Northpointe Issue16 Email

By Natasha ErtzbischoffEDITOR

Ten drug dogs. Zero arrests. Zero questioned. Drug sweep … priceless?

Principal Tim Bearden said there are no immediate plans for a drug sweep and canine constabulary at North. But how much do these canines cost, surely more than a pretty penny?

However, the search at Grosse Pointe South High School on April 28 was of no cost to the school district.

“The local police depart-ment conducted the search at their own cost,” district spokeswoman Rebecca Fan-non said. “An added benefit is training for their staff and knowledge of our school build-ings, which may be helpful in future emergency situations.”

Police officers made no ar-rests at South last Wednesday during the drug sweep. As for the questioning, all of the Q&A was left to the South adminis-tration.

“There was a plan in place. Minuscule amounts of mari-juana or paraphernalia issues were to be handed over to the school for discipline because it was their first drug sweep,” Lt. Rich Rosati of the Farm’s Police Department said. “If anything of felonious nature had been found, like large amounts of marijuana or guns, we would have pressed charges.”

Rosati and the other police officers handed the issue over to the school because it is con-sidered an internal matter to be dealt with by Principal Al Diver.

Since this was the first drug sweep in Grosse Pointe, let

alone South, Rosati decided to take a less intrusive approach and just search the lockers. If the dogs made a hit on one of the lockers, the officers were permitted to search and seize any illegal materials found.

“There are some growing pains in learning how to orga-nize it and there is the consid-eration that we don’t want to terrorize the students. Some might be afraid of dogs and so on,” he said.

But South seems to have drawn the short end of the stick, North not having to be subjected to searches and all.

Bearden said that he is not naïve to think that there’s nev-er been a situation where there have been drugs in the school. But at this time there seems to be no pressing need for a sweep.

“We don’t really feel any real urgency right now. It’s not like we’ve had a rash of issues or drug related issues or suspen-sions or anything like that.”

The purpose of the drug dogs, in Bearden’s opinion, is to act as a deterrent for future behavior. He says South is try-ing to keep the school clean from drugs and also discour-age any students who might be thinking about bringing drugs onto school grounds.

In the case of ordering a search, “I’d be the one to make that decision,” Bearden said. “I would contact (Superin-tendant Suzanne) Klein and communicate with her. If we were going to do it, I’d let her know when it was happening because inevitably they’d get calls or questions about it.”

At least we’ll know who let the dogs out.

Seniors get a chance to direct in One Acts Volume 42, Issue 16 Friday, May 7, 2010- GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL

NORTH POINTE

By Kara Bakowski & Steffi ShenoudaSTAFF REPORTERS

Ten students made North history as the Quiz Bowl team buzzed their way to the state champi-onship title at Michigan State University. They edged out second place at Detroit Catholic Central by 100 points at the close of the second final round.

“It’s a double elimina-tion tournament, so you have to lose twice to get out,” Megan McCuen ‘12 said. “Once you get out the first time you get moved to the ‘elimination bracket’ and you have play against other people who have lost.”

For the final round, the winner of the elimination bracket plays the winner of the bracket comprised of the teams who have not lost a match.

“We won our first five rounds, which got us into

the final round, where we lost for the first time against (Catholic Central). But since they had already lost previously, they had to beat us twice. We won the second game, and there-fore the entire competi-tion,” co-captain Stephen Morrison ‘11 said.

“It is similar (to Jeop-ardy),” sophomore mem-ber Katie Murray said. “Though we don’t have to answer in question form and the questions are harder.”

To prepare for the competitions, all 14 team members dedicated sev-eral hours per week to practice, during which they played mock games against each other to simulate the challenging atmosphere of the com-petition. Because of the wide range of information needed, studying can be difficult, Murray said.

Questions are pulled from everywhere from

the fields of math and his-tory to the depths of the astronomy and medical worlds that lay beyond the average student’s study.

“We really just learn a lot of random facts,” Mor-rison said. “Looking at previous questions is a good way to prepare, as is writing your own.”

The next stop for the team could be the nation-al championship.

“We were invited to the national champion-ship, but we didn’t act fast enough, and got put on the wait list,” Morrison said.

If granted the opportu-nity, the team can select up to eight members to represent them at nation-als over Memorial Day weekend. Team members would be selected primar-ily on ability, dedication and seniority.

See editorial, Page 7

Yankees fire manager Johnny Keene in 1966.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1993South Africa agrees to multi-racial elections.

1983August Hoffman performs record of 29,051 consecutive sit-ups.

1972NBA Championship: Los Angeles Lakers beat New York Knicks, four games to one.

1966Yankees fire manager Johnny Keene.

1949Seventy-fifth Kentucky Derby: Steve Brooks aboard Ponder wins.

1925Phillies have their eighth game postponed in a row.

1914U.S. Congress establishes Mother’s Day.

1913British House of Commons rejects women’s right to vote.

COMING SOON

MAY 21GPN Choir Spring Con-cert in PAC at 7 p.m.

MAY 27SADD Mock Accident at North

MAY 17Senior Prom at the Roostertail at 7:00 p.m.

Check out the latest photo gallery of your favorite teams

IN THIS ISSUE

In-depth:Wacky fears of your classmates

Page 5

In-depth:Are teens too technological?

Page 8

ONLY AT MYGPN.ORG

COURTESY OF MIKE RENNELL

The Quiz Bowl team stops for a picture after winning the state championship title at Michigan State University on Saturday, April 24.

By Michael MaasASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

As graduation day approaches, seniors begin to realize that their days in this school are numbered.

Tonight’s student-directed One Acts will not only give these seniors familiar to the PAC the opportu-nity to participate in their last high school play, but for Ellen Schaber, Olyvia Brown and Liz DeFour, it will provide them the opportunity to di-rect.

“It’s bittersweet,” Tainted Love director DeFour said.

The One Acts will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the PAC and will consist of three 10-20 minute long plays. Each has a cast of three to five in addition to a senior director who selected the play and guided the cast through rehearsals.

“You help them with

their character and you take notes to make the show better. It’s difficult being a student director because sometimes they’re not as serious,” The Game director Schaber said. “You have to work harder than an adult would. They’ll automatically respect adults but when they’re with their friends they’ll goof around.”

Schaber, who has participated in all four school musicals, first had to select a play to be eligible for se-lection as a student director. After

presenting it to the Drama Board, including One Acts adviser Marty Buffalini, the cast selection began.

“We have to choose the play first and then there’s open auditions for all three of (the One Acts) at the same time and we have to decide based on everyone. We have to make sure we both don’t want the same person. That’s always tricky,” Scha-ber said.

Buffalini believes that student directing is a learning opportunity. He says his role is limited while the plays are kept student-run.

“From my perspective, the One Acts are a chance for students to de-velop all the skills surrounding di-recting a play. They learn what goes

into casting, as well as man-aging the cast,” Buffalini

said.After cast selection, the

director leads their own cast in rehearsals. De-Four says that her cast rehearsed three times a week in preparation for the performance date.

“I just give them tips

on what to do and directions when they need it. It’s a little weird be-ing in charge because sometimes I just want them to tell me what to do because I think some of my cast has more experience in theater than I do. But, they help me and I try to help them,” DeFour said.

