Shorian Nation eNews
June 21st, 2021
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Newsletter Overview
Within this Shorian Nation eNews, you will review information about enrollment and stories highlighting inspiration, innovation, and celebration. With so many end-of-year celebrations, the focus will be on those events and the excitement surrounding them. In fact, it is graduation day for our Class of 2021 from Lake Shore High School!
New beginnings occur in less than 3 months.
On behalf of our 370 employees, thank you for your unwavering support and adaptability as we cross the finish line together. We are so proud of all 3,217 students, in-person and virtual, for all that you have accomplished in the past 180 days.
The 2021-22 District School Year Calendar has been updated and we ask for you to refer to the District Events Calendar at http://lakeshoreschools.org/our_district/events_calendar for confirmation of all events and dates.
Like Flat Stanley, we hope you travel with friends and explore your interests. Research has shown a 20-30 percent loss of learning during the summer. Rest, play, and continue to sharpen your saw!
Don't forget to check out the Class of 2021 billboard being displayed for one week at 16235 E. 11 Mile Road, Roseville, MI 48066 (696 for east bound traffic)!
Enroll Today
Enrollment for the 2021-22 school year is open!
Lake Shore Public Schools provides an exceptional education for all 3,217 students in a safe and nurturing environment. Our students are empowered to excel in an evolving global society, supported by the collaborative effort of staff, families, and community.
From preschool through our graduating seniors, Lake Shore students are a part of a strong school system that works hard every day for the benefit of our students. Our guiding principles, Inspiration, Innovation, and Celebration, are woven into the fabric of everything we do.
Enroll as a new resident or new schools of choice student by using this link: http://lakeshoreschools.org/enrollment.
We are more than a school district. We are a Lake Shore family: youtu.be/p6CmvG5i420.
Enrollment is also open for our Lake Shore Early Childcare Center. For more information, visit their webpage or contact our Early Childhood Coordinator, Kelly Biondo, at (586) 285-8570 or kbiondo@lsps.org.
Music on the Lake
Inspiration
Year in Review
The end of the school year and the start of Summer break can be bittersweet. Lake Shore looks back at some of our Top Headlines that shaped our 2020-21 school year to help us create a vision for continued success, infused with Shorian Pride, in 2021-22.
#1 Dani DeCruydt Earns Bowling State Champ Title
https://www.facebook.com/lshsshorian/posts/1883471311815312
#2 Early Childhood Center is the Place to Enroll Your Littlest Learners
https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/posts/4305670012782276
#3 Return to Learn Plan, a Community Approach, District Welcome Back Celebration
https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/posts/3759554337393849
https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/posts/4415920885090521
#4 Positivity Project and the #OtherPeopleMatter Mindset is the Lake Shore Way
https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/posts/3835209989828283
#5 Special Education Graduation
https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/posts/4468028763213066
#6 Substitute Teacher Saves Choking Student
https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/posts/4500566493292626
#7 Virtual Kindergarten Roundup Held for Class of 2034
https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/posts/4586996581316283
#8 Shorians Volunteer to Spruce Up Their City and Parks During Seasonal and Earth Day Cleanups
https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/posts/4426364787379464
#9 Mental Health Matters Week
https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/posts/4267858633230081
#10 Exemplary Teachers Highlighted as Teachers of the Year
https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/posts/4108799422469337
Do you follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mylsps/? We reached our goal of posting 180 photos, 1 per day, from this school year!
Meet the Chagnon Family
Vince and Julie Chagnon have selected our GSRP Program at Rodgers Elementary for their middle daughter, Cecelia. They also have two additional children: Ethan and Korra. This means that are outnumbered and were in need of a strong educational foundation for their family.
Ask and you will receive.
Cecelia's experience can be summarized in one word: Love. She loves taking care of her classmates, who she gives the title of best friend to everyone. She loves learning, taking pride in her new rhyming and spelling words, art projects, and counting to 20 exercises.
Preschoolers engage in pretend play with friends and use words and sentences to express their feelings and thoughts. These social aspects are important. Mother Julie said, "She has so much energy and is so vibrant that these relationships helped her gain skills to communicate with other people and process her actions. "She's my little elephant, always moving," chimed Father Vince. This was evident as she raced across the kitchen with her younger sibling. She needed a space to learn through interactive, energy-filled play and our GSRP Program was a perfect fit.
