P-CEP’s most popular AP classes

By Jonathan Jan
Staff Writer

Each year, many Park students enroll in at least one AP course. Now, as the time comes again to make course selections for next year, many students ponder on what AP courses to take. After all, students want to balance out the difficulty of their course load to ensure that they are not burned out.
This year, AP Psychology has the highest number of enrollments of any AP course, with 339 enrollments spread throughout ten classes. Mary Lychuk, Lindsey Mette, and Kathy Stark are the teachers for the AP Psychology classes.
“I think that Psych is so easily applied to everyday life and living that they’re intrigued and interested in it because it’s about them,” said Lychuk. “It’s the most fun class I can possibly teach.”
“My friend suggested that I would like Psychology and I wanted to see if I may consider pursuing a career in the Psychology department,” said Ahsan Ansari, Canton senior.
In recent years, AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics have seen a rapid increase in enrollment. Two years ago, there were only five classes for each course, taught by Dan Colligan, who is currently the Coordinator of Assessment Services in the district. This year, Nicholas Fotiu, Derek Southwick and Jeffrey Richards are the three teachers that are currently teaching the ten AP Microeconomics classes. There are 332 enrollments for AP Microeconomics and 329 enrollments for AP Macroeconomics.
“I’m happy that there’s a demand for the class,” said Fotiu. “We’ve seen the class grow from only three sections to now ten just within three years, so I’m excited to see that this class has grown so much and that students have a real interest towards economics.”
AP United States History, taught by Patrick Ignagni, Richard Mui and Michael Ziolkowski, is another popular course among Park students, with 7 classes and 208 enrollments. The AP Calculus courses, AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC, are extremely popular as well, with 7 total classes and 206 total enrollments.
No matter the popularity of an AP course, however, it is ultimately up to the student to decide which courses to enroll in.

Keep your privates private

By Morgan Birman

An inappropriate picture of three nude girls was leaked around the school population. This is a serious offense. Sending inappropriate or naked photos is a punishable crime. In Michigan, getting a minor to pose for inappropriate photos as well as the possession of these photos, is a felony of up to four years. If the victim is a minor, it is illegal to view or distribute sexual, private pictures. People partaking in these actions can be required to register as official sex offenders. A male student involved in this event states that he is now a registered sex offender. Juvenile sex offenders can be cut off from all financial aids or college applications. The punishment is real.
Here’s how this incident can be broken down: The girls in the picture can be charged with distribution and production of “sexually abusive material”. The first person that received the photo can be charged with “distribution and possession” of the photo. Everyone who received the photo via text can also be charged with “possession” of the photo.
Sexting also has devastating impacts. Once a picture or video is taken and sent, the image is permanently out there for any police to use as evidence. Even if the photo subject wants to get rid of it, they legally can’t. Once a photo is leaked on the internet, it never goes away. Besides legal impacts, sending nude pictures can cause social problems. Pictures spread like rumors; many people see them. At P-CEP, the pictures circulated throughout the student body for days through text messages, group chats, and social media websites. Would you want the whole school to see a mistake you make for one person’s eyes? The answer is no.
Police forces ask multiple questions. Whose idea was it? Who took the photo? Who is the posed subject? What was going on at the time of the picture? Where will the picture end up? According to Michigan Children’s Law Blog, about 20% of teens admit to taking part in some form of sexting.
The message is short and simple: don’t take or send nude or inappropriate pictures. Students, respect your bodies and keep them private. Nothing good can come from being involved in this kind of act. You can jeopardize your future and create social issues. Keep your privates private.

Trying to get rid of someone?

By Adam Duxter

It is a terrible situation. Someone of the opposite gender obtains your phone number or onto your Facebook/Twitter, and they just don’t leave you alone. Usually these are the people that Say “Hey” until you finally respond. Usually they that don’t get the hint. This is the way to get rid of them.
1) Match their creep intensity, if not outdo it. Message them constantly, at really bad times during the day. Call them and leave really long voicemails. Send them friendly letters to their house. Find their relatives.
2) Tell them you think that they are the one. Go into detail about your lives together. Mentioning growing old together works too. Maybe talk about how many kids you two will have.
3) Lie about your interests. Tell the person you will have to talk to them later because you are too busy polishing off your collection of prized beanie babies. This works for both genders.
4) Scare them. Mention that you like to do ritualistic sacrifices and ask if they have a little brother or sister you can borrow for the weekend.
5) Act really disgusting. This works especially well if you see the person face to face. Invite them to a lunch date. Order the ribs. Eat sloppily and burp loudly.
6) Say you’re in a cult. “I’d really like you to be my girlfriend. You just need to shave your head and drink this potion.”
7) Say you’re moving. This is one of those old-school lies, and if you tend to see them on a day-to-day basis, it won’t work.
8) Show disinterest. A simple text saying “You’re stupid” won’t do. Be subtle about it. If they mention they are hanging out with some friends, say “Oh, the ones that don’t really like you? I’m surprised they even invited you this time.”
9) Get a boyfriend/girlfriend. When the creepy person sees you with someone else, they just might let off. If you are dealing with a person who does not care if you are dating someone else or not, this becomes extremely difficult.
10) Tell them they are creepy. This is sort of a last resort. If you don’t like people hating you, this is not a good choice. However, this is the only surefire cure.
There will never be a cure for creepy people. They will always exist, but with these tips, you won’t be getting 26 “Hey” messages every day.

