The Communicator Senior Edition, v. 48

THE COMMUNICATOR MAGAZINE VOL. 48, SENIOR EDITION, MAY 2022

The Senior Edition

About the Cover

BY GRACE WANG

​​ The front and back covers of our senior edition feature the class of 2022. We invited students to be photographed over the course of a few days at school, and while we wanted to include every senior, they could not all make it. However, those who are featured were captured at an important time in their lives, the end of their high school career. Whether their photo airs on the more serious or silly side, we hope to convey some of their authentic personality. As the senior class departs, we dedicate this edition to their leadership and resilience through the past four years.

THE COMMUNICATOR MAGAZINE Volume 49, Edition 5

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News 05

May 2022

Seniors of CET

BY MATHIAS TAKACS

CET cast and crew met for a farewell to all CET seniors on their last day performing Pippin.

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Stories From a Survivor

BY ELLIOT BRAMSON

Dr. Irene Butter, a Holocaust survivor, visited CHS on April 14, 2022.

Feature 12

Behind the Scenes of Moving Out

BY MADISON BELL AND MAGGIE WOLF

Three CHS seniors share their feelings, good and bad, toward moving out.

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A Real, Legitimate Career

BY LUCY CASSELL-KELLEY, SCARLETT LONDON AND FELICITY ROSA-DAVIES

Steve Coron, CHS teacher, retires after 19 years at Community.

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Letters Home

BY NOAH BERNSTEIN

CHS class of '21 alumni share their experiences from the past year.

Opinion 86

Staff Editorial

Constants

BY STAFF

As the school year comes to an end, the staff reflects on this year and what is to come.

Fashion - 94

Proust - 98

Artist Profiles - 112

Reviews - 108

Games - 121

Letter from the Editors Dear Readers, As we wrap up the school year, it’s a bittersweet moment. We rejoice in all we have accomplished, but leaving behind our childhood schools, teachers and friends is wildly emotional. It has been rewarding to come this far, to feel like we are finally turning the corner of an unprecedented time, but difficult to acknowledge how much we have missed out. We abruptly left the class of 2020 as the pandemic consumed our worlds and never truly reconnected with the class of 2021 due to being online for all but six weeks. It feels almost unjust that we get to experience all the senior traditions that they didn’t: the Spork Game, Senior Send-Off, one last tug-of-war and graduation at Hill Auditorium. They are in our minds and hearts as we approach the last month of school.

But April showers continue to bring May flowers — the energy in the halls and the classrooms feels just a little bit lighter. Commstock was a success and it felt exhilarating to be reunited with the school in a safe and outdoor space. Forum bonds grow stronger as we await one last forum overnight, suits and dresses are hemmed for our “Fairytale Swamp” themed prom and plans are made for summer trips with friends. Our school feels like it is slowly but surely returning to its pre-pandemic state with much anticipated festivities.

We, your senior print editors, will never be able to adequately express our gratitude for our staff, donors and readers of The Communicator. You are what oils the gears of our publication and uplifts our greatest ambitions; 120-page glossy magazines, trips to L.A. and so much more.

The stories presented in this issue are a collection of senior-themed stories to honor and pay tribute to the first returning class to our school since the pandemic.

Thank you to everyone who spends the time reading and enjoying our stories.

Your senior editors,

Noah Bernstein

PRINT EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

STAFF

NOAH BERNSTEIN MIA GOLDSTEIN RIA LOWENSCHUSS ELLA ROSEWARNE GRACE WANG

RAFFI AVEDISSIAN ABBI BACHMAN CHARLIE BEESON MADISON BELL SUMAYA BERKI ELLIOT BRAMSON LUCY CASSELL-KELLEY EMMY CHUNG HENRY CONNOR SYLVA DAS KEVIN DUTTON ELLIE FIFE SAM GIBB-RANDALL KURT HAUSMAN JADA HIKARY ADDI HINESMAN JOHANN HISER RITA IONIDES IZZIE JACOB AILISH KILBRIDE CHRISSY KUIPER MAX LAWTON OLIVER LETE-STRAKA CLAIRE LEWIS REAGAN MASEK MORGAN MCCLEASE EDDIE MOBILIO BRECK NATALIE MYCEK-CARD SERENA O’BRIEN EVAN OCHOA LUCIA PAGE SANDER LEWIS PERRY IVY PROCHASKA HANNAH RUBENSTEIN SANA SCHADEN SIMON SHAVIT RUTH SHIKANOV ADDISON SMITH BELLA STEVENS-MERCADO CLAIRE STEIGELMAN FELIX STAROSTA MATHIAS TAKACS JADYN TAYLOR ANTHONY WANG BEE WHALEN MIA WOOD

WEB EDITORS-IN-CHIEF SCARLETT LONDON SEBASTIAN OLIVA LUCY TOBIER SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS SAM CAO ARISTA LUONG CATE WEISER CONTENT EDITORS ANJALI KAKARLA MAGGIE WOLF JR. WEB EDITORS-IN-CHIEF AILISH KILBRIDE IVY PROCHASKA ARTIST MIA WOOD COPY EDITOR FELICITY ROSA-DAVIES ADVISER TRACY ANDERSON

Grace Wang

Mia Goldstein

The Communicator Policy The Communicator is an open forum for student expression created by Community High School students. The Communicator does not represent the views of Ann Arbor Public Schools. The Communicator staff seeks to recognize the individuals, events and ideas relevant to readers.

The Communicator is committed to fair reporting, providing a platform for student voices and equitable coverage.

For our complete Guidelines & Policy, please go to www.chscommunicator.com

Photo by Grace Wang

chscommunicator.com School News Coverage | Humans of Community | Movie & Book Reviews Fashion | Podcasts | Artist Profiles | & More

High School Sports Recap Skyline High School’s track team faces off against Saline High School and Dexter High School as spring sports get underway.

BY ANJALI KAKARLA AND SERENA O’BRIEN

The Skyline High School (SHS) track and field team competed against Saline High School and Dexter High School (DHS) on Tuesday, April 12. Community High School (CHS) students Lydia Cocciolone, Mason Jett, Natalie Kessler, Allison Mayer, Ailish Kilbride and Christopher Van Lent competed for SHS. Both SHS teams lost their respective meets, the women’s team scoring 16.5 out of 137 points against Saline High School and 24.5 points against DHS. The men’s team scored 15.5 points against Saline High School and 39 points against DHS. Teams are awarded points for placing in each event: three points for first, two points for second, and one point for third.

Mason Jett, CHS sophomore, ran four events, the 3200 relay, the mile, the two mile and the 1600 meter relay. Of the events he ran, the two-mile was Jett’s least favor-

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ite. However, at the end of the race Jett successfully outkicked one of his teammates, redeeming some of the unpleasantness of the event.

Natalie Kessler, CHS junior, ran the 800 meters and the 1600 meter relay. She also competed in the pole vault and long jump events.

Jett and Kessler expressed opposite sentiments regarding the 1600 meter relay. Although the relay was painful for Jett, it ended up being his favorite event of the meet. It was the opposite for Kessler.

“The [1600 meter relay] did not go well,” Kessler said. “I was anchoring, so I ran the last leg, and I dropped the baton—because my hands were so cold it just fell right out, and then I fumbled with it, and then it fell way on the infield. It was so embarrassing.”

Kessler placed first in the open 800 meter race, running her fastest time of the season, 2:25.80. She hopes to run the state qualifying

time of 2:19 by the end of the season. In the 1600 meter relay, she’s decidedly less motivated and hopes to stop running the event in the future.

Both Kessler and Jett run track mainly due to pressure from their parents.

“My dad makes me,” Jett said.

“He’s a runner, and I don’t do any other sports, so I’m stuck with track.”

However, Jett and Kessler agree that their teammates are a positive about the sport.

“My teammates are great,” Jett said. “The best.”

He reflects fondly on the times when he and his teammates are able to not take themselves too seriously. At this past meet, a teammate brought a megaphone they had bought off of Amazon. “[Messing around with the megaphone was] the highlight,” Jett said.

Photo By Serena O’Brien Mason Jett competes in the two mile relay at Saline High School.

Jett’s favorite thing about his team is his teammates. “My teammates are great,” Jett said.

“The best.”

Photo By Serena O’Brien Natalie Kessler warms up to compete in pole vault.

Kessler competed in both pole vault and a number of running events. "The pole vault went well, and I PR'ed," Kessler said.

Seniors of CET On the last day of performances for CET’s “Pippin,” cast and crew gathered in the Craft Theatre to say goodbye to CET seniors.

MATHIAS TAKACS

With three to four years as members of CET, this year’s eight seniors of CET, John Reed, Stella Valentino, Ian Taylor, Caroline Andrews, Jocelyn Kincaid-Beal, Harrison Brown, TJ Watson, Jasmine Lowenstein and Felicity Rosa-Davies, have been through a wild ride.

Many of their high school CET careers began with friends, siblings and even middle school crushes.

CET saw them grow into leaders through plays, musicals, 24-hour theater, a pandemic and a shift in directing.

Many who joined CET in their freshman year began with a play called “Love and Information,” followed up immediately by the musical “Disaster!” Watson was one of the many who could confirm Disaster! lived up to its name.

“Between the fog machines going wrong and the bat in the stairwell and the tornado on opening night, the elevator flooding and [some-

one]saying the Scottish Play that starts with an M in the theater, so many things went wrong,” Watson said.

The year following saw more of the current seniors join CET like Kincaid-Beal, Reed and Taylor who took their sophomore year musical, “School of Rock,” to heart. From “School of Rock” to “The Tempest,” many of 2022s seniors adopted the roles that they would find themselves in for the rest of their CET careers, like Valentino, who had her first time as assistant director alongside Andrews. Another is Lowenstein, who joined the CET Student Board in addition to acting.

However, “The Tempest” would ultimately be postponed due to the pandemic. “[Virtual theater] was weird,” Reed said. “It’s a lonely version of the very social thing theater is. So then the experience of being back

was of indescribable.”

Many dropped out of CET for the pandemic year, such as Brown.

“I think this is gonna sound cliché,” Brown said, “but there’s that saying [of] ‘you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone.’ And I think that was kind of how it was for CET.” Yet they made it out of the pandemic and the first show back was “She Kills Monsters,” then “Pippin” (performed without masks).

One of the many who have gone through this journey; Rosa-Davies looks back on her career in crew and in cast.

“People have asked me if I regret not acting sooner,” Rosa-Davies said. “Although I did like acting, I would not have traded my shows with the crew for anything. One of the biggest highlights of my time in high school has been rising up, getting through the ranks [of crew], working hard and having fun.”

Photo By Sarah Hechler John Reed and Jasmine Lowenstein act in a Pippin scene. Reed has been looking forward to doing what he loves and getting to share it with others. “I’m excited to get to share the theater with people again,” Reed said.

News | May 2022 | 7

Stories From a Survivor Dr. Irene Butter visited Community High School to share her story about survival, empathy and remembrance.

BY ELLIOT BRAMSON

On April 14, 2022, Dr. Irene Butter, a peace-activist, Holocaust survivor and Professor Emerita of Public Health at the University of Michigan, came to Community High School (CHS) to share the story of the first 15 years of her life and her experience during the Holocaust.

CHS senior Noah Bernstein organized the event with Dean Marci Tuzinsky and Dr. Butter. He had been reading about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was concerned about the rise of authoritarianism, specifically in Russia and China.

He believes that the best way to prevent more authoritarian sentiments is by learning from people who have lived under authoritarian regimes.

During the talk, Dr. Butter discussed her time in the Nazi concentration camps of Westerbork and 8 | The Communicator Magazine

Photo By Lucy Tobier Irene Butter sits in the Craft Theater on April 14, 2022. She was there to speak in front of CHS world history classes who were studying the Holocaust.

Bergen-Belsen, as well as her experience when she arrived in the U.S. “I don’t know if people understand what happens when authoritarianism takes over and I hope my story creates the real picture that could happen,” Dr. Butter said.

“You lose everything. You lose all your rights. You lose all your property. You lose your family sometimes, and your freedom.”

Dr. Butter is also the co-founder of Zeitouna, an organization of Jewish and Arab women working for peace, and the founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Project at the University of Michigan. She has written a memoir of her experiences before, during and after the Holocaust, which she says is not a recounting of misery and tragedy.

Rather, it is a genuine story of a girl coming to terms with a terrible event and choosing to view herself

as a survivor rather than a victim.

“I started [writing] and there were times that were very difficult,” Butter said. “I wanted to give it up but I have two friends who became my co-writers, and they wouldn’t let me give it up. They just kept me going. And so finally we finished it and I’m happy.”

Dr. Butter plans to return on May 18, 2022, to share her story with the entirety of CHS in St. Andrew’s Church. After 40 years in the United States, she was prompted to begin sharing her story by her daughter at Tappan Middle School asking Butter to present to the class, and has been talking in schools since.

“I continue because I am so rewarded by the responses I get from students who really listen, who embrace my messages, and who give me hope that somehow we can improve our futures,” Butter said.

Earth Day Celebration Four days of live music, discussions about sustainability and remembering the story of Ann Arbor’s role in bettering the people and the environment.

BY RUTH SHIKANOV

On Thursday, April 21, 2022, Ann Arbor’s Earth Day Celebration first day began in the Ann Arbor Community Commons, a pool of resources which is self-managed by its users. Activities such as chalk-drawing, open mics, drum playing and discussions about land acknowledgment and sustainability plans were planned throughout the four days the celebration took place. Alan Haber and Odile Hugonot-Haber, members of the Green Team — which is a garden committee who were essential in the planning process of civic commons — emphasize the story behind the common’s creation and its importance.

“The struggles [of the] centuries have been for the commons,” Haber said.

When discovering the purpose for this land, bringing people together and collaborating with one another became one of the main focuses. “The kings, the barons, the corporations all want to take away what is commonwealth and charge people to use [it] and when I came to understand that, I said ‘what?’”

Haber said. “That is a question to put forward as an activist for democracy. [This was] the focus for the Commons and when this land came, its purpose should be a place for everyone, not for the government to tell us [to] pay taxes. It is ours.”

Celebrating Earth Day in Ann Arbor or as many call it ‘Tree Town’, started 30 years ago. “[A group] of men started it and then many students took it on, and it was like wildfire across the country,” Haber-Hugonot said. “They started because they were tired of everything getting so materialistic and people throwing their trash everywhere.”

In addition to being a pivotal part of the park’s community garden,

they are activists for the fight of democracy. “This is really the struggle of democracy in Ann Arbor,” Haber said. In 2009, what would be placed on top of the underground parking became a public question and a group of people including Haber and Hugonot-Haber put forward the idea of a commons for everyone. The government wanted to sell it, but they persisted and created 8,000 petitions.

While poetry readings and live

music was a large component of the festival, speeches recognizing and acknowledging the land that Ann Arbor is on and the fight that was fought to have this ground for recreational purposes was one of the important themes of the festival. Protecting and preserving the environment for current and future generations should not only be a priority to a select few, but to everyone.

Photo By Ruth Shikanov Laith Al-Saadi performs at Ann Arbor’s Earth Day Celebration. He sang “Gone,” from his 2013 album.

News | May 2022 | 9

Philosophy Club; Learning How to Think CHS club meets to discuss new ways to think about everyday issues

BY OLIVER LETE-STRAKA

“Without grades and deadlines, Philosophy Club at school is a place for students to use their brains without the pressure of the typical school layout,” said Charlie Rosenfeld, one of the two leaders of the Philosophy Club at Community High School (CHS). Rosenfeld and Ingmar Newman-Taylor took over CHS’ philosophy club after the last head of the club graduated and had been leading it since.

“It’s just something that’s kind of enjoyable for me to think about along with some of my peers and

also it can be useful when I’m solving problems in my life other than in school or during philosophy club,” said Rosenfeld.

Both Rosenfeld and Newman-Taylor agree that their knowledge of philosophy affects how they think about certain problems specifically in politics.

“I think it’s easier to have an opinion about something if I feel like it’s right. If I can sort of justify it to myself and then I feel like it’s right,” said Newman-Taylor.

Rosenfeld agreed with New-

Classroom Life: Spanish Class CHS teacher is changing the way she tests.

BY SIMON SHAVIT

After reading articles about Finland’s education system, Olivia Wylie, a Spanish teacher at CHS, realized she wanted to change the education format at CHS. Wylie wanted to move her teaching away from standardized testing and more towards oral and participation based learning environment. She also aimed to provide a hands-on and interactive experience for students, in which she helps the students through the learning process.

“I put the same quiz questions on the board and we go over them in class,” Wylie said. “Then, there’s repetition and so each day when the students come in I give them a 10 | The Communicator Magazine

little bell ringer based on some of the material that we’ve covered.”

Wylie also remembers her personal experience as a student in a competitive testing environment.

“I did really well academically, but I don’t know that I retained anything,” Wylie said. “I memorized and regurgitated. I’m not sure that that’s effective learning.”

Wylie is using this year to assess the success of her new teaching, and to see whether the students retain their learning over the course of the year. More and more teachers across the district are aiming to remove large tests from their curriculum. If Wylie’s system works as planned, others may follow.

man-Taylor’s sentiments. “​​I definitely agree that I think that politics is a good example of what I was talking about in how I use philosophy to solve problems,” Rosenfeld said. “Politics are very complicated and having a way to think about it through philosophy helps."

Rosenfeld and Newman-Taylor encourage all who can to join the Philosophy Club at CHS to also talk about how we each individually think about our day to day lives.

Photo By Oliver Lete-Straka CHS philosophy club members meet on the third floor.

They worked together to discuss future meeting topics.

Photo By Grace Wang Profe, CHS teacher, passes out papers to the class. She teaches many levels Spanish at CHS.

Forum Council FoCo co-president discussed and reflected on a recent CHS event, Commstock.

BY AVANI HOEFFNER-SHAH

Counselor’s Corner CHS counselor, Amy McLoughlin, provides words of wisdom for all of CHS.

BY NATALIE MYCEK-CARD

As Community High School (CHS) students and teachers approach the “Finish line” of school, CHS counselor Amy McLoughlin offers advice on how to set yourself up to finish the year on a strong note.

“One of the best pieces of advice I ever received from my high school teacher was that it’s not always how you start, but how you finish,” McLoughlin says. “It doesn’t mean being hardcore, getting the best grades you’ve ever gotten in your life, but it means keeping your relationships up at school. It’s not about getting to class because you want to, it’s being in school because you’re a part of CHS.” McLoughlin stresses that teachers are relying on seniors to help out and how difficult it is to maintain the “Community vibe” if seniors peace out with six weeks left in school.

McLoughlin provides reassur-

ance for seniors who might be anxious about college life and the transition to becoming more independent.

“You’re not being dropped into the deep end of the pool,” McLoughlin says. “You’re going to a different kind of education which is such a privilege because most people don’t even get to go to college.

You’ll have an amazing support system but also have the ability to start making your own choices in life.”

McLoughlin advises underclassmen to get involved in clubs and more at Community.

“You’ve got to be involved, you can’t just do nothing” McLoughlin says. “However, don’t just do things with the mindset of ‘I want to get into college someday.’ Do something that really interests you.

That’s how you’ll figure out who you are and what you want to do.”

Photo By Natalie Mycek-Card Amy McLoughlin sits at her desk in the Counselor’s Office.

“You’re not being dropped into the deep end of the pool. What you’re really doing is you’re starting to make more decisions for yourself.”

On April 28, the Forum Council (FoCo) hosted Community High School’s (CHS) first Commstock Open House in three years. Thank you to everyone — Ryan, Kevin, Dean Marci, Dean Rebecca, TJ, the Neutral Zone, our performers and FoCo representatives — who made it happen. Their deep commitment to organizing this event is what made the evening so special.

Between mosh pits, jazz solos and free snow cones, Commstock marked the beginning of a fiveweek spring calendar filled with traditions long delayed, including Prom, Forum Day, Senior Send-off and, finally, Field Day. As a senior, these moments are deeply personal. We are the only grade left at CHS who ever experienced these celebrations, and it is incumbent upon us to teach younger grades the spirit of CHS before we graduate. After Commstock, we are now one step closer to achieving this goal. We hope that our jam-packed schedule rejuvenates the CHS identity that we all have missed dearly.

Looking ahead, the Council is turning its attention to elections for the 2022-2023 student administration. Currently, we are planning to hold the school-wide campaigns and voting process this spring — instead of at the beginning of the next school year — to give CHS’ new FoCo leadership team a head start on their agenda.

As our year comes to a close, we want to hear your questions, concerns and suggestions.

News | May 2022 | 11

Senior College Athletes CHS Seniors Maggie Wolf and Calvin Paulick will continue their academic and athletic careers in college next year.

BY ANJALI KAKARLA

As a freshman, CHS Senior Maggie Wolf would not have foreseen herself committing to Kenyon College to play volleyball. Wolf saw college sports as all or nothing: play at a Division 1 school and focus fully on your sport or don’t play at all. As an academically driven student, Wolf did not see college sports as an option for her.

She originally began playing volleyball as a 4th grader in a small rec league with her friends. In 5th grade, Wolf switched to a local club team. Then, around eighth grade she became more serious about the sport and playing for higher level club teams.

As she continued to play on higher level teams Wolf began to prioritize volleyball over other extracurriculars.

“It wasn’t necessarily a conscious choice to prioritize volleyball,” Wolf said.

Throughout high school, Wolf played for Huron High School (HHS) during the fall season and for her club team in the spring.

Wolf also began taking advanced courses and participating in clubs

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at school.

Wolf’s weeks were packed in the fall. She would attend school volleyball practice for two hours a day, play in dual matches during the week and compete in tournaments over the weekend. On top of this, Wolf had to stay caught up with her schoolwork.

Then, in the spring, Wolf switched to club volleyball practices. As a setter for the L2 volleyball club, Wolf attended practice three days a week, along with various out-ofstate tournaments. Wolf learned to squeeze schoolwork into pockets of time on car rides to practices and between games.

Then COVID-19 hit. When the pandemic took volleyball away from her, Wolf realized how much she missed it. “[As a sophomore], I realized that I didn’t think I was going to feel done with volleyball over the next two years,” Wolf said. “My sister was graduating from high school that year so I began looking into D3 schools with her. [I realized] that there’s a lot of variety in where you can play and what you can do

in college and there is a way to balance academic drive and other extracurriculars with a college sport.

I could play volleyball and still have the academic environment I had always envisioned.”

That spring Wolf began emailing coaches and programs she was interested in. She spent a lot of time corresponding with coaches and putting together clips of her playing.

Interested coaches began attending Wolf’s games to watch her play.

As a junior, Wolf and her team attended club volleyball Nationals in Orlando, Florida.

“We had a really rocky season that year,” Wolf said. “We did pretty bad on the first day. But then the next three days we played so well.

It was the best I’d seen us play. We ended up winning our division and I got the last point of the game. Our coaches were so proud and we were so proud of each other and I think all of our challenges as a team only made us closer in the end. It was definitely a culminating moment for everyone.”

After her team’s triumph at nationals, Wolf continued emailing college coaches. She began narrowing down her list after meeting the coaches and visiting the campuses of interested colleges. Wolf’s plans were changed when an assistant coach from Kenyon College approached her.

“Kenyon was a school that wasn’t really on my radar and that I hadn’t really talked to,” Wolf said. “But I visited [the] campus and met with a lot of players on the team. I was just so impressed with all the people. They were so welcoming and I really loved the school environment. It was a very difficult choice between Kenyon and one other school, but looking back I’m confident I made the right choice. I chose the place that I thought was going to make me the happiest.”

Wolf committed to Kenyon in the

Photo Courtesy Maggie Wolf Maggie Wolf plays in a volleyball game for her club team. Wolf has now committed to Kenyon College to be on the volleyball team. “I think it’s going to be challenging to balance schoolwork and volleyball since it’ll be a new environment and I will be figuring everything out and meeting new people all at once,” Wolf said.

"Looking back I'm confident I made the right choice. I chose the place that I thought was going to make me the happiest." first week of November.

“I think it’s going to be challenging to balance schoolwork and volleyball since it’ll be a new environment and I will be figuring everything out and meeting new people all at once,” Wolf said. “At the same time, it’s reassuring to know I’m going to have a group of people who share my common interests and who I’m going to be spending a lot of time with. I’m just very excited to be playing volleyball. I would definitely miss it too much if I were to stop now.”

Calvin Paulick grew up playing multiple sports. From a very young age, he dreamed of playing sports in college. He has now realized that dream by committing to Susquehanna University to play soccer.

As he went into high school, Paulick played three main sports: baseball, basketball and soccer. He eventually narrowed it down to just baseball and soccer. However, after four years of baseball plagued by injuries Paulick was forced to bring his baseball career to an end.

“I wanted to play baseball and soccer in college for a while,” Paulick said. “But I’ve seen my baseball career slowly coming to an end over the past few years. I tore my Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) as a freshman, then I couldn’t play because of COVID-19 my sophomore year, and in my junior year I broke both my elbow and rib, so this has been the first year I’ve really been able to play.”

Paulick’s soccer career for his club team, Liverpool, and for Pioneer High School (PHS), has been largely unaffected by these injuries.

As a senior for PHS, Paulick helped lead his team to the regional semifinals. The Pioneers beat their in-city rival Skyline High School (SHS) in the District Final but lost to Salem High School just a few days later.

“It was a real high of my soccer career when we beat Skyline in the

District Finals,” Paulick said. “It’s like the best feeling in the world— but then two days later we lost to Salem and it was devastating. It was probably the worst I’ve ever felt.”

Paulick began his recruiting process the summer before his senior year. He started by going to camps and emailing lots and lots of coaches. Once he was able to pinpoint the type of school he wanted, Paulick began attending specific camps that he knew were attended by teams he was interested in and sending film of him playing to those coaches.

As he got deeper into the recruiting process Paulick saw one of the pandemic’s effects on his prospective schools. Because many college seniors did not get the opportunity to play soccer due to COVID-19, many stayed at their colleges to play as fifth-year seniors. This led to there being less spots available on team rosters.

“Because seniors who would normally graduate stayed at these

schools due to COVID, instead of there being six to eight spots like there are in a normal year, there were only around two to three spots available,” Paulick said.

In the end, he ended up narrowing it down to two colleges he had gotten offers from: Susquehanna University and Ithaca College.

However, Paulick’s offer from Ithaca came with a catch: he would be forced to red-shirt (meaning he wouldn’t play) his freshman year due to an insufficient number of spots on the roster.

