feature // 6

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015

CAM GIBSON
JENNIFER TOENJES 16 // Photo Editor

If baseball could be played on ice,

thats what Cam Gibson 12 would have
done. Unfortunately, skating for a home run
just doesnt have the same ring.
Cam Gibson, son of Kirk Gibson, is following in the
cleat-shaped footsteps of his father, Kirk, who is a Fox Sports
Detroit baseball colorman and a retired baseball icon who
played for the Detroit Tigers as well as the Los Angeles Dodgers and coached for the Arizona Diamondbacks. During his
time at South, Cam began his baseball career even though
hockey took up 10 months out of the year while baseball only
took up two, Gibson said.
Because travel hockey took up a lot of his time, Gibson
had switched from playing on an AAA hockey team to playing for the Blue Devils.
If he wanted to be a hockey player, he probably could
have been a hockey player, former varsity baseball coach
Kevin Schroeder said. Pretty much anything the kid did, he
worked hard for.
His baseball career began to take off during his third year
in high school, Cam said.
During my junior year at South, I was invited to play
baseball at a Michigan State University camp, Cam said. I
threw for them and could tell it didnt go very well. Then, I
ran and hit for them, and I could tell it went really well.
Michigan State offered Cam a position on the team after
he had played at the camp.
My dad and I kind of started laughing, Cam said. I
didnt even go there expecting to get an offer. Back then, I
didnt really know. I think committing to Michigan State really put things in perspective. I switched hockey leagues and
played for South during senior year, and we actually made it
to state championships but lost at the last game.
Varsity baseball coach Dan Griesbaum said he could tell
Cam was athletically talented. Even back then, Cam was expected to do great things.
He hit the ball hard, but he would also strike out early,
Griesbaum said. But, as he progressed, he just got better,
better and better. With Cam, and his dad being who he is,
they knew his genetics were there.
PHOTO COURTESY OF
CAM GIBSON 12

SPARTY // Cam Gibson 12 at a Michigan State baseball game. He

has been on the team throughout his collegiate career and has
recently signed with the Detroit Tigers.

CHRIS
GETZ

CALLIE ZINGAS 16 // Staff Writer

Debuting with the Chicago

White Sox in 2008, Chris
Getz 02, played major
league baseball for six years
and now works in the Kansas
City Royals front office.
Getz played for the White Sox in
2008 and 2009 and played for the Royals from 2009 to 2014.
His journey to the major leagues
consisted of playing for Wake Forest
University for one year and University
of Michigan for two years before moving on to the minors and finally the majors. After playing South baseball under head coach Dan Griesbaum, Getz
played college baseball until his junior
year.
I played second base and was drafted my junior year by the Chicago White
Sox in the fourth round after finishing
my second year at Michigan, Getz said.
Then I played in the minors for three
years.
Getz credits South for giving him
both athletic and academic benefits he
used to build his success, he said.
South is a great school academically, so in terms of preparation for college, it certainly gave me a head start to
handle my academics, Getz said. If I
wasnt going to be able to perform academically, I wouldnt be able to be on
the field in college.
As far as baseball, Getz said he is
thankful for the coaches who helped
build his skills at South.
It was great for my foundation of
baseball skills and helping me develop
as a player and a person, Getz said.
John Hackett was Getzs assistant