Senior Shelby Schroeder, a Taint-ed Love cast member, has nothing but praise for her student director.

“It’s really enlightening to have her as my director,” Schroeder said. “I’m very happy with her because she’ll give me criticism but it’s not harsh criticism. It’s constructive criticism, so it really helps me grow as an actor. She’s one of the best stu-dent directors I’ve had.”

For Brown, who plans to double major in theater and English at Alma College, leaving performing arts in high school will not be easy.

“It’s really sad. During the musi-cal, we always got in a circle and the seniors always have a speech and we cry, but then we’re like ‘Oh, we have spring One Acts!’ Now, this time, I think I’ll probably cry for the last time,” the Family 2.0 director said.

Quiz Bowl takes state’s top prize

Drug dogs sniff out marijuana but no arrests are made

The GameDirector: Ellen Schaber

Plot: “There’s two characters, Life and Death. When people die, Life and Death play a game for them. It’s

a game of chance. There’s these two people, a girl and a boy, and they fall in love while they’re in here waiting for them to play the game,” Schaber said.

Cast: Junior Paige Kozak – Girl

Junior Kyle O’Donnell – YouthSophomore Katie Murray – Life

Junior Miles Carter – Death

Tainted LoveDirector: Liz DeFour

Plot: “It’s pretty much told through the eyes of this boy after he’s grown up. He’s looking back on a past relationship and he regrets a lot of the things he did. He and his girlfriend broke up because he

found all these faults with her,” DeFour said.

Cast:Senior Shelby Schroeder – The girl, Kate

Senior Justin Wrubel plays – The boy, AlexJunior David Pawlak – Man

Family 2.0Director: Olyvia Brown

Plot: “This man decides that he’s tired of his life and doesn’t want to be with his family anymore. So he

goes to this woman who he passes everyday on his way to work and decides that he’s going to marry

her. It’s about how you can never run away from your responsibilities,” Brown said.

Cast:Senior Sam Saravolatz – HusbandSophomore Sarah Shook – Wife

Freshman Kyle Stefek – First husband/DogSophomore Claire Schreiber – Daughter

Freshman Jacob VandenBoom – Son

AMELIA FLYNN

By Andy KlingensmithDEPUTY EDITOR

“Technology is Key ... Unlock the Possibilities”

It’s a creed that is pro-pelling one of the most no-table and generous acts of philanthropy the Grosse Pointe community has seen in a while.

Back in March, the Grosse Pointe Foundation for Public Education held its debut gala to launch a $750,000 fundraising effort.

“We held a large fund-raising party at the home of Jim and Carol Schebil’s on March 27, 2010 to kick off the technology chal-lenge,” Christine Scoggin, the foundation’s director of events, said. “At that party the Boll family announced their tremendous gift of $500,000 in order to raise $250,000 more from the community.”

Along with the Boll fam-ily, other members of the community are giving to the cause, along with dona-tions from local businesses.

“Technology is a pow-erful tool for incorporat-ing the elements of great teaching across all content areas for students with a wide range of knowledge and skill,” Superintendent Suzanne Klein said. “This investment will help ensure

our students are fully pre-pared to meet the demands of our increasingly global and technology-oriented society.”

Community members are showing their support to the cause.

“Our foundation board has also raised approxi-mately $60,000 in private donations towards this ef-fort,” Scoggin said. “So last Monday (April 26) night at the GP Public School Board meeting, our foundation president, Bob Bury, pre-sented the board with our initial gift of $100,000 to-wards technology in the schools.”

Some students feel the school doesn’t even need the extra help from tech-nology.

“I’d have to say that Smart Boards make visual-izing the material easier for students, but technology tends have hindering draw-backs like the neatness of the handwriting or general computer complications,” senior Mark Haas said.

Other students feel that the use of technology en-hances their learning.

“Staring at a chalkboard or a white board gets bor-ing, but the Smart Boards make learning interest-ing because you can do so

much more,” sophomore P.J. Lemanski said.

No matter how the stu-dents see it, many don’t re-alize what modernization is doing in the long run.

“We are preparing stu-dents for jobs that don’t exist yet,” Principal Tim Bearden said. “That takes a certain amount of imagi-nation and a larger dose of commitment to integrated technologies in the class-room.”

North’s first four-year Class, 1970, is having a large reunion this year and is joining the fundraising effort.

“All of us attending the reunion value the educa-tion we received at North,” reunion committee mem-ber Ahmed Ismail said. “(It’s) a great way to di-rect donations from North alumni to North and help jump start the technol-ogy provided at North for the teachers so that North maintains the position it had when we attended 40 years ago – as one of the top high schools in the State of Michigan.”

Foundation: www.gpfpe.com or call 313-423-3058

Class of 1970 reunion:

gpn1970.com

Girl scout troop donates Beanie Babies with the help of Daisies

Beanie Babies donated and collected by gym teacher Bruce Bentley and from the Daisy Scout group at Margaret Black El-ementary in Sterling Heights, will be deliv-ered to third world countries and hospitals across the world.

The second annual Beanie Baby drive was held on April 22 at North.

“Most of them I found downstairs be-cause I wanted to help out other countries that are really poor,” an 8-year-old Daisy Scout named Jessica said. Some of the girls found Beanie Babies in more unique spots.

“I found my baby in the street in our neighborhood. I put it in the washing ma-chine,” Julia, a 7-year-old Daisy member said.

“Me and my wife collect from hospitals, schools and our subdivision to give to Paul Sifton, who delivers the Beanie Babies into risky areas in third world countries,” Bent-ley said. “He has also started up a school.”

Drew Konzcal

Band and orchestra perform Toronto

The Band and Orchestra performed at the Toronto International Festival of Music during the weekend of April 23.

“Our students amazed the judges with their musical skills, resulting in some of the highest scores in the history of North,” director David Cleveland said.

The Symphony Band received an overall superior rating and had the highest overall score.

The Full Orchestra received an over-all superior rating and the “Overall High School Orchestra Award.”

“I felt like I accomplished some-thing, even though I’m the worst in the class,”freshman violinist Jenny Singer said.

Rachel Premack

Brotherhood raising money for Relay for Life

The Brotherhood will be raising money for Relay for Life during the week of May 10th.

On Monday, there will be a three point shoot-out in the gym. It will cost $3 to par-ticipate and $2 for each additional attempt.

On Thursday students will be able to throw a pie at volunteer teachers in Coo-per’s Square. The event will occur during both lunches and each pie will cost $5. A list of the teachers that are participating in the pie throwing will be available during the week of the event.

Lucas Funk

Future Educators of America sponsors ice cream sundae sale

Teaching, making money, and eating ice cream. What could be better? The FEA is sponsoring an ice cream sundae sale at the end of May.

Foods teacher Kay Torigan said the fea-tured sundae items will be, “Ice cream, chocolate, jimmies and cherries.”

Torigian, the administrator behind FEA, is very excited for the sale, and can’t wait to kick it off. Along with bringing joy to stu-dents with the sale of the ice cream, FEA hopes to build up their fund that was de-pleted this year.

“We’re raising money to replace the money we used for the pizza party at the end of D.E.A.R. week,” Torigian said.

