Friday, April 23, 2010

Lapeer East, Lapeer West athletes honored as All-League athletes in Flint Metro League

A total of 50 Lapeer East and Lapeer West High School winter athletes were named to All-League Flint Metro League teams.

Ten of the selections were for the first team, 13 were second team picks, 3 were third team selections and the balance were honorable mention selections.

First team All-FML selections were: Competitive Cheer – Lapeer East, Meagan Lloyd; Lapeer West, Alyssa Ruhlman, Leah Seaman, Paige Smith and Crissy Wills. Swim (combined East-West) Alexander Hart (100 butterfly). Wrestling – Lapeer West, Aaron Secrest. Girls’ Basketball – Lapeer West, Marisa Liburdi. Boys’ Bowling – Lapeer West, Jeff Acton. Boys’ Basketball – Lapeer East, Payton McCallum.

Second team All-FML selections were: Hockey – Lapeer East, Jason Collins and Steve Tadazak. Competitive Cheer – Lapeer West, Katilynn Anderson and Ashley Kennard; Lapeer East, Cassie Ciaravino. Girls’ Bowling – Lapeer West, Hannah Gauthier. Boys’ Bowling – Lapeer East, Bradley Whittaker. Wrestling – Lapeer East, Isaac Joseph, Cameron Myers and Justin Green. Girls’ Basketball – Lapeer East, Cassie Diaz; Lapeer West, Lindsay Thams. Boys’ Basketball – Lapeer West, Joe Lerma.

Third team All-FML selections were: Wrestling – Lapeer West, Dean Somers and Dakota Carie. Girls’ Bowling – Lapeer West, Brie McGrath.
Honorable Mention selections were: Boys’ Basketball – Lapeer East, Anthony Hunt and Cullen Turczyn; Lapeer West, Brian McGeary and Anthony Sisson. Boys’ Bowling – Lapeer East, Cody Crump, Tyler Graham, Matthew Hitchcock and Tyler Lemieux; Lapeer West, Josh Carbone and Mike Plociniak. Girls’ Basketball – Lapeer West, Yazmin Dababneh; Lapeer East, Shelby Wagner. Girls’ Bowling – Lapeer East, Jessica Aubert, Jennifer Eskridge, Victoria Mullins, Justice Schihl and Dawn Wesley. Competitive Cheer – Lapeer East, Molly Nelson; Lapeer West, Katie Smith. Hockey – Lapeer East, Nate Herr, Spencer Hill, and Nick Pullano; Lapeer West, Patrick Chouinard, Brad Deane and Mike Fearson.

Two Lapeer West High School sports teams honored in State for classroom performance

Two Lapeer West teams were honored for performances outside of athletics.

The Lapeer West Wrestling Team was recognized by the Michigan High School Coaches Association as an Academic All-State wrestling team with a combined 3.25 grade point average. The West wrestling team is coached by Mr. Matt Nowak. A total of 14 members of the team were counted for the honor.

“Our wrestlers know that academics and team are the keys to success,” said West wrestling coach Matt Nowak.

Lapeer West’s Boys’ Basketball Team was named to the Academic All-State Honorable Mention team with a 3.396 grade point average and the 13th best grade point average among all Class A high schools in Michigan. The basketball team is coached by Mr. Andy Roberts.

Members of the West basketball team are: John Amboy, Josh Francis, Zeshawn Jones-Parker, Joe Lerma, Brian McGeary, Zach Orr, David Price, Dakota Resop, Anthony Sisson, Nate Smith and Landon Warren

"Being Academic all-state is something the players should be very proud of,” said Lapeer West basketball coach Andy Roberts. “It is a reward for their hard-work in the classroom.”

“We are proud of the work done by our students and coaches, both on the mat, court and classrooms,” said Ms. Mary Haslinger, Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at West. “We are very proud of our coaches, Andy Roberts and Matt Nowak, as well as our scholar athletes.”

East, West, Community students win honors, awards at State vocational events

Vocational students from Lapeer East, Lapeer West and Lapeer Community High School have scored well in State competitions and some of the students will compete nationally.

Lapeer East and Lapeer West High School students participating in vocational courses at the Lapeer County Intermediate School Education and Technology Center placed in 14 competitions at the Skills USA State Conference the weekend of April 16-18.

To see photos of the top winners at the Skills USA contest go to the District photo gallery.

Two students from Lapeer East, Joshua McDonald (Computer-aided Design) and Colin Hile (Culinary Arts) and one student from Lapeer West, Mark Wells (Welding and Machining) will compete at the Skills USA National Conference as a result of first place finishes at the State event.

One other East student, Corey Uren, placed first in Residential Electrical and HVAC, but will not go onto the national competition because there is no similar competition at the nationals.

Also placing at the State conference was: Lapeer East; Mollie Brennan (2nd -Culinary Arts); Steven Hoffa (2nd-Culinary Arts); Dylan Anderson (3rd-Diesel Technology); Myranda Jenks (3rd-Early Childhood); and Justin Ferguson (3rd-Electronics). Lapeer West students who placed were: Joe Gingiloski (3rd-Collision Repair); Ashlynn Balmer (2nd-Culinary Arts); Deanna Childress (2nd-Culinary Arts); Jessica Gary (3rd-Early Childhood); and Luke Woolner (Welding and Machining).

