December Issue

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The Bloomfield

Bloomfield Hills High School

December 2015

Volume III-Issue II

REUNITED

Father of two students returns home from military service Merrick Weingarten Managing Editor

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INTERNATIONAL

NEWS

Discovery Channel to film segment on BHHS

New school hosts tours for interested visitors The BHHS building is attracting international attention

School set to be featured in show about approaches to education

T

he Discovery Channel has chosen to incorporate Bloomfield Hills High School into an upcoming documentary. “[Our segment would be] part of a larger show called the Profile Series that focuses on education innovation and things that are happening in education that are unique,” explained Director of Communications and Community Relations Shira Good. “[The Discovery Channel] approached us and we thought it sounded like a great chance to feature our district and our new building. We have always had a goal of showcasing our district and our educational philosophies on a national scale, and this is certainly a fantastic opportunity to do so.”

Focusing on stories that “offer solutions and make a positive impact” in fields like science, business, and education, Good said that the series has profiled the likes of Yale University, Microsoft, international non-governmental organizations, and now Bloomfield Hills High School.

According to the minutes of the September 17 BHSD Board Meeting, production has already been approved as a Production Authorization

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Jack Wroldsen Staff Writer Contract amounting to $27,900 was authorized. Funds for the eight minute segment and a thirty second promotional video will come from the existing communications budget.

“A gentleman from the show contacted the superintendent’s office and asked if they could set up a conference call with the Superintendent and the President of the Board,” said President of the Bloomfield Hills Board of Education Ingrid Day on how the Discovery Channel approached the district regarding the possibility.

“He explained that [Discovery Channel] does

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F

rom Indiana to Israel, people from across the globe are scheduling times to tour Bloomfield Hills High School.

“We’ve already had around thirty tours take place within the building thus far,” said Shira Good, Bloomfield Hills School District Director of Communications and Community Relations. “We’ve held tours for school districts from Colorado, such as Centaurus School District, Whitley County School District in Indiana, and numerous institutions from Michigan, like Selene, Grosse Pointe North, and Gibraltar. Our architectural firms, Fielding-Nair International and Spantec, have come from Arizona, Colorado, and Florida to take tours.”

Principal Charlie Hollerith explained the reason these groups are touring the building. “There is a lot of excitement, not only within our community but outside of it as well,” he said. “We are one of the first high schools in the country to have this model be incorporated comprehensively through education practices and architecture. This design is on the cutting edge, from security to instruction to technology, and a lot of different people want to come and check it out.”

Looking toward the future, Good shared that “we have requests as far as Israel for individuals that want to come see the building. And of course, prospective families; it’s really a wide variety of people from across the globe.”

Editorial Policy The Bloomfield Hills Hawkeye is a student publication distributed free of charge to over 1800 students, faculty, community members, and businesses. We strive to inform, entertain, and continue a tradition of journalistic excellence. We take our integrity seriously and strive to report the news as accurately as possible.

@TheHawkeyeNews The Bloomfield Hawkeye @TheBloomfieldHawkeye

Jack Wroldsen Staff Writer

Visit www.TheHawkeyeNews.com for exclusive video content, additional coverage, and more

According to Hollerith, what the groups want to see is just as disparate as the groups themselves. “The two main things that folks want to see are the actual ‘bricks and mortar’, or the design of the building, and the instructional practices we’ve implemented,” he said. “From there, they’ll explain in their correspondence with the Communications Department what they want to look at specifically. This can range from the flooring to learning communities, the networked printers to the grand staircase, the courtyard to the eateries. Some schools passed technology bonds, and want to see the Chromebooks, or how the network works, or the two displays in classrooms and the common areas. Companies want to look at the different places of gathering we have or the flow of the building; it’s all very definitive and there’s a wide range of interest between groups.”

Concurring with Hollerith, Dr. Christina DiPilato, whose Learning Services team directs curriculum leads many of the instructional tours, explained that “the tours are very tailored to what the groups specifically want to see. Grosse Pointe North High School came to talk about how furniture impacts teaching.

Whitley County, Indiana is building a brand new high school, and they wanted to learn about learningcommunities and the setup of space in our building.”

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2 Taiwanese students visit BHHS

What in the World?

Russia-Turkey

Putin has called for an end to all chartered flights from Russia to Turkey

Kyrstin Schmidt Staff Writer

“I highly appreciated the parents’ support. We have 20 families who opened their houses to welcome those students and allow them to experience the real American life...”

No extensions on labor contract for Turkish citizens working in Russia Putin has left trucks at the border and confiscated large quantities of Turkish food imports Putin has begun to prepare broader economic sanctions

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Read more @ www. thehawkeyenews.com

Poll numbers change drastically

According to the New York Times, the terrorist attacks in Paris have shifted the public’s importance from the economy to terrorism. This shift could cause serious changes in the 2016 Presidential election. Most Americans believe that the Republicans are better than the Democrats when it comes to foreign policy.

A poll conducted by CBS news showed that when it came to terrorism, the American people preferred Republicans by 21%.

The candidates that have benefited from the new importance for foreign policy are Trump, Rubio, Cruz, and Christie. Cruz has jumped from 7% to 23% in Iowa, behind Trump who is currently at 25%. Ben Carson on the other hand, has fallen to 19.8%.

International

Central Republic of Africa

Yemen

130 people died in an ISIS mosque bombing

France

ISIS Attacks Internationally

More than 100 were killed in the attacks in Paris

Pope Francis visits the CAR

Egypt

ISIS terrorists sabotaged a plane killing 224

The Pope has recently traveled to the Central African Republic, said the New York Times. This nation has been ravaged by war over religious differences. Pope Francis hopes to make a bold move that will help the nation restart peace talks. But the war has not begun to dwindle at all, even the diplomacy of the United Nations failed to create compromise. But Pope Francis was able to help negotiate the detente between the United States and Cuba in 2014. Many citizens of the Central African Republic believe that the peaceful message the Pope will give will make monumental strides for ending the conflict

U.S.

ISIS-inspired terrorists killed 14 in San Bernidino, Calif.

Pei-Chuan Lee Chinese Teacher DIA, and Troy Historical Village.

“We went on a field trip with them to certain areas in Detroit just to show them some local places. To welcome them in class, we had a small party where we brought food and just talked with them and compared our lives with theirs in Taiwan at school,” said Senior Jenny Ruan.. “Even though it was mainly just touring them around, it was really fun to show them how our life is, and compare our lives with theirs.”

Following this experience, Lee said that she was thankful for all who had a part in making the entire program and trip possible, and indicated that she plans to continue the exchange in the future.

“I highly appreciated the parents’ support. We have 20 families who opened their houses to welcome those students and allow them to experience the real American life. Also, I am thankful for Mr. Hollerith. He sponsored us for the T-shirts, gave the students a souvenir, and helped the transportation from our school to the farm. We will be going to Taiwan for spring break, and I’m very excited,” said Lee. After visiting BHHS, Cathy Chung, the leading teacher of the visiting students from Taiwan, , sends her gratitude to everyone that made the trip possible.

“I would like to express our appreciation to you for your hospitality on behalf of the Taiwanese students and their parents. We know you and your children are all very busy during weekdays but you still took the time to give Taiwanese students a wonderful stay and even arrange many activities for them, which gave them a great and unforgettable memory,” said Chung. “Some of the activities may be their once in the lifetime. Therefore, we would like to thank you again for your hospitality and we will never forget your kindness to us. We have come back to Taiwan safe and happy and we hope that you and your children can come to Taiwan one day so that we can have the opportunity to return your kindness.”

U.S.A

Putin sanctions Turkey

Students and teachers remark on the exchange program

Twenty Taiwanese exchange students became Black Hawks for three nights and four days.

“I really enjoyed this experience, though it was exhausting at times,” said BHHS Chinese 300-500 teacher Pei-Chuan Lee who coordinated this first time event. “I think having more [inter-school relationships] and things like this could be a new chapter for our school in the future.”

Traveling 7,602 miles from Shing High School, which is in the second biggest city in Taiwan, Kaohsiung City, the exchange students went on trips around the city, stayed with host families, and worked with the students in Chinese 400 from October 26 through the 29.

“I chose to host because when I heard they were coming, I thought it would be really cool. I went to China a couple years ago with the school so I thought it would be nice for them to stay with someone who had been to China and so I could practice my Chinese and they could practice their English,” said Senior Margo Williams who hosted Rebecca, a junior. . “Living with her was really cool because you could see just how different her culture was. There were many differences, such as how she lives in the city and we live in the suburbs, what they eat, how they talk to people, and how they relate with your family.”

According to Lee, the two groups took part in several activities, ranging from sports games, trips to the

News

What do you think?

Should we let Syrian Refugees into the Country?

“We have to make sure they aren’t dangerous and that they won’t hurt the economy” -Josh Mukerjee, Junior

“Not allowing the refugees in would be a defiance of human rights, but not all of the refugees are three-year-olds.”

-Grace Wroldsen, Sophomore

“I think we should help everyone we can but not at the expense of our nation’s safety.”

Isabelle Gibbs, Junior

Learning Services Director Christine DiPilato leads a tour for the Whitley School District in Indiana. In this picture the Superintendent of Whitley Schools draws inspiration for the design of their new high school from the BHHS STEM room.

TOURS FROM 1 While groups have particular concepts or structures they hope to see, DiPilato expressed that the district also instills some overarching concepts during each tour.

“We do try to incorporate some universal messages. First, we are extremely proud; we’re proud to offer this space to our students and our community, and we’re proud that our teachers were willing to take a risk and teach in these new spaces,” DiPilato said.

“Another piece is openness and transparency. We believe very much that open and transparent spaces allow for us to grow together as a community of educators and students, and help encourage open-minded learning. The third, and probably most important, is that we believe the ownership of the building should lie in the student’s hands. We need to empower our students to be responsible, to use open spaces, and make choices to better prepare them for their future.

We believe that this building allows us to achieve that goal better than other high schools in the past.”

Good believes these universal messages con-

tribute to the widespread interest in the tours.

“I think what we’re finding is that the school is becoming a beacon, nationally and internationally, for

“We believe very much that open and transparent spaces allow for us to grow together as a community of educators and students, and help encourage open-minded learning.”

Christene DiPilato Director of Learning Services people that want to see a 21st century instructional

model be incorporated so holistically into a building,” she said. “We are one of the first high schools in the nation to comprehensively do so. The delivery for learning with these different spaces is really something you have to see. That’s why everyone is coming to view our building and see our spaces in action.”

From their specific interests and the overall concepts, Hollerith identified that the groups’ reactions seem to share the same sentiments.

“People, regardless of their reason for taking a tour, will come up to me and say, ‘I would never have thought of using that kind of space,’ or ‘that’s such a cool way to use technology’, things like that. They get a little bit of a wow factor. Each group will obviously have different takeaways, but there’s always this awe for such a space and for what we are capable of doing in it.”

If you are interested in requesting a tour of the school, a sign-up form is available on the district’s website at http://www.bloomfield.org/ schools/bloomfield-hills-high-school/tour-request

NEWS

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Challenging Beliefs Over the week of December 6, BHHS students were given an opportunity to be able to participate in 2015 Challenge Day. Students in all grades were involved in events and shared stories in the attempt to recognize different perspectives.

1: Sign her up! Junior Natalie Perkins

is making herself a name tag before she enters Challenge Day. Everybody involved was required to make a name tag so they would be open to meeting new people and to get comfortable with knowing other people’s names. Perkins is part of the Link Crew who served as facilitators throughout the day. 2: High fives for everyone! Junior Jake Fishkind runs down a tunnel of teachers and staff which started of the day’s activities. Fishkind was one of the first students to run into the Auxiliary Gym on the first day of Challenge Day. Although this day of three Challenge Days was for freshman, Fishkind was a part of the Link Crew which allowed him to be a Challenge Day facilitator. “Coming from the standpoint of a junior, I thought this was a great sight watching all the freshman connect with each other,” he said. 3: Let’s Dance! One of the day’s many activities, Senior Link Leader / Challenge Day facilitator Tyler Fine stands back to back with a freshman. The goal of this game was to meet someone each person didn’t know and try and dance while standing back to back.

After dancing, each person turned around and shared something about themselves in order to help connect with other people and make new friends. 4: Chest bump! Sealoyd, one of the Challenge Day instructors, and Freshman Jiovanni Harris display one of the non-acceptable ways to give hugs. The facilitators explained to the group that everyday a person should get a minimum of nine good hugs, but recommend 12.

During this activity, Sealoyd and Harris showed why hugs are good.

Throughout the day, students and staff offered hugs to one another. 5: What’s so funny? Senior Justin Gudeman and 9th grade writing teacher, Jen Teal share a laugh as they walk toward their seats. Throughout the day different activities and games allowed students and staff the opportunity to have fun and even drop the waterline in order to get real with one another. Following Gandhi’s motto, everyone was challenged to “Be the Change” they want to see in their community. 6: Freshman Serene Edilibi and West Hills 8th grade teacher, Mark Honeyman make sure one another are on their way to getting their 12 required hugs a day. After listening to Challenge Day leader Tony, Serene said that if you get 9-12 hugs per day, you will live longer. “Challenge day was emotional in some parts but we laughed and it was really relieving,” Edilbi stated.

Photos by Max Wittenberg

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Model Center experiences flooding The campus has undergone three floods in three months Nuha Raziuddin Staff Writer During the past three months the Model Center has flooded on three separate times.

“I came in one a day off to unpack and there were vans outside and a bunch of guys with hard hats and they were sucking up the water and putting it in the van, said English teacher Geoffrey Parkinson of the first time Model flooded. “I said, “That’s my desk in all of that water.” They just looked at me and said, “We’re sorry.””

A month later, Model Art teacher Margaret Pasternak said that the second flood, “happened the weekend after Homecoming. I had to come in on a Saturday because I had left some papers and when I came in, everything - files and papers- were all just floating.”

During this second flood, Pasternak wasn’t the only one to be affected as once again Parkinson’s lost items.

“This time there was some personal stuff that got wrecked, such as my teaching portfolio which had a lot of sentimental value,” he said. “There were also some binders and books that got damaged. It was really rough.”

“During the third flood, the water came in through the pipe and destroyed all of the theatre equipment in the viewing room,” said Pasternack.

“We had lost all kinds of equipment. I lost hundreds of dollars worth of matte board and paper for the backdrops for photography. It’s hard because now, we’re just constantly thinking where it’s gonna come from next. We want to get going and trying to make Model a very welcome environment but every time we try to do that there are setbacks.”

Parkinson added that, ‘even though everything will be covered under insurance, it still made it very difficult to have class. Projection issues plus the damaged property made it pretty hard.”

Director of Physical Plant Services Brian Goby, explains that floods have occurred because “the original design of the school had the exit door going to the south but then, the state of Michigan code reviewed it and said we had to turn it to the East, because a car could pull up and block the door from opening, so that’s really what caused our problem. If the door was where it should have been originally, we wouldn’t have a problem the first time.”

“The last flood we had was because of an old piece of conduit,” said Goby.

“There was an old abandoned piece of conduit, and when DTE took out the transformer they left it in the wall and we didn’t realize it. It was basically an open pipe in the wall to the outside and when we had the heavy rain, the water

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“I lost hundreds of dollars worth of matte board and paper for the backdrops for photography.

It’s hard because now, we’re just constantly thinking where it’s gonna come from next. We want to get going and trying to make Model a very welcome environment but every time we try to do that there are setbacks.”

Margaret Pasternak Art Teacher

DISCOVERY CHANNEL FROM 1 all kinds of educational programming and have a particular emphasis on public education, and as they were discussing this we finally actually had to stop and ask him why he called. He said that as they were discussing the show, our name came up, and that’s why he called us It wasn’t anything that we started or sought out, we were mentioned to them. He didn’t even know we had built a new high school.”

Day explicated on why she thinks the district was mentioned in the first place.

“While we offer what everyone would say is a typical, comprehensive high school, we are trying to do it in a different format. It’s those different implementations like learning communities and standards based grading, capitalizing on the educational choices students can make, putting students first, the idea of a team of teachers working together to support students, even something as simple as being engaged in three or four different kinds of learning experiences within 90 minutes as opposed to just getting a lec-

ture. I’m not sure [those concepts] hapel in the high school, all of these things pen everywhere. We are one of the first are making people that know a little about us think, ‘they are a really good [districts] to take a whole high school and example of a 21st century school.’” try to change it to match the demands of the 21st century, and I think they’re Not only will Good and the Discovery interested in that.”

Channel be specifySuperintendent of “We are one of the first ing what they want the Bloomfield Hills [districts] to take a whole to document from the initial interests, School District Rob- high school and try to ert Glass concurred Good plans on meeting with producers with Day, saying change it to match the that the show’s “fo- demands of the 21st cen- to discuss how the cus is on schools tury, and I think they’re show will be able to that are preparing be filmed while allowing the school to students for the fu- interested in that.” function normally. ture. Our mission, our strategic goal to Ingrid Day “In the next few be a global education weeks we are anticileader - these efforts School Board President pating speaking with producers about are what make us a more specific ideas. little different. We are a PreK-12 International BaccalaureWe are very protective of the high school ate district, most of our schools having environment right now and making sure some sort of visible thinking concept that the tours and programs of this nature aren’t too intrusive,” she said. “ It could present, the learning community mod-

potentially be more disruptive if they come earlier, so we’d love to have them in the spring, when we believe students and staff will be more acclimated to the [new] building and ready for them to come in.”

Good continued saying that those that are familiar with the different focal points of the show would be featured in the program.

“We’ll try to pick folks that can really speak to the different programs and initiatives,” she said “In my line of work, I call them ‘content experts’. For example, if someone is asking about the budget, I try to find someone in the finance or business office. For this particular beast, we’ll try to find some ‘content experts’ that can speak to those different programs more appropriately than others, including students.”

For more information on the Discovery Channel visit, contact the Communications Department at communications@bloomfield.org.

built up and was filled with dirt and other waste. Finally, it just shot out across that room. The first two floods and the last flood were totally unrelated to each other- they had different causes.”

Once the origin of the floods was discovered, Goby along with the rest of the Bloomfield Construction department came up with a solution to prevent these floods from occurring in the future.

“The construction crew built a retaining wall and there are all sorts of earth moving machines. They put in new drainage and cut a hole through the asphalt and did whole other work,” said Parkinson.

Looking over the past three months Parkinson said, “We used to have leaks at the old place, the sewage started coming through the walls and whatnot.

So as a teacher you just learn to deal with these things as they come along.”

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NEWS

4 Digital Narratives class creates new “BHS TV Show” Mrs. Zang’s class attempts to bring news and key interviews to the school Emelia Irmscher Guest Writer To provide BHHS with a broadcasted TV show, English teacher Amanda Zang changed the curriculum of the Digital Narratives English class.

“I proposed this change in class to the BHHS administration last school year, and it was approved to run under the new title ‘Digital Narratives and Production,’” said Zang of the new curriculum which originated from conversations with two of her Humanities students and conversations with Vickie Chandler in Digital Media Services.

“We wanted to get something right off the go, such as having a broadcast in October, so it was nuts,” said Zang. “September was crazy. We didn’t even have a full five day week until the last week of September. So with that, the fact that we got something out in October was absolutely fabulous.”

According to senior Heather Grantz the students in the class go through a complex process in order to create their broadcast.

“We film, edit, script write, brainstorm ideas, and collaborate as a team. We work in teams and come up with stories to share with the community,” said Grantz. ”The entire process starts off by brainstorming and coming up for an idea for the upcoming segment. Once we are finished brainstorming and have decided on a topic, we pitch it to Mrs. Zang,”

“We film, edit, script write, brainstorm ideas, and collaborate as a team. We work in teams and come up with stories to share with the community,” Heather Grantz Senior said junior Alex Polselli. “Once she approves it we start to write the drafts for the segment including shot lists, questions for interviews, and openings or introductions, after we refine the drafts we create a final script and then the interview process begins.”

Zang said that her role is “more of a facilitator than an actual teacher of direct instruction. If we ran this like a traditional classroom we wouldn’t have anything out probably this school year.”

After the interview process is completed, Polselli said that “we arrange a filming schedule, then we sign out the equipment needed and begin to film the segments and interviews. Once the filming is finished we go back to class at model and upload the videos, then edit them to fit the storyboard we established while creating the script and shot list. Usually two people work on editing the video while the rest of the group works on either the script for the next segment or reflects on the segment that just concluded. After all this is done, we finalize the show and air it.”

