Above photo: Jefferson Middle School held a "New to Jefferson Walk Through Night" on May 10th. Incoming 6th graders and their families, as well as other students new to Jefferson, were able to tour the school, learn about technology used in middle school, do a STEM activity, and more.
may 15, 2023
Volume 10 Edition 39
Midland Public Schools District Vision Statement: Lead with respect, trust and courage. Ensure an equitable, collaborative and inclusive culture. Enable all to achieve success.
Congratulations to our May MPS Shining Stars:
Lorie Kraut and Ethan Church!
Lorie and Ethan will receive their Shining Stars at tonight's Board of Education Meeting. Thank you to these very deserving Shining Stars for making MPS a better place for our students!
Don't Forget - Nominate an excellent MPS Support Staff Member for a Distinguished Service Award!
Distinguished Service Award Eligibility:
Full-time and part-time employees in the following groups:
- Administrative Assistants
- Grounds
- Maintenance
- Managers
- Office Professionals
- Paraprofessionals
- Technicians
- Transportation
(Please note: Teachers and Administrators are NOT eligible for this award.)
Staff who are nominated must:
- Be employed at MPS for at least three years;
- Not be retiring the year following their nomination;
- Perform above job expectations/requirements.
Please consider nominating an MPS support staff member who inspires excellence so they can be recognized for their contributions to the success of MPS! The deadline for nominations is May 23rd.
Pictured from Left to Right:
Back Row: Genevieve Hong, Margaret Hitt, Kanushi Desai, Madeline Cha, Jasmine Schutt, Sahiba Kaur, Sarah Li, Boaz Qiu, Ian Koh, Jessica Thomas
Front Row: Mia Bayardo, Sophie Cai, Isabelle Halldorson, Hope Ridley, Maia Figueroa, Elleana Bucknell, Zaky El-Nachef, Tyler Deibel, George Gu, Caleb Dingman
Congratulations to the H.H. Dow High Honors Orchestra on their amazing performance at the MSBOA Spring Honors Showcase on Friday, May 12! To be featured in this concert, they had to be chosen as the best chamber ensemble in the state via MSBOA's Solo and Ensemble Festivals. The 20-member ensemble performed Meditation on an Old Bohemian Choral by Josef Suk, and they did an incredible job.
With the end of the 2022-2023 school year fast approaching, here are some important dates of upcoming events:
Senior Walk Throughs at Elementary Buildings:
- Adams Elementary - May 22nd, 11 am
- Central Park Elementary - May 22nd, 10:30 am
- Chestnut Hill Elementary - May 23rd, 1:30 pm
- Plymouth Elementary - May 23rd, 1:30 pm
- Siebert Elementary - May 22nd, 11 am
- Woodcrest Elementary - May 23rd, 3 pm
Graduation Ceremonies at Dow Diamond - May 24th, 2023
- H.H. Dow High School - 4:15 pm
- Midland High School - 7:15 pm
Rain Date - May 25th
Sydney Thompson is the daughter of Megan and Andrew Thompson. Sydney carries a 4.70 weighted GPA and 4.0 non-weighted GPA at H.H. Dow High School. She has participated and excelled in Varsity Cross Country and Track for the past four years. Sydney also played a year of Basketball as a Junior. During this time, she has earned multiple Athletic Achievement Awards in both Cross Country and Track. This includes multiple SVL 2 nd Team All-Conference honors in both Cross Country and Track between the 2020-2022 school years. Sydney has also received All-Academic SVL Award during six separate seasons of Cross Country and Track. Sydney has shown exceptional leadership skills as she was named the Team’s Captain in Cross Country.
Sydney has been a member of both the National Honor Society and Key Club for the past two years. She was awarded both a National Merit Commended Scholar and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Scholarship recipient this past year. Sydney has also been a member of the Memorial Presbyterian Church and the Midland Area Youth Action Council, where she served as Vice President from 2021-23. She says competition is a privilege and an opportunity to learn. Sydney has accepted the direct admit nursing program and honors college at Wright State University where she has committed to running cross country and track next year.
