AI has the potential to revolutionalize learning, but at what cost?
Dear Readers,
A er snow days interrupted our January edition and made it go virtual (check it out on ISSUU at the QR code below!), we are more excited than ever to share our March edition with the community. As we are working towards the end of the school year our sta has continued to perfect our journalistic techniques. is edition’s theme is how AI is quickly becoming a larger and larger part of today’s world, even right here at PN. A poll done by our very own sta showed that approximately 39% of students have used AI for some sort of school assignment, and that number has continued to grow as AI becomes more normalized. at being said, grab your favorite (hopefully non-caffeinated a er last month’s edition) drink and snack of choice, get comfy, live right, and read the light!
Happy Reading,
Brie and Ella
Whether students and teachers are using it or not, it’s hard to argue that the use of AI doesn’t have a signi cant impact on education today. From using it to help brainstorm ideas for a paper (which is generally considered okay) to using it to write an entire paper (which is universally considered to not be okay) teens today have gured out all the ways to make school easier with the help of technology. Pictured above, senior NL co-editors in chief Brie Quick and Ella Morofsky work together to design the o cial cover from the concept that Morofsky won the journalism class cover concept challenge with. As teammates and friends, Quick converted Morofsky’s idea into a template to help speed her design process. “I’ve never designed a cover before, so having a template I can plug and play with to nalize the idea and bring it to life was helpful,” said Morofsky. “I thought it was important to center the coverage on AI because it’s a big deal in today’s world.” Photo by Brayden Schimp.
e Northern Light in print and online is the student-produced newspaper for Portage Northern HS. It is an open, designated, public forum for student expression, and the newspaper provides sta members with independent reporting opportunities and individual evaluation. Writing is based on a wide variety of research for a broad and diverse audience and topics of coverage are decided by the sta and editorial board with consideration to what is timely, relevant, compelling, educational, and important to the student body. In accordance with best practice for student media, the Northern Light is not prior reviewed by administration. Building and district administration do, however, reserve the right to oversee the paper if necessary to ensure that the mission and vision of Portage Public Schools and the safety of students and sta are maintained.
As a MIPA, JEA, and NSPA publication, the Northern Light adheres to the highest standards of journalistic integrity. Photos,
art, and other visual elements are created by Northern Light sta , formally designated for free use or part of public domain. In rare circumstances, we may use other media with the owner’s written permission.
It is our desire that our readers join the discussion on our published work. We welcome letters to the editors and guest contributors, and the Northern Light will publish online all pieces received provided that they include the author’s full name and are appropriate for publication in a school setting. Letters to the editor are limited to 150 words in length and guest contributions are limited to 350 words in length. Pieces can be delivered to Amanda orpe’s room, 3.129, emailed to pnhsnorternlight@gmail.com, or mailed ATTN: Portage Northern Light to Portage Northern High School, 1000 Idaho Avenue, Portage, MI 49024.
Feature
Page 7 A World Run by AI
Editorial Leadership
Editor in Chief
Bryana Quick
Editor in Chief
Ella Morofsky
Creative Editor
Annabelle Bartz
Digital Media Manager
Ashton Hall
Page 6 The Issue with Body Image
Sports
Page 9 Mitten on a Misson
Page 5 Harnessing the Power of AI
Page 10 Skateboarding 101
Page 11 Marley: One Love
Page 12 Bookish
If you want to receive the NL at home, visit this page to subscribe for the year!
Journalism 1 Manager
Abby Hosler
Veteran Staff Writers
Mitchell Barnard
Avery Bogemann
Trevor Anderson
Chase Vanderwalle
Staff Writers
Drew Collin
Asher Carpenter
Brayden Schimp
Caroline Knight
Jaiviana Heath
Matthew Lekosiotis
Ryan Kaliati
Ryan Mauwa
Sarah Leasure
Many students forget the importance of reading in a world heavily run by technology.
During March, Portage Northern student Senate members senior Lydia Hinga, senior Haley Downey, freshman Reese Meyer, and freshman Carys Zemlick organized a “March is Reading Month” event with two of the Portage elementary schools - Haverhill and Woodland. “We wanted to nd a way all the books collected in various book drives were able to be bene cial to the elementaries and build a connection with other schools in the district,” said Hinga. “A er thinking of this idea, it was pretty easy to
make the jump to plan it as we all love being able to reach the younger kids.” 18 total senators volunteered their time to teach about the importance of reading and then share a book with the class at the end of the elementary school day. e senate also donated anywhere from three to seven books to every classroom they visited at this time. “ e kids loved it! It’s so important for them to see older kids that enjoy reading,” shared Woodland Elementary rst-grade teacher Sonya Ratli . “I also love that a lot of the high schoolers went to their former elementary! We love seeing you all!”