Sam Stenard

2 – Friday, May 7, 2010 – North Pointe

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Bruce Bentley, gym teacher, collects Beanie Babies from anywhere and everywhere so he can then indirectly deliver them to third world countries. This year he collected them from the Daisy Scout group at Margaret Black Elementary in Sterling Heights.

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YOUR QUESTIONWhy are monkeys so aggressive at the zoo?

– social studies teacher Greg Wolff

By Drew KonczalSTAFF REPORTER

Teacher by day, secret agent by night? Not quite, but for the past five base-ball seasons social studies teacher Patrick Hicks has been driving down to Com-erica Park, where he starts his second job as a security guard.

“I’ve always been a big baseball fan and it’s some-thing to do during the sum-mertime,” Hicks said.

“I started in 2005. A for-mer North teacher Mr. Weng retired from North and starting working there and told me about it.”

Growing up in the metro Detroit area his entire life and being an avid Detroit sports fan, this position was perfect for Hicks. His first game was against the Boston Red Sox.

“It was a double header back when they did games back to back instead of an afternoon and night game. Tiger Stadium was a great place to watch a game, it was really cool.”

Because of teaching, Hicks is unable to make all of the games during the April, May and September months.

“One of the nice things about the job is you get to pick which games you want to work. Of the 80 home games I work at about 40 over the summer and some weekend games during the school year,” he said.

Although he has never had to wrestle anybody to the ground or chase any ob-sessive fans across the field, he has had to manage some disorderly fans after they have had a little too much to drink.

“Once it hits the fourth and fifth inning is when it gets rough. The alcohol starts to sink in and some people have a few to many,” Hicks said.

Although working at Co-merica Park is something Hicks really loves to do, teaching is his main pri-ority and it is what he has

wanted to do ever since he was in high school.

“In high school I wanted to be a teacher but people said, ‘Don’t go into teach-ing because there won’t be enough jobs.’”

Hicks decided to not go into education. Instead he chose to attend Central Michigan University where he got his business degree and worked in restaurant management. Throughout all that time, the urge to be a teacher was still pres-ent so he decided to go to Wayne State University and

receive his teaching cer-tificate in hopes of teaching social studies.

“I’ve always taught social studies. I did my student teaching here with Mrs. Richards, who obviously is no longer teaching here.”

After teaching at North for 18 years, Hicks says he is happy he made the choice to get his teaching certifi-cate.

“I like interacting with students who have an in-terest in learning. It makes my job a lot easier and lot nicer.”

North Pointe – Friday, May 7, 2010 – 3

Francesca Ciaramitaro As a freshman, Frances-

ca Ciaramitaro is involved in Impact and Willow and she is the freshmen class president. She was also a captain on the JV girls’ basketball team as well as the freshmen girls soccer team.

“I like being involved in school and I like donating my time to worthy causes,” Ciaramitaro said. “Throughout middle school, I was a part of volunteer clubs and student council and it’s great to continue that in high school.”

Francesca would love to continue her four years here as president of her class and as a member of the multiple clubs and teams she participates in.

“I’m looking forward to joining North Pointe next year,” she said.

Tim PokladekTim Pokladek ‘12 is a

loyal member of the UFOl-ogy club. He has been at-tending every meeting since his freshman year began.

“It basically deals with everything normal peo-ple wouldn’t talk about,” Pokladek said.

Pokladek said that one of his favorite aspects of the club is social studies teach-er Crosby Washburne. He enjoys Wash-burne’s comedic sense of humor and liveli-ness, as do the other members of the club.

Armelin MusakuLife in high school is

not easy, especially when going to school five days a week and working out after school.

But everyday, after the hallways clear, and the staff files out, Armelin Mu-saku can be found in the weight room, or running on the 3rd floor. Armelin has been working out everyday since his freshman year.

“I workout to get ready for sports and my personal health,” Musaku said.

But no one can start working out and au-tomatically know what they are doing.

Armelin’s brother Fjorino is currently a senior. Armelin works out with Fjorino because he is educated and helps teach Armelin what he needs to know so he can stay physically fit.

By Micaela Liddane & Lucas Funk

FACES IN THE CROWD

FIVE MINUTES WITHSocial studies teacher Patrick Hicks

YOU ASKED, THEY ANSWERED By Michael Wynne & Lucas Funk

YOUR QUESTIONWhy can’t I listen to my iPod in tutorial?

– sophomore Nick Romanelli

YOUR QUESTION Where have you traveled outside of the United States?

– junior Megan Smith

YOUR QUESTION What is the most you have physi-cally hurt somebody at the Monkey Bar Gym?

– sophomore Ed Surmont

HER ANSWERMegan,

“When I was 18, I went to Spain. When I was 20, I studied abroad in England and toured the Euro-pean continent. And when I was a teacher at L’Anse Creuse Central, I took students to Eastern Europe.”

– Emily Hoepfner

English teacher

HER ANSWEREd,

“Monkey Bar Gym is a strength and conditioning program, so people might be sore from the workouts I design, but they ex-pect that. I’m sure I’ve delivered some bruises, but I’ve certainly taken my fair share too. ”

– Shari AdwersEnglish teacher

BY THE NUMBERS

After 82 games of the regular season, the 16 teams that proved best in

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50amount in U.S. dollars that the Stan-ley Cup was originally purchased for

84number of times that the cup has

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5record for most consecutive Stanley Cup wins, also held by the Montreal

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34weight of the Stanley Cup in pounds

135,638names on the Stanley Cup

SOURCE: WWW.LEGENDSOFHOCKEY.NET

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BOOKSWhat is your favorite book?“My all-time favorite book is Catcher in the Rye. I read histori-cal biographies but I like the more modern and political works as well.”

HOBBIESWhat are your favorite things to do outside of the class-room?“I like to do lots of work around the house. I’m interested in redoing my basement.”

TEACHINGWhat is your favorite part of teaching American Legal systems and AP U.S.?“I love the reality of American Legal Systems. And by far the best thing of AP U.S. is the high caliber student that is moti-vated for success.”

UNKNOWN FACTSWhat is something that some people may not know about you?“I am twin. I have a twin brother and my father is also a twin. I don’t have a twins though (children).”

FOODWhat is your favorite kind of food?“I love Italian food. My favorite dish is chicken parmesan at Luciano’s Italian restaurant in Clinton Township on Garfield and Canal. It’s top of the line.”

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Social studies teacher Patrick Hicks not only carries an ID badge at school, but also clips one on his uniform when patrolling rowdy fans at Comerica Park.

HER ANSWERNick,

“That’s my classroom rule. A regular MP3 player is so much more now that they have become disruptive. And every time I give Nick an inch, he tries to take a mile!”

– Tracey D’Hondtmath teacher

Greg,Before I begin, let me point out the following about primates at the Detroit Zoo. Our lemurs are classified as “prosimians,” our gibbons – which are not on display – as “lesser apes,” and our chimpanzees and gorillas as “great apes.” Our drills, Japanese ma-caques, and lion-tailed macaques are the only zoo primates falling under the classification of “monkeys.” Of these, aggressiveness is not common among drills, and due to a strict peck-ing order, the 20+ Japanese macaques are not normally aggressive. This

leaves only the lion-tailed macaques to discuss. They are aggressive be-cause directly staring eye-to-eye with these primates represents an “author-ity challenge” and they will bare their teeth at other macaques – and even humans – that challenge them thusly. If you originally wanted to know why our most aggressive primates like chimps are so violent, then you need to learn the difference between a monkey and an ape (ask a district 3rd grader, for instance), and re-ask.