Danny Safadi is the son of Rami and Salma Safadi. Danny carries a 4.58 weighted GPA and 3.97 non-weighted GPA at H.H. Dow High School. He has earned multiple Varsity Letters participating in Soccer and Basketball. Danny has received Academic All-State honors for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years and was an MHSA-Scholar Athlete Finalist. Danny has earned multiple Athletic Achievement Awards throughout his career including First Team SVL All-Conference in 2021 and 2022, plus named the SVLMost Valuable Player in Soccer this past season. He has helped lead his Soccer team to back-to-back SVLChampionship. Danny also played a significant role in the basketball program as an SVL Honorable Mention player the past two seasons. He has been a tremendous leader and was named the Team’sCaptain for both Soccer and Basketball teams.
Danny is a member of our school’s National Honor Society and DECA. He has been a member of the Symphonic and Marching Band for the past four years, plus the Symphonic Orchestra for the past two. Danny has been actively involved in the community logging in over 100+ Volunteer Hours at various organizations around Midland. Danny says athletics has taught him that persistence, hard work, and dedication will eventually pay off. Danny plans to attend the University of Michigan Ross School of Business next fall to achieve a Bachelor of Science Administration degree.
Rachel Mecca is the daughter of Jodi and Steve Mecca. Rachel carries a weighted GPA of 4.73 and a 4.0 nonweighted GPA at Midland High School. She has earned 7 Varsity Letters while participating in Cross Country and Softball. Rachel achieved SVL Honorable Mention during the 2020 Season of Softball as well as in the Fall of 2022 in Cross Country. She has received SVL All-Academic from 10th Grade to her current Senior year in Cross Country and Softball. She will graduate in the Top 5 percent of her class and has been a member of the National Honor Society and the American Computer Science League.
She has also been an AH Nickless Innovation Award competitor and has volunteered for United Way, ARC of Midland, Sam’s Food Pantry, and the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational. Mecca has been quoted as saying, in part, “Athletics has taught me numerous valuable lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. One thing I discovered is (that) hard work always pays off. I now know if I set a goal and put in the work to achieve it, I will make progress towards that goal. Through this mindset, I’ve been able to achieve things I never thought were possible.” She will study computer science at the University of Michigan.
John Jenkins is the son of Catherine and Anthony Jenkins. John carries a weighted GPA of 4.42 and a 3.87 nonweighted GPA at Midland High School. He has earned 8 Varsity Letters while participating in Soccer, Tennis, Basketball, and Baseball. John achieved SVL Honorable Mention in Soccer for the recent Boys' Soccer Season Fall 2023. He has earned SVL All-Academic for his scholastic achievements in both Soccer and Baseball from the Fall Season of 2020 to the current Spring Season of Baseball. John is a 3-Sport Athlete even playing 4 sports his Senior year at Midland High. He will graduate in the top 10 percent of his class and is a member of the National Honor Society.
He has also participated in the American Computer Science League and has served two years as the student representative on the St. Brigid Parish Council. Jenkins has been quoted as saying, in part, “I have learned that sports are truly more than just a game. I have made so many friends that I expect to be in my life for a long time to come, and I have learned communication and social skills that I believe will benefit me in life. I also learned that it’s OK to push yourself, especially from being on both the varsity tennis and soccer teams in the fall of my senior year while also taking the hardest class load compared to my freshman, sophomore, and junior years.” He will study computer engineering at the University of Michigan.
Congratulations to these students on their academic and athletic achievements!
MPS Students earn their Certified Bookkeeping Professional Certification
Seven MPS students earned their Certified Bookkeeping Professional certification during their Accounting classes last week. This industry-recognized certification was awarded to Andrew Frickey, Thomas Bacigalupo, Jack Bakus, and Connor Fewkes from Dow High; Liam Burns, Bo Brutyn, and Michael Meyers from Midland High. The core concepts covered in the exam include accounting basics; accounting for assets and sales transactions; accounting for liabilities, equity, and purchase transactions; reconciliation; and financial statements. Candidates who pass the Intuit Certified Bookkeeping Professional exam demonstrate their foundational bookkeeping abilities and skills to potential employers. The Accounting 1 &2 classes at DHS and MHS were taught by Dr. Jeanna Cronk. Congratulations and what a great addition to your resume!
MHS Student Aaron Borlace Receives SET SEG Scholarship
Congratulations to MHS Senior, Aaron Borlace, who was chosen from an impressive pool of candidates to receive a SET SEG Foundation Skilled Trade Scholarship. SET SEG is excited to recognize Aaron’s hard work and dedication by providing support for his continued education and training.