Seniors Brie Quick (L) and Lydia Hinga (R) read to Sonya Ratli ’s rst grade class at Woodland Elementary on Wednesday March 6th 2024. Photo courtesy of Sonya Ratli .
Established in 2015, Communiteen Read is a collaboration between Portage Public Schools, the Portage Public Library, Bookbug and is is a Bookstore. “It’s a program that encourages teens and members of the community to read and talk about one book together,” said librarian Lisa Miller. A er debating and voting between the commit-
“I was personally very excited to meet a real published author. Experienced writers are sometimes hard to come by and, as a personal writer myself, I loved to have the experience of learning her [Ruta Sepetys] own history and have that experience to hopefully draw for myself.”
- omas Mann, senior
tee, this year’s Communiteen Read is a historical ction called by Ruta Sepetys. “We wanted something to tie in not just our English classes but carry over to our social studies classes as well,” explained Miller. Many English classes have spent the past few weeks reading in preparation for Ruta Sepetys herself to come visit PN.
The Portage Northern Esports Team is one of the most recent clubs added for students to join. Hosting games such as Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Valorant, and Smash Bros. This gives students the opportunity to play video games, build friendships, and take a break from school to enjoy doing the things they love.
Math teacher, Patrick Greeley is the leader of the club, organizing and bringing students together to play multiple games with new people in a competitive and fun environment. “I hope to bring these students together in something that they all love doing. It’s been talked about for a while and I was just the one to take initiative on it.”
Overwatch 2 is just one of the games they play on Thursday afternoons. Patrick Greeley is the coach for the team, leading practices and host ing games. Carson Anderson is the team cap tain during the games, making plans, thinking fast in high-stress situations, and has plenty of knowledge to share about the game. Trevor An derson is the shot caller, controlling the team during the battles in the game. Oli Matthew and Shane Salmon both help the team in high-stress situations and keep the team’s morale positive when the future may be looking down.
Player 1
Schools and students alike have the power to use AI for good, but both have to commit to it.
By the sta ; designed by Caroline Knight and Sarah Leasure
Many students are weighed down with expectations as they go through high school, whether it is expectations to do well in sports, to have certain grades or to be friends with certain people. One expectation that seems to be a bigger and bigger problem for students is to look a certain way.
Senior Jasmine Keene has been cheering for 7 years. Keene identi ed one reason why cheerleaders speci cally face body image issues is the uniform: “When you are put out on a mat with a tight uniform you start to notice all of the details that you want to x, you look in the mirror and you don’t look like a cheerleader.”
She expressed that issues with body image have sometimes taken the joy out of her cheering, sharing, “You look at the size you were a year ago and realize that you have to go up in size or it doesn’t look right on you anymore. I know whenever I have body issues it goes through my head and I feel like I’m ready to just go home or I don’t perform as good.”
Sophomore Joshua Cavalli, who has been in drama for almost 10 years, explains that casting directors o en have a certain expectation of how a character should look.
“Whether or not you get a lead o en depends on how well you t that character,” he said. “It can really vary from director to director though.”
Cavalli explained that social media can cause a lot of problems with body image, “Especially among theater kids, because we are very social, we post a lot. other people, even if those comparisons are unrealistic, and I don’t think that’s a good thing.” Keene agreed.
“I think Social Media is part of the reason because going through apps with people who are t and skinny you start to compare and contrast yourself with them,” she said.
“ at just brings down your whole self esteem,” she said. ere are as many different ways to cope with body image insecurities as there are students. Cavalli explained that acting also improves his con dence. “Normally I wouldn’t care how I look, but because I know what roles are up in the beginning, it forces me to strive towards having a better body image,” he said. Keene said that she deals with her problems with body image by trying not think about it. “I focus on the positive and know that it is only in my head, because just because I feel fat doesn’t mean I actually am” she said. Her advice to underclassmen is, “Don’t compare yourself to others because not everyone is the same, not everyone has the same body types. ere are probably people out there wishing they could be in your body instead of their own, so you have to talk to yourself positively not negatively.”
Now more than ever, in the age of social media and manufactured perfection, it is more important to help students establish skills so they can form their own sense of body con dence. Students cannot achieve the best version of themselves if they do not see themselves in the best way.
Photo of Senoir Jasmine Keene in the second oor hallway. Photo taken by Caroline Knight.
What is AI?
