Special Reports
Alumni profiles
Alumni Profiles
“My P-CEP memory was because of a story I wrote. It was my first! It was for the Summer Olympics in 2012 about Allison Schmitt interviewing her was awesome. But I loved P-CEP a lot because of the diversity and the people were just awesome. Writing for the Perspective helped me decide to go into journalism which was my passion at the time and I had a huge love for sports and that was my beat and I loved it. It was just a great environment to be in."
Vali is a junior at MSU, he has a passion for hockey and baseball and his career path is to own a bar with his best friend in New York.
Nicholas Vali: Canton 2013
"I graduated from Plymouth-Canton in 1994. I keep in touch with many of my high school friends still today, over 20 years later. Social media has been great for that, wish it had been around when we were in school. In school in the early '90s, most people didn't even have email yet. (This makes it sound like we walked uphill both ways in the snow!) Graphing calculators were about as cutting edge as it got, none of us had cell phones let alone smart phones. As far as classes go, Close Up my sophomore year had a huge influence on me. I remember phone banking for the Clinton campaign (that would be Bill Clinton, in the run-up to the 1992 presidential election), that's when I caught the political bug. Our field trip to Washington DC, we even had a tour of the capitol and Senator Riegle spoke to us in person. Anyways, it took me a decade after high school -- and the aftermath of the contentious 2000 presidential election -- but I worked my way around to politics again, and have worked in the political and campaign world for the past decade, serving as Senator Stabenow's Internet Communications Director and a variety of other positions around the country. My advice would be to pay attention to what interests you in high school, and try to figure out how to do that for a living. Also life is longer than you think: if you spend 40-50 years in the working world, you could wind up trying many different careers. Don't ever feel like you're stuck. If you want to change it up and you're willing to put in the work (and get a little bit lucky), you can. Keep in touch with your friends from high school, it's a lot easier to stay in contact with them all along than to try and track down people years later after you've lost touch."
Laura Packard: Plymouth-Canton 1994
Editors Note: The Perspective February print edition included an alumni portion including alumni profiles. Below are more profiles. All accounts collected by Emmanuel Jones.
"I grew upon Detroit’s Southwest side, but since my parents didn’t want me attending Detroit schools so we moved to Plymouth-Canton. I lived across from Fiegel Elementary School in a two-story townhouse apartment in Canton Gardens. Attending P-CEP from 1999-2003 was like going to mini-college. You take classes at three high schools interchangeably on one massive 305-acre campus with some 6,000 kids and are thankfully exposed to a huge variety of different subcultures and personalities in the process.
Plymouth High School opened during my last year, so I was among the first crop of students to have classes there. I recall all the doors would automatically lock at passing time and how everyone detested the dictator/principal Dr. Bee who would patrol the hallways. We had great fun hacky-sacking outside of the cafeteria though.
My home school was Canton High School and the class that changed my life was the mystical Mr. Francis’ ‘Tao in Thought’ class in Room 219 on the second floor of Canton. ‘Tao in Thought’ is geared towards teaching young humans how to meditate, appreciate Zen & Eastern Philosophy and finding the hidden hilarity in life. We read the ‘Tao Te Ching’ by Lao Tzu, the Gia Fu Feng version of the excellent 6th century BC Chinese book, which is still one of my all-time favorite books. We also used to do large group exercises beneath University of Michigan’s Burton Clock Tower. I now organize the Margrave Pictures Annual Huron River Tubing Odyssey and can trace the provenance of my inspiration for these large-scale
group events directly back to Mr. Francis’ class. I had some very real, very positive transformations in that class, as did many others. Tao in Thought should be implemented nationwide and taught in all the schools! Mr. Francis has taught school since 1972. He is one of the most brilliant and compassionate humans I’ve ever encountered and we remain great friends to this day.
Many lifelong friendships were created at PCEP. To this very day I still keep in touch with several dozen fellow students.
One fond memory is that I met my girlfriend Lauren Rautiola on Mrs. Gimpel’s anthropology class trip to Crow Canyon Archeological Complex in Cortex, Colorado in 2002. Mrs. Gimple taught Anthropology on the 2nd floor of Canton and twenty-two students were selected for her annual trip to Southwest Colorado and I was lucky enough to be selected. I had never seen Lauren before. We met whilst digging up pottery shards and arrowheads of the Anasazi beneath a deep blue sky, very romantic."
After graduating Eastern Michigan University with a B.S. in Film & Telecommunications, Place began work in the film and publishing industries, including working on Transformers 3, working on Judge Judy and Margrave Pictures film production company in Detroit, doing volunteer film locations scouting for the Michigan Film Office, various consulting firm work and is currently helping to research two books: “The Rose of Paracelsus: On Secrets and Sacraments” by William Leonard Pickard and a true crime book on Michigan serial killer John Norman Collins called “The Rainy Day Murders” by Gregory A. Fournier.
