From the coin toss and to final touch-down, the Trojans had a victorious Homecoming night. Excitement was in the air as the stands were packed to the brim with Superfans decked out in black and gold attire and the band belting the fight song. The Trojans defeated the Ogemaw Heights Falcons 42-26, moving them to 3-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big North Conference (BNC). “It was a hard game,” Head Coach Tom Passinault said. “Ogemaw was very well prepared.” The Trojans started strong after Dylan Kelly ‘12 recovered a Falcons’ fumble. The offense brought the ball to within four yards of the end zone and Ryan

Verschuren ‘12 lazered in for his first of four touchdowns. “He’s an outstanding runner and showed it Friday,” Passinault said. Versch-uren took a hit to the spleen during the Petoskey game a week earlier, leaving his health up in the air for the Homecoming game. “We didn’t find out he could play until Wednesday, but knowing he was healthy gave us a big lift.” After scoring the extra point, the Tro-jans lead 7-0. Ogemaw fought back hard, returning the ball 69 yards to the Trojans’ 23, with Weston DeTar ‘13 making the tackle. Seven plays later, the Falcons executed, scoring a touchdown and the field-goal. “I was kind of worried for a second af-ter Ogemaw scored their first touchdown, but then we got back together as a team and came back,” DeTar said. Quaterback TJ Shepperly ‘13 then ran in the first quarter’s final touchdown, pulling the team ahead 14-7, and gave the Trojans momentum going into the second quarter. “It was pretty cool scoring two touch-downs. The first one was only a one yard run so it wasn’t really all me that scored, but it was a good feeling,” Shepperly said. The second quarter once again showed promise as the Trojans recovered a fumble in the end zone after a 73 yard drive by the Falcons, preventing a tie. “As the player reached for the goal line we ripped the ball from his hands. It re-ally turned the game around,” DeTar said. After a 60 yard punt by the Trojans, Ogemaw’s offense went three and out,

giving Central possession of the ball at the Falcons’s 28. One play in, Shepperly struck for the Trojans’ third touchdown. “My second touchdown had come when we were kind of getting beat up in the game and the linemen made a good block,” Shepperly said. “We got it on the outside in a long run so it was pretty cool.” With Falcon possession of the ball, they drove in another touchdown with 30 seconds left in the second quarter, result-ing with a 21-14 score at the half. “In the first half, we felt pretty comfort-able once we had the lead and in the sec-ond, as long as we could keep scoring, we could pull off the win,” Passinault said. At the top of the half, Central’s offense ignited for a 69 yard drive, capped off by a 29 yard run by Verschuren for the score. “The draw play was the certain play that stood out to me in the game,” Verschuren said. “We got two touchdowns on them and it gave us some breathing room.” Ogemaw then rallied back with another touchdown. The Trojans were not rattled and Verschuren answered with his fourth and final touchdown. “It felt great scoring four touchdowns,” Verschuren said. “That’s the most I’ve scored so far this season. It happened basically because of my linemen blocking. They helped me get in the end zone.” In the end, the Trojans showed their incorruptible teamwork, pulling together for a strong win that Passinault hopes will help carry them through the season. “We had our two goals for the season and they were to win the Big North and make the playoffs,” Passinalut said. “I think this win gives us confidence and helps keeps our goals alive.”

Running back Ryan Verschuren ‘12 runs the ball during the Homecoming game against Ogemaw Heights. Verschuren was happy that he was able to play after his spleen injury in Petoskey. “It felt great scoring four touchdowns,” Verschuren said. “That’s the most I’ve scored so far this year. It happened basically because of my linemen blocking. They helped get me in the end zone.”

Trojan victory sets Homecoming toneThe Trojans had no problem showing the first-year Big North Conference team, Ogemaw Heights, who’s boss after a 42-26 Homecoming victory. Central looks to the rest of sea-son for the league chamionship and a spot in the play-offs.

The mind gym: Trojans overcome Homecoming nerves

New faces, new attack

TJ Schepperly ‘13

“The speed we have in the back field is a lot better because, for me, it’s easy to see the field because I’m not that tall of a quarter-back. I’d say we have a lot more speed this year than last year.”

The Trojans’ 2010 offensive line executed intricate plays and dramatic passes. With a crop of new players, the 2011 offen-sive line has a completely dif-ferent focus: running the ball and utilizing the team’s speed. These players share some of this year’s offense strategies.

Tyler Clark ‘12

TJ Schwannecke ‘13

“This year, it is more of a running game than a passing game because we lost Mack Sovereign and we are a faster team than last year. We have more speed and more ability to run the ball.”

“We’re not as big as last year, but we’re faster and we use the speed that we have to our advantage.”

Joey Prokes ‘12

“We have a lot of senior offensive line-men who have been in the weight room all summer, so run-ning the ball is easier because the ball carri-er has them to block for him.”Brandon McKee‘12

“We have more speed on the outside and there are a bunch of people who can spread out the attack.”

Photo: courtesy of Timeless Image

Photo: courtesy of Timeless Image

Photo: courtesy of Timeless Image

Photo: courtesy of Timeless Image

Photo: courtesy of Timeless Image

Nick Mulvaine, Ashley ReedStaff Reporters

Miranda Winowiecki, Shannon WeaverSports Editor, Associate Sports Editor

Preparing to pass the ball is first year Varsity player and quarterback, TJ Schepperly `13. “It’s a lot different this year, being on varsity instead of JV,” Schepperly said. “Everything is more up-tempo and a little bit faster.”

