V22 I4 - May 27, 2022

Possible changes to advisory in planning stages

DYLAN CARVETTE ‘23

Associate Editor, Print ARJUN PRABHAKAR ‘23

Associate Editor, Online

Change has always played a prominent role in the culture of Greenhills, especially in recent years. From the remodeling of various parts of the building to changing bell schedules to responding to the latest COVID-19 guidance, Greenhills students have learned to adapt to the ever changing environment.

Recently, school administration announced possible plans to rework the upper school advisory system.

“We brainstormed multiple ways of changing the advisory system,” said Dean of Students Tom Ward. “Currently, we are trying to decide which system would best fit our community.”

Currently the administration has two ideas for changing the advisory system. The first focuses on mentorship between grades.

“Some schools do a mix-grade advisory,” said Ward. “Your advisory could consist of three freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors, and three seniors and you would stay with the advisor for four years.”

The second idea focuses more

on grade level interactions.

“Other schools have a system where you get an advisor in ninth grade,” said Ward. “Then, you receive a new advisor in tenth grade and stay with that advisor for three years.”

The possible changes to the advisory system received mixed opinions from faculty members.

“[Advisory] could use a revisiting,” said sophomore advisor Eric Gajar. “However, I like being with one grade, but I do see the value in going up with one grade.”

While some faculty said being with one grade has its benefits, others see value in having the mixed grade advisories.

“Multi-grade levels could be good,” said junior grade dean Janelle Sterling. “I think it will help the younger students acclimate to the upper school a little more easily and it gives the older students a chance to

Gryphons on the microphone

CHAKOR RAJENDRA ‘23

School Editor

Nicholas Alumkal ‘23 and Austin Andrews ‘23 are both fiends for stat sheets and player and game analysis.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve been organizing sports trivia or other activities for me and my friends,” said Andrews. “I would even invent new sports for us to play.”

Coming into high school, Andrews would attend most sports games, especially basketball and volleyball games and found a passion in reporting.

“I would often find myself giving a play by play to my friends while watching the game,” said Andrews. “They suggested I look into making it more official.”

Andrews was able to put forth concrete action to his goals and gained access to the public announcements system at some volleyball games.

“It was a great opportunity for me to show what I could do in the world of broadcasting,” said Andrews.

“I seized the chance and this allowed me to open doors to future opportunities in other sports.”

mentor.”

Students also have mixed opinions when asked about the possibility

portunity to socialize with my friends in between classes and acts as a time to unwind.”

of changing the advisory system. “I like advisory time now,” said Nate Burke ‘23. “It gives me the op-

proached me asking if I was interested in teaming up with him.”

It started off as just the two of them trying to make it work with a computer and a pen and a pad of paper. “We didn’t have much knowledge about how to broadcast so we mainly used trial and error,” said Andrews. “Half the time it didn’t work, we would have a ton of technical difficulties, but we got through it and that was our first taste.”

When the pandemic hit, it seemed like broadcasting was under wraps for Andrews and Alumkal, but it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Andrews was not the only one with a passion for sports broadcasting, as his classmate Nicholas Alumkal ‘23 came into high school hoping to be able to broadcast in the arena of high school sports.

“I had a passion for sports journalism and broadcasting coming into ninth grade, and I think at some point I shared that, maybe it was in an integrated public speaking speech or something,” said Alumkal. “Austin heard that and caught on and ap-

While some students like its current format, others said change is good.

“I think it would be more beneficial to change the [advisory system],” said Leo Applegate ‘23. “It would be nice to have the time be used for more academic related activities.”

Others felt no advisory system is ever going to be perfect for everyone.

“The current system works for some, but not for others,” said Alex Ye ‘24. “It really depends on the individual on how they use their time and what’s best for them.”

Since placement in advisories tends to be random, the school has also tinkered with the idea that people can join other advisories.

“We are giving students the option to switch advisories at the end of the year,” said Ward. “This exit ramp concept will allow people to leave advisories where they feel they don’t click.”

interested in photography, videography, stats people, media relations, and photo editing as well as other things.”

The Greenhills Broadcasting Club now has over two dozen committed members who meet every Thursday, many of whom have future aspirations in the sports broadcasting business.

“A lot of parents weren’t allowed to watch the games because of the coronavirus pandemic,” said Alumkal. “We offered a live streamed solution where we would do play by play and commentating which was a great way for us to gain experience and a following.”

Coming into this year, the duo was much more experienced and knowledgeable about the operations of their day to day.

“We figured out a lot of kinks,” said Alumkal. “We really became just a well oiled machine.”

As they gained traction and became more popular at games, they saw more interest from other students in sports broadcasting.

“Over the summer we decided to start Gryphon Sports Live or the Greenhills Broadcasting Club,” said Andrews. “We put it on at the club fair and we had a lot of people come up to us.”

The club began to grow and change in ways Andrews and Alumkal never expected.

“We got a lot of interest in the club fair, not just for commentating,” said Alumkal. “People were

“Nick and I want to just grow it as much as possible and leave it with a legacy after we graduate,” said Andrews. “For me personally, it’s something that I am very passionate about and in- terested in and is definitely something that I will be looking to pursue in college and maybe even beyond that, and I know Nick feels the same way.”

Alumkal is known for his creative use of similes, metaphors, references, and word choices in sports broadcasting, and he cites this as a pillar for his success.

“As a color commentator I like to fittingly try to add some color to describe the play since a lot of the time it’s a radio broadcast and you can’t see the play,” said Alumkal. “I like to try to use juicy language to describe the play, so I have this collection of sayings and similes and metaphors I have come up with over the years. I just keep adding to my repertoire and some of them I use over and over again.”

