ON CAMPUS PAGE 4
Drama Club holds auditions for its upcoming One Acts, to be performanced on May 30. MARIAH LOPER & EMILY WIDGREN
NORTH
GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
POINTE NORTHPOINTENOW.ORG
SINCE 1968
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Skipping seniors miss out on prom and graduation
UPCOMING
EVENTS
INTERACT CLUB MEETING Saturday, April 19 from 8 to 9 a.m. in the cafeteria
By Michael Hartt & Emily Widgren PAGE EDITORS
ELECTIONS Monday, April 23 and 30 outside the union
INSIDE
"I'M CALLING US OUT ON OUR
SILENCE, BECAUSE OUR
FALSE
CLAIMS
OF
BULLY-FREE ENVIORMENTS
WILL REMAIN A
LIE
UNLESS WE
LEARN TO SPEAK." PAGE 3
"THEY
KNEW WHAT I "GET
WAS INFORMED
CAPABLE
AND MAKE OF BEFORE YOUR VOICE IHEARD. FOUND WEI IT IN ME AND CANNOT COULDN'T AFFORD THANK TOTHEM LOSE
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DIEDRA HARRIS-THOMAS
'Be a Friend' scholarship honors former North student By Zoe Graves & Hannah Zalewski MANAGING EDITOR & PAGE EDITOR As June comes closer, the one-year anniversary of the death of former North student, Corey Harris-Thomas approaches. Harris-Thomas was shot and killed last year while attempting to sell a pair of Nike Air Jordans. A month after his death, his mother, Diedra Harris-Thomas, started a foundation in his name with the intent of helping other boys in Corey’s age range stay safe. The mission statement of the foundation is to “educate, assist, council and mentor at-risk males ages 15- 23: to deter and prevent gun violence, psychological instability and self-destructive behavior through the development and use of hands-on outreach programs.” Currently, the foundation has a scholarship essay contest open to seniors at Loyola High School, Martin Luther King High School and North. The idea of the “Be A Friend” essay stems from parts of Corey’s own character. According to his mother, Corey was a friend to everybody, but he lacked a friendly voice to talk him out of making a decision that cost him his life. “What's happening is people aren't being a friend to each other and saying, ‘hey, don't do this,’ and it's that warning of, ‘hey, don't do this, this is not what you should do. You shouldn’t go here it’s not safe,’ and carrying it out,” Diedra said. “He was that type of person, but he didn't have a person like that for him on that day. So this scholarship is meant to to recognize a student
or students … who have been in a situation and have made an impact on someone else’s life by saying, ‘hey, this person needs help,’ and getting them the help or stopping something from happening.” The scholarship contest is easy to enter. The only requirements are being a senior attending one of the three aforementioned schools and having a plan to attend a college or trade school.
“
We just want to give kids a second chance because he didn't get a second chance.
“
HALF DAY Thursday, April 26 from 8 to 10:55 a.m.
Jaylin Ford COUSIN OF COREY HARRIS-THOMAS
Students interested must submit a one to three page paper on what being a friend means to them. It should include an example of a detailed situation where they have made a positive impact on one of their peers, as well as how they plan to continue these habits as an adult after graduation. There are three different levels of the award, and each award will be given to a student from each school. The first place winner will receive a $1,000 scholarship, second place will receive $500 and third place will receive $250.
English teacher Charles Crimando said the scholarship is a good opportunity for students, and is glad the importance of friendship is being emphasized. “I think that it’s excellent that we’re encouraging people to start to think about what it means to be a friend and to reach out to other students. I think that’s often the thing — a saving grace — for a lot of people,” Crimando said. “I just hope that we get a ton of submissions for this. I think everybody knows what it means in their own way to be a friend, so I think it would be really interesting to hear a lot of perspectives on what that means to people.” Jaylin Ford, a cousin of Corey, believes the scholarship is meant to inspire people to live with respect and become the friend others would want to have in the world. He believes that anyone who is interested should apply for the scholarship. Diedra routinely goes to churches to share Corey’s story and urge listeners to be more friendly to one another. Along with the scholarship, the foundation has held fundraisers and memorial events for Corey. Although Ford has not personally worked with the foundation, he believes that the work his aunt does is worthwhile and honors his late cousin. Both Ford and Diedra hope that the scholarship will work to inspire and evoke change in students who otherwise would have lost control of their lives for many years to come. “We just want to give kids a second chance,” Ford said, “because (Corey) didn’t get a second chance.”
September Corey begins his fresh-
June
man year at Grosse Pointe North
2014
PAGE 5
@thenorthpointe www.northpointenow.org
Due date for scholarship submission
Corey passes away
2015
THEM." ” ENOUGH. PAGE 7
May 1
2017 HANNAH ZALEWSKI
2016 2015-16
July
Corey transfers
Corey’s mother,
to King High
School during his sophomore year
VOLUME 50 | ISSUE 14
News Briefs
1 2
Diedra, starts a
When senior Elleanna Casterline heard about a new attendance policy being enforced after spring break — that can potentially revoke senior events — she was upset, believing there had to be a better solution to combat decreasing attendance at the end of the year. “It's just negatively affecting the whole senior class’ last couple months together,” Casterline said. Before break, North administration sent a letter to seniors with a high amount of missed classes stating privileges such as prom and graduation have been revoked. They will not be reinstated unless the student in question has excellent attendance until the end of the year. Principle Kate Murray said she was noticing some seniors were not adhering to the old attendance policy and were not deterred by old consequences in place or the fact they might lose credits. “We wanted to remind (the students) that things like prom and actually participating in the graduation ceremony are privileges, and privileges can be revoked if you have not upheld the policies,” Murray said. Casterline has many friends who received the letter and she is afraid they may not be able to participate in these memorable events with her. “If these punishments do carry through, some of my close friends won't be able to go to prom, walk at graduation and whatnot,” Casterline said. “Those are things that we look forward to and we have all worked hard towards since freshman year.” Excessive absences have the potential for more consequences than not being able to attend senior events. In a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cr uz, lower class attendance was associated with lower midterm and final exam scores in college students. Casterline disagrees with the study. She sa id it is f ine if students m iss some classes, just as long as they a re doing the work. “Students who get A's, but just don't go (to class) are still performing (well) in their classes, they're just not going,” Casterline said. “I don't think that they should be punished because they are performing to a level that the school would consider satisfactory.” Junior Grant Sachs agrees with Casterline and says if students are achieving passing grades, they should not be punished for skipping some classes. “I do think that as you get older, you get more responsibilities. But, you also get more leniency in the world,” Sachs said. “They know that they've already gotten into college and they're worked hard for 12 years of their life, especially the last three.” Both Sachs and Casterline believe there are better ways to handle the situation than taking away senior events.
foundation in his name
Editorial On Campus
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Life Reviews
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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In-Depth Sports
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