Lakeland Continues to Give to Others

In the spirit of the Holiday season, we would like to highlight our counseling department and counselor Lynne Burton who spearheaded our annual Family Assistance Program. This program assisted 35 students and their families so that they would have Christmas presents which include clothing, toys, books and other essential items . The Lakeland staff , Lakeland families and our greater community donated all of the finances as well as gifts for these families.

Watching our staff lounge turn into Santa's workshop and our Student Service staff as the elves was inspirational. These people stood for hours as they wrapped each and every present to be placed under these families Christmas trees.

This program is part of a year long effort to help any Lakeland family who is need knowing that the holiday season is the busiest time. This program is just another example of how the Lakeland High School community takes care of each other.

We, Mr. Kay and Ms. Mosher, hope that you will follow the lead of this program and remember to help others during this holiday season and all year long. On behalf the entire Lakeland administration we hope you have a restful break and a Happy New Year. We will see all of our students back on January 3.

Lipdub Shows LHS Spirit!!

On wednesday during the seminar period, Lakeland High School participated in their first ever lipdub. If you are not sure what a lipdub is, here is a youtube example courtesy of our neighbors at Milford High School: www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8p_RiLIuaA .While the LHS final product is not available fo viewing quite yet, I wanted to take a chance to thank the leadership students for taking on this project. It was really great to see such a wide variety of student groups come together to show school pride. Athletic teams, bands, student groups, classrooms and even office staff all made an appearance during the video. The lipdub is just another example of the great things our students can do when they work together for a common purpose. GO EAGLES!!

-M. Fray

The Holidays Are Coming

There is so much holiday spirit going on at Lakeland High School right now. First, the successful Toys for Tots last week began our holiday feelings. Wednesday, we have our annual Holiday choir concert which people should come out an see. Ms. Wrobel has done an excellent job of getting more students involved in choir and has prepared these young men and women for an excellent concert. If you walk the halls you will see posters for all holidays so that our diverse population can all appreciate whichever holiday they choose to celebrate. On Wednesday, we the school will participate in our first lipdub which will showcase all that we are at Lakeland High School.

During this time of year, we look at each other with appreciation and wonder as the spirit moves each and everyone of us.

Have a great holiday season.

Your Student's Teachers

While your student was able to leave at 11:19 for an early release day, their teachers spend the afternoon discussing ways to increase student achievement and how to make Lakeland High School and even better place for them to be on a daily basis. Teachers conducted discussions on what it means to be instructional leaders and creating quality instruction across our building. Furthermore, teachers looked at the building Professional Learning Communities. These PLC's are created to make sure that students are learning at the highest level and that the building is a place of spirit and high morale. Remember that the Lakeland High School teachers are constantly working to improve their teaching strategies to engage your student and make curriculum relevent to the world.

Remember, as we get closer to the holiday season, to send your student's teachers thanking them for all they do on a daily basis.

LHS Students Give Back

Every year I look forward to today's Toys-for-Tots party because it is a reminder of the truly great people that LHS students are. Throughout the day, our students spent time interacting with young guests whom have special needs. The genuine excitement of our guests and our students was on display during games, art projects, movies, music, dancing, lunch and a visit from Santa! This event continues to be an amazing representation of what a group of students can do when united around a single purpose. This year's party was made possible in part by a student body at LHS that raised in excess of $10,000 worth of donations and pledges. A special thank you must be extended to Scott Rolando and his leadership students for taking the lead on this special event.

Winter Athletics and LHS

Winter Sports – What a Winter Sports Wonderland it is -

13 varsity and 7 sub-varsity teams are in the early stages of their sports seasons. Approximately 400 athletes, 340 athletic contests, 10,000 spectators, 1900 practices, 337 officials, 34 bus trips, 27 coaches and 3 academic grade checks encompass a busy season of high school athletics. The demographics listed above only scratch the surface in a winter sports wonderland.

In order for Lakeland student-athletes to enjoy their athletic experience it takes a group of individuals that I consider to be unsung heroes. Between, Thanksgiving recess, winter break, PLAN / MME testing, early release days, and final exams, somehow, Lakeland coaches and athletes manage to get through a constant flow of calendar transitions. With that said, it clearly takes more than just coaches and athletes to trek through a busy sports season.