Alumkal has an extensive list of sayings, each more creative than the last, but he still has some favorites.

“Just off the top of my head I think of ‘cool as the seeds inside the cucumber’ or ‘cool as the underside of my pillow,’”said Alumkal. “Another one of my favorites is ‘as sharp as a porcupine’s backside.’” For many, these sayings add the color that the Gryphon Sports Live group is looking for, while some are left puzzled by the language used.

“I remember a post or a comment they made about the basketball team a little while back,” said Charles Branch ‘24. “He said some weird stuff, and I was like ‘What is a nurdling cat burglar? What is a jumping jack flash?’”

THE SQUARE ROOT OF MAGIC Austin Andrews ‘23 and Nicholas Alumkal ‘23 commentating a football game in the press box at Michigan Stadium, “We offered an entertaining solution to people who couldn’t make it to the games, especially during the pandemic,” said Alumkal.

Photo courtesy of Greenhills School

Graphic by Caleb Lee ‘23

Graphic by Caleb Lee‘23, information courtesy of Tom Ward

Sophomore voices desire for student council, advisory changes

ANJAN SINGER‘24

With Student Council election season here, an annual spotlight of attention has been focused upon students running for elected office. But among the speeches of candidates, was an underlying theme of confusion of transparency of what the Student Council does.

But there is a solution that is right in front of us. There is the one time and place where almost everyone is comfortable enough to speak their mind. One treasured school institution that has already established clear groups to represent the student body. One thing that, just like Student Council, could stand for a couple of tweaks, advisory.

The goal and agenda of advisory and student government are both currently unclear to the average Greenhills student, so why not put them together and improve both at the same time? Allow advisory to become a breeding ground for good ideas and a place to harness democracy. Allow those who want to lead to represent their advisory in a new Student Council format, with each advisory represented by a peer they elect to send to the Council. Maybe then, we will see new passion infused into the school’s student government, and school spirit will follow.

For the first time in three years, I saw a cookie hit the ground in a classroom. I could’ve dove for it, saved the custodians some trouble, got myself a cookie, but something about the moment seemed sacrosanct. To me, advisory should not be thirty minutes a day of stone cold silence, not something you skip to go to the library, but cookies eaten, and battles won and lost.

While advisory has its flaws, it is of the utmost importance that we recognize the things that it’s good at as well. In a school that is too often quiet, advisory is a welcomed chaotic reprieve.

A few weekends ago I went to a Model United Nations conference at the University of Michigan. Debate was heated and loud and spirited, all the things that I think our school should be. We shouted at the top of our lungs not be-

When was the last time you went to a Student Council meeting? When was the last time you read the minutes? When was the last time you even knew what the Student Council was up to?

Really, think about it.

I remember the last time I knew what the Student Council’s purpose was. It was sixth grade and our class representatives decided that we should have a say in what they advocated for. For a few days we did. There was a little sheet on the bulletin board where you could write sugges-

potential to be each and every one of our voices. There are more than six hundred of us at this school, more than six hundred people who come here nearly every weekday for most of the year, more than six hundred students who see things that could be better in our community. Some of those ideas are either too big or too small for students alone to handle, but some of them are just the right size to rally around.

For example, concessions at school events. Many other schools have them, whether they’re run by a parent association, the school, or by students. Now, I wouldn’t expect anyone to pay for a whole concession booth out of their own pocket, but it’s a project that no

cause we were mad, but because we had beliefs that needed to be stood up for, and at the end of the day we all left happy with our peers and ourselves. This is the untapped passion that the Student Council could unlock for us.

I am not advocating for us to all talk like our voice is coming out of a megaphone, but there is something about caring so deeply about something trivial that you would shout and curse and advocate to get it changed that simply cannot be replaced. This is the battleground that advisory should be.

EDITORIAL:

tions, things they could do for you. We don’t have that anymore.

I am not saying that there’s anything wrong with what the Student Council is, but rather let’s adjust the structure and services it performs. It helps plan dances, prints t-shirts, but with my admittedly-limited knowledge, I couldn’t tell you what else they do. Student Council, if you are doing something please tell us. Student Council should be whatever we want and need it to be at that moment. It has the

one of us could undertake individually, but the whole school could tackle together.

By electing a student government representative out of each advisory, we will have more voices represented and heard, and hopefully more buy-in from students to student government, and student spirit.

Online SAT won’t change as much as you think it will

The College Board has been the looming threat of darkness, the evil villain squelching the dreams of young, aspiring high schoolers. College Board continuously makes promises to make the SAT more equitable, fair, and representative of the entirety of a student’s profile—yet they fail every time.

In January, the College Board announced a shift to a digital testing platform, expecting it to replace the paper test by 2024. This new change, meant to be an innovative fix to a dated system, fails to address the actual inequities that come with standardized testing.

Every so often, changes are made to the SAT, in hopes that the altered test questions will be more representative of students’ abilities. The implementation of a digital test, on the surface appears to be a novel decision, made after years of dedicated research, that will lead to a better test. But if you take a step back, you realize that no matter the format, digital or on paper, the test is just as unfair, inaccessible, and expensive as before. The College Board’s claim of advance-

ment is just a lazy effort to get outspoken proponents of the SAT’s elimination to stop complaining.

The SAT is dated. Most of us remember talking to our parents about their experience with the SAT, and we very quickly realized that in 35 years, no major changes to the test have taken place. For a test that colleges are so heavily dependent on, and one that is regarded as a universal indicator of academic ability, it has failed to improve at any significant rate. It is the landline phone in a world of smartphones, a Delorean in a world of Teslas. A simple transition from paper to computer format won’t change that.

