Principal's Letter
Dear North High Families,
Before the basketball season began the members of our Captains’ Council decided to highlight various groups and organizations that have made important contributions to our community. Part of our vision statement references “act upon their responsibility to others.” Throughout the season they have recognized teachers, students, alumni, veterans and cancer survivors for their service and contributions. The student leaders worked with the athletic director, the coaches, and the players to plan each program so that it was a special celebration for the group being highlighted.
Here is a glimpse of three of the programs.
Superfan Donations for Dan Winzen
The Captains’ Council members read about a North graduate, Dan Winzen, who was paralyzed when hit by a drunk driver over twenty years ago. Dan’s family and friends wanted to purchase an electronic speaking/communication device for him to use so our students decided to dedicate a night to this wonderful cause. They sold Superfan T-shirts and took general donations to help defray the cost of the device. Dan uses the device daily in the nursing home where he lives.
The Mission Continues—Eric Greitens
The students wanted to honor veterans for their service to our country and while planning for the night, discovered that a North High graduate, Lieutenant Eric Greitens, founded an organization to help wounded veterans continue their service to the community and country. Eric, along with a few of his staff members, including Erin Dion, also a North High grad, and a veteran who recently was named as a Fellow in The Mission Continues program, spoke to the audience at the game to share their inspiring stories about experiences they have had working with veterans and seeing the veterans proudly continue their service to the community.
1000th Game in School History—Terry Donnelly
The boys basketball coaches and players wanted to do something special to recognize the history of the basketball program so they decided to honor former players and coaches at the 1000th game in school history. They thought it would be fitting to give special honor to our most famous North High basketball player, Terry Donnelly. Terry was an outstanding basketball player at North and still holds many of the school records. He went on to play at Michigan State and was on the National Championship team of 1979. Many of us remember that game because it was touted as a match between two would be NBA greats—Magic Johnson of Michigan State and Larry Bird of Indiana State. In addition to honoring this special Viking basketball player, players from each decade were honored as were coaches of the program, including Gary Chaput and Jim Sefrit who were the first coaches of the program and instilled the Viking pride from the beginning.
This effort to recognize and honor people who have made a commitment to our school, our community and our country, turned into a season of special events. The members of the Captains’ Council truly demonstrated our school mission and vision and inspired us all to find ways to act upon our responsibility to others. Our current students began with the idea of teaching others about ways to serve in our community and ended up realizing there has been a long tradition of service to the community with the members of our student body.
The members of the Captains’ Council deserve special recognition for the efforts this year and I especially want to acknowledge the following members who led the charge to create these special events: Maggie Brandon, Alex DeBlaze, Caroline Gatti, Joey Kindig, Amanda Lewis, Julisa Powell, Sami Sagakhaneh, Abbey Sander, Alex Scherr, Joe Shaughnessy, and Madi Steffen.
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Members of the Captains’ Council:
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