Photo: S. Hutchison

Photo: A. Hilden

Graphics: N. Mulvain

Bryton Lutes, Erin Lipp, Hayley RozemaBusiness Manager, Staff Reporters

“Everyone has their own pre-game method. I don’t think there are many people that do the same things mentally to prepare for a game. Some people prefer to calm their nerves, but I like to play off of them.” - Kodie Chupp ‘12

“I don’t really have any nerves for the Homecoming game. I think I’ve played enough games to where that sort of thing has just gone away.” - Jake Gorter ‘14

How do you calm your nerves before a game?

“I just try to focus and know what I’m going to do out on the field. I don’t pay attention to my nerves, I just play the game.” - Kyle Ludwig ‘13

Activity NightActivity Night saw Trojans competing in three-legged races, tug-of-war, Slurpee-drinking contests, and more. See which grade dominated on page 2.

Dance & SuperfansFresh off of their on-field victory, Trojans continued the celebration at the Homecoming dance on page 4.

Photo: S. Hutchison

How do you calm your nerves before a game?

How do you calm your nerves before a game?

Spirit WeekSpirit week saw the halls filled with Trojan pride. Students flooded Cen-tral with blue, orange, red, and gray for Class T-shirt day, then donned their favorite flannel for Tuesday.

Classy Day was followed by Jersey Day, finishing the week with tradi-

tional Black and Gold Day. See these displays of Trojan spirit

on page 3.

&2011 MIPA Spartan Award WinnerGold

Traverse City Central High School 1150 Milliken Drive, Traverse City, Michigan 49686

Volume 91 Issue 1October 4, 2011

theBlackPhoto: A. Hilden

Photo: K. Raymond Special

HOMECOMING

Edition

Traverse City Central High School Black & Gold Oct. 4, 20112 Activity Nightthe

Blac

k & G

old

Editor-in-ChiefJoe Murray

Managing EditorEmma Beauchamp

News EditorJoe Murray

Opinion EditorKatie Stanton

Feature EditorEmma Beauchamp

Arts & EntertainmentEditorsJeannie LongtonKaitlyn McLintock

Sports EditorMiranda Winowiecki

Associate Sports EditorShannon Weaver

Leek EditorRico Bastian

Business ManagerBryton Lutes

Photo EditorsAutumn HildenKatie Raymond

Graphics EditorMaddy Kachadurian

StaffIvy BaillieKaytie BoomerJeff ComerfordKennedy CullenPatrick Goodney Sophie Hutchison Hunter KellyAlex KorsonErin LippAustin MaisonRachel MooreFiona MuhaNick Mulvaine

Ashley ReedDavid ReinkeElena RothneyHayley RozemaSydney SmuckAllison Taphouse Gretchen TwietmeyerLia Williams

Biggest rivalries of the nightSmack-talk between grades was a feature of Activity Night. Competitive streaks flared as different grades competed in Slurpee-drinking competitions and tug-of-war, among other events. Trojans discuss what makes their class the best.

Photo: A. Hilden Photo: A. Hilden

Photo: S. Hutchison Photo: K. Boomer

Lily Bussineau ’13 has difficulty looking for the piece of gum. “I tried to lick off the whipped cream, but that didn’t work so I tried inhaling it. I felt like I was going to throw up.”

Competing in the Chubby Bunny Con-test, Christian Stone ‘12 shoves a fistful of marshmallows into his mouth. For this game, competitors tried to fit as many marshmallows as possible in their mouth until they weren’t able to say “chubby bunny.” Stone’s strategy was to work his jaw as wide as possible. “I stuffed them in my cheeks and tried to keep them to the side,” Stone said. Stone got third place, successfully placing seven marshmallows in his mouth.

Her face smothered in whip cream, Alan-nah O’Brien ‘12 competes for the senior class. Her mission? To find a piece of bub-ble gum and successfully blow a bubble before her underclassmen rivals. O’Brien encountered an obstacle after finding the gum.“When I ate the gum, the wrapper got in there, so it was almost impossible to blow a bubble.” Despite the difficulty, O’Brien enjoyed the night and was proud of her senior class’ performance. “My grade was awesome, we kicked it.”

Sophie Hutchison, Fiona MuhaStaff Reporters

Final Scorecard The time for trash talk is over; it’s all in the numbers. We reveal how each grade fared against the mighty seniors at Activity Night.

Jeff Comerford, David ReinkeStaff Reporters

Photo: S. Hutchison

Photo: S. Hutchison

Photo: A. Hilden

With the support of the entire senior class, Katie Knudsen and Brandon Busuttil, both ‘12, quickly pull the juniors to defeat, ending the game within seconds. Seniors won the majority of games at Activity Night, easily beating the other teams in activities such as mummy wrap, wheelbarrow races, and Chubby Bunny. They didn’t feel the need to be modest about their superiority. “We are the top dog and we have been here longer than the juniors have,” Knudsen said. “We are stron-ger and we are seniors. Seniors win everything.”

In hopes of crushing the opposing team, Brady Girard and TJ Schwannecke, both ‘13, assist their team comprised of their fellow juniors at Activity Night. Since its beginning, there has been a long standing rivalry at Central between the seniors and juniors.The seniors overwhelmingly won the tug-of-war and were quick to rejoice in their triumph, but Girard doesn’t believe the game was fair.“The seniors rubbed the win in our face,” Girard said. “But we only had half the amount of people they did.”

