GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOLNORTH POINTE

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2013S I N C E 1 9 6 8

IDEAS

I knew I would never mIss hIgh school. But I never knew that,

regardless, I’d Be leavIng somethIng,

If not everythIng,

BehInd.Page 7

BOYS LACROSSETonight, 7 p.m. vs Orchard Lake St. Mary’s at North.

PROMSaturday, May 11 at 7 p.m. at The Roostertail

SOFTBALLMonday, May 13 at 4:30 p.m. vs Dakota at North.

GIRLS SOCCERMonday, May 13 at 4 p.m. vs Stevenson at North.

GIRLS LACROSSETuesday, May 14 at 7 p.m. vs. Liggett at Liggett.

SPRING CHOIR CONCERT

Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18 at 7 p.m. in the PAC.

ART SHOWBegins Monday, May 20, ends Friday, in the lobby.

SENIOR CITIZEN PROM

Thursday, May 23 at 5 p.m. in the cafeteria.

© 2013 North Pointe Volume 45, Issue 14

LIFETake a look into guys’ fashion and the price they pay for their beloved labels.

Page 8

Please recycle after reading.Thank you!

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New teacher contract lays down tutorial guidelines: weekly checkups on students’ grades are requiredBy Andrea ScapiniassistaNt editor

The concept of an independent-study tutorial is taking on a new, less independent meaning.

The newly-ratified district contract between the Grosse Pointe Education Association (GPEA) and the School Board provides a section specifi-cally regarding high school tutorial.

Along with creating and maintaining “an environment that is academically focused for all students,” the contract states that tutorial teachers are also expected to “consult weekly with each student regarding his/her general academic progress, including grades in class-es.”

In preparation for next year’s mandatory abidance to this rule, many teachers are be-ginning to follow it fourth quarter as a pilot.

“Next year we’re all going to have to do this, so right now we want to find out what works well or what are some things we can do to fix other parts rather than start fresh next year and say, ‘Oh well let’s try this,’” interim Assis-tant Principal Michael Spears said. “Now we

will have tried it, and those teachers will give the rest of the staff feedback and ideas to make it better.”

Classes are taking different approaches. Junior Eleni Doherty’s tutorial has a system of documenting weekly tutorial goals. More independently-minded students such as Doherty view this as too much of an inconve-nience to be beneficial.

“It takes up time from tutorial. I feel like I’m in fifth grade writing down goals for the week. I don’t need a teacher telling me whether my grades are good or not,” Doherty said. “I have Pinnacle email me when my grades are bad. I don’t need my teacher to tell me. Other teach-ers only know my grade for their class, so it’s just weird to have (my tutorial teacher) know all of my grades.”

Other students agree and think that the new rules will not change current study habits.

“I don’t think it’s effective. If a student is go-ing to do their work, then they’re going to do it. A worksheet won’t change that,” sophomore Katie Roy said. “It seems like something that should be used more for kids that never stay on task and need to be more disciplined instead of a whole classroom that’s pretty much always focused.”

On the other hand, some students find value in the enforcement of unplugging the headphones and staying off Twitter to focus on school work.

“It’s a good way to make sure kids are kept

up with their grades. It can be very beneficial to someone who doesn’t have the best grades. The tutorial teacher can help you out to see if there needs to be any help in any subject,” sophomore David Gerlach said.

Social studies teacher Sean McCarroll is one who is taking part in the change this quarter.

“It is a little inconvenient because I get 30 grade reports to review and sign and all that, but I can see it’s important,” McCarroll said. “I have a seventh-hour tutorial so a lot of times people just sit here on their phones and they’re not do-ing much, so it’s almost kind of a waste of time for them. I could see why it’s important especial-ly because then we sit down and they’re held ac-countable for actually getting their stuff done.”

The new enforcement of the tutorial rules may alter the way students decide to schedule next year, but it is still unclear what effect this will have.

“We don’t know how this will affect student’s scheduling in the future. Will it increase tuto-rial? Will it decrease it? We don’t know. If I had to speculate, I would guess that there would be a slight decrease in tutorials when they know that there’s that expectation,” Spears said. “At the same time, I think some students may take tuto-rials knowing that they will be more guaranteed in the environment that they can work well.”

SEE EDITORIAL Page 7

Links program builds upperclassman leader-ship, freshmen receive guidanceBy Dayle Maas & Marie Bourkeeditor & assistaNt editor

Frazzled and doe-eyed, freshmen are left to wan-der the halls on their first day of high school without knowledge of where to go or what to do. The upper-classmen seem to have this “high school” thing down, flitting around the hallways with speed and an air of superiority.

Enter: Link Crew.Link Crew is an international program that assigns

a leader to a group of freshmen to help them acclimate to the culture of high school.

“It breaks down the walls – breaks down the com-forts – but it’s really quick. The goal is to get them to realize ‘Hey, this is what I do in my life, and if I make school a better place, it’s gonna be a more enjoyable ex-perience,’” English teacher Joe Drouin said.

Chemistry teacher Kristen Lee said the only com-mand freshmen are given on their first day is “Go, you’re in high school now,” and they don’t receive much other explanation. She wants freshmen to have some-thing more than a planner and a list of rules to guide them through high school.

“I think being an upperclassman, you can think of things like ‘Oh, I wish I had known that’ or ‘Oh, I wish someone had helped me with that,’” Lee said. “As fresh-men, I think they’re kind of afraid to talk to teachers sometimes, so they have someone else to talk to.”

Drouin, who just attended a training conference for the program, said Link Crew is much more than help-ing freshmen.

“The misconception is that it’s geared towards fresh-men,” Drouin said. “As the whole process goes, it puts a lot of onus on the juniors and seniors, or the Link lead-ers, and they get to really create the culture of the school, and it gives them some ownership in the school. It gives them a vested interest in where the school’s going.”

Teachers heard about the program through the PLC Monday meetings.

“I can’t say for anyone else, but I was looking for something to get involved in with students outside of the classroom. I teach some freshmen, not a lot, but I wanted to be able to help them,” Lee said.

The program will start with next fall’s freshman class of about 350. Current sophomores and juniors have submitted applications to be chosen as one of the 70 student leaders. Two student leaders will be assigned to 10 freshmen.

“We’re kinda tackling two ends of the scale here. We’re trying to help all the freshmen, but we’re also building leadership skills, which is why I think it’s such a great program,” social studies teacher Sean McCarroll said.

CONTINuED ON page 2

Can a smart phone be too smart?By Chris Elliott & Erica Lizzastaff reporter & iNterN

In a world where technology advances ex-ponentially on a daily basis, users have been long pondering who is utilizing the informa-tion they choose to release. But users now risk the possibility of jeopardizing their privacy without knowing it by simply posting a picture.

NBC Action News recently reported that smartphones attach a geotag to each photo posted when the device’s Location Servic-es are turned on, giving the exact location of where the photo was taken. With this in mind, senior Christian Carlsen has decided to take extra precautions to ensure that his location is private.

“I don’t have my photo map on for that reason because I don’t want people to know where I take pictures. I feel like any time you turn on Location Services, you’re exposing yourself to the Internet, and anyone can find out stuff about you that you don’t want them to. My Instagram is on private. I feel that keeps you safer from random people following you and using your information to harm you,” Carlsen said.

Once the device’s camera Location Services are turned off, photos taken with that device no longer have a geotag, NBC Action News reported.

Interim Assistant Principal Michael Spears is aware of scenarios in which giving out gen-eral location information could be dangerous.