Besides creating the content, junior Sam Arslanian said students are given the opportunity to play numerous roles including being a lead anchor.

“Being anchor has been awesome honestly,” he said. “ I would love to become an anchor for a major TV news station after graduating from college. “So I believe that this serves as a stepping stone for that.”

In addition Grantz said, “I absolutely love this class. It’s pretty free range and we can be creative with it. If you get the opportunity to take this class, I recommend it.”

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Sofi K presents new album and debut concert Freshman Sophia Washer embarks on her musical career with her new album LoveHate Morgan Montgomery Staff Writer On Friday, November 6th, freshman Sophia Washer, known by her stage name Sofi K, had her first concert at the Royal Oak Music Theatre to promote her debut album LoveHate.

“It was surreal. It was really cool to see all my friends right there and it was different because normally when I perform in front of people, they’re not people that I know,” said Washer. “I wasn’t nervous at all. I was so excited to get out there.”

While the concert featured performances by Soul Divide and BHHS Seniors Sydney and Emilia Schmier of Stereo Jane, it starred Sofi K, who spent hours preparing for the event.

“During my album production I would say I spent about 5 to 10 hours a week. Then as rehearsals started up for the show, it sped up to 20 or 30 hours per week,” said Washer.

According to Washer, her debut album LoveHate lyrically explores the concept of human emotions and reactions.

“The main reason why it is called LoveHate is half the songs are about happier things and half the songs are about about dark things with deeper meanings,” said Washer. “My inspiration came from a lot of things: the way people act, the way people react, and the life that I was living at the time.”

Sophia’s mother, Linda Washer, talked about her daughter’s journey to complete this album.

“I am proud that Sophia started something when she was 12 and in two years was able to start a project and finish a project. I am unbelievably impressed that at such a young she was able to stick with it and be disciplined enough.” said Linda Washer. “I have to say this was the most amazing experience for me as her mom, to watch her come alive on that stage and to feel totally confident and comfortable. I thought she did an amazing job. I was as awed as other people were.”

According to Washer’s mentor and producer, Bryce Harding, Washer is a natural on stage.

“Sophia has a great ability to absorb what’s going on around her and turn that into energy to perform. So, preparing Sophia for this was just working

things out in terms of music and the band members and she took care of it,” said Harding. “She understood what to do and how to perform; we didn’t have to go over that. It was her natural ability to be on stage and work with the musicians.”

Washer’s fellow musicians also recognized her talent and dedication.

“It takes a lot to be able to go on stage and to practice so much. As the lead singer, she knew the songs front and back and knew how to coordinate with everyone. She was the frontwoman for the 9 people behind her and not everyone can do that. She’s on her way to stardom,” said backup singer Chrissy Morgan.

Sophia Washer hopes to continue writing music and expand on her artistic career.

“I’m definitely going to make another album. After tonight, we’re going to release a couple new singles and eventually a second album,” said Sophia Washer.

“I just want to have fun with it and see where it goes.”

“During my album production I would say I spent about 5 to 10 hours a week. Then as rehearsals started up for the show, it sped up to 20 or 30 hours per week.”

Above and Below: Washer sings at her debut concert on Friday, Novemebr 6

Chrissy Morgan Backuo Singer “Both of us have the mindset that we’re having a great time and a great experience. We love working together. We’re just going to keep stepping up the ladder and see where it takes us,” said Bryce.

Although Sophia does not have definite plans for her next album, LoveHate is available for download on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Spotify, Rhapsody and Tidal.

New classroom scheduling allows flexible learning Policy allows for teachers to change rooms and sign up for learning spaces Betsy Stubbs Staff Writer

Above: Art Teacher Angela Esshaki signs up for a room using the new system.

With over 140 rooms filled with new technology, various kinds of furniture and different learning spaces, all BHHS teachers are required to check-out their requested learning spaces every two weeks.

“With this new system, staff and students will have the ability to utilize the whole building and the spaces it provides,” said Principal Charlie Hollerith of the room reservation system implemented this semester. “We looked at a number of softwares and decided on one called EventBoard, a program that allows rooms to be updated instantaneously. It was available for students on mobile devices, and it was as user friendly as possible.”

According to Director of learning technologies for the district David Shulkin, EventBoard will cost roughly $24,000 per year. “That may seem like a lot, or not much, it depends. The other options we looked at started roughly around $52,000 per year. We needed to find something much more cost effective,” he said.

Shulkin explained that the EventBoard software works in the background while the staff uses another program to sign-out their desired teaching spaces.

“Google Calendar and EventBoard talk to each other, and work simultaneously together,” said Shulkin. “We wanted to make sure that all of our staff, students and teachers have something they are familiar with, which is Google Calendar. It’s very straight-forward, and everyone is comfortable with it.”

In order to assist students and others with room locations, Bevier said that, “Once the teachers have put their rooms into the room scheduling software, that data is then sent to all the television screens in all the learning communities where they [television screens] will scroll the schedule for the current hour. Students can walk into that community and see where all the teachers are and what they are teaching. It is now easier to find your class and find your teacher.”

In the future, Principal Charlie Hollerith hopes that EventBoard will play a larger role in students’

academic lives, but for now Google Calendar is the primary software being used by administration, teachers and in the future for students.

“We have old iPads from our pilot program in the district from a few years ago, and our intention is to take those old iPad 2s and use them as touch panels in these rooms,” Shulkin said. “This will take about a year to do, but once those start coming online we will put them on specific rooms.”

Bevier explained that the two programs coincide with the flexible spaces and flexible learning philosophy of the building.

“How these learning communities were built is that each type of room is best suited for a specific purpose,” said Bevier. “They (teachers) are supposed to be choosing rooms that best suit the assignment or task of that class. Instead of having one permanent location, they move to whatever room suits their learning the best.”

the

STATION OF THE NATION WBFH Captures 2015 National High School Station of the Year Title Station wins the award for 6th time in 11 years Foster Stubbs Managing Editor

O

n November 7th, WBFHFM, commonly known as “the Biff,” was named the National High School Station of the Year at the John Drury High School Radio Awards in Naperville, Illinois.

“The John Drury High School Radio Awards were created to honor outstanding high school radio broadcasters in the United States,” said station manager Pete Bowers who with 11 WBFH students accumulated a total of 21 nominations in a variety of categories with a few winning 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place award. “Since 2003, we have submitted entries into this national competition. We have won the state competitions that we are involved in, the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation, but right now, Drury is the only national competition that we enter and we have done well each year.”

Bowers along with assistant station man-

ager, Ron Wittebols, and four WBFH staff ognition, Bowers was much more excited seemembers made the trip to the awards cering his students win awards. “[These awards] emony, held on the campus validate what I believe of North Central College. every day and that is that “The trip was great,” said we have some of the most “It’s a thrill for me to Senior Evan Sacksner, who talented high school radio see my students win won 2nd place in the “Best broadcasters in the nathese national and state Promo” category and 3rd tion,” said Bowers, “It’s awards, I feel like they’re place in the “Best News a thrill for me to see my my sons or daughters Feature Story” category was students win these nagoing up there when they among the 4 that made the tional and state awards, I win. The fact that they’ve trip. “We spent the first feel like they’re my sons or won a national award day hanging out in Chicago, daughters going up there is something that they touring the Chicago Tribune when they win awards. can always have on their building, watching an ESPN The fact that they’ve won resume.”

Radio broadcast from the a national award is somestreets, and eating deep-dish thing that they can always Pete Bowers Station pizza. As for winning the have on their resume.”

Manager award, it’s another great acAlthough the station complishment in the long history of the Biff.” continues to achieve at a high level, WitWhile he enjoyed the station’s national rectebols said they have been doing so with a

16

shrinking staff. “Teenagers don’t use radio like they did 20 years ago. Our problem is not necessarily the awards or the attention but it is compelling the teens to get involved in a program like this,” said Wittebols addressing this change to the ever-changing landscape of the communications field.

“Hopefully they will realize what they have here and then they will take advantage of it.”

Despite its performance on the national stage, Bowers said “the Biff” will put these awards in the rearview mirror and look ahead to the future.

“We don’t do what we do just to win awards,” he said. “We strive to do the best that we can, and [while we will] display our trophy proudly, we’re going to be submitting entries into a state awards ceremony in January so we’re still not finished yet.”

1976

Station of the Year awards

The first year the Biff went over the air

21

11

total awards won by WBFH staff members at the 2015 Drury Awards

WBFH staff members took home awards at the 2015 Drury Awards

NEWS

6 History and English collaborate on Antigone Freshmen History and English class reenacted Antigone to study its literary and historical consequences Lia Forman Guest Writer Ninth Grade World History Teacher David Jenvey and English Teacher Jennifer Thav are using the learning communities to help students collaborate, act, and learn in a more effective way.

“Mrs. Thav and I are in the same learning community. Therefore, we have a lot of the same kids. Because I am teaching classical Greek civilization and she is teaching Antigone at the same time, we thought we could bring the classes together,” said Jenvey. “Her English class acted out the play Antigone, while my class looked at the play from a historical standpoint. It was an opportunity for the students to be actors in their English class and then historians in mine.”

According to Thav, the flexibility of the learning communities allows for one class to easily collaborate with another. “I was going to teach Antigone regardless, the question was when. If I taught the play when Mr. Jenvey was teaching about ancient Greece itself, it would allow students to have an insight about what was going on historically in the play during that time,” she said.

“It was always very difficult in the old school to collaborate with other teachers,” Jenvey said.

“Mrs. Thav and I,,,have a lot of the same kids. Because I am teaching classical Greek civilization and she is teaching Antigone at the same time, we thought we could bring the classes together...

It was an opportunity for the students to be actors in their English class and then historians in mine” David Jenvy Social Studies Teacher “Mrs. Thav had different students than I had, and therefore bringing them together wouldn’t have made much sense. Now that we have learning committees with the same kids, it doesn’t take a lot of logistics, and we have the space to do so. I think it is wonderful that we can learn together. Antigone is a perfect primary source into what Greek culture was like. It is great for my history students because it allows them to see what someone thought in that society.”

“I hope this will carry on for other years.” said Thav “Mr. Jenvey and I will see what is successful about it and then we will build upon it for next year.”

According to freshmen Jacyln Debvukai, this also made the play easier to understand.

“It was super fun!” says Jacyln Debvukaj “I had an amazing time learning the play while collaborating with my friends. The way the teachers taught this unit really helped me understand the content better. I usually would find this unit extremely difficult because Antigone is a confusing play to read. However, when I fully acted out the play in front of my class, I comprehended the material easily.

I can not wait to do it again in the future.”

Robotics secretary junior Ezra Kalmowitz (far left), senior captain Ajay Mehta (center left), senior captain James Juncker (center right), and freshman Adam Kridli (right) assemble care packages to send to armed service members overseas.

Robotics care packages to soldiers overseas are a success Boxes of goods, including food, clothing, and other commodities, were sent to armed service members stationed in Iraq for Veteran’s Day Morgan Montgomery Guest Writer For the upcoming holiday season, the BHHS The team expanded their horizons by robotics Team 2834 The Bionic Blackhawks introducing a community service projcollected donations and created care packect specifically involving the troops. ages to send to soldiers stationed overseas.

“We try to do a lot to help the communi“It made me feel really good. I like putting time ty. We have done STEM projects, but we felt into something that I think really matters. It’s that we needed to do extra” said Ajay Mehta. personally fulfilling and I hope it will make the “We felt that this would be a good opportunity soldiers happy.” said team to give back to the comcaptain Sarah Gerendasy. “I “We felt that this would be munity and help troops was happy with how it was abroad. Troops overseas going. I thought we were a good opportunity to give always need extra supplies doing a great thing and I back to the community and so we believed our efforts hope we can do more next help troops abroad.” would not be wasted.” year,” said team captain Gerendasy explains that Ajay Mehta in addition? the project was in honors The team sent the care of Veteran’s Day, along packages filled with various Ajay Mehta with the holiday season. goods to a Signal Corps “We distributed them unit stationed in Iraq. Robotics Captain because Veteran’s Day was “The platoon has around that time and we 24 men and 5 womfelt like we should be doing en. We made 31 care packages and sent two something instead of hanging around, preparing more boxes of extra stuff,” said event orgafor the holiday season,” said Gerendasy. “When nizer Malini Mehta. “We asked for donayou think of a robotics team, you don’t really tions from the team itself and the school. We think of community service events, but when we asked for things like socks, playing cards, candid this we were trying to send a message that Vetdy, chocolate, protein bars, beef jerky, body eran’s Day is around the corner and you can dowipes—things that reminded them of home.” nate $5 worth of goods and make someone’s day.”

They added a personal touch to the packThe team hopes to send a message of serages by including handwritten notes. vice and obligation to the community.

“I wanted them to write a personal note. We “It’s a very humbling project. It gets the kids had thank you cards for each student. I said to think about how privileged we are, what the write down ‘thank you for your service’ and a troops are doing and how they are away from joke, something that will make them smile,” said their families. It’s a time to reflect,” said Malini Mehta. “The military works so hard for our inMehta. “When they read a card with a joke, it dependence and our freedom, so I told them to will make them smile, even for a few seconds. take care of the bags and treat them with respect.”

It’s just a drop in the ocean. But it’s still a drop.”

Fast Facts The robotics team sent over 30 care packages overseas.

The care packages went to a Signal Corps unit stationed in Iraq.

The care packages included items such as playing cards, candy bars, beef jerky, socks, and deodorant.

Care packages included holiday themed jokes such as “Why was the Thankgiving soup so expensive? It had 24 carrots!”

At the end of each care package, students signed their names and gave encouraging messages supporting the troops.

French class introduces new ‘selfie’ unit

French teacher Holly Hammerle created a new selfie unit for French classes 400 and 500 to promote 21st century learning Jordan Newland Guest Writer To look at communication in the modern world and cultural consequences of pop-culture phenomenons, Madame Hammerle introduced a selfie unit to her French 400/500 class.

“I think it was really fun to do,” said senior Jolie Sherman, a French 400 student. “It gave us a chance to look back through our selfies and be creative, but it also allowed us to speak about it in French which is something really cool.”

According to French teacher Holly Hammerle, she was inspired to introduce the unit after listening to French Belgian singer Stromae, and one of his songs about social media.

“We started the unit with a song, the song is called Carmen by a singer named Stromae. He’s a french speaking Belgian singer

who is just wildly popular. The song Carmen talks about the dangers of using social media in people’s lives,” said Hammerle.

“I thought it was a really high interest and I thought it would be a fun way to start.”

The unit consisted of taking selfies and discussing them in French thereby improving their oral expression skills on a more modern topic.

“I had the students take a selfie and they put them on a google slide and then they discussed where it was taken, who was it taken with, where they posted it and things like that, so that was done individually,” said Hammerle. “We looked at reading and listening comprehensions, and the students deciphered and found meaning in the pictures in groups but at the end of the project they had a listening and speaking test individually.”

According to Hammerle, the selfie project was part of a larger emphasis on language in the 21st century.

“We use language for enjoyment and also to talk about popular media, the danger of media, the fact that when you take a selfie/ when you post things online, they stay there forever and they can come back to haunt you and we did listening comprehension related to that,” said Hammerle. “We watched some youtube videos. The students took selfies and they described what was happening, they talked about the role of social media in their lives so we did reading, writing, and listening around the theme.”

“I really enjoyed this past unit,” said senior Rukayla Ross. “I hope there are more similar units to come on modern day topics.”

Graphic from French class in the past selfie unit.

(Yes yes! I like selfies!)

French Class’s Selfies Senior Jolie Sherman’s selfie

Junior Sophie Benitah’s selfie

Junior Emily Wogaman’s selfie

Senior Sera Sermet’s selfie

NEWS

7 Geometry class creates advertisements Classes implement new strategy to keep students interested Greg Margosian Guest Writer Geometry classes’ latest project aimed to illustrate how math exists in both the academic and outside world.

“I really believe in a lot of the MYP standards out there. I may not agree with some of the fine details in it, but conceptually I agree in mathematics there should be communication aspects to it, there should be real life application to it, there should be pattern recognition, there should be knowledge and understanding--those are the four main components with MYP math” said Math Teacher Steven Thomas. “I’ve been trying to find more real life things to do. As someone who’s worked in the private sector who has worked different jobs, I’m trying to show them ways of bringing math to the real world. This may not relate to the most rigorous side of real life application, but it’s certainly the most fun one.”

On Thomas’ “Construction Days”, students used geometric patterns and shapes to apply math in a kinesthetic way, emulating real situations.

“The construction project has two components: a blueprint page and an advertisement page. The blueprint page is a page where they construct their geometric shapes using a compass, ruler, etc. Students would then take five constructions from their blueprint page and transfer them onto an advertisement page. The advertisement page is where the fun begins” said Thomas. “They used color pencils, markers, or paint their design. They can collaborate with other students to help spice up their page. Everyone got to use their blueprint page to show their technique, and used their advertisement page to show their creativity, tackling multiple types of learning.

“As someone who’s worked in the private sector and has worked different jobs, I’m trying to show them ways of bringing math to the real world.”

Social Studies Teacher Kenneth Cameron facilitates a group discussion

English and History classes embrace learning communities A.P. U.S. History and American Literature have merged to create a different learning environment Shibi Sanjeev Staff Writer The U.S. History and American Literature courses are no longer separate courses.

“AP U.S. and American Lit still have two different teachers and every couple classes, maybe once every two weeks they will open up the dividers between the two big classes so we can work together and maybe we will work on a project or take a test all at the same time to make sure that there is no cheating,” said sophomore Srirama Varanasi of the co-teaching. “Also the units are a lot more closer together, as we are doing the 1600s for history, we will read a book from the 1600s or a poem from the 1600s.”

According to English teacher Rachel Matz, the classes were combined due to their common curriculum and collaboration.

“It was always easy for an English teacher to say, ‘here is the history connected to the literature that we are reading or here is the impact the Civil War has on the age of Realism,” she said. “But when they are fully immersed in a time period in two classes and they can really begin to transfer those skills from one class to the other where they get the true educational benefit.”

Social studies teacher, Kenneth Cameron, said that another primary reason for the connection is the learning community model in which students are shared.

“The administration made the decision to put all of the U.S. History, APUSH, and American Literature classes into the learning communities. They wanted one social studies and one English teacher to share all the same students among their classes. For example, Ms. Matz and I are together in learning community C and on an even day my second hour

is APUSH and then they go from my class to her American Literature class 4th hour. And then it’s opposite is true, her second hour comes to me for 4th hour. And on odd days we share U.S. history and American Literature during 3rd hour and 5th hour. It’s meant for collaboration among students and teachers in the learning community.”

“That’s the best part, that continuity, that knowledge that we know that they have is really helpful.”

Kenneth Cameron Social Studies Teacher Cameron continued saying, “it is helpful for Ms. Matz and I to have the same students because we can talk to each other about our student’s strengths as well as areas where they need attention, especially their writing. We are able to collaborate on how to improve their writing. Which is an important skill for any high school student, especially AP students.

Having me knowing exactly what the students are doing in their English class and being able to reference it and bring it up, [is a benefit]. She can talk about literary subjects knowing that her students have a good historical background to bring to

the table,” he added. “She knows exactly what they have been studying and what they have been doing.

That’s the best part, that continuity, that knowledge that we know that they have is really helpful.”

Along with the benefits for the teachers, Varanasi said that students are also able to benefit from the combination of the two classes. “ It helps us because it’s like ‘these are our teachers, this is who we should go to for help’.

It helps us work together too because we have only one set of classmates. It also goes along with the whole learning community thing,” she said.

Not only are the classes collaborating within the classroom but outside as well.

“AP and American Literature had a field trip together,” Cameron said. “We went to the Charles H. Wright museum and we looked at the main exhibit there and it coincided with the discussion of the middle passage in our AP U.S. class. Our other main point of collaboration has been the national history day project.”

By using the learning communities to their fullest advantages, Matz said that both courses “exist as their own class, have their own assessments, their own grading, their own teachers, but we are calling out the fact that our timeline and our information intersect and we are collaborating on a more purposeful level. We are more purposeful about highlighting the connection. And the fact that we have common students now allows us to connect for different lessons or different projects to really call out the connection even more fully.”