“I would have gone there if they gave me a regular offer because I liked the school better,” Paulick said. “But I decided to take the other offer so I could play right away.”

After turning down the offer from Ithaca, Paulick signed with Susquehanna University.

“It was really exciting [to sign] because I felt like everything I had been working towards was paying off,” Paulick said. “And it’s just so nice knowing that I’ll have the opportunity to keep playing soccer."

Photo Courtesy Calvin Paulick Calvin Paulick celebrates after beating Skyline High School (SHS) in the District Finals last fall. Paulick, who played for Pioneer High School (PHS), was ecstatic about the win. “It was a real high of my soccer career when we beat Skyline in the District Finals,” Paulick said.

Feature | May 2022 | 13

Behind the Scenes of Moving Out Three CHS students reflect on how moving out will impact themselves and their families. For an oldest, youngest and only child, this change may feel different, but it will mark a new chapter in each of their lives.

BY MADISON BELL AND MAGGIE WOLF

Alex Cantu has always been close with his parents; as an only child, he values the supportive relationships that they share. Though he anticipates the innumerable changes that will occur in a few months when he moves out, he knows that these relationships will remain strong.

Cantu initially hoped to attend college in Los Angeles to study film, but he is now excited to attend the University of Michigan in the fall, majoring in film, television and media. Cantu feels ready for the change that this new chapter will bring.

“I did not believe in [senioritis] but it hit me pretty hard [this year],” Cantu said. “I’m about as ready to move out as I could be, but I’ll miss my parents. I’m trying to be cognizant that they’ll miss me.”

While he knows his parents are supportive of his independence, Cantu realizes that his moving out will alter their lives dramatically.

“I think it depends on the parents and the family, to be honest, but I think it’s particularly hard for the parents [of only children] because the empty nest thing [occurs in] one big hit,” Cantu said.

As he will be staying in Ann Arbor for his college years, Cantu is glad he will be able to spend time with family more often. Looking forward to the coming year, he does not foresee feeling homesick. Rather, he thinks it will be bittersweet to embark on a new path, entirely different from the old one.

“I think it’s customary [that] when a kid moves out, 14 | The Communicator Magazine

they get closer with their parents because they can distance [themselves] and respect their parents a lot more,” Cantu said. “But I value my parents as is, so I don’t think [our relationship] will change a whole lot, to be honest. I think I’ll just see them less.”

Moving out will inevitably change both Cantu’s and his parents’ lives. However, as senior year comes to a close, the family has embraced their new and changing dynamic.

Art By Mia Wood

Julia Kirschenmann is the oldest of three children; she has a younger brother and sister. As the oldest, she has always played a leading role in both of her siblings’ lives. Now that she is moving out, leaving for either a gap year or her freshman year of college, she’s unsure of how her family dynamic will change.

“I’ve been imagining [different] scenarios,” Kirschenmann said. “I think [leaving] will definitely change the dynamic. It’ll be weird.”

Although Kirschenmann has been accepted to colleges of interest, she finds herself leaning toward taking a gap year. As she looks into working or getting involved with an environmental conservation program, she begins to consider how leaving home will impact her family.

Though they often fight, she and her siblings have developed close relationships. Having spent their entire lives together, Kirschenmann is worried about how these relationships will change after moving out.

“It’ll be weird not to see them every morning and every night when I come home from school,” Kirschenmann said.

As an older sister, Kirschenmann has been the personal chauffeur and a helping hand to her parents. She, herself, isn’t sure how much of a leading role she has had over her siblings but knows that her presence will

be missed.

“I don’t know my effect on them,” Kirschenmann said. “I guess that’ll become more clear once I’m out of the house to just see how they react to that. I think it’s nice to have [multiple] siblings. As I go on, they’ll still have each other either way.”

As much as she knows that her absence will affect her siblings, Kirschenmann is also well aware of the fact that her being away from her siblings will affect her equally as much.

“I think we both we all three of us have an impression on each other,” Kirschenmann said. “Their lack of presence will affect me just as much as my lack of presence will affect them.”

Paloma Duda Cortes is the youngest of two children; her older brother is currently a sophomore in college. Though she feels ready to move on, she wonders how this change will affect her parents. As empty-nesters, Duda Cortes isn’t sure what their family dynamic will look like next fall.

“It changed when my [older] brother moved,” Duda Cortes said. “But now, with no kids in the house, it’s definitely gonna change for [my parents].”

When her brother first moved out, Duda Cortes found that the change actually brought the two of them closer together. Because they couldn’t see each other as often as they were accustomed to, Duda Cortes and her brother began to check in with each other more often and stay in touch.

Next year, Duda Cortes plans to attend college.

Though she is still considering several colleges, the University of Michigan is currently at the top of her list. Some of her doubts stem from her desire to leave home. Having lived in Michigan for a long time, Duda Cortes has always loved the idea of completely immersing herself in a new experience and finding her own way.

Although she is sad that she will be leaving her high school life behind, she is ready to begin a new chapter of her life. Even if she were to attend the University of Michigan, her parents may not be as close as she

Art By Mia Wood

thought.

“My parents have been [considering] moving back to Panama because they lived there for a little while,” Duda Cortes said. “My mom also might apply to work for six months in Argentina.”

Although these plans are uncertain, they complicate Duda Cortes’ decision. Without her parents close by, she will be unable to frequently visit home or feel close to her family while attending college in Ann Arbor.

“I think [their moving] would make Michigan [feel] like a different school,” Duda Cortes said. “The mentality that I’m 10 minutes away [from home] is pretty comforting, but if [my parents] were to move to Panama or Argentina, it would feel a lot different.”

Feature | May 2022 | 15

the university of michigan

EFFECT

Graduating seniors reflect on the impact of living in Ann Arbor and the influence U of M has had on their final decisions.

BY IZZIE JACOB AND MORGAN MCCLEASE

16 | The Communicator Magazine

Hollis Riggs

Community High School (CHS) is known for being located in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor, at the doorsteps of the University of Michigan (U of M). Growing up in a college town can make the school feel like a second home. Its influence is particularly felt by seniors applying to college this season.

Initially, CHS senior Hollis Riggs didn’t see himself at U of M. But the school became more alluring as he started to focus on the kind of environment he wanted to surround himself with.

“I applied to nine schools, mostly small liberal arts schools,” Riggs said. “I realized I don’t want to be at a small school but it took me really long to realize that.”

Riggs appreciates the close-knit atmosphere that CHS offers but also doesn’t necessarily admire the rural setting smaller schools tend to be located in. This helped to usher him into his final decision, U of M. Riggs officially committed to U of M’s Residential College (RC). It is located in East Quad, across from the Ross School of Business. The RC offers a residential living space of 800-900 students. It is a small environment within a larger school, offering Riggs a multifaceted experience.

Another unique aspect to the RC is its intensive language program, something that also fits Riggs' interests.

“You have two hours of language every day,” Riggs said. “They have a curriculum where you go from a novice knowing nothing to proficient in one year. I’m going to do French because I’ve already taken classes at CHS.” Riggs is going into college with an undecided major.

He acknowledges that he has multiple broad interests, including physics and international studies. He often envies those who know exactly what they want to do as a career. He hopes to go to college in order to discover the possibilities of what his major could and should be.

Many students undertake college in search of their career, others have an idea of what they want to do and some know exactly what their path is. An undecided major is not less or more important than a decided one. College is for discovery, decided or not.

Feature | May 2022 | 17

Mira Schwarz

18 | The Communicator Magazine

Mira Schwarz, a CHS senior in the Kiley forum, knew what career she wanted to go into after attending a pre-college program at Barnard one summer.

“I was doing a reproductive justice course and they had nurse practitioners come in, and I really liked what she did and it’s a much quicker way than medical school and more patient-centered which I really enjoyed,” Schwarz said. “After that it kind of clicked in my brain.”

Schwarz wanted to apply to a school that offered a direct acceptance into a nursing program. She is committed to Case Western Reserve’s nursing program.

It is the only school in the country that starts clinicals and shadowing nurses in students’ first year. She is excited for hands-on learning and a program called “integration healthcare education.”

“What happens is you learn with the pre-med students and the pre-dental students so we all learn how to work together to help a patient instead of just being thrown in and figuring out how to be a team,” Schwarz said.

Growing up in Ann Arbor has influenced Schwarz consciously and subconsciously. U of M used to be one of Schwarz’s dream colleges. When she was deferred, she was disappointed, even though she knew U of M wouldn’t be the best fit for her dreams.

“U of M was my dream school for a while,” Schwarz said. “I was deferred then waitlisted which ended up being okay because Case Western is the better fit for me right now. I knew Case Western was the better fit but it was still heartbreaking.”

Schwarz is extremely excited for Case Western and all it has to offer. She moves into her dorm in Cleveland in late August and is very excited for the journey that lies ahead.

“Education-wise, I’m super excited. I’ve already met some new people, and being in a new city will definitely be fun,” Schwarz said.

Julia Kirschenmann, another CHS senior in the Qu forum, understands the U of M influence and has always felt extremely connected to the university. She is now committed but leaning towards choosing the option of deferral.

The pandemic opened Kirschenmann’s eyes to the urgency of the climate crisis and inspired a passion for environmental science. She wants to continue her education in that field but currently has an undecided major.

Julia Kirschenmann

“For a really long time, I was super unsure about what I wanted to do… I’m still keeping it undecided just so I can go into it without the pressure of my major,” Kirschenmann said.

Kirschenmann feels the effect of the pandemic has made her feel less independent during isolation. This influenced her decision to consider taking a gap year.

“I’m just generally not emotionally ready for college quite yet. I think a gap year would give me a chance to really just take a second to think about what is going to happen after that,” Kirschenmann said.

During this time she could possibly travel, participate in an environmental conservation program or travel to Finland.

“My mom is Finnish and I’ve been to Finland many times,” Kirschenmann said. “I’m a citizen, I can kind of speak it but I want to learn it in a more educational setting so I get a better understanding of it.”

Kirschenmann acknowledges that Ann Arbor pushes for college more intensely than other cities often do.

She recognizes this is probably one of the reasons she always saw herself going to college. She is excited for the possibilities college holds and her potential gap year. If she chooses the deferment route, U of M will hold her place at the school until 2023.

“I’ve grown up around U of M and I’ve started to identify with it a lot,” Kirschenmann said. “Something I realized this college application season is that I can’t really see myself at any other place just because I feel so much more connected to the University of Michigan.”

Growing up within the city limits of a college town can lead to higher educational expectations. Nevertheless it’s important to keep in mind that U of M is not the end-all-be-all: It can be the perfect fit for some and not for others. College is an opportunity to explore yourself and your educational passions. The process of application shouldn’t ultimately be as stressful or anxiety-inducing as it is, it’s important to recognize that the choice is out of your hands and a game of chance.

Schwarz recognizes this and speaks on advice she has for underclassmen and juniors.

“There’s no point in comparing and don’t have your mind completely set on one school because you never know what’s going to happen,” Schwarz said. “Remember that if you ended up going somewhere that you didn’t really want to go to, transferring is an option and, who knows, maybe you’ll end up loving it.”

Feature | May 2022 | 19

A Real, Legitimate Career Steve Coron retires after 19 years at CHS. His impact as a teacher, coworker and friend will be remembered long after his departure.

BY LUCY CASSELL-KELLEY, SCARLETT LONDON AND FELICITY ROSA-DAVIES

20 | The Communicator Magazine

During his first year at Community High (CHS) Steve Coron began working as an advisor for the “Midnight Sun,” CHS’s student-produced yearbook. Coron’s time on the yearbook highlighted his immense love for students, creativity and art. Some of Coron’s most powerful and influential memories at CHS came from his experiences working with students on this publication throughout the years.

“The first year I was here, [our work on yearbook] wasn’t going well,” Coron said. “We missed a deadline, and I think we forgot some senior photos in the book.

[We had] some missteps. I remember one of the students, her name was Julia, said to me, ‘You know what, Steve? It’s okay. This is Community.’ I hang on to that statement. Every time something happens and something goes wrong, it’s okay. This is Community. We figure it out and we move on. In a lot of ways, we forgive.”

After teaching at CHS for 19 years, Coron’s departure will leave a hole in the hearts of CHS students; he leaves behind a legacy of genuine friendship and easy connections with students. Throughout his time at CHS, Coron inspired students and instilled a love of creative expression. He encouraged students to dive into art and fostered an intimate understanding of culture.

During his many years teaching at CHS, Coron kindled an appreciation of art into each student who stepped into his classroom. On top of being an excellent teacher, Coron has been a friend to many; a teacher whose classroom was always open and whose attitude could turn around any bad day.

Coron’s interest in art developed at a young age; he could frequently be found painting and drawing around his home in Ishpeming, Michigan. Coron attended a small high school in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP), where his interest

in art continued to grow. During his time in school, Coron met two pivotal role models who helped him imagine and create a career in art.

“My middle school art teacher was the one that turned me onto art as a real, legitimate [career],” Coron said. “Ms. Torgiano, my high school music teacher, was just incredible. She just had this effervescence and this passion and love for us and the arts. She was unapologetic about that — she was a force. I still go see her every time I visit the UP. When you work with people like that, you go ‘geez, this is cool, I could do this too.’”

Before working at CHS, Coron spent several years working in early education. For six years, Coron worked at a University of Michigan lab school where he taught preschool and kindergarten. After his time at the lab, Coron taught at Ann Arbor elementary schools for 16 years. Coron’s work with younger students left a lasting impression; he has continued connecting on a personal level with his students while maintaining an upbeat and fun atmosphere. These early education experiences gave Coron the freedom to teach in the meaningful way he desired.

And when a job in the CHS art department opened up, Coron knew CHS would check that box as well.

“Teaching here is just like teaching preschool,” Coron said. “At preschool, we call teachers by their first names, we play, we learn, we have lunch. [The preschool] was holistic — we looked at the whole child and considered the way the child learned best. That’s what we do here.”

Coron has taught a variety of different classes at CHS throughout the years. Despite the students he teaches and interacts with in the art studios, he remains in awe of the creativity and imaginative nature of the entire student body.

“There’s artists everywhere in the school — they’re all doing art in all different ways,” Coron said. “The kids here are the best. They let me be silly and goofy and teach the way I want to teach. I’m really appreciative of the community [that] we have here. CHS [isn’t like any other school], just like my preschool wasn’t.”

As Coron prepares to retire, he reflects back on what made his time at CHS so special.

“What will I miss most? The people,” Coron said. “The ones who are

coming through the door, the ones that have come through the door and left. All of you. That’s it. I know that’s a simple answer, but that’s what really makes [CHS] for me.”

Although Coron has adored his time at CHS, he is excited for the next chapter. He plans on traveling around the country with his wife, selling art and seeing the world.

“The first week, I might just get out of bed really late and read,” Coron said. “I’ll just think ‘Oh, it’s block five already. And I don’t have to be there.’”

“What will I miss most? The people. I know that’s a simple answer, but that’s really what makes CHS for me.”

Photo By Felicity Rosa-Davies Steve Coron smiles outside the front of CHS. “It’s time for me to step aside and let some new people take over and do stuff,“ Coron said. “I want to do some other things that won’t involve coming to school here every day.“

Photo courtesy of Steve Coron Steve Coron’s junior-year high school yearbook photo, 1973. “I grew up in a small town, so I had the advantage of a community that helped raise me,“ Coron said. “It was cool to grow up there as a kid, but once I realized I wanted to see and do more art, I had to get away.“ Feature | May 2022 | 21

College Essays

CHS seniors share essays they included in their college applications.

BY NOAH BERNSTEIN AND CATE WEISER

Felicity Rosa-Davies The Common Application

I wanted to say hello, but something held me back.

What if I do something wrong? What if she doesn’t like me? What if she turns all my friends against me?

I placed every small insecurity in the eyes of the new girl I’d never spoken to, who could have been my best friend if I had enough confidence to put my doubts behind me. As a young child, I ached to possess self-confidence-- but I had no idea how to actualize my aspiration.

My entire life, I’ve felt insecure about how others perceived me and my skills. This particularly exhibited itself with performances: I adore music, but whenever I demonstrated my abilities to my family and friends, I became embarrassed. My music is exceedingly personal, and I felt uncomfortable sharing something so vulnerable with those who know me well. I would rather perform to a crowd of thousands than demonstrate a shred of vulnerability to my family.

22 | The Communicator Magazine

But this changed when I found Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp: a place where I could challenge my discomfort.

Initially, I felt nerve-wracked because I didn’t know anyone from home, but it proved to be an unexpected blessing. My anonymity provided me a chance to present myself as someone totally new. With this unexpected opportunity, I was finally able to conquer my fear of judgment that had held me back for so long.

At Blue Lake, I took strides that would make my childhood self proud. I approached people I had never met before and initiated conversations with them in between classes. I stopped worrying if my actions would be well-received, and let my guard down to my peers. I chose to make myself vulnerable by soloing “The Mother,” by Brandi Carlile for half the camp, something that would have ordinarily filled me with dread. My summer at Blue Lake was the first time in my whole life that I have ever felt completely unafraid of being judged, and it surpassed liberation.

However, these developments weren’t easy to achieve. Leading up to my Brandi Carlile performance, I held my childhood doubts clear in my head. But I fought past my insecurities by taking control over my irrational fears: I closed my eyes, listened as the wind kissed my ears, and reminded myself of the calm I feel when my fingers pluck the guitar strings. My doubts dissipated as I stepped on stage, and my confidence soared with the cheers of the crowd. And that is what I take away from my transformation: Every new challenge strengthens my confidence like a muscle, and I am the only one who knows myself well enough to make my insecurities fade.

I’ve taught myself that being intrepid is the best way to grow, and taking risks and making mistakes will pay off-- even when I fail. I’ve realized that the best places to learn about myself are wherever I am in the moment. And above all, I am the reason I’ve come so far.

Everyone says that life is short, but I’ve realized that it’s much more than that. Life is taking further steps towards living how I want to live, it’s becoming the person I know I want to be, and it’s challenging myself to feel proud of the characteristics that define me. Going forward, I will take advantage of every opportunity I can find in order to learn and grow-- even if it’s out of my comfort zone. I have achieved significant successes towards becoming my childhood aspiration, but I am still learning how to use my newfound confidence to develop myself for the future. And to me, that’s what matters most.

Madison Bell The Common Application I don’t have three feet, but sometimes I really wish I did. Driving was something that was done with one foot and two pedals. Having known nothing else growing up, sliding into the driver’s seat of a 1993 Jeep with three pedals staring up at me, I wasn’t sure what to do.

I went through many teachers trying to learn this particular driving style. My parents had held me to the promise that on my 16th birthday, this old manual transmission car would be mine. So naturally, my first lessons were coached by my parents. It began with my dad in the passenger seat barking out instructions that had little meaning as I tried to conjure a third foot for this third pedal. On my first attempt, I pressed my foot to the brake and the clutch and turned the key. That gesture sent my dad and me into a lurch as I stalled the engine. That particular lurching feeling would soon become oh-so personal and dreaded at every turn. After many failed attempts, with puffy eyes and a blotchy face, we decided to take a break and try again another time, where ‘another time’ was followed by ‘another time with someone different.’

After begging to try again, I was once again sliding into the driver’s seat, having yet to grow a third foot, with my mom beside me instead. With fewer failed attempts and maybe a circle or two around the driveway, we parked the car and again I went inside with a blotchy-red face.

Something just wasn’t clicking, which didn’t register further as I was sitting with my two feet in the driver’s seat with my great uncle. “Chipmunks are in the engine,” he told me. “Feed them nuts and the car will go.” As he looked at me as if that statement was common knowledge, I have never felt so lost. I had always thought of myself as a visual learner until that instant.

The lurching of the car greeted us once again as the “chipmunks didn’t get the nuts.

Having barely enough skill to shift into first gear, a neighbor then sat me in her car and told me to drive to a store located on the busiest street in town. Palms sweating and still no third foot in sight, I maneuvered my way out of the neighborhood. Everything was looking great; I was driving on a big four-lane road! Before I knew it, a red light was looming and the familiar lurching followed by the stall greeted us once again but in a less than ideal place. I somehow quickly navigated to a nearby place to switch drivers.

Still unsure how to succeed at becoming a full-time stick-shift driver come my 16th birthday, a family friend offered to take me driving. I was escorted

by my parents to the car kicking and screaming. At this point, I was just as frustrated as they were that I couldn’t quite grasp this manual transmission concept.

Learning a new skill had never come as such a challenge before. I sat in the car and repeated to myself “two feet are enough.” Turns out that mantra did the trick. I drove in circles around my neighborhood and even reversed without sending myself into the familiar lurching tumble.

I spent the better half of quarantine rolling slowly around my neighborhood, stopping and starting, shifting into first gear every few yards until one day it was fluid. Throughout this, I learned about myself. Visualizing animals running in the engine? Not for me. Giving myself the freedom to become comfortable while also having the reinforcement I required? That is how I shine. With support from others and tenacity from myself, I eventually learned to drive a manual transmission with confidence. I never needed a third foot in the first place, two feet got me to my destination just the same.

Feature | May 2022 | 23

Cate Weiser University of Chicago Pie represents death. Literally, death. It represents fear, danger, and resentment. So nothing about pie is easy for me.

I was born with my food allergies: eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, dairy, soy, gluten. I grew out of my allergies to soy and gluten at a young age, but I don’t know a life without allergies. Without the implications of them.

There is a local diner in my town, and it fits the classic description of what a diner is: cutesy booths, plaid wallpaper and matching tablecloths, and a revolving pie case. It used to be a family tradition to go there whenever we had guests, and for some reason, the case fascinated everyone. My family and our guests would always get pie; I could never have it. I always felt out of place at that diner, watching everyone enjoy the fries and pie I never could.

I still rarely eat out at restaurants, even with my shorter list of allergies. The fear dries out my mouth 24 | The Communicator Magazine

too much to enjoy the meal; no matter how many times I reiterate the severity, regardless of my allergy alert card, accidents still happen. When I do eat out, dessert is always off the table.

In middle school, I was bullied for my allergies. All three years, we had pizza lunch on Fridays. Kids would chase me around with cheesy fingers and throw their ranch dressing at me. Middle school me never really understood why they did those things, but I didn’t understand why I couldn’t have pie, either.

I grew out of my allergies to soy and gluten at a young age and dairy in 8th grade. Dairy was the first allergy I remember outgrowing–it took two years of progression.

First, I tried dairy baked into a cupcake; no reaction, so I ate a cupcake with dairy every day for a year. Second, I tried pizza–the proteins are a little less baked down, so it’s essentially a stronger dose; no reaction, so I ate a slice of pizza every day for another year. Third, I ate two containers of yogurt, bit by bit, in my allergist’s office; I was finally cleared after that final, four-hour food challenge. Pie was the last thing on my mind. I went to the store and got cheese, ice cream, and chocolate. Those foods captured my interest, so pie fell to the side for a few years.

At 16, I made the first pie I ever tried. It was cherry–I pitted a whole pound. The juices stained my hands magenta, and it even tinted flakes of the brown sugar-granola crust maroon. My dad sliced into the pie that evening and spooned a dollop of vanilla ice cream onto my plate along with it.

I took a bite.

I didn’t like it.

Disappointment flooded through me. After an entire childhood of wanting nothing more than what I unequivocally could not have, it was mine–but I didn’t even like it. Later that night, I thought back to the pie I’d spent hours laboring over; I wanted it to look just like the pies I would see in the diner and taste exactly how I’d hoped it would.

Then I thought about the fact that I’d eaten pie that night. I’d eaten something that could’ve killed me two years prior. Suddenly, it didn’t matter how the pie tasted.

Pie represents life. Literally, life. It represents peace, safety and fulfillment. It turns out, pie is easy for me.

Leo Kupperman University of Chicago We were driving. I, at five years old, was off in my own world, oblivious to the passing scenery. Briefy, I came out of that world and exclaimed, “Odd numbers have a middle.”

“What?” my dad replied.

“Odd numbers have a middle. With even numbers, there’s no middle number. They just go in 2 even parts.

With odd numbers, there’s a center number. Like 3 is the middle number of 5.”

This realization, as a young child, fundamentally shaped my understanding of numbers.

I’ve always had a thing about numbers. You might even say I was an odd child. Always visualizing them, moving them around in my head, imagining how they interact with each other. Every integer number is a string of connected balls, each ball representing a digit, all of them stretching out in a line. Some numbers are simple and short, but others are almost incomprehensibly long.

Now, consider the odd number. The odd number seems unresolved. Imagine trying to balance the odd number: its string of balls gently placed upon a single protruding point. Which side of the number will prevail? Or will the odd number perfectly balance, its middle split exactly halfway? Any slight touch would tip the scales, but it never comes. Instead, you are left on the brink, just waiting. In contrast, the even number is stable. Its center is between two numbers, so it slots into place; the scale can’t be tipped. For me, when

there’s a volume setting, it must be set to an even number, otherwise the world is not at rest.

An odd number wants to go home. Of course, there are certain exceptions. For example, three is pretty stable. A triangle, that’s nice. Five: a pentagon. That’s pretty alright as well. But when you get into the vast space of larger odd numbers, like a dominant chord resolving to the tonic in music, the odd number wants to resolve to an even number. When you see a nineteen, it longs to be a twenty. However, the uncomfortableness felt at nineteen is powerful. Being in cahoots with the odd number, having its energy permeate over you, can help you through the inevitable uncomfortableness of life.

Aristotle speaks of “the golden mean,” a concept emphasizing balance between two extremes. Courage, for example, lies midway between rashness on one side and cowardice on the other. Diligence between workaholism and laziness. In this sense there is a balance to be had in between the odd and the even. In music, the dissonance creates the resolution; without the dissonance there is nothing. So, I thank the odd number, though it is odd, for its willingness to fill a role the even number is unable to. The odd numbers complete the sequence and without them, there is no even.

The odd number is what gives the spice of life. How can you appreciate home if you have never been anywhere else? This is the power of the odd number. The five pillars of Islam, the seven deadly sins, the thirteen principles of the Jewish faith. The odd number of rules tell you something about their importance. The odd number says, “look at me, for I am odd!” The odd number is worthy of respect then, not because it’s stoic or stable like the even number, but because it’s daring and brave. The odd number is not afraid of its position as a dissonant voice. That is what makes it odd.