– Crosby Washburnesocial studies teacher

AMELIA FLYNN

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By Jennifer CusmanoDEPUTY EDITOR

It’s finally spring. A time for many unmotivated, senioritis-stricken twelfth graders to endure their last months of high school. A time for anxious freshmen to start dreadfully preparing for final exams. A time for junior Mi-caela Liddane to lace up her shoes -- one a running shoe, the other, a soccer cleat.

Liddane won’t be staying out late this spring. She will need all the free time she has left after school, doing home-work and trying not to get too far behind on her sleep. Almost all of her time will be dedicated to her coach and teammates on the varsity soccer team as well as to run-ning track.

She couldn’t choose one of her passions over the other, so she decided to participate in both varsity soccer and track this spring. Liddane will be working twice as hard as other spring athletes just to balance her schedule.

“It’s just difficult getting from practice to practice. It’s a lot of work and you really have to love both sports if you want to do it,” Liddane said. “I thought about it a lot before I did it, because even though it will be challenging, I will get to do both the things that I love.”

While it’s not the first time that Liddane has doubled up on soccer and track, as she did her freshman year, she admits that it will definitely be more challenging because as she moved from junior varsity to varsity soccer, the intensity and pressure also went up.

“My mom was all-state at track when she was in high school and that’s how I really got into it,” Liddane said. “It was never my idea; my par-ents just kind of got me start-

ed.”Freshman year was when

Liddane realized her natural ability for track, making it to the state meet. She decided that for sophomore year she would focus on track as her only sport.

“When I was running track as a sophomore, I had high hopes for the season, but suffered an injury. I realized how much I actually missed having something else to do besides track. This is when I realized how much I missed soccer,” she said.

While Liddane has enjoyed soccer ever since she touched

her first ball playing Neigh-borhood Club, she didn’t par-ticipate in track until eighth grade.

Liddane is forced to plan around meets and games, deciding which practices she will attend each week. As much as playing both sports affects her, both of her coach-es are also affected.

Her soccer coach, Jen Nadeau, knows that Liddane has no problem managing it all.

“Micaela is a true athlete. She’s a special kid who can handle doing multiple things at one time,” Nadeau says.

“She understands that cer-tain aspects of the game are carried over between sports. Micaela is a good athlete, a good student, and all around good kid and we are lucky to have her on our squad.”

Liddane believes that she does a good job balancing her schedule, trying to keep the time she spends on both sports equal. When she has to miss one for the other, she works on her own to make up the lost practice.

Liddane admits that her parents seem to have an in-clination towards track and didn’t necessarily want her doing soccer at first. Double the workouts focusing on legs means double the chance that she will get injured, taking away from her other sports too, basketball and volleyball. But she realized that whatev-er she did her parents would support her.

“They just really didn’t want me to get hurt and that’s the main reason they weren’t so excited about it in the be-ginning,” Liddane said. “They just wanted me to be happy, and doing both is what makes me happy.”

She finds it hard to choose which sport she likes better out of the two because of how different each is from one an-other.

She likes track because you run to do your personal best, but has been used to playing team sports all her life.

“Track is just different for me because I am used to play-ing with a team to rely on and get me motivated. With track, I have to push myself to do better and motivate myself to do my best,” Liddane said.

Liddane has every inten-tion to continue with the same two sports next year as a senior, and her potential could take her even further after that.

Junior succeeds in balancing two varsity sports

By Alex SumnikSTAFF REPORTER

The girls varsity soccer team is prepar-ing for their second rivalry game against Grosse Pointe South with high hopes of success. This time, however things will appear slightly differently. This time, the girls won’t be wearing their signature white home jerseys.

This time they will suit up in a fresh pink jersey, one with a familiar name written across their left arm. The name of someone they know that has battled cancer.

“We are honoring those who have fall-en to breast cancer or any other type of cancer, along with those who have sur-vived it,” junior Patti Scherer said.

It started out with an idea from coach Jen Nadeau. It slowly flourished into a way to support the entire community and all of those who have faced the struggle of cancer.

“Hopefully we will win. We’re going to play better because it is for something real, something bigger than a rivalry,” junior Mariana Kouskoulas said.

After the game, the honorees have a chance to purchase their jerseys as well as make donations.

“It’s a fun way to raise money for a good cause and people we care about,” junior Megan Bergeron said. “I’m really supportive of the whole idea.”

For the girls on the team, this game will also have an emotional affect on them. The majority of the team is play-

ing directly for family and friends.“I’m playing for Jenna Kast. She is a

family friend who’s in elementary school and has already had several tumors and surgeries on her head,” Bergeron said. “Right now she has several tumors that they cannot operate on because she has already had so many procedures done.”

Those who are not playing for some-one they directly know who has faced cancer are playing for someone they know who has dealt with someone else’s pain. For example a mother of a friend.

Scherer is playing for her one of her best friends, Amanda Lanzon’s, moth-er. She passed away fighting cancer six years ago.

“She was a really important part of

Amanda’s life and I just really wanted to support her,” Scherer said.

The proceeds from this auction will go to the Van Elslander Cancer Foundation, where doctors are in search for a cure and along the way look to help families affected by cancer. The team sees this as a fitting organization to support.

“Cancer has effects on tons of people, anyway that we can help is a good way,” Bergeron said.

On May 14 the girls will suit up for a home game against Grosse Pointe South but this time they won’t only have the ri-valry on their mind. They’ll look at their left arm and remember that it’s more than that, to someone this game could mean the world.

Girls varsity soccer team plays to make a difference

SUPERSTITIONSMaura Bresser

Junior Maura Bresser, a two year member of the girls varsity tennis team, shakes out the pre-game jitters by eating a healthy meal and drinking plenty of water before every game to calm her nerves. Alongside her healthy eating habits off the court, Bresser has a strange rou-tine on the court as well.

“During my matches I always spin my racket four times in my hand between each point, I don’t know why but I have always done it,” Bresser said.

GAMEPLAN

girls varsity lacrosseThe girls lacrosse team uses a motion play in

order to confuse the defense of the other team and open up the field to score. The play starts with a player at the top of the arc who passes the ball to her teammate next to her and then crashes the net. Then, the rest of the players shift towards the top of the arc. This continues until there is a prime op-portunity to take a shot.

“We run the offense to set up a play to get the other team flustered so we can get a scoring op-portunity,” Taylor Moody ‘11 said.

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH COACH ANDY BENNETT

about coaching soccerWhether he’s roaming the halls as a substitute

teacher or supervising in the weight room, girls soccer coach Andy Bennett is making a name for himself around the school. An alumnus of the school, Bennett began coaching for enjoyment, as well as to give back to his former school. How many years have you coached at North?“This is my first year coaching. I coached freshmen boys basket-ball in the winter with my brother too.”Why do you like coaching soccer?“It’s just an enjoyable sport to coach. It’s my favorite sport, and I like it because it’s outside.”Do you have a favorite professional soccer player?“Steven Gerrard from Liverpool. He’s got a sweet shot.”What’s your favorite song and instrument to play on Rock Band? “I like playing ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Everlong’ on the drums.”What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?“Superman, definitely.”