Steven Thomas Geometry Teacher Thomas believes this worldly application has allowed for a pleasant relief among students and teachers alike, thinking students want to utilize math now.

“The biggest reason I was looking forward to this project is to allow students who are extremely creative who don’t get a the same opportunity in math got to show it as math tackles a different side of the brain,” said Thomas. “Students now have the chance to say ‘I don’t want to just do the bare minimum’ or ‘I don’t want to just do what the project asks. I want go above and beyond and show how I can transfer boring geometry shapes into a beautiful work of art.’ I sought to help students who may not get the opportunity to show their other strengths in a subject like mathematics.”

According to Freshman Ann Ryan, she agrees this project has made math a more tangible subject.

“I enjoyed the fact that I had the chance to draw. My dad is a beekeeper, so I was able to make a little advertisement for his bee honey business, so I thought that was fun to do” said Ryan.

Sophomore Sydney Trepeck believes this project peaked her interest by taking a break from the “common core” aspects of math, and instead, can be more creative with their work.

“It really got me interested because one of my classes is Graphic Design and this project connected the gap between the geometric side of Graphic Design with the artistic side of Graphic Design” said Trepeck. “The sketches from this project showed me how the angles contributed to my work in my Graphic Design class.”

While this was the first year of the project, Thomas said he is excited for the years to come and plans on continuing the project in the future.

FEATURE

8

Visualizing the future Seniors create photography company Senior Black Hawks continue to grow their up and coming film and photography business into a successful company.

Brandon Kowalski Staff Writer Putting their digital media skills and economic knowledge to work, five Bloomfield Hills students have taken their common interests into the business world.

Upon the creation of Amicus Visual, senior Stone Zhang and his friends had a narrow area of expertise. “Initially, we started out focusing on real estate digital imaging, primarily filming virtual tours inside the house and projects like that.

Recently we have questioned ‘Why make it so specific?’ ” Ranging from promotional videos for businesses, to senior photos, Amicus Visual is expanding their operations to take on all kinds of challenges under the leadership of Zhang and Danny Terner, also a senior. Their company’s name, Amicus, means ‘friend’ in Latin, and Zhang said it helps explain their ambition.

“I actually thought of the name when I was learning about amicus curiae briefs, which is part of the judicial system and ‘offers information to all people alike’, in AP American Government,” explained Zhang. “I thought the company would benefit by being known as friendly to others.”

While the idea of digital imaging is not necessarily original, Amicus aims to be different from their competitors by offering a wider range of services in each project at reasonable prices, according to Zhang.

“There was a senior last year, Merrick Wolfe, and he had a company that was very similar. It was called Drone Brothers, and they specialized in drone photography. The main difference between his company and my company is that I use all sorts of techniques beyond drone photography” explains Zhang. “I use DSLR’s, sliders, cranes, along with all kinds of stabilization systems other than just a drone with the three-axis gimbal that comes standard.”

Expanding upon Amicus Visual’s differences from other companies in the field, Zhang claims why his company is superior to alternative businesses.

“Many others only takes aerial photos and videos whereas we specialize in aerial footage plus video throughout the house with photos coming complimentary. All of these features come in at almost half of the price of what that would cost from companies other than Amicus.”

According to senior and CFO Danny Terner, the reason for the low prices simply sustain the costs of the company.

After all, the businesses is stemmed from personal interest in the field, not stemmed to cripple their clients wallets.

Both leaders of Amicus alike investigated videography from a young age and have grown to love what they do, needing minimal incentive to produce digital content for others.

“I always loved to film and take pictures since I was eight years old. In more recent years, I thought ‘How do I turn this interest into something that I can make money off of?’, being that money is a primary resource in business,” said Zhang. “After researching into the topic more extensively, I found that making a business wasn’t too difficult even for an average student.”

Knowing that the official documentation and legal portions of establishing a business are not as complicated as he thought, Zhang began to bring his idea to life and start assembling a team.

“To discover the ins and outs of business, I attended classes, camps, and competitions and have learned key components of successful companies. I thought it was time to put the things that I learned from these classes, camps, and competition to use in the real world.

So why not combine something that I love with a career that I plan to have in the future? That was a main part of my inspiration.”

This hobby amongst friends transitioned into a source of income and enjoyment for members of the company. Per a client of the company, people also appreciate the personal attention and level of expertise that Amicus brings to the table.

“I recently got a job at Beau’s, playing piano, and I thought that I could get even more clients for myself and perform at other places if I established my own business with the help of amicus visual. I thought we were just going to be filming me playing, but they turned my talent into something else,” said Amicus’ client senior Brad Gurwin.

“Seeing the inside of the piano, viewing each keystroke radiate a

beautiful melody, was a memorable moment for me. I was blown away by how much extra effort Amicus spent making my video look much cooler than a guy playing the piano” said Gurwin.

Members of Amicus Visual seek to provide a memorable experience for their clients by expanding their business to new areas while still maintaining their personal touch.

“Looking ahead, we are really optimistic about the different avenues we can take to expand our company,” said Terner. “In the beginning, we strictly worked with real estate photography and cinematography but now we have moved on to creating promotional videos for small businesses and performing photoshoots for senior portraits. These expansions have allowed us the opportunity to form relationships with awesome clients.”

Amicus Visual seeks to be an example for other prospective high-school entrepreneurs and offers advice to others as well.

“Constantly make sure that you have a balanced, valuable team. It is fundamental to business not to feel bad when telling someone that you don’t feel that they are right for the team because, although they might feel bad at first, you don’t want your business failing” said Zhang. “You wouldn’t want for certain people have to work harder than everyone else, but rather a team filled with experienced people who know what they are doing and undoubtedly bring something to the table.”

“Although it might sound a bit cliche, if you have an idea that you are truly passionate about and has a future to be successful, just do it. I can say from experience that there is nothing stopping you” said Terner.

“High school is an amazing time to try new things and make new experiences. There are so many connections that have the potential to start in high school and then carry into the future.

However, I don’t think that it should be a priority for people starting a business to be so focused on money. If you have a strong business model and a trustworthy team, the money will come.”

Meet the Members Jenny Ruan

Kevin Zheng

Stone Zhang

Danny Terner CFO

Head of Photography

“Art has always been a prominent part of my life since childhood.

I have always been a drawer and painter but I’ve been expanding my skills to digital art such as photography and videography.

Photography didn’t interest me until I was introduced to fashion photography and architectural photography, specifically the work of Richard Avedon and Rut Blees Luxemburg. I want to expand my knowledge and skills with my experience at Amicus Visual as well as utilize the skills I already possess to become an even more prominent digital artist.”

“I’ve always been a nerdy robotics kid, but have loved a clean, crisp aesthetic. From designing a minimalistic homecoming t-shirt concept in my graphic design class to using After Effects in order to edit my new high school’s video, I’ve grown comfortable with various editing suites such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects. To me, design is a medium where I can integrate all of my unrelated activities into a cohesive passion.”

“Since the time I picked up a camera, something just clicked.

When filming, I try to capture the expansive world around me.

Being able to replay life’s moments is great, but being able to craft it into an impactful presentation is really something else. My work also includes helping film for my high school. I hope to use my directing and editing skills to enhance the marketing of your property or business.”

“When I received my first camera at age 10, I was so excited to be able to film and take pictures. I would photograph anything and everything because there is so much to capture in this world.

Since getting my first camera, I have grasped many advanced functions of the camera in order to use it to its full potential. I love telling stories as well as preserving memories and film provides a great medium to do that.”

“From the age of 13, I’ve been fascinated with the world of photography and editing. I can remember how much I enjoyed taking pictures of scenery, cars, and anything else that caught my eye after purchasing my first DSLR. I was able to master all the different settings after hours of experimenting with the camera.

Also, I loved how I could use editing tools like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to enhance the style of photos. Being a part of Amicus, I’ve been able to exercise my skills in photography and editing that I’ve developed over the past four years.”

Assistant Director

Head of Design

CEO

John Maguire

FEATURE

9 Foreign Students join class of 2018 Siblings from Germany find differences in theschool curriculum Shibi Sanjeev Distribution Manager

Student plays violin despite hearing difficulty Grace Beltowski Staff Writer

As she sat in her section with the other violinists, the only thing different about her playing was the way it sounded to her.

“It’s the hardest instrument for a hard of hearing person to play. It’s all the different strategies; it’s just hard for us to understand it,” said freshman Shea Goff who is a member of BHHS’ Deaf and Hard of Hearing community; however, she’s been playing the violin in the school orchestra for over three years.

“I started in sixth grade,” she said. “My cousin used to play viola and I remember every year on Christmas Eve he would always play it for us. I loved it and I thought, ‘One day I want to do that.’ And now I am.”

Upon learning Shea would be in his class, BHHS orchestra teacher David Reed said, “At first it caught me off guard a little bit because that just doesn’t happen very often. I was actually kind of intrigued and a little bit excited for a different kind of a challenge.”

Kerri Goff, Shea’s mother, felt similarly to Reed when she learned that her daughter wanted to start playing an instrument.

“I was happy that she wanted to try something,” said Kerri of her oldest child. “I didn’t know how it would work out. I thought maybe it would last a year; I thought maybe she might drop out. I had no expectations. I’ve always encouraged my kids to follow their passions, and [Shea] excels. She proved everybody wrong.”

According to Shea, she is motivated by the challenge of playing the violin, but also by the musical aspect of the instrument.

“I think that string instruments sound beautiful, and I am able to hear some of their notes better than other instruments,” she said. “I just feel great about doing it. I feel happy and accomplished, and it’s interesting to be able to learn how to play music.

Hearing is not just an ear thing, it’s a brain thing.”

Reed attests to this as Shea’s teacher, noting her progress throughout the first few months of the school year.

“She’s a good participant in class and seems to be learning the music just fine,” he said. “I try to treat Shea just like she’s any other kid because that’s all she is; she just doesn’t hear as well.”

Despite her success in learning the instrument, Shea said she still faces challenges common to any other high school orchestra student.

“The biggest challenge would be probably sight-reading where you have to figure out [notes] on your own. Also, sometimes I’d be listening to the first violins and trying to play what they were playing instead of what I’m supposed to play. I’m a second violin, but I found that I tend to listen to the first more,” she said. “Reading music has been difficult, but private lessons have helped me through that.”

According to Kerri, attending private lessons twice a week has not only helped Shea with the violin, but it has also provided her with the opportunity to

“As deaf and hard of hearing people we’re not limited. We can do anything that hearing people can except hear. I am just like every other 15 year old girl; I just want to fit in and have fun and learn in high school.”

Shea Goff Freshman

take up the piano as well. Yet she has other methods of improving her hearing in the classroom setting.

“Most of the time I have to sit in the front and make sure that I can see [the teacher’s] lips because I’m a pretty good lip-reader. That typically helps me,” said Shea of her learning strategies. “If I’m in a quiet environment I can hear just fine; everything’s clear. If I’m in a noisy environment, it’s hard to hear the person talking, and that’s where lip-reading comes in.”

In addition, Shea has worn hearing aids for nine years now. After meeting with an Oakland

Photo Credit: Susan Adams Photography

Student with hearing impairment plays in orchestra

Schools’ educational audiologist in 2006 to determine the extent of her hearing loss, she was given her first pair on loan for three months.

“When they first put on the hearing aids, I’ll never forget it because somebody cracked open the door and it made a little squeak, and she turned suddenly because she heard that little squeak. She would not have heard that before,” said Kerri. “Then when we were driving home, Shea said, ‘Mom, I like these hearing aids,’ and I said, ‘Really?’ She said ‘I can hear everything,’ and I realized I had been turning my head and yelling into the back seat. That had just become our normal, and I could now talk in a regular tone of voice and she could hear me.”

To further aid Shea in her education as a hard of hearing student, Kerri made the decision to transfer her and her younger brother, Colton, also hard of hearing, to Bloomfield Hills four years ago because of the district’s DHH program.

“I do not like being in situations where people do not know that I can’t always hear them.

It makes me uncomfortable,” said Shea. “I like going to school here [Bloomfield Hills] because I am not the only kid with a hearing loss.”

As a student in the music program at Bloomfield Hills Schools, which both Shea and Kerri also commend, Shea said she specifically enjoys the concerts they perform.

“My favorite concert was last year when we did ‘Crazy Train’ by Ozzy Osbourne,” she said. “It was awesome. It’s fun to play rock and roll rather than classical sometimes.”

Watching her daughter, Kerri said that she is proud and amazed. “[I am] just in awe of [Shea’s] talent. It’s just inspiring. She’s had a lot of stuff stacked against her, but she just continually rises to the occasion.

Just because [someone] may not hear well, it doesn’t mean that they’re not bright or smart or talented.”

Agreeing with her mother, Shea added, “As deaf and hard of hearing people we’re not limited. We can do anything that hearing people can except hear. I am just like every other 15 year old girl; I just want to fit in and have fun and learn in high school.”

Advertise with the Hawkeye: For pricing or other questions contact us at: bloomfieldhawkeye@gmail.com

Weaving their way through the crowds, they were becoming more and more anxious.

“I was very nervous and excited about America because I have never been here before, so it was the first time I had done anything like this,” said Sophomore Ella Kuipers who moved from Wolfsburg, Germany to BHHS with her brother. “My father was here before we came, and he told us some things about [America], but I couldn’t imagine what it would be like. I was nervous to be in a different country. I knew that the people spoke a different language, and I wanted them to understand me.”

Traveling more than 4,000 miles, Ella and her brother Jakob, who is also a sophomore, moved to Bloomfield because of their father’s job at Volkswagen; however, they said they will head back to Germany after three years.

Since their short time, the two siblings have found a few differences particularly centered around the academic life of school.

“In German schools you cannot choose your courses, the government decides what the students have to learn in the particular year. So unfortunately, there is not so much variety. I’m very interested in 3D-modeling and 3D-animation but unfortunately I couldn’t choose these courses,” Jakob said.

Adding to the differences, one course that stands out in Ella’s mind is the differences between the American math and German curriculum. “Here, in one year you learn geometry, then in the next year Algebra 1, then Algebra 2,” she said “In Germany in one year you will learn a little geometry, a little algebra, and other kinds of math.”

English Second Language (ESL) teacher, Joanna Tecsa, explained that the differences Kuipers children are experiencing is a normal part of the transition.

“Usually in Europe, from what I know from my students and from myself, school tends to be more challenging than school in America. But it’s my feeling that they

“I am supposed to be in the 11th grade. But because the language is so difficult, I am now in the 10th grade together with my sister.”

Jakob Kuipers Sophomore

find school here, at least in Bloomfield Hills High School, to be pretty challenging,” she said. “They don’t seem to have the feeling that it’s very easy and that we have been through this before, we know what we are doing here.” I think whatever their teachers give them to work on is pretty challenging. And I think this is a good thing, for them to grow.”

According to Jakob, the siblings find the language barrier one of their biggest challenges.

“I am supposed to be in the 11th grade,” he said. “But because the language is so difficult, I am now in the 10th grade together with my sister.

We have to learn the language better before the hard IB classes start.”

Tecsa explained that her ESL program is a system to help the kids, like the Kuipers work through the language barrier, “The rules are like this, you as a student talk to your classroom teacher. Tell him or her that you are an ESL student, and you have the right to go for ESL help.

So based on what the classroom teacher decides, you can come to me or not. I have a feeling that they are willing to take the challenge. And if they can’t do it by themselves, they come for help here.”

Utilizing Tesca’s instructions Jakob said BHHS’ ESL program has helped him a great deal during his first few months.

“At the beginning we used it a lot with all the tests, but with homework we try to figure it out ourselves because we have to learn English,” he said. “Next year it will be very hard with the IB program.

Now we just use ESL with tests for literature and history because these are the more English language based classes.”

Tesca believes BHHS’ newest Blackhawks are beginning to settle into their new routine as American high school students. “I think they enjoy the school here.

They seem to be extremely hardworking, and no matter how hard it is. They seem to not be willing to quit. I really enjoy having them in the class. Very smart kids, and very committed to succeed, and that’s the most important thing.”

Global education initiative challen

Program includes classes which focus on creating equity and inclusion in the school Grace Beltowski Staff Writer In

a constantly changing world, she challengschool communities to answer the question, “how?”

“Your district is welcoming families from Syria,” said national education consultant Munirah Mawusi. “How are they navigating Bloomfield Hills if they don’t speak English? How is a kindergarten student navigating the bus? How do we help them navigate the district?”

The answer to these questions, according to Mawusi, is Global Education.

“Global Education in the district is about preparing students to be as successful as they can in the future in a global society. The [program] is designed to help students, staff, parents, and family members look at the characteristics of the district through the lens of inclusion and equity. That means policy, procedure, curriculum, school events, PTO events, handbooks, guidelines, you name it,” said Mawusi.

According to Mawusi, the Global Education program is designed to train students, staff, community members, and parents with strategies on how to establish equity and inclusion in the district.

“Everything is looked at through the lens of inclusion and equity,” said Mawusi. “Most people don’t know that includes special needs, social-economic status, sexual orientation, and family structure. We have to articulate the many components because, unfortunately, not everyone sees that inclusion and equity has to do with how a school district is inclusive of all its demographics and how we are educating all of the demographics that exist in Bloomfield Hills in ways to be successful in a global society.”

Bill Boyle, Director of Equity for the Global Education program, hopes this specific focus will institute a more accepting atmosphere within the district community, especially at all school levels.

“What we’re trying to do is create conditions that are equitable to all students, and that all of our students regardless of race or ethnicity or ability feel welcome and belong and have the skills needed to operate in a very es

diverse culture,” he said. “The intention is making sure that we develop a community from which everyone benefits by everyone feeling good.”

To begin the program within the district, Global Champions, a six-session class written by Mawusi, has been introduced. The class is currently being taken by adults in the community, as Mawusi believes the success of Global Education starts with a strong group of trained adults to achieve this goal of creating equity and inclusion in the district.

“The people who prepare students to be successful in a global society are adults. Consequently, we train adults to help prepare students,” said Mawusi of the course, which currently takes place at the Gary M. Doyle Center in Bloomfield Hills.

Boyle described how a focus of the Global Champions courses is identifying problems that need to be addressed and taking steps toward eliminating them, as well discovering why they exist in the first place to prevent their reoccurrence.

One such conversation the Global Champions group had was on the language used during written communication.

“Many of our schools sent home letters that said ‘Dear parents,’ but not every kid Bill Boyle has a parent, so now we say “Dear families,” Director of Equity, Globa because a family can mean a lot of different things,” said Boyle. “In [Global Champions] we look at what ways do we work with people that invites them in and helps them develop a sense of belonging, and what way might we be unintentionally putting up obstacles.”

“We do lots of activities, from identifying the different stakeholders of the district to what we see as issues in the district, and what

“What we’re tryi is create condit are equitable to dents.”

nges educational norms

l district.

needs to be fixed,” added BHHS Media Specialist and past Global Champions participant Stephanie Bevier. “It’s [discussing] simple things like having different versions of caps and gowns to how we can be more equitable on field trip forms across the district.

It’s all aspects so that everyone feels more included in the district.”

An important component of the Global Champions classes to Mawusi is that they are attended by a group of diverse adults. She believes that this “district-wide initiative is not just for staff, and it’s not just for teachers.

There are staff from the entire district needed in these workshops: bus drivers, food service, child care, secretaries, teachers. Everybody is important and vital to making Bloomfield Hills work. Security people in a school are really important to building relationships in inclusion and equity in the building. Bus drivers are important to that. It’s important that we know that it’s all-inclusive.”

With sixty participants involved in the second year of Global Champions, Mawusi said the district is ready to add in the student component which will consist of leadership workshops for high school students.

“The first high school workshop will take place in April of this year,” she said. “The people who have been trained through [Global] Champions will work with students. The workshops are limited to sixty to seventy students at a time. The goal is that we strengthen Education our student global leadership capacity [at BHHS].”

Global Champions participant and BHHS Assistant Principal Margaret Schultz said that she believes the students will be selected, but isn’t yet certain on the exact process of doing so. “We want to make sure that the group is representative of our school. We’re talking about equality and inclusion, so we don’t want all straight-A students, we don’t want

ing to do tions that o all stu-

al

all students who are going to the University of Michigan. We want to make sure that it’s a broad, diverse group of students,” she said.

