Pictured above: students in Ms. Johnson's Kindergarten class at Chestnut Hill Elementary celebrated "100's Day" (the 100th day of school) with fun activities!
Midland Public Schools District Vision Statement: Lead with respect, trust and courage. Ensure an equitable, collaborative and inclusive culture. Enable all to achieve success.
February 5, 2024
Volume 11 Edition 24
MPS Multicultural Calendar - February
Dates of Interest for February:
Black History Month: This month celebrates the history and achievements of African Americans. For more information, click here.
- World Hijab Day: February 1 - An international day to promote freedom of expression, cultural understanding and solidarity. For more information, click here.
- Lunar New Year: February 10 - This Asian celebration is one of the most important celebrations of the year. Celebrations can last 15 days or more. For more information, click here.
- Carnaval / Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday: February 13 - This feast day before the Christian tradition of Lent begins is celebrated in many distinct ways around the world. For more information, click here.
- Susan B. Anthony Day: February 15 - Commemorates Susan B. Anthony and the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. For more information, click here.
- International Mother Language Day: February 21 - UNESCO day that promotes awareness of heritage languages and celebrates multilingualism. For more information, click here.
Superintendent Student Advisory Team (SSAT)
We are excited to share the outstanding individuals who have been chosen to join this year’s Superintendent Student Advisory Team. The core purpose of the team is to amplify student voices and foster meaningful dialogue for the exchange of ideas that will improve the student experience at MPS. The student representatives embody the spirit of collaboration and a genuine interest in making MPS the best it can be for all students. Students from Dow High and Midland High were selected based on their thoughtful ideas and diverse perspectives.
- Jack Huyett, Grade 11
- Ethan Starke, Grade 11
- Cady McPeak, Grade 9
- Brady Meyette, Grade 9
- Jupiter Overzet, Grade 10
- MaLinda Powell, Grade 10
- Nicole Giardina, Grade 11
- Graham Plishka, Grade 11
- Excellent Abikphi, Grade 12
- Lance Tachna, Grade 12
- Kanushi Desai, Grade 9
- Yassin Elsaadany, Grade 9
- Ransom Kurzer, Grade 9
- Sebastian McFarland, Grade 10
- Angelina Chen, Grade 10
- Alysza Eddy, Grade 11
- Catherine Muhuhi, Grade 12
- Grace Biju, Grade 12
The team held its first meeting on Friday, February 12, at Dow High School. Kathy Snyder, Director of the Midland Area Wellbeing Coalition, facilitated the session. Monthly meetings will continue throughout the school year. We are confident that this exceptional team will bring valuable insights and perspectives to improve and enrich the MPS student experience. Please join us in congratulating these outstanding students! We look forward to their contributions and their positive impact on the Midland Public Schools District.
Odyssey of the Mind
This year, Central Park offered a new extracurricular program, Odyssey of the Mind, to our ALPS students. There are four teams consisting of 22 2nd-5th grade students as well as 8 parent volunteer coaches! The teams had their first competition on February 3rd at Corunna High School. At the competition, the teams were required to perform a skit and complete a task for a long-term problem that they have been preparing since September! For this long-term problem, the teams wrote a script, created costumes, built props, built backgrounds, programmed robots, and more. In addition to the long-term problem, the students were presented with a spontaneous problem on the day of the competition, and they had a set time to solve it. All four of our Central Park teams placed in the top 3 of their category, and two of the four teams will be advancing to the state competition, which will take place on March 16th in Middleville, MI!
We want to give a huge round of applause to the students who have worked so hard since September to represent Central Park and Midland Public Schools so well. The participants included: Darwin Chen, Claire Charbonneau, Emily Schroeder, Tillie Bowman, Bhavit Garish, Gabe Drummond, Bo Rui Koh, Vivaan Soni, Max Hoops, Mark Xu, Meredith Chalk, Eliza Harrington, Evelyn Laitar, Miranda Cramer, Sophia Takang, Rory Kenny, Gavin Gardner, Josh Rodnick, Nate Rodnick, Gabby Beckwith, Freyja Toyzan, and Westin McKimmy.
