VOLUME 47, ISSUE 16www.northpointenow.org @thenorthpointe

SYDNEY BENSON & WWW.GPNORTHATHLETICS.COM

1 NEWS2 CALENDAR3 IDEAS4 REVIEWS

5 LIFE6 ON CAMPUS 7 SPORTS8 FEATURE

IDEAS - PAGE 3CONTENTS

NORTH POINTEFRIDAY, MAY 22, 2015

S I N C E 1 9 6 8 GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL

WWW.POWER983.COM

REVIEWS - PAGE 4

“Everyone makes the unknown seem like such a scary place, but there is a particular beauty to

uncertainty.”

Reese Wither-spoon and Sofia Vergara’s new comedy, Hot Pursuit, came out Friday, May 8.

Q&A with new superintendent Dr. Gary NiehausBy Caitlin Bush & Allison LacknerASSISTANT EDITORS

North Pointe: Where did you grow up?Dr. Gary Niehaus (via email): Farina, Illinois, population

600. My family owned grain elevators in four communities.NP: Where did you attend college?GN: Eastern Illinois University. B.S. in Education, South-

eastern Louisiana University, M.S. in Education, Eastern Illinois University. Specialist in Education and Loyola Uni-versity, Chicago, Ed.D. in Education.

NP: What did you major and minor in, and why?GN: History, Physical Education and Health Education. I

wanted to be a teacher.NP: Have you had a crazy job in the past?GN: Illinois Department of Transportation summer job

holding and turning a stop sign for traffic. BORING.NP: What is your favorite thing to do in your free time?GN: Avid golfer, swim a mile a day, and being with my

granddaughters.NP: Do you have any pets?GN: Bosco, golden retriever puppy, six months old.NP: Would you consider yourself an adventurous per-

son? Why?GN: I like to have calculated risk. Moving and coming to

Grosse Pointe.NP: Do you have any kids?GN: Kevin, my oldest is married to Katy. They live in

Little Rock, Arkansas. They’re expecting a daughter in July.

Amy is married to Brian. They live in Salem, Illinois with my two granddaughters, Sarah, 10 and Emma, 5. R y a n is single. He lives in Broomfield, Colorado.

NP: Do you have any unique talents?GN: Left-handed, excellent handwriting, signature

(and) athlete.NP: What has been your favorite job?GN: Being a superintendent.NP: What experience do you have being a superintendent?GN: I have been a superintendent in Illinois for 18 years. Seven

years at Salem Elementary School District, four years at Charles-ton Unit School District No. 1 and seven years at McLean County Unit District No. 5.

NP: What was your first impression of the Grosse Pointe Public School System?

GN: Grosse Pointe has an excellent teaching staff and ad-ministrators that are looking for a chance to work together to make the school system even better. I want to be a part of helping lead and guide the direction of the school district.

NP: What do you have to offer in the role of superintendent? GN: The leadership, vision and courage to make Grosse

Pointe Public School System even better.NP: How have you felt throughout the hiring process? GN: ExecConnect does an excellent job of making the

process thorough, rigorous and comprehensive. I have en-joyed my time in Grosse Pointe visiting the buildings, meet-ing people and becoming familiar with the school system.

NP: What made you apply for this job?GN: ExecConnect is the search firm hired by the Grosse

Pointe Public School system. They recruited me and asked me to apply for the superintendency.

NP: How did the interviewing process work?GN: ExecConnect advertised the position. They had 31

applicants apply, screened 11 candidates and selected three finalists for the first-round interviews. The Board of Educa-tion interviewed the three finalists for 90 minutes each. The Board of Education selected two finalists. The finalists each spent a day in the school district with multiple small group

interviews, school visits, a formal presentation and a final in-terview with the Board of Education.

NP: What was the interviewing process like for you?GN: The process was thorough, tedious and required fo-

cus, preparation and understanding of the school system.NP: Did you have any strategies for the interviews?GN: Preparation is key, researching the school system,

getting to know the community, and getting answers fo-cused. The other key is to get your experience and abilities into your answers.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Extreme studying habits fail to make the grade

FEATUREPAGE 8

LEFT: Senior Tommy Burke bats in a game against Grosse Pointe South on Saturday, April 25.

RIGHT: Varsity baseball coach Frank Sumbera with his family celebrating his 1,000th win May 9. with his

family.

By Audrey Kam & Katelynn MulderEDITOR-AT-LARGE & STAFF REPORTER

With school, extracurriculars, co-curriculars and an Internet connec-tion, the only thing surprising about teenagers’ lack of sleep is that it’s stil l considered a surprise.

Freshman Blerina Berisha feels that it is not a good idea to sacrif ice sleep, especially before a test.

“I wouldn’t suggest it because you obviously need a lot of sleep to actual-ly prepare your brain for the next day,” Berisha said.

Teengers are faced with mounting college pressures, which increase their workload. To manage their responsi-bilities, many are cutting into their rec-ommended amount of sleep. As a result, teens all over the country are suffering from slower reaction times and possi-ble long-term sleep deprivation.

“I think teenagers are kind of notori-ous for not getting the rest they need,” school psychologist Christine Kuhl said. “It’s an issue for a lot of students because teenagers need more sleep than most age groups, and they probably get the least.”

In fact, according to the Center for Ad-vancing Health (CFAH), only around 8 percent of high school students get the recommended average of nine hours of sleep on a school night. This means out of North’s 1,342-member student body, there are only around 106 well-rested students.

“I’d say there are three types of all-nighters: academic procrastinators mak-ing up for lost time, academic overachiev-ers trying to get every dot, dash and period memorized, and those special few

COURTESY OF DR. GARY NIEHAUS

who feel new versions of Halo warrant an all-nighter,” athletic trainer Sarah Florida said via email.

Kuhl says that nine to ten hours of sleep per night is the recommended amount for teenagers. However, she knows it’s rare for students to get that much — or any sleep at all some nights.

“Maybe sometimes it’s poor plan-ning and budgeting of time, but I think it’s mostly being overwhelmed with the amount of work and studying you have to do,” Kuhl said.

Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep deficit, most commonly presents itself through slow or delayed cog-nitive performance such as sluggish thinking, impaired attention span and poor working memory according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine-Na-tional Institute of Health.

Students have a choice to make — stay up and finish the assignment or go to bed on time and risk a late grade. If students are having trouble focusing and remembering what they learned in class that day, their grades could suf-fer, but if they don’t do the work on time, it could have the same result.

According to Kuhl, a solid sleep sched-ule is a good tool for students to have.

“If you can make a schedule for yourself, budget your time really well and keep a good sleep routine, that will probably be your best bet,” Kuhl said. “Sleep is not only good for rest and recovery. It also helps you learn, so it’s important for solidifying that information you’re studying.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2AUDREY KAM & LINDSEY RAMSDELL

ABOVE: Dr. Gary Niehaus has been hired as the new super-intendent. “A superintendent is the leader, visionary and planner for the school system. Listening, talking with others and bringing the best ideas forward to make Grosse Pointe a better school system,” Niehaus said.