Looking ahead, Boyle hopes that the student workshops at BHHS will contribute to advances in the Global Education program not only at the high school level, but in all of the district’s buildings.

“We would like to develop the opportunity for those high school students to become leaders and work with elementary and middle school students in years coming forward. This training is designed to benefit all of our kids,” he said.

Senior Maddie Baskin is already looking forward to the opportunity such an experience would present her.

“I would definitely participate in a leadership workshop,” said Baskin. “I think it would be really helpful for understanding other people’s viewpoints and opinions, especially since I’m going into college next year. I’m going to meet so many new people from different backgrounds and areas, so having that workshop and experience under my belt would be very beneficial moving forward on my own.”

Mawusi agrees that this foundation is essential for all students, saying that Global Education is a long-term, lifelong goal. While it starts with the district’s curriculum, instruction, and events, it reaches further into the students’ futures.

“In the corporate world, innovation is what’s key, and the more innovative you are usually means the more inclusive you are. The more voices you have at the table, the more creative you can be. Creativity breeds success. If you can’t fit at a table with a lot of diversity and function well, you will not be as innovative and creative, whether it’s for your own company or an employer that you work for,” said Mawusi. “We’re becoming more global every day. Now it’s critical that you know how to succeed in a global society when you graduate [high school], and certainly when you graduate from college.”

FEATURE

12

West Side Story cast rehearses at Lahser Cast members share their views about the rehearsal locations and their hopes for the new theater

Headed to Carnegie

Raya Nashef Guest Writer With the new auditorium being unfinished and the musical a just a few months away, the cast of West Side Story is forced to find alternative rehearsal locations.

“It’s no small feat to pull off,” said senior cast member Brendan Eathorne who will be playing Riff, the leader of the Jets. “I think that we’ve taken into account all the different challenges we have, including getting used to the new space as well as the difficulty of the show.”

According to director Tina Greenlee, since the new BHHS auditorium isn’t set to be done until January, the cast and crew of West Side Story found some alternative rehearsal spaces.

“We’ve always rehearsed there so it seems like the natural course,” she said of the cast rehearsing at the old Lahser High School.

“What will be challenging when we load into the new theater, is adjusting to the space because realistically we have not really seen it completed. It’s difficult trying to think about how to do certain things without really knowing what it looks like.”

Senior Claudia Cooper who will be playing Maria in the upcoming show agreed with Greenlee that the transition between the two spaces will be challenging.

“It is a little difficult not to know exactly what we are working with,” she said. “We’re not sure how big our stage is going to be or how much were going to have to project our voices. It’ll be hard when we finally do move into the big theatre and begin acquainting ourselves with this totally new setting, very different from anything we’ve seen in the past. There’s a whole side stage that we have to see if we can work with or not. It’s going to be a lot of adjusting and blending what we know about the old theater and what we are learning about the new one.”

Adding to Cooper’s comments, Eathorne said that the cast “will have to make adjustments to our blocking and our choreogra-

“With our bigger and more sophisticated auditorium we will really be able to come out of our shells and push our limits to sound better than we ever thought we could. I don’t know what kind of issues we will face in the future but if there is an issue I’m sure we will be able to work through it and it definitely won’t stop the show from going on.”

Claudia Cooper Senior phy. It will probably take a little bit of time to work out and we will have to familiarize ourselves with the new facility, but it’s something we’ve been preparing for, and something we’re conscious of when learning the blocking and dancing. We are going to have to move it to a larger space so we try to keep that in mind whenever we practice.”

While there are some challenges Eathorne explains that there have actually been some perks to rehearsing on the Lahser stage.

“The best thing about rehearing at Lahser is that we’re familiar with the stage and so a lot of the cast who have performed on it before are comfortable working on it. We have experience there so it’s not like we’re trying to get accustomed to a new space quite yet.”

Junior Pan Stavropoulos, who plays Tony Maria’s love interest, sees that rehearsing in a different space than where they will be performing is not a drastic issue because “acting notes can be given faceto-face anywhere. For the singing you have to be with the music director Mrs. Riley at a piano working on your stuff. So it really doesn’t matter where we do it.”

Looking at the next three months of rehearsal, Cooper said that “With our bigger and more sophisticated auditorium we will really be able to come out of our shells and push our limits to sound better than we ever thought we could. I don’t know what kind of issues we will face in the future but if there is an issue I’m sure we will be able to work through it and it definitely won’t stop the show from going on.”

Senior Valedie Oray prepares to perform at Carnegie Hall Christine MacKenzie Guest Writer When she first sat in the audience at Carnegie Hall as a child, she knew that one day she wanted to perform on that stage.

“Ever since I was little kid, I always wanted to have the chance to be able to do something whether it’s singing, playing piano, or playing bass, at Carnegie Hall.

I remember way back in sixth grade when I went to Carnegie Hall in New York City I thought about how cool it would be to be able to go and play. Even though my interests changed from music to the sciences, the dream of playing on stage kind of lingered in me, and finally being able to fulfill that is almost like a gift.”

Selected from a field of 18,000 applicants, senior Valedie Oray is currently preparing for the Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall this February.

“It’s the premiere concert hall of the world, so just the thought of performing there is a thrill. It’s pretty awesome,” said BHHS Orchestra Director David Reed, “Out of all of the people who applied from around the country, only a select few get to do it. It’s a pretty big deal.”

According to Oray, the chance to work with accomplished students all corners of the country is an opportunity she cannot wait to experience.

“Honors Performance Series aims to take the top students from all around to world and bring them together to America’s greatest stage, Carnegie Hall, with top conductors in order to play challenging music,” explained Oray. “The Honors Performance Series is a prestigious opportunity for musicians to perform in a lively environment.”

For Reed who has been teaching Oray for seven years, “I was really happy. I knew she had a good chance at doing it, and I wasn’t surprised.

She’s played for other state ensembles, so she’s been fairly accomplished the last couple years.”

Photo Courtesy of Andie McKendrick

“She was basically a beginner when I first heard Oray’s private bass instructor, Dale Anderson, her, and now she is off to play at Carnegie Hall, so described Oray as a resilient and diligent student.

I think that’s very cool,” added Reed. “One of the “She was a model student. She got plenty of support things that I like about my job is that I get to see from her mother, which was a big help, and she always kids grow over the years. It’s funny that when you see wanted to learn more, and wanted to push herself into someone for so long that the change is so gradual.” becoming a better player. She achieved a lot from a Although Oray originally planned on apply- young age, based on consistency and hard work,” said ing solely as a soprano in the Women’s choir, with Anderson, “I don’t believe in talent. We very seldom only a few days before the deadline, she decided to find someone who does things that will better their audition for the role of double bassist. Her previ- playing or their technique or their life even if it means ous experience as the principal chair at the BHHS some type of aggravation or uncomfortableness.”

Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Youth Sym- Valedie’s mother, Olga Oray, said that she was not phony Orchestra, and the 2015 All-State Orches- initially very excited that Valedie chose to play the tra qualified her for the position as double bassist. bass, for she personally preferred her daughter to play “I’ve put it hours and hours practicing and playing the piano, but when her child explained how much the double bass in order to becoming the musician I she wanted to pursue the bass, she was in full support. am today, and the opportunities I’ve had to play in “I always was the type of person who was a litorchestras around the state has allowed me to devel- tle different from the crowd,” said Valedie. “I saw a op my craft and become a fine lot of people picking up tuned bass player,” said Valedie, “I remember way back in sixth the cello or the violin, “There’s no secret formula to grade when I went to Carnbut I really didn’t see a lot being able to perform at Carn- egie Hall in New York City of people picking up the egie; all it takes is some practice I thought about how cool it double bass, so I thought it and the right opportunity, like would be to be able to go and would be really cool for me HPS [Honors Performance Seto stand out, and I ended ries], to get you to the stage.” play.” up really, really liking it.”

Looking back to fourth grade Valedie Oray With three months when she selected the bass Senior to prepare, Valedie anOray said, “It’s kind of funny, ticipates that her perforI didn’t quite choose the bass mance at Carnegie Hall because I particularly thought that the instrument will be a remarkable experience. was pretty sounding. In fact, my mom wanted me “Honestly, I feel that it’s going to be an amazto play the cello, but I think what really attract- ing experience, and I am so glad I have this oped me to the bass in the beginning was my music portunity to be able to perform in New York City. teacher at the time, who discussed that the bass was If you are a motivated student, and you really for students who are a bit on the taller side and a want to pursue something in music, definitely try little bit more independent, which I definitely was.” to find things that are kind of outside the box.”

Senior takes on role as musical’s pit pianist Paul Marvin debriefs on his musical career and his role in the show.

Hannah Stein Feature Editor Explain what music is more challenging to play for this production and how you will learn to become better?

Really the hardest pieces in this production are those with multiple vocal parts. It’s no more difficult for the pianist, but it is much tougher to coordinate the vocalists, which can in turn create a disconnect in the music.

What kinds of music do you specialize in playing? Will the music of this show in particular be more difficult? How so?

I study classical music, especially [Franz] Liszt. For West Side Story- it has music written by Leonard Bernstein, a legendary conductor. But even though he conducted classical music, he also had a passion for jazz.

So the music for this production is very rhythmically involved. It is not as technically difficult as the classical music I study, but the rhythms are more difficult. I have limited experience playing for vocalists, so learning to listen to those I’m accompanying is also challenging.

Describe what goes into preparing for a show on your part.

There’s lots of repetition. I have to practice the pieces and make sure they are steady and flawless so as to not distract the vocalists. I have to know the pieces well enough to be able to listen to the vocalists, and not myself as much.

What is it like working with the actors and directors?

How can it be challenging sometimes to work with them? How do you work through those challenges?

Overall it’s very enjoyable. Most of them are very

outgoing because obviously personality is needed to perform on stage. But, their talents sort of vary greatly. Some are used to singing with a piano, while others aren’t. Working through this involves patience and there’s lots of repetition until it’s correct.

Describe the perspective of playing during a show (/rehearsals) from your point of view.

It is pretty hilarious. I get to observe all of the drama and not be a part of it. But I also enjoy the feeling of knowing how much I’m depended upon, especially in rehearsals. The piano, in a way, brings all of the vocalists together, and it ‘s really a gratifying experience to play. It’s also satisfying to know a play so well that I can feel a sense of pride when I see a performer correctly sing or dance a certain part.

How many productions have you played piano for?

How will playing for this show differ?

I was part of A Very Potter Musical last year. I was the only instrumentalist, so there was a lot more pressure on me. But it was definitely easier music and a shorter play. For West Side Story, we will have a full orchestra and the music is more difficult. I have to play well for rehearsals, but

I’ll only be heard minimally in the performance.

Unlike last year’s musical, I’m not a key performer, though I still really enjoy the experience and I’m working very hard to perfect the music.

Do you play for other school events besides plays?

Yes, I also play when necessary for the symphony orchestra.

How has the change in location- rehearsals at Lahser- had an affect on your role?

Well since I have a car, it hasn’t really had an affect on me. There are busses that run back and forth, and enough people drive back and forth to accommodate those who don’t have cars. Anybody who claims it takes them a long time is probably actually referring to the length of the line at Starbucks, which seems Paul Marvin practices to be a pretty imporfor the musical tant thing for many.

Photo Courtesy of Andie McKendrick What are you most looking forward to in being the pit pianist for the show?

I’m most looking forward to collaborating with the vocalists. While I’m used to performing alone and often prefer it that way, I do also really enjoy working with the other musicians and challenging myself.

Feature

13

A picture of Aidan Menchaca. “I just was,” he said of this portrait.

Editor discuses his life with Leukoderma For Aidan Menchaca, life revolves around what is rather than what ought to be Aidan Menchaca Editor-in-Chief “What is wrong with your skin?”

The anxiety mounted. Days would pass where I The question made me anxious. Inside the alarms felt on edge all of the time with a constantly agitated of social convention blared. Wanting not to be heat rate. I could not seem to calm down. My room, embarrassed or vulnerable, I shrugged it off. a safe haven in tempestuous times, became more of “Oh, I don’t really know,” I would say. a prison as I went inward and this was not the good Oh, do I know. I have a skin kind of inward—where condition called Leukoderma true reflection occurs— which causes the areas of this was self-imposed reduced pigmentation on my “It just was and is at this moexile. skin. This is my story.

But something halted ment. It is not in the past or the While diagnosed in 2014, I the progress of my presented its symptoms much descent. One night I future. It is not good or bad. earlier. I first remember noticstopped fighting myself. ing it in the summer of 2013 There is no hope but there is no The constant frustration when on a beach I saw a small was getting nowhere. I fear.

It is objective.

Clear.

Real.” spot on my arm. I thought stopped trying to grasp nothing of it though, thinking my situation, for there that it would be solved like was no answer. No plague another problem: a trip to the had been sent, no divine doctor’s office or at most the dermatologist. intervention, no good, no bad. In that moment, it This was an ill-conceived notion—this I arrived just was. at early. I poured over the Internet and finally went It just was and is at this moment. It is not in the to the doctors. My ignorance was soon revealed: past or the future. It is not good or bad. There is no I have a disease that is not incurable but certainly hope but there is no fear. It is objective. Clear. Real. persistent.

I am not yet free. I may never be such but at least This was life altering. I could not fathom how I have tugged at the chains which hold me. I shall chance had fated me for this—it is a fairly rare conface this for the rest of my life though the eventualidition—or what this would do for my life. I drew ty does not scare me. How could it? hasty sketches of a new life. They were bleak. Would It merely is. this effect my future? job? Pleasure in life?

Holiday grief is acutely felt For relatives of the deceased, holidays can sometimes mean extra trauma Mallory Weiner Feature Editor

She knew that this holiday would not be the same.

“I find myself missing my mom particularly during this time of year, because it’s supposed to be a time of happiness and family, and also because it was around this time last year that she passed away,” said senior Hannah Lazarus who lost her mom about a year ago. “I remember how much fun we had on Thanksgiving last year, and it’s sad to think that was the last one we’ll ever have together. Thanksgiving is actually one of my last memories of her, and especially this time of year that’s a pretty tough thing to think about.”

According to Kelly Selander, a licensed psychologist specializing in grief counseling, grief is experienced in all sorts of ways, but during the holidays it can become extremely difficult to put on a happy face around family members while feeling the absence of a loved one.

“Grief can be experienced differently by different people. Though there are some common threads to the process, it is important to respect someone’s preferences and wishes,” said Selander. “Isolating oneself; however, is not necessarily good and so while someone may feel the pull to retreat that is not the best option. Some people are soothed by sticking with the usual traditions and activities over the holidays. Others might prefer to change traditions i.e. have the holiday celebration at a different location, do volunteer work instead of the usual routine, do something to honor the loved one who has passed, etc.”

Selander said that there are people who do choose to isolate themselves during the grieving process, Amy Cardin, one of BHHS’ Varsity Forensics assistant coaches who lost her sister this past August, believes that being around her family will help her grieving process.

“We will still go to Chicago this year for

Christmas to visit my dad. We go there every feel anything but happy. It can make things much year, both my sisters’ families and my family. I worse and it can be an especially lonely time.” think it will be nice to get everyone together,” According to Lazarus, the holidays said Cardin. “That’s when I think it will really are harder without her mom, but she set in that she is gone because it’s going to be hasn’t forgotten the bond they shared. the first time that everyone is together since her “My mom and I had a great bond, because we memorial. This is usually a time of year when had so much fun together. She was goofy and she is there laughing and talking with us so it fun, so I enjoyed every minute I ever spent with will definitely be strange to have that absence.” her,” she said. “I feel like we had a particularLike Cardin, Senior Jazmyne Miree who lost her ly good relationship as a mother and daughter grandmother a month ago also anticipates differbecause our personalities went so well together, ences this holiday without her grandma around. and no matter how cliché it sounds, most times “I’m honestly trying to avoid the thoughts or it really actually felt like she was my best friend.” conversations. My family is Cardin remembers the frantically trying to figure “Grief can be experibond her and her sister out what we are going to do enced differently by shared and the times they for the holidays because we spent carrying on childusually spend them at my different people. Though hood holiday traditions. grandma’s house. Personal- there are some common “As kids living in Chicago, ly, I would rather spend the threads to the process, it we would always go into the holidays away from home becity and see all the lights. We cause my first option would is important to respect would have lunch at Macy’s be to spend them with her,” someone’s preferences and do a lot of holiday baksaid Miree. “Although I am and wishes,” ing,” said Cardin. “None scared and nervous for the of that really changed as overwhelming feeling I know adults because my dad still is going to approach, I’m Kelly Selander lives in Chicago so we still hopeful that I can uplift my Psychologist go see the lights and things family and be the base and like that. When my mom foundation of a new tradition passed away twenty years ago and find a way to celebrate the life of my grandma.” my two sisters and I had to carry on the tradiSelander states that the holidays have a tentions that she started, like going ice-skating as dency to accentuate that a loved one is missing. a family. Now that my sister is gone as well, it “There are traditions, celebrations, activities that is really up to us to carry on those traditions.” the person would have been a part of. Also there is Selander explains that carrying on tradithe pressure from media, friends, family, etcetera tions may be harder for some people because to be happy at this time of year,” she said. “It is the grief process is different for everybody. difficult when the message is to be happy and you “While there are some stages that may be iden-

tified when someone is going through the grief process, the order of the stages can vary and people can move back and forth between the stages as well. Usually there can be shock or disbelief in response to the loss, especially if it is unexpected,” she said. “Often there is sadness and a profound sense of loss. Resolution and acceptance can be seen as the goal of the grief process.

Someone may reach acceptance and resolution, but during the holiday the other feelings of sadness and anger may re-emerge. It really is never complete. Dealing with loss is a life long process.”

Because the grieving process is never complete, Selander describes that it is often helpful for people to seek out a grief group or just someone that will listen.

“These are often offered by funeral homes and religious organizations. A grief group is where a person can commune with others going through similar experiences and feelings,” said Selander. “When the feelings are more profound, as they may be during the holidays, it is helpful to have a supportive place to go.”

Lazarus shares the importance to her of having a group of people to turn to during the grief process.

“My grieving process was very private because of the way I am as a person. There were a select few who stayed close with me throughout the process and helped me feel supported and cared for,” said Lazarus. “I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have my family and friends by my side. It has hardly gotten easier to deal with this loss in the past year, and I’m lucky I still have loved ones supporting me. People kept telling me that it was okay to ask for help, something I usually hate doing, but realizing that so many people actually meant that was really comforting.”

FEATURE

14

The power behind the hijab Female Muslim students discuss the self-empowerment that comes with wearing the hijab

Freshman Serene Edlibi prepares to make one of the most monumental decisions concerning her faith: the decision to begin wearing the Hijab.

“In the beginning it’s more of a religious approach. I realized that since, when you become a woman you have to start wearing one, it’s an obligation,” said Edlibi. “But you can do it whenever you want, whenever you feel comfortable. I felt like if I don’t do it now, I’m scared I’ll never put it on in the future. So, I’m just like, ‘Why not now?’ My mom said since I’m going to a new school, it works out well [to begin wearing a Hijab].”

Senior Rama Alhakim, described what the Hijab symbolizes to her.

“Religiously, [the Hijab] symbolizes the girl giving herself up to God. Regardless of her beauty, or whatever, it’s a sacrifice. But personally, nothing to do with religion, it symbolizes modesty, protection from people who will do wrong to you. It symbolizes respect.” She laughs a little,“in all the years I’ve had this [the Hijab] on, I’ve had more respect, especially from guys. I’ve had more respect from them than I’ve had from anyone out there.”

Junior Khush Hassain, seems to concur with Alhakim’s thoughts.

“I feel like the Hijab isn’t just something a girl puts on just to cover her hair, it’s a mode of empowerment because for a lot of girls, especially for people who are Muslim, it’s hard to wear a Hijab because people love their hair. It’s a different way of being able to empower yourself.”

Not only significant to the girls who make the decision to wear the Hijab, Alhakim highlights the importance to families that this choice holds as well.