“You have apps like Foursquare, for ex-ample. Foursquare can be very dangerous because people link things like Twitter and Facebook accounts to it. So let’s say I check in at North on Foursquare. Somebody can go on Foursquare and see who is at Grosse Pointe North High School. They can click on my pro-file – and perhaps I have linked my Facebook to it – so there’s a link where you could see it, if that profile is public. You could find out a lot of things about me. You could find out that I’m not home,” Spears said. “So, to me, the Location Services are more real-time dangers. It’s the personal users. It’s the potential for cyber-stalking or personal safety being compromised.”

Another growing fear among users is that software companies – such as Apple, Android and HTC – constantly collect location data, regardless of whether Location Services are turned on. Following their investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported that as an iPhone was moved from place to place, the device “con-tinued to collect location data from new places” even after Location Services were turned off.

Freshman Andrew Nurmi is wary of such data collection because of his uncertainty be-hind why the data is retrieved in the first place.

“I think it’s kind of creepy,” Nurmi said. “The way I see it, where I go should be my business. I don’t think that they would keep track of my location with malicious intent, but I feel that it is still weird and unnecessary for them to know where I am. Honestly, I don’t see the point of them doing it, and I think it is wrong.”

CONTINuED ON page 2

Contract yields new tutorial expectations and guidelines

MARIA LIDDANE

adjust your privacy settings and choose which apps have access to your location by changing settings in your iPhone (top) or android (bottom).

2 – Friday, May 10, 2013 – North Pointe

FIVE MINUTES WITH

Athletic secretary Laura Huff

NEWS

JeFFrey ValeNtic

Athletic secretary Laura Huff thought she wanted to be a special education teacher but switched to athletics.

If there’s one place you would really want to go, where would it be?New Zealand. that’s one place that i think would be beautiful, and they have rugby there, and we’re a rugby family.

Do you have any other hobbies?My husband and i have a band, and i sing in our band.We play at Fishbones in St. clair Shores, and we do festivals. We’re gonna be at cafes and the Motor city casino and stuff like that, too.

When you were younger, did you know that you wanted to be around sports?i started going to school to be a special ed teacher. i was a counselor for cBt (camp Begin together)... so i did that for a few summers, and that’s what i wanted to do.

Would you travel to a different country for sports?i would love to. We took my son’s rugby team to ireland. We went for a whole week and played three international matches and had three training sessions with coaches and stuff, so it was cool.

Link CrewContinued from page 1

“We’re kinda tackling two ends of the scale here. We’re trying to help all the fresh-men, but we’re also building leadership skills, which is why I think it’s such a great program,” social studies teacher Sean Mc-Carroll said.

Activities throughout the school year will be organized for freshmen and student leaders.

“When they come in that first day, they’re going to have a half-day with their Link lead-ers, getting to know each other and pump-ing everyone up. I think as long as we get in-vested in their first day, that they’ll want to come (to more), or that’s our hope,” Lee said.

Current freshman Marissa Segovia said if the program had begun this year, she doesn’t think a lot of freshmen would have followed it, including herself.

“It depends on the activities. It depends on the view of the person I’m assigned to. It depends on how they go about doing it, in a way like ‘You need to do this,’ or ‘You need to do that,’” Segovia said.

“As with any new program, there is bound to be some resistance by the stu-dents. One of the mottos of Link Crew is

‘Challenge by Choice,’” Drouin said. “Some incoming freshmen may choose to be un-involved, but if they choose to not be part of a positive experience, it is their choice to not challenge themselves to become better students and, eventually, better members of the community.”

Junior Sydney Rozycki, a potential stu-dent leader, said she would have appreci-ated a program like this as a freshman and wants incoming freshmen to be comfort-able in high school.

“I hope to help the freshmen accomplish confidence and that they can do anything they put their minds to. No opt out,” she said. “Specifically, I want them to know that every single grade counts towards their en-trance to college, so they should work hard no matter what type of friend influences are around them.”

Though only those leaders selected from the pool of applicants and incoming fresh-men will be involved next year, Link Crew’s goal is to have school-wide involvement in future years.

“Link Crew is a huge endeavor,” Drouin said. “The first year it will affect about one-third of the student population; after three years, 100% of the student population at GPN will be affected by the program.”

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Tracking servicesContinued from page 2

According to the oft-ignored Apple iOS 6.0 user agreement, when Location Ser-vices are turned on, “the location data and queries collected by Apple are collected in a form that does not personally identify you.” Apple states in this agreement that “You may withdraw this consent at any time by going to the Location Services set-ting on your iOS Device and either turn-ing off the global Loca-tion Services setting or turning off the individual location settings of each location-aware item on your iOS Device.”

Critics of location tracking note the prac-tice is contrary to the iOS Software agreement, so it is difficult for users to de-cide whether or not Apple is actually collecting in-formation without con-sent.

In his own research, Spears noticed the paranoia in software company location tracking.

“It’s a hard topic to talk about. What’s out there is a bunch of people’s opinions. It was hard for me to sift out what was fact and what was not,” Spears said.

While Spears recognizes the risks of lo-cation tracking, he sees a greater privacy controversy in each individual’s digital footprint (the total data each person re-leases to the Internet) and how advertis-ing companies use this to their advantage.

“It’s not just Location Services, it’s pri-

vate information in general. The more a company knows about you, the more they will target advertising to you. We have a capitalist country, and people are taking advantage. They don’t think there’s any-thing wrong with it,” Spears said.

“The danger is with individual use. I don’t think that the majority of companies that collect data from Location Services are doing us any harm. I think if anything, it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. They earn money, you get services that are more targeted to your needs, likes, wants. It’s the individual users who find out

where you are or follow you.”Carlsen, however, still sees

this as an invasion of privacy.“I feel like they shouldn’t

have the right to go through our posts and use our per-sonal information to ma-nipulate us into buying their products. I know they are le-gally allowed to do it because not everything is set on pri-vate, but it’s just ethically not right,” Carlsen said.

Whether users find these marketing behaviors inva-

sive is a matter of perception; but ulti-mately, the choice is in their hands, Spears explained:

“This is a philosophical thing for a lot of people, their idea of what privacy is. A lot of people don’t want people to know where they are or anything. They turn off all that stuff. But a lot of people want it out there. I have friends who use all of those things. To me, it’s a personal choice. It’s more about being aware of what could happen, and that in certain circumstanc-es, there is danger.”

By Wendy Ishmakustaff reporter

Her mind is on marathons. It doesn’t matter if athletic secretary Laura Huff is buried in documents, accounting infor-mation and physical forms every day. She wants to be active.

In addition to playing softball and golf and occasionally hiking, Huff has spent the past 15 years doing what she loves: traveling around the country to bike and run in different marathons.

Huff has been staying active throughout her life and says her family has influenced that greatly.

“We used to do a lot of camping, and so in turn, we’d hike. I never was a runner in high school or anything like that. I played on a travel team for softball in school.”

She always wanted her kids to stay fit so Huff had to be a good role model and keep up her athleticism.

“I’m actually doing a half marathon ... It’s in Indianapolis, and it’s called the ‘Mini in Indi,’” Huff said.

In the past, Huff has traveled as far as Richmond, Virginia and will travel to New Mexico to compete with her husband this fall.

“We’re both gonna do the Zoo-De-Mack bike race coming up in May as well, so we’re gonna do a 50-mile bike ride. It’s a lot short-er than you think because you’re gonna be going anywhere from 15 mph to 17 mph de-pending on the roads and how many people you’re running with, and we stop for lunch in between. The ride itself would probably take about 3 or 4 hours,” Huff said.