She loves her teacher, Ms. Kelli, too! They both enjoy hugging, a perfect beginning and ending to her day.
Thank you, Chagnon Family, for sharing your #ShorianStop with our Shorian Nation. We are excited to follow Cecelia's journey for the next 13 years, provided we can keep up with her nonstop vivacity.
Meet Alexia Batayeh
Be happy not because everything is good, but because you can see the good side of everything.
For Alexia, this quote highlights the importance of not letting negativity take over your life and your mind, and focusing on how she can make her own future brighter. Being optimistic is a crucial part of the journey to becoming happier. It all starts with mindset and perspective.
She said, "In order to maintain my own happiness, I try to surround myself with others that bring the same energy that I try to radiate myself. We are products of our environment, so if you are surrounded by negativity, your outlook on life will continue to dwindle, and this will not allow for growth."
Thank you, Alexia, for your positive outlook on life and answering the following questions that will help our Shorian Nation learn even more about you:
Parents: William Batayeh and Rhonda Bunting
GPA: 4.044
College: Saginaw Valley State University
Scholarships: I have received the Valley Housing Scholarship and the Founders Scholarship for Saginaw.
Clubs/Activities/Sports: I have been involved in Student congress since sophomore year, winning the title of Co-Vice President my Junior Year and the class President senior year. I have also been in the choir program all four years of high school, and made it into fusion, our show choir, my junior year. I participated in the school musical “FAME” my freshman year, and began another musical my junior year before everything shut down. I also love to volunteer, and was inducted into The National Honor Society when I was a junior.
Awards: I have earned a spot on the Principal’s Honor Roll due to my academic achievements, and I was previously voted student of the month my sophomore year.
Hobbies: I love to spend time outdoors with my friends, or even just by myself. I love working, and when I’m not at school it’s very likely that I’m at my job at Lakeshore Senior Living.
A piece of advice for underclassmen: Don’t spend time doing things that won’t benefit you in the future, and try to not let others guide you into the wrong direction. Most importantly, have fun and don’t waste your time stressing out about little things.
Innovation
Summer Kits
Summer break is traditionally a time when students experience a "slide" in their acquired learning. This summer is especially sensitive as it follows 15 months of disrupted learning experiences due to the pandemic. To partner with families, staff at LSPS have created an engaging bag of learning activities, with a focus on music, movement, STEAM and literacy.
Please review our Summer enrichment information to learn more about what's in each Summer Kit, ideas of how to use the materials, and celebrations that will follow:
Elementary: https://www.smore.com/h2ms5
Middle school: https://www.smore.com/84gx6
High school: https://www.smore.com/5sm67
Bees in the D Fundraiser
Bees contribute to one-third of the world’s total food supply.
The Lake Shore Early Childhood Center proudly hosted a Trike-A-Thon, raising funds for Bees in the D.
Top 3 Student Fundraisers:
1st place: Charlotte Brewer
2nd place: Annabelle Roper
3rd place: David Edwards
Bees in the D is a local non-profit organization that works with schools, businesses, organizations, and local residents to contribute to the health of honey bee colonies and the education of their importance to our environment. It is essential for young minds to learn about bees and their importance in our food chain.
Rollercoasters
Life is like a rollercoaster. It has its ups and downs. But it's your choice to scream or enjoy the ride.
Our Shorians choose to ride and build their own.
Cedar Point made learning fun at this educational field trip for our 8th graders at Kennedy Middle School. They discussed topics of forces, energy and motion and engineering design while riding GateKeeper and Valravn.
Back in the classroom, our 4th graders at Masonic Heights Elementary were placed into groups of 4, each given several tubes of toilet paper or paper towel rolls, cardboard, tape, and scissors. They had time to look up how roller coasters were built and started to get to work. At the end of three days, they were tested for durability.
Perhaps one of our Tigers created the blueprint for the next Cedar Point coaster.