“One day, my parents were leaving for prayer and

called for me to hurry up, I came down wearing comes with [wearing a Hijab]. There’s a lot of [the Hijab] and they asked if I was sure, was challenges that come with it,” she ended with this exactly what I wanted, and I just said that a lighter note, though, as she said, “But in the I was ready for it,” she said. “I felt confident. end, I’m me. I’m going to do me. Especially My dad couldn’t believe it, he said he was going with sports; like with tennis it separates me outto cry. My mom was already crying. They just - like this girl can do this, while wearing a lot couldn’t believe this was happening.” of layers of clothes. It’s strength. It’s empowerHussain, who has decided she’s not ready ment.” to wear a Hijab just yet, also addresses how Edlibi adds onto this thought of intolerance important parents throughout the entire process that still unfortunately prevails throughout our of beginning to wear the Hijab, as well as the society today. misconceptions that “I mean, I just think come along with this. that other people are “But in the end, I’m me. I’m misguided. They don’t “[My parents] support my decision right going to do me. Especially really know. This happens now not to wear one, with sports; like with tennis a lot, where people take but they hope that I a small group of people, it separates me out-- like wear one eventually. and they’re not the right But they know that if this girl can do this, while examples,” she said. “But I’m not ready to wear wearing a lot of layers of others use this to judge one, they’re never gothe whole religion. Even clothes. It’s strength. It’s ing to force it on me.” though, we ourselves, are empowerment.”

Hussain said. “I feel also disgusted with what like that’s a misconthey do.” ception that a lot of In the end, all the girls Rama Alhakim people have, they seem to have the same Senior think that parents idea-- to them, the Hijab or family will force represents so much more people into wearing a Hijab, which sometimes than just an item of clothing. could be the case, but, especially in America, it’s Alhakim concludes, “You have to understand a girls or womans decision to wear one.” that I chose to put myself through this. I chose Alhakim also acknowledges that there are to respect myself. Honestly, it’s just a matter still many misunderstandings surrounding the of respect for myself, respect for my body and Muslim faith and the Hijab. respect for who I am.”

“Sure, I will get racist comments, and I will get rude amounts of criticism, but that’s what

Under the Scarf Senior discusses the personal siginificance of her hijab Raya Nashef Staff Writer upon one’s outer appearance. Wearing my hijab The first thing people see when I walk into a is empowering. It provides me with a strong room is my hijab. connection to my religion and my God. It’s I understand because it’s kind of impossible a physical reminder not to notice someone “My hijab is more than just a of who I am, what I who covers their hair.

Sometimes when I meet thin fabric around my head; stand for, and what I believe in. people for the first time I it is a symbol for modesty I made the choice like to watch them watch and respect for oneself. For to wear a hijab three me; the way their eyes years ago, and I glaze with burning curios- me it is a symbol of freeto make that ity as they try not to stare. dom of societal expectations continue same choice everyI clearly see the confusion day. And everyday of on their faces, their minds and judgments based upon those three years I positively flooded with one’s outer appearance. have gained innumerquestions they are dying Wearing my hijab is emable experiences. I’ve to ask. powering. ” learned how hard it But nobody ever recan be to find the ally asks, and that’s the perfect color scarf to problem. match an outfit, how My hijab is more than to listen to music just a thin fabric around on my headphones my head; it is a symbol without anybody for modesty and respect even realizing it, and even how to keep my for oneself. For me it is a symbol of freedom scarf from flying off on one of the fastest roller of societal expectations and judgments based

coaster in America (ok so maybe I’m still working on that one).

But more seriously, I have also understood how it feels like to be hated by people who know nothing about me, to see my mother disrespected by her coworkers, to be ostracized and stared at in disgust on the streets on my way to see a movie with my friends, and to be verbally assaulted on the bus ride home from a long day of school. Ignorance is not bliss; it is a death sentence and sometimes that is seen in a simple scarf.

We are living in a day and age where being ignorant is dangerous. With anti-Muslim rhetoric tainting almost all media outlets and politicians actively promoting Islamophobic propaganda it is the time to be aware.

It is the time to start asking questions.

If you see a woman wearing a hijab and you have a question, just ask (I promise we don’t bite). Be aware. Get informed. Know your facts.

Ask me questions about myself, my faith, my scarf. Even if after the answers my hijab may still just a piece of fabric to you it may allow us the opportunity to have a conversation; it may help us all make the world a better place.

Raya Nashef wears her hijab proudly

FEATURE

15

Photo Credits: Rachele Raskey

New club introduced at Challenge Day Advisor and students open up about the Social Justice League in workshops

Gillian Issacson Staff Writer luptatem arcim ipsus, volorae volup Karen Twomey wants to make the invisible visible.

As the facilitator of the Social Justice Awareness League, Twomey learned that some students couldn’t identify with speakers from last year. “We hadn’t been bringing in speakers that were minority background or speaking to minority issues. And so they felt somewhat invisible in our student population,” said Twomey.

Whereas speakers came to Bloomfield High School last year to discuss social awareness problems, Twomey wanted to do more so with the help of interested students they formed the Social Justice League to bring awareness to social injustices in everyday life, form a group who understand others, and support students interested in social-justice issues.

“Last year we just wanted to get people aware of what social justice is and what it means,” Twomey said. “It is our hope this year that through the speakers and through this group of students, we will be able to bring more awareness to issues.”

According to junior Natalie Perkins, the Social Justice League hopes to bring awareness to issues while also representing the school’s diversity.

“We will either have a speaker or an individual meeting with just people in the club, and then after the meeting we are planning on having the speaker stay and talk to us in a smaller group, so we can ask them questions, on a shorter scale with less people,” said Perkins who was involved previously with the Black Student Alliance which she said is why Twomey reached out to her about bringing her voice to the Social Justice Awareness League. “The meetings we have had this year have had in depth conver-

sations about specific problems like identity, gender, race, ethnicity, etc. We hope to have more representation of everyone and every part of this school- administration, the teachers, students — just a variety of people represented.”

Adding to Perkins’ description of the club’s meetings Twomey said that while the club focuses on issues of oppressed communities, every students is welcome to join because she be-

“The Social Justice Awareness League is the perfect place to meet kids who have the same view as I do and voice my opinion about it.”

Julia Russo lieves everyone has something to offer. “if you have an interest and are willing to work towards positive change, then you are perfect for me, perfect for the group, perfect for the school. “ After learning about the group through Twomey, Freshman Julia Russo said she was happy to have a space to address racial issues that she became passionate about last year. “The Social Justice Awareness League is the perfect place to meet kids who have the same view I do and voice my opinion about it.”

Meeting during the first advisory of every week, Russo

explains that every meeting is different; however, during “the last meeting we did this activity with a wheel that had different sections on it like: nationality, social economic, etc. and you would fill it out based on what you wanted it to be, instead of the generic male or female. It got you to express yourself in the way you really wanted to,” she said. “Then we paired up with someone we didn’t know and shared what we were comfortable with, getting to know each other and really getting to know ourselves. It was pretty cool because there were things on the wheel that I hadn’t really thought about before, things that have made me who I am, so it was nice to see that.”

Looking toward future meetings, Twomey said that the “in the beginning we are going to be building our own skills, knowledge, and awareness in our own group and be able to trust each other as well. Then, we will also be working towards some sort of vision, some goals, and then next semester we will be bring back the speakers.

When the speakers come, the students want to be able to facilitate some sort of conversation where they can help steer the school and the dialogue that is sure to follow. “ “I hope that more people will join the club because it is a very eye opening experience — just to get the word out to say how they have been treated or how they have seen others been treated,” said Russo. “I think it will really benefit the school in bringing awareness; some people are uneducated and just don’t know things [about these issues] and this club helps with that.”

For more information about the Social Justice League contact Mrs. Twomey or come to the club meeting during the first advisory of every week in room 101A.

Students’ father returns home from military service from 1

Commander Terner hugs his sons as he returns home

my dad being gone for over eight months, I definitely noWith the threats from ISIS in the Middle East, seticed that he plays a huge part in our family, and having him nior Danny Terner feared for his father’s life.

“I was back now is awesome just from a workload perspective.” scared, nervous,” said the seventeen-year-old about the Danny and Derek’s mom, Lisa Terner, described the experience 267 days his father was deployed to Afghanistan. “I didn’t as both challenging, but also rewarding. “It was definitely a lot know how we would handle almost a year without him.” more work as Sandor is very helpful with cleaning up the house “In his previous deployments, it was very difficult because and doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the family. But, while it was we couldn’t communicate since we couldn’t call internationchallenging at times making sure everything stayed organized, it ally, and video chat was not feasible,” said Danny’s younger was nice to know that I can hold our fort down while he’s gone.” brother Freshman Derek. “That definitely made it harder 7000 miles away, Sandor said his days away from his famon us. However, now that we all have iPhones, we were able ily were spent taking care of combat related injuries. “There to stay in contact almost every day. Just being able to have were several every day to deal with. Mostly, we took care of those extra bits of conversation was awesome for both us the coalition forces (the United States and NATO troops),” he and him. It made us feel more comfortable and united.” said. “It can definitely be grue“It’s always tough having to leave some at times when working on your family,” Commander Sandor “With every patient I take a military base. In fact, on my Terner said. “I had to get everything week there was a patrol of together in terms of what I wanted my care of, my goal is to ensure first coalition soldiers who dismountwife and my kids to be able to do while ed from their vehicles, and were I’m gone, and take over different things that I give every single one injured by an IED explosion. that I did when I was home. The techof them the opportunity to The one gentlemen I had to take nology available for this deployment was a lot different from last deploygo back home and spend the care of, had both of his legs severely injured with rocks and ment, so I knew I was going to be able rest of their time with their dirt embedded in them. Even to keep in touch with everyone. That though I was the anesthesiolodefinitely allowed me to ease my stress.” family. A moment that I gist, I had to help to take all of According to the National Guard always look forward to.” that out, clean it all up, and forFamily Program, a program that helps tunately he was able to survive.” children of deployed loved ones cope On October 23rd Commander with their absence, it is important Commander Sandor Terner Terner returned home from Kanfor teenagers to stay in contact with dahar, Afghanistan. Looking their parent even while they are deback at his experience, Sandor said that “with every patient I take ployed. “It’s always best to open up lines of communications care of, my goal is to ensure that I give every single one of them in order for allow the kids and cope with their emotions, bethe opportunity to go back home and spend the rest of their time cause often they do not know how to deal with someone leavwith their family. A moment that I always look forward to.” ing. What I see is that a lot of kids hold it in, and our advice Now that his father is home for good, Danny said that he is for them and their parents to make sure they open up lines has mixed feelings about continuing his family’s legacy. “I defiof strong communication” the program said in a statement. nitely know and understand the benefits that come with enlistWith only one parent in the house, Danny noticed that ing; however , the world is constantly changing so it would be another difficulty was that he was forced to take on a much difficult to make my decision now. Although, as I get older I larger role in the family. “I obviously had to take over a lot will continue to think about the possibility of enlisting. And I of the work and tasks that my dad usually covered while he just hope that I can make as big of a difference to this world as I was home,” he said. “ I did a lot of the shopping, got most know my dad has. I am so proud of all of his accomplishments.” of the groceries, became the handy-man of our house, and drove my brother around whenever it was necessary. With injured with rocks and dirt embedded in them. Even though

OP/ED

16 EDITORIAL

COLUMN

COLUMN

Peace does not spring from isolation

Kindness:

A different approach to the holiday season

Editor examines the policy of ostracization in exchange for peace

it does not deserve a reward

Editor discusses a family tradition inspired by his grandmother

Aidan Menchaca Editor-in-Chief

Jack Silberman Design Editor When I tell people that I celebrate Christmas, I get some pretty confused responses.

“Aren’t you Jewish?”

“You must be half-Jewish, half-Christian, then.”

No, and no.

My family is 100% Jewish, but my grandmother always loved the festive feel of Christmas. The movies, the decorations, and of course, the presents, she loved it all. Even though we celebrate Chanukah, no day of the year was more special to her than December 25th.

Looking back, I have no idea how my Grandma had the energy to stay up into the middle of the night decorating a tree and making cookies with us all in the midst of her chemotherapy. It was truly amazing she could do it.

While she loved all of the decorations, it wasn’t her favorite part of the holiday. Her favorite part was making a difference for others. She would go out of her way to do something nice for everyone she knew. I remember- very fondly- one time she had a treatment right before Christmas, and she made sure to stop to buy a present for every single one of the nurses.

She even bought gifts for her gardener and his son. She always put others first, and Christmas

“She would go out of her way to do something nice for everyone she knew.”

time definitely emphasized that.

A few years ago just two weeks before Christmas, my grandma passed away from Ovarian Cancer.

It was incredibly difficult, but amidst our grief we knew the perfect way to honor her.

My entire family, my grandpa, my parents, my brother and sister, my aunt and uncle, and my cousins, spent Christmas Eve in her living room decorating the tree- just like my grandma would have wanted and loved.

Every year since, we’ve kept our modified Jewish Christmas traditions, with the decorations becoming more and more elaborate each year. Whether it be Christmas or Chanukah, the holiday season reminds me to try to put others before myself just like my grandma did.

the

Cartoon by Betsy Stubbs

“a serving of kindness”

W

e have days dedicated to reminding peoKindness should be the norm. We never know what is ple of what kindness should look like. going on in someone else’s life. We never know what kind of day he/she is having. We never know how the smallStudent Leadership passed out candy on World est smile or the perkiest phrase might lift them up. In Kindness Day and Link Crew dedicated an ena world where social injustices aren’t tire day to high-fiving just seen on the evening news but students in the halls. headlined in our own halls, each one These are all awesome gestures.

But shouldn’t these gestures be of us holds the key to unlock the made everyday? We shouldn’t have door to a world we all want to live in. to be reminded to be kind to one We can mend the wounds of another. It should be automatic. generations before us.

Think 25 out of 25 staff members agree that But sadly, that isn’t the case. about it, we have the power.

Since when do we have to chalEllen Degeneres reminds her aulenge each other to do the right dience at the end of each of her kindness does not deserve a reward. thing? When did being kind bedaily talk shows to “be kind to come so “not in” that we have to one another.” That’s it just the invent ways to bring it back and simple act of kindness. So, like make it cool? Shouldn’t our first inclination always be Ellen says, be kind. Each and everyday. Find someto smile, say a kind word, let the other person go first, thing small. Don’t do it expecting anything back. compliment a job well done, or brighten someone’s day?

Just be kind to be kind. It’s the right thing to do.

We think so.

What the Student Body thinks

“Since when should someone say something nice just to get positive feedback? People should be kind out of the goodness of their heart and should only expect a “thank you” in return.”

“I think it’s respectful to show gratitude but I don’t think reward should be the sole motivator of good deeds. However, we should do things that are selfless just to contribute to our community.

Lauren Rash Senior

Kelly Wester Senior

Hawkeye 2015-16 Staff

What “The Hawkeye” Thinks:

Advisor Christina Hammitt

Photo Editor Andie McKendrick

Editor-in-Chief Aidan Menchaca

Multimedia Editor Greg Margosian

Managing Editors Merrick Weingarten Foster Stubbs Ally Jaksen

Advertising Julia Eisenshtadt

Design Editor Jack Silberman

Public Relations CJ Drogosch

“Kindness goes a long way and can affect people without anyone realizing it. Kindness should always be shown without expecting a reward. Kindness is a win-win. It’s naturally a reward for everyone”

It is said that when shook, foundations only become stronger.

On November 13, 2015 the West was shaken permanently as foreign and European terrorists attacked the capital city of France, Paris. Multitudes died and more were injured. Many, in the light of this, have suggested isolation as a solution. This is the wrong policy.

Paris cannot be a reason for closing our doors. Paris can only embolden efforts to improve the world, for if we offer the olive branch to the world peace shall reciprocate peace.

129 people have died at the point of this writing. It is likely that more will die from injuries sustained in the attacks. As a Westerner myself my gut reaction is disgust, anger and, like my nature compels, contempt for those responsible. But when we collectively dig into the past of the perpetrators, shocked and mourning, we begin thinking irrationally, trying to find explanations. The media then blares the term “Islamism” and we become fixed. It was his faith.

This is only the first step.

We generalize. “All Muslims are like this.” Then we exclude.

“Muslims cannot live in my country if they are all like this.”

And finally, “We can no longer accept Muslim refugees because of their security threat,” the secu-

“...without change, we are the enemy.”

rity minister of ‘x’ country says.

But here we fail to see the point.

Barring a religion or a geographic community is what breeds the hatred of the West. It is by keeping our backs turned, as Daesh (ISIS), rips through the Middle East, as poverty claims its next victim, as the next nameless soul dies from a lack of basic medicine, that we stir the grave pot of extremism.

Why does ISIS fight us?

Because we have forsaken them. Because without change we are an enemy.

It’s time we invest in a new foreign policy, one that uses the might of the West as a vehicle for creating change other than regime change. It is time that we bring the Marshall Plan into the 21st century and impart a culture of liberty on which a new government (of the people’s doing) can rest.

One, too, that shelters refugees.

We must offer life to those condemned to death or else we will die ourselves--our world descending into further chaos.

Izzy Alo Junior

Section Editors Uzair Bandagi (Sports) Sadhna Ramanathan (Op/Ed) Mallory Weiner (Feature) Hannah Stein (Feature) Jason Moonka (News)

Jack Wroldsen John Ballouz Morgan Montgomery Shahada Altaii Raya Nashef Nuha Raziuddin Gillian Isaacson Grace Beltowski

Staff Writers Amanda Howard Kyrstin Schmidt Brandon Kowalski

Cartoonist Betsy Stubbs

Illustrator Kevin Zheng Distribution Manager Shibi Sanjeev Guest Writers Christine Mackenzie Emelia Irmscher Greg Margosian Lia Forman

OPINION COLUMN

Bringing a new perspective to the table Junior reflects on the true meaning behind Thanksgiving.

Hannah Stein Feature Editor This past Thanksgiving, there was more than just a roasted turkey and a big glob of mashed potatoes sitting on my plate- right between the three pathetic pieces of lettuce I called a salad and the cranberry juice slowly seeping into my mashed potatoes rested the new addition--a reality check.

Every year, no matter whose house my family spends the holidays at, there always seems to be that corny moment, but with good intentions, where everyone goes around the table and says ironically the four most meaningless words: I am thankful for….

What usually follows is Grandma Phyllis saying her amazing children grandchildren, Uncle Joe saying his new job, and little cousin Sammy smirking down at his feet as he says his new Nikes. Yes. Those are all beautiful things to be thankful for, but somehow-year after yearI sit at the table teeth clenched, fighting back the urge to shout across the table, Is that really all you have to say? Your family... your friends... your belongings….

It’s a good response. That is if you mean it. But the fact is that most of us are just “programmed” into saying this answer. And yes, I’ll be the first to admit that I am accustomed to falling into this

17

PRO Political correctness is misrepresented Political correctness is about more than just politics Ally Jaksen Managing Editor

The term “political correctness” makes me cringe.

Images of Starbucks customers foaming in the mouth with red “anti-Christmas” cups in hand and Donald Trump race through my brain and haunt my thoughts. But this isn’t really what political correctness is about. It is not about politics. It is not about being correct. It’s not about Starbucks or Donald Trump. It is simply about respect, and it is important.

It is necessary to make sure we address others how they want to be addressed and that we recognize and honor our differences. For example, gender pronouns are becoming extremely important to pay attention to in today’s society. ABC News estimated there are nearly 700,000 transgender citizens in the United States with numbers constantly growing. It’s politically correct to know if someone prefers to be called “he” or “she”.

“So Ally, do I have to ask everyone I encounter if they are a ‘he’ or ‘she’?”

No, no, my friend. It’s okay to make mistakes regarding these things. I’ve made them once or twice. If you make a mistake and hurt someone’s feelings inadvertently, don’t freak out. Correct yourself. Maybe do some research. Get educated. It shows progressiveness in the plight to comprehend the changes that are occurring in the American demographic. When we practice political correctness in this manner, we offer respect and understanding to our fellow humans.

Being politically correct is also about knowing what to say and what not to say. It’s a much better alternative to sim-

ply ignoring offensive or non-PC comments if we’re unsure if they are okay or not. When this happens, the problem only worsens. Tension builds and incidents occur.

Think about what went down at the University of Oklahoma this past March. Fraternity brother at Sigma Alpha Epsilon were videotaped chanting, “There will never be a n-- at SAE, you can hang ‘em from a tree.” Cute little rhyme, huh?