She says the best way to keep herself mo-tivated and participating in athletic events is by always signing up for new races.

“That’s what keeps (my husband and I) going at it harder because I know that the last few weeks I’ve been out running 5-8 miles every other day trying to get ready for this 13-mile this weekend,” Huff said. “So having that carrot out there re-ally helps motivate me to keep trying.”

“I feel like they shouldn’t have the right to go through

our posts and use our personal information to manipulate us into

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Great Frame Up showcases art students

On April 24, art students from North and South participated in the Great Frame Up Cre-ative Self Expression Show. Heather Burgess, owner of The Great Frame Up on Mack Avenue, sponsors the art show each April.

“In her store, she collects 20 artworks to be framed from North and 20 from South. Then she frames them for the students for free, and then she puts them up in her store,” art teacher Robert Thies said.

Students whose artwork was chosen have a chance to win $50. A chosen winner’s artwork will go to the national Great Frame Up show. There, the winner could win $5,000 and a trip to New York to work with an artist.

“It is a juried show, so the work is judged go-ing into the show because we are only allowed five drawings, five paintings, so only five in each category,” Thies said.

This year’s winners were: Grace Tallerek (Painting Best in Show), Jordan Jackson (Draw-ing Best in Show), Kaylee Dall (Sculpture/3D Best in Show), Breanna Cochran (Photography Best in Show) and Tess Kolp (Graphic Design Best in Show).

DECA international finalist qualifies

Seven DECA members traveled to Ana-heim, Calif. last week to participate in DECA’s International Career Development Confer-ence. Juniors Grant Strobl, Brigitte Smith and John Kusch along with seniors Joe Dueweke, Kim Cusmano, Matt Giacona and Jackie Ber-ndtson were accompanied by their DECA adviser Michelle Davis and her sister, Joanne Truza. All seven members participated in var-ious skill-building events over the trip, such as taking written tests and role playing busi-ness situations. Giacona walked away as an international finalist.

For fun, the group went to Disneyland and also traveled into Hollywood for a day, where they saw a taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and got the chance to meet Tom Cruise on the set.

“Walking around Disneyland and hearing kids shout ‘DECA!’ is a very unique experi-ence,” Berndston said, adding that meeting Cruise was the highlight of the trip.

“It was very bittersweet to finish my DECA career after four years. DECA is something I’d recommend to every student – it prepares us for the business world, and it’s just a lot of fun.”

Seniors go Motown for last concert

The choir will showcase their seniors at the Motown-themed concert May 17 and 18. Each of the 36 seniors in choir will be given an op-portunity to sing a solo.

“I hope all of them (perform). Not all of the seniors always choose to sing a solo, which I’m totally fine with. They can if they want. If not, it’s not a requirement,” choir director Ben Henri said.

Senior Catherine Gattari is a four-year mem-ber of the choir. She is singing “Laurie’s Song” by Aaron Copland.

“It has to do with graduation, so it fit, and I listen to rap music, so I didn’t really think go-ing on stage with “Make it Nasty” was a good idea,” Gattari said.

She believes that her four years and hard work has earned her a solo.

“I think that you need to work for it, and it shouldn’t just be handed to you, but it’s a good opportunity that if you want a solo your senior year, you get an opportunity,” she said.

Class of 2014 hosts garage sale

The Class of 2014 will be holding a garage sale and bake sale on Saturday, May 18 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in North’s main parking lot.

“Our parents and class members initiated the idea,” 2014 class adviser Frank Tymrak said.

“We decided on a garage sale because it’s something different, and it appeals to a lot of people,” junior class president Michelle Austin said.

The low expense of holding a garage sale also drew the class to this fundraiser.

“A lot of people have a bunch of stuff that they don’t need and can get rid of. So instead of buying something new, and having that as an expense, we’re getting all free stuff that people are getting rid of, so it’s at like no expense for us,” Austin said.

The main goal of this event is to offset the costs of senior year.

“We don’t have a specific goal … Hopefully enough to make up for what we didn’t make at MORP,” Austin said.

By Sara Villani, Rachel Cullen, Kim Cusmano & Sydney Thompson

North Pointe – Friday, May 10, 2013 – 3

Faces in the crowd

Frappe Friday chills down students as the weather heats up

on campus

Zach WerenskiAlthough hockey started

as something to simply oc-cupy his time, sophomore Zach Werenski now has the chance to achieve the dream of many hockey players as he joins the U.S. Men’s National Hockey Team.

Werenski said his am-bition helped him push forward and that he is always looking to improve. “My dad put me in hockey from an ad in the paper he saw,” Werenski said. Werenski has been offered a verbal contract to play with the University of Michigan’s Men’s Hockey Team after he completes his high school career.

However, he is left with another opportunity to play with the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) after high school as well. Werenski was drafted earlier by the Knights. He was 24th overall as a second-round pick. “It’s an even race right now,” Werenski said. Werenski said he still has two years to deter-mine where to go and which opportunity will be best for him in the end.

Hoping to go far in his hockey career, We-renski wants to reach The National Hockey League (NHL). Werenski said he is departing from his Norseman life and transferring to Ann Arbor Pioneer High School next year to be closer to the National Team, which resides in Ann Arbor.

Laurel KreuterFreshman Laurel Kreuter

always finds time to write in her room about her life’s experiences in pleasant soli-tude, despite the fact that she said she would otherwise be with friends. But, the time shared with friends is what influences her to write.

Kreuter said she has a range of writing top-ics, from ideas about her obsessions – fashion and music – to the stray thoughts she wants to capture while spending time with her friends.

“When it’s warm outside, we all go out on the trampoline at night, lay on the trampo-line, and we literally talk about the most ran-dom things ever,” Kreuter said.

Despite spending afternoons making mem-ories with her friends, Kreuter still finds time to document her endeavors through writing.

“Whatever comes into my head, I just need to write it down on paper, or else I forget it and get really mad at myself.”

Emily SurzynPlaying the role of a cho-

rus townsperson, Emily Surzyn’s performed her first musical in Brigadoon.

Despite being her first play, Brigadoon should just the start to Surzyn’s theater career. She plans to audition for the Grosse Pointe The-ater’s summer play Gypsy. Along with that, she wants to do the school play at North next year.

Brigadoon taught work ethic that Surzyn said she was not previously acquainted with.

“We had rehearsal every day after school for three hours, for three months,” Surzyn said.

But Surzyn said making new friends ulti-mately warranted all of her hard work.

“I really liked bonding with everyone be-cause when you spend that much time with everyone, everyday, you become close to ev-eryone. It was just nice to have such good companionship with everyone.”

She describes the feeling of seeing that last curtain closing, “bittersweet.”

“You’re really happy that it’s over with so you don’t have that much stress anymore, but at the same time you’re kind of sad because it’ll be the last time you ever perform that.”

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The school day caf-feine demand has now been met with lunchtime frappuc-cinos. The Italian Club and Class of 2016 are providing a midday pick-me-up to get students through the rest of the day.

TOP LEFT: Sophomore Michael Marchiori pours the coffee mix into a bowl with ice. “Mainly Mrs. (Pat) Gast came up with the idea, but we helped develop it into something that can help fundraise for both causes,” Marchiori said.

BOTTOM LEFT: “it’s a creative and new way to raise money for the freshman class,“ fresh-man Vickie Blaine said. Blaine and fellow fresh-man Nicole Valenzano pour frappuccino mix into cups to be sent to customers.