2 – Friday, May 22, 2015 – North Pointe NEWS

Marketing I classes return to The Big Salad to sell productsBy Lindsey Ramsdell & Emma BrockASSISTANT EDITORS

Over the past two weeks, Marketing I classes have returned to The Big Salad for another part-nership opportunity. The students’ tasks were to work in groups to develop, pitch, advertise and sell an original product at the salad shop. Junior Tommy Heinemann and his group created an Asian salad called the Samurai Salad.

“Their Asian salad is their number-one selling item at The Big Salad,” Heinemann said. “So we figured that if we could alter that a little bit, we’d have the most people vying to buy it.”

Whichever group sells the most product gets its salad, along with its members’ names, on The Big Salad’s menu through next fall. In order to win, the students will have to come up with the most effective marketing strategy for their product. Heinemann and his team are using social media and flyers to advertise the Samurai Salad.

The first semester Marketing I class was business teacher Michelle Davis’s first class to under-take this assignment, and after receiving good results, Davis decided to turn it into a tradition.

“It went really well the first time through,” Davis said. “I think that the kids were hesitant in first semester at the beginning because it seemed like it was gonna be a lot of work. And it was, but it was all in-class work for the most part ... we got to put the book away and actually take the cur-riculum and turn it into something real, something reality-based. So second semester, I think the expectation was more there for the kids, they were a little more excited because they had already heard about how much fun the (first group) had from first semester.”

Davis noticed that as the students became less hesitant, they were more proactive in the cre-ation of their product. The product and advertising development went more quickly than it did first semester.

Each group sold its product on an assigned day. Heinemann and his group sold their salad on May 19. Team member Samantha Lopiccolo said she enjoyed the preparation. During this part of development, students sampled their own products and made adjustments to find the right taste.

“My favorite was taste-testing it and seeing the product come to life,” Lopiccolo said. Although the concept of the assignment was the same as first semester, Davis shortened this

semester’s project schedule to increase efficiency.“I gave myself a lot of time the first time to make sure we covered everything and realized I

didn’t need quite that much,” Davis said. “So second semester, we condensed the time frame so that we could get it done, still stick with curriculum and maybe add some more things but not have to spend four weeks.”

Despite having only three weeks for design and marketing, the students were not negatively affected. In fact, the first three groups to sell made more than the first three did last semester. Da-vis credits some of this success to increased awareness of the project throughout the community.

“I think that the community was more aware than the first time around,” Davis said. “And it’s nicer. It was December (during the first trial), and now it’s May, so people can get out more.”

The project has not only helped Heinemann notice the possibilities of marketing as a career, but it has also benefitted all of Marketing I. As a result Interest in marketing has increased at North.

“The numbers for the marketing class increased from this year to next year, and I think part of the reason it increased is because people were talking about how we get to do this cool thing and leave school and actually sell something we made,” Davis said.

This type of reality-based learning has become such a positive asset to marketing that Davis would like to begin a similar activity in her advertising class. The advertising students would de-sign ad campaigns that they would present to a local business.

For Heinemann, the reward is in the experience.“I think that we’re learning a lot, and that’s what matters the most,” he said. “(I like) that it’s all

up to us. We have freedom to do what we want.”

ABOVE: Freshmen John Godoshian and Zoey Lightbody sell their “Big Crujido” to a customer at the Big Salad as part of a project for their Marketing I class.BELOW: Sophomore Justin Rheaume and junior Adam Hilu present their “Game Changer” wrap to a customer.

SYDNEY BENSON

Sleep deprivationCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Short-term memory is encoded and stored in long-term memory banks during sleep.

Psychology teacher Jennifer Weis-brodt says that while students who opt for all-night cram sessions “often do fairly well on exams,” their assessment grade isn’t ref lective.

“The real test is if they retain the infor-mation over time,” Weisbrodt said via email.

“We know from research that they don’t retain the information without ‘sleeping on it.’”

Pressure to get good grades only increas-es throughout high school. According to the Center for Advancing Health, nearly 20% more seniors have sleep deficits than stu-dents in ninth grade.

Junior Kayla Selbmann knows that she is an outlier, getting an average of eight hours of sleep a night.

“I’m a junior, but when I was a freshman, I probably got more sleep because I got less homework,” Selbmann said.

According to Weisbrodt, anything that prevents a person, and especially a teenager, from completing or entering REM sleep cy-cles can have an extremely negative effect on them, both psychologically and physically.

This includes alcohol and certain medi-cations for psychological conditions and anxiety disorders.

“Even sleeping pills can shorten REM cy-cles, which directly affects memory and our state of mind,” Weisbrodt said.

There are many types of sleep depriva-tion, and while everyone knows about “all-nighters,” another variety that may be more widespread is chronic partial sleep depri-

vation. Chronic partial sleep deprivation is when sleep is consistently restricted. This results in a large sleep debt, which is the to-tal hours of sleep lost.

“The important thing is that you are studying hard and that you are getting the grades that you want, and if that’s what you need to do, that’s kinda what you need to do,” Kuhl said.

While pulling all-nighters has its nega-tive effects, it’s worse to get consistent low levels of sleep. It has been theorized that people suffering from chronic partial sleep deprivation can take more than two weeks to fully recover.

Without a healthy amount of sleep, the body will continue to suffer, harm-ing the student’s reaction times and oth-er mental capabilities.

A lack of sleep has also been associated with teenage driving incidents.

“You know how you see a lot of signs on the road or even public service announce-ments saying don’t drive sleepy?” Kuhl said. “It’s because it’s just as dangerous as driv-ing drunk or driving texting.”

Driver fatigue is responsible for an esti-mated 100,000 motor vehicle accidents and 1,500 deaths each year according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis-tration. Drowsiness is the last stage before falling asleep, which makes it one of the most dangerous states a driver can be in.

However, when it comes to attending school, it seems like being up all night isn’t such a bad thing when done sparingly.

“One here and there, especially when you’re young, are bound to happen,” Flori-da said. “I myself have some fond memories of pulling college all-nighters with study groups, and I think I turned out just fine. However, I am not recommending making it a regular part of life.”

Superintendent Q&ACONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

NP: What changes do you want to make?GN: Special education, meeting the needs of the special education students. North-

South tradition, rivalry and needs, technology, digital content, one-to-one implemen-tation and infrastructure to support (it) and enrollment, keeping what we have and recruiting more young families to Grosse Pointe.

NP: What change are you most excited about?GN: Technology, digital content, infrastructure and getting towards one-to-

one implementation.NP: What are you most looking forward to while you’re superintendent?GN: Meeting the community, getting into the school buildings and spending time

with the teachers, students, administrative team.NP: What put you ahead of the competition?GN: Doing my homework on the school system, being focused with my answers and

bringing previous experience.

SYDNEY BENSON

YOU’RE RIGHT, all gyms are the same....

