Volume 4 Issue 1: The Emery Newspaper

Page 1

2727 Fuller Road Ann Arbor, MI 48105

The Emery

Volume 4 Issue 1 September 2018

The Student Publication of Huron High School

Feature

New traffic changes are now in full swing

Since last winter, Orchard, Hiltz, & McCliment, Inc. (OHM) Advisors, traffic safety experts who specialize in safety control matters, observed traffic during several mornings and afternoons at Huron. The moves comes as the District and its Safe Routes to School teams at every school, seeks methods to improve traffic and pedestrian safety. The Ann Arbor Police Department, Huron Administration, and City Traffic Engineers were also involved in observations, improvements, and the OHM report, which outlined short and long term solutions for traffic safety and the traffic proposal. Liz Margolis, Executive Director of Student and School Safety played a major role in these changes, and she The new traffic pattern, taken from Huron’s website, prohibits cars from using the Huron Parkway entrance. works directly with OHM Advisors in “We consulted traffic safety also been a decrease in student driving safety risks, for both vehicles and other projects across the district. experts who spent time on our campus ers, which meant more parents picking pedestrians. Huron Principal Dr. Janet “I led the process with Huron observing the morning drop off and and dropping their children up at the Administration afternoon pick up of our students,” Huron Parkway circle. Secondly, when on developing What exactly are the new traffic changes? Schwamb said. “These experts students either exited cars or crossed solutions for Can students still park in the same lots? agreed that the Huron Parkway en- through bus and car traffic, it created the traffic isHow long will a commute take? Find out trance, both in the morning and af- potential for injuries. sues at drop off more on Page 2! ternoon, poses a dangerous threat to The move has prompted difand pick up, our students with the mixing of bus ferent responses among the school comspecifically the Graphics by Julie Heng and car traffic.” munity. Senior Kelly Kramer parked mingling of bus Enrollment numbers are in the Baseball Lot last year, coming Schwamb understands how difficult es and cars off the Huron Parkway ensteadily increasing across the district, through the Huron Parkway entrance. and dangerous traffic has been in the trance,” Margolis said. increasing morning traffic. There has She is not frustrated See more | Page 2 past. This plan is aimed at reducJack Harrison | Staff Editor

Making the switch to Guard Senior Raymond Kim sets aside marching band to join color guard. He’s the only male member this year. See more | Page 2

Opinion

Vaccines do not cause autism Check out the facts that drive many people to vaccinate their children. See more | Page 4

Feature

New teachers 15 new River Rats - who are they, why do they teach, and what do they like to do? See more | Page 8

Politics, sports coverage, and those pesky school ID photos... @thehuronemery www.thehuronemery.com

National conversations on teenage suicide continue Julie Heng | Staff Editor Kevin Epling missed his son Matt’s assault by 15 minutes. Matt was tied up, lobbed with eggs, covered in syrup and physically assaulted just 150 yards from his house. To the bullies, laughing with the hood of the car propped up, this was just a gag, a hazing ritual for high school freshmen. Matt thought he would be shoved into the car engine. He later decided to press charges for assault and battery. The harassment only continued in the Meijer parking lot, however. “The only thing we also know is that those young men came in while he was working one day,” Epling said. “We don’t really know what transpired. And everything up to that point there was really nothing out of the ordinary in Matt’s world.” Matt and Kevin were apart for

Kevin Epling, MSU video producer and suicide awareness and bullying prevention advocate, speaks at a Michigan Interscholastic Press Association panel in July alongside Grosse Pointe South senior Grace Reyes. After Epling’s son Matt died by suicide, Epling passed “Matt’s Safe Schools Law” to ensure all Michigan schools have a bullying policy in place. Photo by Vivian Barrett.

an hour. In that hour, 14-year-old Matt took his own life. It was 40 days after the first assault.