Meijer Great Choices Student Film Festival
Congratulations to 2021 Meijer Great Choices Student Film Festival finalists Junior Peyton Lees, Senior Henry Kozak, and Senior Nicholas Olmeda. We applaud their hard work they put forth to create a public service announcement film:
Public Service Announcements submitted by high school students are part of a state-wide education initiative promoting positive lifestyle choices. Students in grades 9 through 12 are asked to create a PSA that was no more than 30 seconds in length and addressed one of three topics: 1) Building Character 2) Healthy Living or 3) Celebrating Diversity.
This year, they were invited to an in-peson Awards Reception this past Saturday at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center in Byron Center, Michigan. Top winners, from the 60 finalists, were revealed in each category and monetary awards will be given! Thank you, Video Productions Teacher Tami Blaszkowski, for all of her guidance and congratulations to Henry, Peyton and Nick, three finalists in the Top 10 of their category, who all received $75 gift cards and saw their video played on the big screen.
Safety Patrol
Twenty-two Masonic Heights Elementary Safety Patrol members contribute to the 654,000 students nationwide who are helping keep other students safe on their way to and from school. Our Patrollers direct peers, teaching them about traffic safety, protect students from hazards of crossing roads, and serve as role models.
To become a Safety Patrol member, the students complete an application which may require a parent signature and recommendations from two adults working within the building depending on elementary building.
Safety Patrol members, like fifth grader Ariena Amine, love talking with peers, being their first smile of the day at school, and of course, ensuring safety. Mrs. Knipstein commented, "She always has a positive attitude and asks good questions that keep me on my toes. She was chosen for this role because she is responsible and kind."
Thank you, Ariena and your Safety Patrol team, for watching over us this year!
Team Capulet or Team Montague
In 2018, the Michigan Shakespeare Festival inspired and entertained Literature and Rhetoric classes with the epic production and live performance of Romeo and Juliet. Students were able to witness the language, costumes, acting, and made classroom-to-stage connections. There was love, fighting, and friendships. The only element missing was an open-air theater from the Renaissance time period.
In 2021, students in Honors English 9 at Lake Shore High School rehearsed lines and stage elements to perform the famous balcony scene in small groups. Using the stairs as the location and developing a plan together, these students deserved a Tony Award.
Prime for Life
Motivational and guest speakers in schools expose students to real world experiences from people who are in unique career fields or life circumstances, and are the link students make between what they learn in the textbook and information shared from an expert.
Prime for Life led by Cody Schmidt, Leah Simpson, and Katie Wylie from Macomb Family Services were invited into Mr. Frost's PASS classes at Lake Shore High School for share an important message about marijuana prevention. Teacher Mr. Frost reminded his freshmen and sophomore students that prevention is not an absolute. They have to keep working at it everyday.
Prime for Life is a prevention-based program which is based on the ideas of communication and education presented in a non-judgmental, conversational, and non-threatening approach. It offers education on substances and effect on brain and body as well as working on decision making to avoid high risk behaviors and high-risk choices, it discusses mental health issues and effect of decisions and experiences on this and substance use.
Today Cody, Leah, and Katie facilitated a game of Kahoot to teach students about substance abuse and give them the life skills to deal with real situations.
For more information, visit https://www.primeforlife.org/.
Celebration
Mobile Graduations
Lake Shore High School brings ceremony to new graduates, a tradition that began in 2020. On Friday, we celebrated the Class of 2021's Claire Bedard, Taylor Harvath, and Antoine Bell at our mobile graduations!
To learn more about our mobile graduation inception, reread this featured story which shares where it all began.
Otto Named State Champion
Sierra Bonser: 3rd female in Conference Alena Lowry: 2nd female in Conference Landon Cereska: 2nd male in Conference
KMS Award Celebrations
At our Kennedy Middle School Celebrations, all 730 students received Clipper Awards. In addition, several standouts were recognized with the John Hills Award for Determination, Most Outstanding Student, NJHS participant, Honor Roll, WEB Leader, ECO Club Recycler, Etiquette Award, and individual course awards.
The transition to Kennedy Middle School from Masonic Heights Elementary, Rodgers Elementary, Violet Elementary, or another elementary school may feel overwhelming. New school. New schedule. New friends. Over time, those 3 middle school years transform from anxiety to excitement. It is the atmosphere at this special school where students learn to adapt, develop skills of independence and responsibility, and prepare for new opportunities.