Not intentially, yet, often overlooked, the unsung heroes of an athletic season are overshadowed by highlights of a successful sports season. Attempting to calculate data regarding the questions below challenges even the best mathematician. With the utmost respect for our unsung heroes, I ask you to consider these questions…

How many times do parents unconditionally transport or provide gas money for their kids during the winter sports season?
How many Booster volunteers do we have working our concession stand in order to provide food and beverages to our spectators during the winter sports season?
How many volunteer team managers, scorekeepers, and statisticians do we have participating on teams to assist coaches during the winter sports season?
How many times and how many custodians do we have participating in the clean-up of locker rooms, athletic facilities, and commons areas to make it a safe and enjoyable environment for our athletes during the winter sports season?
How many ticket takers, announcers, security personnel, and bus drivers do we need during a winter sports season to keep athletics running efficiently?
How many times will our athletic trainer assist an athlete with an injury or assist in the education of injury prevention during this winter sports season?

The message is simple, the enormity of a winter sports season is often overlooked, especially the people behind the scenes who are an integral part of an athlete’s athletic experience. In the spirit of the holiday season, I am thankful and appreciative of all those connected to our athletic programs. Let’s make it a wonderful winter season. Go Eagles!

Greg Michaels, Lakeland Athletic Director

Testing

Each year our students take a variety of standardized tests. In October it was the MEAP for the 9th graders, today it was PLAN for 10th grade and in March it will be the ACT/MME for the 11th graders. The piece that always hits me is that we put around 350 students in the Fieldhouse for this test and everything goes smoothly. This is a grand testement to how great the students of Lakeland High School tend to be. I have friends in other districts who say that their students are unruly and disrespectful during testing. Not here at Lakeland!! Our students cooperate both during the test and after when they have to take down all the tables and chairs and get them ready to be picked up.

Why are the students so cooperative you may ask? The answer is first they are good kids and second because we have a staff that shows our students respect and dignity in all situations. When these tests days come, it gives me time to pause and appreciate, again, the student body and faculty of Lakeland High School.

Let's Get It Started!!

Hello All!

Well it is that time of year again. The time of the year when the students hit the hardwood, the ice, the pool, the cheer mats, the wrestling mats, the slopes, and the half pipe. Yes the big start of the winter sports season is upon us here at Lakeland High School! I know that many students are looking forward to participating in winter sports and that many students are even more excited about going out to cheer on their friends and classmates playing those sports. Even the staff is excited for the start of winter sports as I am starting to see the basketball gear, hockey gear, and other Lakeland winter sports gear starting to get worn again. In recent years we have had some great success here at Lakeland including winning the North Division title in girls cheerleading last year, and some great success in boys swim and dive and boardercross. We have our first three home basketball games this week, as our boys team opens up the season here at Lakeland on Tuesday, Dec 6th, taking on Wayne Memorial. Our girls are home this Friday also taking on Wayne Memorial. Our boys are home again this Thursday when they take on the Pirates of Pinckney in a renewal of an old KVC battle that goes way back and a new KLAA battle. Our hockey team is also off to a good start winning some games on a recent trip to the Soo on their annual U.P. road trip. Cheerleading is home starting next week and wrestling to follow soon. Take a look at www.lakelandhs.com and click on the link for sports schedules to see when you can follow your favorite Lakeland team this winter sports season!

I would also like to send a big shout out to the Lakeland students and the community the over 1,000 pieces of food donated to Lakeland for the annual Holiday Food Drive. Your help goes a long, long way to feed the hungry in our White Lake community. Well on top of that we have our annual Toys for Tots party for Handicapped Children this Thursday Dec 8th. We are looking forward to a great time at this event and an even better time helping those in need this holiday season. Well as you can see we have a ton of great things happening here at Lakeland and I hope to see you at a Lakeland event sometime in the near future!! GO EAGLES!!

Helping Us Help Others

Since 2007, I have been taking our students to work with Habitat for Humanity down in Florida. Our students have had the opportunity to work in both the East and Central Pasco Habitat and the Leesburg Habitat. The are both located north of Orlando. We have been fortunate enough to frame homes, side homes, build fences, sod, paint, clean up a home that is now a refurbished Habitat home and work at the Habitat Thrift Store to insure that these agencies would have enough money to build homes for those who are living in sub standardized housing. Here are a few things that you should know about Habitat home owners:

1. They are not homeless.
2. They must have a job and be able to pay their interest free monthly mortgage.
3. They must put in or find family to put in 500 sweat equity hours into their home or to help another Habitat recipient with their home.

Habitat for Humanity was not started by Jimmy Carter but he helped to make it a well known organization with affiliates in all 50 states and worldwide.

I have been volunteering for them since 1998 and cannot tell you the joy it brings me when I take students and they see, first hand, what poverty can truly look like. Last year, I took 15 students in February and another 12 in April. Some say why do you go all the way to Florida when we have poverty in our own backyard and that is a valid question. I have found, over the years, that students need to be spurred on in some manner. By going to Florida, they initially think warm vacation. By time we are done, they are thinking how can I bring this sense of community service by to my own community. This may not happen right away but it will happen over time.

