The winners of the Spring 2011 contest competed against their peers from the entire state of Michigan at the high school level. Because of the amount of winners, the school will receive a free anthology. According to Creative Communication Publication, “Creative Communication  is selective and considers it an honor if we accept your work.”

Congratulations to students India Cross, Tiffany Adkins, Diamond Anderson-Stokes, Linda Charleston, Valeria Ledbetter, Markia King and Kendra Steed, as well as Principal Michelle Parker and English teacher Ms.Careathers. Cody MCH has “poetic power.”

2012 DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOL LEAGUE GIRLS’ SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP, FRIDAY, MAY 18
 at University of Detroit Mercy
Admission $3
Consolation game, 2 p.m.
Southeastern vs. Western
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME, 4 p.m.
Cass Tech vs. Renaissance

SEMIFINALS: (Monday, May 14 at Renaissance High)
Cass Tech 8, Western 7; Renaissance 28, Southeastern 1
 QUARTERFINALS: (Thursday, May 10 at Maheras Gentry Park): Cass Tech 28, Mumford 27; Renaissance 15, King 0 (2 1/2 innings); Western 16, Crockett 1 (4 innings); Southeastern 18, Cody 17

PSL Championship Games
Wednesday, May 23, at Comerica Park
East-West Championship game, 5 p.m.
Mega Division Championship Game, 7 p.m.
Admission $5. Gates open at 4 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at Comerica Park box office

Detroit Public Schools hosted the 28^th Annual Excellence Awards Banquet showcasing the top 3% of the district’s graduating seniors Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 6 p.m.

The event was held in the Cobo Center Riverview Ballroom.

More than 300 DPS students who have held a 3.5 GPA or higher during their high school careers were honored. The event honored 10 all “A” students who received the Excellence Awards Scholarship.

View the CBS news story “DPS to Honor High-Achieving Students, 10 with Perfect GPA” at: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/05/15/dps-to-honor-high-achieving-students-10-with-perfect-gpa/.

Emergency Manager Roy Roberts delivered the keynote address. Karen Ridgeway, Superintendent of Academics, also addressed students.

About the Annual Excellence Awards Banquet

The end of the school year signifies a great number of ceremonies, but none is more prestigious than the annual Excellence Awards Banquet for Detroit Public Schools’ seniors with cumulative grade point averages of 3.5 or higher.

The Excellence Awards Banquet is designed to showcase the top three percent of the district’s graduating seniors. Virtually all of these students will enter college or another post-secondary education institution after high school.

Their college choices range from local universities including Wayne State University and the University of Michigan, to historical black colleges and universities including Morehouse and Spelman, to Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Yale, West Coast Stanford, University of Southern California and more.

The Excellence Awards program began in 1985. To date, 8,915 students have been honored since the program originated.

The event is sponsored by the Detroit Public Schools Foundation, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers, Pearson Publishers, SVS Vision, Target Corp, and Spike Lawrence.

Scholarship sponsor Michael Morse, P.C. Attorneys at Law, in partnership with Detroit Public Schools, the Detroit Public Schools Foundation and United Way, announced the winners, where 11 DPS juniors and seniors received college scholarships totaling $25,000.

Nearly 200 DPS students submitted multi–media entries conveying a creative message on the dangers of distracted driving, especially cell phone use while behind the wheel.

The MORSE Code Scholarship Contest (Make Our Roads Safe Everywhere) promotes awareness among teens. One grand prize winner received a $5,000 scholarship and 10 students received $2,000 each toward furthering their higher educational goals.

Renaissance High School Principal Anita Williams, contest underwriter Attorney Michael Morse, and DPS Emergency Manager Roy Roberts addressed students on earning the MORSE Code Scholarship.

“First, let me congratulate our extremely talented students for their creative videos, essays, artwork and even rap songs highlighting the important issue of the dangers of texting while driving that have earned them scholarships today,” said Roberts during the press conference. “This is an example of how hard work and talent pays off. I’d also like to thank our partners in this initiative, particularly Attorney Michael Morse. I have been extremely pleased to see the level of engagement by businesses and other organizations who have stepped up to partner with DPS.”

Student Winners Include:

$5,000 winner:
Jakhari Tolbert – Detroit School of Arts, Senior – video

$2,000 winners:
Anthony Robinson – Renaissance High School, Senior – PSA/rap
Kerry Davis – Golightly Career and Technical Center, Senior – PSA
Jaqueia Jackson – Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School, Senior – video
Karim Chowdury – Davis Aerospace Technical High School, Junior – video
Curtis Williams – Renaissance High School, Senior – video
Brielle Taylor – Golightly Career and Technical Center, Senior – graphic art
Aaron Johnson, Jr. – Cass Technical High School, Senior – art
Demon Canada – Southeastern High School, Senior – art
Kennedy Victoria Cockrel – Cass Technical High School, Senior – essay
Kendra Randolph – Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, Senior – essay

For more details about the contest, visit http://www.morsecodecontest.com.