Oftentimes when people think of AI, it’s misconstrued as an epic evil of science fiction. The practical uses of the technology are tossed away in favor of a grand tale of robots taking over the world as we know it. However, AI is the study of creating machines that can process information in the same ways that humans do, but in contrast to humans, AI technology can process vast amounts of data very quickly. While that is perhaps a valid fear, it’s not the whole truth. While it might still seem scary to some, at the end of the day, AI is a very powerful tool that is changing the course of the world day by day as technology continuously evolves.
What is the role of AI in schools?
As a tool, AI has endless possibilities, however people can abuse AI and use it inappropriately. “AI has made it easier to learn and create some great responses; however, some have taken advantage of this feature and misuse it quite often,” said Principal Nate Ledlow. “[AI] could be bad number one because [students] are not really putting forth any effort to get better at anything and number two [access to AI] would probably result in a lot of cheating type of activities.”
AI has made it to the point where teachers must go in on their own time and check for AI-generated responses. There have been more and more cases of students using AI to cheat on assignments and submitting it as their own work. Despite this, it is not all bad. “AI can be a great tool for teachers and students when it is being used appropriately,” said English teacher Aimee Wendland. During the senior research paper Wendland used AI to help generate nuanced and original thesis statements. “Some of their topics I had limited knowledge about and we used
the tool together, side by side, to rewrite the thesis statements using AI’s suggestions,” said Wendland.
What is the role of AI in the future?
In the same way as with education, AI can be used for both good and bad. For good, in healthcare Artificial intelligence analyzes and processes data, such as medical history, potential health risks, and x-rays, at a rate humans cannot. This capability has revolutionized the accuracy of diagnosing diseases in the medical field. Along with the positive improvements AI has on other parts of our society, such as Agriculture, Automation, and finance.
Artificial intelligence also stirs a deep cauldron of different views and fears, especially when considering what its future holds for current high schoolers. Artistic talents have always flowed through past and modern youth, but with the rise of AI, artists fear for their chances at the future they dream of.
One of these artists is senior Aspen Floyd, who says that AI “deeply scares” them, claiming that, “it’s going to be the cheap, shady, fast option for people who just don’t care.” Not only does artificial intelligence have a detrimental effect on the art and design world, but it leeches on the writing industry as well. Ultimately, AI and humans use virtually the same method to write, finding internet sources and using the information for their piece, but comparing human work to AI work is far beside the primary focus. While they may use similar methods, artificial intelligence is just that: artificial. A truly original piece must be credited to a human, and that cannot be done if it was concocted by a robot.
What percentage of students use their Snapchat AI?
Hmm, around 59.2% of Portage Northern students never use their Snapchat AI, 19.4% use it very rarely, and 11.7% use it once in a while.
What Percentage of Students use Snapchat AI for school?
Out of 103 responses, 88.3% of Portage Northern students have not used Snapchat AI for school, and 8.7% of students have used Snapchat AI for school.
How many students have used ChatGPT?
When asked, 103 students responded to this question. 68.9% of students have not used ChatGPT, and 31.1% of students have used ChatGPT.
Sports in Michigan are thriving, with teams from Detroit, Ann Arbor, and East Lansing finding success in the regular and postseason.
By Chase Vanderwalle, Matt Lekosiotis, and Asher Carpenter; design by Chase VanderwalleThe Detroit Lions played their best season since 1991-92. Detroit finished 12-5 and first in the NFC North. The Lions started off their season with a huge win against the Super-Bowl winning Chiefs, which was an unexpected and motivating win. Coming off of that win was a game against the Seahawks; this was a terrible loss and only motivated the team, which lead to the Lions going on a 4 game winning streak before finally losing a bad game to the Ravens. As the Lions continued their season they only grew stronger: their rookies were playing amazingly. “LaPorta, it was good to see him, what a tough kid. Said Dan Cambell to the Big Rapids Daily News “I mean, to be a rookie and to do what he was able to do, was confident enough to get out there and help us”. The Lions finished their season on a strong victory over the Vikings 30-20, and they were ready for the playoffs. The Lions faced off against the Rams, Stafford and his team performed well but the Lions performed better and outlasted the Rams to move on to the divisional playoff game where they faced the Bucs, and won. Finally, the ending of the Lions amazing season against an amazing 49ers team, the Lions tried their best but in the end the 49ers got the best of them and ended up winning.
Football has had a historical season, and it was definitely one to remember. The Michigan Wolverines had an undefeated season, capping it off by becoming national champions. Jim Harbaugh believes non of it was possible without star QB JJ Mcarthy. Describing him as one of the best QB’s in Michigan Football history. “Simply what I said was, exactly, was I think J.J. is the best college quarterback in the history of Michigan football — college quarterback.” “J.J. has a long way to go to get to that(level of tom brady). But in terms of I think of who the best college quarterback in the 144-year history of Michigan football. I’m nominating J.J. McCarthy. I’m not the maker of that list, but that’s my opinion.” - Jim harbaugh to Michigan wolverine community. Another one of the highlights of the regular season was the defeat of their rivals Ohio State (30-24). Ohio St. and Michigan have been rivals since 1897, this heated game was one of the most important and entertaining moments of the season.
