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Battle of the Burgers: Determining the best burger in the Grosse Pointe area.
THRILLLIST.COM
COLIN DUFFY COURTESY OF DIANE MONTGOMERY
EMILY WIDGREN
POINTE
NORTH GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
EVENTS
CHIOR HOLIDAY CONCERT Thursday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. at First English Lutheran Church WINTER BREAK Monday, Dec. 24 through Tuesday Jan. 2. LINK CREW STUDY SESSION Wednesday, Jan. 9 from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. in the cafeteria
INSIDE
"I THINK IT'S REALLY
GOOD FOR THE
STUDENTS
TO HAVE SOMETHING
DIFFERENT, TO DISTRACT
THEM IN A WAY. SOMETHING
FUN TO
LOOK
FORWARD
TO AND TO BE A PART OF. PAGE 2
"CONSIDER THIS: THE
REASON "GET PEOPLE ARE
INFORMED LIVING AND MAKE IS LONGER YOUR VOICE BECAUSE THE HEARD.RACE WE HUMAN CANNOT IS BECOMING AFFORDAT BETTER TO LOSE THE GAME ."
THEM." PAGE 3
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NORTHPOINTENOW.ORG
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12, 2018
Healing this house:
Faculty, administration work towards improving, maintaining staff, student relationships post-conflict By Syeda Rizvi EDITOR-IN-CHIEF According to Fox2detroit.com, on Nov. 12, the brother of a student who was murdered at age 17 elaborated on plans for his 21 birthday in class. The teacher, who responded with “if you're going to make it,” has since left school. Though this event occurred weeks ago, students, faculty and administration alike are still dealing with the aftermath of the incident. According to principal Kate Murray, even before Nov. 12, the focus for this year’s staff was helping students who have suffered adverse childhood experiences. “We’re a family,” Murray said, “and when you’re a family, you feel for things as a whole... I never want any of our students or staff at North to feel as if we do not value them. I never want that.” Faculty and administration met on Oct. 23, Nov.13 and Dec. SH GI AC OB I BU 4 to discuss and learn various strategies to help student victims of emotional trauma. Strategies discussed included self-ref lecting, developing a self-care accountability system and group processing check-ins. With the focus of staff revolving around becoming more informed about adverse childhood experiences, some staff and faculty members say this incident was completely unexpected. Spanish teacher Michael Spears was surprised to find out about it, but doesn’t believe this is an accurate representation of the academic environment staff and students are used to. “That is the most atypical thing that I have seen come out of this building. It was certainly wrong, and I’m not pleased it happened. I was appalled to hear it,” Spears said. “But I don’t think there is any kind of endemic problem in this building that caused an incident like this to happen. I think it was an isolated incident that arose from a bad decision... If I’m not surprised by something like this think about what that says. I was shocked, absolutely.” Spears said that in truth, most teachers have an excellent relationship with students, and an event like this forces everybody to “reset the relationship button.” However, he also believes that this situation is an opportunity to reevaluate the right sensitivities to have with students. To him, Spears said staff has historically worked to fight attitudes of racism and
feelings against diversity. “I think the staff was disappointed because it doesn’t represent what is typical for this building. It doesn’t represent how we feel about students, about diversity and how we feel about education in general,” Spears said. “It’s disappointing and it’s unfortunate.” English teachers Kristen Alles said that although only one teacher has left, the impact of this situation and its effect has transcended through school. She believes reaching a high level of understanding with students is a significant factor in preventing a similar situation from occurring. “In school, there is some fear, some sadness, frustration, and those feelings are all related. I think
“
When you’re a family, you feel for things as a whole... I never want any of our students or staff at North to feel as if we do not value them. I never want that.
