opinion // 2

Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015

Administrative honesty key to bridging

communication gap between faculty, students

or the past 88 years, The Tower has been a public forum

for student expression in which the diverse voices of South
can be broadcast to the community with unflinching honesty and a dedication to journalistic ethics.
From stories about students recovering from drug abuse
to the controversy surrounding Rick Santorums
2013 speech, The Tower has never shied away
from addressing contentious issues with a mature and objective voice.
This commitment to the truth has lead us
to many awards and accolades, including the
respect and trust of our community.
As a weekly publication, the success and
general function of The Tower depends on the cooperation and
support of our school, especially the administrative team.
Souths staff is comprised of dependable sources with reputable
information necessary for us to report the entire, multi-sided truth.
However, throughout the beginning of the school year, The
Tower encountered frequent opposition and obfuscation from the
administration when the news we need to report is not positive.
For example, we encountered many obstacles when trying to
report on the detection dogs and struggled to obtain factual information from the administration that was necessary to properly inform
the school.
Our objective is and always has been to
report news. The detection dog story, just
like any story of a controversial nature,
allows us to dispel many rumors within the
school.
While we understand staff and administrators must protect their credibility
and ultimately their jobs, we believe open
and honest communication should be
something our district rewards instead of
discourages.
Sooner or later, negative news bubbles
to the surface regardless of our journalistic
efforts, as in the case of former principal
Al Diver in 2012 who left in the midst of a
scandal.
We believe it is more proactive to foster
an open forum so our community does not
feel as if administrators have something
nefarious to hide or avoid, as a printed no
comment response implies.
Generally, there is no reason for school
officials to withhold information from us,
especially when it is not legally sensitive or
controversial.
For instance, when we tried to cover
issues earlier in the year such as the boys
bathrooms being vandalized, the administrations initial response should not have
been no comment.
Recently, the administration has been
more considerate when it comes to sharing

sensitive and helpful information, which we greatly appreciate.

For example, when covering the shooting threat last week for this
issue, Principal Moussa Hamka went out of his way to collaborate
productively with us. He made time for last-minute interviews that
were crucial to the validity of an essential article.
This is the type of relationship we want to foster throughout the
school year and beyond. In addition, Assistant
Principal Terry Flint went above and beyond
what we asked of him when finding resources
and fact-checking for our sexual harassment
feature.
We aim to be a resource for both administrators and students that helps mend the communication gap.
We offer the administration a voice that is more personal than
mass e-mails sent to the student body. Not to mention, e-mails are
only sent out under extreme circumstances. The Tower allows
administration to comment on the multitude of other facets of the
school.
In addition, covering challenging, controversial stories gives us an
advantageous background in journalism that many schools do not
offer.
As a school prided on its college preparatory and pre-professional
training, Souths journalism program equips its students with the
tools necessary to model future careers, not only as journalists, but in

OUR VIEW //
EDITORIAL

CARTOON BY ABBY FERRY 16

COLLEGE CONFIDENTIAL: junior reflects

on first ACT experience, feels pressure from siblings

The result: a near perfect score on
the ACT.
With that in mind, I wont even
bother preparing for the SAT. My
score on the ACT will serve more
Cam
than just application purposes,
Francis 17
at least Im hoping. Now that my
brothers off to college, my dad
hasnt hesitated to voice his opinion.
The combination of, Cameron,
As seniors submit their college
you are the smartest in the family
applications and express some signs
and my knowledge of my brothers
of relief, juniors start to get a small
prestigious score left me exiting the
taste for the road thats ahead of
testing location of my first ACT
them with the American Colwith my head held high.
lege Test, better known as
I felt I did better
the ACT.
on some sections
Despite the states
than others, and I
COLLEGE
decision to switch
certainly knew I
CONFIDENTIAL
to the SAT as its
wouldnt hit the
test of choice,
home run on my
many juniors are
first at bat, constill focusing their
sidering it took my
attention on the
brother four tries.
ACT, considering its
I was perfectly conbeen a major component
tent with waiting the estiof college applications for
mated five to eight weeks for my
several decades.
score; however, I still raced on to
Thats how it was for my brother;
my ACT online account the second
there wasnt a secondary assessment
I got word that the results were out
that he felt obligated to stress over.
early.

