Academic News

De La Salle names senior honorees

Seniors Michael Kafoury and Jarod Amparo have been named Class of 2020 valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively. The pair are the No. 1 and No. 2 academic students in this year’s senior class with virtually identical grade-points of 4.506. Valedictorian Kafoury is headed to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, and plans to pursue engineering studies. He chose RPI because he prefers a smaller, private school, and is impressed with the aerospace program. A scholarship will cover much of his Michael Kafoury Jarod Amparo tuition. “We’re very proud of Michael,” said Chris Dean, academic assistant principal. “He has worked hard Currently secretary of the Student Council, salutatorian over the last four years and been able to balance a wide Amparo plans to major in accounting and business admin variety of responsibilities while maintaining academic istration at the University of Notre Dame. excellence. He is a fantastic representative of the Class of Amparo is a four-year participant in the IB Program, and 2020.” heavily involved with school activities. He is a member of Kafoury is currently enrolled in four Advanced Placement the National Honor Society, the Wig and Mask Society, classes (English Literature, Physics, Government, and DECA, and plays clarinet with the concert and marching Calculus BC), as well as the International Baccalaureate bands. Amparo has also participated in track and field, and Business class. He is active in the De La Salle SAVE the mock trial program. (Students Against Vandalizing the Environment) Club, the “I chose to attend De La Salle because of the International Link Crew, the Pilot Advisory program, and the National Baccalaureate Program, and the variety of clubs and or Honor Society. ganizations,” Amparo said. He attended Guardian Angels Kafoury, who is this year’s recipient of WXYZ’s Brightest Grade School in Clawson. & Best Award, attended Richards Middle School in Fraser, “Jarod is an intelligent and insightful young man,” coun and “chose De La Salle because of the environment.” selor Jon Hickey said. “He has excellent judgment and the He added, “I believe De La Salle offers an excellent place humility not to set himself above others. These are some for learning, with minimal distractions and a great teach of the major reasons he has gained my respect and that of ing staff, particularly Mrs. (Jeana) Page and Mr. (David) the faculty and staff. He is a wonderful example of what it Kirck.” means to be Lasallian.” Kafoury is the son of Charles and Nicole, and lives in Amparo lives with his parents Noel and Rhodora, in Romeo, Mich. Madison Heights, Mich.

De La Salle’s math whiz kid

Earlier in the school year, schools and middle schools. The nearly 3,800 students par test consisted of 40 multipleticipated in the 63rd annual choice questions involving topics Michigan Mathematics Prize from high school mathematics. Competition. The top 1,000 were invited The two-part exam – sponsored to take the second exam in by the Michigan Section of December with a chance for the the Mathematical Association top 100 finishers to win schol of America – is intended to arships. The second exam was encourage students to develop five challenging problems, and their interests and abilities in students had to write their solu mathematics. tions providing full justification Minseok Bae doesn’t need and proof of their claims. a boost. The De La Salle Aside from his love of math, Collegiate sophomore has Bae’s time at De La Salle has always had a high mathematical been anything but one dimen acumen. sional. He has been involved in “He’s just very interested extracurricular teams and clubs at in learning,” De La Salle De La Salle. math teacher Joe Novak said. “He has part of the soccer “Anybody who passes Calculus Minseok Bae program in the past and plays 1 as a freshman is surprising. badminton with Mr. (Kyle) Kopy He just has a great attitude. He’s all of the time,” Novak said. “He a happy kid who wants to study. He’s not satisfied with just joined the robotics team and basically learned how to code being in school. I think he just wants to continue to learn. through the whole programming. He had never done it He’s very gifted and very much focused.” before. But they had a certified engineer come here once a Calculus helps to understand changes between values that week and teach him.” are related by a function. It is used in many different areas Bae came to De La Salle last year without knowing such as physics, astronomy, biology, engineering, econom English. That alone makes his overall academic success ics, medicine, and sociology. extremely impressive. An exchange student from Gyeonggi Province, South “Coming here and not knowing a thing, it’s fascinating Korea, Bae was among 37 De La Salle students who took how he picked up on English so fast,” Novak said. “This the first exam last October. He recorded the second-best kid is at least one of the smartest math students I’ve ever score among 350 students in Macomb County. He finished taught. But as a sophomore, there’s never been a sopho with the 152nd best overall test score in the state, 29th more that’s in his spot right now. He loves it. He studies. among sophomores. I only see those (math scores) going up in the next two The first exam was taken by 3,798 students from 117 high years.”

