EKHS Newsletter 8.pub - Kentwood Public Schools Why East

East Kentwood High School
Home of the Falcons
www.kentwoodps.org
MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE
A Letter From The EK Principal
Welcome to your EIGHTH grade year in a Kentwood
middle school! I am sure you are excited about the
upcoming school year. Eighth grade is a time to be
a leader and role model for your fellow 6th and 7th
grade students. By working hard in your eighth
grade year you will be prepared to join us at East
Kentwood High School in 2014.
There are great opportunities waiting for you at
the high school! East Kentwood has a tradition of
success with academics, the arts and athletics. The
teachers and support staff provide a world class
education to prepare you for college and your future
career. We are proud of a long standing commitment to excellence in the classroom and in the community.
When you join us at the high school, a whole
world of amazing choices opens up. East Kentwood offers over 150 courses in 12 departments,
including 21 Advanced Placement classes. That
may seem overwhelming, but guidance counselors
are ready to help you pick the classes that interest
you most. In addition to the courses like English and
Math, there are a wide variety of specialized courses
for all types of interests, classes such as Jewelry
Making, Swimming, Forensics, Environmental Science, Computer Programming, Jazz Band, Video
Production and Residential Construction.
Area colleges and universities team up with East
Kentwood High School to provide our students
with Dual Enrollment classes. Dual Enrollment
courses are college or university courses that you
take either at East Kentwood or at a local college or
university. Advanced Placement courses are another way to prepare yourself for college and possibly earn college credit while you are in high school.
Dual Enrollment and Advanced Placement courses
can count as both high school and college course
credit.
Best of all, the school pays for these
courses, so you can earn free college credit! You
may not feel ready to take on college courses now
but trust me, you will be in the future.
Our goal is to have every student take at least one of these
courses before they graduate so they are prepared for college
or for a future career.
Speaking of careers, our Juniors and Seniors often take
courses through a work study program that partners with businesses in our community. These students spend part of the
school day learning job skills in a career that they think they
might enjoy after high school or college.
Beyond our academics, our arts and athletic programs
are second to none. If you are in a middle school music program, you have probably already met the high school music
teachers. If you haven’t seen a theater production yet, come
watch our student actors perform in two productions this year.
Athletically, year after year our teams bring home conference,
district and regional championships. Just a few examples are
State titles in Boys Soccer and Track and OK Red Championships in Girls Golf and Track. What’s more impressive are the
academic honors that many of our athletes receive.
While it may feel like a long time away, high school graduation is right around the corner. We are proud to say that
94% of East Kentwood High School students graduate
from high school and more than 87% go on to college.
This year we had 54 seniors attain a GPA of 4.0 or higher,
and our senior class received nearly $1.75 million in scholarships.
I haven’t even shared about our fantastic “We the People”
team, Mock Trial Team, Debate team, our Robotics club,
Challenge Day, and many other opportunities waiting for you.
I have included some of the highlights from this past school
year in this first newsletter. Please take the time to read
about the many awesome things Kentwood students are doing, in school and in the community.
Have a great eighth grade year! Remember, you will be
joining the amazing high school students at East Kentwood High School sooner than you think. I am looking
forward to your arrival and am expecting the same great
things from the class of 2018.
Excellence and Equity in Education
5820 Eastern Avenue SE, Kentwood, MI 49508
Phone: 616 455-4400 Fax: 616 455-4476
Did you Know …
Outstanding Performances By
Select EK Musicians
656 seniors graduated in 2013
Nearly $1.75 million in scholarships were awarded
54 seniors attained 4.0 and above
The Instrumental Music Department of East Kentwood High
School is pleased and very proud to announce that five student musicians were selected to perform at the Michigan
Youth Arts Festival held at WMU on Thursday, May 9
through Saturday, May 11. This festival is unique in the nation in that all disciplines of the arts are represented.
