Walkout sparks pro-
and anti-gun debate
The Emery
News | Page 3
2727 Fuller
Road
Ann Arbor,
MI 48105
Students and
teachers react to
first year of IB
Julie Heng | Staff Editor
This year, on the 50th anniver-
sary of the International Baccalauréat
(IB), Huron joined 3,320 schools world-
wide in implementing the Diploma
Programme (DP) educational system.
Huron, which now hosts the
most DP course offerings in the state of
Michigan, seeks to “[prepare] students
for success in higher education and to be
active participants in a global society.”
As all first years do, the
transition yielded mixed reviews.
DP coordinator Eric Wynn says the
“plethora of [unique students] at Hu-
ron” enrolled in the Diploma Pro-
gram have definitely been excelling.
“Students have been anx-
ious about engaging with independent
thinking but have grown individually as
a result,” he says. “As part of the course-
work in the Diploma Program, CAS,
and Theory of Knowledge, students have
taken on a lot of responsibilities and
have become internationally minded.”
Wynn, who worked as a class-
room teacher in 2004, helped to found
the fully-IB Washtenaw Internation-
al High School in 2011. He then be-
gan building Huron’s IB programme
in 2015. As the 11th and 12th grade DP
coordinator, Wynn sits down with
sophomore students and their coun-
selors to go over the options and re-
quirements for their “best fit” gradu-
ation track, whether that be pursuing
full DP, CP, or a select few DP classes.
While in his opinion all
students would benefit from IB,
Wynn says students must will-
ingly embrace the learning track.
“It’s all about whatev-
er is the best fit for you,” he says.
There are no prerequisites to
the DP. According to Wynn, GPA is
not the best predictor of success. Be-
cause the learning structure of DP is
so different from the “traditional” rote
education system, any student who
wants to take on the “responsibility
of critical thinking, an interdisciplin-
ary learning style, and an internation-
ally focused curriculum” is welcome.
“We are looking for students
willing to stretch and take risks,” he
says.
Sienna Blazevski, junior, was
looking for that risk when she signed up
for the DP.
“I was motivated to take part
in the full DP because I felt the teach-
ing style fit my personal learning style
better than the traditional method,”
Blazevski said. While “IB is definitely
harder than I expected...I really think
IB has positively impacted my overall
involvement in my local community
through pushing me to achieve success-
ful CAS outcomes,” she said.
Huron English teacher Mi-
chelle Ratering used to teach at an IB
Programme in Jakarta, Indonesia. She
says the difference between Huron and
the two other IB schools she worked
with is the attitude students bring into
the classroom.
“Students at my school in Ja-
karta were like any See more | Page 2
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Dear Snapchat: bring back Why is #SynchroSkating
the old layout! not an Olympic sport?
Entertainment | Page 6
The Student Publication of Huron High School
All Aboard?
Ritvik Jillala | Staff Writer
“Train 135, leaving for
Jackson, is coming in at 8:15
a.m. Train 135 is coming.” structure is also being built
The Ann Arbor train
station is the busiest station in
Michigan. Recently, plans have
been made to expand the exist-
ing station, or to build an en-
tirely new one. However, some
historical knowledge is nec-
essary to fully understand the
controversy.
Years ago, Ann Ar-
bor was divided by the Huron
River into two regions: lower
Ann Arbor and upper Ann Ar-
bor. There was always a rivalry
present; each region sought to
develop first and succeed.
When the original
station was built at the Gandy
Dancer, it seemed as if upper
Ann Arbor had won. Lower
Ann Arbor, however, never
stopped growing.
The city has now decided to
make a new train station at Fuller Park,
in front of the University of Michigan
hospital.
The organization All Aboard
on Depot Street, an organization that
is deep into the current station issue,
is against that decision. They believe
Getting down to business Turning a hobby into a
Huron junior Nathan Lee named state BPA business: CS Buttons
President out of 24 candidates
Nathan Lee (center) joined by Drew Rosales (left), Huron BPA president, and Shreya Banda (right),
who ran Nathan’s campaign for the state presidency. Photo courtesy of Huron BPA.
Jack Harrison | Staff Editor
Upon entering high school,
Nathan Lee knew he had an interest in
business. In fact, he even considered at-
tending Skyline because of the magnet
programs there specific to fields such as
business. Shortly into his freshman year,
he joined the Business Professionals of
America (BPA) chapter at Huron, and
now, in his junior year, he is the vice
president of the club. But something
else also happened for Lee this year—
something more selective and import-
ant. Lee became the president of the
Michigan BPA Association of Michigan
at their recent annual state conference
this spring.
Lee mentioned that when
people think about business, they often
associate it with just accounting and
finance. That being said, he explained
that BPA exposes students to skills they
would not learn in the classroom. “BPA
is a platform that students can use to
learn about the world of business,” Lee
added.
The primary purpose every
year is for students to participate in an
event and make it through regionals to
states and hopefully to nationals. Aside
from this, Lee explained that he and the
club have to work hard every year to
fundraise. This year, the board worked
hard to make the club interactive
through bonding events. He explained
that he wanted to be vice president be-
cause he is genuinely passionate about
Entertainment | Page 7
that the current station on Depot Street
should be expanded instead.