Do we still feel like we would be better off without and emphasis on political correctness when college students are glorifying hate and racism? It’s time to wake up and smell the roses. This isn’t a joke. Chants about lynching African Americans are far from funny. It’s not politically correct at all. It should be a priority to make sure that we see things differently than those frat boys.

What if something like this happened at our school? I know I wouldn’t want to be associated with a student body where this kind of thing happens. Would you?

Starbucks and Trump make a lot of noise but hold no actual substance. We should be less wound up about seemingly “anti Christian” and more focused on being politically correct to preserve respect. Racism and transgenders are much more important and meaningful. These are the real issues that beg the need for political correctness.

Everything is good in moderation but sometimes you need a little extra nutrition to get you through the winter. So when you’re going up for seconds at that luncheon this holiday season, pile a few more servings of PC onto your plate. It won’t kill you.

Pro/Con:

“Is that really all you have to say?

Your family... your friends... your belongings...”

habit most years myself as well.

We sit, iPhones in the pocket of our new clothes, at a beautifully-decorated dining room table set in a magnificent home, all wrapped inside one auspicious community. That alone, depend on how you look at it, is a gift, one to be thankful for in itself.

Just remember during the holidays that somewhere out thereand you really don’t have to look too far to find them- there is a little boy walking miles to collect clean water for his family. There are grandparents that the best they can provide for their families is taking them to a soup kitchen.

There are workers out there being paid less than a dollar to make the clothes you have on your backs.

So while you sit there in an extravagant home filled with wonderful amenities: think of them.

Think of those without homes.

Those living in fear- fear of whether they’ll even get a next meal; fear of how to provide for their families; fear of what dangers the next days will bring. Now look around and take a moment to count your blessing. Reflect.

I challenge you this holiday season and in the many Thanksgivings to come, don’t be that person with some cliché answer about family and friends. Be the person who stands up and gives a meaningful response.

Say that extra thank you. Go that extra mile. Volunteer. Be mindful of this materialistic society we are falling into. No matter what holiday, what season- it is never the wrong time, it is never too late.

It’s about more than just Thanksgiving. It’s Thanksliving.

COLUMN

Political Correctness

CON

Political correctness has gone too far Excessive political-correctness propagates a culture of censorship and ignorance Foster Stubbs Managing Editor

Some of you are probably aloffended by the title of this article.

I don’t care, I’m gonna keep writing.

Our society has become so engrossed with politicalcorrectness that everything can be considered offensive in some manner. Even the new blank, red Starbucks cups. According to a recent NBC News story, some see it as a symbol of the “war on Christmas.”

Excuse me while I bash my head into the drywall.

We could be talking about income inequality, global warming, or other pressing societal issues, BUT NO! We’d rather talk about how a popular coffeehouse is antagonizing Christians. But that’s not even the most ridiculous example of overzealous politicalcorrectness. Per a 2014 CBS News report, a 7-yearold from the Baltimore-area was suspended from school for chewing a Pop Tart into the shape of a gun.

I’m running out of drywall to smash.

The only danger associated with a Pop Tart would be the resulting diabetes after eating too many. We have become so focused on being politically-correct that we have forgot about what is truly important; we should care more about the content of our ideas instead of the diction we use to articulate them.

Additionally, our militant PC culture has the potential to create an Orwellian society where people are afraid to speak their minds or express themselves due to a fear of

ready

persecution for their beliefs or actions. Modern politicians are more concerned with appeasing their constituents by saying the “right” things rather than making substantive statements illustrating their ideas in great detail. Political correctness has already turned the political system into a pandering exhibition, why should it permeate regular society? Even if we may not agree with what someone may have to say (*cough* Donald Trump *cough*), we have no right to stop them from expressing themselves. Handling perceived “political-incorrectness” is actually pretty simple: if you don’t like how someone acts or speaks, you can ignore them. They don’t have to stop doing what they are doing just because you are offended by what they have to say.

Now I’m not totally disparaging political-correctness, it is certainly necessary in many situations like the current predicament with the name of the Washington Redskins (Oh yeah sureeee, “Redskins” really represents “a proud tradition” and is not blatantly offensive in any way, shape or form.) But the excessive political-correctness that we subject ourselves to concentrates on finding things to be offended by rather than encourage intelligent dialogue to help everyone understand each other’s perspective. We must be willing to respect the sentiments of all groups of people but we must not sacrifice fervor and passion in the name of pleasing everyone.

Just like Taco Bell or Netflix, political-correctness is better in moderation.

The Indian who Stole Christmas (then gives it back) Senior realizes the holiday season is much more than giving gifts Sadhna Ramanathan Opinion Editor

I don’t quite understand people’s reactions when they realize I don’t get presents on Christmas.

“How have you lived like this?”

“You poor thing!”

It’s really not that big of a deal.

Growing up in an Indian family, Christmas was never really a holiday we celebrated. I get that just because we aren’t Christian and don’t celebrate the holiday, doesn’t mean we can’t give gifts.

The thing is, we just don’t care for the gifts.

Shocking, I know.

This groundbreaking revelation is apparently a difficult concept to grasp, but for my family, the holiday season equates to nothing but a nice, long break.

Growing up in a family where a birthday means well-wishes, a slap on the back, and the occasional cupcake to the face, you can imagine that Christmas is nothing special either.

Rarely, do we go out of our way to buy each other gifts- and I’m fine with that.

Although I do enjoy doing rounds of Secret Santa or White Elephant with my friends, in my family, Santa

“How do I put all of my memories, all of my heartfelt knowledge about a person in a box and wrap it up with a bow?” sliding down the chimney with a sack full of presents for us is nothing but the plot to a holiday cartoon on ABC Family.

Though I may sound like the Grinch or seem like Ebenezer Scrooge re-incarnated, it would do people well to realize that not everyone celebrates the same holidays.

I guess to my family, gifts are more of an obligation than anything.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t give gifts at all. I love having gift exchanges with my friends.

But to me, since family gift exchanges aren’t really an option, sharing gifts with my friends is even more special.

Even though gifts from me are rare, I like to make them special because I truly put in time and thought into it, but it’s hard. How do I put all of my memories, all of my heartfelt knowledge about a person in a box and wrap it up with a bow? The gifts I give are not always given not on a special day. If I’m at Starbucks and I know my friend loves a light iced- mochaccino-cappuccinoal pacino latte, I get them one.

My point is, though I am highly inexperienced at giving gifts thanks to my family background, I still make an effort when I do in fact end up giving people gifts. It might not always be to commemorate a specific or special day, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a gift.

Letters+AD

18

Letters to the Editor: Dear Editor,

Dear Editor,

Dear Editor,

After reading the “Hawkeye Reviews” review on The Weeknd’s new album, “Beauty Behind the Madness,” I must say I didn’t agree with the article completely. I myself am a longstanding Weeknd fan and can say that without a doubt this was his worst project to date.

The album had many mainstream pop factors that really don’t belong on a Weeknd album.

The Weeknd first emerged in the Hip Hop/ R&B in 2011 with his debut project entitled “House of Balloons”, which quickly followed with projects “Thursday” and “Echoes of Silence”. These three projects would soon form a compilation album called “Trilogy” which exploded him into the scene. “Trilogy” gave us deep and dark melodies that would haunt your brain beautifully as well as production that would leave you speechless and mesmerized. Those longstanding echoes from “Trilogy” that won me over were not carried on in “Beauty Behind the Madness” and for that reason I was disappointed with the album.

Ultimately, I did not agree with the content of the review but I enjoyed getting a contrasting opinion on The Weeknd’s latest album.

I am writing this email because I thought that the article “Game, Set, HISTORY” was a very well written article with great detail about how the tournament progressed. Because this is the dominant article and is a very timely news story, it needed to stand out and make everyone really understand what was going on; that is exactly what it does. One reason I strongly liked this article, was because of the amount of white and gray space was fit on the page; it is great how the editor didn’t feel obligated to fill the entire page with writing and put the article at the perfect length.

Another reason I loved this article was because of the quotes and the pictures placed in it. All the pictures tell a story and show a ton of emotion and the quotes help put the story into perspective. Although there are no pulled quotes, everything in the story really fits together and is placed at the right spot.

To conclude, the entire article was very well written, had the perfect amount of white and gray space, and the quotes and pictures really put the story into perspective.

My brother was looking through the newest issue of The Hawkeye News and, after he found something interesting, he started to freak out. Yelling and running, showing everybody what he had just found. It was your chocolate infographic, and one of the “World’s Top Chocolatiers” was Lebanon, which was big deal, because my family tree originates from Lebanon. So, after my brother caught my attention with this infographic, I looked at myself and I found the other infographic you made. I would just like to say that they are fantastic. They catch the reader’s eye, are interesting to read, and are very informative. Keep up the good work.

-Matt Matic, Sophomore

-Ali Rida, sophomore

-Max Wittenberg, Freshman

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Email the hawkeye at: bloomfieldhawkeye@gmail.com

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CAN YOU DIG IT? The Varsity Volleyball Team reflects on their strong season

John Ballouz Staff Writer

An outstanding season from the Girls Volleyball team came to a close against Grosse Pointe North in the semi-finals of regionals.

“Well it’s always hard at that point [when we were knocked out of regionals].

Our district was tougher than our regional, we played great in our district against Marian and played even better against Seaholm, and had we played even remotely close to as good as one of those matches, we could have advanced,” said head coach Robert Hurdle.

“Both of our potential opponents in regionals were beatable, so it’s disappointing because I think we could have gone farther.”

The team’s exceptional season included going 31-11, they maintained a position in the OAA Red Division, won two tournaments, came second in two tournaments,

The BHHS Varsity Volleyball team celebrates winning the District Championship after a victory over Seaholm High School “We were pretty happy with our season because we were underdogs but we came out and proved everyone wrong and won districts,” Lindsay Dauch Senior and were in the gold bracket of every competition they participated in.

“We were pretty happy with our season because we

were underdogs but we came out and proved everyone wrong and won districts,” said Captain Lindsay Dauch.

“This really made it more fun

Want more? Visit us online at www.thehawkeyenews.com because we beat great teams like Seaholm and Marian, the first time winning districts in 10 years.”

The team’s elimination

came after a triumphant run of games in districts before they were finally ousted from regionals. The BHHS girls beat Marian, which set up

a win against Seaholm in the District finals, and were triumphant until their run of good form came to an end against Grosse Pointe North in the first round of regionals.

“In that moment [winning against Seaholm in district finals] we couldn’t believe what had just happened, it was one of the most fun moments,” said sophomore Julie Charlick. “It felt unreal and so accomplished to be a part of the team that was first to win districts in 10 years.”

Despite the disappointing end to the season the girls are optimistic for the coming years.

“Our group really came together and improved as the season progressed. We really have set the Bloomfield standard for the upcoming years.” said sophomore Olivia Smith, “We are the reigning champs and we are going to strive to keep that position for the years to come.”

FEATURE

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District Champions Gold Bracket in all competitions Head Coach Robert Hurdle Captains Lindsay Dauch, Alyssa Robinson and Michaela Elliott

Teaser photo credits: Susan Adams Photography

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Photo Credits: Hammer Authority

Max Rosenfeld bats in game against Cranbrook Kingswood High School (Photo Credits: Susan Adams (Photography)

Junior copes with Colitis

Varsity Baseball player Max Rosenfeld explains he will not let the disease derail his athletic career CJ Drogosch Public Relations Manager They told him his athletic career was over. He wouldn’t listen.

“I would not let this disease beat me,” said Junior Max Rosenfeld, a varsity baseball third-baseman, who, like 1.4 million Americans, has Colitis.

“The worst is when I flare up. Being my first year of varsity baseball, I get nervous before for the majority of games, and stress tends to flare up my colon. I remember when we were playing Berkley for baseball last season. Even though I had sit out a portion of the first game of the doubleheader because of my colitis, I powered through for the second game and ended up getting the walk-off single,” Max said.

According to Max, Colitis is a condition

that causes inflammation and symptoms include ulcers of the colon. His immune system confuses bacteria, food, and other substances for harmful material creating an uncomfortable pain in the abdominal area. “Sometimes my stomach can’t digest all the food I want to consume,” he said. “One time I actually involuntarily lost 15 pounds and, at the time, I didn’t have any idea what to do. I was so weak.

It’s frustrating because I have goals that I hope to obtain but Colitis limits me.”

One of Max’s goals is to continue to prosper in baseball. “Colitis really affected my baseball career at first. I could not run. I could not do anything. I lost 15 pounds,” he said. “I wonder some-

times what my baseball career would be without it. I would not face as many setbacks, of course. In a way, though, Colitis gives me the opportunity to fight through adversity. Because of my situation, I go the extra mile that maybe other athletes don’t and that provides me with an enhanced competitive edge.”

Of her youngest child, Max’s mom said, “My initial, and still recurring reaction, is quite simple. I feel frustrated because I am unable to do anything to make it go away, and not knowing where it stemmed from. I worry about him on a daily basis. It’s constant. I also pray that a remedy is found to eliminate the worry he and I carry every day.”

Agreeing with his Mom, Max said he tries to remain upbeat, not only towards Colitis but about anything in his life. “I try not to constantly think about the effects,” he said after being diagnosed three years ago. “There’s no sense in worrying about something that you cannot change. I have my sights set on a strong and healthy future.”

Max has been able to create a strong bond with his dad, as well. The elder Rosenfeld said, “We spend a lot of time at the various doctors together. For any healthy parent child relationship, there has to be communication. A child’s pain is also a parent’s pain. I’m acutely aware of his health. We have conversations health related, above and beyond.

The number one thing for most parents, you just have to listen to your kids.”

Most of the life changes Max has had to make center around his nutrition. “I developed a strict diet plan and workout regimen. I have to monitor what I eat and take medicine every day. Instead of having unhealthy processed food, I’ll choose grilled chicken and vegetables that I make with my dad. I continue to fight the disease by keeping a positive mind set.”

Max’s mom said she feel awful that her son has to go through this; however, “Colitis might create discomfort on the inside, but Max does not let it show on the outside. He refuses to let it greatly affect him. He knows that he must maintain his routine and focus on improving in any way possible; the little things make a huge difference. His mom proclaims, “I believe this has made him and I stronger, both physically and mentally. If anything we’ve grown closer and more educated about this disease.”

SPORTS

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The tragedy of injuries A personal experience with facing the reality of surgery C.J. Drogosch Staff Writer

Basketball goes into new season with new coach Coming from West Bloomfield, Michael Maryanski brings high energy and expectations in his first season with the team Uzair Bandagi Sports Editor

According to BHHS Athletic Director R.J Guizzetti, Michael Maryanski, the new varsity boy’s basketball coach was hired because of the experience he brings to the position.

“We were looking for someone with a lot of experience at the varsity level. [Maryanski] had experience with varsity assisting as well as with being a JV coach,” said BHHS Athletic Director R.J Guizzetti about hiring a new coach for this season. “Being a varsity coach is a big responsibility.”

According to Guizzetti, Maryanski, who will be replacing head coach Duane Graves had to beat out eight other applicants.

“He has tons of energy. He’s the kind of guy I would want my kids to play for. Very knowledgeable, very passionate,” said Guizzetti on what impressed him most about Maryanski a teacher in the district. “Most of all it was just his energy that he brings to everything that he does. I’ve known him for a number of years.

He’s very knowledgeable, and very passionate. ”

“Basketball has always been one of my passions along with teaching,” said Maryanski. “ I’ve been coaching since I got done playing college ball at Madonna University. I spent the last seven years at West Bloomfield High School as the assistant varsity coach and head JV coach. Prior to that I was at Berkley High School for four years as assistant varsity coach, and before that I was at Bishop Foley as assistant varsity coach. I’ve always wanted a head coaching job. It’s just been a dream of mine to coach high school basketball.”

After the initial interviews, Guizzetti cut down the candidates to four finalists who had to showcase their ability to work with athletes..

“It’s something that we had never done before,” “said Guizzetti. “We wanted to see those coaches actually interact with players and see how they would run practice. We gave them 45 minutes to an hour to run a workout like they would a normal workout if they were their coach. We told them not to hold back, not to do anything they

wouldn’t normally do, and treat it like it was their program and their players running the workout.”

Varsity Captain Senior Jacob Hecker who has played for Graves for the past three years looks forward to a successful season under Maryanski.

“Our conditioning is going to be the best it has ever been under Coach Maryanski. He is more intense when it comes to discipline,” said Hecker. “He wants to push the ball and play more up tempo and he emphasizes sharing the ball.

Our playing style is also going to be a lot faster.

The game is going to be more transition based.”

Looking forward to the season, Maryanski has nothing but positive words to share about the BHHS varsity squad. “The players are very eager to learn; they have a passion for the game, they love it, they’re all good kids. The boys have a willingness to want to learn. I’m a new coach and they’re adaptable to my new style,” he said.

“You just know that they want to play basketball.”

Football team is lowered to white division The team has been relegated from the red division to the white division, the smallest tier of high schools Zack Farah Guest Writer How is moving all of the football teams into a lower division helping us?

“It’s gonna give us an opportunity, with our football team having smaller numbers, to get ourselves more established now that our schools are merged,” says assistant football coach Matthew MacLeod.

Over the past few weeks, the football coaching staff and athletic directors of Oakland county have decided to shift the football teams from the top, red division, two tiers down to the lowest division, the white division.

MacLeod says that he, along with almost all other football coaching staff, is in favor of the recent decision of the OAA (Oakland Activities Association) to have the football teams change divisions.

“We’ve been playing in the red division for the past few years, which is the division made up of the biggest schools and we’ve always been one of the small-

Guizzetti, “I know from a coach’s standest of the ‘big schools’,” says Mapoint what we need to compete at that cLeod, “I think it’s good to switch level. I look at what we have, what we’re up the teams that everyone plays. I up against and you need to make dethink sometimes divisions become cisions, changes, and adjustments.” stale when you play the same peoThe division change has generally been ple every year, so I’m supportive of met with acceptance with the players as it because it’s a one year experiment well. Sophomore Peter and I think that it’s going to be “I think we’ll be much Frenette on the junior varsity football team says more positive than negative.” more competitive after that he likes “the idea R.J. Guizzetti, one year. You need to of the whole change” “I mean we won’t get BHHS athletic make decisions, changes, to play a lot of our regudirector, shares lar rivals but I think we’ll M a c L e o d ’ s and adjustments.” just do better in general. opinion as he This past year the team’s believes that R.J. Guizetti been kind of chaotic the division with all of the new playchange “will BHHS Athletic Director ers coming in, and I just put us on more think after we get ourof a level playselves back up to the best we can be, we’ll ing field for the upcoming season” be totally ready to get back in the game.”

“I think we’ll be much more competitive after one year,” says

2016-2017 OAA White Division Farmington Hills Harrison Southfield Oak Park North Farmington Farmington Birmingham Seaholm Rochester Adams Rochester Bloomfield

Injuries happen.

It’s never something any athlete thinks will happen to them.

At least, that’s what I thought until it finally happened to me.

Standing on the mound, feeling confident, knowing no one could touch my fastball. The last Cranes’ player to reach first base was way back in the first inning. Going into the 6th inning now, nothing could hold me back.

Wrong. “Play ball.” Parents cheering, teammates awaiting, coach examining. I cleared the dirt off the rubber and squinted towards the catcher for the sign. Wind-up, leg kick, follow through. Strike one. Coach nods in reassurance. I get the ball back and fix my cap.

My arm fires again. Strike two. Pitch count nearing 100. One more strike to get the out.

Everything was the same in my mechanics when I released the next pitch, but something felt off. There was a pop, maybe a tear, something I’ve never experienced before. I could not continue.

Arriving sophomore year as the “new kid,” having transferred from Detroit Country Day School, I wanted to impact the baseball team immediately. All offseason I had the goal in mind of stepping on the field with my Black Hawk brothers. Every sled I pushed, every bar I pressed, every grounder I fielded, every ball I hit, was for that distinct objective. After having to sit out the previous year because of rotator cuff inflammation, I was determined to get back.

Not everything in life will go your way, though. In February, after working diligently all winter to get back on the diamond, I was told that I had a torn labrum. The surgery, I was told, was scheduled for April 2.

Originally, I felt disbelief and anger. I wanted to punch my fist through the wall. It didn’t seem fair that this was happening to me; it didn’t seem real. I cringed at the thought of going into surgery because I was unsure of what lay ahead in the future.