Feature | May 2022 | 25

Sylvie Swerdlow The Commom Application I stormed out of the dance studio crying, frustration, anger, grief, and shame battle in my mind. I sit, defeated, betrayed by my body, and I contemplate quitting for what seems like the millionth time. I have danced for as long as I can remember, but no matter how hard I push myself in class, no matter how well I understand the movements in theory, I can’t get it right. For me, dance is a battlefield where I war against my body. Where I war against pain. But within dance, I can communicate my pain through movement, and through acting. Dance brings me strength and joy, a body-mind-soul connection. As I let the music move my limbs, I communicate the essence of humanity onstage.

Every day I wake up and fight a battle between my life ambitions and my disabilities. I refuse to give up on my passions even when it seems hopeless, but this 26 | The Communicator Magazine

requires determination and endurance. My disability looms behind my head, casting shadows over my love for dance, learning, working to make positive change in the world, and community. “Ehlers Danlos Syndrome” is a collection of words that I’ve known since age five. Connective tissue makes up all of the physical human form and mine just so happens to be defective.

My joints are painful and refuse to stay in place and they get no help from my excessively loose ligaments and tendons. My nerves aimlessly send pain flooding through my body. I am determined to live and learn through the pain.

I love dance, performing, and learning, but being disabled has non-physical consequences too. Once a part of the social group of my peers, as I get older, I seem to fall further behind. As my peers advance, I am left dancing with kids younger than myself. I become an outcast in one of my favourite places to be. I observe from the outside. I am separate and apart but I don’t give up. I keep dancing anyway.

Through my life as a disabled, chronically ill, autistic person, I have been forced to endure. I have learned to connect with my passion, and to advocate for myself and others. I take these insights with me into my academics and into my engagement with my community.

I spend hours helping friends with coping mechanisms and connecting them with mental health services. I attend human rights protests and educate others on intersectional human rights issues. I have spoken with the mayor of Ann Arbor, along with many police officers and the chief of police. I have learned to be determined and to not give up in the face of what seems hopeless.

As Jane Goodall, primatologist and anthropologist, put it recently in her interview with the Times Magazine, “If you don’t hope that your actions can make a difference, then you sink into apathy.....if [you] lose hope—that’s the end.” In college, I look forward to joining a community of people who are passionate about what they do. I will continue to fuel my passions for the arts, space science, biology, chemistry, reading, nerdy hobbies (such as dungeons and dragons), connecting with people, and fighting for human rights. I will continue to contribute to communities that support self-expression, radical acceptance, and radical change. Life has taught me determination, grit, endurance, and understanding, and I will fight my battle between my life ambitions and my disabilities for as long as I can.

Jasmine Lowenstein The Common Application I started to sob.

My mom and I had been going on nighttime drives for months. We acquired a route through our neighborhood, past my abandoned high school, and around the desolate city. These moonlit drives took around 45 minutes, just enough time to look at the closed restaurants and storefronts. Shouts of skaters echoed through our open windows. We would get out of the car in the center of University of Michigan’s campus, a place we called “big sky country,” to dance. We often twirled and jumped to the song “Fireflies” by Owl City.

Other than our music, laughing, and sounds from the skateboarders, Ann Arbor was quiet.

This night, in late spring, was no different than many others during the pandemic. When we got home, tears trickled down my cheeks. My family asked why I was crying. I told them what it was: “The moon is just so beautiful.”

During the pandemic, I came to feel enveloped by sickness everywhere. I started to look at the clouds, stars, and moon for comfort, feeling a closeness to the sky. Tears fell down my cheeks. The tears gave me a remarkable feeling. I felt like I was the only person who could witness such beauty and was baffled by what gave me this sense of liberation.

This feeling resurfaced as the seasons rolled on. I spent as much time as I could in nature. I found serenity by going on walks, talking and laughing with family and friends, or listening to the wind whirl and birds chirp. While I felt empathy for so much suffering from the ravages of the pandemic, I turned to the magnificence of nature which helped me process and deal with the world’s losses and uprisings. The constant awe I found from the sky added predictability to my life.

With my empathy and imagination I was able to think deeply about the unfair reality of the world while still having hope and optimism for a beautiful future.

One day I heard a story of a man who died from COVID. He rejected mask mandates and believed that the virus was a hoax. This faceless man contracted COVID-19 and died. On his deathbed he said that he regretted his choices and wished he had known

what a serious threat this disease was. I felt terrible for him. I felt horrible that he was genuinely misled by false information. Even though I don’t know his name I mourned his misfortune. My empathy gave me a unique lens that made me see a two-fold narrative.

He harmed others by spreading COVID and was also a victim of misinformation. I held his story and all tragic losses deep in my heart. When I looked at the sky I imagined how these losses could evolve into inspiration for all of us to grow and learn. The sparkling stars, textured moon, and moving clouds allowed me to take time to reflect on the teachings of tragedy. Connecting with nature made these complicated ideas simple and digestible. I was able to think up ways to lessen sorrow and disparity in this world.

Worry escapes me when I look at the moon. I feel calm, no anticipation and no reflection. I can just stand, sit, and lie down, and that alone is enough. The glow, craters, and shadows beckon me to join the stunning images in the sky, which calms me. I have no burden; I stand sturdy feeling free. I realize what caused my tears: joy. I had found an answer to my family’s question. Looking at nature allowed me to escape in a time of extreme suffering. In moments of looking at the sky I am able to stop worrying about death from COVID or any of the world’s challenges. The stars, clouds, and moon have done more for me than their prime purpose. They have saved me.

Feature | May 2022 | 27

Letters Home

CHS alumni from the Class of 2021 reflect on their first year away from home.

BY NOAH BERNSTEIN

Mori Ono Princeton University “Intense, but I suppose I manage,” is how I’d describe my experience in college. Whether the second part is true … is up to you.

Let’s rewind to August last year, where an 11-hour drive placed me and my family in a sleepy town halfway between Philly and New York: Princeton, New Jersey. Walking through the iconic Blair Arch, my face was one of wonder as the feeling set in: I was really here! Unfortunately for me, I would not be living in an iconic example of late 19th-Century Collegiate Gothic architecture. Instead, I would be living in an early ‘60s eyesore of a brick rectangular prism, one slated for demolition the very next year. More amusingly, I would be sharing the experience in a suite with six others nicknamed “The Jungle.”

The first month or so lasted an eternity as I was flooded with new experiences and meeting new people—anyone from Olympic fencers to world competition-winning debaters. I was having an amazing time and everything seemed to reach my expectations; but a few cracks were starting to show. Getting rejected from all of the clubs that I had to audition for, and getting an only somewhat upcurved 12/40 on a math exam are pretty clear signs of that, all things considered.

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) was the obvious path for “see-you-in-space” me. But my faith in that path was dampened by the feeling of a never-ending treadmill of work combined with the fear of missing out socially. I was trying to achieve a perfect balance between the two that I never had before—partially because it wasn’t reasonable. I expected that finding my balance, figuring out all these courses would be difficult, but ultimately manageable. And yet here I was struggling with a schedule in which the majority of my 28 | The Communicator Magazine

classes covered slightly familiar content. Perhaps there was another major that would be a little less painful.

The end of the semester kind of broke me. With COVID cases spiking and thus a sudden shift to takehome finals, the math department made the generous gesture of making the final exam optional and worth far less than before. Great for most people, not so great when the final was my last chance to salvage my grade.

Not exactly the end to a first semester that I was hoping for, but now I’d have a whole month at home to reset.

As the NJ Transit train raced towards Newark Airport at 100 mph, I set myself on a new mindset: active ambition. I had been like a rolling stone the past semester without much ability to reassert control over my time.

My vision for the new semester was a particular drive to achieve—academically, socially, extracurricularly… but there was an entire month at home to enjoy first.

I closed my to-do list for a while and spent some real quality time with my parents, delighting in homecooked dinners that I had never missed so much. I was reunited with my electric guitar and practiced all the time. Maybe, I would make it onto the rock ensemble!

Things didn’t quite go to plan when I got back. I hit a speedbump almost immediately: a positive COVID test that put me in isolation housing for five days—in a room with four others. I also got rejected from the rock ensemble again. But otherwise? There was a sense of stability: my work was getting started and completed days early, after which I would collapse on the couch to watch YouTube, and clock in a consistent seven and a half hours of sleep. I was once again feeling confident about MAE. But being someone who isn’t easily satisfied with his current state, I now couldn’t shake the feeling that things were too settled in. The weeks were flying by, and I hardly felt the magic of my slow-moving first month, filled with memories.

Somehow, though, a rather satisfying balance fell into place as I found myself at more events with friends

while still staying on top of things. Part of it was just luck—despite taking one more class than the previous semester, my coursework was less frustrating—but I also hope that the better foundation I started this semester with paid off. This weekend, I was lucky enough to go to my friend’s performance as part of the acapella group for East Asian music, a social at the Peyton Observatory—with a view unfortunately blocked by clouds—and free frozen yogurt with my RA on university dime.

That said, some of my most rewarding experiences over the past two semesters have been the times I’ve left the “Princeton Bubble.” During fall break, I went to Boston on my first-ever trip with just friends, and during spring break, I pulled off a week of traveling by myself on a Princeton-NYC-Boston-Ann Arbor-Boston-Princeton route, visiting friends and family along the way. Closer to campus, I delighted in something a little simpler: my very first time at an Olive Garden.

Intense, but I do manage.

In just a few weeks, my first year at Princeton will all be over. Despite my gripes about coursework, I’ve had wonderful opportunities in my classes: from constructing a coilgun in my physics class to predicting presidential elections for my Computer Science final project to learning about the political economy of India from an International Monetary Fund economist, I’m truly grateful for what I’ve been able to experience and learn here. While Princeton will still be Princeton next year, nothing can quite replicate this first year. I’ll be in a fresh, air-conditioned dorm, but with the demolition of the dorm I’m writing this letter in right now, there will no longer be Jungles on campus and the fun-loving, built-in support group that comes with them.

Are there things about this past year that I would go back and change? Sure, plenty. But when a certain amount of time passes, I often find that the things I would have changed have shaped who I’ve become, and that the desire to change the past fades away.

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Delia Binetti University of Michigan Currently I am sitting in the 11x18 dorm that I have called my “home” for the past year, while also having my other home located five minutes away from me.

Throughout these past couple of months, I wasn’t really sure how I was going to create my new life in such close proximity to the place I have been growing up in for the last 18 years. Now, as I am finishing up my last couple of days as a freshman at the University of Michigan, I can say that a switch was definitely flipped.

To my surprise, the first friends I made were in the dining hall located in the building that I live in; East Quad which sits directly across from Ross. Coming from Community, we did not have a “dining hall” so this specific experience felt as if I were back in middle school meeting new friends all over again. It is true that when you go to college the amount of people from different backgrounds that you will meet will be infinite.

The relationships and connections that I have made with those I am surrounded by here is one of the most enriching experiences I have ever had. Even though they might not be my bestest of friends, they are the ones I appreciate the most for making me feel as if I am living in a whole other world. Knowing that I was going to be attending a school where I would be con30 | The Communicator Magazine

sidered a townie, I knew I would have to push myself to the limits in order to break my shell. I kept having to remind myself that wherever I may be I should always continue learning and challenging who I am.

As of right now, I am planning on majoring in English as well as applying to the School of Education with hopes to fulfill my dream of working with children. Although the path that I had set for myself was to become a teacher, I am also exploring other fields of work that still involve being able to help those in need. Every day, I tell myself that I am thankful to the teachers at Community for inspiring me to stick with what it is that I want to do and not allowing myself to stray away just because the process may be difficult.

Although not everyone may know the great Judith DeWoskin, I give her my uttermost thank you. In many of the English classes I am taking here, she is always in the back of my mind, guiding and supporting me with whatever the task may be at hand.

Finding a community here was one of the main things that I wanted to secure in order to feel as if I would always have a group of people supporting me.

As someone who cherishes my Italian background tremendously, I knew that I wanted to be a part of something that consisted of people who shared the same type of identity as me. Recently, I was elected to be on the board for the Italian Student Association as one of the marketing and media directors beginning next fall.

This is where I say… JOIN CLUBS!!! I promise you, as scary as it may seem at first, it is worth it in the end.

Even if it may not seem like the perfect fit, you can always go and try another one. The chance of meeting new people as well as being able to be a part of something you love is such an amazing feeling. I am hoping that next year I will push myself even more out of my comfort zone and join a professional fraternity through the Education program.

One of the biggest takeaways from my first year of college is that being alone is also ok. In high school, I found myself always needing to surround myself with people as well as always having to be doing something.

It wasn’t until I was crying in front of my computer screen, dreading all the work that I had to do, that I realized all I needed was to just give myself a break and put myself at peace by simply laying down and taking a breather. So, don’t let it get to this point, give yourself time! You need to put yourself first, especially now that you are beginning to care for yourself more than you ever did before. Not all experiences are going to be amazing, you will have those debbie downer days, and you might even feel like dropping out completely… but just know that as cheesy as it sounds, there IS light at the end of the tunnel! Remember that you come first and that wherever you end up after high school, is going to be a scary but also exhilarating new chapter of your life, so make sure to make the most of it. I miss my Rainbow Zebras and would do anything to be back. <3

Gordon Lewis University of Michigan I wouldn’t go as far to say that I knew what my college experience was going to be like, but having two older siblings who walked the walk made me think I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting myself into.

Going to the University of Michigan didn’t help with my confidence either. I thought that the only difference between how things were in high school and how they would be in college was where I lived and where I went for my classes. As it turns out, and unsurprisingly, I was completely wrong.

I think it’s fair to say that I spent my first month in panic mode. On my first day, before I had even gone to all of my classes, I felt confused, overwhelmed and stressed with the amount of work I had to do. My sister told me that I would find a groove and get used to it, but I thought there was no way she was right. I was exhausted and missed my best friends so much that I was thinking about transferring to the University of Vermont before the leaves even started to turn brown.

By the time October rolled around, however, my sister’s promise had proven to be true as I finally felt settled in. I found a few clubs and activities that I enjoyed, and I created a good balance between getting work done and having fun. For two weekends in a row, I went to West Virginia to rock climb outdoors, and I spent the final weekend of the month in Vermont hanging out with the friends that I missed so dearly. By the end of the month, my fellow Community High School Alum, Dan Gutenberg, and I had also been crowned champions of UMich intramural tennis.

One of the best things I have found about college academics versus what I did in high school is that, for the most part, I can really start to take classes that interest me. But at the same time that has also been a curse, because I haven’t always felt like I knew what I wanted to do. In the end, I realized that I was always most attracted to my computer science classes, so that’s the path I plan to follow, but I had periods of wanting to pursue astrophysics and even English. Very recently, as well, I decided to pursue a music minor because it’s something that has always made me feel happier and more comfortable.

Perhaps the most important thing I have learned from my first year at Michigan is how to manage myself. There are a lot of things that are going to cause you stress, but there’s also always a way to navigate it.

The solution I found, as weird as it may sound, is to force myself to do things I enjoy. For example, I had a Calculus midterm the day after my first climbing trip to West Virginia, but I didn’t let that stop me from going. Another thing my sister told me is that oftentimes you’re going to regret not doing something for yourself

even when you have a good amount to do. Happiness and student life are just as important as academics.

At times I felt like I wasn’t doing the whole college thing right: I only moved five minutes away from my house, I went back home at least once a week to use a car or do laundry, and I spent nearly all of March at home after getting knee surgery. But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that one of the best things about college is that there isn’t a mold or expectation for what everyone should be like. There are so many paths and choices to make that everyone can do the things that make them the happiest.

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Tai Tworek Brown University Per my journalistic training, it would only be right to start this letter in a moment.

I could begin with describing the stress of having multiple exams in a week, staring at my computer until my eyes hurt, meeting people in the dining halls or in classes, being so exhausted my body feels like bricks, or switching dorms mid-semester. But none of these seem right—none seem to provide an adequate anecdote for my experiences these past few months.

In part, I expected myself to be a completely changed person by April of my freshman year of college and by the time I wrote this. I mean, all everybody would tell me was how much I would change within the span of a year. And I believed them. These past six months I have been anticipating some monumental, cataclysmic change of self, triggered by an epiphany. I am still waiting for this to happen.

My time at Brown has made me realize how special my time at CHS was. Maybe the supposed cataclysmic growth I have been anticipating happened four years prior to crossing my university’s gates during convocation. Maybe the freedom handed to me at CHS provided me with so much room to grow that I felt comfortable with who I was as a person and what my interests were before moving into college. Maybe this provided me with a secure foundation that trumped an opportunity for major growth.

But even this foundation could not prepare me for how challenging college actually is at the beginning: the loneliness; the exhaustion; the anonymity; the intense imposter syndrome; the overwhelming nature of classes, peers, professors, and campus life. To be completely candid, a lot of this past year was awful. It was extremely difficult to reconcile my academic performance and imposter syndrome with the overall “grind” culture fostered at an Ivy League university. While my peers are amazing and collaborative, it always feels as though our collective accomplishments are driving an implicit and continuous competition of one-upping one another. This is uniquely juxtaposed to the select 32 | The Communicator Magazine

few exorbitantly wealthy students who do not exert any effort into academics and only party. While my imposter syndrome has weaned since the first semester, the most ongoing challenge has been trying to piece my identity into the larger Brown community. This institution is actually the most diverse setting I have ever been in, but it has challenged my previous conceptions of my appearance and how I am perceived by others.

Finding community during the first semester of college is hard; but it is especially hard when others continuously deny your identity. While I have met some really amazing people and have gotten to participate in really unique and formative experiences, I do not think it would be fitting for me to write this letter without acknowledging that the first year has been full of hardships that my growth at CHS could not have prepared me for.

Of course, all of this is not with the intention to scare any prospective college freshmen or those starting the application process. I can confidently say that Brown is the right fit for me and is where I am supposed to be. But I think that my appreciation for my school and the good moments I have had must be contextualized within these stressful experiences. I have grown to appreciate laughing at jokes in the dining halls during lunch, walking down the neighborhood side streets of College Hill, getting to have a stress-relief opportunity through club soccer, getting to work as a health advocate in a local primary care clinic and studying with my friends.

While I do think that I entered college in a unique position due to my time at CHS, I am not sure that any preparation — academically or socially — would have prepared me for the culture at Brown. This past year has been nonstop, quite literally maximizing every minute of the day before the sun rises until long after it sets. This has exposed me to endless experiences which have been both challenging and rewarding. While I had so desperately wanted to share some profound reflection or recount an experience characteristic of my time here, I have realized that growth can take a really long time to be acknowledged or to be felt. Yes, this past year has had some really awful moments. But in somewhat of a perverse way, they have made me appreciate my school, its quirks, and my place here even more.

Cy Veilleux Bennington College Dear Seniors, When I was on my way to Bennington in August of last year, I was so anxious that my brain kept making me fall asleep, which meant my mother (God bless her) drove the whole twelve hours. Prior to the sleepy drive, an invisible panic attack was under my skin since the college application process began, which would have been the August before that August.

Somewhere towards the end of Oct. 2020, I had to rethink my ideas on college. I narrowed down the schools I had wanted to apply to and added a couple more. One of which was Bennington. It was the land of Donna Tartt’s Secret History and Bret Easton Ellis’s Rules of Attraction. But that’s not what it actually was, because we all know it’s never that.

Today for one of my classes I sat by myself watching crows and squirrels share piles of peanuts at the base of a tree. Watching with binoculars hiding behind an old stump, I documented each passerby from 9:30 until lunchtime at noon.

Last week I performed a persona poem I wrote from the point of view of a ladybug while wearing construction paper wings. I also sorted over a hundred fruit flies by eye color and sex.

In the fall, I produced a dance film with dancers and one of my professor’s flocks of sheep. I read the Bible and wrote an 8 page paper about sexual culture in the Book of Genesis.

And now I’m sitting outside my 1930’s era dorm photosynthesizing on the first warm day of spring.

College has been everything but. Now that I’ve been through the application process and my first year, I’ve realized my view on it has completely shifted. You can either try the method I chose when going through this process myself, take my newly realized advice from hindsight, or you can simply turn the page right now because who says I’m qualified to give advice.

You could make the idea of college so big in your head and expect it to be the worst thing ever in the universe, because then once you actually get there you’ll realize it is indeed better than eternal fire and brimstone. That’s what I did, it was taxing as hell, but it did give me a pleasant surprise when people introduced themselves to me instead of yelling “GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!” Or you can throw every single piece of information you think you have about college and go into it with an empty head. It might seem counterintuitive to try and be more lost than you originally expected, but trust me.

I’ve wished for a long time to be as at peace as a beetle on a river rock. Doing things as I go; either things will be solved in due time, or it is out of my control and I need to find a way to live around.

This type of thinking has brought me a new interest that has partially consumed me in a way. I’ve been a nuisance bringing it up in conversation every chance I get — including now!

Haiku, specifically the history and its technicalities, has been a good portion of my free time. It helps me become present and is a practice that kind of supports this beetle lifestyle. I’m not going to tell you all I know about the complex art that is Japanese haiku because it would take forever, but basically, it originated as a small verse of 17 syllables that was written before beginning a game of poetry called renga. Two or more people played renga and would go back and forth writing lines of poetry. The haiku specifically was an “occasional verse” where two things must be told: what time of year the session of the game was played, and what was happening while it was being written.

So, as probably expected, I’ll leave you with a haiku I wrote from today: together but apart, two garter snakes kiss warm mist on this spring night.

Feature | May 2022 | 33

Ethan Gibb-Randall University of Victoria Everyone has been told that high school was preparation for adulthood, but the day when one goes from boy to man is never set in stone. When my feet hit the dock, stepping off a seaplane onto an island 2,000 miles from Ann Arbor, it felt real. Separated by land and sea, knowing only a few people from my previous visits, I started my adventure.

At the beginning of every University of Victoria rower’s career, they receive The Code. We are told of its significance and instructed to study and care for it until our five years as a Vike are over. The captain showed the new recruits his well-loved copy that he had received all the way back in 2017, and then took us through its content. These are the four lines that have helped me the most to get through this year as a student, an athlete and a person.

Show Up to Compete Every Day. Attendance is not enough. Improvement will come with it, but if an athlete wants to win, they have to treat every day like a race, so when the day of competition comes, they are well-practiced in how it will feel to line

34 | The Communicator Magazine

up next to a boat and give it everything, whether it is their best friend in an inter-squad competition in the February cold, or the penultimate race of the season in April. For me, I needed to bring that mentality to school as well. I certainly didn’t achieve it all the time, but the thought in my head of preparing for an exam like I would a race was invaluable.

Sweep the Shed.

The one is quite direct, but also serves as a model for more. When applied at our practices, it is taken literally. If you have an extra minute or two while you are waiting, grab a broom and help keep the “shed” (boathouse) clean. Beyond that, it is about respect for the equipment and legacy of the program. Our team was founded in 1965, and we share a space with a local club and the Canadian National Team. The walls are lined with history. Old banners wishing athletes well for the 1984 Olympics, plaques from competitions of the past, boards with names of team award winners, and so much more. To respect the legacy of those who came before us, the least we could do is to keep the dirt and leaves off the floor.

Create Opportunities to Fail for Growth.

If someone never fails, they will never know their limits. We are encouraged to shoot for things that seem almost unattainable, in rowing and in life, to start to push past what we think we are capable of and learn our true potential. Coaches encourage athletes to try and fail at least once a week. By doing that, they are continuously eroding their mental blocks and creating opportunities for massive growth.

Recognize the Difference Between Reasons and Excuses.

No one likes to hear excuses. Sometimes they are valid, but the knowledge of that in one’s mind eases the need to inform everyone. One of the phrases that we use to describe the mentality of the team is “Clear is Kind”.

Honesty, humility and respect are the backmarkers of why we are able to be open and clear with teammates about their successes and pitfalls, and it helps drive a culture that does not have space for excuses, and instead pushes responsibility. If an athlete is in danger of being cut, or they do something that is not acceptable within our space, they will be immediately called in on their actions, and most of the time they will accept it without shame and move on with the knowledge that they gained from their failures. No one is perfect, everyone has made mistakes and therefore everyone is willing to support each other through them. It is one of my favorite things about being a part of this program and certainly the learning that has helped me grow the most this year. I have found a space where I can thrive and grow in University, and there are opportunities at most post-graduation paths for everyone to find their own version of it, so I hope that all Community students go seek it after they walk across that stage and receive their diploma.

Jenna Jarjoura University of Michigan Thinking back to the first day I moved into the dorms is surreal. I walked into my new home for the first time feeling a little dizzy and overwhelmed. For the past eight-ish months, I have been living about 15 minutes from home, and even closer to Community, in South Quad.

I honestly could not tell you the first time I walked into the dining hall, the first time I walked into my room, the first time I walked into a huge lecture hall, but I think that’s because it didn’t hold much value to me in the greater scope of my time here. What DOES come to mind when I think of the first quarter is a lot of monkey-see-monkey-do activity through the halls and wondering if I was doing enough. Looking back I would tell myself to take a freaking chill pill and stop drinking so much coffee.

But it just works out. You go through the motions, you take the leaps you want, and don’t take some, which is completely fine and sometimes better, and the path will lead you somewhere. Mine happened to lead me to the steps of the Art and Architecture Building allllll the way to North Campus, which I now consider a second home. In October, I got a sketchy email from something called Taubman telling me that I was invited to “Dine and Design,” something that in high school probably would’ve never reached my inbox.

A week later, I hopped on the bus and walked into a classic brick building, up an oddly open flight of stairs, and was welcomed on cue by a man in a suit: Christopher Trembley, one of Taubman’s advisors. I grabbed a seat in the front of the presentation in a gigantic, open space of white walls and windows where I was met by a tall woman who gave Judith DeWoskin right off the bat: Anca, a professor at Taubman. The presentation was presented, food was eaten, and a bunch of jargon was shared that at the time I didn’t understand whatsoever. But from there, I considered architecture. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t really know why, but why not?

I left that event shook. I was given a BS Architecture Curriculum worksheet that was printed on that really nice kind of paper and hung it on my wall in awe. Like absolute awe of the students they brought in to answer our questions and Anca oh my goodness. It felt like Community all over again! And it is. Genuinely.

As the weeks went by and I continued to take the leaps I WANTED, I found more opportunities. I joined a club that aligned with my passion for the environment that was founded in Ecology with Courtney Kiley, and I just happened to come across more architecture students. Just like that, they helped me find a course to take, and the prerequisites were shifted from LSA to Taubman.

