Glenn Triest

From left:
Jay Lorch
Joey Craine
Michelle Gurvitz
Radmira Greenstein
Cindy Prince
Lisa Schwartzman
Noah Finkel

SMART KI

RONNA F. HALL

Special to The Jewish News

MOTIVATION.

Where does it come
from? And how
can we get it
for our children?

"My parents taught me that I
need to be motivated or I won't get
anything done," says Joey Craine, a
Groves High School senior. "But if I
can't motivate myself then no one else
can." Joey's parents never had to
regulate him in his studies and he
adds, "If I had to get an assignment
done, I just sat down and did it."
Lisa Schwartzman, a senior from
Andover High School, says, "My
motivation to achieve has always been
there. I'm a perfectionist like my
Mom. I have high expectations, but a
certain amount of failures are also ac-
ceptable to me. Both my parents in-
stilled in me that I can achieve!'
Craine and Schwartzman are
among the top achieving Jewish
students from the class of '87
graduating in June. Weighted grades
at some schools cause the determina-
tion of class ranking and grade point
averages to vary, but each of these
students is in the top ten in their
class.
"These students are highly

26.

Friday, May 29, 1987

These Oakland County
honor grads set high
standards for themselves

motivated," explains Roxanne
Reischke, Gifted and Talented coor-
dinator for Oakland Schools,
"because of an internal drive the
gifted child has from birth. Parents
can nurture this in supportive ways,
but the child achieves in academics to
be the best."
Michelle Gurvitz, a senior at West
Bloomfield High School who plans to
attend the University of Michigan
and study medicine, says, "My
parents motivate and support me but
I'm the type of person that always
tries to do my best." And Noah Finkel,
a senior at Lahser, says, "My family
always stressed education, but I nor-
mally put lots of pressure on myself."
The coordinator of the gifted pro-
gram at West Hills Middle School,
Laurie MacKenzie, adds, "At the mid-
dle school level, there needs to be lots
of parental support to boost what the
schools want to do. No matter how
bright a student is, parental support
is needed whether it is in the form of
a ride or being in contact with other

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

kids whose minds work the same as
theirs."
Craig Freedman of Southfield
High School, who is headed for the
University of Michigan to study
engineering says, "I like success. I
don't want to be at the bottom. I
always give it my best shot!' Freed-
man's best shot won him first place in
the Michigan Mathematics Competi-
tion this year in a field of 23,000
participants.
Jacob Lorch, at only 15 years old,
is a senior at Southfield-Lathrup and
will attend Michigan State Universi-
ty next fall. "My talents lie in
academics," he says, "and I try to
make the most of it. If it were
athletics, I would also develop it and
do my best!' Lorch was placed in 10th
and 11th grade math classes when he
entered middle school in the 6th
grade after leaving Akiva. The follow-
ing year, at 12 years old, he entered
9th grade at Southfield-Lathrup.
Lorch says of his studies, "Mostly I
adapt to whatever I have to do." He

hopes Michigan State will challenge
him in all different areas. He plans to
earn a doctorate in computer
technology. However, Lorch adds, "I
don't think anybody should be skip-
ped. It is really cruel and you will
regret it later."
Lorch says that he never really
got a chance to be bored with school.
New challenges in academics were
presented to him and he showed he
could handle it. So he was skipped.
But he adds, "As long as you have
friends in school, you would never be
bored!' At Southfield-Lathrup he was
the youngest student for two years.
Lorch now says, "I felt better when
kids younger than myself finally
entered the school!'
Competition is a strong motivator
and pressure from peers does
stimulate and challenge many of us.
But for the most part, peer pressure
doesn't seem to be a factor for these
honor students.
Radmira Greenstein, a senior at
West Bloomfield who moved here
from Russia when she was 7 years old,
says, "If we depend on our peers and
friends to stimulate and be our
motivator, then when the friend is
gone, what do we do for motivation?
It must come from within." And Cin-
dy Prince, a senior at Andover, adds,
"Part of me says that classroom com-
petition does compel me to strive for
higher goals, but as far as letting
myself be overwhelmed by it, that's

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