former colleague and math teacher Catherine Clay

By Anu Subramaniam web manager

Strong character, perserverant, dependable and passionate are all words that math teacher Catherine Clay uses to characterize former teacher and current basketball coach Gary Bennett.

His passion to teach spawned from his experience coaching elementary schoolers his sophomore year of high school. This experience inspired his 30-year career as both a basketball coach and a math teacher at North.

“It was a really meaningful experience for me and I realized then that I wanted to coach basketball at a higher level someday in the future,” Bennett wrote in an email.

Starting off as a sophomore in 1968, when North opened, Bennett made it onto one of three varsity teams at the school. There were no seniors at the school at the time, so the varsity team consisted of only underclassmen. As a young team going up against others laden with upperclassmen, his team surpassed expectations.

“We didn’t have a winning record, but I think we surprised a lot of people by being better than they thought we would be,” Bennett said.

However, during Bennett’s junior and senior years the team won a district championship, and his junior year, they also won a league championship.

The wins aren’t what inspired Bennett to pursue his passion, though. It was his coach, Ray Ritter.

“He taught me a lot about basketball, but he taught me so much more about life in general, especially teaching and coaching, sportsmanship, integrity, and how to work with and treat people,” Bennett said. “My life would have been a lot different if I hadn’t played for and learned from coach Ritter.”

Bennett graduated in 1971, but returned in 1983 to teach math for 30 years before he retired in 2013.

“I feel like a “double alumni” – on the one hand, I am an alumni as a student who graduated from here, and on the other hand, now that I am retired, I feel like I am also an alumni of the teaching staff,” Bennett said.

But during his 30 years at North, Bennett was not only a teacher, but was also the girls varsity basketball coach.

“I’ve always considered myself to be a teacher first and a coach second. That is, I put my heart, soul and time into teaching math here at North for 30 years, into building relationships with new students each year and trying to make math more accessible and easier to learn for students at all levels,” Bennett said. “And in addition to my main job of teaching, I also did some coaching.”

Class of 2013 alumna Stavi Varlamos had Bennett as a math teacher her senior year and had him

as a coach from her sophomore to her senior year.

“He applied his morals ... The way he held the team is the same way he held it in the classroom. It was a great experience.

He pushed us really hard, but it photo courtesy of gary bennett was overall for the Coach Gary Bennett, left, stands with his girls varsity basketball team after winning the better,” Varlamos Class A State Championship in 2008. said. “I admired his mottos. He would always tell us that it’s not just ship, but they also won the Michigan High School how good you are at a certain thing, it’s the way you Athletic Association’s Sportsmanship Award. apply yourself. Like if you go in with a good work “I’m as proud of the Sportsmanship Award as I ethic, you are going to be the best you can be.” am of the state championship,” Bennett said.

Clay notes that Bennett applied the same methDespite the gravity of the win, Bennett was ods in his coaching and teaching, in the classroom prouder of the girls for being a competitive team and on the court. with team chemistry and morals.

“Many of these lessons you have planned, but “They had the right mix of talent, but more immany are lessons from a natural leader who leads by portantly, they did it the right way,” Bennett said. example; someone who is predictable, in a good way, The highlight of Bennett’s overall career, though, dependable and who has integrity,” Clay said in her wasn’t the wins, but seeing the groups of players and farewell speech to Bennett. students that he taught – on and off the court – sucThrough his 30 years and seasons at North, Ben- ceed in what they did. nett has developed relationships with students, “I get great satisfaction from teams and individuplayers and his fellow faculty that were his inspira- als that exceed expectations and accomplish far tion as a teacher. more than anyone thought they could or who over“I’m appreciative of the guidance, friendship and come great obstacles or adversity,” Bennett said. inspiration I received not only from teachers when Some of his most memorable games are those I was a student here at North, but also from the stu- where his team lost on the scoreboard but won in dents I’ve had in class, from the players I’ve had on the effort and persistence category. During one my teams and from the North teachers and admin- game in 2010, his team was trailing 26 points behind istrators,” Bennett said.

Renaissance High School in the third quarter and Although Bennett said that he was a coach sec- they came back to just trailing by five points. ond, there was nothing secondary about his coach“The truth is that I felt just as good about that ing abilities. In 2008, he coached his team of 12 girls comeback effort as I would have if we had won the to the state finals and won the championship, a first game,” Bennett said. in school history.

Another one of Bennett’s most memorable games “I think he kind of goes about teaching the same was a district title game when his team won in overway he goes about coaching, which makes him time against rival Grosse Pointe South. such a great coach. To be able to have that nurtur“That definitely takes its rightful spot up there ing aspect and will and the want to help others do with my most memorable of all time,” Bennett said. their best in whatever they’re doing,” Class of 2010 Even though he retired in June 2013, Bennett conalumna Ariel Braker said. Braker was a sophomore tinues to coach the girls varsity basketball team. on the state championship team and had Bennett as “The highlight of my years as a coach is any time a coach for four years – she currently plays for the I hear from or see a former player, to hear how they University of Notre Dame. are doing now and to share memories of things past,” “The attitude of whenever you are doing some- Bennett said. “It’s not about the championships won thing, be the best to your ability on it. Work hard, not or lost. It’s more about relationships and shared exfor yourself, but for others also. That is something he periences among players and between players and taught me my four years,” Braker said. coaches that make coaching such a meaningful and Not only did his team win the state champion- memorable profession.”