The scholarship provides $500 to assist with tuition, books, supplies, and/or housing expenses. Please join us in congratulating Aaron!
MHS Freshmen Visit the Zekelman Holocaust Center
IB Environmental Systems & Societies students at MHS welcomed speakers from the Consumers Energy Think! Energy Program
Midland High School and H. H. Dow High School Hosted Human Library Events This Year
This year, in a collaborative effort with MPS and the community, both MHS and DHS hosted a Human Library event.
The Human Library is an international organization that publishes people as open books. The goal is to create a safe place for dialogue and a place to ask questions about difficult subjects, thus offering the opportunity to challenge stereotypes and provide the opportunity to "unjudge" someone.
Human books represented our own community members that often are subjected to prejudice, stigmatization or discrimination. This could be due to lifestyle, diagnosis, belief, disability, social status, ethnic origin, etc. Both the books and readers (MHS/DHS Seniors) had the opportunity to create empathy and meet people who may seem different but actually share many things in common.
MHS student reflections from this experience:
- “I really enjoyed the chance to understand what others have lived through and just having the refresher that not everyone deals with the same thing.” - MHS Senior
- “It really gave me a chance to learn about other people and their experiences. Very eye opening.” - MHS Senior
- “The wide variety of different stories, lifestyles, and ethnicities was amazing and I could not have been happier to listen to these stories. It also was some good insight into how to treat and approach others as well as some good advice for life.”- MHS Senior
- “I enjoyed hearing so many different perspectives that forced me to open my eyes to the reality of so many in the world around me. I also enjoyed being able to understand the weight of the privileges I have in comparison to the books who have had to go through much more than me.”- MHS Senior
- “The chance to connect with another person is beautiful and amazing, especially when they're very different from you.”- MHS Senior
DHS student reflections from this experience:
- “I enjoyed getting to learn about the diverse stories and people that make up the people who I am neighbors with.” -DHS Senior
- “I loved just about everything about the Human Library! I think it was super awesome to hear the stories of different individuals and how they got to where they are today. They also had such insightful advice.”-DHS Senior
- “The human aspect, everyone told their stories in an honest way. Nothing felt sugar coated and every person was respectful to one another's life experience.”-DHS Senior
- “I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet with so many new people! It was very comforting to feel like each group was its own safe space to learn about the books' different experiences.”-DHS Senior
- “I appreciated the opportunity to talk to people who fit under labels that I haven't had real world interactions with. It provided a chance to expand my knowledge about different minority groups beyond just common stereotypes.” -DHS Senior
Thank you very much to our community members who were willing to participate in the MPS/Midland Community Human Library. For more information about the Human Library, visit: The Human Library Organization: Unjudge Someone at https://humanlibrary.org
Once school has ended for the year, Midland Public Schools will once again be offering the Summer eLearning Program. Through this program, online courses are available to high school students who wish to earn initial credit in select courses. If you are interested in Credit Recovery courses this year, please contact your building administration.
While being onsite is not a requirement for daily work or quizzes, tests and exams must be monitored. This can be by appointment onsite or by appointment virtually. Appointments will be scheduled with the teacher on duty between the hours of 9:00 am and 12:00 pm on Mondays - Thursdays unless other arrangements are made. Students should expect to invest 45-60 hours to complete each course but may work on their course at any place where they have an internet connection.
Courses will begin on June 5, 2023, and must be completed by August 4, 2023. Students may only register for one course at a time. The cost for each course is $150 for Standard Edgenuity courses (EDG - Edgenuity on course list) and $235 for Edgenuity Instructional Services courses (EDGIS - Edgenuity Instructional Services on course list) for Midland Public Schools students and $175 or $250 for students outside of the MPS district. Registration opens on April 24th. If you would like additional information or would like to register for a course, use this link: https://www.midlandps.org/district/summer-program
Check out these CTE Summer Camp Opportunities
Questions or concerns? Contact us via the MPS Connect button below.
Credits:
Created with images by Custom Scene - "Stars Confetti" • georgerudy - "Happy young alumni" • mnirat - "Graduates throw black hats in the sky."