Looking back at what the first semester was like, I spent a lot of time in the Undergraduate Library reading and writing essays, doing math homework,

and getting to know the other LSA students that are now my best friends. Now, in my second semester, I have been to a library once in the past three months, I sketch wood and shells, draw high rises, cut with x-acto knives, use t-scales, and know the difference between bristol, 2-ply, and 4-ply paper. Who would’ve thought that Jenna would be doing something artsy? For reference, I never took an art class during my time at CHS, ever.

But there is something really important to realize from this path I decided to take. I held a lot of insecurities about the arts, which may be peculiar to some. But I wasn’t the artistic high school kid, I was one of those girls that played soccer and wrote for “The Communicator” which is just as admirable, but for different reasons. By taking these leaps that just felt so right in my gut, I am a changed person. I lacked the passion that was founded so easily by accident in a sketchy email.

I continuously run through the motions in my head and think, what if I didn’t hop on that bus? But I did!

Now I spend hours and hours at big tables with my lead holder and pointer drawing, looking forward to a future where I can build something sustainable, beautiful, complex and all me.

So, CHS Students, take leaps and start now. You don’t have to wait until you’re in college.

I would give a lot for a normal day at Community High School one last time.

Cherish it, Jenna <3 Feature | May 2022 | 35

36 | The Communicator Magazine

Senior Profiles

BY STAFF

ART BY MIA WOOD

Our fifth and final Communicator magazine highlights, of course, our CHS 2022 graduating class. In this 50 page spread, we feature 100 seniors who are all ready and prepared to embark on a new chapter of their lives as they depart from the beloved school they call home.

We diligently attempted to reach out to every senior for some wise words and insight into their high school experience; we are overwhelmingly thankful for everyone who chose to participate. This class of students has undoubtedly been one of the hardest hit classes by the pandemic which has interrupted and strained their social and academic lives. They are the sole class in the school that has experienced a full year at CHS; however they are proud to say that they have worked hard to keep sacred CHS traditions alive and to demonstrate to other students what CHS spirit and community is all about. From wherever they choose to go to next, to whatever they choose to pursue, CHS will always have a place in their hearts.

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Leah van der Velde My favorite memory community is probably something that my friends and I started doing every Friday, called treat yourself Friday. Every Friday, we go out to eat. Sometimes we’ll go downtown, sometimes we’ll stay around the school. I think it’s really fun because it gives me a chance to hang out with my friends, and it doesn’t feel like we’re in school. So it gives us a chance to bond not at school. It’s one of the things that I’m gonna really miss about the school.

The friendships are really what made [school] fun for me. The classes are great, but I think it’s really important to have people that you look forward to seeing every day.

Having an open, free campus is so nice. It means that we can go during passing time and just grab a drink from Kerrytown or order lunch, we can go wherever our hearts take us.

And I think [having an open campus] is really special and makes Community students feel more independent and trusted by the school.

Avani Hoeffner-Shah My favorite memory at Community was freshman year Field Day. I just remember sitting on the bus with all the upperclassmen and they were playing the year 3000 by the Jonas Brothers and everybody was singing along. And when we got there, our forum won the first round of the tug of war competition. We never win, so I was really excited. I thought everyone was exaggerating about how intense it was, but they really weren’t.

We were all wearing cleats and hand chalk. It was just like a really unique experience that you wouldn’t get at any other school.

Community supports forming relations and having real experiences rather than just emphasizing sitting in a classroom all day. I think Community helped me open up as a person and be more confident in myself.

It allowed me to make deeper connections with people.

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Ian Novar I think my favorite memory at Community was freshman year Field Day. It’s been a while since we’ve had a field day, so that was extremely fun. I think it was such a good experience because everyone in the school was together. And it was just a bonding moment and showed who we really are as Community [because] everyone was together.

I think if anyone’s thinking of going to community, pull the trigger. The scheduling and the long classes show the amount of time teachers put in. The 100 minute classes truly show that [the teachers] really care about people.

Elijah Klein My best memory [at Community] would probably be freshman year forum day. It was around that time when it started getting nice outside. So, the basketball court opened up again, and some kids and I played basketball throughout lunch. We were playing music and then at the forum day, I was hanging out with my friends. We all played cornhole and the tug of war and relay race were really cool. And I remember it being really fun and then we’ve never had someone like that again, I look back on it really fondly.

At first, I was seeing if I could get into [Community] or not, I didn’t know if I wanted to go. And then I got in. I decided I might as well try it out. And when I came, I made more friends than I thought I would. I liked how the classes were and all the opportunities you could get from a smaller school. So I just hung on to it. Being able to play basketball at Pioneer [allowed me] to have my friend group there, I really like the balance I had between Community and Pioneer.

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Leo Kupperman I really enjoyed my ethics CR this semester. I took the intro to ethics class at the university, so it’s just been really fun exploring different moral philosophies.

[Taking CR’s] is sort of the whole idea of the school itself, [CHS] is a school without walls. That’s sort of the original concept. And I think we’ve gotten away from that a little bit, but it’s still alive in the sense where I’ve taken various split enrollment, dual enrollment and CR opportunities. I really appreciate that kind of concept where you don’t just go to school.

I [will take] the spirit of independence and just having control over what you want to be doing from CHS. Also, the relationships with teachers and the relationships with classmates. [CHS] is just very open and there’s not so many arbitrary rules.

Alexander Stelzer I have a bunch of memories in total, I think [the best] would be meeting all the wonderful people here. It’s actually my first year, which is surprising, but my mom is a school nurse and she got accepted for the job here recently. And she, knowing I had some friends here, said, ‘Hey, do you want to go to Community for your last year?’ And I was like, hell yeah. It’s a lot better than the other high schools I’ve been to. I’ll miss the freedom to express yourself and be yourself because I didn’t really get that at the other high schools I went to.

I’m planning to go to college after [I graduate], probably to [Eastern Michigan University] or Washtenaw Community College, but I’m not sure yet.

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Ryan Bentley All the people are great. And I feel like there’s more bonding experiences, and because it’s a smaller community you get to know everyone better—which is great. I mean, a lot of other schools, like Skyline, don’t have that. A lot of people you don’t even know their names. But I feel like I know a lot of people in my grade, which is cool, and I feel like that’s a big part of Community. I feel like I’ve become a little more social [at Community]. I feel like going into high school I was kind of a little bit awkward, a little bit shy, and I feel like that’s kind of changed now. [I’ll probably miss] the people, I feel like it kind of sucks to go off to college and not see anyone you went to high school with. So that’s probably what I’m going to miss the most. I’m either going to the University of Michigan or University of Colorado Boulder. I got into both and I’m choosing between right now. I’m hoping to major in either kinesiology or physiology, but I’m not 100% sure.

Carrie Sonen I’m genuinely going to say that [my most valuable experience at Community] has been all the friends that I’ve made, and I know that’s like, super cliche, but they’re just so supportive and nice, and I feel like all the teachers—that I [also] feel like I’m kind of friends with—[are too]. It’s just really nice to have that supportive community. This is really random, but [I think I’ll most remember] Judith yelling at people in American Literature for not doing the project correctly. I think [I’ll miss] like the culture, just how low-key it all seems.

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Caroline Andrews My first multiculti was really fun. I was a freshman and I didn’t really know a lot of people still in our forum, but it was fun because we got to spend like, this whole night together, bonding and painting and decorating the classroom, and I just got to know like a lot of people from my forum. It was like a nice day where I felt like I got to experience real community and make new friends. Those are definitely some of my favorite memories, especially now that I really only got to enjoy them freshman year, and then like a lot of the traditions were changed. I’ve really enjoyed the friendships and relationships with teachers that are like right back up where they left off. It’s just fun to see those relationships [evolve].

Alma Moga [On my first day,] I was really scared to come [to Community High School] but I got used to it really quickly, probably like the first few classes. It felt like an adventure. My favorite memories have been [with] my friend Leah and also world literature with Ken [McGraw].

[Coming back from quarantine was] really weird. I feel like I reverted to who I was before quarantine, which is not who I was at that point. So I needed time to readjust the two versions of myself I had in my mind.

[Community is] a much smaller school than a lot of the other high schools. So I can’t really speak for who I would be at a bigger school but I think it has definitely shaped me in some way.

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Henry Holcomb I feel like I have gotten a much better grasp on my life and interests looking back [during my time at CHS].

Ryan [Sylvester], Matt Johnson and Steve [Coron] were the three teachers that influenced me the most.

Ryan would always break down concepts in a way that I understood so well; he practically taught me everything about politics. I have learned to draw up a lot of my own opinions about the world, history in specific, thanks to what I learned from him. Matt taught me all of the basics of writing, but, the most important takeaway I learned from him would probably be the SUCCESS acronym: Sense of direction, Understanding, Courage, Charity, Esteem, Self-confidence and Self acceptance. I always loved the freedom he gave us during the writing classes he taught, it was never things like traditional book reviews or strictly-guidelined stories. As far as Steve, he was a person who was always there for me. [Steve] has always been so easy to talk to, a person who mentored me countless times and taught me so many life lessons.

John Reed Freshman year I was very clammed up and quiet, but I feel like I’ve become much more talkative and grown more confident during my time here [at CHS]. CET has given me a community within the School. It’s a setting where since people leave and new people join, you get the chance to transition from a follower to a leader.

You get to become a person who shapes a group and shapes a culture for the new people that are coming.

While I don’t plan on pursuing acting in the future, the relationships I’ve made and the bonds that I’ve created are always something that will stick with me.

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Luda Talley On my first day at Community, I didn’t know anyone here and I was pretty nervous. I remember what I was wearing, and it was the biggest school I’d ever gone to, you know, it was just fresh and fun. Community helped me discover my love for science and I’ve appreciated being able to be close with older people.

I love the science classes, specifically chemistry and I love the teachers Steve [Coron] and Marcy McCormick. I would say my proudest moment is probably when I went to the crew finals in Canada for Skyline. [Coming back from quarantine] felt relieving, like just coming back from everything and I’m just relieved to be back in person and actually learning which has felt better for my mentality. [My advice to freshmen is] that you don’t need that many friends.

Tane Patel Steve [is my favorite teacher.] Everyday, he brings such good energy and a fun spirit to my mornings. My favorite thing about Community is seeing all my friends in the halls and around Kerrytown. I also really enjoyed being able to play basketball outside on nice days.

Community has allowed me to get outside my comfort zone and make new friends… I decided to attend Community because my parents said it would be a fun and different experience than regular high school, and it was. After high school I am looking to get my degree and then go find a job that I can be successful in, but also enjoy doing

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Nadia Tuzinsky My favorite thing about Community is just how laid back everything is. I’m gonna miss mornings with Steve the most, because drawing, sipping tea and listening to music and boogying with Steve is the best thing ever. I will miss that so much. After high school, I’m excited to just take control of my life and start doing things that are what I want to do versus just trying to graduate. I’m looking forward to making money and being independent.

Noah Bernstein What surprised me the most about Community was, frankly, how much I loved it. In the four years since I started coming here [Community] in eighth grade, when I was looking at high schools, I didn’t have a clear favorite, and I chose Community because I figured that if I gave up my spot in the lottery, then I wouldn’t be able to get it back later. I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to find something amazing potentially. However, when I got here, my first year, I wasn’t expecting the world of opportunities that I’ve now realized as a senior. It emphasizes students’ standing up for themselves, creating opportunities to excite themselves, and encouraging others to embrace their path in high school. Just because there’s so much that you as a student determine. And I think that that experience taught me so much more than just what you see on a syllabus. I think it teaches you a lot of real-life skills. I wasn’t expecting only to learn dates of historical events or how to use commas and write with compound rhetoric. Still, I also learned how to navigate. I think the high school and college campus has a lot of diverse student perspectives that I will be forever grateful for.

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Elijah Lynn A hobby I started [in high school] was drawing because it was something that I enjoyed doing, but I stopped during the pandemic because I wanted to workout but then I went back to drawing and [it] was actually more fun. I tried drawing things that I never [attempted] before like self portraits and figures. Drawing makes me feel calm and relaxed, it’s something I never stress about. Whenever I get upset, I use it to escape and focus on me.

Sebastian Oliva Something Community taught me is never to stop learning. While school may end, there are always more opportunities to grow and learn. It taught me to approach the future with an open mind and be willing to learn from those I encounter. And remember that you will make mistakes, so don't beat yourself up. Life is about change. Community allowed me to embrace the future and learn from each triumph and tragedy, forever determined to move onward and upward. As an incoming 9th grader, I constantly contemplated my failures more than my success. Still, I surely understood not to lament where I fell short but to learn the valuable lessons that will ensure I will not fail the same way again. Community gave me a space to understand not to be a bystander and made taking risks intelligently part of my repertoire.

Community's unbounded walls allowed me as an underclassman to avoid doing "work" and instead engage in what I genuinely enjoy doing. I regret all the many times I did not follow my own advice. If you truly listen to your inner voice, I feel you will end up doing something very meaningful and worthy of your best efforts. You will benefit not only yourself but also those around you.

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Charles Eidelman Being a senior at Community is oddly normal, I don’t feel any different than even my freshman year. The classes are all the same, the level of expectations are the same, and our teachers treat us no different. This is something I like since I don’t think significant life changes should affect how people treat you. It is very exciting to be moving on into adult life, going to school out of state, moving out, working full time, and developing a professional presence. I know I should feel nervous, but honestly, I’m not. I am excited and will not be looking back. I feel strong. I feel like the community has helped me adjust to more responsibility since the freedom the school allows its students forces them to be socially responsible, and take accountability. This preparation has made me a well-rounded person that is ready to tackle the next few stages in my life. Community was in my life for a reason, and now it is time to move on.

Lior Cooper My first day [at Community] was sophomore year because I transferred from skyline. It was really welcoming. I didn’t know anybody but I just got way better feelings from everyone, and everyone was already trying to learn my name and everyone there was just like the opening ceremony. I think [Community] has changed me in a lot of ways honestly because there’s been a lot more freedom of choice. You can really do whatever you want. If you want to slack off, sure you can do that. But you can also take classes that are really challenging.

I think that as an individual, I feel like I’m more myself than I was at Skyline because it’s just in terms of fashions. That’s how we talk through things. Skyline was practically a unit. And if you don’t blend in and you’re not a certain way, just kind of stick out like a sore thumb and get isolated. But I think that Community High School’s honesty taught me that you can dress however you want and people will treat you how you treat them. And so if you’re nice to them, they’ll be nice to you. And also just another caveat that I really liked here is that there isn’t really the same sense of social status at Skyline.

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David Hogan My favorite thing about CHS is probably the freedom that they give us, with the ability to leave campus and interact with places around Kerrytown. I like the fact that you're kind of able to build up friendships and get to know your teachers as well. I think one of the things I learned from CHS, especially being around Kerrytown, is I think I learned how to interact with other people, especially store owners. I'm going to miss some of my friends that aren't going to the same school as me, although I think a few of them are. But I think I’ll miss the culture of CHS. It's a very friendly, welcoming environment. [What excites me about CHS is] the prospect of getting to learn about interesting things, especially world events. We're talking about a lot of current events in my World Lit class. And also the prospect of getting to see friends and people that I know and enjoy talking to. Next year, I think [I am excited for] new experiences in a new place. But I'll still be close to home so that I can come home if I want to, but I won't be in Ann Arbor. So that's exciting.

Tyler Parrish My favorite thing about CHS is how there's not really a hierarchy as there are in other schools. Everyone's just friends with everyone. It stays true to its name, it is a community and it's like that also because of the way you interact with teachers. You have a very close and intimate bond with the teachers and it's good because I think it helps you learn better. [I’m] probably [going to miss the] small aspect of it, because I'm planning on going to MSU in the fall, which is like 30 million times bigger than CHS. It'll be a weird change, but it should be fun. I'm looking forward to college because it's just a new way to learn and grow and change but also just the freedom that comes with it.

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Gaby Adams “[My favorite Community memory] was probably the very first Multiculti. My first Multiculti was really fun, and just walking around to other forums and eating their food—I really liked it a lot. I guess during freshman year, I didn’t really know anyone because I sort of kept to myself most of freshman year, but just walking around, everyone was super friendly, which I appreciated a lot. Community is a small school, so everyone pretty much knows everyone, and I think just going around and talking to new people really helped me to branch out in the next years. [Having a small school] is really nice because you get to know your grade a little bit more. Here at Community, I know pretty much everyone in my grade and the grades below me. Also I [have built] personal connections with a lot of my favorite teachers, like Matt. He’s gone now, but I’ll always send him some of my writing or something like that later, and I just appreciate so many of the teachers here.

Maggie Wolf I’m gonna attend Kenyon College, a smaller school in Ohio. I’m unsure about a major at this point. I could list a bunch of things I’m thinking of, but really, the main theme is that I’m undecided. I was so impressed with the students at Kenyon and especially one alumni that I met… I feel like I picked a college with a very similar vibe to Community. I think it’s super relaxed here in a really nice way; everyone is still high achieving and [focused on] academics, but in a different way.

Everything feels like it’s more at your own pace, and everyone knows everyone. I’ve really appreciated those kinds of relationships that I’ve been able to form, especially with my teachers; I just went out to lunch with a teacher the other day... I have a lot of good memories from Community, like my Algebra II class my freshman year with Moe was just so fun. I would always stay with my friends after tests and stuff just to talk with him. Lots of forum days have been fun, and my one field day was fun too.

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Nora Berry One of my [favorite Community] memories was right before the end of ninth grade. It was just a group of us in the first floor hallway, just like chilling out together, and I remember being so viscerally aware of the context in which we were just able to hang out together within Community. I’d say that’s one of my [favorite things about Community], not having to [adhere] to such a strict schedule and having the luxury of being able to walk in and out of the building. At Pioneer, which is where I dual, if you walk out of the building, then you’re still surrounded by Pioneer, but when you walk out of Community, you’re surrounded by the community in a literal sense, which I’m super grateful for. I think that the way in which I’ve changed that I’m most proud of since freshman year is falling more in line with my personal goals and drive. Figuring out who I am as a person is a very important value in my own life, and I think that if I were to look at myself from ninth grade and look at myself now, the jump from how centered I am in myself has shifted so much.

Melina Gomez-Dominguez Most of my favorite memories were from my freshman year, especially during forum. Our first Multi Culti, my forum did “noodles around the world,” and we got all these spicy ramens, and we had a contest. It was just funny to watch, and we had so much fun. We had gallons of milk prepared for everyone. I just think that forum is something unique that we have here at Community. No other school really has forum or an advisory kind of thing, and if they do, then they’re not as close with the people. [At Community], you form more bonds or relationships with these people, and see them more often than even things outside of school. That’s something really unique, especially when it’s a mix of all grades. You give advice to each other and help each other out. Being here at Community, I learned how to be more independent. One thing I definitely struggled with [freshman year] was reaching out to teachers for help in classes. I just didn’t really want to ask for help, and it was too late when I noticed that teachers here at Community are very understanding of things. If you just talk to them, they’ll be willing to help you with anything, which is something that I really love.

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Ava Lowen I’ve always had some sort of interest in medicine, whether that’s Veterinary Sciences or psychology or specific fields within medicine, like nephrology or ophthalmology. I’m excited to take specialized classes in college that will allow me to pursue specific interests.

If I had to pick today, I would be most interested in going into ophthalmology in college. Having had eye problems myself growing up, I definitely had to learn a lot about eyes when I was little and I think the interests carried through. I feel like I can empathize better with people who have eye issues.

I’m ready to not be tied down to the long, rigorous schedule of high school and have freedom over the things I do. Living in the dorms will help me separate myself from my family and figure out the direction I want to take my life in.

I’ve found confidence in high school by finding a solid group of friends. Solidifying friendships helped me feel more confident because they are not only friends, they are resources. The people you surround yourself with, those are connections. I’m so glad I’ve solidified that group into one I’m comfortable and happy with.

Jack Bazzani I am going to miss the friendships that I have made over the years. Community has provided a unique high school experience that will prepare me for my future.

I think that if I had to give a piece of advice to the incoming freshman class, it would be to take advantage of what Community provides and to try and make the most out of your high school experience, because it goes so fast. I would also like to thank Matt Johnson, for helping me adjust to my first few weeks of high school. He helped make the switch a lot easier.

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TJ Watson I’m going to be working full time at an audio company that does live sound. So I will be working as a live sound technician or sound engineer. I’m currently working with the company that I’m going to be full time at after high school, and then I’m going to move out and move close to WCC and to my childhood home.

CET definitely gave me a leg up on other people entering the live sound career that most people don’t have. CET gave me a place to go that was fun. It was pretty much a cult that’s easy to join and easy to leave, but I wouldn’t leave it because it’s become such an important part of my life.

The closest that I’ve been with a teacher has been to Matt Johnson. He was there for a lot of hard times for me. He’s led me to be way more patient and logical and to being able to understand what’s happening in my own mind. He definitely changed me for the better. I am so glad to be in that forum.

There’s a lot of social masking that happens for me, but forum with Matt was a place where I could drop those walls and vibe no matter how much other people weren’t a fan of it. It just gave that safe space to be like, ‘this is where I am and I can be who I am here.’

Mark Ziebell I found my best relationships in high school primarily through forum. As the years go on, everyone has classes with everyone. So by the time we got to those senior classes, at that point everyone’s kind of friends. That’s the advantage of being in such a small school: everyone knows everyone.

The friends that I have now care a lot more about me than my middle school friends. When I was surrounded by a lot of people who were constantly bringing each other down, that brought me down too. Now that I’m surrounded by people who like themselves, and like each other, it makes things a lot easier.

After high school, it’s going to be a lot of new freedom. In theory, I won’t have to wake up as early in the mornings. It’s going to be a lot of new people.

I’m hoping that I can stay friends with old people that I know. I’m staying in Ann Arbor, so there won’t be a huge change of scenery.

I think I succeeded in my goal of being happier and surrounding myself with people who want to be happy. That’s undoubtedly the best part.

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Kate Angus My favorite memory from Community had to be when I was just sitting in the hallway waiting for theater class to start and a cart went by with a bunch of fruits..

I briefly processed it, but not all that much. I really didn’t realize what was happening because I was kind of just sitting there. I got up and walked away from where the cart was. I was talking to a bunch of friends and then I came back and there was just a pile of bananas in the middle of the floor. I just kind of thought to myself, like where did those come from? So I was standing there, and there were just bananas in the middle of the hallway. And that was just kind of a staple memory from Community and theater class. That moment has just kind of stuck with me. I think because it was so random, I have never really forgotten about the random banana and fruit cart in the middle of the hallway before theater started.

Felicity Rosa-Davies In my sophomore year, when I started thinking about letters of rec, the two people I thought of were Judith and Moe. By the time I needed letters of rec to be written, they had both left. When Matt left, he told our forum before he told anyone else. I remember going into the hallway with three of my friends and just tearing up. We [were] like ‘he’s really leaving a semester before we graduate. How crazy and sad is that?’

I think the teachers leaving taught me how to adapt and rely on myself. I’ve always found role models in my teachers, ever since I was six years old. But those support systems leave. Of course, they’re still in the world and still talking, but a teacher-student relationship is not like a friendship. [When they left] I was not only reminded of that boundary but [the boundary] was reinforced. It taught me to rely on myself and lean more into [my friendships] because I didn’t have the support of the adults in their physical presence as teachers at Community. It also taught me that in many scenarios, I’m all that I need.

That really instilled confidence and [taught me to] adapt and find new relationships with new teachers.

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Breena Morgenstern I am going to miss all of the freedom that Community has given me. Now that I am going to college, I am going to miss some of the opportunities that I have received here the past few years.

Mia Wood The teacher-student connection [stood out the most].

I’ve grown really close with a lot of my teachers and I don’t think that’s something I could have done at another school. My teachers have become some of my closest friends who I hope to stay connected to, as I leave CHS. They’re just a lot of help when it comes to academic things and personal life things. They’re there for me when I need them. Courtney, my forum leader, has helped me figure out what I want to do with my future. Hearing what she’s done in her life, career wise, and through her lessons in ecology class. It’s helped me figure out what exactly I want to do with my life. I will be majoring in Environmental Science and minoring in Aquatic and Fishery Biology. The Fishery and Aquatic Sciences was mainly because of Courtney. I knew that I wanted to go into environmental science, but our fish unit in Ecology and hearing about Courtney’s stories about living on a boat sounded like fun to me. Taking care of the salmon was also such a good opportunity that Courtney gave to me. Just watching them grow up and seeing their stages of life was really interesting to me.

I’m really excited to release them and see how they impact our ecosystem. I’ve learned a lot from them and what they offer.

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Stella Valentino My favorite memory from Community High School is from freshman year when my forum went to cabins in Waterloo for forum day. Spending time outside and staying up late around the campfire was my favorite part about it. I remember seeing the seniors and thinking ‘wow, they are so old and cool — I can’t wait until I am one of them one day’. And now, my forum is going back to that same campsite this year. The freshman will now look at me and think; ‘wow, they are so old and cool’— referring to me.

Mira Schwarz On my very first day at CHS, I was terrified. I was walking through the hallways trying to stay quiet and I didn’t really know what to do or say. I knew I wanted a small school and the teacher-student relationships so I’m glad I made the decision to go to CHS. I loved high school. Forum was my absolute favorite class, and I would not have gotten through high school without my forum teacher Courtney. When I would struggle with any issues, she was always there, a phone call away.

I went to Community to have teachers like Courtney.

I was so excited coming back to school after the pandemic. I missed my teachers and seeing people because you just didn’t get much social interaction. Coming back my senior year and seeing everyone was a very sentimental feeling. It made me appreciate my classes and my teachers a lot more. Even just being able to take notes in class. I got really excited about pulling out my notebook and getting to work. It meant a lot more coming back, especially being a senior.

I will be attending Case Western Reserve University.

They are very hands-on learning. They have so many hospitals that I get to work in right away.

The size of their nursing school is like the same size as Community. I talked to one of the professors and asked what the student relationship was like. She said by the time you graduate, every single professor will know every single one of you. They’re important to us and we’re important to them.

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Lydie Roebuck I think freshman year and sophomore year, I had a lot of undiagnosed anxiety and social anxiety, and then we went online so I didn't really get to socialize and have as many friends as I probably would have. But I think I overcame a lot of my social anxiety because I realized that everyone is in the same boat. Everybody around me wants to help me. So I kind of overcame a lot of that. I felt like I didn't have a strong relationship with my teachers online. But that definitely changed the second we got back like it was really welcoming to see like the teachers and it felt a lot better. When I was getting behind in classes online, I had Courtney to call and text about it and she helped me to organize everything.