It was like a bomb went off. The world turned upside down. Without warning, Kevin Epling was drafted into the world of suicide prevention

and awareness. Epling has been leading often-tough conversations for 15 years now, most recently with a group of high school journalists at Michigan State University. This time, he fielded questions with psychologist Gigi Colombini and Grosse Pointe South high school senior Grace Reyes. All three emphasized the importance of more open communication and discussion, including mobilizing youth, educating therapists and emergency workers, and community outreach. According to the Center for Disease Control, suicide among teens and young adults has tripled in the last 80 years, and high school suicide risk trends are only increasing. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death in ages 15-24, taking more lives than cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, pneumonia, See more | Page 2

U-M to expand natural gas Surya Raghavendran fights “unfair and deceptive” power plant, prompts concern Michigan policies through Right to Repair Julie Heng | Staff Editor ` The University of Michigan is developing a power plant expansion planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80,000 metric tons per year. That’s equal to cutting the electricity use of 12,000 homes or removing 17,000 passenger vehicles from the road annually, according to the EPA. This $80 million project will add a new 15-megawatt Combined Heat and Power (CHP) turbine to the existing Central Power Plant (CPP), which provides electricity and steam to twothirds of the Central and Medical campus. Currently, U-M campus needs are outsourced. The CPP expansion is expected to improve sustainability and reliability. When U-M first moved to Ann Arbor in 1837, the campus was heated by wood stoves. The CPP was built in 1914 to power U-M’s then-expanding campus using coal-heated boilers. Today, the CPP runs on natural gas. While most power plants lose 50% of energy to excess heat energy, the current CPP has an overall efficiency of 70-80%. This is accomplished by generating more electricity and steam from excess “wasted” energy. However, at a public hearing hosted by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Air Quality Division on August 16 to discuss the proj-

ect, some residents raised concerns over the dirty byproducts of natural gas. The DEQ’s primary permit engineer for this project, Ambrosia Brown, assured listeners that the estimates for the new CPP were well below national limits. In case there is a violation of compliance (e.g. emissions levels go above federally approved limits), the DEQ requires only monetary compensation and stricter guidelines. There are no regulations to account for the emissions’ effects. The City of Ann Arbor hopes to reduce 25% of carbon emissions from 2000 by 2025. So far, U-M has managed to keep energy levels constant near 2006 levels, despite continued campus expansion. The university’s Energy Management Program promotes energy efficiency to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and utility costs. This is meant to create a gradual shift to renewable energy. Over the last 12 years, energy use per square foot has decreased by 16% across campus. Currently, 3 acres of solar panels on North Campus (20-year partnership with DTE) provide 780,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. U-M’s Weisfeld Family Golf Center, built in 2011 using mostly recycled materials, is a geothermal building with 30 percent estimated energy savings. U-M also purchases renewable energy credits from a wind farm in Cadillac, MI.

Jack Harrison | Staff Editor “I ask you, a citizen, to tell your story about how Right to Repair could affect you,” senior Surya Raghavendran has displayed on his petition page. But here’s how it affects him and what he’s doing about it. Raghavendran owns SKR Screen Repair, which he opened several years ago. He has been able to grow his business, providing readily adequate services to residents in the community and to Huron students. But Right to Repair is a recent obstacle that has consumed much of his time and applies to not just his business. “Right to Repair affects everyone, from farmers who work with tractors and combine harvesters to the mechanics that fix cars and trucks,” Raghavendran said. Right to Repair allows for any individual to open, service, or repair a consumer product that the individual purchased. Raghavendran explained the issue using referencing a car. For instance, if a windshield breaks, the owner can consult a private company, rather than going to the dealership. However, with an iPhone for example, most services can only be done by servicers that Apple provides the code reader to, which explains where and how the repairs can be made. “Right to Repair would allow third parties to purchase and use a code

Raghavendran met with Senator Warren to discuss the issue and possible legislation at her Ann Arbor office. “It’s up to the manufacturers to disclose device schematics, diagnostic equipment, and replacement parts to all that request it,” he told her. Photo provided by Raghavendran.

reader,” Raghavendran said. Raghavendran is advocating for this legislation because of how it affects his business, as well as other small businesses in repairing industries. “Small Businesses are the backbone of any economy; a large percentage of this economy revolves around the repair of consumer electronics,” Raghavendran said. He further explained that phone-repairing businesses have to raid software and parts to fix products. But Right to Repair can also benefit the en-

vironment. “I have seen the effects of e-waste double or triple in my lifetime, and e-waste is quickly becoming a problem in many places,” Raghavendran added. “Right to repair would help extend the life of these devices and keep more of them out of landfills.” But Raghavendran hasn’t just identified the need for Right to Repair. He’s doing something about it. He first started an online petition to render support for Right to Repair in See more | Page 2


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