Katie Stanton, Ivy Baillie, Sophie HutchisonOpinion Editor, Staff Reporters

Photo: A. Hilden

“It was a domi-nating perfor-mance. Mark and Matt Jordan, both ‘12, MC-ing killed it for us and motivated us to ungodly levels. Tug-o-war was pretty good because we are stronger, do more bicep curls, and had Nate Pupel ‘13 on our team.”

-Dylan Kelly ‘12

“Our team stepped up pretty well that night. Seniors have a cocky attitude, so it gets to their heads, making them perform better. But the juniors did re-ally well on the human pyramid. We came in first, and we made it up in barely ten seconds.”

-Maddy Duen-sing ‘13

“My grade didn’t do that well because not that many sopho-mores showed up, and we could have put more school spirit into the activities. The seniors are just bigger and stronger than us. I think all seniors should be proud that they made it through high school.”

-Charity York ‘15

“I think the seniors won because they’ve been here the longest. They’ve done all the activities before, and they had a lot more kids on their team. But that doesn’t mean they can boss us around just because they’re seniors.”

- Seth Tice ‘15

Matt Grost ‘15 inhales a Slurpee, competing for the freshman class. Like the sophomore and junior classes, the freshman were ultimately trumped by the seniors in all but six of the games. Grost thinks that the freshman would have had a better chance of winning if more ninth-graders had competed. Despite their lackluster performance, Grost believes that freshmen “still had good teamwork.” He also said that their strength was in keeping a good attitude. “Freshmen are fun and enthusiastic.”

Chugging a Slurpee, Max Copeland ‘14 braves brain freeze for the sophomore class. Copeland wished the sophomores played with more enthusiasm at Activity Night. “We could have been stronger, faster, and had more spirit,” Copeland said. The rivalry between sophomores and freshmen runs deep at Central. Despite their lack of numbers, the sophomores were able to defeat the freshman in the bubble-blowing contest and mummy-wrap.“The sophomores are the best class at Central because we’re not freshmen,” Copeland said.

Trojans get down ‘n dirty at Activity NightTrojans got messy at Activity Night with marshmallows and whipped cream. Competitors discuss the difficulties they encountered while getting dirty.

Photo: A. Hilden

Photo: A. Hilden

Photo: S. Hutchison

Photo: S. Hutchison

Graphics: P. Goodney

Graphics: P. Goodney

Graphic: A. Korson

Sporting her favorite Central Girls’ Soccer sweatshirt on Jersey Day, Maura O’Kane ‘14 walks through the flood of other students decked in their favorite sport teams’ colors. Amid the rainbow of jerseys, the walls and doorways showcased art in our black and gold colors. “Spirit Week was a really good way to unite the grades,” O’Kane said. “It was cool to dress kind of weirdly and not be the only one.” As a way to pep up the classes before the Homecoming game

against Ogemaw Heights and the dance, Spirit Week has daily themes. Every morning, students ransacked their closets to pull together an ensemble to show their Trojan spirit. Classy day was the most notable, as girls in heels and boys in ties are generally only seen at dances, not on a mere Wednesday. “I had a blast!” Joe Irving ‘12 said. “ Those people who didn’t dress up weren’t classy. They were sippin’ Haterade.” Amidst all the class and school spirit, were non-participants. For many this was not because they don’t care for our school, but be-cause they don’t think it is worth their time. They don’t take all the

fuss seriously. “I already look so good, so when I dress up everyone looks a lot worse,” Paul Lan-nen ‘12 joked. Regardless, Spirit Week changes the atmosphere of the school, joining us with a common cause. Whether one dresses up or not, we’re all still Trojans in the end. “It’s their choice,” Molly Smith ‘15 said. “But it’s more fun if you do.”

Spirit Week3Traverse City Central High School Black & Gold Oct. 4, 2011

The Best Dressed Staff

Roaring with her pack of junior advisory students, Language Arts teacher and de-bate coach Carol Roehrich flaunts her Lion King-inspired shirt with pride. Roehrich called their saying ‘We just can’t wait to be king,’ per-fect. She enjoyed seeing many Trojans united and hopes more will participate in the future. “The more people that get involved the more fun it is, so that’s why I take part,” Roehrich said.

Caught up in the moment of Flannel day, Spanish and French teacher Bryn Lynch wears a shirt borrowed from a student. Lynch loved seeing students’ express their creativity in their attire choices. Participating in this week makes Lynch feel more connected to her students. “I like to dress up, because it shows students that teachers like to have fun also,” Lynch said.

Caught in the spirit of Homecoming Week, Special Ed. teacher Renee Gardner models her “Classy Day” outfit. Gardner correlated her clothes to match the business strand of Central’s acad-emies, of which she is a member. “I was going for a ‘business classy’ look,” Gardner said. “Students were much more respectful of me when I dressed up. One student even told me I looked like a principal.”

While patrolling the halls, Assis-tant Varsity Girl’s Basketball Coach and Campus Security Officer James Brumfield displayed his al-legiance to the Harlem Globetrot-ters. Even though he was wearing another team’s colors, he still had plenty of good things to say about calling himself a Trojan. “It’s being a part of a power-house tradition,” Brumfield said.

Taking part in Trojan pride for the first time, science teacher Eric March settles into new colors. Coming from West, he is Central’s new assistant Cross Country coach and Biology teacher. “Everyone is so welcoming here,” March said. “I had to turn the West switch off and Central on.”

