Volume 72 No. 1
Grimsley High School
801 Westover Terrace
Greensboro, NC 27408
ocr II
1995
# %
Dennis Shaw was recently voted by
the Grimsley faculty the 1995-1996
teacher of the year. He is also one of f
ive finalists for the Guilford County
Teacher of the Year.
The Happy Club is hoping to open a chap
ter here at Grimsley. This club, a part
of Operation Smile, is service oriented
and is already in place in many Guilford
County high schools. Members work to
sponsor much needed cleft-lip and pal
ate surgeries for children and adults both
in North Carolina and in numerous third
world countries. Cleft lips, the world's
most common birth defect, are easily
cured with the propoer medical atten
tion. At the moment, the club is still
seeking a faculty advisor. Beih
Marshall, the Operation Smile
coordiator, is quick to point out that the
job does not entail very many
responsililites. If you are interested, or
have a suggestion, please contact Mrs.
Marshall at the Operation Smile office,
575-3320.
Theshmen elections were held in early
September. The elected officers were as
follows:
President: Cesar Alvarez
Vice-President: Jeff Mosley
Secretary: Stephanie Chan
YRC: Michael Fowler
Pep Board: Grant Turlington
Til ere are 11 students with autism or sig
nificant language disabilities in self-con
tained classrooms at Grimsley. One of the
goals for their education is to increase the
number of social contacts that they have.
Consequently, efforts are underway to cre
ate a lunch buddy program through which
each speacial student will have a friend to
eat lunch with on Mondays, Wednesdays,
and Thursdays. Students who want to help
will receive training and support from Dr.
Shaw and Mrs. Hair. If interested, con
tact Lindsey Moxley, who will organize
scheduling.
C.R.O.S.S. stirs controversy
By Sarah Atkinson and
Brian Schiller
Reporters
*
w
C.R.O.S.S.: Christians Reaching Out
Serving Society. The members of this con
troversial club
come together
to encourage
Christian fel-
1 0 w s h i p
among their
Grimsley
peers. They
strongly deny
the claims
from other stu
dents that
their purpose
is to force
Christian be
liefs on the
student body.
“Our pur
pose is to serve
God, each
other, and the
community,”
said Elizabeth Sheffield, a jimior.
Every Wednesday afternoon from 3:30
to 4:3 0 die club meets in Mr. Feeney ’ s room
in the New Science Building. After open
ing with a prayer, led by the club president
(officers have not yet been elected), mem
bers of the club Jom in open discussion,
sharing any thoughts and concerns they
might have.
Stephanie Holsenbeck, a sophomore,
opened the discussion at the September 13
meedng by reading from her quote book,
“When I asked Jesus how much he loved
me, he stretched out Ids arms and said,
‘This much,’ and died.”
The members dien offered their ideas
for ways to get the club involved with ser
vice in the school and community. It is
hoped that service will become a major fo
cus of the group. They plan to devote 50%
of their meeting dates to various service
projects in the area.
The club’s presence on campus has cre
ated controversy among students. Those
students who are not involved with the club
differ in their opinions on C.R.O.S.S.
“I think that people shouldn’t be allowed
to discuss religion in school because it doesn’t
belong here,” said Lindsey Gulya, a sopho
more. ’
Sarah Warner, a sophomore, represents
another way of tliought among students. “As
Members of the C.R.O.S.S. ciub play a gettmg-to-kiio\v-you game.
long as they are not forcing anything on any
one who does not want to have religious af
filiation dining the school day, tliey are okay,”
said Warner.
“1 knew tliat C.R.O.S.S. would be a sen
sitive issue,” said Mr. Penland, “I felt there
would be objections raised because it could
be viewed by some as being insensitive. How
ever, student- initiated groups have a right
to be on campus, and you have to protect the
riglits of everyone.”
Despite what some other students have
been saying, club members maintain that
tlieir club was founded solely on good inten
tions.
“One purpose of the club is to give others
an opportunity to learn about Christianity,”
said Clmstina Chenault, a sophomore.
When asked how they would feel if a non-
Christian wanted to come to their meetings,
the majority of the members agreed that any
interested students would be accepted into
the group.
“We are not excluding anyone,” said
Sheffield. However, it was made clear that
Kidd Photo
m
u
Superstition
pages 5-6
Som
page 8
C.R.O.S.S. was strictly based on Christianity
and would not be molded to satisfy non-Chris
tians whosebehefs maybe in conflict with those
of Christianity.
As reasoning for this statement, Kevin
Woods, a sophomore, offered the example, “If I
went to French Club and I qioke German, would
they speak German for
me?”
After the Sqitember
13 meeting of the club,
members hung various
posters around campus,
advertising the existence
of tlie club and its upcom
ing activities. Many stu
dents found these posteis
to be in questionable taste
because they included
such illustrations as an
American flag where the
stars fonned a cross. Sev
eral days later the poster
was removed from tlie
walkway between tlie
Main and Old Science
Buildings.
When asked why tlie
poster was taken down,
Mr. Penland said, “It was a message, not an
announcement, and things that delivermessages
sliould be cleared by me.” The club had not
gone through thisprocedurebefore hanging the
poster.
In the eyes of the students, the central issue
concerning the club being on campus is whether
or not it could be in violation of any laws per
taining to the sqiaiation of church and state.
To ejqjlain the legahties of the founding of a
club based on religion, Mr. Penland said, “The
constitution as defined tlirough the Supreme
Court states that groups have a right to meet on
campus, however, none of their funding maybe
provided by the state.”
Another point of concern of Whirlies who
are not involved with C.R.O.S.S. is as to why
club members feel the need to eiqiress religion
in school.
“Students want to know that they aren’t the
only ones in their classes that have Christian
values,” said the club advisor, Mr. Feeney.
“At church everyone is already Christian, but
a lot of people at Grimsley don’t know about
Jesus. At school we have the opportunity to
^aik other students’ interests in the Lord,” said
Aubrey Harris, a sophomore.
Byprotecting the right of the C.R.O.S.S. club
to meet on can^ms, Mr. Penland is concerned
with the precedent that has been set It is now
true that students of any rehgion would have to
be allowed to organize a club that focuses on
their religious beliefs.
“I would like to see a ciub where people of
differentfaiths get togetherand share,” saidMr.
Penland. He hopes to avoid the development of
aWhiiliecanpusseparatedbyrehgiort Though
many students are concerned with the hue in
tentions ofthe club, Mr. Penland says, “The great
majority of the students are sensitive to each
other’s faith and try to practice tolerance.”