One of their reasons for going
against the city’s decision is that the
City Council does not have the authori-
ty to build on Fuller Park, which is pub-
lic property.
“The public owns this [land],”
George Gaston, a member of All Aboard
the club and wanted to get more in-
volved. But did he think he would ever
become the student president of the
state?
Every year, the state confer-
ence begins with an opening ceremony
led by the current year’s state board.
And this year, Lee decided to at least run
for a position because he wanted to be
one of them. But he had a more import-
ant realization when looking around at
the 2,000 students. “I was shocked that
there was such opportunity for high
schoolers to exercise their leadership at
such a large scale,” Lee said.
The process of running for
president was quite strenuous and
much like a presidential campaign. Lee
said that at the start of this year’s con-
ference, he had to give a speech at the
opening ceremony and interview with
the current board. Secondly, there was
a meet the candidates session and on
top of that, a campaign rally. In the end,
delegates already decided confer and
vote.
When it was announced he
won the presidency, Lee explained that
it went by so fast he did not have time
to think about the moment. He added
that he actually focused on his walk to
the podium.
For next year, Lee’s main job is
to preside over the conference in Grand
Rapids and attend monthly board
meetings. There is also a possibility that
he may visit with high school chapters.
Seniors celebrate a
bass-boosted prom
Feature | Page 9
Plans for new train station at
Fuller Park cause controversy
on Depot Street, said. He believes that
the park will lose its natural beauty and
its potential to become more popular.
“If it’s a park, then it should
stay a park,” Rita Mitchell, another
member of All Aboard on Depot Street,
said.
However, it is not the train sta-
tion but the structures and changes that
Sami Ruud | Staff Editor
While looking for a hobby,
juniors Celia Kent and Sonali Narayan
stumbled upon a way to make things
for their friends, make money, and ad-
vocate for issues that are important to
them. In their art class, their teacher
had a button maker, and the two be-
came obsessed with using it.
“We thought it would be real-
ly cool to get our own and sell them to
raise money for depression awareness,”
Kent said.
Most of the people who have
bought from the two are their close
friends, but their business has started
to branch out. They have gotten orders
from teachers, and they also made but-
tons for the recent school walkout for
gun control. Also, since they are try-
ing to raise money for depression, they
made buttons for Project Semicolon,
which helps reduce suicide rates around
the world.
“Every month, we donate to
an organization that supports mental
health advocates,” Narayan said. “So far
we have donated to Project Semicolon,
but each month we also want to donate
to a cause for that month. For example,
April was Earth Day, so we might do-
nate to a cause supporting the Earth.”
Although the business is rela-
tively small so far, they were able to do-
nate a large amount of money to Project
Semicolon, at about $84.
Another aspect of the business
is that Kent and Narayan are able to
make their own designs to put on the
buttons.
“I like the political buttons the
most. The design we did for the walkout
and for Project Semicolon were some of
my favorites. We made a design that has
a semicolon and says ‘Your story is not
over’,” Kent said.
Although Kent and Narayan
can create the designs for the buttons,
people can also get their own pictures
put on the buttons.
The process to make the but-
tons seems like it would be complicat-
ed, but in only a few simple steps, they
can make a professional looking button.
Volume 3
Issue 5
March
2018
are coming because of it that
may cause the real problems.
A new 1200 space parking
next to the new train station.
“This parking structure would
have a huge effect on the
area,” Mitchell said.
Besides making it
much more difficult for am-
bulances to access the hospi-
tal right behind the proposed
station, the new parking
structure could interfere with
patients’ recovery.
“I had a [hospital-
ized] friend who said that
looking out at the park and
the river had a profound ef-
fect on his recovery,” Gaston
said.
A new roundabout is
also proposed. However, this
will only slow down traffic
due to the large amount of pe-
destrian traffic in the area.
All Aboard believes that there
are more reasons to expand the Depot
station. First off, the old station was
designed to be expanded, and there is
room to add on to the building and cre-
ate a new rail.
The city, however, disagrees.
The Ann Arbor City See more | Page 2
CS Buttons can customize the buttons with any
pictures, as shown here. Many people customize
their buttons with photos of themselves and
their friends. Photo credit: Sonali Narayan.
Once they have a design or photo, they
can just print it out from a software, do
a few things with the button maker, and
the button is done!
“It’s super easy. We can make
one button in about 20 seconds,” Kent
said.
Along with customizing the
design on the button, buyers can cus-
tomize other aspects of the buttons as
well.
“We have two different sizes
right now,” Narayan said, “so we have
two different machines. We sell the
small ones for a dollar and the large
ones for two dollars.”
It is also easy to contact the
two for a custom button, and soon any-
one anywhere can purchase the buttons
when their Etsy account is set up.
“We have an instagram ac-
count, so a lot of people DM us, or they
contact one of us directly. We are also
setting up an Etsy account, but it’s not
up yet, so people will be able to pur-
chase from there in the future,” Kent
said.
They are also trying to expand
their business to other products than
just buttons.
“We have plans to start selling
patches, stickers, and other things like
that,” Narayan said. “For now, though,
we’re just working on paying off our
debts from the machines.”