BELOW: “I love frappuc-cinos, and I really think it’s going to catch on,” junior Marty Brown said. Brown puts sugar and other toppings onto his frappuccino.

BOTTOM: “it’s a really good idea, something different, that a lot of people would like,” freshman Stephanie Go-doshian said. Godoshian and freshman Sydney Eger hand cups to customers after adding desired toppings.

By Anu Subramaniamstaff reporter

4 – Friday, May 10, 2013 – North Pointe SPORTS

SeniOR’S TRack SeaSOn cuT ShORT

Senior Danny Ciaravino’s high school running career has come to an unfor-tunate halt. After suffering an ankle injury, Ciaravino was forced to put his running shoes back on the shelf.

“I tore a liga-ment in my right ankle to such an extent that the bone on one end of the ligament was fractured off, being pulled by the ligament,” Ci-aravino said. “I was skateboarding, did a varial kickflip (several times success-fully) and on the last time, landed on the side of my ankle with all my weight.”

Currently going through physical therapy, Ciaravino has had to come to terms with the possibility of an end to his final track season at North.

“It was certainly difficult to deal with initially. The fact that I will most likely not finish my senior track season was not an easy truth to accept,” Ciaravino said.

“However, I realized that I had an im-portant choice to make: either continue to be upset, bitter and destructive or stay positive, look forward, and real-ize I’m still running in college, and do everything I can to make the best of this unfortunate occurrence. I chose the latter.”

Though challenging, Ciaravino stays positive about his situation and looks forward to his future running career at either Aquinas College or Wayne State University.

“My desire is to race at least one more time before my high school career is through,” Ciaravino said. “Even if the rest of this doesn’t work out the way I’d like it to, I’m still running in college, so through this all, I still have something to look forward to.”

TRaveRSe ciTy SOcceR TOuRnamenT

The girls varsity soccer team played in the Traverse City Soccer Invitational

Tournament May 4 and went unde-feated, beating Traverse City West 4-1, Traverse City Central 7-1, and Holland High 2-1.

Regina also went undefeated, but the tournament did not have a championship round as the games will count as part of the regular season in preparation for playoffs.

The team left school at noon on May 3 in order to be at practice at 6 p.m. and prepare for the games the next day.

“We’re just playing a three-game tournament to improve on our skills and get better. Also, I think our coach wants us to build team bonding,” ju-nior Andi Held said beforehand.

“We’ve had a slow start, but we’ve been working harder and getting stronger as a team and really improv-ing. We’re hoping this tournament will help showcase our skills.”

Three players from every team were chosen by the coaches for the Tourna-ment Team to honor the players that had the most impact on their games. The three girls chosen from North were seniors Chrisa Kouskoulas, Kim Cusmano and Emily Armbruster.

“Christa Kouskoulas scored 10 goals and, in my opinion, was the best player of the whole tournament on any team,” coach Skip Mukhtar said. “Kim Cusma-no scored one goal and had 2 assists. Emily Armbruster also had a really good tournament overall.”

By Amanda Berry & Sarah Schade

QuickhiT S

SEAN O’MElIA

By Izzy Ellery & Mallika Kannegantiassistant editor & staff reporter

When junior Tom Vismara visited Taco Bell with his mom in eighth grade, he didn’t know that his athletic career would soon be affected. There, he read a sign incorrectly, drawing attention to his impaired vision.

After a trip to an eye doctor, Vismara was diagnosed with keratoconus, a condition that causes the cornea of his eye to form a cone-like bulge, worsening his vision. His father has the same condition in one eye, but Tom has it in both.

Vismara plans to have a procedure in July called collagen cross linking, which should stabilize his corneas so the condition doesn’t worsen. If the procedure is unsuccessful, he will eventually receive a cornea transplant in his adulthood.

Vismara currently copes using eye drops and hard contacts. He uses the drops at least five times a day to moisturize his eyes. The hard contacts help improve his distorted vi-sion, as soft contacts and glasses are useless against keratoconus.

His condition made baseball difficult for him, prompting him to quit. After quitting, he decided to pursue tennis and golf, sports that weren’t impacted as much by his condi-tion.

“When someone hit a ball, I couldn’t see it, so that kinda makes it difficult. I mean, in some sports like baseball and stuff ... I proba-bly wouldn’t have (been able to reach my full potential as an athlete), but for golf, it defi-nitely makes it harder, but I can still be pretty good at it,” Vismara said.

This golf season, though, he was in for a change, finding that his vision had worsened since last season. The MHSAA (Michigan High School Athletic Association) approved of Tom having a spotter – usually a parent – follow him and give visual information, such

as the location of the ball and the flagstick.Vismara’s spotter and his coaches have

made dealing with keratoconus easier.“My coaches have been really supportive

through it, really, and if I mess up because of my eyes, they never hold it against me or anything, and they try to help me as much as they can,” Vismara said.

Varsity golf coach Brian Stackpoole takes pride in his player.

“He took a huge step last year, and he’s been playing really well this year as far as his ball striking,” Stackpoole said. “I think it’s definitely an adjustment for him. Earlier in the season, it was something that he really had to get used to playing with. I think he’s

really come through in that way.”Stackpoole also sees the positive impact it

has left on Vismara and the team.“It just makes me so proud to see someone

who wants to work so hard and is willing to overcome adversity because he just loves playing golf,” Stackpoole said.

It may seem like the condition would only worsen his athletic ability, but Vismara has been able to acknowledge the positive effects.

“It’s helped me, like, persevere through things and make me work harder, and I found different things that I liked that won’t change with my eyes. I can do them no matter how bad they get,” Vismara said.

SEAN O’MElIA

Junior stays focused despite eye condition

BReann Reveley, Oakland univeRSiTy, vOlleyBallNorth Pointe: How long have you been playing volleyball?Breann Reveley: I have been playing volleyball since I was in

third grade. I started out playing for the Neighborhood Club and then when I was in fourth grade I was on the fifth and sixth grade CYO team for Star of the Sea.

NP: Why did you start playing volleyball?Reveley: It looked like a fun sport and when I was little I liked to

try every sport. Plus a lot of my friends were playing.NP: What do you most like about playing volleyball?Reveley: That’s a hard question. I just really love the sport and

the doors it has opened for me and all the people I have met and formed friendships with. Volleyball is my happy place. I love to be in the gym either playing or coaching. It’s just such a fun sport.

NP: What position do you play?Reveley: I am a rightside hitter and an outside hitter.NP: Who has been your biggest influence to play?Reveley: My parents have been my biggest influence to play.

They really encouraged me to try out and play and I ended up lov-ing it. They continue to influence me to play. Also, my sister, she al-ways pushes me to get better and always expects the best out of me.

NP: What was your first reaction to Oakland?Reveley: I really liked Oakland. Its a great school with a beauti-

ful campus and very strong academics and sports. I kept learning more about Oakland and I kept falling in love with the school and all it had to offer.

NP: What made you chose Oakland?Reveley: I chose Oakland because I absolutely love my coaches

and teammates and the school. It was just the right fit for me.NP: What is the hardest aspect of volleyball?Reveley: One of the hardest parts is probably having to learn

how to read the other side when they hit. You have to learn to watch their arms, elbows, body movement and their arm swings so you can be in the right place to dig the ball.

“We all get along really well and have pasta parties before our big games,” junior Phoebe Dodge said. “It was our first time there. We won all three games.”