Central’s finest show their spirit

A brief study between the participators and the non-participators

Even with a difference in attire, Joe Irving ‘12 and Emilio Medina ‘12 still maintain their pride in the school. Irving enjoyed dressing up. “I looked fly,” Joe Irving ‘12 said. “People told me I looked like a business man.”

Monday:Class T-Shirt Day

Climbing to the top of the herd, Elliott Petty ‘15 showed his spirit for the freshmen class. Petty wasn’t a fan of the shirt’s baby blue col-or, but he liked the design, and decided to buy one as his ninth grade memen-to. “It seemed like something I’d want to remember, something I could save,” Petty said.

Tuesday:Flannel Day

Sporting flan-nel pants and a shirt bor-rowed from her grandparents is Whitney Fulton ‘12. She loved to see every-body dressed crazily and likes to have fun with her outfits. “I am a senior this year, so I wanted to go all out because it is the last year I can dress up for Spirit Week,” Fulton said.

Wednesday:Classy Day

Thursday:Jersey Day

Friday:Black & Gold Day

Emulating his stylish idol, Colin Lesoski, ‘13, struts his stuff in his black and white en-semble. He used Frank Sinatra as the key to achieve his look. “Sinatra was my inspira-tion,” Lesoski said. “He is a classy guy and he’ll always be classy.”

Strutting her stuff in the halls be-tween classes, Dorothy Switzer ‘12 shows her pride in a #4 Red Wings jersey. Although the “Wings” are her favorite team, they take second place to the Trojans. “Being a Trojan means every-thing,” Switzer said. “I basically bleed black and gold.”

In addition to showing her spirit on the sidelines as a cheerleader, Kim Zeeryp ‘14 also enjoys displaying her spirit in the halls. Enthusiastic and proud, Zeeryp shows up at school plas-tered in school colors. “I have a lot of black and gold things,” Zeeryp said, “When I finally get a chance to wear it, I wear it all.”

Kennedy Cullen, Hunter Kelly, Rachel Moore, Sydney Smuck, Lia WilliamsStaff Reporters

Emma BeauchampManaging Editor

Kennedy Cullen, Hunter Kelly, Rachel Moore, Sydney Smuck, Lia WilliamsStaff Reporters

Graphic: M. Kachadurian

Photo Credit: K. Boomer

Photo Credit: K. Boomer

Photo Credit: K. Boomer

Photo Credit: K. Boomer

Photo Credit: K. BoomerPhoto Credit: A. Hilden

Photo Credit: A. Hilden

Photo Credit: A. Hilden

Photo Credit: K. Cullen

Photo Credit: K. Raymond

Photo Credit: K. Cullen

Photo Credit: K. Cullen

Photo Credit: K. Raymond

Photo Credit: K. Raymond

Photo Credit: A. Hilden

The apathetic against the all-for-it

Christina Druskovich ‘14, Becky Rankens, Riley Boyd ‘13, Kyle Dotterer ‘14, Hailey Hushak ‘14, Sarah Petkovsek ‘13, Matt Lautner ‘15

Veronika Schultz ‘12, Lauren Cutler ‘12, Jozie Herrera ‘12, Travis Peck ‘12

Mckenzie Brady ‘12, Nina Radakovich ‘12 Austin Harrison, Justin Root, Austin Mack-ey, Erica Rigan, Tiffany Taylor, all ‘13

Tyria Byrd ‘12, Myia Hall ‘14, Kelli Nemetz ‘13, Alyssa Roush ‘13, Olivia Luciani ‘14

Graphic: M

. Kachadurian

Photo Credit: K. Boomer

“Fabulous! Who are you wearing?”

Traverse City Central High School Black & Gold Oct. 4, 20114Dance & SuperfansGonna dance the night away. . .

Glammed up and jamming with friends is Victoria Bartos ‘14. “The most memorable part of my night was getting there and seeing all of my friends and how pretty they were,” Bartos said. Throughout the night, Bartos enjoyed dancing to her favorite song “Lips of an Angel” and flaunting her ability to robot like no other.

The night of celebration after Central’s big win against Ogema Heights was one to re-member. Students flocked to the big gym for Homecoming, one of the most anticipat-ed dances of the year, and recalled some of their favorite moments.

Crownin’ new royalty

After waiting in suspense, surprise and honor were be-stowed upon the new Homecoming King and Queen, Keanen Armour and Molly Tompkins, both ‘12, when their names were announced. As the entire crowd roared with applause, Armour strolled to the fifty-yard line to accept his title and cape. “I smiled. I was pretty excited at that point,” Armour said. “I was glad that Molly won too.” Tompkins will always remember looking up at the student section and seeing her peers’ sup-port. She especially enjoyed talking with others on the royal court about their se-nior year, while lining up for the momen-tous walk across the field. “I was really excited about who I was on court with because I thought that they all really deserved to be there, and I knew we’d have fun,” Tompkins said. “I’m excited to be a part of that tradition at Central.”

Dancing to dub step are Olivia Greilick ‘13 and Logan Clark ‘14. “All the mainstream stuff was pretty iffy, but I liked the dub step,” Greilick said. Her signature dance move was the “fist pump.” Although Greilick wore a fancy dress she opted for her Converse high-tops. “I just put some make-up on. I don’t like making it a huge deal,” Greilick said.

Helen Groothuis ‘13 takes part in a lively conga line. Before the dance began, Groothuis enjoyed getting ready and going downtown for dinner with her friends. “We went to Cherry Re-public right before the dance and cleaned out all the samples. It was my friend Pagie’s idea,” Groothuis said.