Michigan State women’s soccer team had a great season. They played in the Big Ten Conference and were #12 in the overall rankings and they went 14-5-3 overall and 7-1-2 in their conference. Sophomore Rory Morrison says “I think the team played amazing. They had tons of teamwork and communicated very good as well. I enjoyed watching the game and I really think that they deserved the win!”. Senior Justina Gaynor one of the top prospects of the MSU soccer team; she was in top 100 nationally and had a fantastic season with six goals, 12 assists, and also to tie a team high 24 points. They ended up falling to the #2 seed BYU by a score of 3-1 in the 3rd round of the NCAA tournament, but put up a great season to remember for Michigan State athletics. Along with that, coach Jeff Hosler won Big Ten coach of the year. Hosler succeeded Tom Saxton, who was coach for over 30 years. This is just the start to a great team that will be good for years to come. MSU now has a 5-6 record in the NCAA tournament. “This is unchartered territory for our program, for all the players on our roster,” Hosler said.
similar to the ollie and a majority of skateboarding tricks just with a tweak in the front foot. e foot position overall should be what feels most comfortable to you and what helps get the best ick. e standard foot positioning for a kick ip is like usual: back foot on the tail, and the front foot about where you would put it for an ollie but, turn your foot slightly to have it more angled to have an easier time icking o the nose.
Design by Mitchell BarnardWelcome back everyone! Last edition we went over the process of the ollie, the key to all of skateboarding. Now it is time to talk about the kick ip. e kick ip is arguably the most popular trick in all of skateboarding. ere are so many di erent ways to do this trick and it all comes down to personal preference and what feels most comfortable. ere are 3 important steps to a kick ip: the pop, sliding your foot up the nose, and icking your ankle o to the side of the nose.
e Second step, is sliding your
of the nose. Again, just like the ollie, you slide your front foot up, but instead of keeping your foot on the board, you slide it o to the side so you can get the board to ip. Make sure during this step you get all the way up the nose and almost ick o the corner; some people struggle with icking right o the side of the board, this may help with getting the board to rotate but in the long run it isn’t going to look as stylish and can lead to future problems with learning other tricks.
Lastly, and what I think is the
people struggle icking down your ankle up and it will help the board spin faster as well as making the kick ip look more stylish by making the board have a dip instead of spinning at. is process could take some more time to get comfortable with and master but it is de nitely worth it in the end.
Article by Mariah McCollough and Jaiviana Heath; design by Annabelle Bartz
Bob Marley: One Love is a 2024 American biographical drama musical lm based on the life of Reggae singer and songwriter Bob Marley, played by Kingsley Ben-Adir, from his rise to fame in the mid-1970s up until he died in 1981. e lm is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. In 1976, amidst an armed political con ict that was affecting daily life in Jamaica, Bob Marley announced he would perform at a concert, Smile Jamaica, promoting peace amongst the warring factions. While preparing for the concert, Marley, his wife Rita, and several other members of his band are shot by assailants. Rita and Marley are hospitalized, but survive and recover from their injuries in time for the concert.
“Because everyone else was seeing the movie, I would rate it a solid 7.5/10. Not my
type of movie. I didn’t have a favourite part, to be honest. e people in the movie theatre were the worst part all the way. People really like him you know, and I also think he le an impact on people’s lives, that’s why people should go watch this movie,” said sophmore Mekhiah Williams.
Junior Zachary Lewis also went to see the Bob Marley movie, he stated that, “It was a great experience because I saw it with friends and the movie was great to watch. e best part was probably when Bob and his crew go to London and they start making music. I would recommend it because it is a very educational and funny movie, and Bob Marley is cool. 10/10 for sure!”.
•
e “ ree Little Words” project is a way to showcase the writing of PN student authors who may not be on the Northern Light Sta . Email athorpe@ portageps.org to nd out more information. @pnlight
From bloom to bloom, they gracefully danced, Each bee, a icker of love, a eeting trance.
My mother’s hive, a vibrant throng, Nourished my spirit, where I belonged.
But seasons change, and wings grow old, Some stings remain, a story told.
e hive, once full, must let them go, Embracing the sting, to watch new life ow.
For love, like bees, transcends the years, Ever-evolving, dispelling fears. ough wounds may linger, hearts will mend, And love, like honey, knows no end.