Volume 27 — No. 11 May 2010

JAY NEWS

SHEPHERD PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Shepherd Volleyball

What: Can and Bottle Drive

When: Saturday May 8, 2010

Why: To raise money for our program

How: We will be collecting cans and bottles from 10:00am until 4:00pm. If you will not be home, but would like to donate, please leave your cans outside of

your front door.

Thank you for your continued support!

Call Janelle (989-506-8160) with any questions.

CITIZENS of the MONTH are: 8th graders Angelica Baker, Kassidy Owen, Page Surline, Hannah Yesmunt and Bryce Henderson. 7th graders Jordyn Loomis, Ryan Martinez, Austin Fenby and Eric Eisenberger. 6th graders

Meah Gall and Hunter O’Brien.

Kindergarten Registration

Shepherd Public Schools Kindergarten Parent meeting was held last month. If you were unable to attend, and wish to enroll a student in kindergarten for next fall for Shepherd or Winn Elementary, please call the Shep-herd Elementary office (828-5998). Children need to be five years old by December 1, 2010 to qualify.

Superintendent's

Corner . . .

Terry Baker

Page 2 Superintendent’s Corner May 2010

Ok here we go round two. The demolition at the old high school gym is done and the mechanical/electrical rough and block work has begun. As you will see footings have been dug and will be formed and poured start-ing next week. Hopefully by the next meeting you will be able to see the auditorium taking shape. The major structural demolition at the elementary school is near complete. The walls are down and as you will see the mess has started to be cleaned up. There is still some structure that has to be removed but that will happen af-ter hours. The demolition will be done by end of the month. The east side addition at the elementary contin-ues with casework and finishes being installed.

As stated above the demolition at the old h.s. gym is done and with I hope tolerable disruption. We can now start to put things back together and it will start looking like an auditorium before you know it. The old locker rooms are being turned into new entryway corridors, gang bathrooms, and concession stand. The elementary school demolition will be done by the end of the month and new footings/foundations will start the first of May and the new additions will start to move along. The curbs/sidewalks will continue at the elementary school in order to get a jump on the summer work. We are so close to the project breaking loose and the weather has helped us out tremendously. The new track will get its first competition use here shortly. Thanks for excusing me this meeting. I’ll be back in May with another update and to answer any questions you may have.

Here is a picture of the new curb/gutter and some sidewalk at the south side of the elemen-tary. The dirt drive on the left is the new bus

drive.

Here is a picture of the some of the structure that has been removed and most of the debris has been cleaned up. You can see the wood trusses that still have to be removed as well as the slab and foundations

Here is a picture of the site preparation on the south side of the new gym/auditorium parking lot. Soon you will

see landscaping and seeding

Here is a picture of the new footings at the High School Auditorium. You can see in the back ground the entryway which leads into the new lobby that is shared with the gym

Construction continues. Below are pictures recently taken showing the progress of our $30,000,000 bond proposal. The high school construction is moving along smoothly with completion of the auditorium, cafeteria

walk-in cooler and air handling units in the new classrooms still remaining.

With cooperating Spring weather conditions, construction at Shepherd Ele-mentary has moved along well. Unfortunately we encountered a little set-back when asbestos was uncovered. The problem was solved through con-

tainment and removal and the scheduled plan of construction continued.

If everything goes according to schedule and our summer weather is coop-erative, we should pretty much wind down the project around the start of

school in the Fall.

Page 3 Main Elementary May 2010

Retried Shepherd Elementary teacher, Pat Daniels, discusses the book with Mrs. Butler’s class. Pat was involved with the group that developed the story to support the Access to Recreation project in Isabella County.

Adventure Trail Tale

Shepherd Elementary second graders received copies of “Bear Friends Find a Way” as a part of the Access to Recreation project in Isabella County. This project includes the completion of the Adventure Trail. The book which depicts a group of animal friends finding a way to include everyone in their play activities was written by area teachers. The goal of the book is to facilitate understanding of inclusion and the need to respect the abilities of others. The project sponsored by the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation and the Isabella County Parks and Recreation Department was supported by a grant from the Kellogg Foundation. The grand opening of the Adventure Trail is scheduled for June 26 during the Summerfest celebration.