COURTESy OF THE qUAIN FAMIly

Junior Tom Vismara was diagnosed with an eye condition affecting the cornea called keratoco-nus. “It hasn’t really like been all negative, like most of the time it doesn’t even bother me … I definitely try to (ignore it) as much as possible, to not let it bother me. I mean sometimes it still gets frustrating but like it doesn’t usually bother me,” Vismara said.

kiT maheR, alBiOn cOllege, lacROSSeNorth Pointe: How long have you been playing lacrosse?Kit Maher: I’ve been playing since freshmen year.NP: Why did you start playing lacrosse?Maher: I heard about lacrosse on North’s announcements

freshman year and thought I’d go to conditioning to see if I liked it. I was scared because I had no idea how to play, but I went any-way and ended up loving it.

NP: What position do you play?Maher: I play either defensive or offensive middie. It switches.NP: Who has been your biggest influence to play?Maher: I’m most inspired by my sister, Laine. She’s a D1 var-

sity rower for Wisconsin and has this amazing competitive spirit. She’s driven by her will to succeed and never gives up. Whenever I’m in a tough practice or game I think of what Laine would do, and it makes me play that much harder.

NP: Why do you love lacrosse so much?Maher: I like lacrosse because it’s fast paced. I’ve been playing

for four years now, and there’s never been a moment when I’ve been bored. It always keeps me interested. I’m so grateful I get to continue playing the sport I love in college.

NP: What was your first reaction to Albion?Maher: Albion wasn’t really on my radar when applying to col-

leges. I would have never guessed I’d be going there, but when I visited I fell in love with the school and made strong connections with the players and coaches. Sometimes the things you least ex-pect in your life turn out to be just what you’re looking for, and that’s what I found at Albion.

NP: What is the hardest aspect of lacrosse?Maher: For middies, you have to run back and forth a lot to play

defense and offense, so running back and forth is the hardest part for me, the endurance throughout the game, and to keep pushing even when you’re really really tired.

Senior girls sign this week to play college sports

Girls tennisVarsity: 2 matches & 1 tournament

JV: 4 matches,10 practices Girls lacrosse

Varsity: 3 gamesJV: 3 gamesGirls soccer

Varsity: 1 gameJV: 1 game

Freshmen: 2 games, 5 practices

“It has been difficult to say the least. It’s hard to simulate and practice field events and hurdles in the snow, sleet and rain... you don’t want an athlete to get hurt when doing so. We’ve had more

than usual indoor practices and pool workouts than in years past.”

Track coach Bruce Bentley

Track2 meets

Invitational

“We’ve only had four or five practices outside on the courts, and so they aren’t able to develop as much. We really just need that time to work on skills and improve, but there’s nothing you can do about the weather.”

JV tennis coach Anne Foster

Cancellations cool down the spring seasonDue to some un-spring-like weather this season, most sports have had to cancel multiple practices, games and matches.

By Jennifer Kusch staff reporter

By Sean O’Meliastaff reporter

AllISON Fly SEAN O”MElIA

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By Caelin Micks & Katelyn Carney

InTerns

To go, or not to go?

Senior Logan Hart found common ground between himself and senior Catherine Gattari: Shakespeare.

“He just walked in, and I thought he was just in there because he has first hour with Mr. Young, and then once he started reading, I realized,” Gattari said.

Utilizing his flair for dra-matics and playing on the inevitably romantic feel of Shakespeare, Hart recited a sonnet to Gattari in front of their entire class.

“When he was reading, I wasn’t listening. I was just like, ‘I can’t believe this (is) really happening.’ I was just so shocked,” Gattari said.

Spray on to ask out

When senior Jack Guest thought up his idea to ask

longtime girlfriend junior Barbara Allor to prom he was apprehensive.

“I didn’t like it at first, but then I thought it was pretty cool because no one has ever done it,” Guest said.

Guest decided to use Al-lor’s job at Total Tan as a starting point when he popped the question by spray tanning “Prom?” across his stomach.

Allor was quite surprised at how he asked her to prom, but she knew it was bound to happen eventually.

“She didn’t really know, I mean we talked about it a little bit, but it was a pretty good surprise,” Guest said.

Just for kicks: friends go to prom

Senior Jack Stapleton found something senior Christa Kouskoulas lives for – soccer – and then did some-thing out of the ordinary. “I didn’t do the normal ‘ask the friend out.’ I just went and did it because I am a rebel,” Stapleton said.

Gluing gems to an item that represented her pas-sion Stapleton devised this to be the perfect idea. “He gave me a soccer ball that was pink and purple –

very cute – and it had “Prom?” bedazzled on it,” Kouskoulas said. “I love Jack. He is such a good human being.”

Life

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CaTHERiNE GaTTaRi

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHRiSa KOUSKOUlaS PHOTOS COURTESY OF JESSiCa GaBEl

Jumbo promAfter two years of dat-

ing, senior Patrick Lane and junior Jessica Gabel are fi-

nally going to prom together. Lane asked her on the Jum-botron at the Joe Louis Arena during a Red Wings hockey game.

“I kinda thought he was planning something, but I wasn’t like positive, so it was still a surprise,” Gabel said.

Since he knew Jessica would say yes, Patrick had little anxiety at the game leading up to the moment when the slide came on screen.

Lane’s prom proposal was not an original, but to Gabel, it was a cute and creative way to be asked.

“Konner Chartier asked (Brielle Ahee) to prom the same way, like two slides before me, so we were, like, already looking at it. So he, like, pointed out, and then mine came on,” Gabel said.

ReIncaRnated

D+Snoop Lion,

the artist-for-mer l y-k now n-as Snoop Dogg croons, “This gangsta life ain’t no longer in me” in his new song “Tired of Run-ning,” the latest

off his surprisingly off-kilter album Re-incarnated.

After being “born again” during a trip in Jamaica, the rapper traded in his gin and juice for the reggae sounds of the Rastafari movement. Even calling him-self the reincarnation of musical legend Bob Marley could not help justify the Rasta-tone on this confused album.

The majority of the songs are messy and repetitive. “Ashtrays and Heart-breaks,” featuring Miley Cyrus, is un-doubtedly the oddest collaboration of the many on Reincarnated.

“Rebel Way” is the most valiant at-tempt of the album to achieve the true Rasta vibe, but Snoop’s faux islander ac-cent mars the effort.

Songs like “Harder Times” and “The Good Good” are Jamaican-esque, but they are too edited and digitally en-hanced to possess the crucially raw feel of reggae.

My advice to Mr. Lion: either listen to some Marley and take notes, or drop it like it’s hot.

By Melina Glusac

Bee LeadeR

DWhen down-

loading the app “Bee Leader,” it’s not uncommon to become great-ly excited at the game’s vividly colorful cartoon graphics and the pretty, little yel-

low square that now graces your smart-phone’s home screen. But unfortunate-ly, that’s all this game is useful for.

The game starts by explaining the premise: you’re a bee collecting float-ing pollen in the sky and must avoid very obstacles. The app then launches you into its lagging controls and ulti-mately pointless game. The bee is ma-neuvered by a touch of the finger to col-lect pollen throughout daylight.

Unfortunately, the controls are slightly useless. If your phone lags, your finger is rendered an ineffective control. Your bee flies sporadically around, being hit by hawks and barrels and whatever other demonic object it feels like, losing points as it goes. For people who enjoy games that become possessed and play themselves, this may be a plus. However, I was slightly frustrated.

If there was any hype that existed for “Bee Leader,” it certainly didn’t live up to it. This game is a waste of space on anyone’s smartphone.