Competitions included a variety of areas within each discipline, such as events like Team Banquet and Commercial Baking within the Culinary Arts section; and Preschool Teaching Assistant and Prepared Speech in the Early Childhood area.

Students won prizes and scholarships ranging from t-shirts and pins to scholarships worth up to $17,000 at vocational institutions.

Jordan Ging, of Lapeer West, placed second in Personal Care at the Health Occupations Students of America competition at the Grand Traverse Resort last weekend and will now compete nationally at a Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando.

Kaitlyn Brennan, of Lapeer Community High School, Cora Lenneman and Marissa Powell, of Lapeer East were part of a first place team in the floral category at the State FFA competition.

Students from East, West win high honors at FML Math/Science event at Holly High School

Performances by Lapeer East and Lapeer West math and science students added up to success at a Flint Metro League Math/Science Competition held at Holly High School on Wednesday, April, 21.

To see photos of the top finishers go to the District photo gallery.

Ten teams participated in the event with Lapeer East finishing fourth as a team and Lapeer West also exhibiting some great individual performances.

Individual students from each school won medals in math and science competitions.
Math winners from Lapeer West High School were Scott Essenmacher, junior, who placed first in Pre-Calculus and senior Brad Deane who placed third in Calculus.

At East, Kaleb Elwert placed first in Chemistry Lab; Ben Moyer placed first in Biology; Nick McHardy finished second in Physics Lab; third place finishes were scored by Brianna Banowski in Physics; Austin Johnson in Physical Science; and Aaron Moskal in Biology Lab.

East students who finished out of the medals were: fourth place; James Apfel, in Chemistry, Emily Roberts, in Algebra I; Andrew Schroeder, in Algebra II; seventh place; Lindsey Weisler in Trigonometry; eighth place; Dayton Harmon in Geometry, Tom Nichols in Statistics, Michael Puskar in Calculus; ninth place; Alexis Nichols in Pre-Calculus.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Board of Education candidate forum set for Tuesday, April 27 at Metamora Masons Hall

Learn more about candidates running for the Lapeer Community Schools Board of Education at a forum at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 27 at the Metamora Masons Hall, 32 High Street in Metamora. Audience members can submit questions for the three candidates running for the Board of Education at the forum. The event is sponsored by the Lapeer County Tea Party Patriots and hosted by the Metamora Masons.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Michigan State Police inspection results in clean bill of health for District bus fleet

It’s not just students getting good grades at Lapeer Community Schools.

A recent Michigan State Police inspection of 63 District school buses resulted in a pass rate of 99.999 percent. Four new buses were inspected prior to arrival here two months ago and did not require inspections.

Inspectors check more than 200 items on each bus and at the end of the inspection only three red tag items were found in the entire fleet. Those three red tags were addressed, re-inspected and buses approved for the road the same day they were issued.

It’s a pass rate 50 percent better than the three previous annual inspections.

“Brian Colosky, Mike Bastien, Paul Downey and Chad Wideman combine their efforts to keep our fleet in great shape all year long so we don’t have to struggle to bring the buses up to standard when inspection takes place,” said Jerry Podzikowski, Director of Transportation. “Of course, the number one reason we work diligently on our buses is for the safety of our students and drivers.”

Lapeer school buses average about 5,500 miles per day and more than 1 million miles per year in service. Lapeer is one of the largest geographic school districts in Michigan and often travel over unimproved roads.

Lapeeer East 2009 yearbook staff and advisers honored for excellence

Lapeer East’s High School’s 2009 yearbook – “The Aerie” – was recognized for excellence and featured in the 2010 “Gotcha Covered Look Book, Volume 8.”

“The Aerie” was one of only 518 yearbooks selected from more than 3,000 submitted to a panel of judges that included nationally recognized scholastic journalism professionals and award-winning yearbook advisers.

The “Gotcha Covered Look Book” features the extraordinary work of yearbook staffs and advisers from around the world and is a popular resource for yearbook advisers and staffs seeking creative design and coverage ideas, trends and inspiration.

The Aerie was created by 50 students under the direction, of Ann Owen and Jan McKeachie, the Lapeer East yearbook advisers.

“Yearbook staffers exemplify the incredible design, photography and journalistic talents of today’s students and their ability to capture once-in-a-lifetime stories that will be relished for generations,” said Gary Lundgren, Jostens senior program manager/education. “The yearbooks chosen for Jostens’ 2010 Gotcha Covered Look Book reflect the sophistication and relevance of yearbook programs and demonstrate why yearbooks remain so popular among students as a means to capture and share their school experiences and traditions.”

Ann Owen and Jan McKeachie and their yearbook staff received a copy of Jostens’ “2010 Gotcha Covered Look Book” and certificate from Jostens to recognize their outstanding achievement.

“We plan to continue the excellent work of the yearbook staffs who came before us,” said Laura Matthews, the current East yearbook adviser.