A Straus Masonry worker cements the medallion from the 1929 building into the wall in the hallway

outside the new elementary gym.

Workers from Quality Demolition bring down the east side

of the 1929 section of Shepherd Elementary.

Shepherd Elementary music teacher, Kim Voigt addresses par-ents during the second grader’s “Silly Hats” concert last month. The performance was the first one in the building’s new gym.

Mrs. Sargent’s second graders proudly display their new books.

Page 4 Middle School May 2010

The SPELLING BEE CHAMPION for this year is Ryan Martinez and in second place is Emily Branigan. Both Ryan and Emily will be competing at the

Regional Spelling Bee at the Broadway Theater on

May 5.

Sixth grader, Abbey Sura entered a writing contest at the Mt. Pleasant Dis-covery Museum. Out of forty entries Abbey placed first for her story on magnetism! Abbey’s story will be in a book the museum will publish.

Middle School students listened attentively as former CMU foot ball player, Brian Pruit, shared his experience of being raised in a dysfunctional family and how, with encourage-ment from a coach, he overcame the odds to go to college and play football.He shared his message that your past does not have to determine your future.

School Media Center Director, Mrs. Bush, spoke to the sixth grade class regarding internet etiquette. She also warned students of the dangers that could occur as the result cyber bullying and other forms of internet misuse. She is scheduled to meet with

the seventh and eighth grade classes as well.

Middle School students donated 416 toiletry items to help our Troops overseas. Congratula-tion to Mr. Nestle’s advisory class for collecting 95 items! Mrs. McCaul’s class brought in 90 and

Mr. Whitehead’s class brought in 60.

The Middle School choral competition on March 15 ended in all choirs medaling. Sixth grade received a 1st division rating. Seventh and Eighth grades received a 2nd division rating.

Congratulations to the eighth grade band! They received a superior rating of “1” in this year’s District Band Festival.

Page 5 High School May 2010

Shepherd Offers Online Resources

If you are looking for information about the Shepherd Public Schools, please visit our website at http://shepherd.edzone.net. Here you will find the following types of information:

Mission Statement

School calendar

Academic links, such as Blackboard and

Career Cruising

Athletics

Building websites

Staff links

And much more…

The information on the links provided is frequently updated to include announcements and a running school calendar of events. Archives of newsletters and building level announcements are also available. In addition, the Media Center webpage provides easy access to online encyclopedias, newspapers, internet libraries, and other useful resources for students and

parents.

10 Cents or 10 Years?

Do you have children’s through young adult books that you are considering selling in a garage sale or donating to a worthy cause? If so, please consider donating them to the Shepherd school libraries. We are constantly in need of books in very good condition that will interest our students K-12. Instead of earning ten cents per book, they could potentially serve students for ten years—or more! Books may be sent to school with your child or dropped off at the Shepherd Secondary Media Center. Please make sure that the books meet these guidelines:

New or very good condition

Recent copyright date

Of interest to K-12 students

School-appropriate content

Thank you for considering Shepherd Public School libraries!

Page 6 High School May 2010

District Choir Festival was held in our Shepherd HS new auxiliary gym on March 15th. Adjudicator Andrea Hofmeister awarded all Shepherd choirs with a medal. Receiving 1st division ratings were Concert Choir and 6th Grade Choir. Receiving 2nd division ratings were Women’s chorus, 8th Grade Choir and 7th Grade Choir. A visiting Breckenridge High School Choir received a second division

rating.