In addition, it is part of a bigger inequality issue. In general, college prep schools, tutors, and countless extracurricular activities make richer students more attractive to colleges. With the SAT, expensive classes and tutors teach kids how to “master the SAT ‘’ (the catchphrase of the notorious Princeton Review, one of the nation’s leading test prep companies) often despite their academic abilities.

A simple solution would be to eliminate the test. It would create space for students to find other interests and hobbies, not spending their time and money on studying and taking this strenuous and mentally taxing test. Proponents of the test claim that it allows for a constant way to compare different students, which is true, but a GPA does the same thing, only better. With varying teacher input and situations, grades can factor in a student’s personal life, learning type, and personality as well as their academic performance. With this, students can have a more representative (and still comparable) set of “stats” for colleges to look at. Resulting from the pandemic, test-optional schools have taught us that the need for standardized testing is no longer necessary to the extent at which we previously believed. Many colleges claim to conduct a “holistic review” in regards to applications, meaning when reviewing applications, they take into account experiences and attributes as well as academic excellence. Something we might add,

they should have started enforcing a while ago. With a holistic review, there is no longer a need for the SAT, especially if a student’s GPA is already factored.

Standardized testing, for years, has been under fire for its inability to test completely fairly. Colleges are dependent on the scores. Consequently, a large amount of pressure is placed on each student. Coming up with a new test is easier said than done, and a new test could create the same problems as we have today.

Eliminating it all together seems like the simplest solution. Unfortunately, eliminating the test would lose the College Board, and review companies like Princeton Review so much money; the likelihood of complete termination of the SAT is a somewhat outlandish idea. But whatever the College Board decides to do, it is undeniably essential that they are held accountable for their false promises.With each year, we hold high school students to higher standards, forcing them to be better and better. It is time that we pushed the SAT to do the same.

Pizza preferences vary by the slice

After ordering the same types of pizza for years, Luca Singh ‘24 has found that he prefers a deep dish pizza with spinach, mushrooms and sausage or a traditional cheese pizza with meatballs and mushrooms as his normal order.

“I like a good deep dish pizza, although some of the Chicago ones I do not like as much,” said Singh. “Usually I like traditional [cheese pizza], though it depends on who’s making it.”

Maddie Miller’s ‘24 goes classic with her pizza preferences and orders a plain cheese pizza, or a pepperoni pizza with or without the sausage.

Izzy Baru ‘25 is a fan of black olives on her pizza and usually orders a classic cheese pizza with pepperoni and black olives or a pizza with pepperoni.

Trevor Finnegan ‘22 is fixed on barbeque chicken pizza and always orders it when he gets the chance, but will eat all kinds of pizza.

“I really like cheese pizza because its like simple and original, I do like other toppings but I have to be in the mood for them,” said Miller. Miller’s favorite local pizza place is Biga- lora in Ann Arbor.

Singh’s lo - cal goto pizza place is Pizza House, but his fa- vorite pizza place is Delfino’s Chicago Style Pizza in Seattle, Washington.

“I have been ordering the same kinds of toppings on pizza for years now so I don’t really know if there are toppings that I don’t really like,” said Singh. “Also tomato sauce is al- ways my favorite sauce for pizza.”

VIOLET WEIZER ‘25

Lifestyles Staff

“I prefer a thinner crust and less sauce, like I’d rather have more cheese than sauce,” said Baru. “I think sauce is nasty, although I do appreciate some pesto on there, but just a lit- tle tomato sauce is fine.”

“I believe that cheese is the worst part of pizza,” said Finnegan. “My favorite toppings are barbeque chicken and always with a barbecue sauce.”

“There’s this one really good pizza from Bigalora and it has banana peppers and sausage on it,” said Mill- er. “When I’m feeling risky, I’ll go spicy, so that pizza is really good because I like spicy pizza.”

Miller prefers to not have a thin crust pizza or a deep dish pizza.

“There has to be a good amount of bread, sauce and cheese, and in thin crust, you don’t have enough bread,” said Miller. “But in deep dish, there’s too much bread.”

Wordle puzzles student body

When a teacher sees a bunch of students doing something off-topic from the planned lesson of the day, it might be viewed as a common distraction. But, with the latest trend sweeping the school, Wordle, a five-letter online daily word puzzle, perhaps it can be sometimes welcomed by even the instructor.

“I don’t think it’s distracting to play in class, because it’s always fairly channeled and my students are respectful to the technology guidelines,” said wellness teacher Sara LeBlanc. “I think it’s a unique brain break for all of us and a fun way to connect and laugh about something at a time when it’s needed. For our class climate, it’s important to take those moments.”

While Wordle is the original word puzzle, other versions of the game such as Nerdle, a math version, and Squirdle, a Pokémon themed puzzle have been appearing across the internet.

“Wordle is a game in which you guess a five letter word and it will tell you if the letter is in the right place and if the letter isn’t right at all,” said Inaaya Nazmeen ‘24. “You get six guesses and you can only play once a day.”

Wordle was originally developed by Josh Wardle for him and his girlfriend to play. The game was made public in October 2021. On Jan. 31, Wardle sold the game to the New York Times for over a million dollars.

“We haven’t had a formal playing session for it, but my health students introduced me to Wordle,” said LeBlanc. “But by the time my students get to class, most have already played it, and I’m hoping that we can have a couple of Wordle challenges together.”

The name for Wordle is a pun for the creator’s name, Josh Wardle.

“I play Wordle because I like to see my improvements and it’s a fun way to pass time,” said Maddie Morgan ‘25. “When the Wordle is hard on some days, we talk about it at lunch.”

The purpose of the game is to pick different five letter words until you find the daily word. Wordle is available on all web browsers and devices.

