Holiday concerts from Lapeer East/Lapeer West

Lapeer West with guest conducter, retired band director Mr. Steve Burns.



Or for the full sized video click here for YouTube site.




For full-size version of this Lapeer West video click this link.

A portion of the Lapeer East concert in which students and Meijer surprise band director Mrs. Lyniece Fenner.



For the full-size video at School Tube, click this link.

Lapeer East's Cameron Myers highlighted in FJ column

The Flint Journal's Mark Spezia has written a nice column on Lapeer East wrestler, Cameron Myers.

New headlines about former Lapeer athletes

Lapeer East graduate Jake Long honored on All-Decade sports teams.

Lapeer West graduated Chuck Voss, a 2006 Distinguished Hall of Honor inductee, was honored as "Coach of the Year." For more on Chuck Voss go here.

All-State Athletes from East/West announced

So far four Lapeer high school athletes have been named to All-State athletic teams.

Lapeer West golfer Catherine Benscoter was a Division II First-Team All-State selection.

Lapeer East football player Payton McCallum and Lapeer West football player Preston Haggadone were honorable mention All-State into Division 1-2.

Lapeer East soccer player Ethan Konschuh was an All-State honorable mention player.

We'll keep you posted on additional selections.

2009 fall Scholar Athletes from Lapeer East, West announced by Flint Metro League

The following students from Lapeer East and Lapeer West were named as 2009 fall scholar athletes by The Flint Metro League.

Lapeer East: Swim/Dive team, Katherine Baeckeroot*, Hannah Hastings; Boys/Girls Cross Country, Jamie Caminiti, Katelyn Davis, Hillary Davlin*, Ariana Donahue*, Amy Gaylor, Daniel Gildner, Kyle Griffin, Ryan Johnson, Anna Kluck, Aaron Knowlton, Allyssa Mazur-Batistoni, Dayno McIntyre, Stephanie Morris, Michael Puskar, Riley Sackett (also soccer), Tiffany Turner; volleyball, Casey Donovan*, Caressa Graves, Kayla Ortega, Ginger Pearson, Samantha Rubick, Jenna Vierk, Lindsey Weisler; football, Eric Dougherty, Neil Kuisell, Bryn Ludlow*, Alec Mihm, Zachary Nolan*, Eric Rieves, Adam Schroeder, Bradley Whittaker; soccer, Alexander Henson*, Nathaniel Herr*, Nathan Kolvek, Clayton Tomczyk*; golf, Emily Hilgendorf*; tennis, Nicholas Karava, Ian Komisak, Aaron Marietta, Bradley McCully, Henry Peabody, Jeffrey Tencza, Justin Townsend, Anthony Wagner. *Denotes All-League in sport played.

Lapeer West: Swim/Dive team, Lauren Barnes, Lindsey Buzzell; golf, Catherine Benscoter*, Lindsay Yateman; tennis, Eric Birkle, Jarrett Peplinski, Brian Stover; Boys/Girls Cross Country, Gina Cavanaugh, Megan Hurst, Patrick Martindale, Emily Nugent, Victoria Peet*, Haley Schroeder*, Aidan Smith; soccer, Matt Cox*, Brad Deane*, Scott Essenmacher, Johnny Kovalick, Nate Richards; football, Josh Francis, Dan Holbrook*, Kevin Roach*, Ken Smith, Nate Smith*, Brandon Szczesny*; volleyball, Elizabeth Gupton, Marisa Liburdi, Michelle Miller, Maddison Smith, Lindsay Thams*, Janelle VanWagoner. *Denotes All-League in sport played.

Flint Metro League announces All-League selections, many from Lapeer East, Lapeer West

Flint Metro League – All League selections

Lapeer East

Boys’ soccer: First team, Ethan Konschuh; second team, Clayton Tomczyk, Nate Herr, Alex Zavislak; honorable mention, Alex Henson, Phil Smith.

Football: First team offense, Sebashton Sullivan, Payton McCallum; first team defense, Anthony Hunt, Payton McCallum, Mike Sawchuk; second team offense, Bryn Ludlow, Anthony Hunt; second team defense, Isaac Joseph; honorable mention, Justin Hanson, Isaac Joseph (kicker), Zach Nolan.

Girls Cross Country: First team, Jenni Putz; honorable mention, Hillary Davlin, Alexis Whatcott, Arian Donahue.

Girls Golf: First team, Kelsey Robinson, Keely Turczyn; honorable mention, Emily Hilgendorf.

Volleyball: First team, Casey Donovan, Ellery Owen; second team, Devon Benner; honorable mention, Lisa Dinsmore, Sam Kazor.

Lapeer West

Boys’ soccer: Honorable mention, Josh Cebelak, Matt Cox, Brad Deane, Zach O’Brien.

Football: First team offense, Nate Smith, Tyler Andrews, Cody Ellsworth, Kevin Roach; first team defense, Kyle Bannister, Brandon Szczesny, Preston Haggadone, Jake Fenslau, second team offense, Jake Fenslau, Landon Warren; second team defense, David Price, Justin Slater; honorable mention, Dan Holbrook, Lance Machiniak, Dustin Masha, David Price, Dan Raymond, Aaron Seacrest, Nate Smith(defensive back).