Living it up at their final Homecoming, Emma Laird, Louise D’quilla, Maggie DeVries, Valintin Kluesener, Tristan Worthington, Alex O’Brien and Max Golden, all ‘12, make their evening memorable. “At one point, we had thirty people doing the Macerena to dubstep,” Worthington said.

We put “super” in Superfans

Donning their new capes and crowns, Keanen Armour and Molly Tompkins both ‘12 bask in the glory of their new titles: Homecoming King and Queen. “It will be fun to look back and remember being crowned and being on court with them because everyone on court, I’m really good friends with,” Tomkins said. Armour agreed,“I didn’t really care who would win, because I genuinely liked everyone on court,” he said.

Tom Hazelwood ‘12 sports the ele-ments of a super fan that seperate the men from the boys in Central’s student section.

Elena Rothney, Allison TaphouseStaff Reporters

Austin Maison, Gretchen TwietmeyerStaff Reporters

Jeannie Longton, Kaitlyn McLintockArts & Entertainment Editors

As the player crosses the end zone and touches the ball to the turf, the student section erupts: “BLOOD AND GUTS, BLOOD AND GUTS!” The student section, right next to the Band, is where the Superfans thrive. “The size, energy, school pride and enthusiasm they bring is beyond measure,” Athletic Director Cody Inglis said. We have become accustomed to their crazy chants, wild themes and random accessories that are all so prevalent in the student section. From Trojan-colored body paint in subzero weather, to full-on gorilla suits when it’s eighty-five degrees, our Superfans’ “show up.” Their enthusiasm and dedication to our teams is what makes our Su-perfans golden. Whatever the sport, players look up and see the swelling crowd and feed off of the enthusiasm to play even harder for the win. “The student section just makes everyone play better and be more motivated to play,” Defen-sive End Ben Lewis ‘12 said. The presence of the massive student section doesn’t go unnoticed by the players on the field or opposing crowd. Inglis related a time when a colleague called and asked him how to get as many students at a game as Central does. “Other schools look to our fan section as the gold standard,” Inglis said, “It’s truly what high school sports should be about, involvement, and our Superfans add that involvement.”

My First Royal De-cree Would Be... “We would have spirit week once a month.” -Molly Tompkins ‘12

“I’d probably have everyone play FIFA 12 as a class because it needs to happen.

Photo: A. Hilden

Photo: K. Raymond

Photo: A. Hilden

Photo: A. Hilden

Photo: A. Hilden

Graphic: M. KachadurianPhoto: K. Raymond

Illustration: A. Korson

Photo:K. Raymond

Jacqueline Hardy ‘14 and friends showcase their dance moves out on the floor. “I just whipped out all my moves,” Hardy said. “The most memorable part of the night was just being with all of my friends instead of different groups, and it was fun to hang with them and eat dinner before.”