Attendance policy violates students’ freedoms

By Perspective Staff

Once again, our school has decided to fix what isn’t broken; while we thought that starting the day three minutes earlier was odd, we have found the new attendance policy outrageous, unnecessary and in blatant violation of our basic freedoms.
That sounds crazy, right? How could the limit of 10 excused or unexcused absences possibly hinder our power to act and speak freely?
According to the P-CEP Student Handbook, students who miss 10 days of school may have their parking passes revoked, extracurricular activity involvement prohibited or suffer other punishments that our school’s administration has seen fit to develop. But why not go a step further to make a student’s life worse? We might even have the fortunate distinction of being reported to our county’s prosecution office by our own school.
While the new policy excludes student business (field trips, school functions, deaths in the immediate family and sick days, provided a doctor’s note is given), it still has major flaws. Many students may not fit the perfect scenario that the school has envisioned for us; what if our family doesn’t have enough money to visit the doctor? What if our parent(s) can’t transport us to school if we miss the bus or if we need to seek medical attention? Many of us don’t have the benefits that others take for granted.
Still, it is clear that the new attendance policy is aimed at students who wouldn’t want to go to school. But the cruel irony behind the policy is that it only pushes away these students; why would an unsatisfied student desire to attend class if his or her parking or prom privileges are taken away? If they wouldn’t want to go to school, would they really attend Saturday detention over the school’s insane way of telling us that it’s their decision to tell us how to spend our day?
What is the purpose of this new policy? To serve as another reminder of how the leaders of our schools are only distancing themselves from the student body.

Illustration by: Madeline Julyk
Story by Alyce Krumm and Chloe Luyet

At the Park, there are thousands of students; all of them are different and expression is very important. They want to be identified as individuals apart from their peers. One dress code that the majority of P-CEP students believe limits this freedom of expression is the inability to expose shoulders. Ninety percent of students polled said that they did not agree with the dress code.
Some students said that if exposing shoulders is not against the law, written or unwritten, administration is being too strict on students. After all, this is not the 19th century. “No guys walk around staring at girls and whispering, ‘That’s a nice shoulder’,” said Nicola DePalma, Canton sophomore.
“Boys aren’t animals. We can all control ourselves when seeing shoulders,” said Lizzy Guglielmi, Plymouth senior. “If administration thinks that shoulders are such a problem, why is the staff exempt from this rule?”
In addition, Danya Raza, Canton sophomore, said that it would be better for the school – administrators and students alike – because, “Nobody listens to the rule of no-shoulders anyway, so if we let people wear tank tops, there will be less dress code issues.”
In the real world, the more privilege you give people the better; the more you tell someone not to do something, the more the person wants to do it. It is, essentially, creating a problem out of nothing.
On the other hand, 10 percent of the students at the Park believe that the dress code is appropriate and that it makes the educational environment more professional and efficient.
“Kids could learn to show some more modesty,” said Mohammad Anwar, Canton senior. Of course, showing shoulders may not be the most professional fashion-statement; however, students are not the professionals in the academic environment; teachers and administrators are.
The majority rules: Dress code rules should be altered to meet the wants and opinions of students at the Park. As a high school built on the foundation that we are preparing our students for college and the real world, something as trivial as exposing shoulders should not interfere. We will see shoulders in everyday life: the workplace, college classes. If students cannot control themselves in the school environment, how are they expected to function in real work experiences?

Also contributing to this story: Journalism students Taylor Heinrich, Simran Mavi and Ryan Lynch

Congress prepares for all-Park Lip Dub

By Vibha Venkatesha

Thought the Park picture was crazy? It’s about to get crazier. Administrators have decided to create a video to publicize the Park and all that it has to offer. This is not, however, a boring slideshow video detailing all the pros of going to P-CEP; instead, it joins in on the popularity of lip dubs.
Set to film on Saturday, Nov. 9 in all three schools, the video will be set to a popular, yet-to-be-decided song that students and faculty will lip sync as the camera rolls by them in a continuous shot. Students will represent sports, clubs such as Student Congress (which will play a lead role) and other student organizations based on what school the meetings are held in. Faculty will possibly also make an appearance.
The song will be decided by members of the Student Congress TriBoard. The running includes “Good Time” by Owl City ft. Carly Rae Jepsen, “On Top of the World” by Imagine Dragons, and “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey.
The video will take place from the eyes of a freshman starting his or her first day of school at the Park. The camera, acting as a student, will be greeted by Link Crew and Student Congress members as he or she walks into Canton, then to Salem, and the video will end in Plymouth. Sped up shots of the camera going down the path, possibly including students riding in a golf cart with a cameo by P-CEP Security, will serve as a transition between schools. While walking the halls of the school, participating students will jump into the spotlight and lip sync to the camera in a continuous shot.
“It will be crazy; I think it could be more crazy than the whole Park picture to be quite honest,” said Nicholas Fotiu, Canton Congress adviser.
Lip Dub has been in the planning stages since February and despite the success of the Park picture, the process has not been a smooth one.
“Now one of the biggest issues and the reason we ended up not doing it in the spring last year is that we didn’t know licensing-wise what was available to us,” said Fotiu.

The song used will be:

Students pass time in hallways with dance

P-CEP juniors JéSaun Kyles, Jonah Gorski, and Christian Mayberry dance during passing time in front of school store.