The Buzz
Concord Community Schools Newsletter
FIFTH GRADE CAMP SUCCESS!!!
The kids had an amazing time, and as a fifth-grade mom, I do not think words can express how deep my gratitude is for our staff that make the trip possible. Mrs. Arbuckle and Mrs.Cook so graciously take a week from their own families to support our kids in this experience. THANK YOU!! Plus, we could not pull any of this off without our INCREDIBLE chaperones who also donate their time away from their daily obligation to provide supervision, guidance, support, and laughs!
SNOWCOMING KING AND QUEEN CROWNED
A NEW TRADITION BEGINS - THE GENEVIEVE E HARTWIG VOLUNTEER AWARD
THE GENEVIEVE E HARTWIG VOLUNTEER AWARD is awarded to someone that selflessly gives their time to volunteer at Concord Sporting Events. Mrs. Hartwig has volunteered for over 30 years working volleyball matches, basketball games, track meets, and various other sports. She has been the voice of Concord Athletics and frequently sings the most beautiful version of the national anthem. She was a Concord High School English Teacher for over 30 years. She has been a mentor to some and friend to many! This award will be given each year to someone that gives their time generously to the Concord Athletic Department. This award will be given each year in her name.
7TH GRADE GIRLS CLAIM ANOTHER BIG 8 CONFERENCE TITLE
The Concord 7th Grade girls' basketball defeated Jonesville 33-22 to earn both the regular-season and Big 8 tournament championship.
Bradie Lehman pumped in 23 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and made 7 steals to lead the Jackets. Haley Stimer added 5 points, including a 3-pointer that jumped-started the team in the first half. Reagan Mehl and Nevaeh Martin each added 2 points. Lucy Otto added 1 point and 1 block shot. Delaney Caples, Dakota Hamilton, Hannah Ryan, and Kristen Parker each contributed valuable minutes.
Concord finishes the season 10-0!
8TH GRADE GIRLS FINISH THEIR SEASON WITH A WIN
IMPORTANT DATES FOR SENIORS FROM MRS. OTTO
FAFSA DUE DATE
Seniors, it is very important that you are completing the FAFSA by the end of the day February 28th. The application is due by that date. Please sign up on the clipboard outside Mrs. Otto's office if you would like help from Mr. Mojume in getting this completed. You do not want to wait until the end of February to take care of this task.
NOTICE FOR SENIOR SLIDESHOW
To seniors and their families,
As the yearbook advisor, I am writing to inform you of the requirements for the senior pictures and baby pictures in the yearbook and the senior slideshow for graduation. The yearbook staff would like one wallet size professional picture sent digitally by email or USB. We would prefer the pose to be that of a traditional head and shoulders shot without props, words or logos. Please inform the photography studio of these requirements. Many studios will provide them for FREE when you purchase your son/daughter’s senior pictures. The pictures must be sent to the school before Spring Break. I will be working with Mr. Couling, who is in charge of graduation and the senior slideshow, so you or your photographer can send the 300 dpi at wallet size photo to brian.couling@concordschools.net. If you do not plan to have photos taken before then, we will be using the “school” photo as the official photo for the yearbook. We will also need a baby picture for the yearbook and senior slideshow. Digital copies can be emailed to Mr. Couling at the address above, or a physical image can be brought in to Mr. Couling to be scanned and uploaded. If you have any questions about the yearbook, please email me at jessica.osterhout@concordschools.net or call me at 524-8384 ext. 6111.
THE MIDDLE SCHOOL PROJECT LEAD THE WAY (PLTW) COURSE
The 7th and 8th grade Project Lead the Way class is working through the "Robotics and Automation" module. Students are completing their "testbed" robot which allows them to test the input and output devices such as motors, sensors, and remote controls. After students become familiar with these devices, they will begin building the chassis for their robot that will be used to complete the final challenge.
DID YOU KNOW THIS WEEK OUR K-8 BUILDING CELEBRATED RANDOM ACTS OF KINDESS WEEK??