Photo:A.Hilden

-Keanen Armour ‘12

Clara Trippe ‘14: “I didn’t know how someone would be able to do something like that, how they would consider it, how they thought something like that would be acceptable. Now I think it’s a travesty. And I think of a time when we could be more naive and expect the best out of people, because we didn’t expect them to come to our homeland and blow up a building.” Esprit Autenreith ‘12: “It was an unusual day to begin with. We were on a field trip to the Sleeping Bear Dunes. My favorite teacher received a phone call. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her fall to her knees. Other children ran to her and began pulling on her sleeves, asking her what was wrong. I knew something in my world had shifted in the matter of a half-second.”Kenneth Merica ‘13: “I was walking down the hallway at Courtade El-ementary and I saw a teacher crying so I looked in the room and the news was on. I’ll never forget it. I was mostly just mad that we didn’t have recess.” Jeff McAndrews ‘13: “I was in first grade or kindergarten at East-ern Elementary, and the school suggested not to tell us about it and not make it such a big deal because they didn’t think the kids needed to know.” Adam Waggoner ‘12: “It was three days after my birthday and I went home ready to play with my new toys, but when I got home, it was anything but a playful atmosphere.”Chris Hicks ‘12: “When my parents told me what happened, it was all a blur. I just remember them showing me the TV, with people shouting, a burning build-ing, about to collapse... It impacts me to this day, what happened on that tragic day.”Alec Chereskin ‘12: I didn’t really understand what was going on, but I knew it wasn’t good.” Garrett Kosch ‘13: “My teacher started crying, I was con-fused and scared. I didn’t really know what was going on.” Rachael Hubbell ‘12: “In class my teacher got a call that lasted a really long time, and my mom picked up my sisters and I from school, which was weird because we usually took the bus.”Olivia Favour ‘15: “The attacks were terrible. I wondered how this all happened. It was pretty scary thinking of all the lives that were lost.”Kendall Minor ‘14: “I remember hearing my teacher Mrs. Engle hanging up the phone and quietly crying. My classmates and I surrounded her with curious eyes and multitudes of ques-tions. After asking her what had happened she responded ‘It is time to go home.’ We packed up our belongings and headed home. While on the school bus I remember hearing about a crash some talk between the older kids, but I didn’t understand much of what they were saying. When we arrived inside my mom, dad, and sister were all sitting by the TV crying and watch-ing intensely. I was so confused and lost that day, not knowing what was going on, but I do re-member seeing the smoke and flames and the twin towers falling into darkness on the news.” Hayley Padden ‘14: “I didn’t know what was going on at the time but now that I’ve learned more about it, I think that it was really terrible and so many people lost loved ones and family members.” Michael Wittersheim ‘13: “I just remember the whole elementary school was out-side under the flag pole and we did the pledge and sang songs honoring America.” Christina Testa ‘13: “I remember my mom ignoring me because she was stuck on the TV. I didn’t fully understand what was going on at that point, but I could see the fear and remember wanting to be with both of my parents.”Joe Friedli ‘12: “I was in second grade and the teachers had gathered us in one room to tell us there was an attack on the United States. They said a bunch of confusing stuff for second graders to understand. I remember when I got home, I turned on the TV and I saw smoking buildings.” Alex Hushak ‘12: “After I heard about the attacks, I was confused and concerned.” Taylor Favour ‘13: “We were just sitting in our classroom and my teacher looked on the TV and seemed upset and shocked.” Will Tomaszewski ‘15: “I was confused, why would anybody ever do that? How would anybody be able to do that in our country?” William Challender ‘12: “I remember seeing the two towers standing, and seeing what looked to be parts of the building falling. Only to find out it really was [people falling].” Whitney Fulton ‘12: “I went to the TV and saw the smoking buildings. I didn’t know what it meant but I felt horrible. You can tell a lot about a situation from the feelings you get from other people around you and I could tell by my parents’ reactions that it was something that was going to have a huge impact. I remember my grandma was crying.”Emma Laird ‘12 : “All of the grown-ups around me were acting really strange and about half my class went home. The principal told teachers who didn’t have class to turn the TV on, and teachers who did have classes to keep it off. I was walking to the bathroom and I saw the TV on in another room. I was thinking ‘how did these people not see the buildings? How did they hit it?’” Jon Patterson ‘13 : “My brothers and I were watching TV before school started when all of a sudden my mom abruptly came in to the room, took the remote control, and turned the channel to the news station. We were all confused, scared, and didn’t know what was going on.” Anna Russell ‘15: “I was with my grandma in her living room. The phone rang and after my mom told her what happened, her face turned so white. Then we turned on the TV. It scared me to know that somebody would do such a horrible thing.” Jennie Baker ‘14: “I was at Bible study with my family. At the time my mother did not want me to know what had happened so I didn’t find out till first grade. My entire fam-ily was freaked out because my mom’s brother and his wife worked in the World Trade Center. Nobody knew where my Aunt was, but we knew my Uncle was safe at his friend’s house. It turns out she had caught the last ferry across and had made it home safely.”Claire Moen ‘14: “Well I didn’t really know what was going on exactly, but my mom was really sad and I knew something was wrong. I felt bad because she felt bad.” Jackie Macek ‘15: “I was super shocked that someone could do something so horrible. But I wasn’t shocked when we fought back.”Chris Minier ‘13: “I was blowing out the candles of my birthday cake when I heard about it. It kinda ruined the happiness in my birthday.” Skylar Thompson ‘13: “The school made an announcement that there had been an accident, and I didn’t totally understand it. When I got home, my mom told me there had been an attack. She didn’t fully explain that it was a terrorist attack, but from the gravity of her tone, I could tell it was a huge deal. I remember seeing it on TV because they kept showing it over and over again. I wasn’t particularly freaked out though, because my parents told me I didn’t have to worry.” Caylee Lautner ‘12: “I don’t remember much, but I remember not really knowing what was going on. The teachers all looked kind of concerned but they didn’t tell us much.”Joey Corcoran ‘13 : “It was the first or second day of first grade at Eastern Elementary and we all went out to the flag pole to have a moment of silence. I knew something bad had happened.” Joy Fowler ‘14: “I had a half day schedule in kindergarten, so I came home and my mom picked me up and she was just bawling. I couldn’t figure out why. When you’re a little kid, it’s scary to see your mom crying. She immediately went inside and turned on the TV. I remember looking at the screen and seeing the two towers down and the build-ings smoking, all that black smoke. I remember thinking ‘I don’t know what’s going on.’ It just wasn’t important. I watched TV for a long time with my mom just because I was concerned for her. The people had light tan debris all over their faces. It was a really haunt-ing scene. That made me realize that something really was wrong. The older I’ve gotten the more impact it has because the more you are into the world and the more it can affect you.”Helen Groothuis ’13: “One of the other teachers came in and told my first grade teacher that something happened. She had this look on her face of shock but she didn’t say anything to us. She was pretty calm compared to what I could probably expect in hindsight. I could tell she wasn’t really happy, but I think we just kind of let it go for the day. When I came home my mom told us that something bad happened in New York and that a lot of people had died. For the next few days on TV they kept talking about this big collapse in New York.”Courtney Dye, ‘13: “All I remember was seeing Mrs. Boyton, my first grade teacher, come back in the room and she was crying. I left early with my mom that day. When we got home my mom turned on the TV and all I saw was flames. I had a feeling of sadness.”