“These assignments were made keeping in mind the vision and mission of the new Academic Initiative for centrally-supported Detroit Public Schools,” said DPS Superintendent of Academics Karen Ridgeway.  “We must put leadership in place that can lead the way for our District to once again be recognized as a model for the nation, which will instill a passion for life-long learning and produce students who are both college and career ready.

“This new leadership team is charged with providing a high quality, well-rounded educational experience for all students that is rigorous, relevant and engaging.  It is our responsibility to build strong relationships with students, families, and the community to increase trust and shared responsibility.  We must also ensure that every classroom has a high quality educator, supported by high quality, effective administrators and support staff,” Ridgeway said.

Bennett’s Girls Scouts also participated in the Cinqo de Mayo Parade.

These schools are exemplars of middle level education in the state and join 9 other schools that have been designated in the past 6 years. The Schools to Watch designation is meant to convey that these schools are ones that others can visit to gain an idea of how they might improve their middle school program. The Schools to Watch program is a national recognition developed by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform and given to middle schools throughout the country that substantially meet a set of criteria consistent with research on middle level education.

Launched in 1999, Schools to Watch began as a national program to identify middle-grades schools across the country that were meeting or exceeding 37 criteria developed by the Forum. The Forum web site (http://www.schoolstowatch.org) features detailed information about the selection criteria. The STW process provided the framework for the successful Investing in Innovation (i3) Development grant received in October 2010 from the  U. S. Department of Education.  The National Forum’s “The Schools to Watch:  School Transformation Network” concentrates on assisting 18 persistently low performing middle grades schools in CA, IL and NC.

In 2002, the Forum began working with states to replicate the Schools to Watch program as a way to introduce the Forum’s criteria for high-performance and identify middle grades schools that meet or exceed that criteria. In 2005, Michigan joined this process and named its first three Schools to Watch. Since that time 10 other schools have been designated, and 4 have been re-designated. A school recognized as a School to Watch retains that designation for 3 years before it must re-apply for designation and demonstrate continued growth. Nationally 19 states participate and, with the addition of this year’s designees, 334 schools have been designated.

Ludington Magnet Middle is being re-designated this year!

Under the leadership of Ms. Alora Comer-Maxwell, Ludington Magnet has continued to grow since first being designated in 2008. They have developed a school where students excel, and where problems are addressed openly and decisively. They expect the best from their students and provide them with the guidance and excellent instruction to allow them to achieve at their highest level.

Dr. Deborah Kasak, National Forum Executive Director expressed her appreciation for the new designees by saying, “We are pleased that our Schools to Watch program has shown that schools can meet high academic expectations while preserving a commitment of healthy development and equity for all students. These Schools to Watch are indeed special; they make education so exciting that students and teachers don’t want to miss a day.  These schools have proven that it is possible to overcome barriers to achieving excellence, and any middle-level school in any state can truly learn from their examples.”

The National Forum sponsors the Schools to Watch program along with the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE/formerly NMSA), the National Association for Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, Learning Forward, ASCD, and State Schools to Watch affiliates.

The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform is an alliance of 65 educators, researchers, national associations, and officers of professional organizations and foundations dedicated to improving education in the middle grades.

Students, parents and community members from the Logan and O.W. Holmes elementary/middle schools’ neighborhoods assisted conservation experts from Greening of Detroit to create a small orchard-like environment on the new school’s campus. The two schools will merge in the fall at the new Munger school.
Earlier this week, students from two other schools consolidating into the new $21.8 million Mackenzie PreK to 8 School, several miles away, held joint parades to their new Fall 2012 school and released 1,000 blue and white balloons.

The planting project at the new Munger school is part of an overall initiative through Greening of Detroit to establish small growth forests in the city. The maturing tree canopies will produce oxygen, cool the surrounding neighborhoods, reduce air particulates and contaminants, infiltrate storm water to reduce river and beach contamination, reestablish natural habitat and provide aesthetic benefits.

Funding for the Munger tree project is provided through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative New Growth Forest Project. The Greening of Detroit is partnering with DPS for this project as one of five projects to be completed during the Spring 2012 planting season.

MUNGER SCHOOL DETAILS

Demolition began in January 2011 on the former Munger/Chadsey complex to make way for the new $22.3 million Munger PreK to 8 School. The school is scheduled to open in the fall 2012 in a thriving section of Southwest Detroit. The school will include an elementary and middle school wing connected by a two-story student arcade that will function as a dining court, student center and school square. The school is designed to accommodate 850 students.

Munger PreK to 8 School is a part of the $500.5 million DPS Capital Improvement Program, which is building and renovating 18 DPS facilities. Munger is one of the final four schools under construction totaling $150 million in voter-approved investments that will provide some 4,600 students with brand new learning environments that are replacing older facilities.