It’s registration day, and you find yourself in the counselor’s office. She tells you it’s for a last-minute schedule change– something about that class not being offered anymore, how the teacher resigned over the summer. You frown, pick one from the list of open electives and try to forget just how excited you had been.

It’s the first day of school now, and you make it to your English class as the one-minute bell chimes. Every seat is full- except that one in the back corner, where the sun peeks through the blinds at you and the writing on the board looks like fine print.

The next week, the cartoon images on your new club posters print in a sad greyscale. On the drive home, you spot another pink and green lawn sign while at a stoplight.

Things have changed at South. The Grosse Pointe Public School System is not the same as it was last June, shifting forms in a haze of board meetings and budget proposals that feel so far from our classrooms.

Their effects, however, are not.

When beloved teachers pack up for other districts and open discussions clog with the overlapping voices of 30 plus students, they start becoming dangerously real. We at The Tower believe it’s time for our fellow students to notice.

Somewhere in the midst of our four long years here– years spent asking questions, discussing thoughts, forming connections–we begin to see South as more than just a place to learn. When the support system that makes the success of this time possible begins shifting beneath our feet, we have no choice but to look down.

Now, more than ever before, students have the chance to hold their education in their own hands. We at The Tower understand how distant these big conversations can seem, and how powerless students can feel against them. As with any significant structural changes, those making the decisions often appear out of reach. Our administrators, however, are here to support all of us. It is their duty to respond to our needs, and we believe that it is our responsibility to communicate them.

We at The Tower urge our fellow students to pay attention, ask questions and to challenge the landscape around us. These changes concern our futures, and our futures certainly concern us. It can be easy to feel voiceless, but we at The Tower want to remind students that speaking out comes in many forms, from something as small as starting a conversation in the halls to sharing our voices throughout the entire community. Though these choices may vary in the action they incite, all are crucial and attainable steps to creating real change. One small voice might not necessarily make a difference. But 1200? Now, that’s a start.