“I play daily on my phone, in the car on the way to school, and sometimes during class,” said Anjali Brahmasandra ‘25.

When Wordle was first introduced to the public, about 90 people played each day. By December 2021, over 300,000 people

Diamond hands

Students start investing in digital currency

Lifestyles Editor

“People just have their money sitting around doing nothing,” says an executive from the TV.

“That’s bad, they shouldn’t do that,” replies the boss baby.

The message of the Super Bowl ad is straightforward, you need to invest, even a toddler can see it. It’s a message echoed by the many new cryptocurrency and stock trading apps that advertised at the superbowl this year.

There is one fact that all these adds neglect to mention: you can lose. Some students have experienced it firsthand.

“When I started I basically just bought when I saw stuff going up, I lost like 10 percent in my first two weeks,” said trader Lucas Wentzloff ‘23. “You can definitely lose a lot of money because every dollar you make is you taking a dollar away from someone else, so that means every dollar someone else makes could be a dollar stolen from you” said Wentzloff.

The job of a trader then is to take somebody else’s money before they take yours. Students can get ahead of the competition by researching.

“I follow a few guys on twitter who put out their plays” said Nico Pasquariello ‘22.

However, doing research on

Baru doesn’t order deep dish pizza because of the crust and amount of to - mato sauce. She prefers thin crust pizza from Mani Osteria and Bar.

“I had a really good pizza in New York, it’s called Prince Street Pizza,” said Baru. “It was really good, and it was the only pizza I’ve had that was deep dish that I really enjoyed.”

played Wordle daily. As of this January, the number of daily plays has reached over 10 million, according to the New York Times.

Archived Wordle games are also available for people to play now that the New York Times bought the game. Wordle Archive gives people a chance to play more than once a day.

“When I play the Wordle, I get mad at it, but it’s so fun when you get it within less than 4 tries, because of the challenge,” said Gabby Kinnick ‘22. “I get so mad when I get it in more than 4 tries, since the limit is 6.”

Students said they play Wordle daily because it is a “fun way to challenge themselves.”

Social media is also an outlet for people to share their Wordle scores, along with players talking to their friends about the game.

“I’ve seen people mostly post scores on private Snapchat stories, but rarely on Instagram stories,” said Maddie Miller ‘24. “Mostly celebrities and influencers post them, but rarely my friends.”

On the other hand, some students don’t partake in playing Wordle.

“I don’t know what it is, and I’ve never considered playing, but I’ve seen other people playing it, and it doesn’t seem interesting to me.” said Graeme Jagger ‘23. “I play wordscapes instead, so my word game fix has already been filled.”

Wordscapes is a word puzzle app that uses six letters to form a word crossword puzzle.

The Wordle webpage has a ‘share’ button where people can send their daily scores to friends and family, or social media. The scores show up as square emojis in black, for wrong letter, yellow, for right letter in the wrong place, and green, for the correct letter and placement.

“I’ve also seen lots of Tik Toks with people recommending which words to start your Wordle with, specifically the words adieu, taste, and deity,” said Mia Melendez ‘25.

The share score feature shown through emojis originally came from Twitter, but Wardle eventually built it into the game.

“People play everywhere,” said Miller. “I’ve seen people playing Wordle in class, at lunchtime, while driving cars, maybe, and also I’ve seen them in the library.”

According to Twitter, from Jan. 1 through Jan. 31, there were more than 8.2 million mentions of Wordle on Twitter, which is 9,971 percent more than from Dec. 2021.

twitter and watching finance videos is no guarantee when you’re up against professionals.

“There are people out there who have way more information than you, so you’re trying to beat people who have devoted their lives to doing that,” said Finance Teacher and former stock broker Eric Gajar. “There aren’t things I know that they don’t already know.”

Even though the odds are stacked against them, some students have managed to pull out some wins with research and a little bit of luck.

“When Omicron came out that’s when I bought this biotech company, when it was first coming into the USA, because the last time a variant came out it surged, so I thought it would also surge when Omicron came out, and I was right,” said Wentzloff. He made $2,000 in one day off that biotech company. It’s definitely difficult to get a big win like that. Not everyone gets that lucky.

“[Students] go in with a false sense of how easy it is,” said Gajar, “I know people who have tried [daytrad-

ing] professionally.and only one has come close to making a living, the rest have sort of bankrupted themselves.” However it’s more than the money that makes them take on the risk.

“I trade to learn how the mar - ket

Bworks,” said Wentzloff. A desire to learn is at the core of what drives these traders.

Finnegan orders his pizza with a ‘normal, standard crust.’

“My fa- vorite local pizza place is definitely Joe’s in downtown Ann Arbor,” said Finnegan. “I also went to this pizza place in Chicago that was really good, but I don’t re - member the name of it.”

Fin- negan’s favorite part about barbeque pizza is the flavor of it. “I think the barbeque compliments the chicken very well on the pizza and I also think it’s the perfect topping for pizza because it goes so well with all the other components of a pizza,” said Finnegan.

“You can even make new friends though Wordle, you say “What’s the Wordle?’ ‘Did you get it today?’ ‘I feel like I’ve created bonds over Wordle,” said Melendez. “It even brings teachers closer to students, for example in my health class, Ms. Leblanc loves doing the Wordle with us.”

“I do think that there’s value in young people learning about the stock market and learning about investing,” said economics teacher and former institutional investor Alex Monte-Sano.

Trading as a form of education though is time as well as capital intensive.

“How many students would think that they could go out after their classes and compete with Tom Brady on the football field?” said Monte-Sano. “By day trading that’s essentially what you’re doing. There are people out there whose whole careers it is to think about stocks and their value, and they do that all day every day. Why would a young person who has a lot of other commitments and not that much time to think about it and not much experience, why would they think that they could do better than a professional? and it turns out the professionals don’t even do particularly well.”