This week our K-8 building celebrated Random Acts of Kindness Week! Students were challenged to reflect on kindness in four different areas:
Tuesday: Be Kind to Yourself
Wednesday: Be Kind to Your Peers
Thursday: Be Kind to the Environment
Friday: Be Kind to Your Community
Although students were encouraged to pick and choose different activities based on grade level, there were some larger group projects that made a big impact on our Hive. On Thursday students across the building came together (led by our fantastic fourth-grader, Natalynn Savicke) to show our environment some kindness by cleaning up the playground and school grounds.
Ms.Taylor's 8th-grade Humanities class adopted Mrs. Arbuckle's 2nd-grade class. The 8th graders went down and helped the students complete their ELA assignments. It was amazing to see the 8th graders give of their time, and it was awesome to see the 2nd graders scoot closer to the super-cool older students.
Then, on Friday, students in every grade level decorated placemats to send to assisted living facilities in our larger Jackson County community. Some classes even went above and beyond throughout the week by adopting another class and surprising them with a random act of kindness (treats, an activity, reading a story, etc.) this week. Overall, it was fantastic to see what our creative, kind, and loving Jackets put together to radiate some kindness across our Hive this week!
READING GIVES YOU SUPER POWERS!! MARCH IS READING MONTH LAUNCHES NEXT WEEK
March is Reading Month activities begin Tuesday, March 1. Our theme will be “Reading Gives You Super Powers” as we celebrate throughout the month with fun dress-up days, weekly prize drawings, special visitors, and more.
Children are encouraged to read at home, with a daily goal of 15 minutes for a kindergarten-2nd grade, and a daily goal of 20 minutes for 3rd-5th grade. Minutes may include your child reading to self or to others, or you reading aloud to your child. Keep track of minutes on the reading log for all reading done at home, and return it to school each Thursday beginning March 3rd for a chance to win some awesome prizes each week. Students meeting the minimum weekly goal will receive one ticket for the weekly prize drawing. Students doubling the goal will receive an extra ticket. The more they read, the more chances they have to win! Stay tuned throughout the month as we announce more special activities.CONCORD SENIOR EARNS THE TOP SPOT AT REGIONALS
HOT OFF THE PRESSES - CONCORD MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL ROBOTICS TEAMS WIN BEST DESIGN AWARDS AT THE CONSUMERS ENERGY ROBOTICS FAIR!!!
YELLOWJACKET OF THE WEEK
The meaning of compassion is to recognize the suffering of others and then take action to help. Compassion embodies a tangible (something you can see, hear, or feel) expression of love for those who are suffering. Remember when we learned about empathy? [Being able to know how someone else is feeling, even when you aren't in the same situation; "put yourself in someone's shoes.”] Think of compassion as: empathy + action. When you show compassion toward someone you don’t stop at recognizing how they are feeling...you also do something to help support them, or help them feel better.
Remember the first time you played with friends at school this year (maybe out at recess, in class, or on the bus). Maybe you had a lot of things in common right away, but chances are there were also a lot of ways you and your friends were different (maybe you looked different, played games differently, had different interests, etc). When you realized that you were not exactly the same as your friends, you were beginning to understand tolerance. Tolerance is when you accept others who are different in their race, culture, habits, and even beliefs. When you accepted and played with your friends, you were showing tolerance and realizing that you wanted to be respected, have your ideas heard, and receive fair treatment from them, just as they wanted the same from you. You also realized that your different friends were going to introduce you to new ideas and fun experiences while you were playing with them, just like you were to them. You were accepting your friends for who they were and enjoying playing with them even if they were diverse, or different, from you because of that acceptance. That is tolerance.
REGISTER FOR YOUTH BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A JOB AT CONCORD COMMUNITY SCHOOLS???
SPORTS SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 28TH
REPEATED UPDATES AND REMINDERS SECTION
SENIOR REMINDERS
Seniors, another local scholarship has been added by the Orthopedic Rehab Specialists. Anyone going into the healthcare field can apply. This scholarship is posted in your graduating class Google classroom and is due March 25th.
Seniors, please check the Google Class of 2022 for a new scholarship that has been posted. The scholarship comes from the Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation. Requirements include:
- Be a senior attending a public or private Michigan High School Graduate by August of the application year.