Ryan Place: Canton 2003
"I think the best place to start is what advice I would give to students. There will be people in your class and around you that may currently be the most popular, most athletic, most talented, etc. In a few years, that will significantly change as life takes its course. I'll put it nicely; good looks and popularity do not last forever! Also, some people take longer to become the best version of themselves, so don't hesitate to get to know people. Spend your time with the people who support the real and best version of "you". Don't chase someone else's dreams or false realities; given that the school is so big, there will people that you never really got to know in high school that may become your best friends down the road. I have been fortunate to maintain some of my greatest friends from high school and also met new ones along the way. Always be open to meeting new people, because things do and always will change!!
Thinking back upon my years at P-CEP, I realized that attending P-CEP is a privilege. There are great teachers who genuinely care about students, even though it may seem as though you are a number. You have to build relationships with them. I also was continually inspired by all of my teachers (even the ones who I didn't think liked me). I still maintain relationships with my teachers from P-CEP and always understand that they truly do care about you and would not want to see something bad happen to you. They too will always have your back and welcome you to visit.
You have to be proactive in your education and in life. That is what P-CEP taught me the most about. If I wanted to be the best version of myself, I had to be proactive and understand that I was going to be my best friend and at times, my own worst enemy. You know how to do this before you get to college and many people don't! There will be bullies at every stage of life, some bigger and smaller and others, but you have to stay focused upon your goals. It’s about how you respond to adversity, not about the adversity itself.
Your teachers will help you get there, but it is your responsibility to take charge of your life and education. Also, when you leave high school, everyone is given a blank slate. What you have accomplished (or not) is not important!! In college, start over, make the best of it and if college is not for you, know there are many people who are successful with a vocational degree or military training. Put your all into what you do, love it. There is not many schools like P-CEP and you have the world at your finger tips. Our school is also in a community and state that values public education. I have lived in several states and I can tell you that in most of the places I've lived, public education is not valued in the same way as it is in Michigan. I left P-CEP prepared for college, spent 12 years working in social work and am now working on my PhD. I also can tell you that I have run into people from high school all over the US in the most random places! We are a huge family at P-CEP. Take care of each other, embrace this time, but also realize that it will not be the best "time of your life", nor will it be "the worst".
You are laying the foundation for the rest of your life now. The classroom, the friendships, and in my case, the time spent running cross country and track all taught me valuable lessons that have served me well and at times when I least expected to see how my high school experience has shaped my life. I also would encourage future graduates to keep relationships with those in your class, but realize that those relationships will change and some will end. You also will make new connections over time. I am 35 and there are several people in my class that have passed away, often in tragic circumstances. If you need help, seek it and if you are struggling, remember that tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity. Be a Chief and Lead, be a Rock and Build a Foundation or be a Rock for others, be a Wildcat and Take Charge of Your Present and Future!!.
Last but not least, GO CHIEFS!!"
During Reynold's time at Canton High School, he was a member of STS, Student Council and Canton Track. He was also the captain of the Canton Cross-Country Team.
Jerry Reynolds: Canton 1998
"When I was entering my senior year at Canton High School, I was desperately searching for something I was really good at. After a full year of writing and reporting for The Perspective and learning from Mrs. Leola Gee, I discovered that I was a good writer. Mrs. Gee always had a bright smile on her face as her students entered her penguin-filled classroom each day for second hour. Throughout the 2012-13 school years, Mrs. Gee found new ways to teach and me to learn life lessons through her journalism class. If it weren’t for The Perspective and Mrs. Gee, I would not be able to speak to a crowd of people, conduct every day conversations, or gather factual information.
While I was on the paper; I wrote sports and regularly covered football, basketball, and soccer. In my two years since graduating The Perspective, I have continued to write for the Plymouth-Canton Observer and The D Zone. I would not have been able to get those opportunities without the leadership of Mrs. Gee. She related sports reporting to real world situations and made it easy to understand the real world importance of deadlines and telling the truth.
As a Park graduate, I have gained a new level of appreciation and respect for the unique setup of three high schools on one campus. To this day I am grateful for the long walks between schools, the abundance of different personalities, 6,000 kids to become friends with, and sports rivalries that are unmatched by any town in America because they made me into the person I am. I would not have wanted to experience high school anywhere else.
The Perspective and Park experience overall have helped shape me into a young In addition to writing, I have taken my passion for sports to a new level by coaching basketball. This year, with the guidance of Ryan Ballard and Mike Soukup, I am in my first season as an assistant coach for the Plymouth High School girls’ basketball program.
All of my good fortunes I have gotten since graduating from the Park would not have been possible without my remarkable experience at the Park. Park faculty such as Mrs. Gee were always supportive and encouraging during my four years at the Park. Without Mrs. Gee and the other teachers I had, I would not be where I am today."
Evan Paputa: Canton 2013