By Emily Randall

Northeast News

Kathy Lara stood in her cheerleading uniform before the Kansas City, Mo., School District leaders this past Tuesday.

Kathy, who was missing cheerleading at a basketball game, held a microphone in one hand and wiped tears from her eyes with the other as she made an appeal to the adults who hold the fate of the next two years of her life in their hands. A sophomore at Northeast High School, Kathy’s world mainly revolves around that school, and come next year her world may have some major changes.

Like Kathy, some of the most vocal community members to speak in defense of Northeast schools slated for closure at this past week’s public meeting were the students of Northeast High School.

“When we heard there was this meeting, we said, ‘We have to go. We have to speak up,’” NEHS junior Trang Nguyen said. “It hurts us.”

Trang said she doesn’t want to dwell on the possibility of being at a different school next year — her senior year. She’s trying to stay positive.

“Can I be an East bear? No,” Trang said. “If we were at East High School, I’d cry my whole year, to be honest. I’ve been [at Northeast] since my freshman year.”

Trang said when she was an incoming freshman, she had heard the negative stories about Northeast High — about the violence in the school. When she became a Viking, however, she said she found a different reality.

“The teachers wanted to help you,” she said. “I made friends there.”

Some of the students who spoke up for their school Tuesday referenced the feeling of community and the long history of NEHS. They talked about the good things going on in their school, from successful sports teams, to the debate team to the junior ROTC program.

They also expressed serious concerns about the changes Superintendent John Covington has proposed, such as violence arising from the East-Northeast rivalry if NEHS students were sent to East High.

“If you combine East and Northeast, there will be a lot of problems,” senior Gabrielle Murillo said. “I’m concerned for my sister [who is a sophomore this year].”

Covington proposes combining the middle school grade levels into the secondary buildings, as well. NEHS senior Jeffrey Romero bluntly stated his concern about seventh- and 12th-graders attending the same school.

“You’ll have 18-year-olds trying to have sex with 12-year-olds,” Jeffrey said.

NEHS Principal Linda Collins said she was proud to see her students standing up for their school, as well as the many other community members who did the same.

“I was like, “Oh my goodness,’” Collins said. “You couldn’t even have planned it. That was just the passion they have for their school.”

She said this past week, the NEHS students have been rallying together at school around their common desire to stay at 415 Van Brunt Blvd.

“I love the school,” Collins said. “I love the community. … You don’t know how much you love something until you’re losing it.”