Class of 2013 4.0 GPA And Above
Tam-Thien Hoang—U of M
Austin Chu—Illinois
Aaron King—Stanford
Jason-Duy Bui—U of M
Abigail Moore—MSU
Jianming Zhao—Kettering
Steven Do—U of M
Diane Arthur—Northwestern
Kathryn Theriault—MSU
Steven Olthoff—U of M
Yimm Jiao—U of M
Kimberly Hodgson—Hope
Zaineb Shatawi—GVSU
Benjamin Smale—Indiana
Rachael Park—Undecided
Stephanie Thurner—Albion
Hy Doan—U of M
Leigha McDaniel—WMU
Adam Cichon—Aquinas
Matthew Smale—U of M
Kenny Van—U of M
Alexander Wells—U of M
Alexandria Johnson—U of M
Katherine Giarmo—U of M
Mary Eakins—GVSU
Michelle Sugimoto—K-zoo Col
Richard May—Hope
Christopher Winkelmann—U of M
Zachary Cooper—Loyola
Kathryn King—GVSU
Cooper Britt—Penn State
Tai Nguyen—MSU
Ayantu Kebede—U of M
Audrey McKenzie—Hope
Abigail Robinson—CMU
Andrew Tran—MSU
Faris Dizdarevic—U of M
Shukri Bana—GVSU
Abby McBride—Lehigh
Jada Banko—GVSU
Meagan Openshaw—BYU
Thomas Preston—GVSU
Ali Akbar Mohsini—WMU
Mikaela Versluis—CMU
Katelyn O’Hagan—MSU
Erica Lee—U of M
Megan Cobb—Ashland
Adam Devine—MSU
Armani Salary—Mich Tech
Mario Dimartino—MSU
Phuoc Nguyen—MSU
Troy Patton—Ohio State
Christina Allen—MSU
Amila Alicic—GVSU
As a result of their superior performances at both District and
State Solo and Ensemble festivals, Claire Ross, 11th grade
horn, and Katey Armstrong, 11th grade violin, have been selected to perform in the MYAF honors orchestra.
As a result of their superior performances at the MSBOA
State Jazz Festival, Aaron Krause, 12th grade drum set,
Charlie Cooper, 11th grade vibraphone, and Hy Doan, 12th
grade piano, were selected to perform in the MYAF honors
jazz ensemble.
School of Champions!
Congratulations ...
Boys Soccer Team
EK Award Winning Teachers
Carl Warfield and Shannon Goodwin, Science instructors at
East Kentwood High School, were presented with a check
for $1,000 by Colleen Bourque, Project Coordinator from
Grand Valley State University, College of Education for their
work with EK students in the Groundswell Project for salmon
restoration. Students worked to grow salmon in the classroom. The salmon were released into the river at a downtown location and will make their way to Lake Michigan.
EK Boys Soccer team was officially recognized as one of
the best soccer teams in the country and was presented
with the Army National Guard Award on Tuesday, February
5 at the boys basketball game. Only 10 teams, out of more
than 14,000 high school teams, are recognized across the
United States.
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Clothing Closet at EK
EK Varsity Soccer Team
Mentors Endeavor
Fifth Graders
The Kentwood Clothing Closet opened in January 2012.
Kentwood Education Foundation money was used to purchase clothing racks, hangers, sizing guns, etc. and Dan Vos
Construction donated and installed shelving. All the clothing
items were donated from various sources.
East Kentwood Varsity
Soccer team spent a
Friday afternoon helping the fifth grade students at Endeavor with
the typing of their famous person reports.
The East Kentwood
Varsity Girls team has
an average cumulative
GPA of 3.5.
The Clothing Closet provides clothes to anyone in
Kentwood that has a need.
This is done through various methods including direct contact from the family, orders from the Homeless Coordinators, requests
from District staff for students. Since the start, the
Closet has provided clothing for over 300 persons.
Top—sophomore Alexis
Fricke and below—Junior
Maddie Willerer, both Endeavor graduates, help 5th
graders with their reports.
The closet is maintained by the NHS, special ed students,
Challenge Day students, Advanced Teen Leadership
classes, teachers, social workers, paraprofessionals, and the
JV soccer team.
National Honor Society
Members Volunteer
East Kentwood Challenge Day
The National Honor Society members collectively volunteer
around 3,000 hours a year. Throughout the 2012-2013
school year, society members focused on three major areas
in addition to providing volunteers for a variety of local
events.
The week of November 5 was a special week at East Kentwood. For the second year, EK students participated in Challenge Day, an experiential workshop with a mission to provide
youth and their communities with programs that demonstrate
the possibility of love and connection through the celebration
of diversity, truth, and full expression.
Cookie decorating at the Woodland Community Center and Halloween games and a party where
kids were given free costumes
were just two of the events. A
favorite opportunity was working
with Kentwood Community Church
and the phenomenal kids of
Woodfield Apartment Homes.
