Pictured above: Candice Jackson (left), 2023-24 Michigan Teacher of the Year, pictured with MPS Teacher Bridgit Sova (right), Region 4 Teacher of the Year, during Ms. Jackson's visit to MPS on December 18th.
Midland Public Schools District Vision Statement: Lead with respect, trust and courage. Ensure an equitable, collaborative and inclusive culture. Enable all to achieve success.
January 8, 2024
Volume 11 Edition 20
MPS Multicultural Calendar - January
Dates of Interest for January:
- January 15 - Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service - National holiday commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement. For more information, click here.
- January 27 - International Holocaust Remembrance Day - International Day to honor and commemorate the victims of the Holocaust on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. For more information, click here.
Superintendent Search Update
The next phase of the MPS Superintendent Search process is the stakeholder focus groups, which are happening this week - January 9th through 11th. Please visit our "Superintendent Search" webpage here to view the focus group schedule. No RSVP is required, and there are in-person and Zoom options available. If you can’t attend a focus group or you would like to add additional comments from a scheduled focus group you attend, please email your comments to our search firm - Hazard, Young, Attea Associates (HYA) at the following email addresses:
- Mike Richie, HYA Vice President: mikerichie@hyasearch.com
- Sarena Shivers, HYA Associate: sarenashivers@hyasearch.com
Thank you for your participation - your feedback is important to us!
Dow High DECA News
District Competition
On December 14, 122 members of the Dow High DECA Club participated in the District Competition held at SVSU. Students competed in areas of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Hospitality and Management. Overall, an impressive 214 medals were earned, and 85 students qualified for the state competition to be held in Detroit in March.
The following members received medals for their Comprehensive exam: Matthew McGaugh, Andrew Frickey, Haylee Gaskell, Owen Bond, Sean Park, Shree Singh, Priya Ghose, Angelina Chen, Tessa Swier, Sam Hales, Natalie Marinik, John Davis, Jonathan Song, Luke Storey, Jacob Batha, Sydney Reuter Gushow, Lauren Gebo, Rylin Palmer, Jordyn Groulx, Ben VanSumeren, Justin Alade, Bella Hillman, Vish Karthikeyan, Kylie Keefer, Shubha Singh, Jamison Geisler, Elanor Hughes, T’Emi Oshin, Adyson Ousterhout, Oliver Senkowski, Audry Hyde, Minjin Wu, Evie Price, Savannah Reitz, Leilah Bartling, Sanvi Patel, Louis Huang, Jenny Niu, Ryan Corle, Yassin Elsaadany, Ethan Harrison, Joshua Ross, Landon Reynolds, David Han, Evana Reineke, Tule Achor, Evelyn Johnson, Aaron Li, Ayesha Middha, Anya Narayan, Micah Dahn, Kiki Okoisor, Sydney Lambert, Michael Wright, Colin MacGregor, Ethan Duling, Riley Polansky, Camdyn Sabourin, and Madeleine Varhola.
The following members received medals for their role play: Matthew McGaugh, Sophia Smith, Andrew Frickey, Haylee Gaskell, Owen Bond, Shree Signh, Angelina Chen, Tessa Swier, Sam Hales, Jackson Jones, Faith O’Connor, Nina Swier, Mallory Brandt, Maxwell Brandt, John Davis, Marieke Theuerkauf, Jonathan Song, Luke Storey, Sydney Reuter-Gushow, Nate Schultz, Benny Sutorik, Lauren Gebo, Estelle Wiese, Logan Flint, Leyton Minuth, Justin Alade, Vish Karthikeyan, Kylie Keefer, Shubha Singh, Elanor Hughes, T’Emi Oshin, Evie Price, Savannah Reitz, Kassidy Toole, Leilah Bartling, Andrew Little, Sanvi Patel, Sai Jashwanth Thamminana, Louis Huang, Jenny Niu, Yassin Elsaadany, Ehtan Harrison, Joshua Ross, Mirabella Alade, Karson Dominowski, David Han, Branson Merrow, Lauren Milewski, Christina Burnside, Evana Reineke, Maddy Everette, Evelyn Johnson, Aaron Li, Ayesha Middha, Anya Narayan, Hattan Zimmer, Micah Dahn, Rachael Ieuter, Kiki Okoisor, Lilli Dice, Michael Wright, Colin MacGregor, Ethan Duling, Caleb Wolok, Aubree Neuman, Riley Polansky, Andrea Ross, Camdyn Sabourin, and Madeleine Varhola.