EXCEPT THIS ONE

Summer Student Special

$99Family Membership discounts available

Offer vaild until end of august

for 20 years “The Gym” in the area

- OPEN 5 AM -

NO SCHOOLMonday, May 25

SPRING SPORTS

AWARDSTuesday, June 2 and Wednesday, June 3 at 7 p.m. in the PAC

SENIOR’S LAST DAY

Wednesday, June 3

SAT TESTINGSaturday, June 6 and Saturday, June 13 at 8 a.m. at North

SENIOR ATHLETIC BRUNCH

Sunday, June 7 at 12 p.m. at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club

BLOOD DRIVESunday, June 7 at 12 p.m. at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club

OUR EDITORIAL

North Pointe – Friday, May 22 , 2015 – 3

Undeciders united

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Anu Subramaniam

CO-MANAGING EDITORS: Olivia Asimakis, Jennifer Kusch

SECTION EDITORS: Yena Berhane, Katelyn Carney, Mora Down, Audrey Kam, Billy Moin

WEB EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Emma Puglia

WEB MANAGING EDITOR: Ritika Sanikommu

BUSINESS MANAGER: Gowri Yerramalli

PHOTO EDITORS: Dalaney Bradley, Ava DeLoach, Alanna Sparks

ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR: Sydney Benson

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Emma Brock, Caitlin Bush, Radiance Cooper, Allison Lackner, Lindsey Rams-dell, Lauren Sexton, Sarah Wietecha

STAFF REPORTERS: Josie Bennett, Alex Harring, Nathan Lonczynski, Katelynn Mulder, Montana Paton, Anna Post, Addison Toutant

INTERNS: Conner Bott, Harris Bunker, Abbey Cadieux, Maria Cody, Darcy Graham, Camryn Harris, Erin Kaled, Trevor Mieczkowski, Sonny Mulpuri, Joey Parison, Michael Ruprecht, Asia Simmons, Billy Steigelman,Tommy Teftsis

SENIOR ASSISTANT EDITORS: Brittney Hernandez, Wendy Ishmaku, Dora Juhasz, Erica Lizza, Kaley Makino, Emily Martinbianco, Haley Reid, Thomas Remener, Andrea Scapini, Luke Sturgill

The North Pointe is edited and produced by Advanced Journalism students at Grosse Pointe North High School and is published every two weeks. It is in practice a designated public forum without prior review.

Comments should be directed to the student editors, who make all final content decisions. The views expressed are solely those of the authors or the student editorial board and do not reflect the opinions of the Grosse Pointe Public School System.

We are a member of the Michigan Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association, National Scholastic Press Associa-tion and Student Press Law Center. We subscribe to McClatchy-Tribune Information Services and iStockphoto.com.

One copy is available free to all community mem-bers. Additional copies may be purchased. Our editorial policy and advertising rates are available online at northpointenow.org. The North Pointe is printed on 100% recycled paper.

CONTACT US707 Vernier RoadGrosse Pointe Woods MI, 48236Phone: 313.432.3248Email: northpointe@gpschools.orgTwitter: @thenorthpointeWebsite: NorthPointeNow.org

FACULTY ADVISER: Shari Adwers, MJE

Our editorial represents the opinion of the North Pointe Editorial Board consisting of the staff above. Members who have a conflict of interest with an

editorial topic do not partake in that meeting or vote.

“I don’t do all-nighters because I don’t believe in cramming and stuff.”

“I haven’t pulled an all-nighter in 30 years, and I only pulled one or two. I would take a nap during the day (and) have a bunch of coffee.”

“I’ve had to make sure I get up frequently and move around — play loud music, open the window up, let cold air come in.”

Andy MontagueENGLISH TEACHER

Ann StarinskyHEALTH TEACHER

By Sydney BensonYOUR TURN: What do you do to pull an all-nighter?

“Grosse Pointe Public School administrators and teachers are responsible for encouraging and ensuring freedom of expression and freedom of the press for all students, re-

gardless of whether the ideas expressed may be considered unpopular, critical, controversial, tasteless or offensive.”

BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY

Olivia AsimakisCO-MANAGING EDITOR

Radiance CooperASSISTANT EDITOR

Katelynn MulderSTAFF REPORTER

Anu SubramaniamEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Yena BerhaneIDEAS EDITOR

Mora DownsLIFE EDITOR

Emma PugliaWEB EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Katelyn CarneySPORTS EDITOR

Billy MoinNEWS EDITOR

Ritika SanikommuWEB MANAGING EDITOR

Gowri YerramalliBUSINESS MANAGER

Trevor JoySENIOR

“I entertain myself and not lay down. I watch TV and play video games.”

“I’ll probably distract myself or watch a bunch of movies or just talk to my friends.”

Jack Thompson SOPHOMORE

“We just watch a bunch of movies and eat a lot of candy. We didn’t really mean to, but it kind of just hap-pened anyway.”

Elaina EmigJUNIOR

Kylee BanaszewskiFRESHMAN

IDEAS

A few weeks ago, my moth-er sent me a link to a video that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. It was footage of a relatively unknown poet named Ernestine Johnson ap-pearing on Arsenio Hall’s late night talk show. Wearing a black and purple laced dress, this beautiful, cocoa-colored woman with long, black braids recited her poem ‘Not the aver-age black girl’ and in those four minutes and 37 seconds, I had a revelation.

If we look closely at the dominant view we have of black women, unfortunately it will overwhelmingly come to this: loud, angry, opinionated, disrespectful. This common thread is regurgitated every day in the mainstream media and has left a stain on the im-age of dark girls.

This stain has led to a message that gets woven in between the lines of every-day life as a message that these women are lesser. This message has the potential to stunt self-confidence and create preconceived beliefs that are incorrect.

It’s no secret that negative stereotypes about any group of people can have detri-mental effects, but this one in particular could be what is contributing to the internal self-hate of brown-skinned girls across the world.

The worst part is while this negative idea is highlight-ed, the mocha-colored girls making real strides towards success, the real majority, goes unseen and unheard most of the time.

Now let’s take a different look at black women: Strong. Beautiful. Educated. The av-erage black girl that I know is the first lady of our country. She’s created some of TV’s most legendary shows. She’s a soloist in the American Ballet Theatre. She has graced the cover of magazines. She’s the director of an Oscar-nomi-nated film. She’s a self-made billionaire who has her own TV network. She’s a member of the most educated group of people in 2014 according to the National Center of Educa-tion Statistics.

The average black girl that I know has a big heart, pas-sion, talent and, a boatload of beauty to last her an entire lifetime. When people say, “You’re not the average black girl,” to me, they don’t know any better. They don’t know about Ava Duvernay, Shonda Rhimes, Ursurla Burns or Deborah E. Lee. They only say that because they’ve haven’t yet heard of Anna Tibajuka, Shirley Chilosm, Karen Bass, Misty Copland or Cathy Hughes. These women and all who are like them are, in fact, are the average black girls we have in the world today.

