Plans are unfolding to mark the 100th anniversary of the Grosse Pointe School System this school year.
Underway are a history hallway, interactive exhibit, and participation in the North and South homecoming parades and the Grosse Pointe Chamber of Commerce Santa Parade the day after Thanksgiving.
Another highlight — contingent, of course, on COVID-19 restrictions — is a Community Tailgate Celebration Friday, Oct. 22, before the North v. South football game, held this year at Grosse Pointe South. The community is invited to gather on South’s front lawn to hear bands play, connect with neighbors, and visit the History Hallway in the Boll Athletic Center and exhibit in Cleminson Hall.
In hosting these events, GPPSS is partnering with the Grosse Pointe Chamber, The Family Center, the Grosse Pointe Historical Society and Grosse Pointe Alumni & Friends Association, among other community organizations.
An important part of commemorating the school district’s history is celebrating our alumni. The planning committee has set 100 alumni as its goal to spotlight over the school year. Anyone may nominate an alum (or multiple alumni!) by completing this GPPSS Alumni Nomination Form. Alumni willing to be featured may fill out this GPPSS Alumni Profile.
Stay up to date on centennial plans on Facebook @GPPSS, Instagram @gppschools and Twitter @GPSchools. Look for fun “Did You Know?” history facts and trivia challenges, including a “Where in GPPSS is this?” treasure hunt.
GPPSS alumni are encouraged to submit old yearbooks, artifacts or other paraphernalia and share fun historical facts or stories and anecdotes from their own school days. Email info@gpschools.org or post on your own social media channels tagging GPPSS and using the hashtag #GPPSS100years.
Graduate spotlight: Nina Simon
Grosse Pointe South graduate Nina Simon has a closetful of college sweatshirts. These include Harvard, MIT, the University of Michigan and “random schools everywhere.”
Northwestern University was not among them when she was filling out her college applications last year. In fact, applying to Northwestern was a late decision.
“I decided randomly to apply because it has a lot of things I want in a school,” Nina said. “It’s small, but it’s not too small. It’s fun, but not too fun. It was this great Goldilocks kind of perfect fit.”
It also is “an amazing school academically, which is the most important thing for me,” she added.
At the time, Nina had her sights set on studying abroad. She even committed to attending Kings College London, but the decision didn’t sit right with her.
“I had a gut feeling,” she said. “So much anxiety, so much doubt about my decision. Eventually, I figured this cannot be the right decision. It cannot be right for me.”
Northwestern appealed to her more and more, but unfortunately, she was on the waitlist. At Northwestern as well as many other top-tier universities, 2021 was the single most challenging year to be admitted, with very low acceptance rates. Chances of getting in off the waitlist were even lower.
Realizing it was the perfect fit for her, Nina — who is a member of South’s Academic Hall of Fame for maintaining a 4.0 or above GPA — did everything in her power to increase those odds, including visiting the campus and writing a letter of continued interest.
The phone call from the admissions office came a week before South’s graduation. Nina was offered a spot and had 24 hours to decide.
Her only regret is that she doesn’t have a video documenting the sheer joy of that moment.
“I was totally thrilled,” she said.
Nina is looking forward to pursuing many of her interests at Northwestern. The head chorister of the Christ Church Grosse Pointe choir, she may audition for one of the many a cappella groups at Northwestern. She also hopes to get involved in a multicultural student association. Her freshman fall quarter seminar is about being Latina in Chicago, which is one way she hopes to pursue her own Mexican heritage. Additional plans are to pursue “some kind of Greek life” and join a professional association. Whether that is business or pre-law is yet to be determined, as she is keeping her academic and career options open. She plans to major in economics.
A Grosse Pointe Farms native, Nina attended The Giving Tree Montessori School from preschool through first grade, then Kerby Elementary, Brownell Middle School and Grosse Pointe South. While she was page editor at The Tower and a Student Association senator, a lot of her extracurricular involvement was outside of school. For example, she started a March for Our Lives chapter in Grosse Pointe to support gun reform. She also served as communications director for a non-profit based in Detroit focused on educational inequities and helping Detroit public school students prepare for college preparation tests and write college application essays.
Nina has always loved history, so it’s no surprise Chris Bouda and PJ Palen were among her favorite teachers at South. Mr. Bouda kept class entertaining and sparked intellectual curiosity, Nina said, and Mr. Palen’s class was “the kind of class you always wanted to be there for because he always had something crazy and interesting to say.”
Beth Bornoty, her junior year math teacher, also positively impacted her.
“She was one of the teachers who was so incredibly compassionate and kind and understanding,” Nina said. “When everything happened with COVID, she was always checking in on her students. If you were having trouble, she would call her students and you could talk to her.”
Nina’s advice to this year’s seniors is to “trust your gut. Your gut knows what is right for you and what is not. Don’t make a decision based on the beliefs of other people.”
It was trusting her own instincts that led her to Northwestern this fall. She heads to Chicago for Northwestern’s Wildcat Welcome beginning Sept. 13.
Summer concert tonight
The GPPSS Summer Choir Workshop, featuring guest conductor Dr. Kimberly Adams from Western Michigan University, concludes this week with finale concerts in the Parcells Middle School auditorium Friday, Aug. 20, at 6 and 8 p.m. Click here for tickets. For more information, contact Carolyn Gross at grossc@gpschools.org.
School Pointes is a publication of the Grosse Pointe Public School System. To submit story ideas or Pointes of Pride, email info@gpschools.org.