There will be a half day of school for Monroe Public Schools students on Wednesday, October 14. 

The Monroe High School Council will be accepting donations tomorrow night to help a schoolmate with a visual impairment to purchase a new set of glasses.  Here, MHS Student Council members (from left) Anna Tartarian, Brianna Brown, Madi Farris and Matthew Huntoon take a quick break from preparing signs to publicize the effort.  Monroe High Freshman Abrielle Krupa suffers from Dominant Optic Atrophy and will be able to see much better with eSight glasses that will cost $15,000.  The donations being sought by the student council will go to Abrielle’s family to help them purchase special glasses for her.  The fundraiser, which is held in conjunction with Visual Impairment Awareness Month this month, is another example of the fine work done by the student council in leading their schools mates – and in this case attendees at the Monroe-Saline football game Friday night – in helping others. 

The Monroe High School Equestrian Team has ridden its way into the state championships for the first time ever.  With its “Reserve Champion” placement last weekend in Region E, the team has qualified to compete in the state championships in Midland, Oct. 15-18.  The Monroe High School team is the only Monroe County team to qualify for the state championships.

            A club sports team, the equestrians have been riding representing Monroe High School since 2003, said Coach Sheri Kalenkiewicz.  Mike Humphries is the assistant coach and Loren Huber is the team assistant/alumni advisor.

            Riders for the team are:  Seniors Sara Kalenkiewicz, Samantha Humphries, and Jessica Vanderlan; junior Aleesha Colpaert, sophomores Peyton Zorn and Mackynze Slatinsky, and freshman Rylee Richardson. 

            The run for championships is quite a story.  Last year, the group was very pleased to make the regionals.  This year, competing in District 7, they were crowned champions after being Reserve Champs in 2014.  In fact, they won the division championship several weeks ago with 518 points compared with 334 for the second-place school.  With the regional win last weekend, no one remembers the team ever having gone so far.  But don’t call the team’s run a “fairy tale,” because a state championship has been their goal all along this season.  

            Competition at the state level is spread over four days with different riders participating in different competitions on different days.  The riders, their families and their horses stay up in Midland for those days – not an inexpensive venture for the families since this is a club sport with no financial support from the MHS Athletic Department.  Mrs. Kalenkiewicz said the participants and their families must pay for their lodging and the horses’ lodging and food, too, so sponsors always are welcome.MHS equestrian team in state finals

The Monroe High School Homecoming is being observed all week long with events every day of the week leading up to Friday and Saturday.  The Trojans will play Bedford at 7 p.m., Friday, in the Homecoming game, which is preceded by the Homecoming Parade at 5 p.m., which leaves from Monroe Middle School, heads north along S. Monroe St., and then to the K of C Hall on W. Front St. 

At half-time of the football game, the homecoming King and Queen wil be named.  Here are the seniors who are the candidates:  Queen candidates -- Alexa Angel, Allyssa Bukovitz, Cayla Frank, Jenna Gallottia, Sloane Lynch, Katja Oklejas, Taylor Thompson, and Cheyenne Tucker; King Candidates -- Sam Baker, Cameron Delben, Nick Fortner, Avery Haynes, Matt Huntoon, Nathaniel Koenecke, Marlon Martin and Connor Tullis. 

The king and queen will reign over the Homecoming Dance at 7 p.m., Saturday night.  Tickets are $15 each and available during school this week.

                Numerous activities will be going on during school days but Wednesday night’s PowderPuff football game between the senior girls and the junior girls starts at 6 p.m. at Bunkelman Field and is open to the public.  Afterwards, there will be a fundraiser at Buffalo Wild Wings where a percentage of the bill goes to the Class of 2016 if the diner has a special coupon.  

The Tools for School promotion of Old National Bank is nearing the end – 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, September 30 – and some Monroe schools are bunched in near the top.  That’s the good news but the story here is that you have to make sure the people who can vote for four your schools and “like” Old national Bank’s Facebook page do those things before the deadline.

                Late last week, Arborwood held a 155-vote lead over a school Washtenaw County and it was pretty much a two-school race at that point.  In fifth place was Waterloo Elementary with Monroe Middle School eighth. 

                Please check your school’s Facebook page for a link to vote for your school.  The winning school will win $1,000 from Old National Bank and could also qualify for a $5,000 grant from Old National Bank if its Facebook page hits 10,000 likes. 

Manor Elementary School art teacher Melissa Cramer is among those artists from around the world to be selected to display her art at the 2015 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Mi., running through October 11.

     She is one of only 1,550 artists in the world chosen to participate.

     Ms. Cramer’s display is entitled “Women at Work: Viewing with an open mind inspires truth” and includes some 25 tool belts all made entirely from clay.  Even the metal-looking parts are really clay but Ms. Cramer paints a metallic luster on the clay which creates the illusion of metal on some of the pieces.

     “I have a sister in Zeeland who has been trying to get me to show my work in Grand Rapids for the last few years,” Ms. Cramer said.  “I finally decide to try this year after I had an exhibit in April at Artomatic 419 in Toledo.”

     Ms. Cramer said her inspiration for her exhibit first came more than 20 years ago when she saw a tool belt hanging on a nail in her garage.

     Here is Ms. Cramer explaining her art in her exhibit:

     “My work is unique in its own right, and it carries a meaning that is deeper than the surface appearance.  My tool belts bear women’s names which allows the viewer to begin to investigate why such a title would be chosen.  My work deals with stereotypes in society and how people are judged by their looks first and foremost.  The tool belt is traditionally a male-dominated symbol.  Due to that fact, this object lends itself to my purpose. The traditional tool belt itself is made of leather, which can be soft, like a woman. 