There is an abundance of black women who are in-credible in each and every way. Take a good look at them because this is your average black girl. That’s why I’m writ-ing this right now: I want to sink this myth and make sure it never resurfaces.

I don’t want us to continue to go around in circles, mak-ing the same mistakes over and over again because we cannot understand that dif-ferent doesn’t mean bad. It doesn’t mean evil. It doesn’t mean low class. It just sim-ply means different. Once we learn to accept people for the things that make them different, those unfortunate phrases like, “You’re not the average black girl,” can final-ly fade away.

As Ernestine Johnson said in her poem’s final line, “I say no, I’m not the average black girl, I can only aspire to be.”

Unschooled in the unexpected

Tornadoes whipping across the Midwest. An earth-quake rippling through Kalamazoo. Two bomb threats at North.

Every year, administration dutifully carries out the required number of state-mandated emergency drills. And every year, students try to maximize time away from class by dragging through them.

However, this year brought a few unusual events, and students revealed through social media that they don’t really know how to respond.

Following the bomb threat, there was a string of tweets expressing confusion. Students weren’t sure whether to return home or wait at the First English Lu-theran Church across the street.

Following the earthquake in Kalamazoo May 2, North students tweeted about the rumble they felt. Instead of taking the proper safety measures during an earthquake, they took to their phones.

Thanks to consistent practice and reinforcement over the course of our school years, we know fire, lockdown and tornado routines. Staff are well-versed on proce-dures and are able to eff iciently guide their students to safety. But, the severe situations that have arisen this year aren’t as routine and reveal a gap in our prepared-ness.

We don’t practice earthquake drills, and despite the two bomb threats this year, the procedure isn’t com-monly known by students. The administration meets the minimum number of drills required, for f ire, tor-nado and locdowns. But with new situations presenting themselves, it needs to adapt.

Admittedly, conducting drills takes away from class-room time. It’s hard to coordinate them, and they’re an inconvenience to the educational environment. But, in the light of recent events, we need more drills to pre-pare students and staff for all the possibilities.

For students to feel safe in their learning environ-ment, they should prepare for events that have become a possibility. Though it would take away from time in class, extra drills, such as earthquake drills or in-school bomb threat drills, can help make these events less confusing. Establishing a procedure and having kids repeatedly practice would make students less likely turn to Twitter in event of a bomb threat or earthquake.

The goal isn’t to make extreme situations less un-usual. That’s not realistic. It is to help make students feel safer. Following the bomb threats, there was disor-ganization and unfamiliarity. Sutdents were confused, so many didn’t return to school.

While taking class time for extra drills is inconve-nient, having students who don’t know what’s going on and having low attendance as a result isn’t any better.

Setting aside a portion of freshman orientation to run through all the drills can help students feel that they are safe in the place where they will spend the next four years. Going over multiple scenarios, can give students a peace of mind, that will improve the learning environment and also not take time away from classes.

However, once is not enough. Every year, students should get refreshers on these less common drills. Staff should also be debriefed on a more set protocol. If staff is better able to instruct students if a situation does come up, there will be less confusion, less tweeting and more effectiveness.

Michigan’s unpredictable weather is always the point of jokes. However, when that unpredictability begins to include things beyond sudden rain showers or bouts of humidity, we have to be able to handle them. The more versed students and staff are in case of emergencies, the more productive and safe a learning environment can be. Unpredictability should be left to the weather, not to safety routines.

Shunning a stereotype

EDITOR’S DESKRADIANCE COOPER

I used to envy the kids that knew.

W h e t h e r they were the kids on the robotics team that have a passion for science, technology or physics and who want to go on to work for NASA or help build the next solar powered car. Or my fellow journalists in North Pointe that have a deep passion for writing and wish to attend renowned journalism schools and continue down this path.

It’s not that I don’t love science or journalism, I just don’t know if these are the right choices for me. I looked at these kids, and I wanted to be like them. I wanted to know. Now I’ve final-ly realized something. It doesn’t have to be as cut and dry as it appears. Let me tell you why.

As soon as his fingers were long enough to reach the keyboards, my brother has been glued to our piano. When he’s not driving me crazy playing his original songs 15 times a day, he’s barricaded in his room with his giant computer system getting ready to hack the CIA. Okay, not really, but the kid knows what he’s doing.

With a combined passion for tech-nology and music, he knew he wanted to get a degree in computer science and design. This past fall, he packed his bags and boarded a three-hour f light to the University of Utah to be enrolled in the Entertainment Arts and Engineer-ing program.

Three months later, he was back home. Nothing is definite, nor does it have

to be. According to the Daily Princeton-ian, 80 percent of college students na-tionwide change their major. So even if

we think we know, we never really know until it happens.

The stress of applying to a school and having to figure it out immediately is unnecessary. Instead of giving ourselves anxiety over applications, we should use that time and energy to find things we like, especially if we are trying to find a school that can accommodate that.

In about three months, I will be writing my college essays and sending my transcripts to schools, and I hope one of the schools I apply to will be-come my future. Applying to colleges isn’t the same as choosing one, but it’s more about the notion behind it. I am putting the past three years down on a piece of paper, hoping that same sheet will get me accepted and help me find a “dream school.”

Ahh, the dream school. You hear about it from the select few who have their decisions made. The idea of the perfect school for an individual sounds nice. But for me, it’s not a reality yet. Not only am I completely confused about which schools are worth apply-ing to, but I have no idea which career paths to consider.

My brother thought he knew. He prob-ably still knows, but his college career didn’t start the way he anticipated. He changed his mind. He’s taught me that even if you have specific dreams, every-thing doesn’t go exactly as you hope.

Everyone makes the unknown seem like such a scary place, but there is a particular beauty to uncertainty. I’ve always been confused about my future, but aren’t we all in some way? Right now I’m up in the air, and I think I’ll be there for a while. At least now I know that’s okay.

MY TURNOLIVIA ASIMAKIS

ANU SUBRAMANIAM

4 – Friday, May 22, 2015 – North Pointe

REVIEWS

ALBUM

WILDER MIND

Mumford & Sons’ fresh new tunes spark more than just a hint of alternative rock in the 12-track album Wilder Mind. This much-anticipated third album re-defines their folk

tone.The unmistakeable Mumford & Sons

sound of banjos and acoustic guitars paired with perfectly trembling vocals has van-ished. In its place, the new album boasts bass and drum-heavy tracks, slowed down by husky, smooth vocals. Keyboards and electric guitars swarm the ballads as if they’d always been there.

If trying to conjure up this unthinkable swap of musical entities, think low-toned Arctic Monkeys paired with a trace of Cold-play, and add the usual Mumford and Sons sound in the far background. The whispy, sweet tunes of previous album Babel and the bright, clever music of Sigh No More have given way to a brave alternative rock sound.