WHAT’S HOT & WHAT’S NOT boys varsity lacrosse

Hot: The varsity boys lacrosse team dominated Ste-venson last Thursday, trumping them 14-2. Defen-seman Dustin Baker ‘11 made a surprise appearance on offense, scoring a goal.Not: Starting senior defenseman Christian Holm is out for the season after suffering a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Holm started every game as a junior and was one of two returning defensive starters.“It sucks because it’s my senior year and I will never get to play lacrosse again,” said Holm.

By Micaela Liddane, Emma Huellmantel, Francesca Ciaramitaro, Natalie Skorupski and Danny Lizza

QUICKHIT S

AMELIA FLYNN

ALEX SUMNIK

Junior Micaela Liddane finds it hard to balance both sports, her homework and her free time because of her busy schedule due to track and soccer.

Players and their fans of honorOn Friday, May 14, the girls varsity soccer team has each chosen a friend or family member who had or is currently battling cancer to play in honor of. The team will wear pink breast cancer jerseys with the name of the person they are supporting on the left sleeve of their jersey.

Jennifer Haas: ”I am playing for Lisa Clark. She is a family friend who has brain cancer.”

Gabriella Rizzo: ”My step mom’s uncle died of lung cancer, so I am playing in honor of him.”

Samantha Langer: “My grandma, Viola Slaughter, died of breast cancer before I was born. My middle name is after her.”

Alysa Lombardi: “Mary Avery is the name I will wear on my jersey in honor of my mom’s aunt who is battling breast cancer.”

Nikki Capizzo: “I’m playing for my aunt Debbie who died from breast cancer because her fight was inspiring. She made me realize life is a fight and you should go into it with a smile.”

Alyssa Bruno: “My grandma, who died of cancer, is the person that I will be playing for.”

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LIFENorth Pointe – Friday, May 7, 2010 – 5

By Danny Lizza & Lucas FunkSTAFF REPORTERS

She stood in line, 35 minutes, wait-ing to plunge down the slippery steep water slide at Michigan Ad-

ventures. She envisioned herself cradled by the twists and turns and the butterfly sensation formed in the pit of her stomach with the drops. But her pretty picture was obstructed – by a foot. She cringed. Senior Kelly Ilagan has a relentless phobia of feet.

“It was big, moldy, green and yellow. The toe nails were crusty and chipped.”

The sight of a woman’s nauseating foot preceding her in line was too much for Ilag-an to bear. Promptly, she turned around and descended the 100-step staircase.

“I didn’t want to ride the slide anymore.” Ilagan’s repugnance of feet wiggles its way

into her everyday life. Now that students are beginning to don open-toe shoes, she has to avert her eyes from the ground. A trip to the pool in the summertime is plagued by five-toed monsters. Even her own feet give her the creeps.

“I wear four pairs of socks to bed every night,” Ilagan said.

Podophobia is peculiar. Feet are appendages, affixed to our bodies. Perhaps they aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing part of the body, but they should not induce such a sense of psycho-logical disruption. Irrational fear? Most definitely.

Chill out

“Fear is a normal response to a dangerous situ-ation or an irrational response to a normal situa-tion,” psychology teacher Crosby Washburne said.

Students run the gamut in terms of the rational-ity of their fears. Several quiver at the regular, while others concern themselves with the highly unlikely. Shelby Winn ’13 is made uneasy by small children. Jasmine Scott ’13 is paranoid about people looking at her, whereas Dan Amato ’12 fears intruders hiding behind the shower curtain. And Jadon Cook ’11 fears the ever-so-common encounter of masked men with chain saws.

Phobias are oftentimes blown out of proportion, at which point people abandon fear, and move to anxi-ety. Anxiety is out of context fear. When stress reaches acute levels, a person has trouble functioning from day to day.

“When my sister was younger, she had to tuck her shirt into her underwear, or else she was afraid that the day would not go on,” psychology teacher Dani-elle Crandall said. “I’m afraid of bees, but I don’t lose sleep at night because I’m afraid I might see a bee. I can go on and live my daily life.

Some fears are nearly universal

“Fear of spiders – almost half of my students have that one,” Washburne said, “which is fun-

ny because they say at any point in your life, you’re no more than three feet away from

a spider. They’re everywhere.”But there are fears that you can’t put a face on, some of it is just in

your head. “At a high school level,

I’ve noticed that there are many students

who have social p h o b i a s ,”

p s y -

chology teacher Jennifer Weisbrodt said. “When you find out that a person has been skipping class on the day of an oral presentation, and you discover they’ve been hiding in the bathroom, you understand that they have high level anxiety. That’s when you tell them that they should speak with their counselor to get some help.”

Fear of heights and fear of the dark also grace the leader board. Fear provoked by situations associated with death or pain is considered to be justifiable.

“If you’re scared of heights, you might be afraid of falling to your death,” Crandall said. “If you have a fear of the dark, you may be afraid someone is going to jump out and kill you.”

Katie Glovac ’10 fears being swallowed by a tornado. Elyse Palombit ’10 shivers at the thought of pointed objects darting at her eyes. Her twin sister Alexis ’10 fears underwater sea creatures. Jeff Irving ’12 refuses to board a cruise for fear of it capsizing. Terry Peralta ’12 fears the death-defying pace of the freeway.

Reasons unveiled

“Sometimes we can say from the psychoanalytic Freudian viewpoint, ‘Okay, there’s something that has happened to this person in their life – some sort of trau-matic event that caused the fear,’” Crandall said.

In the case of Ilagan, her fear was invoked by a haunt-ing childhood memory. As a toddler, she remembers playing karate with her cousin, who launched a kick at her face. The mole protruding from the bottom of his foot came within inches of Ilagan, scarring her for life.

Crandall said, “If I almost drowned in a lake, I might be afraid of swimming. That makes sense. But for some people, there is no rhyme or reason behind their pho-bias. For instance, why would you be afraid of peanut butter getting stuck to the roof of your mouth? What possibly could have happened to you?”

“I have a fear of toasters, which is ironic because my last name in German means toast, but I believe that my fear stems from the horrid jack-in-the-box I played with when I was little,” Weisbrodt said. “I also have a fear of hydroplaning which is a valid fear because I used to live in southern Florida. We had torrential downpours, and I would hydroplane in my car all the time, so today I have this fear which is rooted in actual experience.”

Hold on, but let go

Life exempt of fear is a glorified concept, but should it be praised?

“If we didn’t have fear, we would end up doing dumb things that could kill us. But that being said, we fear too many things,” Crandall said.

“You need fear to some extent, not the point where it’s taking over your life, but a fair amount of anxiety is what motivates – it keeps you out of danger,” Weisbrodt said.

“Without fear, life could be short for some people, if they put themselves in stupid situations,” Washburne said. “I think it keeps you on your toes sometimes.”

It appears as if students should embrace their fears. Locking your doors at night isn’t over compulsive. Nor is programming 9-1-1 into your speed dial. Safety precau-tions taken to minimize the chance of peril are normal.

Avoid the life-threatening. Don’t attempt a somer-sault near the edge of a cliff. Don’t skinny-dip in croc-odile infested waters. Don’t dive deep into a profound texting conversation while steering a motor vehicle.