9 / i n M e m o r i a m Dave Hendrix: “I was teaching at a school downstate for adjudicated youth. My small group of first hour MS social studies students were living away from home and, in most cases, a life with an uncertain tomorrow. The news of the attacks sent the boys into a tailspin. With-out knowing how traumatic the event would be for them, I immediately turned on the TV and we watched the second plane hit. I will never forget the boy endlessly pacing my room mumbling, “This is going to be World War III.” His mumbling will stay with me forever.”Barb Buckingham: “I was teaching at West and was working with cognitively impaired students. I remember a student thought that building after building were being hit by plane after plane. It was good teaching moment on replay for sure. The next day it was interesting to hear the students speak about what they thought happened and why. I was shocked at the bigotry.”Jamie Sandy: “It hit closer to home when we found out a student who graduated from Central was working at the World Trade Center so it had a bigger effect—that someone they might have known was there. I was teaching alternative education at West Junior High and we turned on the TVs to see what was going on and the I received an email from the principal stating that we shouldn’t turn on our TVs or hop online because, at the time, we had quite a few students kid Middle Eastern descent and the district did not want these students to feel uncomfortable at a place where they should feel safe and secure.”Joyce Battle: “Complete silence for the whole class, which is a lot for kids your age.”Konrad Visser: “There was, ‘What’s gonna happen?’ ‘Why would someone do this?’ ‘Can you believe this?’ ‘Who would do this?’ We tried to answer as many questions as we could, but truly, we didn’t know. We tried to make the day as normal as possible. Continu-ing to teach, continuing to learn. We talked about it a little but went on and did out thing.”John Failor: “I had just started teaching here – it was my first year in 2001, and that was the sec-ond week of school that day. I was helping a student do some work and someone said something about planes hitting buildings and I didn’t think much about it. And then, as I was teaching that day, we heard more about it. A student asked me to get a TV in the room, which, looking back, wasn’t the best idea, but no one really knew what was going on... And so, we were in our room, watching the towers collapse and it was pretty intense. Some the kids had family or friends in New York City so kids were just freaked out, it got pretty quiet. It was just as upsetting for me, too.”Joelle Kolody: “We were sitting in class watching the news after the first plane had hit. When the second one hit we knew that it was a terrorist attack. It was as quiet as quiet could be—you could hear a pin drop. When the first tower fell, one of my students said ‘Oh my God, thousands of people just died.’ That’s what we were thinking, oh my God, thousands of people just died and we witnessed it.”Holly Glidden: “The students had mixed reactions. I don’t think they re-ally understood what this meant for us and for the rest of the world.”Polly Walker: “The student’s reactions were shock and tears, and I think a lot of them were afraid because we didn’t know how many other things were going to happen. Once I found out it was New York and not Chicago, we were worried about Brock Safronoff, who worked in the first tower, and his mother Debbie, who was our secretary for seven or eight years.” Lisa Dohm: “All of the students were crying and hysterical. They all wanted to go home... They were just kids, and they didn’t want to be in the United States anymore. I wasn’t a teacher that day, I was a mom.”Katherine Brege: “I was teaching a seventh grade class in Kalkaska at the time. Stu-dents had a lot of questions. They asked why they would do it, and why it was happen-ing. Some of them were personally scared. They didn’t want to be at school. They were afraid the building was going to be attacked. I just tried to let them know they were safe.”Joe Forlenza: “From that point on, kids were glued to watching the news on T.V. ‘How could it have happened,’ and ‘why’ were the biggest questions. The next ques-tion was kind of a two-fold question because first, ‘how do we get them back,’ and ‘how do we prevent it from happening again?’ The hard part from a teaching standpoint was to not really have a lot of the answers. I had just as many questions as they did.”Brynn Lynch: “Closer to the end of the day, students didn’t want towatch the news about the attacks. For many of them it was overwhelm-ing and information overload. They just needed a break from it.” Ben Ludka: “It had to become a teaching moment, because most of the students didn’t understand what was happening. When the first tower collapsed, one of the stu-dents said, ‘that’s so cool!’ I turned to him and said blatantly, ‘what you just thought was cool, thousands of people just died in front of your eyes.’ How do you make the kids realize this is more serious? We’ll never go back. It’ll live with us forever.”Kathryn Shelley-Barnes: “I think the students were apprehensive and cu-rious as to what was going on. Kids didn’t have cellphones at the time, so they weren’t really communicating with each other. I think there was a feel-ing of insularity among students because New York seemed so far away to them.”Anne Bara: “When our headmaster finally let us talk about it, the kids were just so re-lieved. They were confused. How do you understand something that is so sad? My stu-dent, Aaron, showed me a video off the internet called ‘Osama bin Flatten.’ It was a cartoon of a guy in a turban being flattened by a building. He didn’t laugh, he took it very earnestly. The video was at a level that he could understand as a fourth grader.”Betsy Gratiot: “I was in an elementary building in the library. I was the only one who had a television that was following what was happening and I was just relaying the informa-tion to teachers and staff by e-mail all day, or little notes. We kept it very quiet from the kids. We didn’t say anything to the kids. We didn’t let our students know anything, and our principal Mr. Smith sent a letter home with all the students letting parents know that we had not spoken about it or talked about it or let on to the kids. So, we really shielded them from it, at that point, probably because they were so young, kindergarten to sixth grade, so they really didn’t know anything. But afterwards, I’m sure there was much chatter the next day.”Kelly Spencer: “I was teaching sixth graders at Central Grade School. At the age of around eleven, all the students wanted to tell stories about what they heard at home about the attacks.”Sarah McNamara: “I was teaching ninth grade at the time. The older kids un-derstood what was going on but the younger kids didn’t. It seemed surreal.” Nicholas Jeffrey: “As the students realized what had happened, they became glued to the T.V, fixated on it. They were shocked, just sorta flabbergasted at what was happening there. I was concerned because I have a cousin who worked at the Pentagon, and I knew my aunt was probably very worried about her son. My mom called my aunt about my cousin, but my aunt couldn’t get a hold of him until late in the evening, so everyone was very worried.”Joel Dorgan: “The Home EC teacher who’s since retired came into my room dur-ing prep hour and told me to turn on the TV. And sure as heck, there was a plane fly-ing into the second tower and the only thing I could think of was ‘what the crap?!’ I could only convey how confusing everything was. It was so surreal. I thought the world was going to change since then and become this terrible place.”Sean Jones: “Most kids were very upset. Some thought it was a movie.”Brandi Reynolds: “We weren’t allowed to tell the students much. The princi-pals had told us to keep quiet until we knew more facts. Students didn’t ask many questions, they were just shocked, they wanted to know if it would happen again, why someone would do something like that, and what the U.S. would do about it.”Sherry Stoltz: “Some students had a hard time believ-ing it was real because of the images on TV. It was like a movie.” John Sivek: “As we watched the first plane hit on the monitor, everyone thought it was just an accident. It wasn’t until the second plane hit that we realized it was an attack. Everyone was stunned. There wasn’t a single comment in the classroom as we watched. Just complete shock.”Pat Bowen: “When we first started watching it on the news, the kids who I saw, [thought] it was like a movie, it wasn’t real. I can’t think of the teacher who was here at the time, but she was crying because the best man from her wedding was in the tower. That made it real to students. I think after that first day, it was twenty-four hours of watching it come about, the kids took it seriously. I remember all the projects and money they raised. It became real.”Troy Elenbaas: “Everyone was stunned. The students wouldn’t stop ask-ing to watch it. I taught a little while and then we would watch a little.” Pamela Forton: “I think the students were very scared because it was a ninth grade class and they had never seen anything like that before. That was be-fore the principals made us turn off the televisions because it was scaring people.”Hal Lalonde: “I was teaching at a military school in Newport, Rhode Island. All of the students were tightly squeezed in the barracks and hadn’t heard the news yet. The skipper was worried that the military would be attacked so we shut down the base and all non-essential personnel were sent home. Since it was a military school, there was mini-mal parent contact. Students were allowed to phone home. Right after 9/11, all air traffic was closed down. This was really strange, as normally every hour you’d see something go by. Finally, when you heard one go by, you were looking at the plane in a different way.”