When the shock clears, an undeniable fact presents itself: Mumford and Sons has some-how found a way to have a two-fold niche in the music industry. This level of chame-leonism, mastered only by the likes of Taylor Swift and a few, rare others, is breathtaking. On a dime, the artists have strummed their way in and out of musical genres. The album’s anthem “Believe” is rising on the charts with its vast vocals and a trace of their previous sound. Haunting tunes like “Snake Eyes” and “Ditmas” perfectly embody the shift in their sound. Ironically, “Ditmas” bares the lyrics “don’t tell me that I’ve changed.”

Despite the new vibe, the band’s music, lyricism and sound remain brilliant. The riddling lyrics and foot-stomping, airy mu-sic have been successfully masked under a more electric, echoing sound. Mumford & Sons has created another trademark sound as distinctive and beautiful as the last.

Mumford and Sons, Wildermind, Glassnote Records, 2015

By Emily Martinbianco

WWW.ITUNES.APPLE.COM WWW.EX.UA

GAME

TERRA BATTLE

With an in-teresting twist to most mobile role-play games, Terra Battle is a strategy-based game with an in-teresting story.

The narrative centers around a

group of travelers looking for the Maker. With their world collapsing around them, contact-ing the Maker is the only possible way to fix it. The only problem with the story is that in sequences in which characters are conversing in the style of written quotes, it’s not clear who is talking. A few characters, who a player is guaranteed to attain, are mentioned by name, but otherwise it’s just anonymous quotes.

Game characters are obtained in a way similar to Brave Frontier in that the weaker characters can be accessed through missions, while the strongest characters are obtained using energy units purchased with real mon-ey. The way characters are recruited is themat-ically interesting. Basically, the player leaves a notice at a tavern, and the recruit signs a con-tract with the group.

Gameplay takes place on a 6-by-8 grid. En-emies appear in set locations depending on the mission and are defeated when players ex-ecute a pincer attack, surrounding them with two of their characters. There’s a rock-paper-scissors style weakness system, in that swords beat bows, bows beat lances, and lances beat swords. It’s very simple to learn but tough to get good at. One gameplay problem is that enemy units have better options to attack. They can pincer, but they have other attacks that can be used while they’re by themselves. However, it makes sense because otherwise single enemies wouldn’t be a threat.

Terra Battle is an interesting combination of gameplay and story, which isn’t common in mobile games. There aren’t many large prob-lems. Some of the smaller ones may hamper the experience as a whole, but not by much.

Terra Battle, Mistwalker, Free

By Addison Toutant

WWW.TWITTER.COM

ALBUM

5

Ed Sheeran’s die-hard fans have been forced to illegally download demos and unreleased tracks for the past few years. With the release of 5, the red-headed heartthrob formally made those

songs available to fans. Additionally, the al-bum includes refurbished versions of tracks from previous albums, live performances and eight new rap collaborations.

For the most dedicated “Sheerios,” this re-lease is nothing entirely new, but for fans who have yet to delve into his less mainstream hits, this album is rich with new lyrics to feel and hear. It mixes Sheeran’s sweet, sincere style in “So” with his unexpected word-spitting talent in “Homeless.”

Songs like “The City” are re-released with an additional live version. Sheeran’s genius freestyle ability and skillful guitar picking are highlighted best in these live performances. His artistry shines not in the studio, but rather in his improvisation. 5 includes a ten-minute live version of “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You” in which Sheeran raps at light speed — a talent unheard in his popular ballads, but equally as impressive.

The album contains a slew of fresh rap col-laborations with British artists, like Devlin, who have been briefly affiliated with Sheeran before. These songs are darker, flow harder and have more intense lyrics than many of Sheeran’s lighter tunes.

5 is a peek into the singer-songwriter’s past. While the majority of the album offers nothing new to most of his devoted fans, the 32-track collection reminds us that Sheeran was con-structing wildly creative raps and melodies be-fore he was music’s most famous redhead. He clearly didn’t need fame as a muse. The album proves that Sheeran’s talent is as innate as his trademark orange locks. 5 is simply a reminder of his irresistibly, a spark of excitement to tie fans over until the next big hit.

Ed Sheeran, 5, Antlantic Records, 2015

By Haley Reid

WWW.JOSEPVINAIXA.COM

GAME

GRIM FANDAGO

Grim Fandan-go is a computer game from 1998 that was highly acclaimed for ex-cellence in game design. However, as computer tech-nology progressed, the game became

incompatible with most hardware and was lost. Until now.

Nearly 17 years after its initial release, it’s been remade by its original director and re-released for nearly every platform available.

Grim Fandango Remastered follows Man-ny Calavera, a travel agent in the Aztec after-life, the Land of the Dead. After Calvera un-covers corruption within his agency and gets an innocent girl in trouble, he must embark on a journey of his own to redeem himself.

The gameplay is standard point-and-click adventure game fare. Calavera picks up vari-ous items he finds around the environment and uses them to solve puzzles so he can progress. Most of the puzzles are rather intel-ligent and require a combination of common-sense and creativity.

Occasionally the puzzles become less about creativity and intelligence and more about tedium. Some devolve from think-ing outside the box to trial and error, and the game starts to feel more like a patience test. However, those kinds of puzzles are few.

Where the game really shines is in the writing. All the characters exhibit their own personality and are genuinely entertaining. Calavera especially, through his actions in the story and his running commentary on the world around him, feels like a funny and sur-prisingly deep character.

Grim Fandango Remastered is a fun, intel-ligent game. It’s clever and humorous, though does require some patience. It’s clear to see why it’s remembered as the classic it is, and remastered is certainly the right word.

Grim Fandango Remastered, 2015, Double Fine Productions, Prices vary

By Thomas Remenar

Hot Pursuit is a hot messDespite A-list celebrities and Detroit native Anne Fletcher directing, the highly

anticipated film ended up a dissapointment

By Lauren SextonASSISTANT EDITOR

In only the second week of official summer movie releases, the season has gone from hot to cold. Hot Pursuit shrieks “Been there, done that.”

Let’s just break this movie down to size. It has two award-winning actresses cast in their usual stock roles, an unlike-ly duo of a high-strung goody-two-shoes and a bad girl. It also has a distinctive location, action scenes and, of course, a common drug problem. Does any of that ring a bell? It has been done over and over again the past four years and is a gaping wound to one of Hollywood’s most anticipated blockbuster seasons.

Since the day she was born, uptight Cooper (Reese Witherspoon) has been destined to be a cop, but after an im-pulsive move, she ended up off of that gloried path and became a sad desk jockey. As she begins to regain the pre-cinct’s trust, Cooper gets the chance to protect a witness’s trophy wife, Daniella Riva (Sofia Vergara), while Riva’s crimi-nal husband testifies against a drug lord. Sadly, things change for the worse when Cooper and Riva are targeted for Mr. Ri-va’s actions. On top of that, the duo gets betrayed by the police and have to live with each other while on the lam.

This movie is pretty sexist, so it’s shocking to learn it was directed by De-troit native Anne Fletcher, a seasoned veteran of the film industry. She direct-ed 27 Dresses, The Proposal, Step Up and The Guilt Trip. All of those films have powerful female roles, so it’s suprising she picked up Hot Pursuit (or at least that she had such little apparent input).