How can you help Lakeland High School continue to help others in this manner:

1. Have your junior or senior sign up for this experience which is being offered both in February and over spring break in April. Information is in the associate principal's office but spaces are filling fast. In order for students to join they must have a positive discipline record as well as good attendance as the February trip results in 4 missed school days and the April trip in 2 missed school days.
2. Make a donation to help keep our costs down. The cost of the trip seems high but it also includes having to pay for the staffing as well. If people help by making personal monetary donations we can keep the staff costs away from our participants thus allowing us to make a larget monetary donation to the Habitat affiliate. A letter will be sent to you for tax purposes and checks can be made to LHS with Habitat Experience in the memo line.
3. Have your company become a sponsor of our trip. Any company who makes a donation of $500 or more will be included in all mailings, listserves, blogs and newspaper articles. This is a great way to get some PR for your company by helping us teach the next generation about charity both at home and away.

Time for a Fresh Start!!

With all of the craziness that accompanies this time of year, one exciting opportunity is often missed. On Monday, December 12th, students will all be given the opportunity to have a fresh start in their classes. While it seems hard to believe, LHS students have already completed two marking periods. This is a great chance for struggling students to start over or for well-performing students to focus in on a final push to midterm exams. Remember, only the semester grade will find its way onto the students' transcript. This semester grade is an average of each of the three marking periods and the midterm exam. So... take advantage of this great opportunity to have a fresh start and make it count!!

by Mike Fray

Teaching at it's Best

Over the past month I have been sitting inside classrooms witnessing exceptional instruction. Teachers are conscientious of the hour they spend with students often breaking the lesson up into 3 different activities to keep students engaged. I have seen innovative teaching strategies to help reinforce concepts, relationship building with students setting forth the desire to learn and questioning techniques that have students think. When I observed Ms. Piagentini’s class students participated in a circle discussion. Students were facilitating a dialogue of their reading with only minimal guidance from the teacher. I have seen teachers building relationships with students and empowering them to help their peers in learning concepts, as witnessed in Ms. Gilbert’s class. Teachers are having students “think.” Instead of students being exposed to “sit and get,” teachers are asking students why and how they concluded an answer or concept. In Ms. Agne’s class, students who gave an answer were then asked why, requiring them to add support to the answers

Good Times!

Hello!

Welcome back from the Thanksgiving Break. I hope that it was a great and restful break for everyone. With 3 weeks between now and the Holiday Break, we are looking forward to some great times upcoming! One of our biggest events of the year is the annual Toys for Tots event. This year's party is on Dec 8th in the Lakeland Aux Gym. Lakeland is known for this holiday event all across Oakland County and we are so very proud to host this event again this year. At the Toys for Tots Bowl-A-Thon we raised close to $6,000 to help us fund the party and the other events that go on around the party. This is wa HUGE amount and we had a record turnout at the bowling alley. It was awesome to see so many LHS Students and community members turnout for such a great event to help raise money for our Tots program. Congrats!

Also this week, the large portion of the Winter sports seasons start playing contests this week, and we love our winter sports here at Lakeland! Good Luck to all of the winter sports!

Well we hope you have a great week!

Mr. Scott Rolando

Giving Thanks

We are almost three months into the school year and there is a great deal to give thanks for. First off, I give thanks every day to work with the incredible staff that we have at Lakeland. Not just the teachers but every member of the team who works to make your students experience here positive.

I am thankful for the students of Lakeland High School as they are, overall, people of high values who respect why it is they are here every day. The high percentage of our student come each day on time and ready to learn. These students adhere to our policies and respect the process when something does not go right.

I am thankful that we have a parent body who understands and supports the policies of Lakeland High School and realizes that we are here every day to reinforce education for their child. It is great to have such a partnership which allows us to have a high attendance rate and students who achieve at high levels.

I am thankful for the opportunity to teach and administrate in a district that put's each students needs first and attempts to treat their staff with respect.

I wish each of your families a Happy Thanksgiving.

Helping Others

For the last couple of weeks, Lakeland High School students have been collecting can food to give to the less fortunate during this holiday day season. Led by the Leadership Class, students have amassed a nice amount of food so that others can have a holiday that befits this time of year.