At the same time, petty phobias are the pacifiers of our existence. After a certain age, it’s time to grow up and realize that particular concerns have no merit. Slobbering all over a rubberized bud may provide you with some comfort, as may tucking in your shirt every day or wearing socks to bed. But there’s no point. Take out the pacifier. Untuck the shirt. Take off the socks. Life should be lived without the constraints of silly worries.

Kelly Ilagan has been growing accustom to showing some toe lately.

“I wore flip flops the other day!”

Illustration by Amelia FlynnDEPUTY EDITOR

are you shaken?

Senior Kelly Ilagan runs away from these ghastly feet, her biggest fear.

LIFE6 – Friday, May 7, 2010 – North Pointe

By Lucas FunkSTAFF REPORTER

To most people, a star stud-ded cast is key to any suc-cessful modern film. But

Sylvain White’s silver screen ad-aptation of Andy Diggle’s comic series, The Losers, goes complete-ly against this belief.

Don’t get me wrong, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays main character Franklin Clay, has an act-ing career that’s certainly been more successful than my own. As hard as that is to believe, it’s safe to say that compared to legends like Johnny Depp, the cast of The Losers, at least on a red carpet level, really is made up of losers.

But with all acting cre-dentials aside, the cast and crew has earned a spot on the podium next to respected actors like Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson.

The movie follows a special operations team on a mission in Bolivia. After completion, a be-trayal within the CIA leaves them framed for murder, presumed dead and stranded. Just as life

is becoming somewhat normal in our heroes’ new found home, they are offered a deal by Aisha al-Fadhil (Zoe Saldana) to seek revenge upon the man they be-lieve framed them.

The film lets viewers walk down a path of relentless action,

blind deception and crude humor as the good guys, Clay, William Roque (Idris Elba) and the rest of their firing squad follow their own agenda of revenge, seeking a CIA operative known to them as “Max”.

In the movie, Morgan plays a very impressive role. Other little known actors such as Columbus Short and Chris Evans came out of their usual minuscule roles to de-

liver some refreshing perfor-mances.

The only thing troubling about this movie is the characteriza-tion of Clay. It worries me that he might forever be the loose cannon war hero that he was as “The Comedian” in Watchmen. Both roles seem to be built off of the same reckless, battle waging

killer with a chip on his shoulder attitude. Morgan should come back with an emotional drama or slap happy comedy to prevent his career from spiraling down the same path as Jon Heder as Napo-leon Dynamite.

And while Avatar is break-ing the bank with a $237 million budget, The Losers were allotted $25 million due to their lemonade stand fund-raising.

With that kind of nickel and dime pocket change, the average viewer would probably expect the bad guys to be comprised of card-board with smiley faces drawn in sharpie as the hero fired at them with a squirt gun recently pur-chased at the dollar store.

This is another case in which The Losers overcame all lackluster expectations.

Throughout the film, movie goers are given a value meal of ear popping explosions complete with the always mandatory fight to the death between opposing main characters.

The non-stop action, special effects and creative plot make this movie my favorite so far this year. It seems that Hollywood

has recently been running out of ideas as far as cinemas go, but who could blame them?

Therefore, I was very im-pressed with the story line of The Losers, whether it is based off of a comic or not. This was certainly not an idea that I could have pre-dicted, and because of that, try-

ing to understand the movie as it progressed was both intriguing and invigorating.

The Losers is a complete suc-cess and a breath of fresh air in the film-making industry. It will make you laugh, cry and keep you on the edge of your seat all at the same time.

The Losers: Underdogs come out on top in the end

The Losers

BGenre: Action

comedyRated PG-13 for intense action and violence,

sensuality and language

Directed by Sylvain White

Grosse Pointe Dermatology Associates, P.C.

Where Your Skin Care is What We Care About

Judith T. Lipinski, M.D.David S. Balle, M.D.

18050 Mack Ave. • Grosse Pointe, Michigan 48230phone: 313-886-2600 • fax: 313-886-2099

www.grossepointedermatology.comHours by Appointment

Justin Nozuka B+

You I Wind Land and Sea

This album will impress brand new fans as well as old fans alike. I know once I heard the very first track, “Gray,” I was completely intrigued by the seemingly

mystical and somewhat foreign-sounding instruments and Nozuka’s enchanting voice. Although the album is filled with what is normally thought of as typical themes, like being in love, internal reflection and struggle, it doesn’t matter. The intensity that is behind his voice draws you in for more every time. The first half of the album is the strongest, with tracks like “My Heart is Yours,” which carries similarities to that of a John Mayer song, adhering to some vocals and guitar paired with a little bit of drums to express the feeling a person gets when they’ve realized they’ve met the right person.

Kamille Hamzey

Kate Nash

A-My Best Friend Is You

With her artsy attitude, lyrics, eclectic style and varied catchy beats, artist Kate Nash debuted her long awaited album My Best Friend is You. Nash combined

powerful, surprising lyrics without coming off as too bizarre. She managed to keep away from whining while still conveying a message through her lyrics and sang her songs instead of screaming into the microphone. Tracks varied from upbeat “Paris” to the softer “Do You Want to Share the Guilt?” which showcase Nash’s versatility and talent as an artist. While the focus was still on making a statement, unlike other artists, Nash was able to accomplish this without sacrificing the sensibility or musicality of her songs. Bravo Kate Nash, for writing songs instead of just angry rants set to music. Steffi Shenouda

Matt Pond PA

BThe Dark Leaves

The Dark Leaves marks the return of indie-folk-rock band Matt Pond PA’s hallmark mellow acoustic tunes and moody collection of lyrics. The unique sound of group

leader Matt Pond’s vocals could have led to the track list sounding too similar. Instead, each song is accompanied by different instrumentals and unique melodies. “Specks” provides a surprisingly jubilant, lighthearted energy to the album; a perfect addition to the sound track for your next road trip. All the songs have earthy, outdoorsy undertones, probably attributable to the band’s ploy to record the album in a studio in the remote town of Bearsville, New York, instead of their hometown in Pennsylvania. Overall, The Dark Leaves acts as a fitting next chapter to the discography of mpPA.

Hannah Colborn

KATENASH.CO

THE-LOSERS.COM

Main character Clay, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, leads his crew into battle.

MATTPONDPA.COM JUSTINNOZUKA.COM

Date Night A

Rated PG-13, 88 min.

Steve Carell and Tina Fey lead viewers through this action packed comedy. The film sticks to original humor rather than stupid comedy. Phil (Carell) and Claire (Fey) Foster

are your ordinary married couple from New Jersey. They have their routine Friday date nights, but even those are becoming unoriginal. After hearing about their friends’ recent divorce, the Fosters try to mix it up in order to keep their love alive. When Friday night rolls around, Claire suggests checking out a popular restaurant in New York City, where Phil steals someone’s reservation. Claire and Phil realize that their average date night isn’t so average when they find themselves racing around trying to escape from two men with guns. The genuine humor left me blotting tears of laughter.

Kristin Carlson

MOVIEFONE.COM

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“Video game design be-cause video games are awe-some.”