We also want to thank all of the parent volunteers who have coached our teams and volunteered their time at the competition: Fiona Wang (coach), Stephanie Charbonneau (coach), Shan Pin Koh (coach), Dan Chalk (coach), Laura Harrington (coach), David Laitar (coach), Amanda Rodnick (coach), Paul Rodnick (coach), Karley Beckwith (volunteer), Kevin Schroeder (volunteer), Alisha Toyzan (volunteer), and Brandon Toyzan (volunteer).
Finally, a big thank you to our MPS staff members who volunteered their time to judge at the competition and coordinate the program: Jen Servoss, Kim Funnell, Wendy Winters, Sarah Cooper, Christina Weihl, and LeeAnn Rielle.
Congratulations to everyone who competed this weekend, and good luck to those who are advancing to the next round!
MHS Black Student Union Celebrates Black History Month
The Midland High School Black Student Union has developed activities to extend awareness about Black History Month. They started the month of February with a video that the team created that was shown in all 3rd-hour classrooms and explained the purpose of Black History Month. This week, February 5 - 9, 2024, is a spirit week that invites all students to recognize and celebrate the month. The members of the Black Student Union are Sanai' Luckyado, Faith Kogei, Excellent Abikphi, Janae Davenport, and Mya Presley. To view the video created by the Black Student Union, click on the link below.
Jefferson Model UN Team Wins Award
Congratulations to the Jefferson Middle School Model UN Team for winning the Best Small Delegation Award at the Red Cedar Model UN Conference at Michigan State University! During the conference, the team consults with other delegates, drafts UN resolutions, and then votes on the resolutions. They must also submit position papers for their countries before the conference. Great job, Huskies!
Siebert Third Grade Takes Flight!
Third grade students at Siebert Elementary participated in an immersive presentation about flight delivered by professional pilot Matt Robin. This engaging experience offered students the opportunity to solidify their knowledge about the forces of flight, and also provided an opportunity to learn about the ins and outs of being a pilot.
Through this experience, our third graders were able to make connections to their current unit of study, Where We Are in Place and Time, which centers around different factors that impact growth. In this unit students learn about the four forces of flight and how flight has encouraged growth in Michigan. Thank you, Mr. Robin, for this wonderful experience!
Central Park Celebrates International Day
Central Park first graders were thrilled to participate in their 8th annual International Day provocation to kick off their Where We Are in Place and Time unit of inquiry, a unit centralized around learning about our own family traditions and influences as well as examining those that are different from ours. This year we were ecstatic to host 10 presenters, representing 6 countries (Morocco, Botswana, China, India, Nigeria, and Germany) from around the world.
Each presentation provided opportunities for students to learn about different cultures and traditions; from making paper lanterns for Lunar New Year, sampling Moroccan couscous, learning about the art of mehndi in India, and an introduction to Nigerian fashion; our students experienced ample fun!
Annual "Books and Crayons" Project
From Jan 31 -Feb 2, the MPS Curriculum Office teamed up with Midland County Inclusion Alliance, bringing our annual "books and crayons" project to K-3 classrooms at our elementary schools. Over 90 copies of the book Hello Yellow Cello and 540 boxes of "Colors of the World" crayons were distributed over the span of 3 days, thanks to the helping hands of our community partners! Hello Yellow Cello is a "local" and international book at the same time: a story about Midland, and the Midland Center for the Arts, created by a local Black musician and writer, and illustrated by an Argentine artist. The book encourages kids from all backgrounds and economic status to enjoy arts and music, blurring the boundaries between classical and pop culture. The "Colors of the World" crayons celebrate 24 shades of different colors; the students and teachers love them as "they look like YOU and ME", "they look like ALL of us"!
Dow High MASC/MAHS Regionals Event
On January 31, students from Dow High Student Leadership and the Student Diversity Board attended the Michigan Associations of Student Councils and Honor Societies (MASC/MAHS) Regionals event at the Doubletree Hotel in Bay City. This event is held in preparation for the state conference later in February. Students who attend this event get to network with student leaders from other schools, and have the opportunity to share what they do with others through presentations.