Challenge Day successfully addresses common issues such
as cliques, gossip, rumors, negative judgments, teasing, harassment, isolation, stereotypes, intolerance, racism, sexism,
bullying, violence, homophobia, hopelessness, apathy, and
hidden pressures to create an image, or to live up to the expectations of others.
Challenge Day challenges all participants to:
NOTICE – Wake up! Notice what’s happening.
CHOOSE – Dream It! Create a vision for what you DO want
your life to look like.
ACT – Do Something! Have
the courage and commitment it takes to be the
change.
One each month, members made
dinners for The Gilda’s Club of
Grand Rapids. This touching experience left members competing for the open spots. It was an eye-opening and rewarding experience.
Quotes from EK AP Students…
Over 400 EK students and
80 adult volunteers participated in this year’s event
bringing the two-year number to over 750 students
and well over 100 adults.
“ My greatest academic moment of 2012 was the confidence I felt on the AP Calc Test!”
“ I really enjoyed this class. Not only were you able to
teach a bunch of students statistics, but you were able
to bring the students close together. This class felt like
a little family.”
“… honestly one of the best classes I’ve ever taken
with out a doubt. I appreciated every day in there.”
The program is sponsored by a generous grant from the Kentwood Public Schools Educational Foundation. For more information on the Foundation please visit www.kpsef.org.
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Alumni In The News
2013 East Kentwood
Open House!
Two KPS alumni, Joe Hoogerhyde and
Randy Gist are making HUGE impacts
on the national music scene! Joe, an
all-state guitarist performing in the jazz
program and former Drum Major of the
EK Falcon Marching Band, opened
for Lynyrd Skynyrd in Chicago in
April. Randy Gist, also an EK Drum
Major, all-state saxophonist, and recently completing his MM in Music Composition
from the U of Miami, will be Phillip Phillips (American Idol)
saxophonist on his current national tour!
Free Music! Free Food!
The Faculty and Administration
of East Kentwood High School
cordially invite the Kentwood
Community to visit our High
School for a tour on Wednesday,
September 11, 2013 from 5:307:30 PM. Come see the wide
variety of courses offered at
East Kentwood, meet the teachers that work with your kids, tour
the amazing facilities, and check
out the many accomplishments of your kids! Whether you
have kids in our school or not, we want you to come visit
and see how East Kentwood represents your community.
Students will be showing off their musical talents all night
We are so proud of our students!
Kentwood Families Excited by
Opportunity to Host Chinese Students
Todd and Terrie Barton have hosted foreign exchange students in their home in each of the past three years.
Life Leadership Conference
Through the
Kentwood Rotary Club
The opportunity to host a
student
from
China is not
new to them as
Siyu
(Adam)
Zhao
f r om
Shanghai,
China is current living with
them and attending
East
Kentwood.
Five students were selected to represent Kentwood Public
Schools at the summer leadership training sponsored by the
Kentwood Rotary Club.
.
According to Terri, “Hosting students in our home has been a
wonderful experience for our family. Our children have
gained a perspective of the world and other cultures they
would not have otherwise had.” .
Registration Dates
2013-14 school year
EK Freshman Campus
Students are: Charlie Cooper, Amanda Buyze, Kayleigh
VanOveren, Dzanna Specic, and Kaitlin Williams.
Current Students - Wed, Aug 14 1 pm to 7 pm
New to District - Thurs, Aug 15
8 am to 2 pm
Current Students - Tues, Aug 2011 am to 2 pm
Logo Contest
Winners
The Graphic Design II
class entered a logo contest with The Gaines Area
Chamber of Commerce.
Area schools were invited
to create a new logo for
the Chamber of Commerce. Two EK students
were awarded $300.
High School Students (Grades 10-12)
EK Grand Foyer (Door K)
Seniors - Tues, Aug 13 12 noon to 7 pm
Juniors
- Wed, Aug 14 12 noon to 7 pm
Sophomores
- Thurs, Aug 15 12 noon to 7 pm
Siblings may register all on same day
New Students - Tues, Aug 13 11 am to 4 pm
- Wed, Aug 14 11 am to 4 pm
Make Up
- Mon, Aug 26 8 am to 1 pm
Brandon Smith, Clayton Knapp,
Marc Huisman and Phil Tietz
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