Shane Ireland ‘12

IDEAS

North Pointeeditor

Natasha Ertzbischoff

managing editorSammy Scoggin

assistant managing editor

Michael Maas

senior editors Christine Bedway,

Michelle Ewart, Emily Biegas, Kayla Snitgen,

Hannah Colborn, Kamille Hamzey, Olyvia Brown,

Christina Haddad & Rachel Neunfeldt

deputy editorsEmma Huellmantel

Jenn Cusmano Andy Klingensmith

Amelia Flynn & Danny Schrage

assistant editors Makenzie Damm & Kara Bakowski

staff reportersRachel Premack, Drew

Konczal, Alex Sumnik, Samantha Sternad, Micaela

Liddane, Caitlin Siluk Lucas Funk, Mike Wynne, Steffi

Shenouda, Kaitlin Swanson & Mike Soviak

advertising managerChris Janson

faculty adviserAndrew Taylor

The North Pointe is edited and produced by Advanced Journalism students at Grosse Pointe North High School. The views expressed are solely those of the authors or the student editorial board and do not reflect the opinions of Grosse Pointe school system or its employees.

Editorials represent the view of the Editorial Board. Other viewpoints express the author’s perspective.

Comments regarding the news or viewpoints expressed in the North Pointe should be directed to the student editor, who is responsible for all of the newspaper’s content.

Letters to the editor are encouraged. The editor can be reached by email at: [email protected] or by calling the North Pointe newsroom at: (313) 4323248.

The North Pointe is available free to all students 18 times per year. Our editorial policy is available online at:myGPN.org

707 Vernier Rd. Grosse Pointe Woods MI, 48236 Phone: 313.432.3248 Fax: 313.432.3257 Online: myGPN.org

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Memberships: Michigan Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association and National Scholastic Press Association.

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recycled paper.Please recycle this copy.

A state championship’s a state championshipTo the teams, a win is a win. To the coaches,

a win is a win. To the fans, a win is a win.

To most students, a win is a half day.

With the victory of North’s decorated and cov-

eted Quiz Bowl team at the state championship

on April 24, there have been whispers that the

team deserves recognition, and that recognition

is a half day. The girls basketball team earned

one for the school when they won their state

championship, so why doesn’t the Quiz Bowl

team get one?

Most people don’t know this, but the girls

didn’t earn the half day for the win, it was be-

cause the actual game was at 2:00 p.m. In order

for students to be able to cheer on the team, they

let the school off early. So in reality it was not for

winning, it was for watching.

But the sad part is that even though the Quiz

Bowl team didn’t get a half day for their triumph,

they still are barely recognized around the

school. Sure, they were recognized on the school

announcements. But that just doesn’t seem like

enough.

Many academic clubs and teams have been

winning, or at least valiantly losing in many

competitions for years, and even we, the school

paper, don’t know about it. Much publicity and

honor is placed upon the school’s sports teams,

and the well known athletes. But what about the

smaller groups that win their battles?

Sure, maybe less people show up at their

“games” and maybe less people even know the

name of the club. But they still won. They still

earn the same titles that everyone else does, just

in a different way.

For example, North’s orchestra recently won

“Best of Class” at a Toronto competition and

both the Symphony Band and Orchestra re-

ceived a superior ranking on their performance.

But nobody knows about it but them.

We’re not saying that with every win, there

should be a pep rally, but these types of wins are

a big deal. They’re not just another number in

the “W” column.

EDITORIAL

Much publicity and honor is placed upon the school’s sports teams,

and the well known athletes. But what about the smaller

groups that win their battles?

“Video game design be-cause video games are awe-some.”

Shane Ireland ‘12

“WiFi so it would be a lot easier to bring your own laptop.”

Mira Shenouda ‘13

“WiFi because if we had WiFi we could use iPods to get on the Internet.”

Dewayne Thomas ‘12

“Escalators so we can be super lazy and I wouldn’t have to carry all my books.”

Diana Gabriel ‘11

“iPads for every student. It’s an individual SMART Board for everyone.”

Kirk Gowen ‘10

“I think the biggest things for the kids would be wireless Internet.”

Tom BeachASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Your Turn: What technology would you like to see in the school? By Drew Konczal

North Pointe – Friday, May 7, 2010 – 7

Editorials are the opinion of the North Pointe’s Editorial Board. The author is always anonymous because the view represents the editors as a team.

With musical geniuses of the past gone, what

will our generation bring to music?

The year is 2010. Acclaimed musical ge-

niuses like Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Bri-an Wilson and The Beach Boys, and Nirvana have long passed. They catapult-ed musical theory, arrange-ment and lyricism into the stratosphere. So why, after all these incredible artists have shown us how to win the minds, hearts and ears of the population, does it seem that modern day music is just a rouse to display monetary domi-nance? Have we no respect for the cre-ation that is music?

I sit in the fam-ily car. My father fiddling with the radio in the front seat. Countless stations are playing the latest doodles of mindlessness by artists like Black Eyed Peas and Akon. Now, let the records show that while these songs may have hooks and beats that are just as catchy as the modern cold, they do not show an ounce of musi-cal diversity, creativity, or intelligence.

In 1966, one of the most acclaimed years in music of the twentieth century, an artist may have sat in a room for hours, pound-ing out the latest lyrics. Then, after he found his work to be of importance, he proceeded to spend a few months in the studio producing his latest album. This process of writing, ar-ranging, recording, pro-ducing and releasing used to be a ritual of emotion, filled with love, hate, anger, lust, pity and grace.

Now, as long as the writ-er can put a beat and a hook behind their latest lyri-cal dribble based on their weekend hangover, they sell a million records and win a million ears.

Why has it come to this? In the early sixties, folk poet Bob Dylan might have

used music to protest the actions of the government. In the seventies, hard rock pioneers The Who wrote epically proportioned “rock operas”, 70 minute sto-ries through music. In the eighties, rap group Public Enemy fought for the op-pressed black race. And in the nineties, the symbol of the decade, Kurt Cobain, was writing the Bible of the generation with Never-mind.

Now back to the now. Pop sensation Ke$ha writes: “I’m talking about - everybody getting crunk, crunk/boys trying to touch

my junk, junk/gon-na smack him if he getting too drunk, drunk.” Why Ke$ha, why?

Some of the most influential and iconic human beings in pop cul-ture like John Len-non, Michael Jack-

son and Ray Charles earned their place by crafting their art, slaving over a sound board. And now, you and the rest of your chart top-ping friends come along, and wipe the reputation of musicians, workers of art, clean off the minds of the world. How do you sleep at night knowing what you’re doing to music?

Of course, the artists of the sixties, seventies, and other decades who brought a new taste to the world’s palette also met the criti-cism that I’m applying to the artists today. They were regarded as raunchy, loud and mean. So maybe, I’m just not warming up to the new sound as fast as my peers. But I highly, highly doubt it.

I mean, when we’re the elderly grandparent show-ing our grand kids what was hip in our days, show-ing them our oldies, are we going to play Ke$ha’s “Blah, Blah, Blah”?

I really hope not. There’s so much good music out there ready to be discov-ered, but they keep ruining it for us. What can we do?

I guess I just wasn’t made for these times.

Is nothing sacred?

AndyKlingensmith

Despite being canceled twice and

crashed by cops, MORP

proves invinciblemorp. school parking lot.

tomorrow night. 7:30. be there.