NEWSPAPER

the

TOWER

STAFF

MY
VIEW

View Scores.
I had no idea that one single click
of the mouse could be such a humbling experience.
Although it wouldve been nice
to surpass my brother on my first
attempt, I figured that was a little bit
out of my reach. What I didnt realize, though, was how short my arms
were. Not only did I come up short,
I whiffed. I had the target in sight,
but I was completely oblivious as to
how far away it was.
In reality, though, I matched my
brothers first score, and his great
improvement means Im more than
capable of doing the same.
As much as I wanted to be the envied kid who doesnt need a second
(or third... or fourth) chance to get
his desired score, I take no shame in
asking my parents to sign me up for
a tutor.
But theres one thing thatll be
more of use to me than a tutor.
Its my competition with my
brother -- my tremendous ambition
to exceed his score and dub myself
the smartest in the family -- thatll
give me the motivation to conquer
the ACT. For that, Im thankful.

Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Maiorana* 16

Photo Editor
Jennifer Toenjes* 16

Associate Editors
Brenna Bromwell* 16
Emily Fleming* 16

Business Managers
Alexis Motschall* 16
Asst. Mackenzie Harrel* 17

Supervising Editors
Gabi de Coster* 16
Haley Vercruysse* 16
Lauren Pankin* 16
Sydney Simoncini* 16

Online Editors-in-Chief
Allyson Hartz* and Olivia Baratta*, both 16

Page Editors
Maggie Wright* and Zoe Jackson*,
both 16
Claire Yeamans*, Erykah Benson* and
Jack Holme*, all 17
John Francis*, Liz Bigham* and Ray
Hasanaj*, all 18

Online Section Editors

Scarlett Constand* 16,
Adam Cervone* and Ariana Chengges*,
both 17
Riley Lynch* 18

Copy Editors
Brendan Cauvel*, Hannah Connors*,
Julia Fox*, Juliana Berkowski* and
Shannon McGlone*, all 16
Rachel Harris* 18

any field that requires critical thinking and an ability to ask difficult
questions.
Of course, as all students do, we make mistakes. Sometimes we
misspell names or confuse dates.
But when we make critical errors, we do what every newspaper
from The New York Times to the Wall Street Journal does: we
apologize, retract and correct.
We have been taught since we first entered the Grosse Pointe Public School System that we, as American citizens, are granted certain
liberties and freedoms.
Among those, included in the very First Amendment of the Constitution so proudly hung outside of our schools library, is freedom
of press. While The Tower understands our privilege when it comes
to not being subjected to prior-review, this advantage is almost
rendered pointless when we experience censorship via the silent
treatment.
As journalists, it is our job to report the truth. We are not trying
to stir the pot, nor are we trying to damage the reputation of the
South administrative team.
Instead, we value the input administration gives us and appreciate when they take time out of their busy schedules to meet with us.
In order for our students to be the best for the world, we need to be
well-informed individuals who foster healthy and open relationships
with administration.

Online Associate Editor

Preston Fossee* 16

Online Copy Editors

Lindsay Stanek* 16
Lily Kubek* 17
Online Social Media Directors
Emma Andreasen* and Zoe Evans*,
both 17

Allergies a struggle between mind, body

MY
VIEW

Sydney Stann 17

If someone asked me five years ago to stop

eating Oreos, Doritos and all types of fast food,
I would have said they were crazy. But thats
just what happened.
It was the summer before eighth grade, and
I was having awful stomach aches. After every
meal, I would feel sick. I had to stop eating out
and eating at friends houses. Food was not my
friend.
My parents could not figure out what the
problem was either. In fact, we didnt have an
answer until my mom was talking to one of her
friends and discovered her daughter was having some of the same issues. My mom quickly scheduled an appointment with the allergy
specialist, and before I knew it, I was having
countless needles poked and pricked into my
back each one containing a different substance
to see if my body reacts negatively. When injected with something like corn, hives and
swelling surround the injection.
Corn, soy, peas, almonds, hazelnuts and
mustard. Those are all the things that had an
effect on my body. According to kidshealth.
org, an allergy is an overreaction of the immune system to a substance thats harmless to
most people.