Desmet receives Sunrise honor

By the looks of his resume, Justin Desmet keeps pretty busy for a high school student. Ranked No. 4 in his class, the senior cocaptain on the football team and National Honor Society member has a strong academic standing, composed of honors and Advanced Placement courses, while also volunteering in the community and staying active in leadership programs at De La Salle Collegiate. In late February, Desmet was recognized for some of his many community service projects, receiving the William H. Lacey Community Service Award from the Grosse Pointe Sunrise Rotary Club. The presentation, which included a $500 gift, took place at The Neighborhood Club in Grosse Pointe. “I was excited and happy,” said Desmet, who plans to attend the University of Michigan in the fall. “I felt like I was getting recognized.” As far as his volunteering goes, Desmet works with MCREST, a local youth football camp, and Summer in the City, which is a youth camp in Detroit. He’s a student orga nizer for the Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk, as well as a math tutor at Margaret Black Elementary and Graebner Elementary in Sterling Heights. He also provides tutoring to some classmates for standardized tests like the ACT and SAT. Also honored by the Sunrise Rotary were Maria Fields (University Liggett), Kaitlyn Mack (Regina), and Mackenna Cherry. Mack is the younger sister of De La Salle alumnus Kyle Mack ’15. She’s also a four-year mem ber of De La Salle’s Wig and Mask Society. The Rotary award is not the first for Desmet this year. He received a $300 gift from the Daughters of the American

Justin Desmet ‘20

Revolution, and the Italian American Club of Livonia plans to recognize him with a $1,000 scholarship in late March. While the recognition for his work throughout the com munity is great, ideally, Desmet, who carries a 4.4 gradepoint average, said he will study biomedical engineering in college with the hopes of one day becoming an orthopedic surgeon. De La Salle counselor John Hickey applauds Desmet’s continued commitment to his community. “Justin is an outstanding young man,” Hickey said, “and I couldn’t be more proud of his accomplishments.” Past De La Salle winners of Grosse Pointe Sunrise Rotary Club awards are Stephen Hart (2013), Matthew Burns (2015), Matthew Held (2016), Matt Orsi (2018), Semaj Shelton (2018), Christian Dean (2019), Joe Pierce (2019), Robert Cornwell (2019), Damian Anonick (2019), Jack Lietzow (2019), and Catino Cammarata (2019).

Pilots trio receives county academic honors

Seniors Justin Desmet, Zack Jarski, and Michael Kafoury have been named to the Macomb County All-Academic Team, sponsored by the Macomb Daily. The award identifies the top students in Macomb County. Schools submit information about their top seniors, including grade point averages and standardized test scores. All three students have 4.00 GPAs, based on the formula which does not include weighted grades for honors or Advanced Placement classes. Each has a high SAT score: Desmet (1540), Jarski (1480), and Kafoury (1470). A perfect SAT score is 1600. According to the College Board, two million students take the test each year, and only about 500 achieve a perfect score. “Justin Zack and Michael are emblematic of what it means to be a De La Salle Pilot,” said Chris Dean, De La Salle’s assistant principal for academics. “Not only are these three young men outstanding in the classroom, they have not hesitated to serve their school and community, and represent us as student-athletes with distinction. De La Salle could find no better recipients worthy of this honor.” Kafoury, who plans to major in engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named the Class of 2020 valedictorian. Desmet has been accepted at the University of Michigan and Jarski’s also plans to attend Michigan. Desmet received the added honor of being among 21 stu dents named to the Macomb County 2020 All-Academic Dream Team. He’s the only student from a Warren school. Students are invited to attend an All-Academic banquet each year. However, due to the global coronavirus pan demic, this year’s banquet has been cancelled. Students will still be recognized with an article in the Macomb Daily, and will have certificates mailed to them

AutoPilots come to life with strong finish

De La Salle Collegiate’s robotics team, the AutoPilots, had to overcome a few setbacks during the Michigan districts at the FIRST Robotics Competition at Macomb Community College the last weekend in February. The AutoPilots, in their second year in FIRST – For Inspiration and Recognition of Science of Technology – had a rough start on the first day of competition when the robot’s lifter was torn off. With the lifter fixed, De La Salle and its alliance headed into the second day with a 4-5 record in qualification matches. But more bad luck followed when the AutoPilots lost connection to the robot’s drive controls and a rotation rod snapped. “It was a roller coaster weekend with robot malfunctions, broken parts, and matches won and lost,” AutoPilots mod erator Rob Black said. Still, the AutoPilots managed to qualify for Saturday after noon’s playoff matches with a 6-6 mark. De La Salle’s squad of Nathan Arnold, Ethan Arun, Minseok Bae, Jeremiah Chambers, David Chomicz, Joshua Cichoracki, Ryan Hensley and Suheum Heo finished with an 11-8-0 overall record for the two-day competition, and 5-2-0 in the playoffs. “Our team was picked to be on the top-seated alliance and made it all the way to the finals,” Black said. “Our alliance lost in the last few seconds of the third of the best-of-three match.” The AutoPilots were scheduled to participate in a second competition in mid-March at Center Line High School, March 19-21, before the Covid19 pandemic forced a cancellation.

