Willie Bell Gibson's former students use words like salacious. Cognizant. Hypochondriac. Apathetic. Kerfuffle.

These words (and so many more) were known as VSB words, or vocabulary skill building words. Decades later, Gibson's former Bates Academy students still remember the vocabulary words they were expected to learn.

"She opened our minds to new ideas and perspectives as they related to language," said Tanieca Amison, of Novi, who attended Alonzo Bates Academy, a school for gifted and talented students, in the 1980s. "She was making sure that we would never be limited with our linguistic ability."

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