She checked in with me after school, and also created a chart for me on what I needed to get done and she was so helpful to me.

Emilio Uribe Botero My biggest challenge at Community was finding a good group of friends and fitting in, because after middle school like most of my friends went to Pioneer [High School]. I still have a lot of friends there, but I would say that now I have a pretty good group of friends here [at Community]. Making friends was easy here with forum, school activities and having classes with people. I would say my biggest drastic change was during COVID because I didn’t see people for so long, a lot of the people who I used to be friends with I’m not really friends with anymore, just because I guess it’s just the people you most wanted to be friends with. They’re just the ones that you kind of see trends. Not that I’m like, not that they’re not cool people or anything, you just change over time by yourself.

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Mia Goldstein My favorite high school memory was actually not in high school, it was in Washington, DC at my first National Scholastic Press Association convention during my sophomore year of high school. That was the first school trip I'd ever been on and I realized the influence the Communicator had and the national recognition it had. It was also the first time I realized that I wanted to pursue something in journalism. All the people on the Communicator had a passion for what they did, and they really cared about the work they published.

It wasn't something superficial, and it most definitely wasn't something they just did for the high school credit. It was something that they loved and they really passed that love down to me. I continue to pursue journalism because I know I have a platform and voice to spread awareness on things that other people don't always have the opportunity to do for themselves. It's my job as a journalist to always look deeper for those stories — it’s a really powerful thing because very few high schoolers have that power.

Ava Hartung My favorite high school memory is most of the days I’ve spent in ecology club. It’s just been really enjoyable hanging out with one of my favorite teachers, a lot of people I really like and learning about stuff I’m really interested in. I hope to go to school for it eventually.

I’d like to go to college for environmental studies and either go into some kind of teaching or political position concerning climate change. Clubs can be really enjoyable. Just try to ask about what level of commitment the club is because sometimes you can get overwhelmed with too many activities really easily.

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Elliot Davis My forum trip to Howell Nature Center as a freshman we really got to know the seniors and upperclassmen better, we really got to bond with them. The high ropes course was a lot of fun and it was great to spend some outdoor time with the forum and get to know new people because a lot of those people we would be in the same class with for the next four or three years. I really think that other big schools in town, they really don’t have that tight group of people that we have, that we’re going to be with for a while. They don’t form this kind of family community or get to experience that. Forum stays tight. You stay with one forum leader for all four years, you get to know them very well, and you get to know your classmates very well. Since freshman year mentally I’ve matured. I’m really starting to draw lines from what’s right and what’s wrong. I’m finding out what I want to do in my future. As a freshman I was just not really thinking ahead and just doing what I felt like doing, but now I’m definitely thinking ahead more. I’m definitely in a better space mentally, and I definitely like myself more.

Eliot Ziolek I remember going to Forum on the first day of school.

I was in Cindy Haidu-Banks’s forum, Cindy’s now retired, and I just remember being really nervous but everyone was trying to make me feel comfortable. I chose to go to this school because my brother went here and had a great experience. I also wanted a smaller school and I really liked the science and art program offered here. My favorite memory of CHS isn’t really a specific thing, it’s more general. I love being able to walk to different little local places for lunch. I especially like the People’s Food Co-op, a tiny grocery store past Teriyaki Time. I went there often in my sophomore year and my favorite lentil soup is offered there. Looking back, I feel better about going up and talking to people than I used to in my 9th grade year. I love the interconnected-ness of CHS and the relationships formed between students and teachers. Another unique thing about CHS is the lack of grade separation, especially in English classes and that allows people to have mentors or be mentors.

It was really weird to come back to school. I forgot what it felt like and then I walked back into school and thought, ‘Oh year, this is a place I know.’ Also, the construction sucks here because you can’t see things that you used to which made the transition back to CHS weird in its own way.

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Lily Rose Germano I‘ve really liked forum, especially like before COVID Because we did a lot more activities and bonding activities for him day like overnights. I feel like that made us know more about each other. So it was less like a normal class and more like a group of friends.

I think the teachers [here] are very helpful and have a lot of office hours and ways to connect with them.

[They] help you understand [material] more if you’re struggling, which I thought was very helpful. I want to be a math teacher and I think the math teachers I’ve had here have been very [good] and very helpful and I think that’s helped me know what I want to do.

I’ve always liked math more than [most], because I’ve always been good. I had Ed my freshman year and I think that really made me more [sure] because I really loved him as a teacher—he was very nice and helpful.

And it was less like a math class and more like a fun thing. I think in general, I’ve grown more. I think I’ve been more open to trying new things or different activities than I was beforehand because I thought I knew what I liked. And I wouldn’t didn’t want to do deep things, if I didn’t know more about [them]. Now I try more things even if I don’t know as much beforehand.

Roberta Gatti I’m not as shy as I once was in middle school. I’m a bit more confident and I feel like I’m speaking out more in my classes and that’s good. I like how calm it is here—I actually spent my freshman year at Pioneer, and it was just stressful and rigid and not it. Community is a much friendlier environment; everyone knows each other, and I really like that. Model UN was super fun and I really learned a lot about how the world works and [specifically] how the UN works. It was really fun to argue with people, and I don’t know what that says about me but it was fun. Most of the history classes here have also been really interesting—I’m probably going to major in English or History but I am really undecided right now.

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Oliver Schutt I started out in a middle school of about 20 people and coming here there were probably some things about like a bigger school I needed to get used to. I got used to being around more people talking to more people and I saw the value in having all these connections around me. Community provides a lot of connections because you get people from all the other schools—you have this big community around you that all feeds into this one school. It’s kind of cool that you get all these kinds of people. That’s definitely helped me grow as a person— this congregation of all these different perspectives of what high school should be. Split enrolling was kind of a cool opportunity to go to two schools. I like the adventure it brings to my day; I can start the day at one type of school and end up at another. Split enrolling out a different school brings other opportunities that I wouldn’t get at Community. It just kept opening more doors. [At Pioneer] you’re just a head in the crowd—having to advocate for yourself [was] a good thing I got from [there]. [At Community] I have [more] individual attention. Knowing that both of those [environments] work in the world is a really valuable piece of knowledge.

Madison Bell I will always remember the lunch table on the third floor. My friends and I have always sat at that lunch table. I’ve fallen asleep laying across that table, I’ve done homework there and I’ve cried at that table. It started when we all had a free fourth block during our freshman year. My friends and I weren’t brave enough to go off campus yet, so we thought, ‘let’s just go sit at this table and see what happens.’ We sat at that table for every free block for the next five semesters. Initially, I didn’t want to come to Community at all. My mom was like, ‘you will sign up for Community and I will force you to go to this orientation.’ So we signed up for the orientation, and I ended up getting in. I was 42 on the list, so I thought ‘maybe it’s a sign.’ I thought ‘none of my friends are going, maybe I’ll hate it. If I hate it freshman year, I will go to Huron as a sophomore.’ But I fell in love with it.

[With] open schedules and free blocks, it was a change of pace that was really nice for me.

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Oliver Lete-Straka The best part of climbing for me is the community that I have around it. I definitely wouldn’t be friends with some of the people I am friends with if it weren’t for climbing and it’s nice to have that. It’s nice to have a thing that connects me to other people that isn’t through school or something school related, something that’s kind of in my control and that is personal to me. I climb almost every other day and the reason I started climbing was because I wanted a more fun way to work out because I got really bored just lifting, so having this new way of working out, kind of showed me what fitness could be, and it definitely helped me find my preferred form of fitness that I could consistently do. In college, I want to try to find some rock climbing club, so I can keep doing it in my life. At the camp I work at, Camp Algonquin, which I was also a camper at, I worked at the rock wall pretty often or at least I did last summer, so I’m especially grateful for having started climbing so that I can use those skills in the future. [Also,]If you feel like you want to try something new and especially if you have a friend that climbs you should definitely try going climbing because you will enjoy it.

Esther Cohen When I was a freshman, me and two of my friends got all dressed up, and we didn’t even have an outfit. We just tore holes in white shirts and then put fake blood on them. We called it sufficient, and then we went to the Halloween dance at Community. It was super fun, and it was a very good atmosphere. There were a lot of people there from all the schools. It was cool to have a Community event because there aren’t very many, and then have people coming from other schools to our school, I just thought that it was nice. I feel [the halloween dance] was so memorable because of the upperclassmen, it felt like they knew what Community was like. And then that was before, everything shut down. So that was like one of the only events. [CHS] has so much more flexibility in how things operate and that’s kind of how I remember Community.

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Talia Briske I’ve gotten more comfortable with who I am as a person. I don’t try as hard to please others. I used to try to change who I was to be the person that people thought I should be. I must be better at being who I want to be now than I was as a freshman.

It’s really nice to be back [at CHS]. But I also don’t feel like a senior because we were away from the school for so long. So it doesn’t feel real.

One of my favorite memories that were uniquely Community was forum trips when we did overnights.

That’s not something you need to do at other schools and it was cool to get to bond with people that I wouldn’t normally talk to.

There were a lot of reasons [I chose CHS]. I think the main one was that I didn’t see myself at Pioneer. I didn’t think I would thrive there, but I could see myself thriving in Community. I think I made the right choice.

I think it’s just a great school and I’m really grateful to go here. I’m very lucky that I got in. I have my special place.

Alexandra Mercier My favorite class at Community was film photography with Steve which I took freshman year. I was really lucky to get the last spot in it because it fills up so fast.

Steve is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. This class really introduced me to the freedoms of Community because we would just not only learn how to develop and print our own photos, but we also went out to capture them during class. So we would go out on campus and go around downtown, and just take photos throughout the class, which is something that other schools can’t do. And as a freshman having that experience made me know this is where I wanted to be. It was a really, good introduction to what Community is and what you can do when you’re given the opportunities to be independent and do things on your own but still have this structure to get things done. It was a really sharp learning curve in terms of independence and learning how to navigate my own time and learning to work with myself and it just introduced me to a whole different level of life.

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Jada Hikary Community really is what you make it and I think I did make the most of it while I was here. I got to do a bunch of like really cool things. Like utilizing the University of Michigan and going to Kerrytown all the time. I actually went to a different school for my junior year, because I was in California and it was completely different from Community. I really wanted to go to a super prestigious college. So I was like, now that I have AP classes as an option, I need to take them. So, I took like four AP classes. I just completely packed in my schedule and it was all online. It was like a traditional California school and I hated it. Like I absolutely hated it. I was like, ‘oh my god, I miss community so much’. I miss having relationships with my teachers and with my classmates. It just wasn’t the same. I didn’t even care about what I was learning because it was just for some AP test. It wasn’t for me to learn.

I’m just really grateful that I got to go to Community. And I think it really did prepare me well for college and it put me on a track where I love learning. Like, I want to write a story for myself not to fulfill some grade in a class. It just makes you so much more independently motivated. Because at Community there’s no one telling you ‘you need to do this’. No one’s holding your hand, It’s kind of up to you.

Paloma Duda-Cortes My first camp Talahi trip out into the church camp.

That was somewhere I bonded with forum mates. I gained some pretty good friends and it was something away from school but with school people. Another great memory was my freshman year Pi Day. That was fun because I ate five different types of pie. It was really yummy.

I used to stay more to myself freshman year, around the friends I knew. But now I’ve branched out and tried to talk to new and different people, which is fun.

For scholarships, many of them currently rely on SAT scores. Now that they’re not required by colleges, people are like ‘Oh yeah, I’ll just not take it.’ But if you need financial support, and you need scholarships, those scores will help you get scholarships. Hopefully moving forward, they’re gonna take that away and make it based on other things, but that definitely helps.

So I’d recommend taking the SAT. [Switching from SHS to CHS] was a ‘see how I like it’ because I could have always gone back to the home school. But I’m glad I came. There’s more of a personal connection at this school between teachers and students. Everyone knows each other.

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RayLonda Dukes I [used to] hang out with a girl who steered me in the wrong direction. I just wanted to fit in and find where I belong. I don’t want to forget that year and the friend that I had, even though it wasn’t the right fit. I don’t think I would be where I am if I did. I learned that I really do care about my education and that I don’t want it to go to waste. I ended up having a lot of fun at Community. I found friends in the art classes and became friends with their friends and then their friends.

I really liked forum. I used to be in the Stapleton forum until Robbie retired. I really did look up to Robbie. She was the reason I started working out more and getting healthy. She’s always made me want to get out there and talk to people [since] I was always shy. I’ll definitely remember Field Day. The tug of war [was] really hard. I had never been on a team or anything — [it was] the first time I ever felt like not winning anymore.

As a team, we were just having so much fun.

Alexandra Phillips Beem To my 9th grade self I would say be your own person and don’t rely on someone else to make friends for you.

You can make them yourself and just enjoy your time and cherish every moment that you can. After quarantine it was very weird because we had to get back used to being in person and actually being present in class and paying attention because your teacher will ask you a question. I chose this school because I thought it would be easier to learn because the classes were smaller and the teachers could help you way more one on one which I think is the best way to learn for me.

This school has taught me so much. I would say mainly that it taught me to be my own person because coming into the school I really relied on other people to help me make friends and that was wrong because I need to meet people that I know I will be good friends with in the future and being your own person is very important to me.

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Natalie Mycek-Card When I went to middle school, I went to Clague, and I think that Clague had a very bad association with Community just because the parents were like ‘everything AP in high school, everything this and that,’ and Community doesn’t really offer that. It offers split enrollment, but that’s kind of inconvenient. I was like, ‘I feel like it would be cool if I tried to get in [to Community] because it’s a lottery and if I don’t like it, then I can transfer.’ And so I did, but I was put [low] on the waitlist, and so I went to Huron for my first year. That didn’t go over so well for me. It just really wasn’t what I was looking for because it was really competitive and I had a lot of burnout, and I felt bad like trying to consistently compete with my peers for the best grade in the curve. Then I went to Community in 10th grade after I found out that I [got in]. They were like, ‘Hey, we went to various other people [on the waiting list] and they said, no, they’re okay. So do you want to come here?’

I’m like, yes.”

Walden Jones-Perpich I remember I went to St. Andrew’s church and then ended up doing the first day stuff on the front lawn. I didn’t know anybody so I sat with my sister and her friends during lunch. Field Day freshman year was super fun for me to have because my sophomore year was all COVID. The whole school just got together and we played games, hung out in the park and grilled food.

Community has helped prepare me for college in a lot of ways. For one, my college classes have been really helpful. Also, the freedom to choose my own classes, manage my own time, and walk around the open campus have prepared me. I think [Community] has helped me appreciate school because it’s so unique.

It’s made me appreciate how much work the teachers put in and I think it’s made me appreciate school more than I had in the past, just because it’s been such a great experience.

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Colette Klun On my first day [at Community,] everyone was going over to the assembly and it was very chaotic. I was nervous, but then we did forum, and it felt like a place that I could connect with and meet people. I chose Community because I visited and it seemed to me that you could bond with the teachers, and forum seemed like a nice way to meet people. I think that I have a harder time meeting people, so it seemed like I’d be able to meet people here. I think CHS is nice because it prepares you for college in the sense that you have freedom and more control over your classes [than at a traditional high school.] It was refreshing to come back [from online school] and see people. I didn’t know any of the freshmen in forum, so it was nice to come back and talk to them and become a community again.

My favorite memories at CHS are from forum day. I liked it when we did community service and we all went to the kindergarten classroom. It felt like everyone enjoyed it and it was a nice sense of bonding. We all felt like we did something for the community.

Labron Brown “It's kind of nice to spork people even though there's an economic interest in your life. You spork a few people and you might get a few more dollars in your pocket at the end of this. What we really need to do though, is we need to start playing Vegas and start betting on who's going to win. Get some more money in the game. I just love the whole Community experience, I don't really have a favorite memory. The open campus and just having the freedom and the teachers are all really nice. I've never had one bad teacher. When I tell people from other schools about what we have here, they're always like, ‘Oh my, Pioneer or Huron is so boring,’ so I think I would have had a worse high school history if I was there. I've personally changed a lot. I feel like I've gotten way more mature, I started a fitness journey, I’m just getting better at school, and talking to people. I don't really talk a lot so I do try and I feel like I'm getting better. I do homebuilding and we're building a house. It's really cool learning trades and stuff like that so I feel like I'm leaving Community with a good high school experience.”

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Jasmine Lowenstein I love the open curriculum and that it gives us a chance to find our own independence inside CHS and in our community. And I also love the people and teachers.

I think I’ll miss just walking around the school and having conversations with random people that I might have never talked to or never talked to again. It’s fun getting to know different people that maybe I wouldn’t have gotten to know if I’d gone to a bigger school. I’m so excited to go to college and live on my own in a dorm and do classes that I’m really interested in and join clubs and all the fun stuff.

Chrissy Kuiper I took many art classes, about two each semester, so I always had a class with Steve. Whether I was sitting with friends or not, he made me feel very welcomed in the classroom. Steve definitely played a big part in the first half of my high school experience. In the second half, it was Tracy. With everything she does, the amount of passion Tracy has for what she does is definitely something I look up to. She influenced how hard I work and helped me decide what I want to do in the future.

The best part about Community is having so much freedom. When it’s utilized in the correct way, you can really thrive here. If you talk to your teachers, if you work hard, you get a lot more out of the school, and out of the people here than if you slack off. Everyone cares about everyone else, whether you’re trying or you’re not. Showing up matters.

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Katie Scoville When I walked into Community for the first time as a freshman, I got this feeling that the upperclassmen understood the type of person they wanted to be. You could also tell they were all confident. And for the underclassmen, it’s scary at first. But since freshman year I’ve been able to feel more comfortable being who I want [to be]and wearing what I want.

My confidence has grown through seeing other people feel comfortable and talking to people who I might not be super close with. There’s room to casually join conversations or talk to people spontaneously.

I think that’s neat because Community helps people feel comfortable figuring out who they are and gives you room to do that and change if you want to. CHS has taught me that you can be whoever you want, and that you have room to branch out if you’re still figuring stuff out. You don’t have to have everything figured out by the end of high school. Everyone is scared and thinks that you have to know what you’re doing and where you’re going, but you don’t. You can do whatever you want. I can do whatever the hell I want.

Sadie Agranoff My favorite part of Community is definitely the open campus and the amount of responsibility and maturity that [CHS] expects you to have when you come to school. [Open campus] makes you feel more independent, and independence is freedom. With teachers, you have the ability to exercise this freedom, and they trust you to not abuse it.

I came to Community because my brother went here and really liked it. I had no idea where I really wanted to go to high school because I didn’t really know if I wanted to go to Pioneer, which was my home school.

When I got into Community, I was excited. But also unsure because I was like, this building is as big as my middle school. But I definitely made the right decision.

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Saxon Malchow I just want to finish my work and get good grades.

Julia Kirschenmann COVID affected me in a way that I can’t really vocalize or pinpoint. Ultimately, I feel like I’m a more developed person than I was before the pandemic, but it’s been two years so obviously things have changed.

Overall I’d say that my schedule outside of school is something that really affected me and continues to affect me currently. I’ve learned how to manage my time better when I have more things to do, and [I have] also learned how to find time to rest. I value down time a lot more and I feel so much more motivated when I’ve had time to relax. But paying attention to how I spend my time over the past couple of years because of the pandemic has really affected me. It has helped me be more productive and I’ve learned a lot about myself.

For example, I get really lazy in the afternoons and I’ve had to figure out how to combat that and figure out what works for me so I can be productive. Everybody handles their time differently and I think it’s interesting to hear people’s observations about themselves.

Personally though, the pandemic has really changed me for the better.

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Logan Seiler It’s been an interesting four years since the midwest had brought in the pandemic. I know I’m going to be biased, but I kind of wish I didn’t lose two years of experience (from the pandemic). We [The Tabletop Games Club] started off in a virtual setting. So trying to get other people to join was a problem. We had other technical difficulties to resume. But oh god, it’s been good. We have three or four campaigns running right now. I’m doing my own [campaign], but I didn’t just get to make the progress. We asked for some of the compressed audio from Tabletop Games Club, and watching it come together, I wasn’t sure how many balls I would get in one hit. Now, this club has, I want to say, 45 people in it. So it is exploding far beyond what everyone imagined. When I see this little club, it’s got a good future. I know it’s a good place to go to, and I hope it continues.

Karina Roberts [One of my biggest takeaways from CHS is] the connections that I’ve made with staff members and people that I want to keep in my life for a really long time. I think the two teachers that are mentioned most would be Courtney Kiley and Matt Johnson. They have both seen me through a lot of different moments in my life and helped me through whatever I needed help with.

They’re just some of the most inviting and comforting people. I [am excited to begin] to be able to finally spend the deserved amount of time on my life and not be stressed out about all these things that I genuinely don’t even believe in. I’m just excited to be able to live honestly.

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Kian Hemati I'd say one of the biggest things I learned from high school is how to actually learn from different groups of people. It has helped me build a sense of community.

I wasn't really good at [communicating] with teachers about questions I had and things that I didn’t understand. I didn’t really do this in middle school. I was most surprised about the open campus. I just kind of came from middle school. Although I feel like the more open and natural environment kind of makes it more comfortable to be here. I don't like to leave that much during the day but just the fact that that's an option and stuff makes it a more comfortable climate. I feel like at other schools you have less connections with your teacher and get to talk to them less individually. Knowing [the teachers] by their first name helps build connections here. It's easier to talk to our teachers and we feel more confident that we are going to get a response.

I'd say something I look forward to the most after I graduate would probably be being able to take the community building skills I feel like I've discovered here and kind of build my own community and friends. I am kind of just excited to see where I go after this and how I make my own life. I feel like it's given me a lot more tools to be able to do that.

Chloe Warren I learned how to be accepting of others even if their beliefs are different from mine. I was surprised how much freedom we have. I know in other schools you have actual bells and you have a hall pass to go to the bathroom, but at CHS you can go downtown if you want to and you can go off campus. [My favorite part about CHS is] the community and the connection that I have with the teachers. I really feel like I can get to know the teachers. [After I graduate] I'm looking forward to relaxing and taking a week off to do nothing.

But after that, I'm looking forward to making new friends at college and getting to experience new things.

I will be attending Hope College.

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Levi Kopald I really liked the freedom, it’s campus and how teachers always helped me a little bit more, having some extra time to do some homework. Having like the free block in the middle the day freshman year epitomized that. Having some extra time to do some homework, study for tests. That time also made me feel more independent, like a grown up. It was really cool. It just felt how independent I’ll be in college, when I’m living on my own. The same type of thing. I feel like Community prepared me for college really well.

Alex Cantu I actually transferred [to Community] after freshman year from Skyline. I wanted to come here initially and I didn't get in. Basically I just really liked the open campus idea, I really liked the vibe, I liked the people that I knew that [had come] here. Especially after a first year at Skyline, which I didn’t dislike, I just wanted to try something new. So I transferred, and I’ve really enjoyed it since. I’ve really [valued] the flexibility that I’m given to kind of control my own education. Just because every other public school, it’s kind of just given that you’re like a cog in a system and you just do the assignments that are given to you and stuff like that.

You have to be at class, and, I don’t know, it just felt like jail. And coming here, I just really appreciate that I can kind of do what I want, and I can be responsible for my own self. I’m kind of done [at this point], I’ll miss the school, the people, [but] I’m going to Michigan, so I’ll be just down the road.

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Gigi Wolmark My first day was very nerve-wrecking since high school was another stage in education and made me feel like I was too young for it. Even though CHS was kind of chosen for me, I heard there were nice people there and that the theater program was good, which appealed to me since I had a dream of starring in a production, particularly a period drama. When I took theater class, I had some funny memories, such as the theater exercises they taught us, encouraging us to try not to be cool and just be “silly”. Learning to be “silly” and not care for others’ opinions has given me a sense of bravery. With this sense of bravery I had more ways I could present myself. I’ve always wanted to play a female’s role in a period drama and now I can someday see myself doing that. Playing a female’s role in a period drama reminds me of grace and beauty and I would love to be able to portray that.

V Bonevich My first memory of CHS was the 8th grade visitation day thing. I was glad to not be around most of the people from my middle school because it wasn’t an amazing experience.

I really like the open campus aspect as well as the free-blocks.

My grandfather taught me how to paint using watercolors as a child, and after he passed away in my freshman year, I continued to use watercolors because it was the one thing that really connected me to him which made me very happy because I was very close to him. With watercolor, I enjoy painting people, animals and landscapes.

I also draw and I prefer drawing on paper just because I’m more used to it, but digital is easier mostly because there are more tools available to utilize as well as the fact that the final piece usually looks cleaner.

Coming back to Community was nice because I was able to see people that I hadn’t talked to in a while. I’m not a very social person but it was good to get out of my house and talk to friends.

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Misha Castilla The Community CR program was very useful to me in being able to study what I wanted at WCC and has helped me to make a more informed decision about what I want to do for college. Similarly, the freedom has allowed me and my family a lot of flexibility with my younger siblings who need rides. And overall, the atmosphere at Community has allowed me to be myself as opposed to being bottled up or constrained by society. [Throughout high school] I took five classes at Washtenaw Community College (WCC): Calc 1, 2, and 3, Intro to Business, and Linear Algebra. Those helped me with my math career obviously, which I now know that I don’t want to go into but it’ll be useful for me in the future, taking science classes and business classes, as these are like prerequisites for those of you have to do at the University of Michigan.

Alec Simon Honestly, I don’t really feel completely qualified to say what my favorite part of school was, it’s never really been my thing. For me, though, [the best part of high school was] probably when COVID hit and we got to go home, because I don’t really like school. All that free time was really nice and it got me back into skateboarding. I’ve gotten a lot better [at skating] and met a lot of new people, and it’s actually what I’ll be doing next year. In September, I’m going to Barcelona for a month to skate with two of my friends, and then I’ll probably come back and work, make money, and take classes at Washtenaw Community College for either sports medicine or something with film. I really like film because it’s the main way I share my skating online, so it’d be cool to get a degree for it.

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Cate Weiser I was at a pretty small middle school. So we all knew our teachers really well and it was something that made my life a lot easier. At CHS I was excited because, again, with a smaller school, you get to know your teachers better. And my teachers have been instrumental in my success. [They] have all helped me in so many ways academically and as a person. My parents have always said that respect is earned and not given, and I feel like my [CHS] teachers have shown me that respect can be given and then maintained. I really learned from my Community teachers that everybody is deserving of respect and decency because I watched them do that every day, even with difficult students.

