EDUCATION

Head of the Class

Staff Writer

raduating seniors at
Southfield-Lathrup
High School have
taken over the principal's
corner office.
Neil Yashinsky, 18, plops
into James Smyth's brown
swivel chair. Jason Ostro,
17, hits the floor, legs cross-
ed. Alex Franklin, 17,
sprawls out in front of 30
bottles of Faygo.
"We're dying of thirst. Can
we have some of this pop?"
Alex asks.
"If it was up to me you
could," Mr. Smyth says,
"but these are for a luncheon
next week."
The boys remember the ex-
istence of nearby pop
machines.
"I need 15 cents," wails
lex, fishing through his
pocket. "Can I borrow 15
cents, Mr. Smyth?" "If you
can find it, you can have it,"
Mr. Smyth says, pointing to
his desk drawer. "But I
think I gave away all my
. change yesterday."
It's June 3, the last day of
school for seniors, and just
11 days until high school
graduation. These guys, part
of the class of 1992, are the
25th set of graduates to
leave S-L.
Neil and Jason will attend
Michigan State University
in the fall. Alex, S-L valedic-
torian, will be a freshman at
Harvard University. Accor-
ding to Mr. Smyth, almost
90 percent of the graduating
class will attend a two-year
or four-year institution.
But this morning, all these
seniors are thinking about is
the end of final exams.
Earlier, about 350 of them
ran wild through the halls.
Janitors still clean a
hallway mess that passes for
a New York City ticker- tape
parade.
"Pandemonium," grimaces
Sue Munnings, high school
secretary, who has witnessed
thousands of seniors erupt on
the last day of school.

"You know, I always
thought that graduating
would break my heart," says
Alex. "But today, I'm just
really excited to be moving
on."

Photo by Glenn Triest

AMY J. MEHLER

Southfield-Lathrup High School students reflect on
their school's 25th anniversary.

As the year ends, Jason Ostro, liana Rosenbaum, Neil Yashinsky, Joanne Brooks and Alex Franklin look back.

That makes Mr. Smyth
really happy.
"That's how I know we're
doing our job," he says.
Mr. Smyth, principal at
S-L the last 25 years, has
guided thousands of
students through the
school's doors. He tries to
remember them all.
"He's not the kind of prin-
cipal who sits in his office all
day," Jason says. "He's out
there in the halls, talking to
kids. He knows what's going
on."
Steven Kaplan, the only
S-L graduate to become a
trustee on the Southfield
school board, said Mr.
Smyth was always accessi-
ble.
"It was a young staff and
everyone seemed excited
about the school," said Mr.
Kaplan, 38, class of 1973,
about his days at S-L.
"It was the good taste I got
from S-L that made me want
to work for the district 16
years after graduating,"
said Mr. Kaplan, school
board president.
During Mr. Smyth's

.

tenure as principal, S-L has
won many state and nation-
al competitions in theater,
debate, forensics, music, art,
journalism, math and
science. Last month, Red-
book Magazine selected S-L
as the "Best of Michigan."
Mr. Smyth joined S-L in
1967 after teaching business
five years at Southfield High
School and after working
two years in the district's
central office.
"That was a real growing-
up period," Mr. Smyth said.
"We were the brand-new
school, the experimental
school."
S-L came into existence
when the student population
at Southfield High School,
on Lahser and 10 Mile roads,
was filled to capacity. Today,
students at Southfield High
number 1,400. Students at
S-L, at Evergreen and 12 Mile
roads, number 1,350.
Steven Lebowski is a
graduate of the class of 1970,
the first class to graduate
S-L.
"It (S-L) was positive for
me," says Mr. Lebowski, 40,

a certified public accountant
and lawyer. "It helped me
define my career goals and
I'm still friendly with many
S-L graduates."
So friendly, that Mr.
Lebowski sold his accoun-
ting practice a few years ago
to a former classmate and
her husband, another S-L
graduate.
Jane (Kosydar) Brodsky,
S-L 1970, and her husband
Barry, S-L 1973, now rent of-
fice space to Mr. Lebowski.
"It was a special honor to
be part of that first class,"
recalls Mrs. Brodsky, of
West Bloomfield. "We were
a small class and have
stayed close."
Mr. Brodsky, quarterback
of his football team, enjoyed
the benefits that came with
an experimental school.
"We were the first
students allowed to leave
high school grounds during
lunch," Mr. Brodsky said.
"We used to hang out at the
Burger King or Big Boy. We
were also the first to use a
variable time schedule,
which meant we could

schedule and pick our
classes."
Mostly, said Mr. Brodsky,
S-L prepared students for
what's out there in the real
world.
"I grew up in Oak Park
and lived in a pretty -
sheltered Jewish envi-
ronment," he said. "It
wasn't until high school that
I met non-Jewish students,
also Arab students."
Mrs. Brodsky, who is not
Jewish, said world events,
such as the 1967 riots in
Detroit, and the Six-Day
War in Israel, had little af-
fect on relations between
Jewish and non-Jewish S-L
students.
"Sure we discussed the
issues, but those issues
didn't pull students apart,"
Mrs. Brodsky said. "There
were no outward signs of
conflict."
"Of course, S-L isn't nearly
as diverse as it is today," Mr.
Brodsky said.
Diversity, the term on
which S-L has built much of
its reputation, was just

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