STUDENTS

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TEACHERS share their students reactions

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the Black & Gold presents, a special commemorative insert

the Black & Gold presents, a special commemorative insert

“The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources for our intelligence and law enforcement commu-nities to find those responsible and bring them to justice. We will make no distinction be-tween the terrorists who com-mitted these acts and those who harbor them.” -PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH, address to the nation, Septem-ber 11, 2001

“I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conduct-ed an operation that has killed Osama bin Laden. [. . .] Justice has been done.”-PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, address to the nation, May 1, 2011

8:30 p.m.- Bush addresses nation, says U.S. will make no distinction between the terrorists and those who help or harbor them. Calls the at-tacks an act of war

8:46 a.m.- American Airlines flight 11 crashes into World Trade Center north tower in New York City

9:03 a.m.- United Flight 175 hits World Trade Center south tower in New York City

9:30 a.m.- Visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Fla., President George W. Bush an-nounces U.S under “apparent terrorist attack”

9:37 a.m.- Flight 72 crashes into Pentagon, across Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

9:42 a.m.- Federal Aviation Administration stops all takeoffs, landings at U.S airports; some international flights diverted to Canada

9:59 a.m.- South tower collapses

10:03 a.m.- United Flight 93 crashes near Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pa.

10:28 a.m.- North tower collapses

1:04 p.m.- At Barksdale AFB in Lousiana, Bush announces U.S. military on high alert worldwide

3:07 p.m.- Bush confers by phone with Na-tional Security Council. Air Force jets begin 24-hour flights over major cities

5:30 p.m.- Officials say Flight 93 hijackers’ target was White House, U.S. Capitol or presi-dential retreat at Camp David in Maryland

Brock Safronoff ‘93: Forever in our hearts, forever a TrojanBrock died in the North tower on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks, September 11, 2001. He was employed at Marsh & McLennan as a computer analyst and programmer. He had just been married that August 4th.

Brock received the ‘Academic All-State’ certificate of merit for State of Michi-gan baseball in 1992 and graduated from Central High School as one of the Top 10 students in 1993.At Amherst College, Brock was ‘rookie of the year’ during his freshman year on the college baseball team in 1993-94 and on his 21st birthday, Brock was the winning pitcher in Amherst’s first NCAA Tourna-ment win in 1996.In June of 2002, Amherst College retired Brock’s #22 Baseball Jersey and estab-lished an annual “Team First Award” to honor Brock’s unselfish contributions to his Amherst Team.

From Brock’s mother Debbie, a TCAPS employee: “Brock loved sports, music, computers, and Traverse City. He would be amazed at all the chang-es in technology and how TC has grown. When Brock was a small boy, along with his brother Aaron, he would copy Basic computer code from an Atari Magazine into an Atari 800XL computer to create a ping-pong or tennis game. “Frogger” and “Pac Man” were the popular video games and portable CD players were the latest innovation. When he was in high school, MP3 players were still experimental. After September 11 many people sent money to us, so we set up a college me-morial scholarship through Traverse City Area Public Schools (now transferred to the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation www.gtrcf.org) to be awarded to a baseball player with high academic achievements. The award is given to a deserving Central High School student or West Senior High School student on an every other year rotation.”

Graphics: P. Goodney & M. Kachadurian

Photo: couresy of D. SafronoffPhoto: Pines ‘93

1993 Graduated from CHS as one of Top Ten students

1993-94 Amherst Col-lege Baseball Team ‘Rookie of the Year’