The following members received overall finalist medals: Meagan Diehl, Matthew McGaugh, Sophia Smith, Andrew Frickey, Haylee Gaskell, Owen Bond, Sebastian McFarland, Sean Park, Shree Singh, Angelina Chen, Tessa Swier, Sam Hales, Jackson Jones, Faith O’Connor, Nina Swier, Natalie Marinik, Mallory Brandt, Maxwell Brandt, John Davis, Marieke Theuerkauf, Jonathan Sogn, Luke Storey, Jacob Batha, Sydney Reuter-Gushow, Nate Schultz, Benny Sutorik, Lauren Gebo, Estelle Wiese, Logan Flint, Leyton Minuth, Justin Alade, George Gu, Vish Karthikeyan, Kylee Keefer, Shubba Signh, Eleanor Hughes, T’Emi Oshin, Audrey Hyde, Minjin Wu, Evie Price, Savannah Reitz, Kassidy Toole, Leilah Bartling, Andrew Little, Sanvi Patel, Sai Jashwanth Thamminana, Louis Huang, Jenny Niu, Ryan Corle, Yassin Elsaadany, Ehtan Harrison, Joshua Ross, Mirabella Alade, Landon Reynolds, Vincent Habscheid, David Han, Branson Merrow, Lauren Milewski, Christian Burnside, Evana Reineke, Tuel Achor, Maddy Everette, Evelyn Johsnon, Aaron Li, Ayesha Middha, Anya Narayan, Hattan Zimmer, Micah Dahn, Rachel Ieuter, Kiki Okoisor, Lilli Dice, Matthew Huang, Sydney Lambert, Michael wright, Colin MacGregor, Ehtan Duling, Caleb Wolok, Aubree Neuman, Riley Polansky, Andrea Ross, Camdyn Sabourin, Madeleine Varhola, Priya Ghose, Eryn Murphy, and Sebastian Maldonado.
DECA is an international Business Club that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe!
Congratulations, Chargers, on an excellent competition!
Toys for Tots Drive
Dow High DECA Recently hosted their annual Toys for Tots drive. This year more than 200 toys were collected and donated to Toys for Tots of Midland County. The class that donated the most toys to the drive was Curt Gledhill’s third-hour Advanced 3-D Art Class. Great job!
Midland High BPA Students Advance to States
Regional Leadership Conference
Congratulations to the Midland High School Business Professionals of America (BPA) students who competed against hundreds of other BPA students from the region in business management, finance, marketing, and technology-based events at their Regional Leadership Conference. The top two teams and top six individuals in each event will represent Midland High at the annual BPA State Leadership Conference on March 7-10 in Grand Rapids.
Team Events - Top 2 teams advance to states:
- First: Administrative Support Team-Ava Kontranowski, Avery Miller, Zack Steger, Addy Sterling
- First: Economic Research Team-Elly Black, Addisyn McLaughlin, Mya Presley, Keira Shaffner
- First: Presentation Management Team-Steven Hackbarth, Janelle Harris, Hannah Monville
- Second: Financial Analyst Team-Alahna Beckett, Tommy Miller, Destin Murphy, Maggie Wilkowski
- Second: Parliamentary Procedure Team-Autumn Brutyn, Bo Brutyn, Claire Carpenter, Logan Gessford, Luke James, Maisy Matthews, Porter Pritchard
- Second: Presentation Team-Braiden Katzinger, Alex Ritter, Joshua Thurlow, Eli Woods
Individual Events - Top 6 advance to states:
- Erica (Jiwon) An-Sixth in Entrepreneurship
- Erick Baczewski-Fifth in Entrepreneurship
- Alahna Beckett-Third in Health Administration Procedures
- Elly Black-Third in Human Resource Management
- Autumn Brutyn-First in Business Spelling, Second in Management, Marketing, and HR Concepts, Third in Meeting and Event Planning Concepts, Fourth in Presentation Individual
- Bo Brutyn-First in Advanced Accounting and Financial Math and Analysis Concepts
- Claire Carpenter-Third in Parliamentary Procedure Concepts
- Cameron Cochran-Second in Economic Research Individual, Fourth in Digital Marketing Concepts
- Lindsey Deckrow-Second in Advanced Interview Skills
- Tega Kamatoy-First in Administrative Support Research Project
- Abby Kendall-Second in Graphic Design Promotion
- Emily Klassen-Third in Legal Office Procedures
- Ava Kontranowski-Sixth in Health Administration Procedures
- Cameron Mackezyk-First in Basic Office Systems and Procedures, Second in Health Administration Procedures, Sixth in Health Administration Concepts
- Isla McCubbin-Green-First in Human Resource Management and in Computer Programming Concepts and in Parliamentary Procedure Concepts and in Health Administration Concepts, Second in Financial Math & Analysis Concepts and in Meeting and Event Planning Concepts, Third in Administrative Support Concepts and in Digital Marketing Concepts, Fifth in Presentation Individual
- Rori McCubbin-Green-First in Fundamentals of Web Design and in Administrative Support Concepts and in Meeting and Event Planning Concepts and in Management, Marketing, and HR Concepts, Digital Marketing Concepts, Second in Health Administration Concepts, Third in Interview Skills and in Digital Communication and Design Concepts, Fifth in Parliamentary Procedure Concepts, Sixth in Computer Programming Concepts
- Addisyn McLaughlin-Third in Fundamental Desktop Publishing
- Audrey McLaughlin-First in Interview Skills
- Anna Merges-Second in Fundamental Word Processing
- Avery Miller-Fifth in Banking and Finance
- Destin Murphy-Third in Payroll Accounting
- Eamon Murray-Third in Extemporaneous Speech
- Brigid O’Malley-Third in Business Law and Ethics, Fourth in Interview Skills
- Porter Pritchard-Fourth in Prepared Speech
- Alex Ritter-Fourth in Advanced Spreadsheet Applications
- Adil Seidazymov-First in SQL Database Fundamentals and in Python Programming
- Keira Shaffner-Sixth in Business Law and Ethics
- Zack Steger-Fifth in Database Applications
- Addy Sterling-Fifth in Interview Skills
- Sean Surbrook-Fourth in Business Law and Ethics
- Aryan Vaghela-Fourth in Entrepreneurship
- Christopher Van Hampler-Fifth in Economic Research Individual
- Theresa Wilk-First in Legal Office Procedures, Fifth in Health Administration Procedures
Congratulations, Chemics, on these awesome achievements!