By Emma Ockerman

thR!!!eR

A- A genre called

“d a n c e -p u n k ” sounds like a contradiction in itself. As far as I know, the closest punk ever came to dance was a few lost teeth in a mosh pit,

but apparently through modern magic, dance-punk emerged.

The way the band !!! pulls it off is a me-lodic alternative to the crisp processed jerks of genres like house music, while still falling under the category of dance music.

With each new album, the sound of !!!, like any experimenting artist, grows stronger, but on Thr!!!er it comes with a price. Their sound is more solidified as a whole, but that could be a product of the band stepping towards pop music and away from what makes them unique.

While the song “One Girl/One Boy” may be good, easy to listen to and enjoy-able with its 70s disco beat and chorus vocals, the band loses its individuality in its sound.

It didn’t take many songs for me to go from “!!!” to “!!!!!” when the songs released on the singles came rolling through in the middle. I wasn’t especial-ly impressed by the ending, but that’s not to say the songs were bad.

By Jacob Barry

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AAll of the mu-

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ics, and an indie/alternative rock style. Each of the songs are good in their own way, but one stands out – Imagine Drag-ons’ “Ready Aim Fire.” With its haunt-ing lyrics chanted over clanging metal and crowd noises, the song provokes an emotional response unlike any other on the album.

Other songs on the album keep the same tone throughout the piece, but “Ready Aim Fire” seems to shift, sound-ing less like the last words of a trapped man and more like a call to change your fate.

Artists featured in this soundtrack are also breaking from their patterns. Atypi-cally dark lyrics and industrial sounds grace the tracks by bands that normally produce happier and poppier music. For instance, fans of Imagine Dragons may recognize the vocal style of their favor-ite band in “Ready Aim Fire,” but the lyr-ics and instrumental track sound more ominous yet more inspiring as well. And those who know Passion Pit for their hit song “Take a Walk,” may have a tough time believing that they produced the song “American Blood.”

By audrey kam

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reVIeWs

Upbringing inspires student’s musical path

By Natalie Skorupski & Dora JuhaszStaff reporter & intern

A life without music was never an op-tion for junior Krystian Quint. Growing up in a family of musicians, he’s always been surrounded by different forms of rock, in-cluding metal and punk.

“I was young when Krystian was born ,and as he grew, it was a great way for us to bond,” his father, David Quint, said. “I never intentionally pushed him towards music. I think I just listen to it a lot, and there was always a guitar around. He just gravitated towards music.”

Krystian transitioned from guitar to drums, but has been hooked on both ever since.

“He just had a natural instinct to play. Much more than I ever had. I took him to his first show around 6 or 7 years old, and

we still go to shows today,” David said. “The drums came a little later. I think at about 10 he asked, ‘Dad, I want to try drums,’ so I got him a set. Now he can jam on all three: guitar, bass, and drums.”

Messing around in some bands for fun and playing at the School of Rock, a club where people of all ages get together to play and learn from each other, Krystian’s focus and commitment continued to grow.

“After that closed, I just started play-ing on my own, and I used to record a lot of stuff by myself. I would just record it on my computer and I have a couple mics,” Krystian said.

Last year, Krystian got into what he calls his first “real” band called Blaire Alise and the Bombshells. The group is made up of four people; the lead female singer, Blaire, from Cranbrook, and an older guitarist

and bassist who Krystian had previously played with in other bands. Krystian plays lead drums and occasionally sings back-up vocals.

“I’ve gone to almost all of his shows,” Krystian’s girlfriend, senior Paige Pringle, said. “I love their music and I’m not just saying that because he’s my boyfriend or anything; their songs are really catchy. Blaire has an amazing voice and writes her own lyrics that are incredible.”

With help from the lead singer’s man-ager and publicist, these four have gotten several of their tracks on iTunes. While they do get 80% of the profits, most of it is put towards recording a full record. In May, the band is holding a release party at a records store, where they will be intro-ducing their first vinyl.

“I always encourage him in the things

he dreams for. I am proud of everything he has done, he never ceases to amaze me,” David said.

Although his current band is doing very well, Krystian is always looking for new opportunities, allowing himself to expe-rience everything across the music spec-trum.

“Music is my number one thing,” Krys-tian said. “I’m going to stay with my other band, but I have always just kind of want-ed to write my own stuff.”

No matter what road he takes, Krystian plans on continuing music in his future.

“Playing in this band has just really opened me up to a lot of new people in the industry,” he said. “So as long as I keep good relationships with them, I think I can keep playing for as long as I can.”

cOurtEsy OF krystian Quint

my turn

“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

OUR EDITORIAl

Next year, tutorials will be tightening down; teach-ers will be expected to be the proctors of more aca-demically minded 49-minute blocks for students. The news may make your iPhone-familiar hands stop in their tracks mid-text, and that’s exactly the point: As hesitant as we may be to put down the phones and set-tle into an “academically focused” tutorial (as phrased by the district’s new teacher contract), it really is the best environment – one that will hold us accountable for our academic progress.

Most sensibly, the new contract mandates that teachers “actively manage the tutorial period in order to create an environment that is academically focused for all students.” This is the basis of what an ideal tutorial hour should look like, anyway, for the 65% of North students who take one. The district’s 21st Cen-tury High School Review Team conducted a survey earlier this year, in which the most common reason students cited for taking a tutorial was to complete homework.

Yet, this ideal doesn’t even seem to be the represen-tative tutorial experience at North. At least, it doesn’t measure up in any quantifiable way. The 21st Century High School Review Team also found there are no correlations between tutorial participation and GPA or tutorial participation and AP course selection. What’s more, students are almost twice as likely to be absent from a tutorial than from an academic class.

For most students who have been in a tutorial here, none of this is particularly revelatory, but rather just some data points attached to a situation we encounter every day. Given this, it’s no wonder the new teachers’ contract sanctions change: In addition to the “aca-demically focused environment,” teachers will consult weekly with students about academic progress and be available for tutoring for students inside and outside of their own tutorial hour.

As a student, it may be tempting to argue these changes in terms of individual liberty, but to do so misses the point. It’s not a question of whether our time is being infringed upon to devote to purely aca-demic pursuits; “our time” is really the school’s time, anyway. Rather, we should examine whether these are fair, reasonable expectations for tutorial teachers and students, considering (what should be) our joint goal of academic progress.

For the most part, it is. Having someone to talk to regularly about the strengths and weaknesses of our Pinnacle grade sheets keeps us accountable, and sanctioning that teachers provide tutoring is equally sensible. For a student, these reforms could be the in-ception of a meaningful mentor relationship – some-thing hard to argue against.

Still, that means going about the changes with a good spirit; it’s easy to imagine the process of a teacher signing 30 pinnacle grade sheets as perfunctory, not to mention a nuisance to teachers. If the more hu-man, less mechanical mood of these changes could be captured, though (for example, making grade consul-tations bi-weekly, which would allow reasonable time to make grade improvements), the tutorial experience could advance greatly, and the procedure made less procedural.

In general, the new tutorial guidelines, if they’re carried out with the right energy, don’t seem unrea-sonable or restricting, but rather conducive to the goals of tutorial, and school in general: learning. If Socrates would have us believe the unexamined life isn’t worth living, then maybe the unexamined tuto-rial needs a revamp, too. Honest discussions about academic progress and consistent support from teach-ers are a reasonable way to do it.