There are opposing views around the importance and efficacy of trading as a learning tool. In order to outpace inflation it’s necessary to invest.

“I think it’s good for people to learn about it, even if it’s just to know that they want someone else to do it for them,” said Gajar.

Others think there isn’t much value in learning about trading when the majority of people will never actively participate in their own investments.

“Saving and investing is more important to learn about than trading,” said Monte-Sano. “[Daytrading] seems like a terrible idea”

One thing that they can agree to is the importance of following the markets.

“I think some of these trading apps and some of this day trading stuff has actually got some positive qualities because it teaches people to look at the market or follow a stock or investigate why they’re even interested in that stock,” said Gajar.

One way to do this is to start small.

“I would recommend starting with paper money, fake money, trading so you can learn what works, and learn what doesn’t work,” said Wentzloff.

Overall there’s a mystique about trading beyond the logical and monetary reasoning of why to trade or not that attracts people to it.

“We’re just little people, but we can still own a part of the company,” said Pasquariello.

SPELL IT OUT Tillie Klein ‘25 and Ishan Leahy ‘25 play Wordle after finishing their classwork. “I play because it’s intriguing, and it’s like new everyday, and exciting,” said Leahy. “Because it’s fun and enriching for my brain,” said Klein.

Photo by Violet Weizer ‘25

by

Singer

VIOLET WEIZER ‘25

Lifestyles Staff

ANJAN SINGER‘24

Military backgrounds shape faculty members lives, lessons

ELLIOT AHN ‘25 Lifestyles Staff

Husson takes aim for French military

As a special forces operator on etours warzones like the Ivory coast or Bosnia and watch rebel forces through the scope of your sniper rifle. This was what French teacher Thomas Husson serving in the French military. Husson joined the French armed forces in 1997 and went through sniper school and leadership courses. He served in a scout unit, the 13th parachute dragoon regiment. The regiment’s main mission is to gather intelligence behind enemy lines. The unit was first created in the 1600s as a cavalry unit and is one of the oldest units in the French military. He was inspired to join the military because he grew up in a military family.

“My grandfather was a general,” said Husson “He was a commanding officer so he was a war hero.”

Husson toured in places ranging from Senegal, Bosnia, Croatia, Corsica and Africa, many of which were former French colonies. During his eight years as a scout specialist, he collected intelligence on terror groups and various other insurgents. Along with collecting intelligence, his job was to interact and integrate with the local community.

“A lot of patience was involved, it’s very exciting when I say I was in the special forces,” said Husson. “People have Hollywood in mind and all the movies but the reality is that it is very boring.”

On numerous occasions, Husson and his unit were involved in firefights against opposing forces.

“We were in the equivalent of a hummer,” said Husson. “It was armored but not much. I remember we were driving on the dirt road in the middle of a jungle and there was a checkpoint built up that was not supposed to be there and the rebel army. We arrived at the checkpoint and said that they shouldn’t be there and they were not happy with us telling them what to do. So we got the information, we got back in the vehicle and got back on the radio call and suddenly just by the back of the vehicle, I heard, boom boom boom boom boom. It was like somebody throwing pebbles and I said that’s weird and again, boom boom boom. I knew there’s something nasty and then we hear the same sound but flashes coming from the bushes and the jungle and in fact, we were under fire. ”

After sustaining a number of injuries while in the scout unit, Husson left the special forces. Husson said that throughout his time in the special forces, he sustained injuries but was never injured by a gunshot.

“A smoke grenade blew up in front of my face and I got a concussion,” said Husson. “I spent time in the hospital because I also had internal ear damage from the blast. I’m happy that it was just a smoke grenade so there were no fragments, just a big boom and next I knew I woke up in Germany and I was in the military hospital.”

After eight years of military service, Husson left his unit and became a military instructor at a military academy due to various injuries. He left the French military in 2008 and moved to the US.

Submerged submarine tales surface in ESSU

A quarter of a mile below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, then 24 year old Deano Smith, engineering officer on a submarine. Smith, now Dean of Academics, graduated from Utah State with bachelor’s degrees in physics and mathematics in 1986. That same year, he joined the U.S navy and went through several courses that taught him about nuclear propulsion and nuclear engineering. Along with these skills, he learned how to track ships

through a periscope and launch torpedoes by calculating its trajectory.

“At submarine officer school, you basically learnt all the tactical stuff,” said Smith. “That’s where my clearance got bumped up from confidential to secret and eventually to top secret and above and at sub school, you learn about classifications and then you start learning about classified information about potential enemies. So I learned a lot about Soviet naval assets that I can’t say.”

After he completed his training, he served on the attack submarine USS Flasher. Flasher was an old generation of attack submarine from the 1960s which was still in service.

“Our mantra was: there ain’t no slack in a fast attack” said Smith. “When we went out to sea during the cold war, our job was to find soviet submarines and be ready to take them out.” During his career on the Flasher, Smith served mostly in the pacific fleet, where the sub mostly pulled out from San Diego but visited other naval facilities depending on missions.

“We pulled in and out of a base called Adak Alaska from time to time” said Smith “What we would do is go out and do

what’s called weekly OPs. So Monday morning, the submarines would go out and we would basically play war games against other ships. And our boat the flasher, even though we were old, what the crew does makes a difference. So not slamming doors, not slamming toilet seats down that actually makes a difference when you’re on the sub, you wear tennis shoes or running shoes in the boat. So the uniform is running shoes or athletic shoes, so they’re quiet for silent running ”

After completing his service on USS Flasher, Smith trained to pilot deep-submergence vessels known as DSRV. He became one of seven people qualified to operate the DSRV at the time. A DSRV is a small deep diving submarine which could operate at depths as much as 20,000 feet.

