Cody: CCS fills a gap for small schools with without art teachers
(02/25/15 6:00pm)
By Banen Alazawi Staff Writer
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By Banen Alazawi Staff Writer
By Delante Cobb Staff Writer
By Jakobi Lundy-Bass Staff Writer
By Kristian Craig Staff Writer
By Tyriq Thompson King’s Voice editor Tyriq Thompson graduated a semester early from King High School and is now a freshman at Michigan State. He wrote this column before he left. [media-credit id=2 align="alignleft" width="222"][/media-credit] First and foremost, I want to thank God for everything He has done in my life. Thank you to my mother, my father, and my entire family for everything you do for me. I love you. Thank you to Dr. Jenkins for being a phenomenal principal and leader in our school and in the community. I also want to thank Ms. Guest, my journalism teacher, and Joy Visconti for introducing me to journalism and helping me to realize my potential in its craft. I want to thank Mr. Alvin Ward for providing the platform for young student-athletes like myself to showcase their gifts and skills doing something that they love. Two years ago I came to King High School as a 16-year-old sophomore who was ready for something new. I had just come home to Detroit from Missouri, where I moved right before my freshman year. I had no idea that I would be in the position that I am now. The past three and a half years have flown by so quickly and now it’s time for me to move on to a new phase of my life. I just want to thank the entire Crusader family, from students to the administrative staff, for welcoming me with open arms. I have learned countless valuable life lessons that I will carry with me to East Lansing at Michigan State University. It has been a privilege to walk these halls every day and carry on the Crusader legacy. I am blessed to have made the friends that I have over the years, learn from an amazing instructional staff, and, most of all, wear that black and gold on Fridays and go to war with my brothers on the football field. We made countless memories and I will always be “Hitsquad” for life. I am thankful and appreciative of the journey that I have been on while at King. The opportunities that have been placed before me are a direct result and example of the legacy that King has, and always will, have. Lastly, thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way. I am tremendously appreciative of the love that I have been shown over these two years.
By Makaylyn Williams Staff Writer For many Benjamin Carson students, “extra-curricular” means community service. Students in the National Honor Society and Rotary Interact Club work to improve the lives of those around them. Both organizations are growing in number and activity. The National Honor Society came to Benjamin Carson two years ago, in spring 2013, and Rotary began at about the same time. Service is one of the four keys for membership in the NHS, and Rotary clubs focus on community involvement. Following the NHS induction ceremony in November, members started planning for their events. The first step was to raise money by holding a bake sale. Future community projects include making valentines for Children’s Hospital and preparing food for Detroit’s homeless population. “I feel like it’s an honor to be a part of NHS and it shows that people our age can be smart and interested in helping others,” senior Angel Jones said. Student members of the Rotary club have worked with the University of Michigan to pack food care packages to be sent to Africa. “It was an amazing experience,” senior Alicia Walker said. “We had the opportunity to give back to people on an international level and meet people from different parts of the world.”
By Kayla Cockrel Staff Writer While many Cass Tech seniors are getting just beginning to get their after-high school plansin order, senior Adrian Thomas has been planning her higher education since middle school. For her, college is not just an educational achievement it’s a final step in a long journey. For those students who plan to go to college, applications for acceptance, scholarships and the FAFSA are a seemingly endless list of forms that dominate the latter of senior year. A few select students, have been using their senior year to prepare for admittance into some of the top colleges and universities in the U.S. but getting there has taken a lot longer for Thomas whose aimed her arrow right at the top. “My top two choices [for college] are Yale and Harvard,” Thomas said. “But I’ve always wanted to go to Yale.” “In middle school I was looking at colleges like everybody else and I loved what Yale stood for,” Thomas said. “It was like instinct, after learning more and more about Yale, I just knew that it was the school for me.” Thomas admits that it was emotionally and physically stressful preparing her resume for future applications, having built up an expansive list of courses and extracurricular activities that made her stand out from most minority students. “Before this whole process started, I did a lot,” Thomas said. “From playing tons of sports like rowing, sailing, to joining ecosystem clubs, tutoring and helping others.” As a person of color, Thomas is also aware of the struggles she may have to face in a competitive environment at an elite school, but she is prepared. “In a lot of the sports I've played I was the only person of color” Thomas said. “So I definitely know how to handle the awkwardness.” Detroit social worker Eric Johnson often finds himself dealing with these adjustment problems among teens and new college students. He points out that adjusting to any new academic institution can be very challenging, especially if there is a lot of pressure to do well and a student hasn't experienced that before. “It’s always difficult to accept a new environment but when education comes in its a little different,” Johnson said. “You can’t be afraid to accept that you're having a hard time with something, whether its grades, your social life, or homesickness. If you have problems seek out solutions.” Many of the students attending college next fall will begin at predominantly white universities, a big change from Cass Tech’s majority-minority environment. Colleges and universities often have many different organizations for people to congregate, not just with people of color but with people of their color. Black, Latino and Muslim students unions and others are often founded by students to help incoming freshmen feel more at ease with the transition from high school to college. Counselor Enid Johnson informs students that highly competitive universities usually attract students in the top percentage of their high school, with these institutions typically admitting the best of the best. “Coming into a university, students have to accept that they are learning in a much more difficult and competitive environment,” Johnson said. “They can't be too proud to acknowledge that they need help, even if they've never had to before.” A competitive academic environment has not steered Cass Tech student and former Quest Bridge scholar Hamidul Islam off of his course for academic success. “Just studying at such a popular university will be hard, but its worth it.” Islam said, “It will boost my morale and just give me something I can be proud of.” For Cass Tech students like Adrian Thomas and Hamidul Islam, attending any Ivy Leaguer is more than a chance to further their academic goals, it’s a dream. “Going to a school like Harvard or Stanford is a really big deal for me,” Islam said “It’s a chance to do something that no one in my family has done before, to make them proud.”