North Pointe – Friday, May 10, 2013 – 7IDEAS

Maria LiddaneEditor-in-chiEf

Jordan RadkeEditor

Dayle MaasnEws Editor

Emma OckermanManaging Editor

Saying farewell to a weekend oasis

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Maria Liddane

EDITOR: Jordan Radke

MANAGING EDITOR: Emma Ockerman SECTION EDITORS: Dayle Maas, Kim Cusmano, Lauren Semack, Gabby Burchett ASSISTANT EDITORS: Kristen Kaled, Andrea Scapini, Libby Sumnik, Amanda Berry, Marie Bourke, Izzy Ellery

STAFF REPORTERS: Patricia Bajis, Colleen Reveley, Melissa Healy, Natalie Skorupski, Sara Villani, Rachel Cullen, Jacob Barry, Danae DiCicco, Sydney Thompson, Taylor White, Audrey Kam, Brigitte Smith, Melina Glusac, Jennifer Kusch, Courtney Veneri, Chris Elliott, Haley Reid, Sarah Schade, Jenna Belote, Emma Puglia, Jeffrey Valentic, Wendy Ishmaku, Anu Subramaniam, Caelin Micks, Katelyn Carney, Erica Lizza

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Caroline Schulte (Photo Editor), Emily Huguenin (Assistant Photo Edi-tor), Sean O’Melia, Kaylee Dall

INTERNS: Anna Hopkins, Brittney Hernan-dez, Carrie Rakowicz, Cydni Newman, Daijah

Williams, Dora Juhasz, Emily Martinbianco, Erin Armbruster, Miranda Barry, Olivia Pullen, Radiance Cooper, Mallika Kanneganti, Matt Stander, Luke Sturgill

The North Pointe is edited and produced by Advanced Journalism students at Grosse Pointe North High School and is published every two weeks. It is in practice a designated public forum without prior review. Com-ments 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 School System.

We are a member of the Michigan Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association, National Scholastic Press As-sociation 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 pur-chased. Our editorial policy and advertising rates are available online at myGPN.org. The North Pointe is printed on 100 percent recycled paper.

CONTACT US707 Vernier RoadGrosse Pointe Woods MI, 48236Phone: 313.432.3248Email: northpointe@gpschools.orgTwitter: @myGPN

FACULTY ADVISER: Shari Adwers, CJE

our editorial represents the opinion of the north Pointe Editorial Board consisting of the editors above and staff members

Melina glusac, audrey Kam and Jacob Barry.

My paradise is graffitied, and marches to the symphony of urethane wheels slapping waxed pavement. It’s where I abandoned the person I was trying desperately to be as a freshman – popular, feminine – and reveled in the person that existed in me since birth. Oak-land Vert (OV) was a skateboarder’s oasis, this I knew despite never having stepped foot on a skateboard.

It was my home.

But skate-boarders will have to kiss their beloved Sterling Heights ware-house goodbye tomorrow, May 11. I will be at prom when its doors finally close.

You couldn’t manufacture anything like this place. Within seconds of experiencing it for the first time my freshman year, a skate-board raced out of my blindspot and collided with my ankle, which immediately swelled. Laughing, a skateboarder promptly apolo-gized and told me to “take it like a man.” I did then, biting my lip as my ankle turned a vio-lent purple, and again for the next three years as I was hit in the ankle, arm, face, whatever was exposed and in the way.

I couldn’t sit anywhere without being cov-ered with an ample sheet of dust; I couldn’t escape the smell of sweating skateboarders if I tried. The only food available there was hot pockets and Twix bars, my adopted weekend diet. The girls bathroom was only frequented by me and my friend Paige, probably in the skate park’s entire history.

But I fell in love for the first time there, cried tears of joy at tricks that took hours to land and met my best friends.

I spent too many Friday nights there this year with my friends, lazily doodling with Sharpies on the ramps and walls with idle joy, like the kind brought about by having the house

to yourself on Sunday morning. Paige would draw daisies; I would draw skulls. We’d inscript whatever we were laughing about at that mo-ment on its dirty floor.

We felt we were making ourselves perma-nent when we covered OV with our Sharp-ie-thoughts. Now the owners tell me every graffitied piece of my existence that resided within it has to be painted over within the next month. Landlord’s orders.

Everything that was divine about be-ing reckless and youthful lived within those warehouse walls.

I guess we’re all saying goodbye to some-thing we associated with carefree teenage-dom tomorrow, it certainly isn’t just me. For my classmates at prom, it will occur during the last song of their high school dance, while grasping the notion that those they love now may become memories in college. For me, it will be the grimy misfits I called my best friends crying like children as they say good-bye to the place that gave us all a home on the weekends.

I never understood those middle-aged people who lived solely in the past, toting let-terman jackets and bumper stickers boasting their alma mater. I knew I would never miss high school. But I never knew that, regardless, I’d be leaving something, if not everything, behind.

Tomorrow at 12:00 a.m., I will exit senior prom with my other peers playing dress-up, wondering how much of their childhood they have left. Theirs may end at graduation, at their first day of college, or at the desk of their first real job. Mine dies with a dirty skate park off of Mound Road.

I am forced to wonder if now I will no longer be defined by the Friday nights I spent at Oak-land Vert, but by the Friday nights I’ll spend wishing I was there, just as every high school athlete feels empty without North’s fields. Just as every actor felt as they exited North’s the-atre for the last time.

I’m not prepared to face that.

editor’s deskEmmA OckERmAn

Seeing too much of the same

“My dress, because it was too big. Then I got it tai-lored, and it was too tight, but now it fits.”

“Finding out how to get there. Transportation.”

“Figuring out where you are going before and after and who you are going with and all that stuff.”

your turn: what is your “prom-blem”? By Colleen Reveley & Libby Sumnik

Tatyana TerrysEnior

Robert CobausEnior

Mira ShenoudasEnior

“Prom proposals. They are over-hyped in the media today, and it’s hard to compete.”

“Getting everything orga-nized, and getting everyone together.”

“Our group is huge, so let-ting people in and trying to cap it off, finding a bus that fits everyone, and then finding out what we are do-ing for the after party.”

Sal CalbonesEnior

Jennifer HawringsEnior

Jess Ajlouni sEnior

New tutorials provide mostly

reasonable changes for students

I expected more out of my fleeting youth.

I grew up in the midst of media that advertised the most flashy future in the world of high school: crazy drama usually involving a relationship that eventu-ally gets resolved after the climax. The end.

But my life is more like: Wake up. Get dressed. Go to school. Come home. Do homework. Eat food. Sleep. Repeat. It sounds like the instructions on the back of a shampoo bottle: wash, rinse, repeat.

I read a quote once that said, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different out-come.” So I must be insane for believing some day some-thing positively spectacular will occur out of the blue.

The same routine re-peats over and over again, leaving me on autopilot. It’s quite easy to become mind-less – absorbing all the chat-ter around me, learning my lessons and always wishing that something intriguing would happen.

I suppose I brought this upon myself. I have a ten-dency to long for adven-ture: the storybook type with dragons, sword fights and grand gestures. There’s a fantasy world in my mind, filled with “what if”’s and “what could be”’s.

Throughout my awkward preteen years, I thought I discovered my destiny through books. I was going to be a wizard, on my way to Hogwarts for my first year. Peter Pan was going to show up at my window and sweep me away to Neverland. At the very least, I was going to discover the culprit of a fan-tastic mystery.

Things didn’t necessar-ily turn out the way I had planned.

At some point in middle school, I developed more realistic ambitions in the land of GPAs, late-night studying and the looming preparations for college.