Cam and his father had similar builds, so it was only a

matter of time until he reached the similar athletic achievements, Griesbaum said.
My dad was always working, and always managing when
I was growing up, so my mom took his place in coming to all
my games and giving me some good advice before, and after
the games, Cam said.
Although his father could not be present during some of
the games, Cam said, he would call before and after to give
mechanical strategies to help him improve.
In addition, Cams siblings always made an effort to come
to his games, he said. His support system consisting of family
and coaches helped him through his high school athletics.
During the hockey season, I would often get to baseball
practice late, or end up having to leave early, but my coaches
were always supportive of that, Cam said. They really started it for me, and got me into a serious baseball life.
Cams coaches all saw his great potential and motivation
to succeed, Griesbaum said.
I cant think of anyone who wanted to win as bad as
Cam, Griesbaum said. He wanted to win more than any
other kid on the team.
JV baseball coach Kevin Schroeder agreed and said Cam
was a player who needed motivation, but benefited greatly
from it.
Dad (Cams father, Kirk) wanted us to push him. If he
was slacking off, he wanted us to get after him a little bit,
Schroedder said. As he got older, he realized, If I keep going in this game, I gotta work harder. I dont think he ever
stopped working hard.
Cam said his dedication in high school made him the
player and person he is today.
It made me realize that I want to do this, Cam said.
Once I went to college and was by myself, I kinda used what
they said to implement in my life.
During Cams freshman year in college, he was playing
UCLA in the second week of the season. He said he witnessed a kid throw a 90 mph ball was an immediate shock
because he had never been exposed to this level of play.
The atmosphere is pretty different in the college level,
Cam said.
The past three years, Cam said he cycled into a daily routine of waking up, working out, going to class, studying, and
then going to practice.
Then Id look at the clock, its 10:30 at night, and Im just
getting back to my apartment, realizing I have to get up at 7
a.m. and do it all over again the next day, Cam said.
After recently signing with the Tigers, Cams student life
became more flexible, he said. The athletic load became
spread out during the summer season, and he was able to
become closer to a regular student life.
I play my season with the Tigers in the spring/summer,
and right now during the fall and winter I go back and take
classes during the off-season because I dont have to play
baseball, Cam said.
Griesbaum said Cams hard work will be vital to his future
as a major league player.
Id say the confidence part is so important. You have to
use failure as a learning experience, work hard, and focus on
developing the mental game, Griesbaum said.
Although the development of a young athlete is tedious,
as well as intense, Cams commitment to baseball propelled
his further developing career, he said.
He said, I would not have made it this far if those guys
didnt give me the opportunity to play for South. My ultimate
dream is to win the World Series with my hometown team,
so far Im on track to do that, Gibson said. Now I just have
to put in the work to get there.

coach and has coached alongside head

coach Dan Griesbaum for 23 years.
Coach Griesbaum has an excellent
rapport with players, is an outstanding
role model and knows how to teach
the game of baseball as well as anyone
I know, Hackett said, including the
mental preparation which is extremely
important.
While at South, Griesbaum said he
could see many qualities in Getz that a
player needs to excel.
He had great athleticism, a tremendous arm, quick bat, great foot speed
and a tremendous work ethic, Griesbaum said. He was a true 5-tool player, and remained humble with a quiet
confidence.
Hackett agrees with Griesbaum
about his qualities.
He was always the first one
to the field and the last one to
leave, Hackett said. He strived
to be the best baseball player
he could be, was extremely confident, but never cocky. He had
great speed, a very strong arm and
a love for the game.
Both of Getzs coaches were supportive and led him to success.
Their guidance and coaching gave
me a head start to accomplish what I
did in college and then eventually professional baseball, Getz said.
When Getz made it to the majors in
2008, Griesbaum attended Getzs first
major league game. In the eighth inning, Getz went up to bat for the first
time.
There was a man on second and
Chris hit a line drive through the
middle for an RBI single in his first
major league at bat, Griesbaum
said. We went as crazy as his
parents did. I remember it like
it was yesterday. His face was all
over the Jumbotron at Comiskey

WHERE
A
The Tower catches up with
EVAN
BREEN
LILY PATTERSON 16 // Staff Writer

Making the world laugh

in six seconds is second
nature for Evan Breen 06.
Breen is known for comedy
videos on the social media app
Vine, where he currently has 1.1
million followers. Despite his
PHOTO COURTESY OF VINE.CO/EVAN69BREEN

VINE STAR // Evan Breen 06 in the middle of one

of his Vine videos. He currently has 1.1 million
followers and over one billion loops, or plays.

Park.
Getz said this was his most memorable moment in the major leagues.
It happened in front of 25,000 people in Chicago. I got a base hit my first
at bat and a standing ovation, Getz
said. That first time at bat is a culmination of everything. Its something you
dream of as a little kid: to have everything come together into a surreal moment.
Getz retired from baseball in 2014.
Shortly following his retirement, he
said he was offered and accepted a position in the Royals front office.
As far as advice to future baseball
players looking to be recruited for college or professional baseball, Getz said
hard work and getting exposure is the
key.
He said, ot is important to
play hard and respect the game.
You need to expose yourself and
go to camps and college showcases as much as possible, and if you
love the game you should play
wherever you can in hopes of
moving up in the
future.

SY
TE
UR 02
O
C Z
O ET
OT S G
PH HRI
C

OF

SLIDING INTO HOME // Chris Getz 02 scoring his first home run while playing for the Kansas City Royals.
Getz played for the Royals for five years after playing for the White Sox for two.