     “They have pockets in which to carry items of significance, just as a woman may carry a child in her womb.  The complexity of the tool belts represents the many roles a woman may play in her life time.  These belts represent strength, stability and substance.”

     Ms. Cramer’s exhibit will be at the Fifth Third Bank/Warner Morcoss & Judd LLP Building in downtown Grand Rapids.

     ArtPrize runs through Oct, 11 with more than 1,500 pieces of art at more than 160 venues across three square miles of Grand Rapids.  To learn more, check out the website at http://www.artprize.org/.

When we posted the message that Monroe High School Principal Sandy Kreps shared with her students on 9-11 on our district Facebook page, no one could have predicted that a record number of more than 45,000 people would have seen the piece and several hundreds would have shared it to their own Facebook pages, furthering its reach.  It was the most popular posting in the three-year history of the MPS Facebook page which is administered and moderated by the MPS Communications Department.  Indeed, one of those who commented on it even was a survivor of the attack on and collapse of the World Trade Center, having escaped from the North Tower.   Please see the attached document for a note from Mrs. Kreps thanking everyone for their support and encouragement.

Parents of fifth graders.  Your child has the opportunity to take instrumental music lessons starting this year.  An informational meeting is set for you at 7 p.m., Tuesday, September 22, at Monroe Middle School.  Please check out the attached signup and information sheet.

     Some 145 students who lacked a high school diploma used the services of the Learning Bank’s Turning Point Program during the 2014-15 school year, as the Learning Bank continues to provide year-round programming for adult education students and increased instructional support for evening students. 

     However, the impressive statistic is this – 90 percent of Learning Bank students who took GED tests last school year passed, compared with a national average pass rate of 69 percent.  This is another example of how Monroe Public Schools is laser-focused on being the school district where your child succeeds.

     The Learning Bank and another Monroe Public Schools facility, Orchard Center High School, work closely together to help a segment of society which is most susceptible to unemployment, layoff or general lack of a profession or skills to obtain a job – those who did not complete high school. 

     “Having a high-school diploma or a GED is critical for anyone in today’s society – not only for jobs but to enter other post-secondary educational opportunities -- and the Learning Bank has proven its worth in helping citizens to earn that diploma or certificate,” said Dr. Barry Martin, superintendent, Monroe Public Schools.

     Since a new testing center was opened at Orchard Center earlier this year, 179 GED tests have been taken, representing 91 students attempting to pass the four tests required for a GED – math, reading and language arts, science and social studies, all of which are aligned with Michigan Common Core standards.

     The support from Monroe Public Schools for a program that is successful for students was demonstrated recently when a student persistence liaison was hired to provide additional student completion support for day and evening Adult Education classes at Orchard Center.

     Like the old Beatles’ song says, The Learning Bank “gets by with a little help from its friends.”  These friends have proven loyal and extremely supportive.

“The partnerships with Monroe County Community College and with Monroe Bank & Trust have worked out great and have led to other groups coming forward to help our students,” Dr. Martin said.

     For instance, so far in 2015, 145 Learning Bank students have participated in the MBTeach Financial Literacy Program sponsored by Monroe Bank & Trust, bringing to 424 the number of students since the program began.   The classes are offered once weekly over five weeks.  MBT continues to be a key player in Learning Bank operations, providing facility and operations support for the Learning Bank and its students.  

MCCC has helped by opening a new “Turning Point” Adult Education site for GED students and high school graduates needing remediations to pass the Compass test.  This class meets once weekly at MCCC’s Career Technology Center.  In addition, MCCC continues to provide career counseling to Learning Bank students once a week.  MCCC and other community partners work together to provide mentoring support for students pursuing post-secondary education.

     “That mentoring in college is especially important because most of our students in the adult education program come from situations where they are the first in their families to go to college,” Dr. Martin said.

     Two new partners have come on board recently – the IHM Sisters and RSVP, who provide tutoring support to students of the Learning Bank and Orchard Adult Education. 

     Resting on past success is not in the plans for the Learning Bank.

     “We are creating a comprehensive “Unified Plan” to support adult education throughout Monroe County,” said Vuncia Council, Learning Bank director.  “We want to create success paths for both GED and remedial students that position them for viable career transitions.  Among the issues ‘on the plate’ as part of the planning are ‘wrap around support needs’ such as transportation and child care, and direct services, such as financial aid, opportunities, dual enrollment initiatives and job shadowing, paid work experience and on the job training.

     “This ‘Unified Plan’ will allow our community to better serve our residents and position the Learning Bank to acquire Workforce Investment Opportunity Act funding in 2016,” Mrs. Council said. 

Here is a date to circle on your calendar – Tuesday, October 6.  The Monroe Middle School Football team will host First Responder Appreciation Day when they host Bedford Junior High School.  Kickoff at Navarre Field is set for 4 p.m.  The football team is hosting the appreciation day to honor the unwavering dedication of service to the City of Monroe and Monroe County by the men and women who serve as first responders. 

Michigan State Police First Lt. Tony Cuevas will do the coin toss.  Other guests of honor will include the state police from the Monroe post, Monroe police, Monroe County Sheriff Department, Village of Dundee police, Monroe Township Fire Department, Frenchtown Fire Department and the Monroe County Ambulance Service.

An additional treat for fans will be the array of emergency and service vehicles and emergency gear on display at the game. .