“They would ride piggyback on a submarine (larger attack and ballistic missile submarines)” said Smith. “They could also go on a ship and it has what we called a mating skirt which can connect to other subs.”

Smith said during his career he had a fun experience where the movie of The Hunt for Red October, was being filmed at the base he was at.

“They actually filmed on a sub base when I was there,” said Smith. “In fact, my executive officer we were walking down a pier on time and he justed started to chew these guys out he was like ‘your hair is unset’, we were just walking and our RXO who is actually a very rough guy starts saying ‘your hair is unset, what are you doing around here’, he just starts laying into the guys and they were like, ‘Sir, Sir, we’re just actors.”

Smith left the navy in 1993 and came to Ann Arbor with his wife because they had both enrolled at the University of Michigan.

Everyone needs music, even the Army

When one thinks of the U.S. Army, playing the piano probably doesn’t come to mind. Music teacher Neil Donato joined the U.S army in 1994 after graduating from West Virginia University. He joined and became a piano player for the United States Continental Army Band. But he was hesitant to join the army.

“I was finishing up undergrad and met some people who played in this band, ” said Donato. “We got along pretty well and they said they needed a piano player but initially I was like I got to join the army and I said that’s not gonna happen. They said come visit us at Fort Monroe and check out the band, meet some people, see what you think. So I went down along with the people and saw what the job was gonna be like. After some discern -

ment and long hard thinking about joining the military, I said I think that’s something I want to do. ”

Donato said that the army band was unique because it had several sub groups including the concert band, the ceremonial band, a jazz group and a rock group.

“They need someone playing at a particular level so I had to audition for that specific band” said Donato

Along with playing the piano on several occasions, Donato also played bass drums and other various instruments. He played with many of the various groups in the band and this sometimes changed what he needed to do for that certain band. Donato served in the U.S army from 1994 to 1998 on a four year tour. He left the army in 1998 and under the GI Bill, earned a Master of Music degree at the University of Michigan.

Renaud plays for the Canadian naval band

As a way to pay for college, science teacher Cathy Renaud joined the Canadian reserve when she was in high school and college in the 1980s. She said she joined so she could pay for her college since the Canadian reserve was a part time job.

“It was a part time job but I was fully involved in it for four or five summers,” said Renaud.

Renaud went through basic training and became a musician in the naval reserve. She would go on the weekends during the school year and the summer.

“We learned to march. We were on Lake Ontario, so we learned to sail.” said Renaud “We learned military drills and then joined the military band and we did the music for all our parades.” Renaud said that one of the reasons she joined the military other than paying for her college was that she grew up in a military family. She also said that both her parents were in the military and they met in the military. Renaud left while completing her masters degree and said that she left because she did not have the time to commit to it anymore.

VIVE LA FRANCE Husson on a military base in Tours France being awarded the Silver National Medal in 2005. “I went to teach at a Military academy and I was teaching a leadership course,” said Husson.

DEEP DIVE Smith in Japan next to a deep sea sub in 1992 “I was one of only seven officers(In the U.S. Navy) at the time qualified to operate it,” said Smith.

FORWARD, MARCH Renaud (far right side) stands with her close friends from the Canadian naval band in the 1980s. “It was a great time,” Said Reanud“It was so much fun”.

TO THE STARS AND STRIPES Donato touring the U.S with Tradoc rock in the 1990s “Its cool that the army values music as a component and understands its purpose as part of everything they do”.

Photos Courtesy of Thomas Husson, Deano Smith, Neil Donato, and Catherine Renaud

Art teacher Rob Kinnaird retires

ANJAN SINGER ‘24

Lifestyles Editor

Rob Kinnaird, art teacher of more than 30 years, will be retiring at the end of the school year to focus on his own art.

“I’ve never really stopped, but I’m going to go into it all the time, full time” said Kinnaird.

Kinnaird has taught a variety of subjects including photography and ceramics and will continue to explore them after he leaves.

“I would never be truly happy doing just one thing all the time, I could do ceramics for a couple of years straight but I do like to have my hands in more than one thing, that’s how I best breathe as an artist” said Kinnaird.

He’ll mainly be focusing on sculptures including found objects and electronic components.

“I don’t need a huge studio for that, whereas with ceramics I do,” said Kinnaird, who will be sharing his time between Charlevoix, Ann Arbor, and Berlin.

“I’m sure after a while I’ll have my own studio in Berlin,” said Kinnaird

Kinnaird has built art at Greenhills as we know it from the ground up.

“[Greenhills] had a decent art room,” said Kinnaird, describing the state of the art department when he started. “It still had all the pottery wheels. It was in a different part of the building at the time, it was really more focused on traditional art, like drawing and painting. When I started, I had two drills, one of which was broken, and some screwdrivers and that’s really all we had.”

When he came to Greenhills art wasn’t as much a part of the community as it is now.

“It was a lot harder, our budget wasn‘t as robust, when we wanted to hang something on the wall it was very challenging, because the school at the time felt that was not appropriate, that it put us on a bad path somehow. There was really no art shown at all” said Kinnaird.

However, Greenhills was at its heart the same, a group of people dedicated to learning and teaching, that much will never change.

“The core elements are the same as they’ve always been which are that I can have a conversation with a person such as yourself and we can connect at a really personal level because we have similar interests” said Kinnaird

Along with changing surface level things, like the location of the art room, the amount of tools we have, and where student art is shown, he has had a profound impact on what the focus of art at Greenhills is.