What did I do when I heard this heartbreaking news? I chose to make the best of the situation. It made no sense to hang my head and feel sorry for myself. I took my surgery as a chance to become a student of the game. It taught me that I will face adversity in life, but I must be able to bounce back.

I despise waiting. Surgery provided me with the virtue of patience. Whether it was the night before Christmas where I anxiously lay wide awake in bed or sitting at a gourmet restaurant looking at all the other customers receive their mouth-watering entrees, I just can’t handle the suspense. While my teammates thrived on the field, I was forced to be a spectator from the dugout.

I wanted to be the best supporter I could possibly be. Building team morale, congratu-

“Surgery didn’t break me down, it turned me into the man I am today. I was able to become a better player, a better student, and most importantly a better son.” lating a player after an impressive play, and picking up a teammate after an off game were all focal points in my mind, because the following year I would be out there with them.

Their success will be mine as well. Seasons come and go, but teammates stay with you forever.

Surgery didn’t break me down, it turned me into the man I am today. I was able to become a better player, a better student, and most importantly a better son. It’s made me more grateful for everything that I am blessed to have today. I stared surgery right in the eye and said “give me what you got!”

Injuries. They’re not an easy barrier to charge through. But they do make you stronger. While injuries may break you down physically, they can build you up mentally.

Drogosch has a focused look in his eyes as he gears up to throw to his target. Drogosch continues to work hard to get back to 100%. He maintains a weekly throwing routine.

CONCUSSED

Junior Ross Simpson explains the difficulties of dealing with a concussion

photo credits: Susan Adams Photgraphy Jack Wroldsen Staff Writer Sitting on the sideline, succumbing to his concussion, junior Ross Simpson couldn’t remember anything, least of all the importance of that night.

It was his birthday.

“It was in the second half, we were 3-1 up against South Lathrup and Ross was just about to get out of the way of our center-back, who was trying to clear the ball,” junior Dani Phillips recalled. “The center-back kicked [the ball] as hard as he could, and Ross was unfortunately just in front of it. The ball hit him in the head, and all I saw was Ross’ body go limp and collapse.”

A teammate of Simpson’s on the varsity soccer team, Phillips witnessed the entire event unfold. “It was pretty scary. He hit the ground head first, and he was having difficulty getting up.”

“In that moment, I felt horrible for him. Not only does no one want to be injured, but nobody wants it to happen on their birthday. I remember watching it happen and thinking, ‘jeez, that sucks. Happy birthday, Ross.’”

According to Bloomfield Hills High School’s athletic trainer John Ciecko III, the referee stopped the game, and brought Ross over to the sideline for Ciecko to check on him.

“What we normally do is pull the person out of the physical activity, sit them down, and ask some general questions: who we are playing, the day, where we are, things like that. Then, I let them relax for about five minutes, and within that time period all of the normal symptoms appear, like dizziness, and upset stomach, light and sound sensitivity, general confusion, things like that. When your heart rate and adrenaline is pumping the way it does when you’re playing a sport, you could’ve took a ball straight to the head you could pop right up and feel okay. So, they just relax for a bit to allow the usual symptoms to occur. If they feel weird or anything after those five minutes, they’ll tell me, and I’ll ask the same questions again and then conduct a general concussion test,” Ciecko explained. “With Ross, when we followed that procedure, he knew all the answers to the questions. After the five minutes he came back over and asked me to check on him again, and that’s when I became worried.”

“A concussion is basically a disruption of normal cognitive function in your brain,” Ciecko continued. “Ross, when we asked him the same questions after the five minutes, couldn’t

remember the answer to any of them, even though five minutes earlier he could. Throughout the rest of the game, he’d ask me those same three questions over and over and over. He was stuck in a sort of broken record loop. He couldn’t remember who we were playing, he couldn’t remember the situation, and he couldn’t remember the day; he’d ask me those three questions in succession, and as soon as I was done answering the third he asked me the first. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3; over and over.”

Concussions, described Ciecko, are very individualized. When someone experiences a concussion, it will always entail unique and distinct symptoms.

“Once, I had a student athlete whose symptoms from the concussion started the moment the lights to the field were turned off.

Ross’ was as unique as that. I was worried about it because I didn’t know what would come next. It might’ve progressed to some-

“The ball hit him in the head, and all I saw was Ross’ body go limp and collapse.

Dani Phillips Junior thing far worse where he would go unconscious or, God forbid, his heart would stop. It was hard to tell because of how different it was. It certainly had the potential for being a really scary one.

It was definitely one of the worst [concussions] I’ve ever seen.”

While Ciecko was surprised by Ross’ forgetting of his questions, he was astounded by Ross not remembering that day was his birthday.

“He actually thought I was kidding when I said it was his birthday, because he totally forgot,” said Ciecko. “We asked him during the general test, ‘do you know what today is?’ He said ‘October 20, right?’ ‘Yeah, do you know what’s so special about today?’ ‘No, something is special?’ ‘Ross, it’s your birthday.’ ‘No it’s not, stop joking around with me guys.’”

“I was told that I would look at my phone, notice that it was my birthday, freak out, and my parents would let me open my

presents. This happened about four times, so I opened my presents four different times and was equally surprised each time and said the exact same comments about them,” mentioned Simpson. “Once I opened my presents, I’d ask, ‘is there cake? Are there more presents?’ and then I would totally forget it was my birthday altogether. And then the cycle would continue. It was a lot like that movie,” referring to the movie Groundhog Day, in which the protagonist repeats the same day again and again.

Citing his birthday experience and his daily life, Simpson explained that, even six weeks after being hit, what used to be effortless has now become problematic and very challenging.

“Before the concussion I was on top of all of my school work with straight A’s. Now, I’m weeks behind in every subject, and it’s just a lot of work and I still can’t concentrate and still have symptoms of a concussion,” described Simpson.

“The teachers are understanding, but I’m trying to learn new material and old material, either because I don’t remember it due to the concussion, or because I don’t remember being in class when we learned it after the concussion happened.”

Phillips concurred, saying that, “you could tell he was really stressed out and definitely out-of-it. He wouldn’t know where his classes are or what we were doing in class or anything. And we’d tell him, but he would totally forget the next day. It’s been really hard for him.”

“After seeing what Ross has been through, I am starting to question whether or not I should keep playing. As of right now, I still play, but this was for sure an eye opener and it’s definitely made me a little worried.”

Ciecko explains that there are serious implications later in life for those who have experienced concussions.

“Concussions are a very serious thing, and unfortunately, there are few ways to prevent them. You see toxic protein buildup in the brain that permanently shuts down specific parts, the onset of Parkinson’s disease, and a brain that looks like the individual has Alzheimer’s,” said Ciecko.

Simpson, while struggling to cope with the new challenges he faces due to his concussion, said he will continue to play the sport he loves.

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop playing.

I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

SPORTS

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WINTER SPORT UPDATES an update on this season’s varsity teams

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The Bloomfield Hills Black Hawks Boys Varsity Hockey team is off to a strong start to the season after knocking off Avondale Oxford with a score of 10-2 to improve their record to 2-1-1. The team is led by senior captain Jordan Stone and has 12 seniors on its roster this year. “We are really excited about what we can accomplish this year, and we know that if we work hard we can achieve our goals. Hopefully, we keep working hard, and the results will reflect our efforts,” said senior and assistant captain Dominic Cappello.

Senior Black Hawk swimmers will have their final season under management of Bill Thompson; the team’s third head coach in four seasons. With experience at Motor City Aquatics and Marian High School, Coach Thompson kicks off his first season as Black Hawks Head Coach. Due to construction, the home pool will not be located at the new building until after January 1st.Team captains Max Threlkeld, Blake Woods, and Brandon Kowalski return as three of last seasons six state qualifiers along with other teammates seeking to qualify for states this year. The team began practice on November 23rd and will continue to practice, an estimated 40 hours, throughout winter break. Key meets to gauge the team’s success will be against Seaholm on January 14th and Cranbrook on January 28th.

The Wrestling team began their season in November with 14 Varsity wrestlers in various weight classes and the rest as JV wrestlers. The teams are coached by Head Coach Anthony Scigliano. Wrestlers compete in tournaments on the weekends until February when League matches begin. Their next home match is on January 5th against Lake Orion, Troy, and Avondale.

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The Women’s Basketball team has gotten off to a great start with a record of two wins against Milford High School and Avondale High School and zero losses so far. Additionally, in the upcoming week the team has two games against Lyon East High School and Cabrini High School. While the team has a few minor injuries, they feel optimistic about beating the Black Hawk’s 12 -9 record from last year. “I think the season is going to go really well if we truly put our minds to it. A few of our goals this year are to earn the OAA White League title and work our way to win districts and get to regionals,” said junior Amanda Sape.

BHHS has started out their winter sports season with a packed Figure Skating team consisting of 25 skaters. They started their season in December and hope to continue it all the way to states, living up to their reputation of last year. Having qualified for states in all three of their Levels (A, B, and C), the team has big hopes for this season. Each skater carries their own weight by training individually throughout the week, and then all together once to twice a month. Coaches, Paul Bellantuono and and Anastasia Olson, hope to lead the team to success, and bring home some trophies just like last season. The team won their first competition of the year on December 8th at Royal Oak Ice Arena.

The girls poms team has begun preparing for their winter season after tryouts during the week of November 15th. Similar to the fall season, the team prepares dances at practices after school and performs them.

All of the dances are choreographed by members of the team and head coach, Rachel Matz. During the winter season, the girls will perform during halftime at home games for the boys basketball team instead of at football and soccer games.

The Skiing team looks forward to an exciting and successful upcoming season of skiing. Head coach Rob Brown, with assistants Paul Richardson and Kelsey Griffin lead the team with over 40 skiers.

The team began dryland training in November, in preparation for racing when snow begins to fall. Having only the girls varsity team qualify for states last year, it is clear that a goal this year will be to have both varsity teams continue their season as far as possible.

Captains for the team this year will be Ryan Stewart, Colton Cornwell, Talia Greenberg, and Sarah Holmes.

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Bloomfield Hills Black Hawks are striking out with their 2015-16 Varsity Bowling team. The team of fourteen are happy about their improvement and excited to conquer their next tournament. With seven girls and seven boys on the varsity team, the team will be competing with a complete roster in their season opener. On Monday December seventh, the varsity girls and boys competed and won their last match in an OAA singles tournament at Collier Lanes.

Junior on the team, Kaitlyn Brownstein explains “The entire sport is focused on having fun and improving. I think we will do well this season!”

The Girls’ Varsity Hockey Team is starting their winter sport season strong and with a lot of new faces. With a few players returning from the previous season, and a handful of girls who have recently joined the team, they have doubled in size. The season started at the beginning of November and their first game was November 21. This year’s captain is senior Kyrstin Schmidt, and the assistant captains are Justine Abbo and Marca Mucha. Having been Division Two State Runner-Ups the previous year, the coaches as well as the returning players have high hopes for the upcoming season. Coaches Mick Singelyn, Larry Carpenter, and Anatoliy Buliga are confident that the girls will work hard in order to have another successful season.

Under the leadership of new Head Coach Michael Maryanski, the Boys Varsity Basketball team will head into this season with many returning players, including Captain Jacob Hecker. The team plays 22 regular season games from December to March. The team hopes to have a strong season to lead into a good play-off run. Their next home game is on January 5th.

Shortly after the Fall Sideline Cheer season ended in November, BHHS Cheerleaders picked back up with the Winter Competitive Cheer season. Unlike Sideline Cheer, the Competitive Cheer team competes in meets against other high school cheer teams. The team has been practicing rigorously for these meets and games. The team is coached by coaches Myah Jones and Jen Ledbetter. Their next meet is on January 7th at Lake Orion High School.

SPORTS

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THE NCAA: BY THE NUMBERS Percentage of high school athletes who go on to play in college

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NCAA D2 REQUIRED GPA

2.0 “Overall, student-athletes graduate at higher rates than their peers in the student body” -NCAA.org Works Cited: https://cdn1.lockerdome.com/uploads/b52f49db5bf398f33d3787bedbc04095af1b8502fa80832f8f2a53dfb96d42c5_large, http://www.nolimitssports.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/sports-balls-wn.png, https://chimpout.files.wordpress. com/2010/05/hockey-puck.gif, http://www.brec.org/assets/Athletics/images/Football.png, http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/probability-competing-beyond-high-school, https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2011-12_Quick_Reference_Sheet.pdf

Signed: Seniors prepare for college athletics Four Black Hawks commit to play in the NCAA Julia Eisenshtadt Advertising Manager On Wednesday, November 11th, two Black Hawks signed NCAA letters of intent to continue playing their respective sports at the collegiate level.

“It felt surreal,” said senior Matthew Biermann who committed to playing baseball with Cedarville University in Ohio.

“Signing that letter just meant a lot. I knew it was something I had worked hard for and wanted for a while and for it to finally happen was awesome. Being able to find a school that I really wanted to go to and getting an offer from them was really nice.”

Along side of Biermann, senior Lindsay Dauch signed her letter of intent committing herself to playing volleyball at Miami University in Ohio. “When they offered me a position I was ecstatic,” said the libero legacy. “It was always a goal in my life so it was a dream come true. It’s a really good school and my dad played football there and my brother plays baseball there and the volleyball program is really good.”

According to Dauch, the experience something she had dreamed of doing since she began playing the sport at age twelve. “Signing the contract was crazy because all of my brothers were there there watching me and I got to watch them sign theirs and now I am finally there too. Everything came full circle and it was just an unreal feeling.”

Even though he hasn’t his final high school baseball season, Biermann said that “Knowing baseball isn’t over and knowing that I will be playing for four more years at a higher level is awesome.”

After getting an offer from Cedarville University in July, the BHHS

catcher is relieved to have a college where he will play baseball set in stone, but he will still try his hardest during the upcoming season.

“If anything, it will take some pressure off and I won’t be worrying about college,” he said. “I will want to win just as badly as before, if not more considering that this is my last year as a Black Hawk.”

Two more athletes, although not in attendance at the sign-

“You have to work hard in order to get where you want to be. Hard work is what gets you places.”

Lindsay Dauch Varsity Volleyball ing ceremony, will also be taking their skills to college campuses.

After going to many soccer showcases and emailing many coaches, Senior Karmyn Carter will continue to play soccer by becoming a Golden Knight at the College of St. Rose in New York. “I always thought that playing soccer in college would just be the best thing ever. I am most looking

forward to the playing and winning and meeting new people,” she said.

Senior Erika LaCasse who finished her high school diving career placing 5th at regionals, will be continuing her diving career at Cornell University in New York. Although she originally had no intention of diving in college, LaCasse verbally committing to the school and is excited to experience being a college athlete. “I reached out to Cornell and they gave me really positive feedback. So when that became a reality I figured it would be really fun to be on a sports team in college and be a part of that community,” said LaCasse. “I am excited to also grow as a diver and raise the bar to improve my skills. Cornell was always my top choice.

It’s awesome that I got to apply there and get to go there and dive there.”

“Erika is a very talented athlete and an outstanding student. Her skills and dedication have given her a great opportunity to compete at the division 1 level in the NCAA,” said LaCasse’s coach David Zulkiewski. “I’m honored to have worked with Erika for the past 3 years and am thrilled for her. Cornell is one of Erika’s top schools for academics, and the opportunity to train and compete for them is an added bonus. I know she will do a wonderful job next year.”

For athletes thinking about playing their sport at the college level, Dauch shared some simple advice. “Just work hard.

It’s not going to come easy. You have to work hard in order to get where you want to be. Hard work is what gets you places.”

Meet the Athletes

Kamryn Carter Soccer-St. Rose Colllege

Lindsay Dauch Volleyball-Miami of Ohio

Erika LaCasse Diving-Cornell University

Matthew Biermann Baseballl-Cedarville University

OPINION

26

THE HAWKEYE reviews MOVIE

FOOD

MOVIE

The name’s Bland, James

Donut Bar disappoints

New Paranormal Activity terrifies, petrifies, anything but

Amanda Howard Staff Writer

Jason Moonka News Editor With an energetic opening action scene, complete with Bond fighting terrorists in a twirling helicopter over Mexico City in the midst of Día de Muertos, it seems as though Spectre should’ve been the best Bond movie yet.

But it wasn’t.

Director Sam Mendes centers this movie around Bond’s experience tracking down a secret criminal organization, Spectre, under the posthumous directions of his old boss, M. While tracking down Spectre, Bond, played by Daniel Craig (Skyfall), runs into the problem of a new power struggle within the government after the death of the previous leader M, who is replaced by a new M, played by Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel). Along the way, Bond gets into the usual fist fights, gunfights, car chases, and romantic conquests including the gorgeous and knowledgeable Bond Girl, Madeleine Swann, played by Léa Seydoux (Inglourious Basterds).

Spectre, rated PG-13, made an impressive 70.4 million dollars in its opening week and can be seen at most movie theaters. Despite its impressive results in the box office, making just two million less than Skyfall , I was unimpressed.

I want to say that the movie was great, or even that it was terrible, but I can’t. It was completely average. One problem was that I was often confused throughout the movie. Numerous references are made to previous Bond villains and stories, however even having seen all of the previous films in this franchise, I found myself somewhat perplexed when characters from previous movies were brought up. Multiple characters were referenced even though their purposes weren’t mentioned, which confused and disappointed me.

Regardless of being confusing at times, the scenery throughout the movie was impressive. From sledding on a broken plane in the Swiss Alps and intense gadget-filled car chases in Rome, to machine-gun filled shoot-outs in Northern Africa, Bond does it all.

Additionally, I was impressed with the authentic acting of the mastermind villain, played by Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained).

But disappointingly enough, the locations and acting were the only highlights of the film.

The plot failed to really draw me in, as I thought it was somewhat dull. This was advertised as the James Bond movie to link all the films in this franchise, yet it lacked the typical signature of an intricate plot. Sure the actions scenes were dazzling, but it was no more impressive or unique plot-wise, than the previous movies, despite the fact that this mastermind villain had been targeting Bond and calling the shots from behind the scenes for years. This should have been the best Bond movie yet, but not only was the writing dull with obvious plot twists, but it also ended with a terrible cliché. Ultimately, while Spectre was good when compared to previous installments, this was supposed to be the Bond movie that tied the previous ones together, and it failed to do so, leaving me in the utterly unimpressed.

I’ve know two things; never discuss politics with my grandfather and people go nuts for donuts.

Showing up to lunch on a Wednesday afternoon with a dozen of the most beautifully decorated donuts I had ever seen, my friends practically drooled as I walked up to my lunch table.I explained to them that I had purchased the donuts from the recently opened ‘Donut Bar + Coffee’ (located on Southfield Road and Telegraph).

Their donuts range from $1.50 to $3.50, a bit pricey for my taste, but I figured the semi-expensive cost originated because these were the amazing donuts everyone seemed to be raving about.

From Facebook posts and instagram pictures, tweets and textseveryone was talking about ‘The Donut Bar’ and I was dying to see what all the fuss was about so a few extra dollars should be worth it.

After talking to the manager, she explained the bakery is opened Tuesday through Friday at 6am and weekends at 8am, everyday closing at the exact second the last donut is sold; usually around 1 p.m., which left me scrambling to get there before the doors closed.

Finally arriving at ‘The Donut Bar’, I was stunned into silence at the beautiful scene before me. Rows and rows laid donuts covered in Oreo cookies or glazed in caramel. A few had Reese’s placed on top, while others were coated in an assortment of the sweetest cereals. Smells of cinnamon, vanilla and coffee wafted around us-this was donut heaven and I was taking it to school for my friends.

Back at lunch, plastic knives were being passed around. Cheers echoed as everyone was given their half. As more people flocked to our table, halves were begrudgingly dissected into fourths and eighths and tenths. Watching my friends’ faces as they began eating, I waited for the moment when we unanimously agreed that these were the best donut we’ve ever had because everyone goes nuts for donuts, right?

I was wrong.

Disappointingly enough, the faces in front of me unanimously all frowned, as if the expectation of these beautiful donuts had somehow fallen after the first bite.

Taking a bite of my own Oreo donut I was struck with the same thought -- these donuts were just okay.

The dough was moist, but plain.

The toppings were cute, but tasteless.

The glazing was perfect, but just made the donut sticky.