The Lakeland Family Assistance program runs all year and is led by our counseling department. This program takes financial donations to assist families in our building who may be facing hard times due to the economy or other issues such as house fires, etc. During the holiday season, this program helps families have meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also, it is this program that adopts families who have needs to make their holiday season complete. If you would like to adopt a family or help out financially please contact Lynne Burton at burtonl@huronvalley.k12.mi.us

Another helping opportunity is the annual Habitat for Humanity build. This experience is led by Associate Principal Marc Kay and will take place the weeks of February 21 - 28 and April 3-10. Juniors and Seniors are welcome to join in on this project but spaces are limited. If you have a student who is interested in this, please have them come to the associate principals office and ask for the registration information. Last week, Mr. Kay visited several classrooms and the National Honor Society meeting to hand out the forms and they are currently coming in to the office so act quickly.

We at Lakeland make volunteering and helping others a priority. Please join us in celebrating all of these opportunities.

Be The Change supports Lakeland's Caring Community

In an effort to help educate our students on the importance of being positive members of a community, Lakeland High School continues to push the Caring Community Initiative. While the staff driven portion of the initiative is valuable and can make a difference with students, a real impact is going to be made by student initiatives. One great example of student looking to positively impact LHS is the Be The Change club. This group of students is sponsored by English teacher Ms. Piagentini. Currently, the group is creating a gratitude tree outside the LHS main office. This tress is being filled with leaves that express all of the things LHS students are grateful for. Each day in the lunchroom, Be The Change students are having students fill out leaves that start with the phrase "I'm grateful for..." It has been really neat to watch the tree grow each day. A big pat on the back to the Be The Change club!!

Interventions for Your Student

At Lakeland we make sure that there are several ways for our students to achieve. If your student is struggling in any way we have so many excellent options so that they can make sure that they are on track for graduation at all times. These options include:

1. Meet with their teacher. This is always the best way for students to get help. They may have to stay after school but we have an amazing staff who is willing to stay with their students.
2. Writing Center- This is open every day during lunch for students to come in and work on their writing from any class. They work with trained peer editors to assist in making their papers a great product.
3. Math Center- The math lab is open on two afternoons a week and during seminar on Wednesday. This center is staffed by Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Gilmore along with several students. They are there for any level of math assistance.
4. National Honor Society Tutoring- NHS students are available Tuesdays during lunch, Wednesdays during Seminar and Thursdays after school. All students have to do is sign up outside the Career Center. This is a great opportunity for students to get help from other students in any subject for which they need assistance.

We have other excellent interventions as well which will be spoken of in future blogs. The key is that LHS students are fortunate to have many different ways to get the assistance they need for their academics. Please discuss these with your student when they are in need of help so they can get the best grades possible.

Career Day...What a Success

Today, all the juniors enjoyed an experience going to sessions with speakers in areas in which they might be interested in for their future. Watching our students interacting, asking questions and thinking about their futures was in a word, awesome. One of the most amazing sights to be seen was at the end of one of the sessions when each and every student in the room walked by each of the panel members, shook their hands and thanked them. This is what Lakeland represents: a community where our students appreciate those people who look out for them and who are willing to give thanks for these people. Lakeland is full of amazing young people who often do not get the credit they deserve because of perceptions of teenagers or of foolish nicknames for our school. I am proud each and every day of these students who want to succeed and who represent their generation with pride. We should all be proud of our students each and every day.

I want to acknowledge our school to work director, Jenny Alfano, who put together this amazing program. It is the dedication of Ms. Alfano that ensures that our students are aware of the opportunities in their future. She deserves our thanks and if our student came home and told about today feel free to email her at alfanoj@huronvalley.k12.mi.us and thank her for putting your students future first.

Veterans Day Ceremony a HUGE Success!

On this special day, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the tremendous job Brian Howe and his students did in putting on the 5th annual Veterans Day Ceremony. This years ceremony was the biggest yet, with 47 local veterans and 600 plus students in attendance. I would also like to extend a special thank you to LHS teacher and Veteran Derek Rupp for his inspirational speech about the experience of serving our country. Many of the veterans expressed their gratitude to the students and shared with the staff how impressed they were by the students of LHS. One veteran in particular shared the following:

"You know, I didn't have a very good opinion of the youth of America. After today, I was wrong. There is hope."

Thank you Brian Howe, Derek Rupp, local Veterans and LHS students for a wonderful ceremony!

So Much in One Week

I apologize for the lack of blogging this week but it has been very busy. Tuesday was Professional Development. I want to tell you that your faculty takes this PD very seriously spending the morning working with their Milford High School Cohort and the afternoon discussing what it means to create quality instruction and to be a quality instructor.

Thursday was the Veteran's Ceremony which was moving and impressive at the same time. Seeing all these veterans from as far back as World War II and hearing from our own teacher, Derek Rupp, brought tears to they eyes of many. A special thanks goes out to Social Studies teacher Brian Howe who has been putting together this ceremony for several years.