- Have a GPA of 2.5 or above
- Complete an application form and essay
- And, meet additional requirements as noted in the application package
All applications are due by 11:59 pm on March 1st. Start now, as you will need to gather certain documents for this. This scholarship gives out 40 $2,000 scholarships each year.
Seniors, as you apply and wait to hear if you have been awarded a scholarship, please be sure to check your spam folders as there are times that emails will send important notices like these to that spam folder.
Any senior interested in a construction-related career should check out the scholarship posting in the Class of 2022 Google classroom titled, "Construction Related Career Scholarship". This $1,000 scholarship is offered by the Jackson Commercial Contractors Association and is due March 21st.
Seniors, another scholarship opportunity. Aeroquip Credit Union will be awarding 4 scholarships. This is a fairly local scholarship and a pretty simple application. Look for the Aeroquip Credit Union Scholarship posted in the Class of 2022, under the topic Scholarships.
Seniors, Community Choice Credit Union has a scholarship that is worth up to $5,000. This is fairly local as it is for Michigan residents, multiples are being given out, and you can apply if you plan to attend college or a trades school. This scholarship is due February 28th and is posted in the Class of 2022 Google Classroom.
Counselor News
Students, if you would like an appointment with Mrs. Otto, please sign up on the clipboard outside her office.
Seniors
Attention Seniors - Reminder that if you are considering college for your future, please make sure you have attended to the deadlines of their applications. It is important that you get the date for each college application deadline directly from their website.
Seniors
Are you a senior who is not certain what you want to do after high school? Please check out the email sent to you by Mrs. Otto yesterday (1/13/22) to see the opportunity provided by Southeast Michigan Works. It is a "great opportunity to attend an interactive showcase of the best careers in our region." By attending you will gain invaluable insight into the workforce with fun, hands-on demonstrations led by top-tier employers across a variety of industries from manufacturing, health sciences, construction, energy, and more.
Let Mrs. Otto know if you register for this event.
SENIOR SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION
Dear Class of 2022 Parents and Guardians,
I wanted to pass on this scholarship information to you in the hopes that it will open the opportunity for you to encourage your student to apply for scholarships.
I have shared with them our (all can be found in our Class of 2022 Google Classroom):
- Local Concord scholarships
- Local Jackson County resident scholarships
- Calhoun County resident scholarships
- A couple of different legit scholarship search engines
- Check the financial tab on the websites of colleges that they have applied to and review that institution's scholarship opportunities.
- Check with each business that they visit to ask if they have scholarship opportunities (the worst they can say is no)
- Check with the banks and/or credit unions that they may be a member of for scholarship opportunities.
- Keep checking the listings as new ones may be added at any time.
Never count yourself out. Apply, and let the scholarship committee decide. The only guaranteed no is not applying.
There is also a spreadsheet that I made for them to use to keep track of scholarships that they are applying for. This will be good to keep with them if they choose to go the college/trades pathway, as many scholarships are renewable or can be applied for beyond their freshman year of college. Scholarships are out there for both college and trade schools.
Myself and Mr. Mojume (from the College and Career Access Center) are here to support them and have offered our assistance in scholarship completion. Looking ahead, we are going to begin working on applications and resumes for those headed to the workforce.
I hope that you all have a very restful break surrounded by your loved ones,
Kelly Otto
GRADUATION DATE FINALIZED
LETTER FROM THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY - SCHOOL VIOLENCE
NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED
Elementary and Middle School Facebook Page
Have you liked the Elementary/Middle School Facebook Page? What about the Concord Community Schools Facebook Page??
If you have not yet, this week is a great time to start. The Elementary and Middle schools use the Facebook page to post many updates, announcements, and student photos; the Concord Community Schools page is a great way to see how a YellowJacket week unfolds! Don't miss the news - like and follow the pages today.
Concord Elementary/Middle School Facebook Page
YELLOWJACKET TEAM MEMBERS NEEDED!!
SOCIAL MEDIA ALERTS - PARENTS PLEASE READ
JACKET JAVA
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BACKPACK PROGRAM RETURNS
Upcoming Events
Concord Community School
Email: rebecca.hutchinson@concordschools.net
Website: www.concordschools.net
Location: 405 South Main Street, Concord, MI, USA
Phone: (517)524-8850