Two Pilots earn Bates Scholarships

Derrelle Murray

Bronson O’Kray Seniors Derrelle Murray and Bronson O’Kray learned they have earned Ted Bates Memorial Community Scholarship awards. The two college-bound Pilots will receive $1,000 gifts, which are proceeds from the an nual Ted Bates Memorial Community Service Scholarship Golf Classic held annually in September. Two students from nine different high schools, including Bishop Foley, Center Line, Cousino, Fitzgerald, Lincoln, Mott, Regina, and Woods Tower, received awards sponsored by Warren Lions Club, the Sancho Caravan of Alhambra, Warren Kiwanis Club, and Warren Rotary Club. The Bates Scholarships are offered annually to students who have a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher and have completed 40 hours of community service and submitted a commu nity service biography. The scholarship is named for Bates, the for mer mayor of Warren, who died in 2011. “We are so pleased to learn that Bronson and Derrelle have earned this scholarship,” said Chris Dean, De La Salle’s assistant principal for academics. “Both of these young men are very dedicated and hard workers in all that they do and it is fantastic to see them gain this well-deserved recognition. In their time as Pilots, both have done everything they can to make their school and families proud of them.” O’Kray carries a 3.75 cumulative grade-point average and participated in the Michigan Math Prize Competition last October. An Advanced Placement student, he played soccer through his sophomore season. In the fall, he hopes to attend the University of South Carolina, Michigan State University or Central Michigan University. Murray is an accomplished studentathlete, who participated in football and track and field since his freshman year. He earned his first varsity letter as a freshman throwing shot put and discus on the Pilots’ track team. He received his second varsity letter in his junior year as a member of the Pilots state champion ship squad. Murray maintains a 3.57 cumulative GPA while taking three Advanced Placement classes amongst his workload this year. He plans to attend Albion College this fall. Murray has always cultivated a sense of gratitude, looking for ways that he can give back to his community. “At De La Salle, it is expected to be ac tive with community service by volunteering as often as possible,” he said. “As a team and individual I did activities within the Warren and Detroit communi ties to help those that were in need. I also worked with kids in the Warren area in providing them with school supplies and tutorial services.” Along with his mom, Larrita Murray, he continues to volunteer at area soup kitchens too. A golf outing that supports the scholarships is scheduled for Sept. 25. For information on the scholarships or golf outing, contact Karen Joyce at 586-759-6500.

De La Salle is named a Green School

For many years, De La Salle Collegiate has been recognized as a Green School by the Macomb County Board of Commissioners. This year is no exception. In April, De La Salle science teacher Nina Jacks received the official notification with an emailed certificate noting the school’s significant contributions to the conservation and preservation of the environment. “It’s great that the De La Salle community has been able to keep up all these years with recycling efforts,” said Jacks, who is the moderator of the school’s Students Against Vandalizing the Environment Club (SAVE). Seniors Matthew Nguyen, Michael Kafoury, and Justin Desmet were active in the organization – otherwise known as the SAVE Club – and completed an eight-page applica tion that they submitted in February. “They were pretty motivated, and led the effort to complete the application and continue getting this recognition,” Jacks

Nina Jacks in the classroom

said. “We did things we typically do, such as recycling bins in each classroom and office. We also have a cell phone recycling bin, and the cafeteria uses biodegradable plates.” Along with recycling bins, SAVE maintains a website and bulletin board about their efforts, and alerts families to recycling events via the weekly parent newsletter. Jacks encourages all of her students to be creative in their green efforts. “It all depends on the students and their interests,” she said. “The SAVE Club gives them an opportunity to practice leadership skills.” Other teachers in the Science Department also include green lessons, such as Jackie Van Thomme’s annual field trip for students to learn about the impact of invasive species. Though,Jacks said the group wasn’t able to schedule the annual electronics recycling event in January, but hopes the students will organize one again during the 2020-21 academic year. “Typical Christmas presents now include some new elec tronics, so January has been a good time to recycle those old devices,” Jacks said.