Schools
Plymouth-Canton Book Challenge Helped Inspire Salem Senior's Collegiate Plans
Jessi Longe made case for 2 challenged books in video distributed to school board members in 2012, will study public policy at Michigan State.
Salem High School senior Jessi Longe hopes to study public policy this fall at Michigan State University.
While not even graduated from high school yet, Longe has already made a splash in the local political arena.
In 2012, Longe was a vocal supporter of keeping two texts in her AP English classroom after they were challenged by a family in the district who alleged Graham Swift's Waterland and Toni Morrison's Beloved were inappropriate for high-schoolers. Longe and friends created a video detailing the impact the books have had on students and distributed the clip to Plymouth-Canton Board of Education members. She also addressed the board about keeping the books in classrooms.
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The book challenge made national headlines, and two separate committees ensured the books remained in AP English classrooms.
She she's not in the classroom or mulling her political career, the Salem senior says she is active in the Plymouth-Canton Marching Band and is music director for WSDP-FM, 88.1 The Park, the student-run radio station on the Plymouth-Canton campus.
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