Thank you, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Baalaer, for your leadership, kindness, and extraordinary patience as you helped these students face a number of academic and social challenges. Middle school is difficult to navigate in a typical year, but when kids are forming their identities during the pandemic, it would have been even more disruptive if it weren't for the friendly demeanors and understanding mindset of their principals and Clipper staff.
Eighth grader Anna Timmins wore this orange dress as a way to pay homage to her mother Mindi. Mindi wore this exact dress at Anna's Kindergarten graduation. It was this sentimental thing she chose to do because her mom has always supported her efforts.
Eighth Grade Clap Out
Goodbyes are not forever, are not the end; it simply means we’ll miss you until you visit again.
Our eighth graders received a clap out, a group applause exercise where everyone stood along the hallways and clapped their hands as the Clipper passed.
There are so many unforgettable shared stories and experiences that will be missed. “I will miss my friends. Giving them random hugs in the halls was the best,” claimed Bre Szydlowski. Pinery was a favorite for Nathaniel Richter. "I enjoyed kayaking and everything outdoors."
Once a Clipper, always a Clipper.
5th Grade Celebrations
At our 5th Grade Celebrations, we celebrate students' citizenship, creativity, academics and attendance. Our Masonic Heights Elementary, Rodgers Elementary, Violet Elementary students were called to the stage to receive their certificates and a proper send off.
We recognized the special programs that were offered at each building and the students who led them. Awards may have included Presidential Excellence, Safety Patrol, Community Helper, Student Council, Choir, Science Olympiad, Positivity Project, Specials, and Principal's Choice. In addition, several students received handwritten notes and custom shirts!
There is nothing that they can't do except stay in elementary school forever. It is time to move on to middle school and continue to demonstrate your strong work ethic and commitment to serving others. But first, elementary schools will continue to celebrate student achievements with carnival-style activities!
Professional photos from Stewart Fine Portraits will be released soon. Visit https://www.stewartfineportraits.com/306 to access all special event photography.
313 Years of Collective Service
Retirement is a time to look back with admiration and a time to look forward with anticipation.
Lake Shore Public Schools recognizes the following retirees:
Richard Popp
Dean of Students at Lake Shore High School
5 years of service
Hank (Henry) Jankowski
Maintenance
24 years of service
Diane Barkley
Custodial at Rodgers Elementary
37 years of service
Deborah Winkel
Bus Driver
37 years of service
Patricia Huyghe
SACC Team Leader at Rodgers Elementary
29 years of service
Annette Bartlof
SE TA at Rodgers Elementary
26 years of service
Marilyn (Lyn) LeBlanc
Spanish teacher at Lake Shore High School
26 years of service
Carla Kling
Teacher Consultant at Masonic Heights Elementary
20 years of service
Tiffany LeCouffe-Bens
2nd grade teacher at Violet Elementary
24 years of service
Deb Spellicy
Medical Occupations teacher at Lake Shore High School
16 years of service
Emily Tims
Elementary Art teacher at Rodgers Elementary and Violet Elementary
21 years of service
Deanna Snay
Special Education teacher at Kennedy Middle School
24 years of service
Jann Tamer
Science teacher at Kennedy Middle School
24 years of service
Thank you for your 313 years of collective service to this district. As this chapter of your life ends, may a new and exceptional one begin. Please leave a comment below for one or more of these dedicated retirees to show your appreciation!
Happy post-Father's Day!
The quality of a father can be seen in the goals, dreams and aspirations he sets not only for himself, but for his family.
Thank you for giving our Shorian Nation students the finer things in life like your time, your care, and your love.
Golfer set to receive Associate’s Degree
Miscellaneous
Lake Shore Foundation Golf Outing
Austin Lipscomb Memorial Golf Outing
Freeze Frame
eNews
Connect With Shorian Nation
Email: social@lsps.org
Website: http://lakeshoreschools.org
Location: 28850 Harper Avenue, St. Clair Shores, MI 48081
Phone: (586) 285-8481
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myLSPS/
Twitter: @myLSPS