By Jonice Sylvester Staff Writer
By Kristian Craig and Jonathan Enyinnah Staff Writers
By Ari Ware Staff Writer
By Keyonna Wash Staff Writer The girls of Detroit International Academy have been selected by Detroit Public Schools as one of its pilot schools for its GirlBiz program, which provides students the chance to meet and talk to successful business women from across the nation. According to a DPS press release, “GirlBiz is a program of the National Association of Women Business Owners EXCEL Greater Detroit Chapter that provides teenage girls with exposure, education and support in the area of entrepreneurship.” The program will educate DIA students about financial independence through one-day conferences and workshops that focus on entrepreneurship and economic responsibility. The GirlBiz kickoff began with a pep rally in the auditorium for the entire school and ended with a select few creating their plans for the future. More 100 D.I.A. ladies were in attendance for this daylong event on Jan. 16. Workshops included learning about qualities students should develop in order to become successful in the future, how to develop and follow through with ideas, and receiving advice from the businesswomen in attendance. “I liked interacting with my mentor,” DIA junior DJaeMonet Robinson said. “She taught me a lot.” Eventually, one businesswoman was placed at a table of nine to 10 girls, this allowed for a one on one experience with the entrepreneur, becoming an instant mentor for the students within their groups. As one unified faction, they created business plans and miniature models of their proposed business. “It was really empowering to see the young ladies learn how to create their own business plans from successful women in the entrepreneurial field,” freshman Yvonne Wright said. “I would really love it if we could have them back,” sophomore Jayla Arrington said.
By Khaliah Blount Staff Writer
By Cortez Franklin Staff Writer For the last 10 years, the Detroit Pistons have sponsored a Black History Month event. As a part of that event, the Pistons give away scholarships to four Detroit area seniors. This year the grand prize scholarship worth $10,000 went to Loyola High School senior Jakobi Lundy-Bass. “Although I have not made the final decision on what college I will attend, it [the money] will be used to pay for school,” Lundy-Bass said. Lundy-Bass competed against students from Carman-Ainsworth High School and Cornerstone Schools in Flint, and Detroit School of Arts, Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, Northwestern High School, University Prep Science and Math High School and University Prep Academy in Detroit. Each year students have had to create and present an original speech, poem, dance, or rap performance based on a theme. This year’s theme was 50 years later: How the Civil Rights movement has changed the landscape of America over the past 50 years. Lundy-Bass, who writes for FreepHigh’s Bulldog News, decided to do a speech. In his speech, he talked about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King’s assassination, the Detroit riots, Father Cunningham and the start of Focus Hope, the Larry King beating and the election of Barack Obama. Said Lundy-Bass: “I wasn’t nervous. I was stressed.” Lundy-Bass had to cut his presentation three times to fit within the two-minute limit. Although a Loyola senior has won a scholarship each time he has entered the competition, this is the first time the school has had a grand-prize winner.
By Anthony Sherman Staff Writer
By Nia Grantham and Deltroy Hill Staff Writers
By Mike Weber Contributor
By Malik Preston Staff Writer On Jan. 7 in Paris, two gunmen armed with assault rifles entered the newsroom of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and killed 10 people. According to a BBC News story, the masked gunmen shot and killed the editor's bodyguard, the editor, four other cartoonists, three other editorial staff and a visitor. They also killed a building caretaker on their way to the magazine’s offices, and they killed a policewoman as they were escaping. The gunmen were part of a group offended by cartoon images published by the magazine that they said mocked their prophet Muhammad. Citizens of countless cities all throughout the world stepped out to protest and mourn the victims after the terror attack. Because it was seen as an attack on freedom of speech, many artists responded to the attack with paintings, sketches and editorial cartoons. Cody DIT sophomore Samuel Bessiake drew his own image in response to the attack. “It’s supposed to depict the injustice of the situation,” Bessiake said. “I wanted to show how harsh it would have been at the scene.”
By Victoria Smith and Kyra Edwards Staff Writers
By Janise Packnet, Jessica Hawkins and Kaelyn Collins Staff Writers
By Montez Allen Staff Writer On Feb. 13, Detroit Red Wings hosted High School Journalist Day at Joe Louis Arena. The experience of being able to interview the head coach Mike Babcock, general manager Ken Holland and players Daniel Cleary, Luke Glendening, Stephen Weiss about their rise to fame was humbling. Babcock told the future journalist to do something that they absolutely love. Out of all the professionals that we interview that was the one that really got to me: It was an honor to be able to learn from a profound sportswriter, USA TODAY’s Kevin Allen. Other local talents, such as Mike Caples, Ken Kal, Dana Wakiji, also talked to students about what it’s like and what it takes to be a sports writer.