Will he last? - My High School Journalism

4
The Southfield Jay / October 2006
With an undying
passion for mu
sic, Phillip
Calvin Vails was
hoping for a chance to touch many
lives through his lyrics. But his life
was taken from him June 11,
2006, almost one year to the
day he graduated from
Southfield High.
Vails - also known
as “Preach” – collapsed
while playing
a game of basketball
at an elementary
school in Redford.
His autopsy showed
heart arrhythmia.
He was widely
known for his
warming smile that
could light up a
room.
Vails managed to
maintain a positive outlook
despite many hardships
in his life, said his
former drama teacher, Brenda
Perryman, who spoke to him the
day before he died.
Perryman says she always saw
“light” in Philip and describes him
as her “Jack of all Trades.” He appeared
in several of her spring musicals,
and she says she has many
plans to honor Vails’ life throughout
the year because “to know him
was to love him.”
By all accounts, Phillip Vails led
a difficult life. His mother was
murdered when he was 12. He spent
the next year of his life with his
great-grandmother. She, too,
passed away, leaving young Philip
to be placed in foster care.
In an interview with The Jay a
year
Featur eatur eatures eatur es
Phillip Calvin Vails, 1988 - 2006
By Mia Fleming
Staff Writer
Vails spent most of his teen-age
years living with guardians Paul
and Linda Cooper. Through all this
and so much more he never managed
to lose his smile, said Paul
Cooper. When Vails’ whole world
was turned upside down, he never
gave up, Cooper said. “He was a
very caring, sensitive person
who was gifted at writing
music.”
Phillip Vails was
widely known
through the halls of
Southfield High
school. His involvementincluded
plays,
musicals,
Thespian
Troupe 1509
and the
Southfield
choir. He had
a strong passion
for acting, but
music filled his
heart from a young
age.
Schoolmate
Frank Tramble was best
friends with Vails and costarred
in school plays with him.
Tramble says he feels like he has
lost a part of himself with Vails’
passage. “Every day is a struggle.
(When) you spend six years with a
person, you’re bound to them. We
shared a passion of music. He gave
me my passion and inspiration.”
Vails was buried in Detroit in
Woodlawn Cemetery, which is off
of Woodward Avenue.
Photo
before
his
courtesy
death, Vails said he had a difficult
time finding
of Princess
a home:
Souvenir
“No one
wanted to take in a hungry black
man.”
When relatives were unable to
help, Vails was eventually taken in
by the Coopers, a fifty-something
caucasian couple living in
Southfield.
Photo courtesy of Princess Souvenir
Happy days: At his senior prom in 2005, the late Phillip Vails (above, left) shares a moment of
happiness with fellow 2005 graduate Shannon Merritt (right).
Katrina evacuees
head homeward
The last of Southfield High’s six
Hurricane Katrina evaucuees has
returned to his homeland.
Freshman William Perry was
the last Katrina evacuee to leave
Southfield High, according to
Counselor Thomas Holliday. Perry
has returned to the New Orleans
area, where he is attending school.
The other five Katrina evacuees
departed at staggered times during
the school year as their families
made arrangements to return home.
- Amber Lucy
Ford ord Motor Motor of offer of er ers er
saf safe saf e driving
driving
program program for for teens
teens
By Mia Fleming
Staff Writer
In an effort to improve the
driving skills of teenagers, Ford
Motor Company has launched an
interactive website where teens
can practice their behind-thewheel
moves.
The Driving Skills for Life
exercises help young drivers improve
their abilities to recognizing
driving hazards, handle cars,
manage space while driving and
manage vehicle speed.
The web address is
www.drivingskillsforlife.com .
Car crashes are the number
one killer of American teens, according
data released in August
by the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The administration reports
that a total of 5,699 teens between
the ages of 16 and 20 died
in car crashes in 2005.
In Michigan alone, there were
143 traffic deaths among drivers
between the ages of 16 and 20 in
2005, NHTSA reports.
The
Driving
Skills for
Life program
began
three years
ago and is
growing in
popularity.
It is designed
for
teens but
helps parents
out
also, says
B i l l
Jamieson, a
spokesperson
for the
Ford Motor
Company
Fund, which co-sponsors the safe
driving program with the
Governor’s Highway Safety Association.
Students who successfully
complete on-line safe driving
quizzes, play safe driving games
on the Internet and finish elearning
modules can enter to
win prizes such as laptop computers,
digital cameras, gift certificates
and Ford die-cast
vehicles.
“It leaves you with the peace
of mind knowing your child is
driving safely,” Jamieson says.
“In the end, it’s a win, win situation
all around for all.”
While working on driving
habits over the website, teens are
provided with hints and clues for
saving on gasoline expenses, as
well. The Internet program
awards points for tasks well
done and deducts points for late
reactions, speeding and exiting
too soon.
Jamieson says the program’s
real success is that teens can log
in from whereever they are. “It’s
attractive to teens because a
computer is involved,” according
to Jamieson, who says that
parents will be grateful for the
outcome.
Along with an interactive
website,
there will
be a
hands-on
driving
camp in
Romeo,
Michigan,
in August
for four
days,
Jamieson
says. At
the camp,
students
a r e
trained in
the classroom
as
well as on
the road.
Jamieson adds that some car
insurance companies provide car
insurance discounts for those
who successfully complete the
driving safety program.
For more information, log in
at www.drivingskillsforlife.com
.