With an Oscar-winning actress and a reigning Golden Globe winner on board, it was assumed that this movie would be a success. Both Witherspoon and Vergara have played beloved char-

acters in the past, but have often been type-casted into typical cliche roles of beautiful, dumb women. Witherspoon was Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, and Vegara currently plays Gloria Pritch-ett on ABC’s Modern Family. Unfortu-nately, this film doesn’t help them break away from their usual roles. It would be more refreshing to see Witherspoon in more varied roles, like her critically-ac-claimed turn as Cheryl Strayed in Wild or Vegara breaking her mold as she did in the film, Chef.

Speaking of breaking molds, Hot Pur-suit should have done that too. Remem-ber The Heat, The Ride Along, 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street? All were much more efficient, most were rated R, and all were about drugs. It’s like 60s Hol-lywood glorifying prohibitions, but in this case, it’s drug cartels. Hot Pursuit should have been better.

Perhaps the only right thing with this movie is what can sometimes be so wrong. It’s cheesy. Some people like that, and there’s a ton of cheese in the countless clichés in Hot Pursuit. It’s hard not to laugh when everything is done so over the top. When it’s all said and done, those factors almost make up for all of the uncomfortable, racist and sexist jokes.

Hot Pursuit had the potential, but it was sadly unsuccessful, making view-ers question the judgment of its leading actresses and its director. Let’s hope it doesn’t put a damper on the entire sum-mer blockbuster season.

Hot Pursuit (2015)PG-13

87 min.Directed by Anne Fletcher

WWW.TECHFOODLIFE.COM

LIFE North Pointe – Friday, May 22, 2015 – 5

Senior devotes future to music

What does it take to be the best? For some, it’s talent. For others it’s about character. But for senior Nathan Doss, it takes practice.

Doss has been playing the French horn since sixth grade and also plays the trumpet. As Doss’ passion for music has grown, his parents have provided opportuni-ties for him to improve and play outside of school.

Doss has partaken in several things over the years, ranging from camps to lessons.

“I went to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp over the summer four times, and Interlochen Arts Camp for two years,” Doss said. “I’ve had … two years of French horn lessons and a year of trumpet lessons.”

These extra activities have not only helped Doss to become a better player, but they have also helped him to develop a more serious approach to music.

“The Blue Lake (camp) was only 12 days, so the first couple years I did it for fun,” Doss said. “But Interlochen was definitely just to learn, get ready for college.”

As Doss grew more serious, he made sure to use these opportunities to improve his skills. He said that at In-terlochen, the other players are all very dedicated to playing and will practice more than the average band or orchestra player. Doss said this allows for them to play more complex music and improve while at the camp.

However, this extra training hasn’t come without a cost.“The lessons are about 40 to 50 dollars a lesson,”

Doss said. “Blue Lake is usually 1,200 dollars for each summer and Interlochen is 8,000 dollars.”

Doss believes that the investment has paid off.“I will be going to Michigan State (University) for

French horn performance,” Doss said. “My goal is to play in a symphony someday, but that probably won’t come until after grad school.”

Athletic success comes with hefty price tag

Success comes with a cost, and for sophomore Brian Moody, success has not come with-out significant investment on the ice.

Moody has been playing hockey since third grade and has continued to play extensively through his participation in both North’s hockey program and extracurricular teams.

He teaches younger kids how to play hockey and develop their new skills. While he may have the intent of helping others improve, Moody also benefits from the training.

“It kind of shows the type of drills that the Red Wings do, I guess,” Moody said. “So it shows what I need to work on and that kind of stuff.”

Moody also requires a number of components for his hockey gear, which can cost $1200-$1500.

“You’re going to need ice skates, a hockey stick, some pucks, gloves, shoulder pads, all that stuff,” Moody said. “I mean, there’s a lot of equipment in hockey.”

Like Moody’s passion for hockey, freshman Meredith Kraus’s passion for volleyball has required her to invest time and money into it.

Kraus started playing volleyball when she was in fifth grade and has played for club teams

and the school’s own volleyball team. Kraus started to play volleyball because of her mom.“She didn’t tell me that she was going to take me to practice, and then she just

brought me to Brownell,” Kraus said. “I started at the Neighborhood Club, and so that’s how I started, but I liked it.”

Kraus also pays for private lessons to improve her hitting skills.“It switches on and off, but I work with a coach named Faja and a coach named Neil

usually,” Kraus said.In total, Kraus spends seven hours each week on volleyball and plans to continue

playing in college.“My goal is to get a scholarship for college through volleyball,” Kraus said. “The ex-

tra stuff is to make me play better.” Like Moody and Kraus, senior Gyanei’ Johnson has sought outside training to im-

prove her skills in gymnastics. Johnson was a part of the school’s gymnastics team and spent up to a total of 12 to 15 hours each week on training.

Johnson feels that this outside training has helped ease the transition into the gym-nastics season.

“Well, when the season starts you’re already in shape (with practice), so you can just jump right into things,” Johnson said. “I prefer practicing outside of our season as well.”

Johnson not only pays $200 a week for gym time, but also $25-$40 for each component of her costume.

“You need leotards (and) spandex,” Johnson said. “We use a lot of tape and prewrap, ponytail holders.”

The ost of uccessStudents spend money to reach superiority

By Mora Downs, Billy Moin & Gowri Yerramalli

LIFE EDITOR, NEWS EDITOR & BUSINESS MANAGER

LAUREN SEXTON

LAUREN SEXTON

HUFFINGTON POST

6 – North Pointe – Friday, May 22, 2015

FACES IN THE CROWDChloe Ribco

It’s common for adopted children to be given to their adoptive parents right after birth. But sophomore Chloe Ribco was 10 months old when she was adopted from Amarillo, Texas.

Ribco found out she was adopted from a friend who is also adopted.

“In fourth grade, Lily Adzigian came up to me and said, ‘My mom told me you were ad-opted, too,’” Ribco said.

Ribco was confused at first but later grasped the concept.

“I didn’t really believe her,” Ribco said. “I was just like, ‘No, I’m not. You’re crazy.’”

When Ribco came home and described the situation, her parents were nonchalant.

“They didn’t really seem upset at all,” Ribco said. “They just told me that if I had any ques-tions, I could always ask.”

Ribco came to the conclusion that they were still her family, and being adopted wouldn’t change that.

“Honestly, I don’t even think about that these aren’t my real parents,” Ribco said. “It has al-ways just felt the same.”

Branden EvansTransferring to a new

school was tough for ju-nior Branden Evans, who switched from De La Salle Collegiate High School this year.

Evans’ prior knowledge about North and attending St. Paul Middle School prompted his transfer.

“There’s girls here, which is kind of fun,” Ev-ans said. “It’s a safe environment, (and I have) lots of friends here.”

Evans found the hardest part of changing schools was not knowing very many students besides his middle school friends. But he said joining clubs and activities such as choir helped ease the transition and made the ad-justment easier.