They still acted with so much poise and so much external kindness no matter what, and that’s something that I really want to take with me because I think it’s the most productive way to exist. I think that people will do things to maintain your respect if they already feel comfortable around you and respected by you. I think that it’s something that I’m going to try to carry with me for the rest of my life because I think it’s a nicer way to treat people.

Grace Wang My favorite part about Community High School (CHS) is I think [that] it’s a kinder school than most other schools. I think people are a lot more open to being friendly and starting a conversation with you. I feel like when you walk into other schools, it’s a little bit cold and it feels clique-y no matter what and [I feel like] it’s very unlikely that you talk to somebody who isn’t a close friend. But at CHS, I could talk to anybody in the halls. Everybody is willing to just be friendly, even if it’s just for a second. I think CHS taught me to know what I want, and that it is very possible for me to ask for those things. I think before I was of the idea that like I’ll do it myself, or it can’t happen. But I think CHS is a great place to ask for help. I’m going to take that idea with me in asking for opportunities later in life and seeking those things out, because I think that CHS makes you a more independent student in the way that you learn. I think the experience of CHS is changing because of the pandemic, and the school is starting to feel less welcoming. I would just like people to appreciate how different CHS is and to realize that there’s more to this school than first meets the eye and you can do so much more than people are taking advantage of right now.

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Jocelyn Kincaid-Beal I really like the open campus and being able to go to Sweetwaters or get breakfast if I didn’t have time to eat before class. [I appreciate being able to] go for walks if you need a break. I’m going to miss my friends and I’m going to miss the close-knit community that [CHS] has. [I’m also going to miss] forum. I’ve been in this forum for four years and now I’m leaving it and I’m pretty sad about that because I like this space that we have built [together].

[Leaving CHS feels] stressful, sad, exciting, a relief. I don’t want to be one of those people who’s like, ‘my best days were in high school,’ and I’m really excited for college, but this big part of my life is now over and it’s scary because I don’t really know what’s going to be next.

Ian Taylor It’s kind of hard to say [what my favorite thing about CHS is] because my whole CHS experience got broken up because of COVID-19. But just the communities in CHS are [so valuable]. CET is something that I only get to do every once in a while, but every time that I do it, you can see all the people coming together and just how friendly everyone is. Whenever I talk to my friends who go to other schools, they talk about [their school] not having an identity and they’re like, ‘I wouldn’t be a good ambassador for my school because I don’t know anything about my school,’ but CHS feels like the kind of school that you can actually go up and be like, ‘Yeah, I love my school.’ I’m going to Oberlin and I’m just gonna do liberal arts because I decided that I am smart enough to know that I’m not smart enough to choose a major right now. And I’m just gonna wait till I’m older and wiser.

And I’m just excited to meet new people. I’m sad about leaving everyone but when I was checking out Oberlin, it seemed like it’s a Mega-CHS, like CHS except that everyone who goes there wants to go there and they specifically chose to go there.

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Henry Monte-Sano I used to work at a car garage and I used to run a lot, like cross country and track. But now I just kind of go to the YMCA and play basketball, and hang out with friends. When I started off, I ran cross country and track and that took lots of time so it was the only thing I could do on school days. But now I don’t do that anymore and so I have a lot more free time. Probably winning the mile at field day freshman year was my [favorite memory at CHS]. And other than that, lunches, playing basketball at lunch with friends, and stuff like that. I feel like I’ve just made a lot of friends here so that’s changed my personal life and changed how I see some things. I’ve developed a lot as a person, socially, and we’re all four years older. I feel like [the past four years] felt like a long time just because COVID and all that. So it’s like we started with in-person school and then when it changed to online and everything slowed way down and I just felt like it took forever. Now that we’re back in person it almost feels like a whole new experience just because we had that interruption. But I feel like everyone’s getting used to it again, it’s pretty much back to normal.

Leda Celeste If I were to go back in time and give my 9th-grade self some advice, I would say the same thing I would say to myself now, to not be so down on myself because I do that a lot. My life motto is to work hard and have fun when you're doing it because life moves too fast.

Freshman year was really important to me because I had a lot of teachers who really stuck with me there…

Ken, Anne, Marci Harris. They would say things and really helped me through my first year of school, and I didn’t ever really do school before then. I was homeschooled for most of my life except for second grade.

At least in my first year here I could make friends who had the same interests as me. It was nice to connect with people on an artistic and creative level. I enjoy being here, and I enjoy how much art is pushed — most schools have so much emphasis on academics and sports. I am personally more of an artistic, creative person, so it’s nice to be in a place that advocates for that. Having supportive teachers and role models made it a lot more fun. Most of the teachers said, ‘You can do this. I believe in you.

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Meghan London I wanted to go to Community because I felt like the way the school was designed and how the curriculum was presented was an environment that I felt like I could thrive in. I really liked the idea of an open campus and the idea of being able to grow within the school. I definitely think Community has allowed me to become more independent and more self confident in not only my academic work but my life outside of school. Being downtown has allowed me to access so many different things and the open campus has allowed me to explore things on my own. Being able to walk to lunch for example – although it’s a really minor thing – it actually helped me really gain my independence because it allowed me to make my own choices about where I wanted to go to lunch and how much I wanted to spend on food and things like that really helped me grow as a person.

Josephine Reed Something that was really beneficial to me throughout my time here at Community was all of our forum days that we had because it brought this group of people together in a really close-knit way. It made me feel more part of a community which made me grow. I think building these close relationships throughout four years has benefited me. I have gotten closer to specific people in my forum, which helped me surround myself with people who lift me up. Now I have a big group of people I feel comfortable around. Having forum also helped me grow academically. I remember in freshman and sophomore year, I would go to Anne’s every single free block I had because we had the same free block and she would help me with my math. I think without that I would have had no idea what I was doing.

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Sylvie Swerdlow You know, what's great about Community is the freedom and the teachers. The thing is, though, if you're not self-driven and you don’t want to do your work, you're not going to succeed at Community. There's no one keeping track of where you are. So if you're just gonna skip class and hang out downtown when no one stops you, then Community is not gonna work out for you. That's a big thing. It works out for most people who go, though, so that's good. The biggest advice I have for freshmen, and really all of [the] school, is that teachers, at least good teachers— and Community teachers are good teachers—they want you to learn.

So if you have any sort of physical disability or mental illness going on, email your teachers, or sit down with your teachers, and talk to them about it. Or also talk to Tracy, the social worker, and she can communicate to your teachers about what can make it easier for you to get good grades, because your teachers want you to get good grades. So if you can think of something that would help you do well in school, they'll probably be really accepting of [an accommodation]. All you have to say is ‘hey, this could help me succeed in school’.

Kaes Holkeboer I feel like the main thing that I've gained from CHS that I otherwise wouldn't have is a really diverse set of things that I've learned. It's allowed me to go into all these really cool academic things as well as art stuff like the Italian Art and Culture class. That was an amazing class. I learned a lot about art and it actually got me interested in more classic art than ever before.

I've been doing photography for three semesters and I have developed a pretty big passion for it, which is cool because I didn't know anything about photography before. And jazz, another artistic medium, is probably the single most important class I’ve ever had. It completely transformed the way I think about music and creativity in general and it's given me a thing that I love greatly, and I want to continue forever. On the more academic side of things, the computer science class I took was a really fun experience. So yeah, just lots of different, diverse and interesting things that you might not get otherwise at other high schools.

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Riley Messmann In the home building program, we actually build a house. I'm pretty proud of that, being a part of that team and feeling like I achieved something. But I never really had something like that my first three years of high school, so I didn't feel that until my senior year.

My brother took the program, and he told me about it.

I thought it was a neat opportunity, so I might as well take it. I ended up finding a deep interest in it. Through homebuilding, I'm actually getting a scholarship, a goto-work grant, and they're going to pay me to go get a job in the construction field. I personally am interested in carpentry work. So I would be framing houses, putting in windows and doors and things like that. I'm a very hands-on learner. Over the course of the year, I've learned a lot of different skills. At the beginning of the year, I didn't even know how to read the measuring tape. How to use tools, learning how to use table saws, how to install a door or floors to make it so it doesn't squeak all the time.

Hollis Riggs As far as favorite memory goes, the thing that came to mind was the first Bio-station trip that I went on with the Ecology Club. I think it’s the only trip that I’ve actually gone on with the school or through the school, but it was really fun because it was my first year of high school. It was just me and a few of my friends and then a bunch of the seniors that we didn’t really know, heading up to this little place near Algonquin, but even further north. It was really fun. We snowshoed, and looked at the stars at night on the lake and cooked our own food and watched movies and played games.

Courtney, Liz, Marcy and Ed all came along. Ed was my Forum leader at that time, and I was taking Liz’s class. I got to see like, ‘Oh, like there actually [are] relationships with the teachers here.’ [My favorite moment was] when we went out for this long snowshoe hike and there was this little footbridge that was going over this creek, but it was really, really snowy. There was like a foot of snow and we had our snowshoes on. We were really precariously going over that and hoping nobody fell into the frozen water. I was the first person to do it. And it all went okay. That was a fun time.

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John Umbriac My favorite memory from Community…I really did enjoy sitting outside in the sun and eating lunch with people. Just for the few sunny days that we have. I either eat there, or I go to the French room to play Magic the Gathering, because it’s very fun. Then sometimes I go to the swingset. I go with the remnants of the Magic the Gathering club, just a few people who meet a few times a week to play Magic the Gathering. Anyone is welcome to join us in the French room, by the way.

The group has changed a lot since I was a freshman; the club started sophomore year. So a lot of the participants are people who have long since graduated. So it’s just sort of an ever-evolving thing where we play Magic there. People come around, they’re like, ‘Oh, Magic the Gathering! Let me join you.’ And so we have extra cards that we can give people. So that has been really nice. I’ve spent a lot of lunches with them.

Jordan Clemetson My favorite thing about the last four years is the fact that during the pandemic, Jessica [Whiteside] asked us— her forum— what we wanted when we got back to school. And when we said we wanted a snack nook, she made us a snack nook. After school shut down, we were all sitting at home being really sad, and had nobody to talk to. But now we’ve gone from that to having a snack nook in the back of her room! It’s got tea things, like a teapot and tea, and coffee things: we’ve got honey and sugar and coffee and creamer there. Plus, we have a microwave and a fridge and a ton of different snacks.

It’s my favorite Community memory, maybe even my favorite thing at Community, because it's been a forum bonding activity, as well as, like, a way to support us during school. I think the fact that we were able to make something like that a reality is one of the best parts of Community.

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Lucy Tobier My favorite memory from Community was taking gym class my freshman year. I think going down to the river with a new group of friends and jogging really helped me understand that you can learn in different ways. I wasn’t running the pacer test or lifting weights [in gym class] but I found a way on my own to enjoy the class and to enjoy exercising. I applied this lesson to a lot of my classes throughout high school. It has helped me draw connections between classes, for example, I am doing my final project in Calculus on economics and how the two subjects directly relate to each other. I also love to go for walks in my neighborhood, and I have integrated that into a project in my African American studies class. I am doing a project on the racially restrictive covenants that exist in the neighborhood.

The freedom that I have received and the trust that I have gotten from my teachers, is something that will help me for years to come. It has taught me that I need to depend on my ability and take initiative for myself. No one is going to be like, ‘hey I have this creative project idea’ people are going to expect that you come up with that creative project idea. As I go off to college, I think the lessons that Community has taught me will help me take risks, write a better thesis and make connections between classes.

Harrison Brown I remember when all the high schools came to present at Tappan to pitch their high schools to people.

When Pioneer and Huron came, they were kind of trying to oversell themselves. And I had intended to go to Pioneer, but I went to CHS kind of thinking, man, whatever, it's a small, little school. But it was very different. It was very laid back. It was less of a “let me sell myself” and more of a conversation with students.

I distinctly remember [the representatives] just sitting with us, talking to us. And it was just a very different atmosphere that I liked a lot. I think good advice for freshmen is not to try too hard to prove yourself, if that makes any sense. I remember when I was a freshman, I really wanted to be cool. I wanted to, you know, be a big name at the school and all that. And when you do that, you just kind of become unlikable. So just take it easy, things will work out for you. And ultimately, it's not going to be as bad as you think, and it's not going to go exactly how you think it’s going to go. After high school, I'm going to go to MSU and do a History Education major. I'm going to become a history teacher: maybe I'd like to come back here and teach at the school alongside Ryan Sylvester, the man himself.

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Gaelen VanderElzen I guess my recommendation [for incoming freshmen] is just that it’s good to try new things. And you really need to put effort into them to get a lot out of them. I put in a lot of work into robotics constantly and I became an important fabrication member because of that in my first year. For example, when I was a freshman, there was one time when we were waiting in the queue for a robotics match and I was actively working on fixing one of our systems. And then we fixed it and we tested it right before we got on the field and it worked.

At each [robotics] competition there’s a lot of matches. We usually play about 14-15 every competition and every time, lots of things that go wrong, and we have to work on them in between matches so that we can get back out there, but that’s when some of the most exciting things happen. It’s also really fun to meet a lot of new people at competitions. It’s usually fairly brief at each competition and there are different teams at each competition, but each brief interaction is a good time.

Brendan Grover [My advice to freshmen is to] do what you want to and be more social. In my first two years, I wasn't doing anything and I was just a loner. I still am. But like now I'm in a magazine and stuff. I guess I'm more popular in a sense and I'm happy with what I’m doing.

My most memorable moment was when I first got here, and I just met Londa. It was just like talking to her. I was like, Do you want to sit here? and she said, Yeah, and then we just started talking a little bit. I think that was my best memory, and then just playing D&D a lot.

A moment that changed me was during sophomore year, with Jordan. I was like, “I have good fashion sense,” and he said “your fashion is horrible!” That's the point where I was like, ‘I need to change!’ I know it’s like the dumbest thing ever. I don't know why it made me change for no reason at all. After I get out of school, this summer I plan on getting a job somewhere, probably Hot Topic. I'm going to college, but I haven't decided [where] yet. I think Wooster or Kalamazoo. So I'm gonna go to college. And I don't know what I'm gonna do with my life. I think I will get married.

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Lily McCready I think that I’ve learned throughout the past four years that the letter grade that you get doesn’t really matter that much. Freshman year I was really focused on getting all A’s and I thought that was like, the end of everything if I didn’t, but as the years have gone on, it’s like, as long as I get a C, it’s passing and that’s okay.

Because when I applied to colleges, I don’t feel like any of them really looked at my grade history at all.

They saw my grade point average and it was good and they were like, okay, you’re admitted. But it didn’t really matter that much….Some of the classes I’ve taken throughout high school have been online courses just because there’s more variety that I can take through Michigan Virtual and A2Virtual. I’ve taken World Religions, which is a really interesting class, and astronomy. And I took Native American studies too. And I think that all of those classes, I enjoyed taking and I learned a lot from them. And they didn’t necessarily need to be required for graduation or anything like that.

Sylva Das The biggest lessons I’ve learned at Community are to take new risks and try new things. One of the classes that was most meaningful to me during my time here was with Matt (Johnson), my old English teacher. Before high school, English was my least favorite subject and I hated everything about it. (In Matt’s class) I learned to appreciate a subject that I had been so closed off to before. I learned English in a new way and it became one of my favorite subjects. Coming into (Community) as a freshman, I had a very strict idea of how my academic journey was going to go, I put myself in lots of high level classes and held myself to really high academic standards. Eventually it got to a point around my junior year, where I was taking one class and then I had to drop out because my schedule was too full and I was really upset with myself because I (thought) –“I should be able to handle this”. I was afraid of failure. Throughout the past few years I grew and learned that failure is not a bad thing because you learn from it and it’s not that scary.

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Matan Sussman Yitzchaki [I chose to go to CHS because] I wanted a smaller school. My elementary school, HDS, was like 60 kids in total. Then I went to A2STEAM for middle school, which was definitely bigger, but still small compared to the other schools. So when I looked at Pioneer [for high school] it had 2500 kids or something; it just looked really intimidating. And yeah, I liked the idea of free blocks and just more customizable schedules and whatnot. So I went [to CHS].

I think the biggest thing I’d miss at Pioneer is sexuality. I don't know if I would have figured out that I was bi-romantic [and] asexual because I didn't know too much about [the] LGBTQ [community]... But at least when I was at STEAM, 'gay' was more or less just an insult or a joke, a punch line. I'm glad that I learned quickly before I got punched for saying something stupid, that you should not use 'gay' as an insult or a joke. I learned that I'm that I'm bi and [asexual]. I definitely think that the friends I've made here have taught me lessons that I'm not sure I would have learned at Pioneer. I've become a lot more expressive, I guess. A lot more comfortable with my emotions. Especially physically showing affection, which I don't think I would have gotten at Pioneer.

Nji Zama I’ve grown a lot, especially mentally. Of course I learned a lot of things academically, but I think what’s most important was growing and learning maturity.

I struggled a lot with time management early on. My freshman and sophomore year were just trying to get my stuff together and learn how to manage what I have to do and to not procrastinate. I feel that it helped me excel in a lot of categories. Going from shifting from in person school to online and then back to in person school was a hard task. I think the experience of sudden change and having to adapt to new circumstances will help prepare me for college because I feel college is full of unpredictable changes. I plan to go to school in Texas to study business management and marketing.

I think all that I’ve gone through the past couple years has made me prepared for the next couple years of my life in college. I’ve learned a lot of lessons, especially from my old forum leader, Anne Thomas. She really taught me how to become a better person and helped me learn a lot about myself, like that when I’m determined for something I can really accomplish it.

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Djimo Kouyate I think the biggest thing for me is that I grew up. I learned how to grow out of my shell, how to work with my teachers and my classmates. I was pretty introverted early on as well. I didn’t really make eye contact with people and I didn’t choose to speak up a lot.. I’ve matured so much since my freshman year. I was really irresponsible, childish and disrespectful. But I think it’s a normal thing for kids to act like that. Everybody’s going to grow up at one point, but I think I really had a big change throughout high school. I remember my freshman year in my English class I would get in trouble a lot and one time I got caught cheating. It was childish of me to do, but when I talked to the teacher, the way they handled it was really helpful. I really saw something in myself that was different. I realized that I was growing up and I think from that point on, I decided to take things like I was an adult, not a child.

I think all the things I’ve learned throughout the last four years will help me in the future.

Geneva Hannibal [Community] has really helped me come out of my shell, and I know a lot of people say that but it’s true.

I think everyone being so friendly and it being such a small community made it a lot less scary to meet new people. Interacting with different grades, especially the freshmen, [through forum] was really nice. It made Community feel a lot more like a community. The way that teachers want us to interact with each other [creates community]—a lot of our projects are like group work and it’s really hard to go an entire class without your teacher or classmates talking to you. At first I didn’t want to go here but the more I thought about it the more I realized that I wanted to go here. I really like how relaxed it is with the teachers—especially how they go by their first names and want to get to know everyone. Even just the art in the hallways really lets students express themselves. [It] shows how relaxed the school is but also how important the students are to the school.

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Ariana Levin I was blindsided by freshman year, it threw me off. I really lacked motivation and was just lost. I learned to work with my teachers and reach out for extra help.

Throughout my four years (at Community) I have learned my way to succeed. I would go to Maneesha’s class all the time to get help with math and really developed relationships with my teachers. My favorite memories of Community were from forum. I’ve made relationships that will last forever and I loved forum days my freshman and sophomore year. Our forum would go to a park near Anne’s (Levin’s forum leader) house and we would have a picnic. Then we would all go to Anne’s house and spend the night. I met all of my best friends in my forum and it has been my favorite part of Community. I’ve learned so much about myself throughout the last 4 years. When I first came to Community I was all about trying to fit in. I really learned about who I am as a person and that helped me with my own confidence.

I think (at Community) I was able to just be myself and not worry about the judgments of others.

Margot Donoghue When I was a freshman, I was very quiet and anxious.

I didn’t talk to anyone. I didn’t really have a lot of friends. But forum with Anne Thomas was a safe place for me where I was able to be myself grow as a person.

And so I feel that helped a lot. Now [because of that] I have a good group of friends and I feel comfortable talking to teachers which has helped me succeed academically. When Anne left las year I was really, really sad but through the three years with her she provided me with the tools to continue to be successful without her. Being at Community has also helped me try new things. I remember in middle school going into Community was a really huge decision and a new thing.

But it worked out so well that I am now more open to, try new things after high school. Because Community worked so well. It is mostly because =it’s a smaller setting so you just automatically feel more comfortable to, ask questions or, answer questions, talk to the teacher or whatever. And I guess I think it’s easier to learn when you know, the people you’re around and you actually enjoy, your school.

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There is no single solution to spur CHS’ identity forward.

Instead, it’s the sum of many people, of many memories, of many interactions. This is the foundation upon which the rest of the school’s culture should be built.

STAFF EDITORIAL Last week, on April 28, Community High School’s (CHS) front lawn came alive.

Between mosh pits and jazz solos, the school’s first Commstock since 2019 felt like the CHS of years past: one in which students and staff came together outside of the classroom as well as within it, where we are celebrated not just for our academic achievement, but for our original songwriting, stage presence and artistic expression, too. In short, it felt like the school we so dearly missed for three years.

However, as we wrote in our third edition, this wonderful identity is fragile. Thus, as we, senior editors, write our final staff editorial for The Communicator, we reaffirm the importance of a widely-embraced Community Resource program, tightly-knit forums and frequently-observed school traditions with one additional caveat, a fourth and foundational element, critical to understanding CHS’ culture: There is no single solution that spurs the school forward. Instead, it’s 88 | The Communicator Magazine

the sum of many people, of many memories, of many interactions.

Each member of the CHS community has an outsize impact on the school.

From the day you nervously enter St. Andrews Church until the moment you walk out of Hill Auditorium four years later, you are part of a lucky, small student body — one nearly a quarter of the size of the other three, local public schools. Even statistically, then, the relationships you foster, the interactions you have and the decisions you make — or don’t, have a greater impact on CHS than your peers’ relationships, interactions and decisions elsewhere. Remember this the next time you eat lunch in Kerrytown or hold the door open for a fellow student. Appreciating one's individual actions helps to create an inspired, collective culture that pervades through CHS. Upperclassmen and experienced staff have a responsibility to set an example.

If CHS is the sum of many people, of many memories, of many interactions, its tone is set by those who are already familiar with it. After all, our school’s culture is created in a continuous process — one determined by the people who exist within it. Therefore, it is incumbent upon community members with institutional knowledge to teach those without it. For upperclassmen, this can be as small as taking a young forum member under their wing or as sweeping as organizing a school-wide event. For teachers, this could manifest in creating lessons on the history of CHS itself or starting a brand new school tradition. Whatever the format, the responsibility of defining CHS’ identity falls squarely on the shoulders of experienced students and staff alike.

It is easy for small, individual actions to go unnoticed. Until, suddenly, it isn’t.

The pandemic served as a stark example of this. The CHS we knew and loved in February of 2020 simply didn’t exist upon our return in May of 2021. This is precisely because the people, the memories and the interactions drastically changed. Seniors graduated and teachers retired. Traditions were canceled. And breakout rooms replaced the third floor hallway. However,

as we have returned to our pre-pandemic normal, our school’s pre-pandemic culture has slowly followed. Of course, a successful Commstock or game of tug-of-war won’t singlehandedly revive CHS’ identity. But each of these experiences helps to bring CHS closer together, creating pride in our school and in our peers. So, we call on every student and staff member to really, truly appreciate the small things — to celebrate when they’re present and to recognize when they’re absent.

Recognizing your individual impact on CHS is essential, even after graduation. We look up to former students who were seniors when we were freshman, much as they looked up to the grades before them. Today, as seniors ourselves, the same applies to us. Whether we realize it or not is up to us.

Our third edition editorial offered three specific ideas to steer CHS back to its original identity — a collective embrace of the CR program, forum time and CHS traditions. However, these proposals must be held together by a shared understanding: that CHS is the sum of many interactions, of many people, of many memories. Appreciating this collaborative, fourth nuance is absolutely essential. It is the foundation upon which the rest of CHS’ identity should be built.

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SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

May 2022 | 91

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Eastern Michigan University Chrissy Kuiper Sophia Muraski Wade Knyal

Hope College Chloe Warren

Kalamazoo College Lily McCready Meghan London Eva Hannibal Roberta Gatti Alex Mercier

Michigan State University Harrison Brown Henry Holcomb David Hogan Elliot Davis Tyler Parrish Henry Loerwald

Michigan Technological University John Umbriac

Olivet College Logan Seiler

University of Michigan Ava Lowen Mark Ziebell Talia Briske Paloma Dude-Cortes Estella Valentino Emilio Uribe-Botero Natalie Mycek-Card Kaes Holkeboer Hollis Riggs Julia Kirschenmann Misha Castilla Sebastian Oliva John Reed Levi Straszewski Lior Cooper Gaelen Vander-Elzen Eliot Ziolek Levi Kopald Ryan Bentley Lily Rose-Germano Alejandro Cantu

Washtenaw Community College Luda Talley Ava Hartung Ian Novar Xander Stelzer Owen Treib Karina Roberts Ariana Levin 92 | The Communicator Magazine

Western Michigan Joe Williams

Ohio Bowling Green State University Nora Berry

Case Western Reserve Mira Schwarz

Denison University Josie Reed

Vermont

Kenyon College

Bennington College

Oberlin College

University of Vermont

Ohio State University

Virginia

Maggie Wolf

Ian Taylor Sylvie Swerdlow

Elijah Klein

Wooster College Brendan Grover

Leah van der Velde

Walden Jones-Perpich Grace Wang

James Madison University David Hogan

2022

Senior Map The class of 2022 will be traveling across the country and the globe after they graduate. Their drive, creativity and passion will enable them to overcome any obstacles they face down the road. We will miss you seniors!

New York The Culinary Institute of America Jack Graye

Columbia University Noah Bernstein Avani Hoeffner-Shah

Ithaca College Lexi Phillips-Beem

Vassar College Jasmine Lowenstein

New York University Henry Monte-Sano

Illinois DePaul University Sadie Agranoff

Northwestern University Jada Hikary

University of Chicago Cate Weiser Leo Kupperman

Massachusetts Smith College Gaby Adams

Washington

Minnesota

University of Washington

Macalester College

Mia Wood

Indiana Purdue University

*This map includes all seniors who responded to request for plans.