There are two competitions held at these events, and winners move on to present at the state conference. The Student Leadership Executive Board (Emilee Bonter, Allison Sheets, Lauren VanSumeren, Zaily Archbold, and Max Reed) won best Student Showcase with their presentation about the various components of the annual rivalry week. Two Dow High students participated in the Michigan Student Voice competition. For this, Elizabeth Callihan and Olivia Wagner prepared a three minute Ted Talk style presentation with coordinating slides based on the theme of "The Rodeo of Life." Elizabeth's speech received the most votes from attending schools, so she will compete for a scholarship at the state conference.
The co-chairs of the Student Diversity Board (Jessica Chai, Olivia Horne, and Sachi Martinez) also presented to the schools in attendance about the group's unique structure in the hopes that they could inspire other schools to instill similar systems. MASC/MAHS divides the state into 12 different regional centers, and Dow High is proud to be home to all three representatives for Center 4. Emilee Bonter, Jessica Chai, and Kip Gilbert all represent the student leaders of the tri-city area on the State Student Board of Delegates. These events also allow those in attendance to see all of their hard work with MASC/MAHS.
Celebrating National School Counseling Week
MPS would like to say thank you to all of our School Counselors during National School Counseling Week! We appreciate all that you do for our district and our MPS community!
The SAT & PSAT Are Going Digital!
The College Board SAT and PSAT 8, 9, and 10 examinations, which are part of the Michigan Department of Education’s (MDE) mandated spring testing will be all digital beginning this spring.
WHAT’S CHANGING?
- Shorter tests
- Fewer questions; on average, more time per question
- Reading passages much shorter
- Calculators available throughout math test; option of built-in calculator or handheld calculator
- Built-in reference sheet on math test
WHAT IS STAYING THE SAME?
- SAT uses same 1600-point scale as paper/pencil version
- Measures same College and Career Ready (CCR) benchmarks
- Tests are still timed
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
- The overall SAT test experience is approximately one hour shorter
- 90% of international students who took the test last year said the changes are favorable
- Major security advancements are built into the new test
- The tests are adaptive, so questions are tailored to student’s achievement
- Midland Public Schools 11th graders took the digital PSAT/NMSQT this past October, so they have experience taking a College Board online test
- Students will test on MPS-issued Chromebooks using the Bluebook app
If you have questions regarding the digital testing format, please reach out to the building principal.
Summer EBT is coming to Michigan
2024-2025 Enrollment
Online Enrollment
Online enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year is now available by clicking the link below.
If you do not already have a ParentVue account, you will be prompted to create one, and then you will be able to complete the 2024-2025 New Student form for grades DK-12.
If you have any questions or issues with the enrollment process, please contact the enrollment office at 989-923-5024 or enroll@midlandps.org.
School of Choice
School of Choice applications for the 2024-2025 school year will be available beginning February 1, 2024, through March 31, 2024 by visiting the link below.
Availability will be based on current enrollment information for each building and grade. Families will be notified via email of their application status by the end of the day on April 24, 2024. Please contact Becci Longstreth at enroll@midlandps.org or 989-923-5024 with any questions.
2023-24 Guide to Admissions: click on the button below for the Michigan public universities' guide to admissions for the 2023-24 school year.
Students and families looking for help paying for college are encouraged to register for a Virtual Financial Aid Presentation to gather information on FAFSA applications, federal/state financial aid and scholarships.
- Adults ages 21 to 24 who have not yet earned a college degree can enroll in Michigan Reconnect, a tuition-free community college scholarship program. Governor Whitmer temporarily lowered the age for those eligible from 25 to 21. For more information, click here
Map your future with Pathfinder!
The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity's Office of Employment and Training created the Pathfinder online career planning tool to connect Michigan residents with high-quality, in-demand careers and credentials. Visit Pathfinder by clicking on the button below!