“My favorite part would probably be choir,” Evans said. “I met people easily.”

Although the choir program differs from De La Salle’s, he believes it’s still an enjoy-able course.

“(I like the) bigger groups. Concerts are more fun overall, and it is awesome.”

Ruth McCuenOn a typical shopping

day, freshman Ruth Mc-Cuen automatically bee-lines straight to her favorite store, Francesca’s.

“They have my sense of style,” McCuen said. “They have bright spring-ish colors and warm sweaters, which is what I like.”

McCuen also likes Francesca’s bou-tique atmosphere.

“They have a great variety of clothes there,” she said. “I got a pineapple shirt that’s blue. It’s cool.”

Although McCuen frequents the shop at Par-tridge Creek, she also likes to order from Franc-esca’s website and is always looking for money saving alternatives.

“They have pretty high prices, but they have sales all the time, so I always get a deal,” Mc-Cuen said. “(I) never pay full price for anything.”

By Alex Harring

ON CAMPUS

Long term substitute teacher Chris Didio in Mrs. Cooley’s classroom. “Probably since like fifth grade I always said I wanted to be a teacher,” Didio said.

By Anna Post STAFF REPORTER

Social studies teacher Bridget Cooley’s long-term sub Chris Di-dio, a former college tennis play-er at University of Detroit Mercy, transformed his love for teaching tennis into a passion for teaching in the classroom.

“I’ve been teaching tennis since I was about 15 and just transitioned naturally into teach-ing kids in social studies,” Didio said.“I coached locally at Warren De La Salle and Warren Regina.”

His coaching experience has given him a better understand-ing when it comes to working in a classroom environment.

“It has definitely made me a lot more patient and has helped me have the ability to teach students at the highest level down to the low-est level or beginners,” Didio said.

Since Didio was in f ifth grade, he had dreamed of becoming a teacher. Despite his parent’s en-couragement of pursuing alter-native careers, his passion for teaching prevailed.

“I think (teaching) just overtook me and I had to go with it,” Didio said.

Studying history has always been an interest for Didio who considers social studies one of his favorite subjects.

“I just love the idea that we can learn from our past and make better decisions from that, and if you don’t look at the past or re-f lect you can’t make better future actions,” Didio said.

His fifth grade teacher also inspired him to venture into the teaching world.

“She was amazing, she went over the top, and I really realized that I wanted to do that for people as well and help people a lot, not just inside the classroom but outside too,” Didio said.

Besides providing students with learning opportunities, Di-dio’s experience as a substitute has taught him something about himself as a teacher.

“I definitely learned a lot as a teacher, a lot with classroom management and just becoming a teacher myself,” Didio said. “You learn a lot in college but until you are actually in the field or in the experience you can’t really try anything until you’re there.”

Long-term sub Chris DidioFIVE MINUTES WITH

What was your favorite thing to do growing up?My favorite thing to do would probably be going up to my cottage and play golf up there with my parents and my dad, and we used to go there every weekend every Friday up in the thumb by Lexington.

Marketing makes munchiesBy Sydney BensonASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

ALANNA SPARKS

RIGHT: Junior Adam Hilu and his group named their wrap the “Game Changer,” as they believe it differs from the regular wrap. “We dressed up as referees, part of our whole marketing thing, to go along with our name,” Hilu said.

BELOW RIGHT: Selling her group’s sandwich was easy for senior, A’vierre Todd. “It’s not that hard you just have to tell them exactly what you’re selling and you have to keep it short and sweet,” Todd said.

BELOW LEFT: Freshman John Godoshian holds the “Big Crujido” while wait-ing for customers to file in. “Our market strategy is that we’re giving out samples and we’re telling the people about it and we’re explain-ing how we came up with it,” Godoshian said.

What’s the difference between play-ing college tennis and high school tennis?The biggest difference is the crowd its more energetic, there’s actually more yelling rather than in high school where (the games) are more quiet and follow more by the strict rules.

What do you do in your free time?I have a couple other jobs — I actually manage a fashion line for toddlers (Baby Beast) which is pretty cool. I also like to keep busy. I love to read. I love movies. They’re one of my biggest things.

RIGHT: While the project was difficult at first, junior Ian Evo learned some helpful tips on how to sell a product in the future. “The hardest part is getting people to buy it when they already decided what they want,” Evo said. “If we already know we want to go into market-ing it helps us … learn more about what we need to do to advertise things and what we need to do to sell to people and what we need to do to get them to buy our product.”

Who are your favorite music artists right now?I’d have to say Keys N Krates and Big Sean. I’ve been listening to Big Sean since he was on the lower end. Now I’m seeing him blow up. It’s interesting. It’s different seeing someone you have fol-lowed your whole life.

Students from Michelle Davis’ Marketing 1 class return to Big Salad to compete for a chance to get their item on the menu

What’s your favorite restaurant?Luciano’s. It ’s my dad’s favorite restau-rant, and it ’s easily mine. They’ve got the best Italian food in Clinton Town-ship.

North Pointe – Friday, May 22, 2015 – 7SPORTS

MISUSING MEDICINE New studies warn athletes about the dangers of misusing

common pain killers

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SCOREBOARDGIRLS VARSIT Y L ACROSSE

COACH LAUREN NIXON

3 - 9 - 1

“MVPS ARE JUNIOR MIDFIELDER CAROLINE BOCK(#3), JUNIOR MIDFIELDER AMANDA AL-BRECHT (#25), JUNIOR DEFENSEMEN MELISSA GUEST (#7) AND JUNIOR DEFENSEMEN ELIZA-

BETH GALLAGHER (#2),” NIXON SAID.

BOYS TR ACK COACH FRANK TYMRAK

MAC RED RECORD 3 - 2

LED BY CAPTAINS SENIOR JOE CIARAVINO, JU-NIOR JAMES SHELTON, JUNIOR MARKAEL BUT-

LER AND JUNIOR TOMMY HEINEMANN.

“THE SEASON IS GOING PRETTY WELL OVERALL. WE’VE HAD A LOT OF IMPROVEMENTS ON BOTH

TEAMS, A LOT OF PR (PERSONAL RECORDS) MADE AND SOME PRETTY GOOD VICTORIES. BOTH TEAMS

ARE PRETTY COMPETITIVE,”POLE VAULT COACH SEAN MCCAROLL SAID.

SAILINGCOACH DAVE BALCIRAK

“I THOUGHT THAT THE TEAM DID PRET TY WELL. THE SECOND HALF WE WERE MATCHED

UP WITH OTHER TEAMS PRIMARILY ON OUR LEVEL, AND WE WENT 5-0 AND WON OUR

BRACKET, WHICH I THOUGHT WAS PRET TY GOOD,” BALCERAK SAID.

THE NEXT EVENT WILL BE THE BAKER QUALI-FIER FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, THE MIDWEST CHAMPIONSHIP FOR TEAMS FROM

ALL AROUND THE REGION.