“I felt it was important for students to learn and explore working with a conceptually based curriculum,” said

Kinnaird “We’re making things that are about something instead of just of something”

Along with just working within a concept Kinnaird has given students room to breathe.

“He lets you think

about things in the way you want to instead of just shoving in his concept,” said Alesha Hasssan ‘24.

Which is not to say that his classes are free form or scatter-brained, he seems to have struck a perfect balance between teaching and letting creativity run wild.

“He has structure built in but because it’s a great art class you don’t feel trapped” said Annie Stone ‘23 Kinnaird likes teaching now, but it hasn’t always been that way.

“When I was in high school I had a very influential teacher, Gene Pluhar, we called him Plu, and I was just really heavy into ceramics at the time and I was helping him with a project and he just turned to me one day and said, “you’re going to be a teacher,” and I was like, “No I’m not” I was like 17 or 18 years old at the time, fast forward to when I was in college I was teaching art to elementary school kids and middle schoolers to make a little extra money and I just loved it, I loved teaching,” said Kinnaird.

A love of teaching is what got Kinnaird to become a teacher, but a love for sharing art and craft with the next generation of artists that’s kept him here.

“It’s so rewarding to be able to share something I love with people who are interested, and see the joy in their eyes, and it’s what has kept me in the same career for the last thirty years” said Kinnaird.

Even as he is moving on to other projects Kinnaird is still passionate about teaching art to the next generation of students.

“I don’t want ceramics and photography and sculpture to

Students and faculty perform at Greenstock

AMY HUO ‘23

Arts Editor

MARAKI TAMRAT ‘23

Club President

Back after its COVID-19 virtual renditions the past two school years, Greenstock returns to its outdoor, festival-like atmosphere May 27. Greenstock features self-selected student performers from any grade in the school where they perform bands, as solo acts, duos, trios, and share original music and/or covers. Participants perform popular music, mainly, but sometimes they play classical music or even dance. Faculty play as well, both in the faculty band and with students.

“We haven’t had an outdoor Greenstock in three years - since 2019 - or since the current seniors were freshmen,” said Neil Donato, the Department Chair of Fine and Performing Arts. “That means a lot of kids aren’t too familiar with what Green- stock is.”

College Coun- selor Cora Chester is also going to perform at Greenstock with Do- nato, and fellow faculty mem- bers John Holler, Monica Lewis, and Bran- don Groff.

Chester and Holler are going to play the guitar, Donato is going to play the keyboard, and Groff is going to play the bass. This is Chester’s third year performing at Greenstock.

“As somebody who has a life-long love for music and had gone to a high school that never had anything quite like Greenstock, I think it is a really great celebration in the musical community where you can have stu- dent bands, faculty bands, and even hybrid bands. And it is also a great opportunity for dif- ferent kinds of expressions, since people get to pick songs that they play and therefore share the kinds of music they like with everyone else,” said Ches-

ter. “It’s also nice to have something like Greenstock at the end of the year, especially after COVID, it can give everyone the much needed celebration and release. This event is a lot of fun, and playing music with other people is also one of my favorite things, so I am glad that we are able to do it this year at Greenstock.”

Sarah Robinson ‘22 will be performing twice for Greenstock this year. She will be singing a song with Donato accompanying on piano and another with Sofia Csaszar ‘22, Ian Benson ‘22, and Trevor Finnegan ‘22. She has performed at Greenstock for all four years of high school, but it is her first and last year performing in person.

“I’m really excited for Greenstock this year, especially because it is my senior year, so it’s probably the last one I will be going to,’’ said Robinson. In the past few years due to the pandemic, we had to work around online versions of Greenstock and perform virtually, and so having my senior year’s greenstock be outdoors and in person means a lot. Greenstock is really special to me also because it’s one of the last times students and faculty can come together to enjoy music and each other.”

turn into a craft, I want it to remain as an art-based study,” said Kinnaird. “That’s why we don’t have a class called photography (the class is called Art Photo), that’s just a skill, I want people to really explore what they are trying to say, to whom they are speaking, and why”.

Pluhar, was a huge influence on him.

“I think back to when I was in high school and I had a strong relationship with my art teacher and to this day I still think of him as my mentor, even when I was teaching here” said Kinnaird.

Kinnaird has passed this on, inspiring a new generation of students and artists.

“Rob is the biggest influence in my life,” said Stone, “He has taught me everything I know about being an artist.”

Kinnaird is a mentor as well as a teacher.

“He treats you like an adult but he’ll always be there for you,” said Stone, “he’s a mentor to everybody.”

Finnegan ‘22, and Cale Piedmonte-Lang ‘22. They have all been a part of the event all throughout their four years of high school. This year, the band will perform several songs, some of which include “Tennessee Whiskey,” “Midnight in Harlem,” and “Call me the Breeze.” Performing alongside the jazz band members is singer Avni Mangrulkar ‘22, as well as Finn Klein ‘22 and Ryan Wang ‘22 on the saxophone.

“Ryan was in jazz in freshman year and that bond between our bandmates never leaves. He jumps back in whenever he wants to or whenever we need him which is cool,” said Miller.

Unlike other school events, this one allows students interested in creating and performing music to share both of those combined talents.

“I think that Greenstock is special because it gives everyone the chance to take the spotlight,” said Cam Miller ‘22. “We get to showcase the opportunities that Greenhills gives to stu- dents of interest in expressing music and creating music. Greenstock is perfect for that.”