39 Shepherd HS choir students and chaperones traveled to St. Louis and Branson Missouri at the beginning of April. They performed for two senior citizen homes, provided many impromptu performances in restaurants and other venues, participated in a clinic with Tina Cooper which focused on performance careers and the entertainment industry, and were the opening act for Dolly Pardon’s Dixie Stampede. While on tour, the singers visited the Westward Expansion, Gateway Arch, took a paddle boat ride on the Mississippi River, toured and sang at the Meramec Caverns, rode the amphibian vehicle with Quackers at

Ride the Ducks and spent six hours at the Silver Dollar City.

This was a trip of a lifetime for our students who truly performed musically and made a difference wherever they went. Thank you to student teacher Jayme Orvosh for planning the community service performances. We are very proud of our Shepherd students and all chaperones who traveled on this miraculous choir trip!! Thank you to our community for

your support.

Travis Clemishaw accepts a renewable

energy resource kit for the school science

department.

Back row from left to right: Luke Salisbury, Lakelan Hazen, Nathan Kile

Front row left to right: Kayla Winnie, Frankie Baker, Travis Clemishaw

Nathan Kile receives a 2nd place medal

for the egg-o-naut event.

Science Club members went to Science Olympiad on Saturday, March 20th at Montcalm Community College. The event was a science competition with many area schools participating. The students took part in ten differ-ent events throughout the day. Shepherd took 4th place in the dynamic planet and astronomy events. Nathan Kile, a senior, won a 2nd place medal for his work on the egg-o-naut event! Shepherd also won a door prize of a renewable energy science education set for the school. Everyone had a good time seeing what other schools

contributed and hopefully got some ideas for next year.

Page 7 Winn Elementary May 2010

Winn Students Visited the Temple Theatre

On April 14th, our third, fourth and fifth grade students at-tended a Field Trip to the Temple Theater in Saginaw, MI. They watched American History Magic Lantern Show through the big screen that was promoted through the Temple Theaters CLAP for Kids program. Students enjoyed a patriotic show that included songs, stories and comedy. A special thank you goes to the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe for funding this cultural ex-

perience.

Winn Elementary Coach’s Annual Volley Tournament

Staff V.S. 5th Graders

April 16th

All Winn Elementary students enjoyed an afternoon of fun during Coach McLoughlin’s Annual Volley Tour-nament. Earlier in the week 4th and 5th graders participated in a very competitive tournament with 5th grade earning the opportunity to play the staff. Thanks for a great afternoon of fun and excitement. The staff and

Mrs. Gluch 5th graders fought a hard battle with many laughs, and great school spirit!

Page 8 Odyssey MS/HS May 2010

News from the Woods... Odyssey Softball

The Trailblazers are off to a good start for 2010 with a 4-1 record after the first two weeks. The team opened the season in a 3 game mini-tournament in Remus. Odyssey defeated both teams of a split squad from Chip Hills Mosaic

17-1 and then 17-2, but then followed that up with a loss to Farwell Timberland 10-9. The Trailblazers then defeated Clare Pioneer 17-11 the following week. Next on the schedule is a

rematch with Timberland where the team hopes to even the season series. The state championship tournaments (coed & open divisions) are to be held next month in mid May, where Odyssey looks to three-peat and win a third state title in a

row.

KC Watson and

Dale Sunderman

Odyssey Goes Goo-Goo for the Pow Wow

On April 21st, 18 Odyssey students attended the Chippewa Tribe’s Pow Wow. The students split into groups to attend work-shops. Parapro Jon Andrews took a small group into the regalia workshop, where the students learned the meanings behind the different things that the tribal members wore. Elizabeth Balue was the presenter and she shared her closely held beliefs to the students. The students even had an opportunity to touch and han-dle different beadwork, bear skins and bone bags. The students learned that it is not costuming or decoration, but part of the re-ligion and philosophy of the tribes. Diane Wiggins was able to take her group to the workshop The Truth about the Tribe. In this workshop, the guests were able to ask questions frankly and openly. Most of the questions were asked about per cap, insur-ance and the economy of the casino. After the workshops, the students were invited to join the pow wow dance circle. The students were given Indian tacos and kool aid. All the kids de-voured their food in record time. Unfortunately seconds were not available! The group really enjoyed the dancing and even got up for the intertribal dance. Each year the students look forward to going and learning about the local culture.