BOYS VARSIT Y L ACROSSECOACH MARK SEPPALA

9 - 6

MVPS ARE SENIOR CAPTAINS PETER LUNDY, RICHIE FILIPELLI AND MAX YOSHIDA.

“WE HAVE A YOUNG TEAM THAT HAS BEEN ABLE TO IMPROVE QUICKLY AND WORK ITS WAY INTO A SITUATION WHERE IT WILL FIND SUCCESS. THE

FUTURE IS BRIGHT,” SEPPALA SAID.

GIRLS TR ACKCOACH DIANE MONTGOMERY

3 - 2 IN MAC RED DIVISION

“WE DID GREAT, BETTER THAN EXPECTED. THE HIGHLIGHT WAS THE REGION MEET. WE QUALIFED

11 GIRLS TO THE STATE FINAL,” MONTGOMERY SAID.

GIRLS TENNISCOACH JOHN VAN ALST

3-6-1

SEVEN FLIGHTS PLACED FIRST AT REGIONALS ON MAY 15

“SO EXCITED FOR THE TEAM’S FIFTH STRAIGH RE-GIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. LOOKING FORWARD TO AHVING THE TEAM PLAYING WELL IN THE STATE

FINALS TOURNAMENT,” VAN ALST SAID.

BY YENA BERHANE & ALEX HARRING

The sound of rattling pills is a familiar one to many high school students. Whether it’s for headaches, athletic injuries or general aches and pains, many reach for over-the-counter medications like Advil as a means to end their discomfort.

Sophomore Jared Jordan is familiar with the cycle that comes with anti-inf lammatory use. While he used such substances to medicate injuries based on a prescription, Jordan also uses them preventatively.

“During basketball and football season, I use it ev-ery game day, like right before the game,” Jordan said. “I actually recently used it a lot because I just hurt my shoulder, and I was using that to take the pain away, so I’ve used it pretty often this year.”

According to the New York Times, about 70 percent of endurance athletes take pills to prevent soreness before competitions or practices. However, preventa-tive pills like ibuprofen can actually have no effect on pain if overused and can cause damage in the body.

“(If ibuprofen is taken too often or misused) heart or circulation problems can develop and put one at a greater risk for heart attack or stroke. Stomach and intestinal damage can also occur and become highly serious. Overall, ibuprofen is a blood thinner so its use should be appropriate and only for the neces-sary time needed,” athletic trainer Sarah Florida said via email.

After taking an anti-inf lammatory, the blood that would usually f low to the small intestine is redi-rected to labored muscles during exercise, damaging cells in the small intestine. High and frequent dosage levels of anti-inf lammatory drugs can prolong this damage to the small intestine and cause major prob-lems in the intestinal tract. However, few students are aware of the risks associated with such a widely dispensed medication.

If taken in the proper dosage for the correct dura-tion, ibuprofen and other anti-inf lammatory drugs can help many athletes. For freshman Abby Kanakry, taking a pill once or twice a week helps alleviate the injuries she has dealt with both on and off the track.

“One of my ribs is misplaced, so it just gives me a sharp pain every once in a while when I’m doing a strenuous activity,” Kanakry said. “I always try doing ice baths and stuff. After track, I usually do ice baths.

That’s another thing I do to prevent injuries on my ankles. But for my shoulder, I just kind of like mas-sage it, and ice it.”

Florida recommends a maximum dosage of 800 mg a day for teenagers. For athletes with injuries, Florida usually recommends 400-600mg (2-3 pills) per dose to be repeated every 4-6 hours.

Working with a professional, such as Florida or a doctor, can help prevent misuse and can establish a timeline for using anti-inf lammatories.

“(Ibuprofen is recommended) when an individual is experiencing fever, injury pain or injury inf lam-mation that cannot be dealt with without medicine intervention. Many times I recommend ibuprofen therapeutically to help the tissues heal after a new injury, or to athletes with f lares of tendinitis/chronic pain,” Florida said.

Jordan and Kanakry feel that athletes are develop-ing a more casual attitude towards taking anti-in-f lammatory drugs.

“It’s like a cancer. Once one person does it, the whole team starts doing it. And then, once that hap-pens, if they play another sport, they’re going to do it for that other sport,” Jordan said. “And then, that team, their sport is going to do it, and then it’s just going to spread around, and that’s how other athletes get to know it, or get popular with it.”

For many athletes, popping a pill can seem to be a safe and effective route to pain management. How-ever, Florida encourages several pain-management paths for athletes.

“I work with our athletes daily to ease pain and in-f lammation,” Florida said. “This could mean taping or bracing techniques for activity, changing training surfaces for our runners, manual therapy for swell-ing/bruising, physical therapy exercises, or complete rest when necessary.”

If students feel that they do need ibuprofen, Flori-da recommends that they ask an adult.

“Ibuprofen is never recommended to minors with-out them first making an adult aware of the reason they feel they need it,” Florida said. “In the case of our athletes they have me. Other students however need to keep their parents/teachers/whomever they trust in the loop about what’s going on.”

Anu Subramaniam & Jen KuschBY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & CO-MANAGING EDITOR

17045 Kercheval, Grosse Pointe, MI 48236313-469-8494

Congratulations class of 2015! Have a great summer Norsemen!

Come in and try our new shake stations and ask about our catering for graduation parties.

1990

8– Friday, May 22, 2015 – North Pointe

YEARS OF NORTH COACHINGWon 2 State Championship titles outright in 1980 & 2006

19 L

eagu

e C

ham

pion

ship

s

4 Final Four AppearancesTwo

-time M

ichigan

High

School C

oach

of the Year

National Coach of the Year in

+.500 record against local rival Grosse Pointe South

Beat rival South 6-3 in Battle of the Pointes at Comerica

Park in Detroit

May 5

“It’s the whole point of being able

to work with the young kids and

communicate,” Sumbera said. “If

you see them playing hard for you

and enjoying the game and smiling

— it’s all coaching. It’s sticking

with things and what you really

believe in and the discipline.”

“One of the things I like about baseball is you’ve got something to do on every pitch — it’s not every out, it’s every pitch,” Sumbera said. “There’s always something going on. It’s amazing.”

“I tried to put a lot of fun in the program,” Sumbera said. “When you’re working in automotive, there’s a lot of work in there, too. Not only giving the kids the technology skills, they’ve got to wrench. They’ve got to get in there and do brake jobs and tune-ups and adjusting carburetors back then, and front-end alignments and the whole ball of wax.”

REGIONAL C h a m p i o n s h i p s8

1 of 3 high school coaches in state history to achieve over 1,000 wins in a career

District Championships12Numerous players drafted to

college teams from his team

Inducted into Michigan High

School Baseball Coaches

Association Hall Of Fame

2007

“When you see a kid excel, you have this rapport with them. A lot of times you just look at each other, and you know what they’re feeling and how they feel good about themselves for doing something they’d really been working at to

excel and do the best.”

Dedicated to Grosse Pointe

North baseball

since 1973

Varsity baseball coach Frank Sumbera

EMMA PUGLIA

42