At first, Alex Sumnik’s Facebook status was merely an improbable wish. But while I was taking a break from studying for the AP US test with juniors Andrea Matthew and Evan Lock, we saw the status and took it a little too seriously.

“ W e ’ r e gonna make this hap-pen,” Evan said.

One half-hour later, the details had been sent to every one of our friends on Face-book, and a dozen or so peo-ple had already confirmed their attendance.

Earlier that day, MORP had been canceled for a second time, due to “lack of interest,” according to assis-tant principal Tom Beach.

The decision to cancel the dance was actually a joint decision between Beach and Mary Ann Komlosan, the ju-nior class adviser. When ap-proached by Matthew after school, Komlosan said that the class was a little less than 20 tickets under the previ-ously established quota of 150, and she and Beach had made the decision after the sales on Friday at lunch. But she failed to take into ac-

count that four members of Junior Class Council had signed up for after-school Friday ticket sales.

As one of the four students supposed to sell tickets after school and one of the heads of the decoration committee, Matthew spent hours plan-ning and shopping for the dance.

“I can remember a couple nights where I stayed up until past 1 a.m. looking for jungle centerpieces for the tables,” she said. “Everyone put so much time and money (the junior class lost between $900 and $1000) into this it was too hard to see it all go to waste. We had to do some-thing about it.”

Around 3 p.m. on Satur-day afternoon I got woken up by a text from Matthew that said “hey girl, wanna come over to evan’s? we’re making signs for morp :).” Too sleepy to respond, I shut my phone and went back to my nap while Andrea and Evan painted signs that said “MORP 2010” and “TUNE IN TO 98.7.”

Around 6 p.m. we arrived in the parking lot ready to get this unofficial party started.

By 7 p.m. the parking lot was full of music blasting from open windows of the, oh maybe five parked cars, while students danced up on the wall, putting on a show for the passing cars on Morn-ingside.

Around 8 p.m. the party was in full-fling, with rough-ly 50 people.

And even though the cops showed up 20 minutes later and told us to go home, it was a blast.

Though the Facebook message said “WE CANNOT

BE STOPPED,” we indeed were stopped, but we accom-plished our goal of not letting all the hard work and effort that went into this dance go to waste.

“I don’t even care about the cops. We made this hap-pen,” Andrea said.

Assistant principal Tom Beach responds

There was not a quota of 150. That was a number that someone apparently took out of context.

I stated in that discussion that 150 was very low and that we would lose a significant amount of money if we ran it at 150. Our last dance was somewhere in the area between 225 to 250 kids and we lost a lot of money.

The decision was made, like we make at most dances, to wait until we had some firm numbers and make the call on the Friday afternoon. We could not wait until after school sales on Friday because we would need to announce to the students if the dance was cancelled.

To my memory, we had approximately 142 students signed up after lunch on Friday. While I am sure we would have raised that number with after school sales, it seemed apparent that we were not going to surpass the numbers of the last dance where we lost money. I was very disappointed.

What’s your view?Visit myGPN.org and leave a comment.

Jungle fever could not be contained

AMELIA FLYNN

Juniors Caitlin Siluk and Alex Sumnik advertise the impromptu re-placement for the canceled MORP. Approximately 50 jungle fever-afflicted students came committed to cavort in the student parking lot.

Caitlin Siluk

IN-DEPTH8 – Friday, May 7, 2010 – North Pointe

The assumption that teens are too preoccupied with texting and Facebook to be engaged in the real world and traditional media may be exhilarating, but overall proven to be false. The information inside this study, provided by The Nielsen Company, who is known for their TV ratings, proves that teens can be reached in the same means as their parents.

By Kamille HamzeySENIOR EDITOR

Contributing: Andy Klingensmith, Troy Seely, Steffi Shenouda

Teenage Technology Overload?WARNING:

Myth: U.S. teens watch the most television.Fact: South Africans and Indonesians take the prize for the most time in front of the tube.

U.S. teens actually watch less television per day than most, according to TV viewing measured electroni-cally by Nielsen. In South Africa, teens averaged more than five hours per day of TV, and Taiwan watches about two hours and 47 minutes.

“Sometimes I have flashes of awareness and realize ‘My God, I’m spending time watching other people live life and animated picture’, but it subsides. It’s all

in good fun, entertainment and boredom.”junior Trent Berg

TELEVISION

Myth: Teens use the Internet in different ways than adults.Fact: Teens visit many of the same sites as adults.

The most popular categories for teens in most markets are general interest portals and search, the same as adults. Social networks and blogs also consistently rank among the most popular catego-ries for teens. MySpace and Facebook are critical elements of the teen experience. Google was the top Web brand visited by teens in March 2009.

“(I use) Facebook for communicating with my friends, ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com for great jokes, and gametrailers.com for information on

video games.” sophomore Mark Schucker

INTERNET

Myth: Teens barely know what a newspaper is, let alone read it.Fact: More than a quarter of U.S. teens say they read a daily newspaper and more than a third say they read on Sunday.

A popular perception is that a new generation of media consumers can be blamed for the decline of print media. Older teens 18-20 measured by Scarborough Research were less likely to read a daily paper than average, but 29% of that same age group read a daily newspaper on an aver-age day. And even more, 34%, say they read the paper on Sunday.

“I read the Grosse Pointe Times and the Free Press. Sometimes not all the news is on the Inter-

net, and it’s not always faster either.”junior Marissa Curran

“I read the Detroit Free Press, because it’s inter-esting and more accessible than the Internet.”

junior Minna Song

NEWSPAPER

Myth: Teens no longer rely on radio, since they have their MP3 players and PCs.Fact: The top source of music consumption for 16% of teens globally is radio.

While radio, records, cassettes, 8-tracks and CD players had their time, this is the genera-tion of the MP3 player. Since teens may find themselves in older cars not yet adaptable to their MP3s, radio still serves as an information source for local happenings of relevance to teens.

“When I get bored of what’s on my iPod, I turn on the radio to

see what’s new.” senior Louie Michael

RADIO

Myth: Theaters are too old-fashioned and expensive for today’s teens.Fact: Teens go to movies more than any other age group.

Even with all the video options avail-able, teens still love the big screen. Thirty-two percent of U.S. teens ages 12-17 said they prefer the movie theater above DVDs, renting online and Movies on Demand. Overall, U.S. teens watched an average of 31.4 movies in 2008, 10.8 of which were in the theater.

“I like going to theaters, but if I’m broke or can’t get a ride, On Demand

is a great option.”sophomore Suzie Vyletel

“I go every other weekend with my friends. We usually see whatever is

new.”junior Robert Bylski

MOVIES

Myth: The most appealing ads to teens are junk-food and entertainment ads.Fact: Advertisers are more likely to attract teens with messages about health and beauty.

Engaging teens around a brand can have a huge impact on the advertising market, because of their direct expendable income and influence over household purchases.

“I’m sure I subconsciously buy into adver-tisements and absolutely believe they are

effective since products heavily advertised have good results.”

senior Lilly Arsenault

“I buy products that I need or want, I don’t care what the name of the brand is.”

senior John Haas

ADVERTISING

AMELIA FLYNN

FREEP.COM

SXC.HU

SXC.HU

KAMILLE HAMZEY

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