If my life was a novel, not many people would call it a bestseller.

But, I admit, I’m a hypo-crite. I complain about my monotonous everyday life, yet “live in the moment” is engraved on my iPod.

That’s my problem. I look too much at the big picture and not enough at the small details. I forget about the miniscule things that make me smile throughout the day. Deep morning conver-sations with my dad when it’s too early to have them, skipping down the hall-way just to embarrass my friends, chuckling at how my baby sister can giggle at the flick of a scarf – these are all a part of my story.

I become two different people when I think about how I live my life: the or-ganized, planning self and the spontaneous self. It’s impossible to choose just one outlook when I know that they’re both necessary for me to function.

Sometimes, I just have to stop thinking for a minute. I have to keep reminding my-self: I’m not done yet. I can’t keep dwelling on the trips I haven’t taken yet. If I focus on the present, then tomor-row will take care of itself.

And perhaps the best way to achieve adventure in the great wide some-where is to believe that life already is the adventure.

North Pointe – Friday, May 10 2013 – 8LIFE

By Emma OckermanManaging editor

He’s addicted to this game, waiting anxiously by his com-puter for the latest Supreme item to drop, credit card in hand. He’s been doing it for three years, spends nearly $250 a month online shopping for clothing, and hardly bats an eye at lofty price tags.

Freshman Tommy Heine-mann has no reason to stop now, he has around 40 hats and 25 pairs of shoes, and would like to see his collection expand. Supreme, he says, is his favorite out of all the cloth-ing brands he buys.

“I’ve been into Supreme since 7th grade, so three years.

My friend Jack showed me a hat, and I really liked it and it started from there,” Heine-mann said. “Nobody else re-ally has it, it’s one of a kind at least.”

Supreme, a skateboarding-oriented brand out of New York City, harvests interest out of its difficulty to obtain it’s clothing items. When clothing “drops” on a set release date online, it of-ten comes with a sticker worth $50 for something as simple as a hat. It then sells out in min-utes.

“I think it’s worth it.”Heinemann cites unique-

ness as a reason for shopping high-end.

“I don’t wanna dress like the other kids, nobody else has

the clothes, and they wonder where I get it.”

Being addicted to apparel means attracting attention, both good and bad.

“I get called a hype beast, but I don’t care.”

Heinemann’s favorite items include his Supreme Air Force 1’s and his Lebron 10 Miami Dolphins, which totals to over $300 worth of shoes.

“You see a shoe, and you have to have it. You can’t get it out of your head.”

But Heinemann’s purchases are ongoing.

“A hat just dropped yester-day from Supreme, but I got it. It didn’t sell that fast. I got it within an hour of it drop-ping.”

LOVE FOR THE LABEL

By Caroline SchultePhoto editor

It’s a rare occasion to see junior Jamal Hawkins walking down the halls wearing something other than Nike. The brand has become an essential part of his wardrobe and life.

“I like Nike because it looks the best; the designs are sick,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins has been sporting the ‘Just Do It’ logo since he was 10 years old, and the brand has taken over his closet, as well as

his wallet.“I feel like the most I spent on Nike is

about $100, and in total (since 10 years old) about $900,” he said.

Many people only associate Nike with their trademark shoes, but for Hawkins the brand’s products account for most of the clothing in his wardrobe.

“Almost everything I own is Nike. I own Nike shirts, shorts, pants, shoes, cleats and gloves ... and a Nike snapback,” he said. “My favorite Nike item is my Nike Vapor Football gloves.”

A Supreme soul

Q&A with senior Will WoodsBy Taylor Whitestaff rePorter

Senior Will Woods finds that brands such as Nike and Diamond Supply Co. suit his daily swag-ger just fine, but the North Pointe wanted to know what makes this brand guru tick.

North Pointe: What are your favorite brands?Woods: Let me see, Nike, Jordan, Diamond Supply, and Crooks and Castles. NP: Do you have any favorite Nike products and why?Woods: Dri-fit. It stops me from sweating. When it’s warm outside it keeps you dry, keeps you cool. NP: What makes your style your own?Woods: I wear the stuff I like instead of what’s on the mannequin, which makes my style different because most people follow what’s on the mannequin. NP: What’s the most important article/ accessory?Woods: Easily the shirt, psyche, naw. I don’t know. I’d have to go with the shoe actually be-

cause the shoe makes the whole outfit. NP: How much do you usually spend in one shop-ping trip?Woods: It all depends on the season because in the winter things are more expensive, like $100 for a hoodie. I’d say in the summer $300 at least.

NP: What are the steps to being stylish/ having swag?Woods: Step one, being comfortable with yourself. Step two, trying out different clothes, and step num-ber three to having swag, wearing what you want to wear and not caring about what other people think. NP: Why do you actually get dressed for school?Woods: Because when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you’ll have a better day. NP: When did you start caring about name brand clothing?Woods: It started in 7th grade, or maybe even 6th grade. I’d say about 11 or 12. NP: What is your definition of swag?Woods: Swag, the definition of swag could be your confidence in yourself.

By Emma Ockerman Managing editor

Swag isn’t always obtained by waiting online for releases. Sometimes you have to go out and get your hands dirty - especially if you’re talking Nike Air Jordans - which can only be obtained at a retailer in person. That’s why North Pointe caught up with Brent Cebulski, an employee at Pogo in Birmingham, which specializes in Nike retail. North Pointe: What do you think it takes to have swag without looking like you tried?Cebulski: Don’t match everything crazy if you have: hats, socks, shirt, shorts, pants – whatever – if ev-erything matches, you’re trying too hard. Just don’t be a hype beast., people who buy things because everyone else is buying them. Buy whatever you feel you can rock. Other people’s opinions don’t really matter. NP: Anything crazy here ever happen at a Jordan release?Cebulski: Well, the cops came yesterday. People were waiting for the Jordan Grapes, and somebody called the cops because kids were cutting in line. Some people had first position, so some of the guys came over and paid them money (for their spot). The kids who sold the spot were supposed to go to the back of the line, but they stayed at the front. I had to explain to the cops what Jordans were for a good two hours. NP: Do you have any tips for people who are looking to get at them first? Cebulski: Come early, and be prepared to sit. Bring a portable DVD player or some movies (laughs).

NP: What do you think makes Air Jordans so successful?Cebulski: A lot of celebrities wear them, and that makes people want them. People are like ‘Oh my God, these shoes are ugly, but Rick Ross is wearing them, and he’s moonwalkin’ in them, so I gotta get ‘em!’ So that has a big influence on them. People also don’t just collect shoes to wear them, they collect them to sell them for more than what they bought them for. NP: What clothing brand do you think has the most swag out of the ones you sell here?Cebulski: I love Staple. A lot of people don’t know about Staple, and I try to push it a lot. Staple is dif-ferent. It doesn’t have the same consistent patterns. Also, Play Clothes, I like that because we’re exclu-sive. We carry it, and a lot of other people don’t.

“Just Do It,” a junior’s motto

28411 Schoenherr, Warren, MI 48088 • 586.756.5400 • www.macombbike.com

and

.

get out

ride.www.GrossePointeMusicAcademy.com313.458.7723

Want something fun to do this summer? Take lessons at

Clothes, snapbacks, and shoes too. Sometimes a sticker price can’t cover the love that brand-names can bring these North boys.

EMMA OCkERMAN

By Caroline Schulte & Emily HugueninPhoto editors

Q&A with Pogo Employee Brent Cebulski