Miller has been a part of Greenstock every year since freshman year. Whether it be backing up singers in the band or killing it on the guitar, Miller plays alongside his fellow jazz band members, or as he calls them, “the jazz veterans,” Ian Benson ‘22, Trevor

Photo by Mustafa Zirapury ‘23

Graphic by Amy Huo ‘23

SPIN IT, GLAZE IT Rob Kinnaird helping a student with their ceramics project. “I’m applying to art schools because he has honestly inspired me to pursue a passion I didn’t know I had,” said Stone. “I wouldn’t have fallen in love with art with a different teacher.”

HEADING OUT Left, college counselor Cora Chester, and right, senior performers preparing for their final performance. “ Greenstock is a fun event that brings the community together as the school year winds down,” said Wang. “I’ll always remember the bands playing music, the yearbook signing, and football from previous years.”

Softball Co-op comes down the home stretch

ANJAN SINGER ‘24

Lifestyles Editor

VIOLET WEIZER ‘25

Lifestyles Staff

With little hope of a spring softball season in 2019 due to lack of players, Greenhills traveled down the road to form a cooperative team with Father Gabriel Richaed (FGR), which was experiencing some softball participation challenges of its own.

Two years later, with the programs both rebounding, the co-op team is coming to an end and Greenhills softball is making plans to resume its independence for the 202223 season.

“We always knew we were just going to do this for two years,” said Greenhills Athletic Director Meg Seng. “The reason to create a co-operative is to preserve the team. The idea is you only do it temporarily to get the sport back on track.”

both schools. There are the logistical pieces, like how the team is structured, financial obligations, and when and where games will be played, as well as preferences for what uniforms will be worn and who will coach the team.

“You have to get signatures from both schools, and you have to agree on how it works,” said Seng. “There are a lot of costs associated with running a team. You have to determine all of that in advance, so there’s a whole laundry list of things to do.”

gle to keep them all healthy and committed.”

With the majority of the softball team’s players coming from FGR, Greenhills plans to bring the incoming freshman to the team.

“They got their team back on track and we need to do the same,” said Seng. “We’re hoping we’re going to have enough people. We’re going to hire a new coach, and we have a beautiful facility.”

The team is hopeful that with

The process of creating a cooperative team is simple in theory, but requires a lot of coordination and planning for

The cooperative junior varsity team currently has a balance of players from each school, whereas the varsity team only has two Greenhills players — one, a graduating senior.

we offer so many sports and we’re such a small school,” said Seng. “We strug

Senior commits to the course

MIKAYLA

ECCLESTON ‘25

Sports Staff

After nine years practicing 12 to 18 hours every week for golf and speaking with multiple college golf coaches, Cale Piedmonte-Lang ‘22 has officially committed to Hamilton College to further his golf career to the collegiate level.

“Over the summer I went to a prospect camp and met the coach and saw the facilities and saw what it was going to be like. I immediately fell in love [with Hamilton College],” said Piedmonte-Lang, of the college located in Clinton, New York.

When Piedmonte-Lang was younger he played soccer, hockey, baseball, and lacrosse. Piedmonte-Lang still plays soccer at the high school level as a goalkeeper and 2021-2022 captain. He first found his passion for golf one day over the summer. “I went to my Grandpa’s barn,” said Piedmonte-Lang. “I found golf clubs in the loft and pulled them out one day and hit balls in the backyard and I have never stopped”.

Piedmonte-Lang has a scoring average of 82.38 at 18 years old. He has won Catholic league finals for Greenhills, DIII Golf All-State Individual 2021, DIII Golf All-Academic Team Honors 2021 for Greenhills, and Greenhills Men’s Golf MVP 2021.

Piedmonte-Lang placed 3rd at Travis Pointe Country Club and 20th at the Top 50 challenge at Washtenaw County, Michigan in 2021.

“I helped our team win a lot of really good tournaments last year,” said Piedmonte-Lang.

Piemonte-Lang’s coach Micheal Karr had coached him for his high school career and has seen his growth.

“His freshman season he was playing pretty good up until our regional tournament and about a week until our tournament he had a lesson with his swing coach. He ended up hitting really well after that lesson and then qualifying for state finals after that tournament,’’ said Karr. “He was the only freshman to qualify individually for the state finals that year in Division

new players joining the team and incoming middle schoolers, there will be a balanced

year,” said Hannah Behringer ‘25. “Hopefully incoming freshmen will want to play, too.”

At the JV softball game on Wednesday, May 11, the Greenhills-FGR won 16-2 against Notre-Dame Highschool Prep.

“This is only our second game,” said Behringer. “It’s nice that we finally get to play an actual game with everyone on our team here. It’s pretty cool that we have people from another school. It’s nice to have people who share a common love of the sport”

Although they haven’t played many games this season, the co-op has worked well according to Seng, and it’s keeping softball alive at Greenhills and growing a pipeline for future seasons.

“We are grateful that they were able to get some good experience and coaching this season,” said Seng.

The players are happy to have their own team, but their FGR teammates will be missed.

“We have fun with them,” said Amari Aghssa ‘25. “Most of them are my friends now, so we are going to miss them playing with us.”

Creating a new team isn’t easy, but they’re ready to take on the challenge. “For the most part we’re thinking positive, and hoping we can garner some interest, and get some good coaches,

BREAKING UP The softball team huddles up for one of thier last huddles as a co-op team, “It’s really sad to see the softball team to disband, I made some great memories with this team and am sad to not be able to play with my friends from Father Gabriel Richard,” said Alex Hummel ‘23.

LOOKING FORWARD Cale chooses his club of choice after scoping out the yardage to the hole in one of the final tournaments of his high school career. “I am excited for the next level at college, but I will miss the team and the friendships and skills it has given me over the years,” said Cale Piedmonte Lang ‘22.

Photo by Annie Stone ‘23

Photo by Pranay Shah ‘23