Honestly, I’ve had better donuts for a dollar from the Cider Mill.

With all the hype, I expected more. I expected a stand out in a sea of mediocre, an A+ in a field of C’s, a seventy degree day in the middle of a brutal winter. I expected great.

Perhaps my hopes were too high, or maybe the treats are just a tad overrated. Whatever the reason, these donuts are just a treat for the eyes, and not so much for the belly. Instead of wasting my money, I should have just talked politics with my grandfather.

DECA

Shahada Altaii Guest Writer As I scurried into the theater to see director Gregory Plotkin’s Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, I expected to spend a majority of the time peeking out from behind closed fingers due to fear.

In reality, the only reason I had my eyes closed would be to take a nap.

Having seen the previous installments of Paranormal Activity, I had adequate expectations for the film. At the very least, I thought I’d be sleeping with a night-light on. If anything, seeing this made sleeping slightly easier. A complete bore. The jump-scares may have startled a mouse, but producers are going to have to work a bit harder to phase a teenage girl who’s seen her own reflection in the morning.

Released on October 23, 2015, the horror film came at the perfect time to grasp an audience eager to watch a creepy little girl talk to ~spooky~ ghost friends. Completely black eyes on the face of a young girl didn’t seem to terrify me nearly as much as the quality of the movie did.

Following the plot of a typical suburban family being endlessly tormented by demons, the movie kicks off with father Ryan (Chris J. Murphy), mother Emily (Brit Shaw), and their daughter Leila (Ivy George) having not a care in the world, preparing for Christmas. When Ryan finds a video recorder with footage of otherworldly demons, their bland suburban lives are at last spiced up.

Despite the film being called “The Ghost Dimension,” it seems as if more work was put into the other dimensions of the movie. Special effects were not even mildly convincing, which slightly disappointed me. I mean, come on, I should have at least seen more than what I myself could recreate with a white sheet and a pair of scissors.

While the acting was up to par, especially from the young Ivy George, who went from being a content, innocent young soul to a deeply disturbed creature, the making of the movie could have been better executed. Being that this is supposedly the final installment of the series, I was expecting to get a bang for my buck. All in all, the only bang I got was the headache that surfaced in my mind after sitting through this.

Having received a 4.5/10 on IMDb and an 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, I suppose I should have known the film would barely be worth the $7 I paid to watch it.

While this most likely wouldn’t have seemed as bad if it were only just another installment, but I was upset due to the anticipation for it being “the end.”

The only better jump-scare makers could have come up with at this point, would be announcing a seventh Paranormal Activity film.

Room G201-Tuesdays at 7:00am Prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, and management.

Opinion

27

the hawkeye reviews MUSIC

MUSIC

MUSIC

Hello, it’s Me

Non-Beliebers find ‘Purpose’

‘Wiped Out!’ Will Blow You Away

Jack Silberman Design Editor

John Ballouz Staff Writer

Uzair Bandagi Sports Editor

There’s such a difference between us, and a million miles.

Before you attempt to sing, let me point out that there actually is a difference, and it’s between the five fantastic songs on Adele’s new album “25”, and the six other songs that were the biggest letdown of my life since Sanjaya was kicked off of American Idol.

I’ll start with the bad and get it out of the way.

In my mind, I’m imagining Adele making an album with only five songs, only to find out that there is some random 11 song minimum rule that she forgot about. The six resulting songs are the equivalent of the quality of an essay that was assigned at the beginning of the semester, but was done in the hallway three minutes before the class it was due- in red crayon.

Not even a Crayola crayon. A RoseArt crayon, which everyone knows is the worst kind.

“All I ask”, “Send my Love”, “Sweetest Devotion”, “I Miss You”, and “Remedy”, I am looking at you. And “Million Years Ago” is the equivalent of the essay being written 30 seconds before class starts in peanut butter on a used napkin.

Despite those first few songs, Adele somehow manages to get a five star rating from me. If you read what I just wrote in that last paragraph, then there is really no need for me to justify how good the other five songs were.

But they were so good that I’m going to do it anyways.

“Water Under the Bridge”, “River Lea”, and “When we were Young” were excellent. Alone, they could pull that trainwreck that will not be named (I’m too worked up from talking about it in the last paragraph) into positive-star territory. Maybe they could take it to three, possibly even four stars.

My favorite two songs of the album are perfect for walking in the rain in slow motion while making sad, disapproving faces into an imaginary camera. I’m not picky. That’s pretty much all I look for in a song.

As we all know, “Hello” was released before the rest of the album. I didn’t think anything could be better than it when I first heard it. Somehow, “Love in the Dark” topped it. This is the sad song of all sad songs. Seriously, they should do an acoustic version of it on the World’s Smallest Violin.

Unfortunately, this album is not available on iTunes Radio, Pandora, or anything like that. If you think you found it online, you’re wrong. It’s probably just a link to some random guy’s mixtape on Soundcloud.

Anyways, it costs $11 dollars on iTunes, which is completely worth it. Even though 55 percent of this album is a complete bust, the rest makes it worth it.

As the great Shia LaBeouf once said, “Don’t let your dreams be dreams.

Just do it.”

I

The Neighbourhood’s sophomore album, Wiped Out! has exceeded all of my expectations.

Having been an avid fan of The Neighbourhood for years, I was ecstatic when I heard that they were releasing another album.

Released on October 30th by Columbia Records, Wiped Out! moves the band in a more intimate direction than their previous albums and music projects.

In this album, the group faces topics close to them such as mental illness, heartbreak, and lead singer Jesse Rutherford’s late father.

There was a lot of hype leading up to this album after the songs R.I.P 2 My Youth, The Beach, and Prey were released early. These singles differ from much of the band’s older music and are a great introduction for the newer album. After listening to these amazing tracks, I knew that the album was going to be a real treat for fans of The Neighbourhood like myself.

The album opens with A Moment of Silence (0:30), which is quite literally a moment of silence for Rutherford’s departed father. This truly helps to set up the sincere tone of the album.

The first actual track of the album is Prey (4:43).

The only way Prey can be properly described is it gives off beach vibes. The chill guitar sounds mixed with Rutherford’s raw vocals truly makes you feel like you’re enjoying a day in the warm California sun.

After listening to the entire album for the first time, I knew that I was already addicted to Daddy Issues (4:20) and Single (4:22). Similar to the track Baby Came Home 2 (6:30), Daddy Issues is a bit of a throwback to The Neighbourhood’s earlier music.

Another newfound addiction includes Single.

With its lively and acoustic tune, it really stood out to me. The impeccable vocals mixed with their unique sound remind me why I love the band.

The album closes with the track R.I.P 2 My Youth (3:25). The song’s strong beat and catchy chorus make it my go-to jam in the car. It is the perfect way to end the album with a bang.

I’ve been a fan of The Neighbourhood since their first album, I Love You, and I fell in love with them all over again after listening to Wiped Out!. Even for people who have never listened to The Neighbourhood, I can guarantee that listening to Wiped Out! is a necessity. The deep lyrics and amazing instrumentals will leave listeners’ ears craving for more.

Wiped Out! can be purchased on iTunes for $9.99 or, it can be purchased along with a merchandise bundle from The Neighbourhood’s website for anywhere between $22.99 to $67.99.

wasn’t a Bieber fan but now I am.

I’ve never been a fan of Justin Bieber and was indifferent hearing he was releasing another album. I’ve always found Bieber’s music appealing to middle school girls but I have found Purpose to be very appealing to myself and to others.

Released on November 13th by Def Jam Records, Purpose, for me, moves Bieber in a more electronic, edgy and matured direction than his previous music projects such as My World 2.0 and Believe.

The first track of the album is Mark My Words (2:14), is about Bieber proving himself after a few tough years with media and fame. The song serves more as a preview for the rest of the album and includes Bieber’s new style with some vocals that really got me excited for the rest of the album.

After Mark My Words (2:14) the album then goes onto some of the hit singles like Sorry (3:20) and What Do You Mean? (3:25) which are a little more upbeat. After listening to these tracks, I knew that this album was a change in style for Bieber, one that I definitely liked.

The album then ends with more slow and meaningful songs such as Life Is Worth Living (3:54) and Purpose (3:30)- which symbolizes Bieber’s relationship with God and how God gives him Purpose.

While I can appreciate Bieber’s meaningful lyrics, I really enjoyed the album for its musical appeal, not for the meaningful lyrics. Meaningful songs like Purpose (3:28) and Life is Worth Living (3:54) were really not the highlight of the album for me.

After my first full listen my instant favorites were Company (3:28), Children (3:43), and Been You (3:19). I really place high value on the beats of songs. Children (3:28), being produced by Skrillex, obviously appealed to the electronic in me. Children (3:28), along with Company (3:43) and Been You (3:19) not only had production that I really liked but very catchy vocals. As much as I like songs with meaningful and deep lyrics like Life Is Worth Living (3:54), at the end of the day I listen to music for its appeal to my ears and that’s why I favored songs like Children (3:43) I really don’t think there is a specific crowd for this album. Whether you have the same music taste as me or not I think Purpose has a lot to offer for everyone.

Belieber or not, anyone can find a track that appeals to them on this new and amazing album.

Purpose can be purchased on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon for $9.99 or $12.99 for the deluxe edition which includes 5 new songs.

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OPINION

28

the hawkeye reviews MOVIE

MOVIE

‘Mockingjay - Part 2’ flys under the radar

‘Burnt’ is undercooked

FOOD

Stage Deli and Five Guys turn heads

Grace Beltowski Staff Writer

Morgan Montgomery Staff Writer

Maximillian Helfman Guest Writer

When most people think of the holidays, they get excited for things like turkey, breaks from school, snow, presents, etc.

When I think of the holidays, I pull out my ‘Finnick’ T-shirt and start mentally preparing myself for the next Hunger Games film. Yet the final installment in the franchise left me wondering if maybe I should have stuck to the books this time.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 is one whopper of a movie to take in. The film starts almost exactly where Part 1 left off, with protagonist Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook) sulking in a neck-brace after being attacked by fellow District 12 tribute and love interest Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson, Bridge to Terabithia), who has been “hijacked” by the evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland, The Italian Job). Katniss embarks on a dangerous journey through the Capitol with friends Gale (Liam Hemsworth, The Last Song) and fangirl-favorite Finnick (Sam Claflin, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), among other rebels, to end the oppression plaguing Panem once and for all.

Didn’t understand a word I just said? Well, the film provides even less background information, relying on the prior knowledge of its most dedicated fans to fill in the blank spaces.

The movie is also as dull in action as it is in mood. The bright, crazy costumes and makeup present in the other three films are suddenly missing from this one, along with the opulent foods, decorations, and interiors that make the Capitol so out of this world. Being his third time around, director Francis Lawrence should have realized that these touches were what made the earlier installments such big successes.

Still, the film makes comebacks in elements other than action sequences and costuming. Strong character development is the movie’s save, creating new depth for the young heroine in particular. Katniss has now fully assumed her role as the districts’ “Mockingjay,” and her motives for taking action are clearer than ever: she also wants to put an end to the oppression faced by all Panem citizens for over seventy-five years. This apparent ambition portrayed so beautifully by Lawrence makes anyone in the audience want to stand up and march behind Katniss towards freedom .

In addition, many lines are taken directly from the original text, allowing audience members who have read the books to feel a special nostalgic connection during those moments, a right due to any diehard fan during the closing of a major franchise and era.

Despite the film’s lack of clarification and excitement, it’s these details that make The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 an overall satisfying conclusion for both newcomers and the seasoned Hunger Gamer.

Watching director John Wells’ Burnt there was only one person I thought of: Gordon Ramsay.

Sitting for 101 minutes, I expected plates thrown across the room, chefs’ hopes and dreams ripped apart, and a whole lot of profanity throughout. Basically, a Kitchen Nightmares meets Ratatouille type of deal. But this culinary drama, released October 30th, never reached a boiling point.

Burnt tells the story of Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper, The Hangover), a chef turned drug addict in search of redemption as he pursues a third Michelin star—the highest honor for any high-end chef.

Although it received negative reviews from Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, along with finishing sixth in the box office, I held onto a morsel of hope. I mean, it had Bradley Cooper in it.

Oscar nominated Cooper was accompanied by Oscarnominated actress Uma Thurman (Kill Bill) and Oscarwinning actress Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee).

This impressive cast was the film’s secret ingredient.

These well-known cast members’ performances tremendously added to the fluidity of the film. Cooper’s performance, in particular, provided the highly anticipated Ramsay-persona I was longing for, all while adding that little bit of Cooper spice I remember from American Hustle.

As an avid food enthusiast, I fell in love with the cinematography. Cinematographer Adriano Goldman produced beautiful depictions of mouth-watering gourmet cuisine. Every food-filled scene left me hungrier than the last.

Although Burnt satisfied my inner food aficionado, the rest left me hungry for more. Filled with ridiculously overused clichés such as the villain turns into a “hero”, dame falls in love with the bad guy, etc., I quickly lost interest. The predictable plot which was supposed to be a fresh and fully cooked feature film was an unimaginative and lukewarm leftover of a drama.

With mature themes of drug abuse and mental suffering Burnt earned its R-rating and left me lost many times; however, my parents, who also saw the film, followed every single detail.

Perhaps Burnt is meant for a more mature palate than that of a contemporary teenager audience. All in all, I really wanted to like this film, but John Wells cooked up an underdone dud.

Burnt gives an interesting peek into the world of high-end chefs and restaurants and illustrates the power of second chances. However, Wells’ latest concoction might leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

Walking into the Stage Deli, I remembered something about how my grandfather used to come here with his father, and now I was here with my father. That’s pretty cool. Stage Deli is located on Orchard Lake road right across from Barnes & Noble, in the “Boardwalk” strip mall, with plenty of parking available.

The Stage has a theme of old movies. Everything is black and white, such as the tables, walls, carpets, and chairs as well as paintings of famous actors and actresses such as Marilyn Monroe and Harrison Ford line the booths around the restaurant.

I can come in and order essentially anything and they accommodate me. If I’m in the mood for some fatty deli sandwich or a burger, then they have it. Though it’s a deli they still have a huge selection of things to order with vegetarian and vegan options as well.

The Stage has been a restaurant my entire family has gone to since my grandfather was in his twenties. With excellent service, a great atmosphere, and great meals, the only downside is the prices.

The Stage is open Monday- Friday from 10:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m and Saturday and Sunday 9:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m.

Niel Wagner Guest Writer The hamburger is as American as baseball. Over the years, I have become quite the connoisseur and the best burger place out there is Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

As I walked into the restaurant the walls were decorated with all of the awards it has won in local barbeque contests. Their iconic red and white checkered walls leave you no doubt where you are.

With their limitless toppings, the staff created my masterpiece right in front of me. I customized mine with A1 steak sauce and all the types of peppers you can think of. They also grilled all the vegetables I wanted while grilling my burger at the same time, in all of it’s greasy goodness to make the most vibrant flavors stand out. I got the bacon cheeseburger and cajun fries. To top it all off they made an awesome milkshake so thick and creamy you can’t get enough. It is located at Twelve Mile and Northwestern Highway in Southfield, MI and is open from 11am to 10 pm daily.

The service was fast and friendly, and the food was hot and delicious. Being a true connoisseur of burgers, I recommend Five Guys Burgers and Fries for your next burger craving.

Like what you read?

Visit our website, thehawkeyenews.com for more Movie reviews and other OP/ed stories

Entertainment

29

HAWKEYE FOOD PAGE f l e to the best festive treats this holiday season S o Y Treat

1. Rudolf Sugar Cookies These sweet reindeer come from Southern Living magazine. You can find the ingredients and recipe on their website, soouthernliving.com

1. Peppermint Candies These cool candies are the perfect popable treats to end the night after a huge Christmas or Hannukah dinner. Check out the recipe at tasteofhome.com

2. Candy Cane Cake

6. Apple Crumble This festive and delicious

This crunchy and yummy

tiwst on apple pie will

take on the beloved candy

have you running to the

cane is perfect for dessert

kitcken for seconds. Find

for your next holiday get

the easy to make recipe at

together. See the recipe at

foodnetwork.com

myrecipes.com

3. Eggnog Cheesecake

7. Christmas Tree Cupcakes

With this new take on

These mini Chirstmas

the classic drink, you can

trees will be the star on

have your eggnog and eat

top of your desert tray.

it too. Find this delicious

The recipe and ingredi-

recipe at myrecipes.com

ents can be found at marthasteweret.com

4. Gingerbread House Make a fun and yummy project out of this traditional gingerbread house.

You can find instructions for this craft/treat at foodnetwork.com

8. Potato Latkes These essential and delicious latkes, or potato pancakes, are great for breakfast or dinner. Find the recipe and ingredients at allrecipes.com

Entertainment

29

HAWKEYE FOOD PAGE f l e to the best festive treats this holiday season S o Y Treat

1. Rudolf Sugar Cookies These sweet reindeer come from Southern Living magazine. You can find the ingredients and recipe on their website, soouthernliving.com

1. Peppermint Candies These cool candies are the perfect popable treats to end the night after a huge Christmas or Hannukah dinner. Check out the recipe at tasteofhome.com

2. Candy Cane Cake

6. Apple Crumble This festive and delicious

This crunchy and yummy

tiwst on apple pie will

take on the beloved candy

have you running to the

cane is perfect for dessert

kitcken for seconds. Find

for your next holiday get

the easy to make recipe at

together. See the recipe at

foodnetwork.com

myrecipes.com

3. Eggnog Cheesecake

7. Christmas Tree Cupcakes

With this new take on

These mini Chirstmas

the classic drink, you can

trees will be the star on

have your eggnog and eat

top of your desert tray.

it too. Find this delicious

The recipe and ingredi-

recipe at myrecipes.com

ents can be found at marthasteweret.com

4. Gingerbread House Make a fun and yummy project out of this traditional gingerbread house.

You can find instructions for this craft/treat at foodnetwork.com

8. Potato Latkes These essential and delicious latkes, or potato pancakes, are great for breakfast or dinner. Find the recipe and ingredients at allrecipes.com

Entertainment

30

HAWKEYE FASHION PAGE the hottest looks from our own staff. take notes.

1. socks Sock game is a crucial factor when it comes to creating an impressive outfit Senior; Foster Stubbs Urban Outfitters; $8.00

3. scarves

2. striped sweater Striped sweaters make a statement and keep you warm.

Senior; Mallory Weiner Forever 21; $28.00

4. joggers

Scarves are such a bless-

If sweatpants seem too

ing. They can spice up

scrubby and jeans just

an outfit while also

don’t do it, joggers are

keeping you warm!

the perfect medium.

Senior; Gillian Isaacson

Junior; John Ballouz

Forever 21; $14.50

5. vest

PacSun; $35.50

6. plaid

Thanks to the Micihi-

Plaid in the winter?

gan weather, there are

Indubitably.

days when it’s too cold

Gap; $40.00

for a sweater, but too hot for a jacket. Try a vest!

The North Face; $99.00

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WA T E R THE AVERAGE SHOWER USES 17 GALLONS OF WATER

STAY HYDRATED

DRINK 8 GLASSES OF WATER A DAY EAT YOUR WATER FRUITS AND VEGETABLES CONTAIN A HIGH CONTENT OF WATER AND VITAMINS

BEWARE: SUGARED, CAFFEINATED, AND ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES CAN DEHYDRATE THE BODY

DEHYDRATION IS DANGEROUS

THE GREAT LAKES CONTAIN 1/5 OF THE WORLD’S FRESH WATER OR 6 QUADRILLION GALLONS

100%

ANYWHERE IN MICHIGAN, YOU ARE AT LEAST 85 MILES WITHIN ONE GREAT LAKE A NORMAL BODY IS ABOUT 65% WATER 62%-63% THIRST, DISCOMFORT 58%-60% FATIGUE, DIZZINESS 55-60% PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DETERIORATION 40-55% AND UNDER DEATH

IT TAKES 400 GALLONS OF WATER TO SUSTAIN A FAMILY OF FOUR

IT TAKES 0 GALLONS OF WATER TO RUIN ONE

0%

SO LET’S CONSERVE OUR WATER, SAVE IT FOR WHEN WE NEED IT.

npr.org en.wikipedia.net http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-and-dehydration http://www.miwaterstewardship.org/residents/learnaboutourwater http://askville.amazon.com/water-average-household-consume/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=230193