success in this area, Breen said he

did not originally intend to pursue a career in comedy or acting.
This was a total accident. I
meant to go into business, and
I just couldnt mentally do it,
Breen said.
After graduating from South
in 2006, he went to Western
Michigan University where he
dropped out halfway through his
sixth year.
I didnt really know what I

wanted to do in college, so I finally just stopped taking classes,

Breen said.
After dropping out of Western, Breen worked odd jobs and
found himself bored most of the
time. Then, he came across a video on Twitter that redirected him
to the Vine app.
He began making his own
Vines, feeling content if he got
20 likes on a video. Suddenly, his
videos became more popular.
Two or three big accounts
revined me, and I hit 1000 (followers) and then 5000, and then
I started taking it more seriously,
Breen said. It happened kind of
overnight, and its still really odd.
It makes me kind of uncomfortable sometimes.
Breen said people often recognize or approach him when he is
out in public, which is something
he is still not used to.
It makes me uncomfortable
having people always coming up
to me, Breen said. Im not very
extroverted or animated. Whenever people meet me in person, I
feel like theyre disappointed.
Although he can sometimes
be spotted in Grosse Pointe,
Breen moved to Los Angeles, Calif. when he was 25 and now goes
back and forth between Grosse
Pointe and L.A.
L.A. is so different. Here, the
expectation is you get an education, you go to school, like college
or trade school, Breen said. Out

there, its more realistic to actually doing what you want, and that
was kind of a weird thing.
Most of Breens work is done
through social media and therefore can be done in either location.
Most of the work I do is on
social media, and its kind of on
my own terms. I dont really have
much of a schedule or very many
commitments, he said. To me,
it gets kind of depressing, getting
money for not doing anything really structured.
His work on social media extends beyond his popular videos
on Vine. He, along with writer
friends of his, get together for
hours at a time to sit and write
together, writing scripts to pitch
to networks as pilots and ghost
writing for parody twitter accounts..
Although he has always been
interested in comedy, Breen never actually participated in any
comedy-related events when he
was at South.
I always wanted to be on SNL
and I was obsessed with Second
city, but I never really did anything about it, Breen said.
A friend of his started Second
Suburb, a comedy show focused
on South staff and students,
which he badly wanted to be a
part of but was stopped by his
stage fright.
I didnt want anyone I knew
to ever watch me. I still cant get
up on stage. Ill probably eventually have to do it, but I have really
bad stage fright, Breen said.
Although he never participated in theater at South, he took
two or three acting classes with
drama teacher Meaghan Dunham and would occasionally do
improv at local theaters.
Breen said he does have fond
memories of his time at South
playing hockey, golf and baseball and although he understood
what he was being taught in his
classes, he always had some difficulty completing his schoolwork.
He preferred writing on his
own to any kind of work that he
was assigned.
I guess I just kept doing my
own thing, which is writing, and
it eventually paid off, Breen said.
Its weird how it all kind of fell
into place.
He now spends most of his
time doing what he enjoys, writing. Although he still enjoys
Vine, he prefers writing for other
platforms.
Vine was cool because it
taught me a lot, and initially it
was super fun, Breen said. It
still is, but I like writing a lot
more. Its more fulfilling. You get
more out.
Breen said he enjoys making
videos for Vine but knows that it
wont last forever.
Its fun I guess. I just know
that this Vine thing isnt permanent, so Im trying to utilize the
window while I have it, he said.
As much as he enjoys what he
does, there have been times when
Breen wished he lead a more typical life.
I remember I told myself that
I just want a normal job, that
I just want to work at a desk or
work a day job, and have hours,
and get married, and have a kid
and a dog, and just be normal he
said.
Overall, he is proud of what
he has been able to accomplish
on his own, though he wishes
he would have at least finished
college. He plans to go back to
school since he only has 12 credits left for his degree, Breen said.
He said, Despite everything
that Ive done, I think, if you
have the opportunity, going to
college or finishing it is really,
really important. If you finish
high school and dont go, its so
difficult to actually go in your
mid-20s or 30s.

feature // 7

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015

ARE
THEY
NOW?
th some of Souths most notable alumni
ELLIE
OTTAWAY
KATHERINE BIRD 18 // Staff Writer

However, a series of jobs with companies such as Saks

Fifth Avenue and Kid Rock have made her an established
member of the modeling community.
Ottaway has appeared in music videos for Chris Young,
Kid Rock, Big and Rich, Dallas Smith, Mitchell Tenpenny
and Sammy Arriaga.
In addition, she has done work with e-commerce clients such as TJ Maxx, Rue La La and Zappos. And while
in Miami, Ottaway did catalogue work for international
companies, allowing her to travel, which she said is her
favorite part of the career path.
Many people had suggested that I try it (modeling),
Ottaway said. Junior year of college, one of my friends
suggested that I sign to an agency in Nashville. I figured
that since I was pursuing music, I could use this as an opportunity to work with professional photographers to use
the photos for my music career as well.
Though her experiences at college directly prompted
her to a career in the fashion industry, she said her experiences at South incidentally influenced it through her show
choir director at the time, Ellen Bowen.
Ottaway said Bowen suggested she attend Belmont

