As we reach mid-March, the weather is starting to show some mercy and we are making our final sprint to the 2021-22 school year finish line. I am very proud of the hard work of our students and staff. It is inspiring to watch our staff motivate and encourage your students each and every day. Our teachers spend endless hours preparing lessons to keep pushing your student to reach their highest potential. If you find a free minute, I encourage you to send a quick note to one of your student's teachers letting them know you recognize and value their efforts.

One of the greatest aspects of early spring is the excitement and hope of what is to come. We know that beautiful flowers will be blooming and we will soon hear the laughter of children playing outside. At the high school, we are excited to begin the process of welcoming our incoming freshmen and sending our seniors out into the world.

Our counseling department is hard at work looking through course requests and we are about ready to begin putting schedules together for next school year. If you have any questions or concerns about your student's schedule for next year, please do not hesitate to contact them.

Spring Break begins on April 1st with our students returning on April 11. I have been hearing the chatter of our students talking about the adventures they are planning and you can feel the excitement. When our students return, we will dive into our Spring standardized tests. Please help us in stressing the importance of the effort your student gives as the results of these tests assist our team with scheduling and scholarships, as well as teacher and administration evaluation.

As always, if you need anything at all, my door is always open.

Sincerely,

Jordan Ackerman

Armada High School is excited to announce that the 2021-22 recipient of the Armada High School Teacher of the Year award is Renee Jozwiak!

From Mr. Ackerman:

Mrs. Jozwiak goes above and beyond each and every day. She always looks out for the best interests of her students and special education department. Mrs. Jozwiac takes great pride in her work and has a growth mindset. Watching Mrs. Jozwiak build her students up and develop their knowledge is inspiring and motivating. Armada High School and the Armada Area School District is very proud of Renee Jozwiak, the 2021-22 Armada High School Teacher of the Year.

This past weekend, Armada sent 15 BPA members to compete against thousands of high school students from all across the state. At stake was a chance to compete at BPA Nationals in Texas this May. Two Armada Tigers clawed their way to the top, earning 3 trophies across two events.

Congratulations to Lily Thomas for her 2nd place finish in Networking using Cisco and to Giovanni Bommarito for his 2nd place finish in Computer Security and 3rd place finish in Networking using Cisco.

In addition to their competitions, BPA members spent the weekend networking, participating in business seminars, attending a college fair and more.

Great job Armada BPA and good luck Lily and Giovanni!

The Armada High School Quiz Bowl team finished in third place at the Blue Water Area Conference Tournament!

Quiz Bowl is an academic competition team where students answer a wide range of trivia and school subject questions in a Jeopardy-style format. The team welcomes all students who enjoy showing and sharing their knowledge with others. Competitions with five other schools begin in January and end in late February or early March. This year the team earned a 3rd place finish in the season ending tournament which also earned them a 3rd place tie with Marysville for the season. Quiz Bowl is a great addition to college applications and is a great way to 'show what you know!

Our Symphonic Band and String Orchestra students performed as part of the MSBOA District XVI Band and Orchestra Festival this past weekend. Our String Orchestra earned a Division I rating on their performance at Anchor Bay HS this morning! The Division I rating is the highest possible overall rating of the five possible rating divisions.

Congratulation to the Armada High School Robotics team who finished in 3rd place (9-3) after qualifying matches and were picked to be on the #1 alliance. Unfortunately we lost in the semifinals, but did take home the Chairman’s Award which is considered the most prestigious award in FIRST.

Ty Vanlerberghe was selected as a Dean’s List semi-finalist. The Dean’s list is an award for outstanding students nominated by team mentors.

The Chairman’s Award qualifies us officially to compete at the State Championship at SVSU on April 14-16. Ty will also be competing there for Dean’s List Finalist.

Our next event is the Macomb District at MCC South Campus on April 1-2.

Watch the team below (team 1718) on the red side.

Aiden Wheeler is one of our two CTE students of the year. Aidan has been a natural leader in our Marketing program having taken the lead in several school public service announcements, including an anti-bullying campaign for Unity Day, and our recent coat drive which gathered 447 coats for the Macomb County homeless shelter. In addition, he was instrumental in the Treats for Tots campaign which teamed up with our Culinary Arts program to sell cookies, which collected over $1300 for Toys for Tots. He also starred in a video made to promote a reading competition at the elementary level, and led a plastic recycling campaign for Motor City Mission which provided waterproof masks for the homeless.

Aidan’s teacher, Mr. Jason Moore, said that marketing comes natural to Aidan and he truly enjoys making the PSAs and doing activities to help our school and community.

Aidan is an honor student with a majority of his four years in advanced, AP, and college level courses. He has a 4.02 GPA and is a member of National Honor Society along with Business Professionals of America. His extracurricular activities include wrestling, and outside of school he has earned a black belt in karate. He enjoys speed solving Rubik’s Cubes, and investing in the stock market along with foreign exchange and crypto currencies.

Prior to taking Marketing this year, Aidan was thinking about Psychology as a career path after taking all four of our Psychology courses. He is now leaning toward a major in business at either Northwood or Michigan State University. Aidan envisions being a day trader in the stock market rather than a traditional 9:00 to 5:00 career.

Armada Area Schools wishes Aidan Wheeler the best of luck in their college and career aspirations!

The Armada High School Theatre department put on a fantastic production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. All students involved did an excellent job in the production under the leadership of Mrs. Caporuscio and Mrs. Ulinski!

The production also fundraised $4031.21 for the 42 Strong Foundation, a mentoring program set-up in memory of Tate Myre.

Congratulations to our February students of the month, senior Alexandra Vulcu and junior Gavin Weed! Alex was nominated for being a polite and kind person. It does not go unnoticed that she goes out of her way to say hi to everyone in the hallway. Gavin was nominated for his diligence and attention to his classwork, for his ability to see the big picture and for being able to shift gears from down time to working. Congratulations, Alex and Gavin!

At the end of February, counselors presented to each grade level regarding scheduling for the 2022-2023 school year. The presentation was also emailed out to all students and parents to review options. Students were encouraged to sign up for classes that will not only help them with their post-secondary plans, but try new and different experiences while still here in high school. Armada has so many opportunities for students, so counselors encouraged them to try something new! Counselors will work with administration to prepare the master schedule for next school year based off of the classes the students requested. We will spend the next couple months building the schedule to accommodate our students wants and needs!

If you have not completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) yet, you should do so as soon as possible! The FAFSA is often required to qualify for different scholarships. March 1st is the deadline for state aid.

The Armada Common Scholarship is now open! This is one application that puts you in the running for 10-15 different scholarships! Most seniors will write the essay for the scholarship in their English class. This is a great opportunity because you are only competing against other Armada students! The Armada Common Scholarship is due April 1st.

Additionally, other scholarships can be found on the counseling website with hard copies in the library.

Seniors, please continue to bring in your letters of acceptance and FAFSA completion. These should be turned into the Counseling Office where we will give you your shirt. Currently, we have 50% of our senior class of 2022 with an acceptance for post-graduation programs! Keep up the good work!!

Khan Academy is a great resource for your student to use in preparation for the SAT. Students are able to link their College Board account with Khan Academy for individualized practice. The program will create mini-lessons and quizzes for areas of weakness based on PSAT scores. The best part is the resource is free! Learn more about Khan Academy at khanacademy.org.