Odyssey High School Graduation

Will be

Odyssey’s graduation ceremony will be

held at the Shepherd High School

cafeteria. The ceremony will be starting at

6:00 pm. We are very proud of our

Graduates. We wish them the best of luck

as they start their new journeys.

Page 9 High School & Middle School Band May 2010

“Night of Jazz”

Shepherd “J-Jazz” performed a “Night of Jazz” on March 25th from 7-9 p.m. They played a variety of ballads, swing, latin, and rock charts. Thank you to our family and guests who came out to enjoy the evening. Pictured our the J-Jazz Seniors from left to right are: Travis Clemishaw, Travis Schafer, Benjamin Ericksen, Trevor Schafer, Mrs. Gross, Jacob Aldrich, Dylan Edwards, Samuel Mitchell and Anthony Christle. Awesome

evening band!

Congratulations to both the Shepherd High School (some members pictured) and 8th Grade Concert Bands! Both performing ensembles received a “I” (superior) rating at their District Festivals in March. The High School Band performed on March 6th at Bay City West-ern High School and the 8th Grade performed on March 20th at Frankenmuth High School. Both Ensembles played amazing and represented our school and com-munity well. The High School will travel to Novi on Saturday, May 1st to perform at State Band Festival.

Best of luck to our High School Band!

Shepherd J-Jazz Earns Superior Ratings at

MSBOA State Festival and Receives Awards at

Alma College Jazz Festival

Our J-Jazz Band participated in the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association State Jazz Festival on April 14th at Jackson High School. Or band re-ceived straight “I’s”. “I” ratings are the equivalent of the letter grade “A”. They performed outstanding, represented our school and community well, and re-ceived excellent comments from both our adjudica-tors and clinician.

The following day, April 15th, the band competed in Alma College’s Jazz Festival. Again the group did a great job. Overall, they received three awards. Sen-ior Dylan Edwards received the “Outstanding Saxo-phone Player” Award. Senior Samuel Mitchell re-ceived the “Outstanding Trombone Player” Award. Last, but not least, our entire trombone section re-ceived the “Outstanding Trombone Section” Award. Members of the section include: Senior Samuel Mitchell, Senior Trevor Schafer, Senior Anthony Christle, Senior Jacob Aldrich and Freshman Glen

Parker. It was a proud day for SHS!

7th and 8

th Grade Band Students perform at Solo and

Ensemble

On Saturday, April 17th, some of our 7th and 8th grade band stu-dents traveled to Perry High School to participate in MSBOA’s Solo and Ensemble. The students had a great time and represented us well. Eight of the events earned medals by receiving a “I” or a “II” rating. Pictured from left to right are (front row) Madelyn Moeggenborg, Courtney Nelson, Brook Greening, John Lauffer (back row) Nick Machuta, Hollie Dickman, Angelica Baker, Mrs.

Gross, Rachel Travis, Katie Machuta, and Justin Doepker. Great job to all!

Page 10 Flag Football May 2010

SHEPHERD BLUEJAY FOOTBALL

In March, at the monthly school board meeting, our board approved the redistribution of our current assets/program for Youth Football. Below is a summary of the details and Vision behind how we will accomplish this.

Bluejay Football Currently-

5th Grade football Opportunities= NONE

7th Grade football Opportunities= Flag for 6 weeks; 3-4 times a week once school starts

9th Grade football Opportunities= Freshmen Padded program; Tri-Valley League competition; practices begin in summer/fall.

10th Grade football Opportunities= Junior Varsity Padded program; Tri-Valley League competition; practices begin in summer/fall.

11th & 12th Grade football Opportunities= Varsity Padded program; Tri-Valley League competition; practices begin in summer/fall.

Our Vision-

To provide our Student-Athletes with additional opportunities to be more prepared for the task of competing at the Varsity level of a State Championship caliber Program.