HAILEY MURPHY 16 // Staff Writer

For Bradley Foster 10, running a

lemonade stand was the start to an
impressive entrepreneurship career.
At age 10, Foster had already started his own
computer repair company known as Spark Force,
and at age 12, he built his first computer. Once he
began high school, he hired his first employee.
The theme with all of the businesses Ive start-

ed has been finding something that you are pas- leys mother Elaine Foster said.
sionate about and turning it into a business, FosBradley said he has been able to utilize this adter said.
vice. After graduating from South, he continued
In addition, he also owns a
his education at the Wharton
restaurant called Mother HubSchool of the University of
bards Cupboard, owned a waPennsylvania and graduated in
ter sports camp in northern
2014 with majors in economics,
Michigan and also ran a chaufreal estate and management.
feur business in Grosse Pointe
You have to be motivated to
during high school. Both of his
go through the ups and downs,
parents have been supportive in
which always happen even
all of his endeavors ever since he
when you are far along, Foster
was young.
said.
We told him (Bradley) that
In Fosters freshman year at
life is 50/50: yes or no. You have
the University of Pennsylvania,
to take a chance. If you dont
he bought a hotel in Costa Rica
take a chance in life, youre nev- MILLIONAIRE // Bradley Foster 10
so he could rent it out while he
er going to go anywhere Brad- has been an entrepreneur since age
was not there. Three months af-

MIKE TEMROWSKI
QUINN XCII
LILY KUBEK 17 // Pulse Copy Editor

After graduating from South, Mike Temrowski

10 has gone on to create a musical alter-ego
known as Quinn XCII in hopes of moving to New
York City to build an empire where his music reins.
I can remember being young and listening to old-school Michael
Jackson being played around the house, Temrowski said. I would just
be dancing and just being a little idiot, but I could tell early on thats
where it (his love for music) really started.
Throughout high school, Temrowski wrote poetry and rap with his
friends and began to produce his own music during his freshman year
of college, he said.
I kind of noticed him becoming an artist in high school, Mikes
sister Lana Temrowski 16 said. I found poetry in his room, and I kind
of made fun of him for it, but then figured out he liked music and was
talented.
At the time he used his nickname Mike T to make music under
but then trademarked his name to Quinn XCII.
Quinn came about because I was in a lecture hall and my professor
had a guest motivational speaker come in, Mike said. He said to live
by the acronym Quinn which stood for quit unless instincts are never
neglected.
Mike said he first started creating his own music with another
South alumni, Alex ONeill 10, also known as Ayokay, who is an aspiring producer.
It started by in college, I was just strictly recording his music,
ONeill said. But then over time my role increased because I learned
how to produce and write actual music behind what he (Mike) was

PHOTO COURTESY OF CRAINSDETROIT.COM

BRADLEY
FOSTER

reer in this industry if

you take things personally.
Andrew Ottaway, Ellie Ottaways
dad, wasnt sure his daughter would
make a career out of her modeling until
she started spending time at different
locations for her career. He thought
she would make a career out of
singing but the more she got into
modeling, the more he said he was
convinced.
At an early age, she was drawn
to performance, Andrew said.
When she was little, she did ballet. Even though she didnt like the
practices, she loved the recitals. She
enjoyed performing in front of people.
Ellie said has always been lucky to
have a supportive and encouraging
family who believe in her more than she
believes in herself.
Even though her father misses her,
Andrew said he understands that there
a very few places where modeling takes
place, and she needs to travel to these
places to make it happen.
Im grateful to have met her and can
call her a friend of mine, Roselle-Jefferson said. Shes going to go so far
and have a very successful path in
life because I truly believe great
EN VOGUE // Ellie Ottaway 11 in one of her professional shots.
things happen to good people
She currently is modeling for Wilhelmnia Models and Block
and Estella is an amazing perAgency and has been in many professional music videos.
son inside and out.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ELLIE OTTAWAY 11

Never did Estella Ottaway 11 see

herself as a model, let alone making a
career out of it.