“
UPCOMING
SINCE 1968
Kate Murray PRINCIPAL
at least for me, I’m probably a little more sad,” Alles said. “It’s hard to overcome (focusing on the negative) but I’m trying. I’m trying to focus on the good because there is so much good. But, to be candid, right now is just feeling sadness and a little bit of loneliness. It makes you feel like you’re isolated and looking for a life raft around you.” According to Alles, a new priority of faculty is not just to make sure nothing like this incident happens
again, but also that any students impacted must be given the support they need, along with helping any members of staff who are still facing obstacles within the healing process. Alles believes all teachers want to say that they support and care for their students, and that their main goal is to help students achieve whatever they set out for. “We would do almost anything for our students as teachers and administrators,” Alles said. “I appreciate my students, I’m grateful to them and I will be their biggest supporter, through the ups and downs, best and worst. I’m here to help them succeed in whatever that success looks like. Even though something like this causes things to be divisive, this may make us sad, it may make us frustrated, but our job is to teach our students to be kind and members of society. That is still our focus and we will support them no matter what.” Alles said that time, focusing on the positive, supporting staff, students and administration are all remedies needed to rise above the current school climate. Murray agrees, and also believes that time is vital in overcoming the repercussions of the incident. “I think healing takes time. I think North High School cares deeply about students and our staff cares about students,” she said. “So the impact on one student can impact all students and the impact on one teacher can impact all teachers.” Murray also believes faculty should remember that teaching is a profession of “passion and dedication.” To her, reconnecting with the passion for education and realizing the amount of positive relationships teachers have with students is a good way to heal as well. “Every teacher is different but if I could, I would love to grab each and every one of them, hug them and tell them that they are deeply valued,” she said. “I have been deeply saddened over the last few weeks for a variety of reasons. Part of that is because we believe so deeply in the work that we do at North. I look forward to our continued work to understand and teach all students and I have faith that school can do that.”
Challenge Day: what it is and its significance By Adam Schwartz & Emily Widgren PAGE EDITORS Challenge Day, which is on Dec. 12-13, provides the opportunity for staff and students to gather and discuss each other’s struggles, the goal being to understand everyone on a deeper level. Special Education teacher Lisa Steiner feels that Challenge Day is a crucial opportunity to help build a better understanding among students and staff alike. Steiner sees the program as a chance to change how people view others who have gone through difficult circumstances, changing the normal reaction one can have to another in tough situations. “The overall goals of the program are to increase personal power and self-esteem,” Steiner said, “to shift dangerous peer pressure to positive peer support and to eliminate the acceptability of teasing, violence and all forms of oppression.” Junior Clare Loch is participating in Challenge Day this year, and sees the occasion as a chance to find out what goes on in the lives of others. “I hope to gain more of an understanding (to) how people deal with the tough times they go through or mental illness and how people bounce back from those things,” Loch said. In addition, Loch thinks it is a privilege to participate in something that other schools don’t have the choice to. She said she is glad that staff encourages students to “get to know each other,” and build on in-school relationships. Junior Mariah Loper, who participated in Challenge Day her freshman year is doing it this year as well. She views it as an opportunity to be aware of people you are around and to understand them, since she thinks many teenagers aren’t as open to others.
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“There’s so much stuff that’s going on, and there’s such a deeper meaning to everybody,” Loper said. “You just don’t know people and by going, you automatically figure out and you know people just by talking to them. I feel like talking really helps, because a lot of CHALLENGEDAY.ORG teenagers, we don’t talk.” Steiner said Challenge Day has helped kids with a better understanding of how they view their family and it is relevant to everyone, as everybody has gone through a struggle at some point in their lives. “I hear many stories about kids understanding themselves, their family dynamics and others,” Steiner said. “They realize they are not alone in their pain or happiness; that everyone has struggles and that together, through the simple act of kindness, we can help each other through life challenges.” Loch added that Challenge Day is important to her because she believes it’s important that nobody is facing a challenge by themselves.
VOLUME 51 | ISSUE 6
News Life
“I think that it’s very important to understand that no one’s alone and everyone goes through it in one way or another.” Loch said. “It’s important that people are there for each other… it is my hope that it enlightens and changes young people's thinking and behavior.”
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