It's MIT!! Monroe High School senior Jonathon Brown ended weeks of speculation Friday afternoon, May 1, when he announced at MHS Decision Day that he would indeed enroll at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jonathon had been pursued and accepted by some of the greatest learning institutions in the country. No one but him knew his choice until he pulled out his poster with MIT on it as the last of 400 members of the senior class were introduced and their colleges revealed. All students made posters depicting their post-high school choices.which they carried proudly with them as they crossed the stage. MHS is the only Monroe County High School to host Decision Day on May 1. This year also marked the first year that students attending Orchard Center High School participated in Decision Day.
Watch today's Decision Day ceremonies at Monroe High School live at noon by clicking on this link.
The ceremonies also will be available 24-7 after they have concluded by clicking on the same link above.
Author Patrick Jones, a Flint native who now calls Minneapolis Home, will help lead 47 Monroe High School students in the “Spring into Writing” Writing Marathon at Monroe High this Thursday (April 30.)
“These are students who love to write and volunteered to spend a day dedicated to improving their craft,” said MHS English Teacher Carol Sliwka who is coordinating the event. “Plus we get the chance to work that day with a real live author who will talk about what it takes to be an author and who will write with us.
“This also will be a time to jump start our thinking and creativity and maybe write something a little different,” Mrs. Sliwka said.
Mr. Jones is a former librarian who now is known for writing fiction for teens, particularly teens who don’t like to read. He has written nine books and about 100 articles and essays.
Monroe High School students will have numerous chances to write all day long and when the daylong-exercise is concluded, each student will submit one piece of writing to be included in the Writing Marathon Anthology.
Jalisa McQueen, a junior at Monroe High School, is one of only 40 students nationwide chosen to attend the University of California-Davis Young Scholars Program (UCD-YSP,) June 21-August 1. In addition, she was offered a $6,000 scholarship for the program.
“This is the premiere program of its type in the United States and Jalisa is so deserving of this honor. During her summer vacation this year, she will have the same types of experiences that she would have during her first years of college,” said Monroe High School science teacher Kristen Hovest.
The UCD-YSP is a summer residential research program design to expose 40 high-achieving high school students from across the country to the world of original research in the natural sciences. The program has an emphasis on the biological, environmental and agricultural sciences.
When in the program, Jalisa will work one-on-one with research faculty and research groups in state-of-the-art laboratories for six weeks. She will work on an additional project and a journal-quality paper and symposium presentation about her work. Besides the scientific research, the UCD-YSP strives to introduce participants to the climate and culture of living and working on a university campus.
Raisinville Elementary School fifth grader Cole Mayse received a great new iPad for being a 2015 Contest Winner “Recognizing Excellence in Music” for a song he wrote and recorded. The contest was sponsored by Kroger and two Detroit radio stations and was held to honor and recognize outstanding achievement in commemorating Black History Month. “We are so proud of Cole for the song he wrote and for his taking the top prize in his category,” said Ms. Mary Ann Cyr, Raisinville principal. “He is a multi-talented young man and a great representative of the students we have at Raisinville.” The chorus of the song goes,
“I wanna be the one. I wanna be the guy.
Freedom for the weak. Freedom for their lives.
I wanna be the one. I wanna open the doors.
Freedom for us all. Freedom. Hear our roars.”
To hear Cole’s song in its entirety, just click on this link. http://youtu.be/I0gNpDeTkQc
Everybody is s suspect in “CLUE the Musical” to be staged this coming weekend by the Theatre Company of Monroe High School. The show will be presented four times. This engaging and interactive musical is based on the popular board game, CLUE. The plot concerns a murder at the mansion, occupied by several people. The audience is asked to solve the murder. Cast members are Mary Stehulak, Austin Bray, Zachary Everly, Jarod Kimble, Michaela Foulkrod, Krissy Castellese, Haley Langmeyer, Taryn Michaels, oseph Pilgrim and Curtis Jewell. The show will be presented four times. Dates and times for the show are: Friday, May 1 – 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 2 – 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, May 3, 7 p.m. The show will be presented at the Monroe High School Auditorium. “The end is determined by audience members who select the murderer, murder weapon and location of the murder,” said Sue Sacks, Monroe High School drama teacher who directs the production. “Based on the cards drawn, the show has 216 possible endings, with interchangeable dialogue between the characters that is delivered as the story unfolds.” This show is presented as a dinner theater with a dessert buffet served during intermission. Tickets are $15 each and can only be bought or reserved before the performance. To purchase or reserve tickets, please call 265-3538.
The Monroe High School Orchestra earned a First Division rating in Class AA at Michigan School Band and Orchestra State Festival at Redford Thurston High School Thursday night (April 23.)
“This is an amazing accomplishment for our orchestra students and a true testament to the hard work and dedication of these musicians. I could not be more proud of them,” said MHS Orchestra Director Ann Felder.