Girls’ cross country: First team, Tori Peet; second team, Hayley Schroeder.

Girls’ Golf: Catherine Benscoter, Kim Brown; honorable mention, Elizabeth Rodela, Lauren Weeks.

Volleyball: Second team, Lindsay Thams; honorable mention, Jessica Eckel.

Combined Lapeer East/Lapeer West Swim/Dive Team

Second team: 200IM, Emily Shallman (East); 100 Butterfly, Emily Shallman; 400-yard freestyle relay, Emily Shallman, Lori Noelle (West), Katherine Baeckeroot (East), and Emily Corriveau (East); third team, 500-yard freestyle, Katherine Baeckeroot; 200-yard freestyle relay, Emily Shallman, Sarah Crittenden (East), Gabby Ralston (East), and Emily Corriveau; 100-yard breaststroke, Emily Corriveau.

Congratulations to all these fine athletes

Lapeer West's Mike Ogg named "Girls' Golf Coach of the Year" by The Flint Journal

Lapeer West teacher and coach Mike Ogg was named Girls’ Golf Coach of the Year by the Flint Journal on December 6th.

Ogg led the Lapeer West girls’ golf team to an undefeated, first place finish in the Metro League and to the State Finals and a 7th place finish there in 2009.

In 1978, Ogg began teaching in New Lothrop and coached football, volleyball, basketball and baseball at New Lothrop until 1985. From 1985 to 1998 Ogg worked at General Motors, but still coached 8th grade softball for three years during that period.

In 1998, Ogg resumed his teaching career at Lapeer Community Schools. He also coached freshman volleyball at Powers Catholic for one year.

In his coaching career at Lapeer Community Schools, Ogg has coached 8th grade girls’ basketball (5 years); girls’ softball (4 years); and varsity girls’ golf (7 years).

In total, Ogg has coached 55 teams in seven sports, including 40 teams from 8th grade to seniors in high school.

“Lapeer West is very proud to have Mike as part of our coaching staff,” said assistant principal and athletic director Mary Haslinger. “He is a dedicated coach who is able to bring out the best in his athletes.”

Lapeer staff, students and families chip in to make holidays brighter for many local residents

Lapeer County families in need were the recipients of thousands of food, gift and clothing donations this holiday season from the Lapeer Community Schools family.

Schools throughout the District sponsored Goodfellows food drives in November and early December. Not all kept exact records of donations, but a few examples show the generosity of the students, the students’ families and staff.

Most of the Goodfellows non-perishable food and paper products come from donations from the Lapeer schools and this year’s result was larger than the 2008 drive, said Karen Rykhus, Goodfellows president.

“We were able to help more than 200 Lapeer County families,” Mrs. Rykhus said. “They did an awesome job. They came through like gangbusters.”

Lapeer East and Lapeer West each collected more than 2,800 individual food donations for a total of more than 5,700 donations.

Students and staff at Lapeer West also helped a number of families with gifts through a “Giving Tree” effort.

A Toys for Tots effort at Lapeer East collected more than 650 toys, the best in the school’s history. All are destined for Lapeer County children. East National Honor Society students also helped with the packing of the food for distribution.

In addition to the Goodfellows food drive, Zemmer Junior High School staff, students, parents and general contractor Barton Malow employees at the Rolland-Warner Middle School site, donated $2,200 through a “Penny War” to make Christmas a happy one for 11 children from four families. Student council shopped for the children and each family also received a gift card from Meijer.

Murphy Elementary School students collected 2,163 cans of food and the Murphy staff adopted several families.

The Murphy community also donated nearly 100 new and gently used coats. Students in one Murphy class made scarves for special needs students at the Lapeer County Intermediate School District Education and Technology Center.

At Lynch Elementary, 1,305 items were donated to the Goodfellows drive and three families were adopted. Student council also held a returnable can drive for another family and raised $52.

Students in one Lynch sixth grade classroom donated $5 each and purchased items off the giving tree. A retired teacher who now lives in a nursing home was also adopted by the Lynch staff and will enjoy a happy Christmas.

“This has been a very tough year for so many of our families,” said Superintendent Debbie Thompson. “Once again the generosity of our staff, students and their families astounds me.”

Mayfield Elementary students and staff collected 1,099 items of food for Goodfellows and adopted a large family for donations of Christmas gifts.

Turrill Elementary students collected 1,745 cans of nonperishable items for the Goodfellows drive. The school has also started a fund, patterned after a similar one at Maple Grove Elementary School that helps families all year round.

Students at Elba-Seaton, Maple Grove and Schickler Elementary Schools also had successful Goodfellows drives, but totals were not available.

Staff at the Administration & Services Center adopted a family with a “Giving Tree” effort and supplied them with gifts, food and gift cards to brighten their season.

A couple of school support groups also kicked in with help for the community.

At the November luncheon, members of the Lapeer High School Alumni Association donated $540 to Goodfellows, $89 to Holiday Depot, donated six large black plastic bags full of toys, 43 grocery bags full of food and three large boxes and three large bags of new and gently used winter clothing, such as coats, hats, blankets, scarves, mittens and leggings.

A Craft Fair at Lapeer East in early December included a food drive for Kids In New Directions and visitors brought nearly ten boxes of donated food.