For the second year in a row, the Monroe High School graduation ceremonies will be streamed live over YouTube and can be accessed by clicking on this link. http://mpactstudio.org/live/ Ceremonies start at 6:30 p.m., Friday, at Monroe High School and the live stream will be viewable about 6:15 p.m., EDT. Last year's live stream was viewed in many states in the US and nearly a dozen foreign countries. The ceremonies will be available on a recorded basis, too, on the same URL after commencement has concluded. Monroe High School is the only Monroe County high school to live stream its graduation exercises. The live stream is a joint production of Monroe Public Access Cable Television, the Technology and Communications Departments of Monroe Public Schools and Red Letter Productions.
Lunch prices will rise by 10 cents next school year, the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education has decided, but prices in MPS cafeterias still will be lower than most of the other Monroe County districts are this school year.
Even with the adjustment, elementary lunch prices will be the lowest in Monroe County in the public school districts. After the adjustment, secondary lunches still will be lower priced at Monroe than at four regional districts were this year.
For the 2014-15 school year, hot lunch prices were $1.95 per lunch for elementary and $2.70 for secondary grades 7-12. Those prices will be adjusted to $2.05 and $2.80, respectively, next school year. The 10-cent per lunch adjustment equates to $16.80 annually if a child were to purchase hot lunch at the school cafeteria every day of the nine-month school year.
Katherine Eighmey, director of Finance, Monroe Public Schools said that the Federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires school food providers to adjust lunch prices annually based on an averaging formula provided in the act,meaning that the district was required to increase the lunch prices. Monroe’s “weighted” average would be $2.41 per lunch, she said, based on the percentage of lunches for elementary students and secondary students.
The food service staff members from Sodexo at Monroe Public Schools will hold a garage sale at the Riverside Early Learning Center, 77 N. Roessler St., Monroe, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 30. Profits from the sale will go to the Gleaners Food Bank for its back pack food program which benefits a number of Monroe Public Schools students. When attending the sale, please approach from either W. Elm Ave. or N. Roessler St., since the Roessler St. bridge is closed to through traffic.
The 2015 Monroe High School Baccalaureate Service will be held in the MHS Auditorium at 7 p.m., Thursday, May 28. All 2015 graduates from Monroe High School and from any other Monroe County School are invited to participate.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Pastor Tony Lynn of CrossPointe Church. Special songs will be sung by Myrna Allen, Jillien Mills and Senior Sydney Stewart, who also is the class president of the 2015 class. Graduates Kyla Smith and Tyler Peterson and Dean of Students Stephannie Cherry will address the Class of 2015.
All graduates who will participate should line up in the hallway outside of the auditorium at 6:30pm., wearing their caps and gowns.
The Empowerment Project, a 54-minute documentary about “ordinary women doing extraordinary things” will be shown at 6 p.m., Saturday, May 30, in the River Raisin Centre for the Arts on S. Monroe St., Monroe. It is the first time the documentary has been shown in Michigan.
The showing, which also includes a live question-and-answer time with the film’s two directors, is presented by Waterloo Elementary School and sponsored by the Monroe office of Old National Bank.
“People in Monroe County are fortunate to have the opportunity to see this life-changing documentary,” said Waterloo Elementary School Principal Lisa McLaughlin, who led the efforts to bring the documentary and two of its directors to Monroe. “Although the film is about women making a difference and is meant to be an inspiration to girls, there is something in the film for everyone.”
Mrs. McLaughlin said that having the two filmmakers, Sarah Moshman and Debra Michelle Cook, in Monroe to speak with the audience after the documentary and to participate in discussions, makes the upcoming event even more memorable.
Student tickets are $2 and adult tickets are $5. They are available in advance by stopping at Waterloo Elementary School, 1933 S. Custer Rd., or the Monroe Public Schools Administration Building at 1275 N. Macomb St. They also can be purchased at the door, if they still are available.
Disappointed by the way the media portrayed women, in 2012 filmmakers Moshman and Cook and three fellow female filmmakers embarked on a 7,000-mile one-month trek across the U.S. from Los Angeles to New York City. On their journey, they found women who had been successful, and then talked to them about how they had achieved success in their lives. Their central question: “What would you have done if you were not afraid to fail?”
Over that time period they interviewed 17 different women, including an astronaut, a beauty pageant queen, a Navy four-star admiral, the founder of Girls on the Run, an architect, a pilot, a chef and a pro athlete, among others.
The fruits of their labors? This documentary video and a sense of tremendous accomplishment.
“The mission of this film is simple – girls of ANY age can do and be anything they may want. We have only the limits we put on ourselves and if we start to support each other and showcase some strong female role models then I believe girls will truly know they are empowered and that we can start to change the conversation,” Ms. Moshman said.
Members of the General Motors Romulus Powertrain Professional Manager’s Network hosted several career skills sessions at Orchard Center High School recently, sharing tips about how to successfully interview for jobs. A number of students had never applied for a job or were preparing to interview for summer time employment. GM engineer Cindy Letellier shared information with students in the classroom of Mr. Chris Dominguez about how best to present themselves in interviews. Nicole Carter put three OCHS students through a mock interview so they could understand the types of questions an interviewer may ask. The Professional Managers’ Network does community service projects as representatives of the company. Mrs. Carter had been an assistant at OCHS before leaving for GM in the last year. Photo courtesy Monroe Public Schools. May 19, 2015
Congratulations to the Monroe High School Expressions and the Generations of Sound both of which received good ratings when they competed recently at the State Choral Festival at Central Michigan University. “What a great group of kids we have in the choirs at Monroe High School,” said MHS’ Director of Vocal Music Cate Windelborn. “They gave beautiful performances. We were honored to be invited and to participate in this very prestigious festival. We had an amazing day.” To hear recordings of the choirs performing at various times, please click on this link. http://mhswindelborn.weebly.com/performance-recordings-2015.html
Due to forecasted inclement weather in the area, there are a number of cancellations in our district this afternoon and evening (May 11.) All extended-day programs for math and reading in the elementary schools are cancelled for today. All after-school tutoring programs at Monroe High School, Monroe Middle School and Orchard Center High School are cancelled for today. In addition, there will be no GED classes tonight at Orchard Center. All other school events scheduled for tonight, including all sports and the Custer spring concert at Monroe High School, have been cancelled.
Monroe Public Schools will have a one-hour early release this Wednesday, May 13. There will be no school on Wednesday for Orchard Center High School.
Jalisa McQueen, a junior at Monroe High School, is one of only 40 students nationwide chosen to attend the University of California-Davis Young Scholars Program (UCD-YSP,) June 21-August 1. In addition, she was offered a $6,000 scholarship for the program.
“This is the premiere program of its type in the United States and Jalisa is so deserving of this honor. During her summer vacation this year, she will have the same types of experiences that she would have during her first years of college,” said Monroe High School science teacher Kristen Hovest.
The UCD-YSP is a summer residential research program design to expose 40 high-achieving high school students from across the country to the world of original research in the natural sciences. The program has an emphasis on the biological, environmental and agricultural sciences.
When in the program, Jalisa will work one-on-one with research faculty and research groups in state-of-the-art laboratories for six weeks. She will work on an additional project and a journal-quality paper and symposium presentation about her work. Besides the scientific research, the UCD-YSP strives to introduce participants to the climate and culture of living and working on a university campus.