Staff Writers
Abigail Warren, Blair Shortal, Callie Zingas,
Christina Ambrozy, Elizabeth Coyle, Gennie
Martin, Griffin Brooks, Hadley Diamond,
Hailey Murphy, J.D. Gray, Jessica Whitney,
Jon Theros, Katharine Kuhnlein, Lily
Patterson, Lindsey Clark, Mac Cimmarrusti,
Madeline DesNoyer, Olivia Frederickson,
all 16
Abby Ottenhoff, Anton Mikolowski, Bridget
Driscoll, Cam Francis, Charlie Denison,
Claire Hubbell, Emma Russell, Gillian Eliot,
Jack Froelich, Jack Roma, Mac Welsher,
Madeleine Glasser, Mary Grace OShea,
Michael French, Olivia Sheffer, Sydney Stann
and William Muawad, all 17
Abigail Due, Arianna Paganette, Blair Cullen,
Brennan Zihlman, Cameron Smolen, Chase
Clark, Elena Rauch, Evan Skaff, Grace
Brandon, John Standish, Kaitlin Nemeh,
Katherine Bird, Lauren Thom, Maren Roeske,
Margot Baer, Mollie DeBrunner and Liam
Walsh, all 18

But in someone with an allergy, the bodys

immune system treats the substance (called an
allergen) as an invader and overreacts, causing
symptoms that can range from annoying to serious or life threatening.
I was in denial. How could I be allergic
to corn and soy? It just didnt seem possible.
Those ingredients are not only in my everyday
diet, but in almost every processed food available.
Living with food allergies is hard, but not
impossible. It just means being more aware of
what I consume. Eating at home is easier and
preferred. My parents are on board and know
not to include ingredients like corn meal, vegetable oil or mustard in food they prepare at
home.
The hard part is eating out. I have to stick
with meat-based dishes like hamburgers without a bun or steaks. I also lean more towards
eating salads with olive oil and vinegar because
almost all of the salad dressings contain soybean oil.
As for treats like Doritos, Cheetos and candy, I have my occasional craving for them, but
its been four years since Ive tasted them so
I just resist it. As much of a challenge as this
sounds, it has molded into a lifestyle.
My diet now compares to certain objectives
of people trying to lose weight. The benefits of
eating clean and eliminating the majority of
processed foods creates a body more prepared
for daily activities, and I barely miss the Doritos or Oreos.

Adviser
Rod Satterthwaite
The Tower is the weekly publication of the
Advanced Journalism classes at Grosse Pointe
South High School. It has always been a
designated public form of student expression.
The Tower is located in room 142 in
Grosse Pointe South High School. Please
contact us at 313-432-3649.

Errors
Factual errors will be corrected on the
opinion page or in news briefs written upon
request and verification.

Letters
Letters to the Editor are encouraged and
will be screened for libel, irresponsibility
and obscenity. The Editorial Board may edit
or shorten letters as long as the meaning is
Opinion Pieces
unchanged. All letters must be signed and
Editorials represent the majority opinion of include a telephone number for confirmation.
the Editorial Board and are left unsigned.
Request to withhold the writers name
Columns represent the opinions of individual
from publication for good reason will be
staff members and outside contributors.
considered. Letters can be sent to the above
email address, or dropped off in The Tower
Editorial Board
Room.
An asterisk * denotes Editorial Board editors.
Advertising
Display advertising is sold at a rate of $7
per column inch, with discounts for large or
frequent advertisers. Advertising may not
advocate illegal activities or contain libelous,
irresponsible or obscene material.

Professional Associations
Member of the Columbia Scholastic Press
Association, National Scholastic Press
Association, Quill and Scroll, the Society
for Newspaper Design and the Michigan
Interscholastic Press Association.