Wellesley College Sylva Das

Felicity Rose-Davis

Wisconsin

Pennsylvania

Colorado

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Bryn Mawr College

Colorado State University

Oliver Lete-Straka

Swarthmore College

Madison Bell

Katie Scoville

Gap Year/Work/Other Leda Celeste

Texas

Southern Methodist University Charles Eidelman

Margot Donoghue

Lucy Tobier

Susquehanna University Calvin Paulick

Constants | May 2022 | 93

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Most Likely To Drop a Successful Mixtape Oliver Lete-Straka

Biggest Lifter Ryan Bentley

Best Senior Sneeze Talia Briske

Most Likely to Cheer You up Jasmine Lowenstein

Cutest Couple That Never Was Oliver Lete-Straka & Emilio Uribe Botero

Cutest Couple that Was Ava Lowen & Mark Ziebell

Prom Royalty Jocelyn Kincaid-Beal & John Reed

Most Likely to be President Lucy Tobier

Homebuilding Hunk Labron Brown

Class Heartthrob Walden Jones-Perpich

Sweetwaters Fiend Mia Wood

Best Hair Transformation Leah van der Velde

Worst Parker Jada Hikary

Communicator Connoisseur Mia Goldstein

Most Changed Since Freshman Year Sebastian Oliva & Stella Valentino

Class Clown Oliver Lete-Straka

Most Likely to be Famous

Chloe Root and Joslyn Hunscher-Young Award Harrison Brown

Most Free Blocks Esther Cohen

Best Bromance Oliver Lete-Straka & Emilio Uribe Botero

Back Lawn Baller Elijah Klein

Most Likely to be Heard on the 3rd Floor Henry Holcomb

Calculus Master Jasmine Lowenstein

Style Icon

Yerb Ambassador

Grace Wang

Shannon Thompson

John Reed

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Constants | May 2022 | 95

22 THINGS...

Community High’s class of 2022 is moving on to a variety of exciting feats. Here are the ones they’re most excited for:

BY LUCIA PAGE SANDER

1

2

Mia Wood

Maggie Wolf

“[My major is] undecided. So I’m excited to kind of, you know, take some classes and learn more about what I like”

“I really like the University of Washington’s campus; it’s not directly in the city, It’s on the water, so Washington does “sail-gates” for football games, which I’m excited for”

3

Nadia Tuzinsky

Gaby Adams

“I’m just excited to take control of my life and start doing things that are what I want to do versus just like trying to graduate”

Gaelen VanderElzen “I am interested in pursuing more things that are in direct relation to my interests”

5

Ian Taylor “I’m going to Oberlin College in Ohio. I’m excited about the school and not about the state… I was hoping to get out of the Midwest, but I went to the worst Midwest state.

[Oberlin] is like Community but a little bit bigger, which will be great.”

10

6

Margot Donoghue “I’m excited to finish the school year early.”

8Henry Holcomb “[I’m excited to] try a bunch of stuff because [Michigan State has] a ton of degrees, tons of classes.

I can take and I’m gonna try to squeeze in as many classes from different corners of MSU as I can, and my counselor’s gonna hate me."

9 Lily Rose Germano

“I’m excited to go into education and continue working with kids.”

96 | The Communicator Magazine

“I’m excited for a fresh start.

In high school, everyone pretty much already knows you, so I’m excited to meet new people.”

4

7Nora Berry

“I’m excited to continue on a path of activism that I know and love and have been on since I was in sixth grade.

My whole reason for doing Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies as a major was to learn more about topics that I care deeply about and have been in tune with for years. So to have actual knowledge around those subjects in [the form of] a bachelor’s degree is the goal, and I’m super excited to earn that.”

11 Roberta Gatti “[I’m excited to] be in a new place and stage of life”

12

John Reed

“I am excited [to attend the University of Michigan] because it’s in the city I’ve always lived in.

I love being in Ann Arbor. It’s a lovely environment. I’m excited to get to stay here and soak it in.”

Alma Moga

“I am excited to leave high school and specialize in something I am more interested in. I’m still making the choice between whether I want to major in art at a place where I can take other [types of] classes or whether I want to go to a school exclusively for art and just launch myself into that”

15

Xander Stelzer

John Umbriac

Carrie Sonen “I’m excited to take a gap year. I’m going to be taking like one or two glasses, so it’s gonna be really nice like not have much school.”

“I am really excited about focusing more on my interests and learning more in depth about what I’m interested in, which is coding right now.”

14

17

Talia Briske

“[I’m excited to] meet new people and stay in the dorms. It’ll be fun, I think.”

21

16

“I’ll be going to Michigan State to try and get my teaching degree and then hopefully come back here and teach history alongside Ryan. I’ve been TA’ing for him and It’s really rewarding when you see something click [for a student]... [I’m excited to] pursue history, It’s been a lifelong interest”

18

Tane Patel

Niko Galifianakis

“[I’m excited to] not be in high school for starters. Also just getting through the required years of school, like, [it’ll be a] nice accomplishment.”

Harrison Brown

“I’m excited for new experiences.

I think it’ll be good for me to be pushed out of my comfort zone and try new things”

19

13

“I am looking to get my degree and then go find a job that I can be successful in”

20

Leah van der Velde

“I’m excited to learn about things that I’m interested in and haven’t been able to learn yet here at Community”

Alex Mercier “[I’m most excited to] join the diving team at U of M because I grew up around it and have been around the whole team [since] way back when I was in middle school. I’m excited to be a part of [the team] in a way that I haven’t been before because I practice with them, but I think it’s gonna feel different when I’m actually on the team

22

Constants | May 2022 | 97

SENIOR FASHION CHS seniors discuss how their tastes in clothing have changed.

BY MORGAN MCCLEASE AND ABBI BACHMAN

98 | The Communicator Magazine

C

C A T E

Cate Weiser has a solid foundation in her fashion. She enjoys coordinating the colors in her attire, and doing that the first time is what really inspired her to think about her outfits. “I had a bra and a jacket that happened to match the colors [in my shoes] and when I wore it I was like, this is cool,” Weiser said. “I look cool.”

Ignoring trends has really helped Weiser find what she likes to wear.

It also helps her avoid fast fashion.

She tried a lot of fads, but found that classic is her style.“I don’t want to say [my style is] basic because it’s not basic,” Weiser said. “But my style is simple pieces. I love my shoes. And I love my jeans. So those are pieces that I don’t change out. I work around those pieces.”

She likes fashion because of how she feels in her outfits.“When I’m dressed well it makes me feel better,” Weiser said. “It makes me feel confident and it makes me feel like people are gonna look at me and take me seriously. I dress for myself, but I also dress the way I do because I know that it makes me look stronger.”

BY ABBI BACHMAN AND MORGAN MCCLEASE

Constants | May 2022 | 99

100 | The Communicator Magazine

G R A C E

To Grace Wang, fashion is a way to add some fun to your day. Wang’s style has evolved throughout her time at Community High School (CHS). When she came freshman year, she was able to branch out in the fashion department. “[CHS] is a place where I could feel a lot more comfortable trying new things,” Wang said.

Wang realized that she really cares about the sustainability of clothes and how they are manufactured“I like repurposing a lot of my clothes and I learned how to sew,” Wang said. “ I don’t think I bought anything brand new during that whole year and a half… I can just change new tops without having to go out and buy something new and create more waste.”

One of Wang’s favorite pieces of clothing is one that she fixed herself. She thrifted a red, green and white sweater and then realized there was a huge hole in it. Instead of throwing it away, she used her new found talent for sewing and patched it up. “It’s super warm and comfortable,” Wang said. “I feel like it’ll last forever.”Wang loves that she is able to continue to repurpose old clothes to make something new to make her wardrobe unique as well as environmentally friendly.

Constants | May 2022 | 101

Proust Questionnaire

NORA BERRY

CHS senior shares her most treasured possession, her favorite names and her motto.

BY FELICITY ROSA-DAVIES AND ELLA ROSEWARNE

What is your idea of perfect happiness? I have no idea of what ‘perfect happiness’ is, and when I sat down to think about it, I think that ‘perfect happiness’ in my own life ends up translating to ‘perfectly content.’ Not that I think it’s necessarily impossible to suffer and be perfectly happy at the same time…(Masochism is a thing for a reason lmao) What is your greatest fear? Fear of abandonment - The idea that if I were to reach out for help, nobody would offer their hand in support. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? How attached I can become to what other people think of me. What is a trait you most deplore in others? Refusal to communicate and in turn, refusal to grow, is a HUGE one seeing as how much importance and value I stake on my words.

To not be met in the middle with such a key point of my personality never sits well with me. Which living person do you most admire? A dear teacher, friend, and mentor of mine named ShuNahSii Rose. I admire how she has lived her life and how she grows from it, and she tends to be the person I find myself looking towards the most when questioning how to act in a given circumstance. What is your greatest extravagance? Food, and usually junk food! What is your current state of mind? Content, focused, and in my body. What do you consider an overrated virtue? Following the rules. On what occasion do you lie? When I don’t respect or trust the person I’m talking to or when the truth is too painful to voice. What do you most dislike about your appearance? The scars on my face and legs. What is the quality you most like in a man? Regardless of who it is, I find integrity to be the best quality in people. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Regardless of who it is, I find integrity to be the best quality in people. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? ‘Bet’ definitely takes the cake and ‘Dig’ was previously and recently a close second.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

My family continues to be the greatest loves of my life - specifically the trees who raised me and my brother.

When and where were you happiest? Immediately after waking up from the first dream where my 102 | The Communicator Magazine

uncle came to visit me after he’d passed away. Which talent would you most like to have? I would love to hone the talent of getting right to the heart of people when speaking or singing. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? To rid myself of depression. It’s a mental illness that is too much of a hindrance in my life. What do you consider your greatest achievement? How far I’ve come in figuring out who I am and who I want to be.

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what would it be? Either an oak, a snowdrift crabapple, or a silver maple tree. Where would you most like to live? In a cottage on the edge of an expansive forest. What is your most treasured possession? It’s a tie between my medicine bag and my dragon necklace. What do you regard as the lowest depths of misery? When your whole heart gives into the illusion of separation, to the point where you feel truly alone and without hope of being rescued. What is your favorite occupation? Talent buyer! It’s the occupation (my dad’s) that has shaped a solid portion of my childhood. What is your most marked characteristic? Physically, my hair. Otherwise, my voice. What do you most value in your friends? Their ability to earn and keep my trust no matter how much time has passed. Who are your favorite writers? David Arnold, Lian Tanner (for The Keepers Trilogy), and Jocelyn Kincaid-Beal - I have a strong love of their poetry. Who is your hero of fiction? This wise, old grandmother character who consistently shows up in old stories I’ve been told and finds the right path to take when nobody else can She’s a hero in my eyes. Which historical figure do you most identify with? I don’t identify with any historical figures, but would love to find myself identifying with Ida B. Wells’s perseverance and drive later in life. Who are your heroes in real life? My family. What are your favorite names? Jade, Micah, Luna, and Isabella. What is it you most dislike?

The failures within the U.S.’s Western culture and how it has affected people across this land and the world.

What is your greatest regret? Not using the resources given and gifted to me to grow in previous moments in my life. How would you like to die? Of old age in my home and in my sleep, entrusted to the people I love. What is your motto? If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! — Just kidding. I don’t really have one, but if I could adopt one it would be, “Fight for the things you know, and know the things you love.”

Photo By Ella Rosewarne Nora Berry stands on the front lawn of CHS. Later that day, Berry performed in the opening for the 2022 Commstock, taking place for the first time in two years.

Constants | May 2022 | 103

HOW SHE HAS

CHANGED CHS senior, Mira Schwarz reflects on her time in high school.

BY SAM CAO AND HENRY CONNOR

104 | The Communicator Magazine

MIRA SCHWARZ Mira Schwarz walked around the halls, terrified and scared to talk to anyone. She was holding back from trying to make friends with anyone in her classes and it started as a very nerve-wracking experience.

It took Schwarz some time to fully feel like she was in high school.

“It didn’t feel like I was actually in high school until sophomore year,” Schwarz said. “I think that’s when I was really able to click in.”

Schwarz has greatly changed since that first day and her interests have developed in many ways as well. As a freshman, she did competitive figure skating. She would travel a lot with her team, with trips to places like California.

Now, she doesn’t figure skate at all.

She’s going to nursing school and she’s spent this year as an advocate for Planned Parenthood.

“I skated six out of seven days a week and it was a lot,” Schwarz said. “When I wasn’t skating, I still had to stretch and practice.

Now, I spend my time organizing and providing barrier contraceptives and pregnancy tests. Working with Planned Parenthood has been some of my proudest work in high school.”

As a freshman, Schwarz spent more time finding friends and connecting to Community High School (CHS)’s social life than focusing on her grades. She had wanted that special teacher-student relationship that CHS was known for when trying to find the right high school and during her first year, she spent

a lot of time making those relationships.

When asked about advice she would give to her freshman self, she would want herself to focus on school and her mental health more.

“Enjoy it,” Schwarz said. “I was not a good student [in] freshman year. I was so focused on finding a social friend group that I didn’t do my homework and study as much.

You’ll find your people. Spend time exploring CHS and going to clubs and extracurriculars.”

With the teacher-student connection Schwarz had mentioned when she talked about why she chose CHS for high school, she wanted to take that same approach when finding a college. Schwarz will be attending Case Western Reserve’s nursing program next year and shared the reasons about how she made that decision. Schwarz prefers more hands-on learning and values teacher-student relationships greatly.

“I talked to one of the professors and asked what the student relationship was like. She said by the time you graduate, every single professor will know every single one of you. They’re important to us and we’re important to them.”

Schwarz is looking forward to college and has spent the last four years growing as an individual and shifting where her passions rest. Ever since the very first day at Community, she has been changing who she is and finding what truly makes her happy.

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Gaby’s High School Soundtrack

Gaby Adams, now a senior at Community High School (CHS), has been able to enjoy the benefits of CHS student’s diverse music taste significantly influencing her own.

BY CLAIRE LEWIS

106 | The Communicator Magazine

freshman year The first couple months of high school, Adams went to Pioneer High School. All her friends were there and she quickly acclimated to it. Then, her parents told her that she was going to transfer to CHS. At the time, it was a bleak surprise. Adams kept to herself at CHS those first months, and had a pretty restricted music taste because of that. She didn’t really branch out, mostly listening to things she had been for the past year. “[I listened to] really bad remixes of songs and EDM and then I also liked Fall Out boy a lot,”Adams said.

sophomore year In sophomore year, Adams started getting into hobbies that followed her throughout the rest of her high school years. She also started to fall into the social world of CHS, by making more friends. A big element of her music taste at this time was social influence, it was her friends that introduced her to a lot of music, which was both restricting and compelling. “It was a lot of Frank Ocean, a lot of Kendrick Lamar and then I listened to a lot of bossa nova for some reason, so I would use that to help me fall asleep,” Adams said

j u n i o r

y e a r

Adams’ music taste started to expand during junior year. She spent a lot of time alone on social media exploring her music taste during quarantine. She was getting influenced by all different things, not only her inner circle. Adams really started to get in touch with what music meant to her. She started to get into specific genres, listening to rock, including a lot of Jimi Hendrix and folk including Sufjan Stevens. In addition, she also listened to late 90s early 2000s Hip Hop, including A Tribe Called Quest. This was a really big turning point in her taste, truly finding herself through her music. Being able to pick and choose her social media influence, she could decide what she liked and didn’t.

s e n i o r

y e a r

“If freshmen me knew my taste this year, she would be [confused].” Adams said. This year she has gotten really into experimental rap, JPEGMAFIA and ‘old school rap’, like Farside and stuck with A Tribe Called Quest.

Adams has also been listening to some electronic music, but not EDM like freshman year, instead artists like Boards of Canada. A big piece of her music taste is rock. “I’ve grown out of artists and maybe genres, but there’s just certain artists, like Jimi Hendrix and Sufjan Stevens that I’ll always like,” Adams said. Music can be a constant in someone’s life, a thing that can grow with you and with Gaby Adams, it has.

Constants | May 2022 | 107

On the Way to Graduation

BY GRACE WANG AND JADA HIKARY

+

add song

Dancing in the Moonlight - King Harvest Photo ID - Remi Wolf, Dominic Fike I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times) - Jamie xx, Young Thug, Popcaan Good Morning - Kanye West Aminé - Reel it In No Problem - Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz IV. Sweatpants - Childish Gambino Congratulations - Post Malone First Day Out - Tee Grizzley Why - Dominic Fike Bennie And The Jets - Elton John Soundtrack 2 My Life - Kid Cudi Roses - Outkast The Spins - Mac Miller Diddy Bop - Noname, Cam O’bi, Raury See You Again - Tyler, The Creator, Kali Uchis C U Girl - Steve Lacy 108 | The Communicator Magazine

scan to listen

On the Way Home

BY GRACE WANG AND JADA HIKARY

+

add song

Lost & Found - Jorja Smith October Sky - Yebba Retro (Rough) - Childish Gambino Nico’s Red Truck - Dijon Just a Cloud Away - Pharrell Williams The Weekend - Funk Wav Remix - SZA, Calvin Harris, Funk Wav It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over - Lenny Kravitz Valerie - Amy Winehouse Where’d All the Time Go? - Dr. Dog For Once in My Life - Stevie Wonder Through the Wire - Kanye West Ivy - Frank Ocean

scan to listen

Super Stars - Yves Tumor Hold In, Hold On - Kid Bloom New House - Toro y Moi Pluto Projector - Rex Orange County Sandstorm - Mereba, JID Constants | May 2022 | 109

OUT LOUD LOUD Three artists to hear now.

BY EVAN OCHOA, JADYN TAYLOR AND CHARLIE BEESON

“BLUE MONDAY” FATS DOMINO “Blue Monday”, originally written by Dave Bartholomew and recorded in 1953 by Smiley Lewis, remains an early R&B accelerant and preamble to the more popular rendition by Fats Domino. The original song has a slow, exaggerated saunter and a driving drum beat that struts emphatically to a 91 BPM rhythm, and features a 20-second electric guitar solo by Lewis, who also sang the vocals. The song was released under Imperial Records in 1954, where it earned a negligible reputation apart from local recognition.

In 1956, Fats Domino released his own interpretation of “Blue Monday”, which garnered far more acclaim than the previous recording by Lewis. The song peaked at number 5, reaching the number one spot on the R&B billboards and featured in the film “The Girl Can’t Help It”. Domino, who is said to have played piano in the initial recording, has been credited as a co-writer on later records along with Bartholomew.

Domino’s version of “Blue Monday”, which was one of 35 Fats Domino songs to reach the top 40 between 1955 and 1963, generally resembles Domino’s recipe for success: laid-back boogie-woogie swing mixed with hearty vocals, a meandering passeggiata, and a consistency that keeps the melody honest. More unique to the song are the hammering piano triplets — imposing, fervid, and vigorous — which create an enigmatically passionate rhythm, a striking contrast to the dreary meaning of the lyrics. The song runs for about two minutes and 15 seconds, and gives us a saxophone solo and buoyant melody, jabbing piano beats, swinging vocals, rapid drums, and a backbone of bass and guitar.

Though not the most popular song produced by either Smiley Lewis or Fats Domino, “Blue Monday” is a fan favorite for many Domino listeners — with an understandably memorable tune and a zestful and carefree mood, “Blue Monday” is likely to continue as a unique contender in R&B classics, and remain a longstanding staple of Domino’s rich musical career. Without any detriments, and without too much trouble to listen to, it’s a song worth sharing, or at least giving a try.

110 | The Communicator Magazine

“MELT MY EYEZ, SEE YOUR FUTURE” DENZEL CURRY

“HOTEL CALIFORNIA” THE EAGLES

Arguably one of the most influential, underlooked rappers and artists of the last decade is Denzel Curry.

Thus, it was no surprise this new album would be just as impressive. The increased subtlety and maturity of “Melt My Eyez, See Your Future” takes the listener on a journey unlike any other Denzel has offered us.

At first glance, it’s obvious the upfront rage bangers are minimal in the tracklist. Despite this, that same intensity of emotion, paranoia and fear are still present through its alluringly atmospheric compositions.

The intro perfectly represents this same feeling, with Denzel almost putting the listener in this therapy session as he presents his regrets, traumas, aspirations, persistence and theme of moving forward, which connects to the following track and lead single, “Walkin.”

Over his reflection plays intricate drum rhythms and fills, as hypnotic layered vocals and jazz inspired chord progressions loop and set the tone.

The track “Ain’t No Way,” which is a monster of a track, with beat switches, solid performances from Rico Nasty and J.I.D (just to name a few), and pummeling, driving production that is reminiscent of a cut from “TA13OO”, fitting it all in a runtime of over 4 minutes.

Coming after is a break from the heaviness, “X-Wing,” a much more light-hearted sounding track, detailing topics of fame and jealousy. The last tracks, while not as consistent in tone, still garner highlights like the fastpaced, drum and bass riddled “Zatoichi,” and the calm down and conclusion to the record “The Ills.” The latter track wraps up the 14-song experience, taking all of its reflective themes into full circle.

Denzel has managed to reinvent his sound, better than ever. Some might be disappointed that the boldness and hard-hitting moments of his earlier and even recent material are minimal; however, much of the dark, yet complex themes have not waned. If anything, they’ve been further explored than they ever have been on any other project. This is easily his most thought out and mature material, which has me eager to see where this will take him in the future.

Hotel California, originally released in February 1977, was one of the Eagle’s best songs. In 1988, the song was recognized by readers of ‘Guitarist’ for the best guitar solo of all time, due to their amazing two minute and fifteen second guitar solo at the end of the song.

At the time, the Eagles were composed of Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Leadon, Randy Meisner, Don Felder, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit. This was also one of the first times that all seven of the Eagles performed together, which makes this song even better. More recently, this song gained popularity from its appearance in Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” as an ongoing joke throughout the movie.

One of the reasons this song gained popularity early on is because of fans’ desires to interpret it and analyze it. The song’s lyrics almost make no sense. The beginning of the song starts off with a person being introduced into the hotel, but then switches to a woman who everyone seems to adore. These random jumps leave the listener confused and curious, questioning if the woman could be this person’s interest or if she could be someone who will guide him into being trapped in the hotel. Leaving it up to the listener’s interpretation is why it’s so enjoyable to listen to.

Overall, this song is definitely something you should add to your playlist. Your body won’t be able to resist moving to the electrifying guitar solo that will keep you entertained for days. Also, this song’s mysterious but enjoyable lyrics are what make this song so interesting. There are many interpretations, so if you’re a person that likes to dive deep into the meaning of a song, this song is definitely something you should consider listening to. Who knows? You might discover a meaning that no one else has. Wouldn’t that be spectacular?

Constants | May 2022 | 111

Reviews

CODA “CODA,” the 2021 Academy Award Best Picture, is an outstanding portrayal of how family can change and grow throughout a lifetime.

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS

When my family and I pushed play on our family movie, I had high expectations. “CODA,” directed and written by Sian Heder, had rave reviews, diehard fans and won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2021. I was counting on a tear jerking masterpiece. And “CODA” delivered.

The movie opens on Ruby Rossi, played by Emilia Jones, singing “Something’s Got a Hold On Me”

by Etta James while fishing with her father and older brother. Rossi is a regular seventeen-year-old with one exception: she is the only member of her family that can hear.

As a CODA (child of deaf adults), Ruby has been the sole interpreter for her parents since she could speak — a large responsibility accompanied by pressure and guilt.

112 | The Communicator Magazine

Rossi’s soaring vocals begin “CODA” on a promising note, with gorgeous cinematography and an intimate window into the life of the Rossi family. As the movie continues, my family and I grew more ensconced in Rossi’s desires — a testament to Jones’s stunning performance. The movie stars all around, with a perfect cast and soundtrack, and beautiful storytelling.

All of the characters in “CODA” shine in different ways, and grow throughout the film. Rossi’s brother, Leo, struggles with being outshined by his younger sister simply because she can hear, making him feel less important than her in their family. Heder, the director, is a child of deaf adults just like her main character. This illuminates

the movie and makes it feel so much more human, which can be seen in a scene where Rossi is trying to do homework and her family is setting the table. For Rossi, the rattling of plates and clanging of cutlery is cutting into her concentration. Her parents, however, don’t understand why she is upset.

“CODA” is truly about family, in all shapes and forms, and what belonging means. When Rossi, an aspiring musician, is asked to explain what singing means to her, she can only describe it in sign language: the language of her family. And when she sings, she often signs the song while she sings it. Rossi’s first love is her family and although she needs to forge her own path, she will always begin with them.

Available on AppleTV

THE

MUSTLIST Five must-watch movies according to the greatest minds of our generation.

BY OLIVER LETE-STRAKA

1. Real Steel 8/10

Free Guy

Fail

2. Baby Driver

An action comedy that will confuse your parents and make them pause and ask, "So it's a video game? Oh! Like Mario Bros!"

8/10

Fail

BY OLIVER LETE-STRAKA

“Free Guy,” a family action film aimed towards the gaming community, preaches the value of individualism while also separating itself from similar films. The film is held together by an excellent cast. Most notably is Jodie Comer’s movie-stealing performance, but there are still some flaws that could easily ruin this movie for some viewers.

Guy, played by Ryan Reynolds, is an Non-Player Character (NPC) in an open-world video game. He works in a bank and has been sentenced to the same everyday routine. Guy has an epiphany after an accidental encounter with a mystery woman and is inspired to become the hero of his own life story.

We follow Guy as he befriends the mystery woman and offers to assist her in her search for proof against the game’s villainous developer, Antwan, played by Taika Waititi.

In the first half of the film, director Shawn Levy does an admirable job of keeping “Free Guy” clicking and humming through several entertaining scenes. There is a great montage of Guy’s “good” missions and a funny sequence in which

Keys, one of the game’s programmers (Joe Keery) and his programming partner Mouser (Utkarsh Ambudkar) go after Guy. Around the hour mark, the movie starts to lose the pace, circling back to a lot of the same plot points and themes. Rather than establishing its own identity, the picture tries to shed the clear influence of other films such as “The Matrix,” “Ready Player One,” and even “The Truman Show,” while also sprinkling in some genuine gaming and pop culture references with increasing frequency. The film’s strongest moments embrace the concept’s promise, while its poorest appear to be emulating other work.

Each time “Free Guy” threatens to become mind-numbingly repetitive, a choice made by writers Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn brings it back into focus. “Free Guy” is a bit more disposable than it should be, but still a fun diversion. Gamers frequently use virtual worlds to escape their own realities. It’s entertaining to see the voyage go in the opposite direction.

3. Se7en 9/10

Fail

4. Everything Everywhere All at Once 10/10

Pass

Available for Disney+ and HBO Max Constants | May 2022 | 113

The Drop Out This psychological portrait of a scamming CEO shies away from none of its angles.

