RHS ART: Artist, Lacey Schmidt, is serving as an Artist in Residence at Renaissance High School this summer. As she creates mural projects and installations, students assist her as a part of their art class. What a great experience for these students, who have helped create beautiful artwork at the RHS/Community Center building for all to enjoy!
SAIL ADVENTURE DAY: The PCS Summer Adventure In Learning (SAIL) students had a great adventure day last Friday as the Kindergarten, 5th Grade and Middle School students took a trip to the Grand Rapids Public Museum and the Outdoor Discovery Center in Holland. The students had a lot of fun learning and exploring on their adventures, what a great experience it was for these SAIL students!
FIRST WEEK OF SAIL: It was a great week, as our summer students set SAIL on their Summer Adventure In Learning! We were so excited to welcome these students back in the buildings to learn and grow through this awesome summer program. Here are some highlights from the week:
1. The K-5 students created a social contract that we’re calling our Compass!
2. Middle School STEAM students planned, marketed and created business plans for how they would run a food truck.
3. We already have high school students completing classes. Self-paced means SAIL ends for high school students when they’ve achieved their credits.
4. Our elementary students read about character development throughout the week. We finished this with Friday Adventure Day where students created their own super hero - mask, cape, comic and all!
It was a great first week and we cannot wait to welcome back our Sailors next week!
US OLYMPIC SOCCER DEVELOPMENT: Congratulations to Plainwell Middle School student, Caitlyn Ridgway, who was selected to participate in the US Olympic Development program for the Youth Soccer Association, to represent the state of Michigan. She will be heading to training/ID camp for the Midwest region in July in Rockford, Illinois. This is an incredible accomplishment for Caitlyn, which included an extensive tryout process in Detroit, where she competed against 70 girls from throughout the state of Michigan. From there, she was selected to an Olympic development "pool" of approximately 30 girls who have been training together in Detroit. During these training sessions, Caitlyn was 1 of 17 athletes selected to represent the state of Michigan at regionals as the Michigan Olympic Development "team". Her next stop is regionals (in July), where they will select a team to represent the Midwest region who will then move on to compete at Nationals. Way to Caitlyn! From all of us at PCS, CONGRATULATIONS on your incredible accomplishments and GOOD LUCK at Regionals – TROJAN PRIDE!
PCS RETIREMENTS: Prior to our Board meeting last week, we celebrated the 2020 and 2021 retirements! It was great to honor these outstanding staff members who have worked alongside Today’s Learners and Tomorrow’s Leaders. We are thankful for your hard work, dedication and the endless support of PCS and our students! Congratulations and best wishes in your retirement!
MUSICAL AWARDS & HONORS: Congratulations to Mia Perrin from Plainwell High School who received two incredible awards and honors! Mia was recently selected for the upcoming Grammy Songwriting Competition that will take place in July. In addition, she won the Contemporary/Pop category at the Bach Festival Young Vocalists Competition. These are two extraordinary honors and we are incredibly proud of Mia! From all of us at PCS, congratulations and best wishes! Trojan pride!
Grammy Songwriting Competition:
https://www.grammy.com/press-releases/grammy-museum%C2%AE-selects-students-and-announces-all-time-low-echosmith-and-war-and
Bach Festival Young Vocalists Competition Winners Announcement:
https://www.kalamazoobachfestival.org/
COOPER 5TH GRADE CELEBRATION: The Cooper Koalas had an awesome night for their 5th Grade drive thru celebration! We are so thankful that these families chose PCS for their children’s educational journey and look forward to welcoming these Koalas to Plainwell Middle School in the fall!
STARR PARADE: Last night, Starr Elementary celebrated their retirees and 5th grade students with a drive-thru celebration. Congratulations to Cynthia Kelly, Kathy Kranenburg, Jan Battilana, Renee Wiederhold and Jan Whyte-Tran on your retirement, we thank you for your years of dedication to Today’s Learners and Tomorrow’s Leaders! We also extend our congratulations to our fifth graders on finishing up their time at Starr, wishing you all the best at Plainwell Middle School.
GILKEY BIKE RIDE: The Gilkey Elementary 3rd grade class had a great afternoon as they took their annual bike trip. It was the perfect day for these students to take an adventure on their bikes around town. A big thank you to everyone that helped make this a fun and successful event for the Geckos!
VARSITY GOLF CONFERENCE CHAMPS! The Plainwell Varsity Boys Golf team won the 2021 Wolverine Conference Championship last week; and finished 3rd in the team standings of the MHSAA golf regionals! The Varsity Golf team will represent Plainwell at the state golf finals at Bedford Valley GC on June 11 & 12. Go Trojans!
KIA ART SHOW: Earlier this year, students from Regina Beltowski’s art class at Plainwell High School had the opportunity to submit their artwork to the KIA (Kalamazoo Institute of Arts) High School Area Show. Art students from surrounding counties (Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren) were given the opportunity to register their work for the juried art show and competition. The theme for the show was “I am a Genius” and the students were asked to “create 2D pieces of art using markers, pencils, charcoal, paint, glue, glitter, ribbons, crayons, paper collage and more.” In late April, four PHS students were selected to participate in the KIA art show and received special recognition and awards at the virtual award ceremony. Emma Stempien (11), Olivia Oakes (12), Grace Klang (12) and Kaitlyn Groner (12) were the artists selected and each entered the KIA show with two pieces of art selected (each student can submit up to 2). These pieces of artwork were on display at an exhibition from April 30 -May 30. From all of us at PCS, a very special congratulations to Emma, Olivia, Grace, Kaitlyn and Mrs. Beltowski on this extraordinary honor! Trojan pride!
ROCK PAINTING: Recently, Plainwell Middle School's National Junior Honor Society did a rock painting service project. The students used their creativity to paint rocks that are displayed around the Middle School. Great job to the NJHS students, what a great project!