This was the first time that the MHS Orchestra ever participated in the state festival program, Mrs. Felder said, and was only of only five Class AA orchestras across Michigan to perform in the festival this year.
The orchestra qualified to participate in the state festival by getting first division ratings from every judge in the class AA district festival in March.
The classification system for bands and orchestras runs similarly to the athletic groupings and is based on the school’s enrollment. The theory is that larger schools have a bigger pool of students to draw from and therefore the top groups should be able to play more difficult music. It is not uncommon for schools to have 2 or 3 bands and students are placed in groups by audition, much like varsity, JV, and freshmen sports teams. The top group plays at the school’s enrollment classification and each group after that is allowed to step down 2 classifications. In other words, the top ensemble would compete at AA, the second group at class B and the third group at class D. Monroe High School only has one orchestra though, and more than half of the members are freshmen, making this year’s accomplishment particularly noteworthy.
Congratulations and good luck to Monroe High junior Cameron Craig who made an Olympic Trial cut time in the 100 meter backstroke. Cameron now will compete in Omaha, Nebraska, for a berth in the summer Olympics in 2016, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Monroe High School Senior Mary Stehulak has been chosen to play percussion for the Michigan Youth Arts Festival (MYAF) Honors Band, the second straight year she has been invited to perform with an elite state musical group. When she was a junior, she played percussion in the MYAF Honors Orchestra.
“It is always a great honor for a student to be chosen to participate in the MYAF but for Mary to do it two years in a row – one year in the orchestra and the next year in the band – is extremely rare. This selection is a fitting tribute to the musical talent that Mary has,” said James Nuechterlein, Monroe High School instrumental music director.
The Michigan Youth Arts Festival is held at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo May 4-9. It is a comprehensive arts spectacular, resulting from a nine-month search for the finest artistic talent in Michigan high schools. More than 250,000 students across Michigan are judged in music, dance, theater, creative writing, visual art and media arts and only 1,000 of them are invited to participate in the festival.
Mary qualified because her performance on her xylophone solo at the Michigan State Band and Orchestra Association State Solo and Ensemble contest in March was judged high enough to be invited to play percussion in the MYAF Honors Band.
College, careers, students, and families will be the highlight of a series of targeted efforts toward building a “college-going culture” within Monroe Public Schools. This series of events will commence on Monday, April 27th, and will culminate with a Decision Day program at Monroe High School on Friday, May 1st. Decision Day is a nationally recognized day when high school seniors declare their decision for where they are headed post-graduation. This year, Monroe High School is expanding their Decision Day celebration by including a 2-day College and Career Fair prior to the program, which is set to include participation from almost 70 institutions, including colleges and universities, technical and trade associations, military representatives, local employers, and community resources.
“This is one part of our major shift in focus to adopt a college-going culture at Monroe High School, and it really begins even in the elementary schools,” says Monroe High School Principal, Valerie Orr.
On Tuesday, April 28th, staff members of Monroe High School will be taking a group of high school seniors to tour the district’s five elementary schools, talking to students about the importance of planning for their future, even in their young age. At the high school, students will complete varied lessons dealing with post-secondary planning, as well as contribute to the excitement of the week by wearing their favorite college gear and decorating posters to showcase the decisions they have made for their future.
The Monroe Public Schools Annual College and Career Fair will be held at the high school on Thursday, April 30th from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and on Friday, May 1st from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. Trojan families and parents of younger children are invited to participate in this event so they, too, can begin to learn about post-secondary options for their children: “We realize that many parents who have children in elementary grades may not have begun to think about what their children will do after they graduate from Monroe High School, but this is a good time to start, even for parents of young children. With the institutions we will be hosting at Monroe High School, parents and children will have a great opportunity to hear about the future possibilities of a post-secondary education. We are proud and excited to host this event for all interested families” (Principal Valerie Orr). Young children will also have entertainment, as universities’ Mascots, such as Rocky from the University of Toledo, will be present at this event to interact with them and get them excited.
The Decision Day program will be celebrated at 12 p.m. on Friday, May 1st in the auditorium of Monroe High School. During this event, Monroe High School seniors will take turns declaring their post-secondary plans, and those entering college, trade school, or the military will sign a letter of intent. Representatives from the many participating institutions will join the celebration by welcoming their newly admitted students. The featured speaker for this event is Monroe High School alumni, McKenzie Kuehnlein, who now serves as a news reporter for WTVG TV in Toledo, Ohio.
The Decision Day program will also be streamed live on YouTube, allowing proud parents, family members, and friends to participate in the celebration, regardless of their location. Additionally, teachers from Monroe Public Schools are being encouraged to allow their classes to watch the event live via YouTube, hopefully realizing that one day, they too, will be able to participate and declare their post-secondary plan.