How do we hope accomplish this?

Redistributing our current assets of the 7th and 8th grade Flag program to the 5th and 6th grade levels and at the same time acquire

and equip those interested 7th and 8th graders that desire a padded experience.

The Future of BLUEJAY FOOTBALL (this FALL-2010) will now look like:

5th Grade football Opportunities= Flag for 6 weeks; 2-3 times a week once school starts.

6th Grade football Opportunities= Flag for 6 weeks; 2-3 times a week once school starts

7th Grade football Opportunities= Padded experience 3-4 times a week once school starts with membership in the Jack Pine 7th grade tackle league on Saturday nights. (7th and 8th grade play either Home or Away together)

8th Grade football Opportunities= Padded experience 3-4 times a week once school starts with membership in the Jack Pine 8th grade tackle league on Saturday nights. (7th and 8th grade play either Home or Away together)

“PLAN for VICTORY”

100 East Hall Street, Shepherd MI 48883 (989) 828-6601 fax (989) 828-5931

6th Grade football Opportunities= NONE

8th Grade football Opportunities= Flag for 6 weeks; 3-4 times a week once school starts

Page 11 Flag Football May 2010

9th Grade football Opportunities= Freshmen Padded program; Tri-Valley League competition; practices begin in summer/fall.

10th Grade football Opportunities= Junior Varsity Padded program; Tri-Valley League competition; practices begin in summer/fall.

11th & 12th Grade football Opportunities= Varsity Padded program; Tri-Valley League competition; practices begin in summer/fall.

How much will it cost and where will the funds come from?

Coaching salaries for the two positions (Head Coaches of 6th/8th grade teams and 5th/7th grade teams) will continue to come from District at NO CHANGE. Assistant Coaches will continue to be volunteer positions filled with the most qualified and best fit for our PLAN for VICTORY. If you or someone you know is interested in assisting please contact Coach Creguer at Creguer@gmail.com or call the school 989-828-6601.

Equipment for the 7th and 8th graders will be the largest expense of the redistribution of program/layout and will cost about $200-$250 initially for each player and will be paid for from private funds (GO M.A.D. component of the Bluejays for Excellence Program as well as grants) raised specifically for our community’s children that desire to play football. (~10,000-15,000) NO DISTRICT FUNDS! (Please contact Coach Creguer to assist with fundraising)

Miscellaneous costs to district would be kept to a minimum. Those costs would include electricity for games on Saturday eve-nings for tackle and weekday evenings for flag program that could be off-set via admissions fee to games and concessions split with the GO M.A.D. fund! To insure that the district does not incur any additional costs the parents and players will be responsible for transportation to and from the Saturday night contests. Membership in the Jack Pine conference for these programs will help to keep the travel costs of each family to a minimum due to locations of those schools. To minimize costs for our families we would be paired up with the closest of

these teams: Roscommon, Harrison, Gladwin, Houghton Lake, Marion, Beaverton, Farwell, Beal City, Clare, Reed City, Meridian,

Coleman, and Evart.

What is the next step?

On May 5th and 6

th during school, Coach Creguer will address each 6th and 7th grader regarding the upcoming opportunities. At that time a representative will be on hand to get measurements for pads of those potential athletes (these are just to get estimates of costs). On June 3

rd

at 6pm in the high school there will be physicals available for $10.00 because each athlete will need one for the fall. Then on August 5th at

730pm in the high school gym at the same time that the FR, JV and VARSITY have meetings there will be a meeting for all 5th – 8th graders to introduce staff, outline the practices, get measurements for pads if needed, and answer all questions. As always, if you would like to assist with funding, have ideas to enhance the experience, or have questions please contact Coach Creguer at Creguer@gmail.com or 989-828-6601.

Page 12 F.Y.I. February 2010

Page 13 F.Y.I. February 2010

Page 14 F. Y. I. February 2010

Page 15 F.Y.I. February 2010