Chapter advisers for Midland High School are Dr. Jeanna Cronk and Ms. Melissa DeBoer.
Dow High RenFair is Coming!
Get your tickets to RenFair 2024! RenFair is H.H. Dow High School’s talent showcase. This year’s performance will feature acts ranging from rock bands, dancers, and vocal soloists to the Dow High Pom Team, Choir, Orchestra, and Marching Band. The show starts at 7:00 PM on Saturday, January 13 at the Midland Center for the Arts. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Click on the button below for the Midland Center for the Arts box office:
Midland High Student Council Food Drive
The Midland High School Student Council is hosting a food drive at Midland High School on Monday, January 15th, from 3:00 - 6:00 p.m. in the atrium (door 2) of the high school. This event is in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in conjunction with the Midland Public School's Day of Service. Community members are encouraged to donate canned goods, peanut butter, pasta/macaroni in single-serve containers, snacks such as granola bars, pet food, and gift cards to local grocery stores that can be used to purchase dairy, meat, and fresh produce. We appreciate any items that you are willing to donate. The donations will help Midland High School students, their families, and the community of Midland.
Pre-Primary Center Celebrates Winter Holidays
On Dec 19th, students at the Carpenter Pre-Primary Center learned about diverse winter holidays. Three of our Developmental Kindergarten classes rotated to learn about holiday customs in different cultures: Ms. Spry taught students about Hanukkah, where students learned to make latkes (potato pancakes). Ms. Sanel taught the meaning of Christmas, where students watched a short video and decorated their own trees. Ms. DeShais read a book about Kwanzaa and made necklaces using the traditional colors of green, black and red. These hands-on fun activities were valuable learning experiences for our young explorers to expand their knowledge of winter celebrations across different cultures.
Dow High 'Girl Up' Club Hosts Supply Drive
'Girl Up' at Dow High (the female empowerment club) did a drive for supplies for the Midland Open Door's women and children's shelter. They collected hair accessories/products, children's clothing and toys, and handmade friendship bracelets for the women and children there. Secretary Christine Cai, Underclassman Representative Nishi Narayan, President Anya Narayan, and Treasurer Callie Outinen delivered the donations, bracelets, and a signed card to the gracious recipients at the Open Door.
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!
MPS Early Middle College Program
MPS offers Early Middle College experiences with Davenport University, Delta College, and new this year - Northwood University. For more information, contact your school counselor. To complete the application, click on the button below.
Community Resources
The 2024-2025 FAFSA form will open up on December 31. There are several Financial Aid nights available for both parents and students to attend, to get assistance filling out the form and to also learn about scholarship opportunities. DHS and MHS are co-hosting a session on January 9th at the Delta Midland Center (downtown Midland), from 5:30-7:00pm.
Parents wanting to attend the MHS/DHS session on 1/9 should email either Lori Pritchard (DHS College and Career Advisor) @ PritchardLN@midlandps.org, or Nancy Barnes (MHS College and Career Advisor) @ BarnesNA@midlandps.org to reserve a spot. Pizza and drinks will be provided. Several professionals will also be on hand to assist throughout the evening, including representatives from CMU, Delta, and SVSU. Heather Crowley from the Midland Community Foundation will also be in attendance to relay relevant scholarship information. Parents can get assistance from any of the Reps, regardless of what college the student is planning to attend in the Fall.
The flyer attached includes a QR code which parents must scan prior to attending the FAFSA night. The QR code leads to a checklist of documents and information that is requisite for completing the FAFSA. Additionally, dates, times and locations for other FAFSA work sessions in our region are listed on the flyer. Parents unable to make a live session and in need of assistance are encouraged to email Lori or Nancy to set up an individual meeting.