BY RITA IONDES

Before launching into Elizabeth Holmes’ fraudulent biomedical startup— her cons on investors, her lies to patients— “The Dropout” starts its story early in Holmes’ youth. The show, though a “scam show”, seeks to explain her character as much as her crimes.

It especially lingers on Holmes’ most complicated relationship: that with her fraud partner, boyfriend, and alleged abuser Sunny Balwani. Holmes’ real trial defense often mentioned their history, claiming his abuse was responsi-

ble for her crimes. They had met when Holmes was 18 (Balwani was 37), so “The Dropout” was uniquely poised to cover this: in fact, it had to draw the boundary, as the trial did, between believing abuse allegations and discrediting liars.

In the end, their relationship is portrayed as abusive, but Holmes’ decisions are still explicitly her own. Here Holmes recruits Balwani herself, and jettisons him to save herself as well. The show is sympathetic to both and neither in turn: in this show, nobody gets

“Tokyo Vice,” an HBO Max thriller, is an adaptation of the riveting memoir of Jake Adelstein, a journalist from Missouri who became the first American journalist at Tokyo’s biggest newspaper, Meicho Shimbun, the fictional stand-in for Yomiuri Shimbun.

Adelstein covered everything from street crime to corruption done by the police, creating a presence in the Japanese mafia, yakuza, and exploring the divide between them and the police. Before writing for the newspaper, Adelstein, played by Ansel Elgort, must pass his entrance exam. After passing the exam, he’s assigned to the same beat as every young journalist: crime. However, it’s not what it seems. Adelstein is an ambitious writer who is determined to cover stories that he believes are left

ignored but is met with advisers who insist that American journalism is unlike Japanese journalism.

When Adelstein reports a stabbing and uses the word “murder” in his headline, he’s met with an explanation that “there is no murder in Japan,” which only motivates him to search and uncover silenced stories.

This suspense-filled crime drama not only follows Adelstein uncovering the hazy relationship between the mafia and police, but provides insight into his social life as he becomes a part of the hustle of Tokyo’s live clubs, vibrant streets and the crowded newsroom. While the slow plot may be deterring, the relationships between the characters keeps you hooked, as well as Adelstein’s familial conflict follows him as he learns a new way of life.

114 | The Communicator Magazine

away with being just a villain.

This nuance in depiction, I think, is the best part of “The Dropout”.

It could so easily have painted Holmes as a straightforward sociopath, or a girl caught up in an older man’s schemes. A scam artist, an ignorant child, a visionary trapped in lies— any are good TV, but Elizabeth Holmes was all, and the show leaves out none. The show’s greatest strength is its unflinching gaze in all sides of its portrait, bringing to life a character sympathetic, despicable and everything in between.

Available on Hulu The first episode of the Drop Out released on March 3, 2022 and the last on April 7, 2022.

Available on Hulu.

The first episode of Tokyo Vice was released April 7, 2022.

Tokyo Vice A gaijin venturing into a new world with a passion to report the truth.

BY RUTH SHIKANOV

Books That Change Lives Madison Bell, a senior at CHS, describes how a story about a pandemic changed her life in the midst of COVID-19.

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS

The Dog Stars

Hamnet

Wilder Girls

The Dreamers

BY PETER HELLER

BY MAGGIE O’FARRELL

BY RORY POWER

BY KAREN THOMPSON WALKER

This novel follows Hig, a man who survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he loves.

In this story based on William Shakespeare’s life, his son Hamnet Shakespeare is struck down by the bubonic flu.

In an all girls school off the coast of main, a mysterious disease breaks out and puts the school into quarantine.

A virus that causes all of its victims to fall into perpetual sleep sweeps through a small California town.

Madison Bell has heard the phrase “listen to your mother” hundreds of times throughout her lifetime.

However, she never thought she’d regret ignoring her mother about a book suggestion.

When Bell was in middle school, her mother suggested a book to her: “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel. She didn’t think much of the suggestion, as she was busy with school and her social life. But when Bell picked up “Station Eleven” in 2020 because she didn’t have anything else to do, she was shocked by how much she loved it and how it affected her.

“The novel is a very fitting piece for what we were living in [in 2020],” Bell said. “It started a spiral of me reading post-apocalyptic books.”

“Station Eleven” is a science fiction novel that follows a theater troupe called “The Traveling Symphony” throughout the collapse of society when a deadly virus spreads across the world. Bell read this story in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected what

the book meant to her. Since she was living through the spread of a deadly virus — just like the characters in the book — she believes that “Station Eleven” changed the way she viewed the world around her.

“I wouldn’t have had such a personal connection to [the novel if I had read it earlier],” Bell said. “I wouldn’t have understood what it felt like to be in [the characters’] shoes.”

This novel has changed Bell’s life in numerous ways, but she believes that it has mostly helped her look at life with a brighter perspective. Reading about the theater troupe bringing joy to communities during very dark times helped Bell understand how to spread joy throughout her own life. She has started to read more since.

“I try to look for the positive sides,” Bell said. “If something’s bleak and black, I try to do something nice for myself. When I’m having a tough time I go find a book that I know I’ll like [and] it helps me out.”

“I wouldn’t have had such a personal connection to [the novel if I had read it earlier]... very fitting piece for what we are living in.”

Constants | May 2022 | 115

ARTIST PROFILE

ALMA

MOGA

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS

Art has always come easy to Community High School senior Alma Moga. As the daughter of an artist, she remembers going to galleries and shows as she grew up. Her mother always encouraged her to explore her artistic side, which prompted Moga to take up her own pen. However, she only started committing more time to art when she entered middle school.

Moga loves many different kinds of art, but she focuses on illustration with pen and ink. She also enjoys printmaking and photography. Moga likes creating “little creatures,” as she describes the characters she creates in her drawings.

Moga views art as an emotional outlet, especially for when she has had a hard day. She describes art as a way to feel accomplished and relaxed, even when the world feels dark. Moga also loves the puzzle of art and how she can use it to explore different themes.

“I like taking pieces of stuff and re-imagining it and putting it back together in different ways,” Moga said.

“Making art is a way for me to get restlessness out of 116 | The Communicator Magazine

my system and create something that I like or something I’m proud of.”

Moga wishes to continue her art as such as she leaves high school and enters life beyond high school. Moga has applied to many art schools and she is currently deciding where she will attend. Moga believes that art is missing some perspectives, especially from science and math fields.

“I think that STEM is missing an artistic lens and art is missing that STEM lens,” Moga said. “I’m really interested in programs and people who combine New Age technologies and art, and I think that there’s a very big future in art within environmental sciences and sustainable practices.”

One thing is certain. Wherever she goes, she will definitely include art in her future.

“I would definitely like art to be incorporated into my future career or future in general,” Moga said. “It is the thing I’m most interested in.”

Constants | May 2022 | 117

ARTIST PROFILE

MIA WOOD

BY BEE WHALEN

118 | The Communicator Magazine

After specializing in printmaking, oil paints, and any other traditional medium she could get her hands on to help bring her artistic creations to life, Mia Wood gives her final words of farewell to Community high school as her art matures along with the sudden arrival of her future. With college headed her way, life’s been busy. Though even so, Wood remembers to always sort out some time to keep up on her art career, as the hobby holds a special place in her heart.

“When I think of realism and darker colors, I think of more maturity, in a way I see my art progress,” Wood said. “I went from re-

ally bright colors, and all these light colors, to more of a darker color palette. And I think that reflects me as I’ve moved through high school.

I’ve definitely, especially during quarantine, had a huge personality change. I’ve definitely matured and as I move on from high school, I’ll probably grow more (as a person) in college. I think that my work reflects that aspect of my life.”

Moving on through life along with the growth of her art is something Wood finds fascinating. All the changes that her art has endured during her high school career has proven to be drastically beautiful, with each and every improvement

that’s arrived along the way with the small details in Wood’s art. She enjoys just letting herself get into the process, by experimenting with her creations as she does with her steps towards a brighter academic future. Keeping art fun, engaging, and exciting is something very important Wood keeps in mind when working on any of her latest projects, which is why she felt that attending a college to pursue a career loosely or minimally pertaining to art would be the best way for her to go.

“A lot of seniors I’ve talked to [say] it’s just something they want that they can look forward to, not having it as something like homework,” Wood said. “I don’t look forward to doing homework, but I look forward to doing art because it’s my hobby. You know you want to look forward to doing your hobby, not looking forward to doing it like work.”

Keeping art as a hobby has always kept Wood busy, and she has a lot of fun with making each individual piece or trying out something new, as an outcome of working so hard on something she enjoys. Figuring out what she likes best, and how to achieve that is incredibly intriguing to Wood, as they continue to work hard on each and every new illustration they construct. Recently, some of Wood’s favorite work has consisted of her printed designs, crafted through the process of printmaking. Since printmaking is currently not an available class to take at CHS, Wood has decided to invest her time into learning more about the practice through a CR (Community Resource) course with the help of her teacher, Beth Portincasa.

“I think anything you want to do, talk to Beth and she can probably help you figure it out,” London said.

“I really wanted to do printmaking. I didn’t have any resources or any idea on how to do it. Take

it like I took advantage of the car program we have here. I talked about it, and I was like, ‘hey, I really want to do printmaking. I don’t know where to start.’ She (Beth) didn’t have too much background on it [either]. But she worked with me. We did research together. We looked at videos and we made a huge slideshow, just ideas and inspiration. And I’ve made some really cool things. Just take advantage of the amazing art teachers we have here and you can almost do anything you want. You’ll hear it 100 times but Community’s not your average high school. If there’s something you really want to do, you can probably do it.”

Wood’s experience of expressing

herself and culture through different forms of her artistic style has been a wild, but great ride. She hopes to continue doing art, and encourage others to mix up their methods a little, especially when it comes to taking advantage of CHS’s incredibly impactful resources. Entering competitions, working with teachers, and bonding with other students has only been a fraction of the wonderful time spent during her years at Community– and hopefully, will live on in her memories for time to follow.

“Art brings inspiration,” Wood said. “I think it creates joy too. It’s fun to see what people have in their minds and [how they] put it on a page.”

Constants | May 2022 | 119

Ten Ways to Start Saving Money in High School A guide to help high schoolers start saving early.

BY ELLIOT BRAMSON AND LEWIS PERRY

1

Budgeting

Keep track of purchases

Create a monthly budget. Start the month out by deciding on a reasonable amount of money to spend that month and don’t exceed it. This discourages impulse purchases, and is a great way to decide whether you should make a purchase or not.

“I use the Chase app to keep track of how much money I spend per month. I want to make sure I keep the majority of my money for things I want to save for in the future like equipment, an apartment, college.”

- Evan Ochoa

2

Pay yourself first Put your income in savings

When receiving money as a gift, paycheck or otherwise, save a portion of it first. Consider setting up a savings account where you can deposit your money, and designate some of it for spending.

“When I get my check from work, I deposit it directly into my savings account and I take out cash when I need it in order to limit my spending.”

-Ivy Prochaska

120 | The Communicator Magazine

3

School supplies Buy used textbooks

Textbooks that are not provided through the school can cost hundreds of dollars. Looking on Amazon or eBay for used textbooks in good condition is a great way to get the same textbooks for a fraction of the price. Another cost-efficient way is renting textbooks for certain classes and returning them once the class ends.

4

Tutoring services Utilize free online education

Free tutoring websites like Khan Academy and YouTube allow students to learn the same amount as they would from an expensive one-on-one tutor.

Along with watching the lessons you need, these services will often expand on certain topics and answer questions you might have.

5

Food

Limit spending on food

6

Money spent on food adds up quickly and cutting down on your food budget will be a big money-saver. Consider getting school lunch, which is free, most days of the week. If you’re out with friends, try to order cheaper items on the menu.

“It’s easy to be impulsive and buy some food that sounds good or that you’re craving.

Over time those small purchases add up and opting to bring your own food will save you a lot of money in the end.”

- Emmy Chung

Clothing

Shop at thrift stores If you enjoy shopping for clothes, think about going to thrift stores to get high-quality and unique clothes for a fraction of the price of clothes at retail stores. On top of that, thrift stores are an ethical way of shopping and are environmentally friendly.

7

Reward Programs Sign up to get discounts

While it may seem like a nuisance at times, signing up for various rewards programs can end up saving you a lot of money, if you frequently shop at the same stores.

Programs will email subscribers various promotional offers and coupons to use at their respective stores that provide substantial discounts from the original prices.

8

Sales

Buy on-sale items Look for items on sale every time you shop. If an item you want is listed at full price and it isn’t a necessity, wait to buy the item. Keep your student ID handy when you go shopping, as stores often provide discounts to local students who show proof of their I.D.

9

Work

Get a summer job Looking for a summer gig can help you save up some money to get through the year. In addition to the financial benefit, having a job on your resumé helps you get future jobs and boosts your college applications.

10 Transportation

Take the bus when possible CHS offers free bus passes to students in the Main Office. By using public transportation, you can save money that you would end up spending on gas for your own car.

Constants | May 2022 | 121

Senior Poetry and Prose

NORA BERRY Is it Necessary, is it Needed?

I suppose we’ve run out of things to talk about In breathing words into blank space throughout my life Silence pierces bottles filled with shouts Gravel choked, ice chewed, tasting smoke I don’t know what I want I want you to be okay And I don’t know why today’s the day Where the downhill begins May I muster breath so big That gust of wind may propel you to the top of the cliff Or May I step back just far enough not to be missed Acquaint myself with quiet and later give way to silence And may we both forget I imagine a scorpion’s tail holding my eyes hostage How ironic Orange seeps into the eyes while the mind leaks gray “I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.”

Once you’ve come to realize you’re tired, let me assure you here and now that it’s okay Just say goodbye before you go and we’ll be square “...and I tried to pluck them roots and all from the earth.”

Once you realize you’re tired, just say It’s okay I promise that it’s okay And in the back of the mind she sang: I fear the day when you become sick of me I’m afraid I’ll no longer be needed Though I was never needed anyway 122 | The Communicator Magazine

TALIA BRISKE Little Treasures With sand digging into my knees and a tiny shovel in hand, I shuffle around my preschool’s sandbox, intent on finding as many of the plastic jewels the teachers have buried as I can. The ones I’ve already uncovered are clenched in one palm, their smooth bumps and sharp edges brush against my fingers, a reminder of my previous successes.

Making faces at the stench of the black walnut tree above us that drops its fruit onto the sand where our treasures lie, my peers and I search for the jewels, each hoping to gather more than the others. It’s a race that begins frantically, each child determined to find the colorful jewels before their friends. But the race turns methodical when supply begins to run low — looks of concentration come over us as we try to remember where we have and haven’t searched for our glorious discoveries.

As soon as I’m happy with my collection of plastic jewels, I stand up, brush the sand off my legs, and find my teacher. She hands me a bag with my name on it to hold my jewels, which gets tucked safely away in my cubby and taken with me at the end of the day, my treasures following me home.

On the shores of Lake Michigan, I walk on the wet sand with my parents as the sun sets, cool waves gently lapping at my ankles. Periodically, I stoop down to pick up a rock, my fingers more adept than they were a few years ago in the preschool sandbox.

I see a good rock — orange and pink — and my fingers scoop it up, brush off the sand, and hold it out to my parents, eager to show off my new treasure. Satisfied with their reactions, my hand drops back to my side, the new rock enclosed perfectly — almost too perfectly — in it. It’s been worn down to just the right shape and size to fit inside my fist, and when we get back to the

car, I put it in the little compartment on the inside of the door. For the next few years, until my hands outgrow it, that rock finds its way into the space between my palm and my fingers, a perfect puzzle-piece fit every time I sit in the car.

Years later, finally a teenager, I walk on the Lake Michigan beach once again, this time farther north and with friends rather than family. At camp early on in the summer, I search for Petoskey stones and sea glass in the sand, excitedly grabbing all the ones I see before the waves snatch them away as laughter floats through the warm air, cutting through the soothing flow of the lake.

We stop to sit for a minute and hydrate beneath the hot sun while we show off our new treasures. I open my hands to find, among my collection of pretty rocks, two nearly identical triangles of sea glass, each a delicate shade of light green, and no bigger than a fingernail.

Easily the best thing I’ve got in my pile, I make sure to hold on tight to those two little triangles as we make our way back to camp, ensuring that they get stored somewhere safe in my bag until they make it to my house a week later.

Eventually, the pieces of sea glass get carefully wrapped with thin silver wire, securing each one to an earring hook. I wear those earrings as a reminder of the joy I felt under the rays of the sun with sand sliding beneath my feet on that expedition at camp.

The sea glass, the rock, and the plastic jewels—all from vastly different places, all uncovered from the sand. They found their way into my hands and into my home. Sometimes I wonder where their journeys began, where they were formed, who they were made by. I’ll never know. All I know is that now they’re mine, my little treasures.

Art by Ryan Thomas-Palmer

Constants | May 2022 | 123

CRAVE

Stuffed Peppers

BY RUTH SHIKANOV

Stuffed peppers are a comforting and warming dish.

The majority of them contain meat, cheese, rice and vegetables. Stuffed peppers can hold many flavors and come in many variations. Some recipes call for different types of fillings like potatoes, which go in Bharwan Mirch (Indian stuffed peppers) and others call for chicken to make pimientos rellenos (a traditional Basque dish). This recipe is the stuffed peppers my family and I have made since I was young.

Ingredients

For the Herbed Crust Mixture: 80 grams cooked Panko 80 grams parmesan, grated 40 grams Italian parsley leaves, washed & chopped Six basil leaves, chopped Three garlic cloves, minced 10 grams olive oil For the Stuffing: 130 grams wild blend rice, cooked 130 grams black beans, cooked 150 grams ricotta cheese 15 grams olive oil 15 grams butter 300 grams onion, chopped 150 grams bell pepper, cleaned & diced 300 grams cob of corn 200 grams tomato, diced 50 grams pine nuts One Egg

Directions Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cut off the 12 pepper tops and remove the white membranes and seeds.

Place peppers on a baking tray lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper and prebake for 40 minutes.

124 | The Communicator Magazine

Herbed Crust Mixture: Combine all ingredients together.

Use two-thirds of the crust mixture for the stuffing and reserve the remaining for the topping.

Stuffing: Grill corn over a flame and then set to rest once charred. In a hot skillet, add butter and olive oil and sauté the onions and diced bell pepper. Throw in a couple of thyme sprigs; cook for 10 minutes on medium high heat.

Add tomatoes and corn kernels, and cook for another 10 minutes.

Transfer mixture into a large bowl.

Remove and discard thyme. Add rice, beans, pine nuts, cheese and two-thirds of the herbed crust mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste then mix in the egg.

Fill pre-baked bell peppers with the stuffing and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with the remaining herbed crust mixture. Finish baking for 20 minutes more. Add tops back on and serve. Add sour cream and other garnishes if desired.

BY JOHN REED

Games - Doubles Match & CHS Crossword

Fill the grid with pairs of letters — like those already given below — to spell out words across and down. Clues, though not in order, appear below. Every pair of letters you fill in will also go in another box elsewhere in the grid, as indicated by the color coding.

Hence, the “doubles match.” You'll notice that in this edition's grid, there are two answers that are entirely enclosed and do not cross with the rest. These are still completely solvable, as their doubles elsewhere give all the letters inside the boxes, but as a bonus help the two corresponding clues are set aside for you. Good luck!

AM Enclosed answers: Clear snow · Gets rid of facial hair Rest of grid: In a foreign land · Trolley car · Blinking thing · Otherwise, in code · ___ City, MI · Most sage · Intensely interested, as a fan · Journalists b. wells or tarbell, for two · Surrounded by · Places where valuables are found · Tool for mistake-correcting

EY WI

ACROSS

1 One of the words one had to remove from last edition's clues 2 Attend, as a school 3 Senior's dance 12 "Me?", sarcastically 13 Word after cast or before curtain 14 Key's partner?

15 Competition between CHS seniors 17 "The Devil Wears ___" 18 Trojan prince of myth 19 Senior English class at CHS 21 Actress Laura of "Little Women" 22 Phobos or Demios, for Mars 24 Suffix for naming enzymes 25 Senior science class at CHS 28 Coll. seniors' test, maybe 32 Aid, as in crime 33 Winter constellation 38 Like seniors, of the 4 grades 40 #senior ___ 41 John B. ___ 42 Home for Galileo and Fibonacci 45 Secure 46 What's next for many seniors 49 It's 72 on average for a course

52 "The Lion King" love interest 53 Odd, in Oaxaca 57 Senior ___, or with 16-Down 1941 Welles Film 59 Stickler 61 Egg-shaped 62 Senior science class at CHS 65 Sophia of old cinema 66 Actor Wilson of "Loki" 67 Has arisen 68 Suffix with senior69 Bit attachment 70 Simple shirt

1

2

3

4

5

6

8

13

12

19 22

21

29

30

31

38

27

32

33

51

34

43

37

55

56

45

44

47

48

52

53

58

54

DOWN

57

1 Made louder, as a guitar 2 "___ expects the Spanish inquisition!"

(2 wds.)

3 More serious 4 A band's bookings 5 Singer Rita 6 Partner of Jerry 7 It's about 30 centimeters 8 Prefix with frost 9 With for, "totally" 10 It might be a goodie 11 Good protein source 12 Simile's center 14 Folks, for short 16 See 57-Across 20 Gerundizing suffix 22 Throng of people

61

62

65

66

67

68

69

70

23 Fútbol shout 26 Puma, for one 27 2006 Time Person of the Year 28 ___ of a trip 29 ___-mo 30 Fuss 31 Sudekis character ___ Lasso 34 ICU persons 35 Muckraker Trabell 36 Bumbling idiot 37 When someone drops the ball? Abbr.

36

40 42

50

35

24

26

41

49

11

20

23

39

46

10

17

18

25

9

14

16

15

28

7

59 63

60

64

39 It contains a few CFB powerhouses 40 Hollywood union 42 Prepare to face 43 Sick 44 One of seven, supposedly 47 Number of Oscars won by Leo DiCaprio 48 Protagonist Jaeger from Attack on Titan 49 Swivel 50 Developers of Pong and Asteroids

51 Religious acts 54 Actor Scott of 30 Rock 55 Pay increase 56 Punctually, maybe 57 E. ___ 58 Completely calm 59 Quaker William who founded a state in his name 60 Kitchen measure 63 Have debts 64 Camping supply store Constants | May 2022 | 125

Our Turn

For the last edition of the school year, we asked the senior Communicator EICs how they have changed since freshman year.

BY SANA SCHADEN AND SYLVA DAS

“In our past four years of high school, we all change pretty much the way that we’re supposed to, but I think it was way easier to see it. In the normal four years of in-person, high school, you see everyone a lot and so you see them change really gradually. But for us, since we came back after almost two years, practically seeing no one, it was definitely more of a shock, just seeing how much people had changed. I don’t necessarily think that everyone changed more due to the pandemic, I think we were just able to see the shift a lot more clearly.

It is also interesting because we could all change and grow at our own pace without trying to adjust to how people around us were growing up. I think since Community is a lot more flexible in terms of the classes you can take and how you want your schedule to be, I was able to take a lot more classes that went really deep into some of my interests which helped me grow.”

SEBASTIAN OLIVA

“The biggest way that I’ve changed since freshman year is that I’ve become more of a leader and I look out for other people and take care of other people more effectively, and more frequently than I used to. I think it’s because I’m more comfortable in myself and, I know who I am and what I want to do, I feel like I can devote more time to other people.

That’s really what brings me the most gratification. I definitely grew more as a leader because of tennis and the girls that I had to look up to when I was a freshman and a sophomore. Also in Communicator because of the older Editors in Chief who I had to look up. I had amazing role models and the two big areas where I spent my time really helped me become the person I am today. They really changed me and set an example of how I wanted to be and I wanted to treat others.”

126 | The Communicator Magazine

LUCY TOBIER

“I’ve definitely changed since freshman year. I’d like to think I’ve grown as a person. I’m more open to new experiences now whereas before I limited myself and held back a lot. I’m a lot less shy. I was super shy freshman year and I was bad at talking to everyone except the people that I really knew. Becoming more open to new people and experiences and forcing myself to try new things has taught me a lot about being more accepting towards myself and others. I also think I’m better at advocating and expressing my own thoughts and feelings. Getting out of my shell and putting myself out there gave me a lesson in learning to speak up not just for myself, but for others too.”

CATE WEISER

MIA GOLDSTEIN “I don’t think I have changed in high school. I still feel like my 13-year-old self and I feel like the pandemic took a lot of that opportunity to grow away from me and away from a lot of seniors this year. I don’t think I’ve been through that critical experience or moment that really defines me as a person.

I’ve experienced a lot of little pivotal things, but nothing has dramatically changed me as a person or my outlook on life. I feel like saying I’ve changed is the easy way out. Honestly, I’m waiting for something to happen. I’m happy with my choices and I’m happy with who I am as a person and how I’ve gone through high school, but I have that feeling that I’m on the verge of some major change.

GRACE WANG “The end of senior year is a time of really drastic change.

And I feel lots of anticipation and anxiety towards the end of senior year because it’s so uncertain what’s going to happen. I’ve lived in the same house my entire life and I’ve lived in Ann Arbor my whole life. I still don’t know if I’m going to leave but if I do leave, I have no idea what that experience is going to be like. And I think that fear is in a way making me try and slow down the end of my senior year.

I’m trying to take more breaks and really appreciate Community for what it is. But I really feel like it’s all going too fast and I’m not super ready to leave. But I also think that change is good and I want to have new experiences. Most times you don’t get to pick when change happens. It’s just happens and you have to get used to it. I’ve realized that the only thing to do is to be excited about what’s coming.”

“I think that I’m more introspective than I was when I first came into Community High School as a freshman. I don’t think I fully appreciated how impactful the school would be on me. I think the ethos of Community is one that really lets you become more self-aware, and become a better self-advocate. I also became better at navigating circumstances, be it the college application process, or finding my own classes or my own friends. My life that those skills of figuring things Community fosters this environment of freedom which is one that will serve me well frankly forever. I don’t think that you find that in many other places, both this balance of sort of intellectual passion for certain things like journalism in my case and on the flip side, still learning outside of the classroom, in more real-world settings. I think [Community’s] lack of structure is what has led me sort of figure things out for myself and in the process, learn more about me and who I am who I want to be and I think that truly at any other school I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

NOAH BERNSTEIN