University, a music school in

Nashville. If she had never made
the decision to move there and pursue
music, she said she may not have started modeling as well.
My breakthrough moment would be when I realized
that you dont have to pretend to be anyone else but yourself in front of the camera, Ottaway said. If you pretend
to be someone youre not, the camera can tell. Once you
are fully comfortable with yourself, thats when you will
bring forth your best work.
Ottaway said she has made a lot of friends through
modeling and currently lives with a group of girls in Miami who have become some of her best friends, including
Jade Roselle-Jefferson.
As a model, she is strong, gorgeous, and Im sure very
easy and a pleasure to work with, Roselle-Jefferson said.
Ottaway and Roselle-Jefferson are both signed with
Wilhelmnia Models in Miami but have not done a shoot
together yet. Ottaway is also signed with Block Agency in
Nashville, Tennessee.
We met Oct. 19, my first day getting to Miami and
into the model apartment, Roselle-Jefferson said. She
had an awesome energy about her, very warm and welcoming. And we instantly connected since we were the
only two Americans in the room at the time and the same
age as well.
In the modeling industry you have to have tough skin,
Ottaway said. Theres so much competition in Los Angeles, Miami and New York that you have to learn not to
take things personally but as a growing opportunity.
There have definitely been times where I doubt myself, but I have to remember that clients are looking for
specific things, Ottaway said. Even if they arent looking
for my specific qualities does not make me a lesser person.
I think a lot of models forget this. You cannot make a ca-

ter purchasing the hotel, it burned down. This was

his first experience with the real estate business,
and despite the negative outcome, Foster said he
was able to learn a lot from the experience, something he advises high school students to do.
I got to take something and start from scratch
and rebuild it into something nice, Foster said.
Now he has a full-time job with Foster Financial, a real estate development company that he
started. And even though he said his hard work
has mostly come from self-motivation and drive,
Foster also said his family and peers have helped
him immensely along the way.
He said, If you surround yourself by a team of
people who believe in what youre doing and believe in you, it makes it a lot easier to do this kind
of thing.

10. He founded Foster Financial and

is currently working there.

singing.
When Change of Scenery came out last year, ONeill fully produced it, he said. ONeill wrote all of the instrumental music and later
on had Temrowski come over and record lyrics.
SoundCloud is like YouTube in a sense where we (ONeill) could
literally just upload our music, Mike said. It (SoundCloud) has always been a big tool for us when it comes to plays to track how well
your musics doing.
In addition to SoundCloud, Mike said he also uploads his music to
iTunes to be sold. He classifies his music as indie pop, however claims
it was a difficult decision to put a label on it.
For each song somebody buys, I would make only 20 cents since
iTunes takes a portion and so does my manager and producer, Mike
said. When it comes to making money, we make the bulk of it from
tours and shows.
Currently, Mike has one album and three singleson iTunes, he said.
In addition, his song Another Day in Paradise currently has 623
thousand plays on SoundCloud.
Mike is currently planning a tour to hopefully launch this spring,
he said. He and ONeill are currently reaching out to other large artists
right now to support them on their tours.
I have individual shows everywhere across the country where I
perform, Mike said. I am going down to Arizona on Jan. 22 for a
small prep college.
Even after the rising of his fame, Mike continues to be a humble
person, Lana said.
He doesnt let his fame interfere with his music, Lana said. People
know him, little girls love him, but he doesnt really let it get to him.
Mike is shy when it comes to his family members come to his concerts, Lana said. However, he does like to share his music at home.
I get to hear his new music all the time because he sings in the
house, Lana said. And hell show us little demos that hes recording
on.
As for support from his family, Mike said he gets a lot from his
family and peers.
Doing music is not a typical thing, Mike said. But I think once
they (his parents) started seeing people catching on to it, they became

believers and fully started supporting me.

Temrowski currently has a job at Meridian Health Plan, downtown
Detroit, he said. His plan is to move out of state by next summer to
New York or Los Angeles because that is where his management company is based out of.
I definitely want to sign with a record label, within two years
Mike said. We are talking to Republic Records and Atlantic Records
right now.
ONeill and Mike released their latest song Stung out of Atlantic
Records, ONeill said, and are hoping to be signed.
What we do right now is pretty self contained, ONeill said. We
record, we write, we do everything just the two of us, but a label would
be pretty cool.
Although signing to a record would be a major milestone for Mike,
he does not necessarily need to be signed in order to be a successful
artist, he said.
Nowadays artists dont really need a label, Mike said. Artists like
Mack Moore were all independent, so you dont need a label to make
money.
He said he would also love to headline his own tour and overall
continue to reach out to a bigger fan base.
The Tower did something on my friend Jason and I when we were
seniors rapping, Temrowski said. They made an article on us saying
that Mike and Jason wanted to be aspiring rappers. That was five years
ago and to be back in The Tower as a more established artist is really
cool.
Mike will drop his newest EP in January of 2016, and hopes this will
be the big push to open more doors to his career.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIKE TEMROWSKI 10

CENTER STAGE // Quinn XCII performing live in concert. He has over 50,000
monthly listens on Spotify and over 21,000 followers on SoundCloud.