Also on Thursday, over 70 students and staff left for the Walled Lake Nature Center to take part in our annual Communication Camp. I will write more about this later but suffice to say that as I write this at 12:30 am every participant is truly amazing and already thinking of how to make Lakeland an even more inclusive place.

It was a great weekend to be a Lakeland Eagle!

Scott Rolando here for the Celebrate Good Times Blog!

This past weekend was a great weekend to be a Lakeland Eagle! With so many groups, sports, and other clubs that we offer at Lakeland, this past weekend really showed off the talent we have in many different areas here at Lakeland.

It all started Friday night when our Eagles took on the Mavericks of Milford in the MHSAA District Final for Girls Volleyball. Our Eagles came out with a hard fought 3 game win to defeat the Mavs and to win the District Title! All of the girls played hard and defeating Milford to win the title was a great feeling all around. Our fans were awesome and I know that the team enjoyed winning the title on our home floor. Moving into Saturday, our Lakeland Marching Band, getting to LHS at 4am, competed at 8:15am in the Michigan Competing Band Association Flight I State Finals. First out of the gate can be very hard in any event but our Eagles rose to the challenge and claimed 8th place out of 12 bands in their flight. Later in the day, in Brooklyn MI our Lakeland Boys Cross Country team and our lone female runner Senior Morgan Bridgewater, took to the course at Michigan International Speedway in the MHSAA Cross Country State Finals. With over 230 runners in the field Lakeland Senior Garret Zuk finished in 1ST PLACE to win the MHSAA Individual State Championship! Lakeland runner Scott Neff also finished in the top 30 earning him All State Honors. Senior Morgan Bridgewater finished 26th out of 238 female runners to also claim All State honors!

So as you can see we have a lot to be proud of here at Lakeland, even more so this week. GO EAGLES!

Get Involved!

Through out the school year, Lakeland High School offers students a wide variety of actvities. Our hope is that all students participate in a co-curricular activity. It is no secret that students who are actively involved in co-curricular activities become attached to school and value their experiences. It is also a proven fact that academic achievement increases when students are involved in co-curricular activities. With these things in mind, I want to remind everyone that the Winter Sports Season is right around the corner. All of our Winter Sports are currently holding informational meetings and planning the beginning of their respective seasons. If your student is interested in participating in a sport now is the time! Please have the student contact the athletic office to find out the latest information on the upcoming sport's season! And if sports are not for your student, please encourage them to look for other opportunitites to become involved in a club or student activity. Remember... students that are involved are more connected to the school and ultimately experience greater academic success.

Helping the Huron Valley High School Community

The Leadership Management Team of Huron Valley consists of all administrative members of the district. Each year the LMT group raises money to give a $1000 scholarship to each of the three high schools. This is a great opportunity for our students to be able to assist their college education. Please read the following and consider helping out on this project thus enabling us to help students:

I would like to tell you about an exciting event planned to raise money for the Leadership Team Scholarship that will not cost you any money, only a little time. The LaFontaine Automotive Group has partnered with HVS to offer "Ride and Drive" to raise money for the LMT Scholarship. They will donate $20 for each person who test drives one of their cars (Buick, Cadillac, GM or Nissan) on Saturday, November 19th from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Milford High School. Pre-registration is highly recommended but not required. Each person who does pre register is entered in a drawing for 4 Red Wing tickets with parking. We hope that you will sign up and encourage others to participate.

To register, please go to http://hvs.familydealvideo.com to sign up for this opportunity.

On behalf of the Lakeland High School students and the Leadership Management Team I thank you for helping out to help raise the funds for these scholarships.

New, Good Teacher

Did you actually know how great the teachers at Lakeland truly are? I am fortunate enough to be able to visit classrooms and watch our teachers in action. Today, I went into Mr. Bachelor's biology class and could not have been happier. Mr. Bachelor came to Lakeland from Milford High School and based on my interactions with him and watching him in the classroom today we are very fortunate to have him on our staff. He led his students into the world of Mitosis in ways in which showed respect of their learning. Mr Bachelor is just one of the many assets we have at Lakeland and please continue reading the blog as I continue to highlight other incredible faculty at Lakeland.

Bullying and Harassment and our Caring Community

In a Caring Community such as Lakeland High School, it is important that all stakeholders have a clear understanding and buy in to the expectations that are set within the school. One set expectation is not bullying and harassing. Based on media push, we have done a good job of educating our students about this topic. Last year our counselors began a character education program in the 10th grade about why bulling and harassing is not appropriate at all but especially in the school setting. In the next few weeks, counselors will begin to work with this years 10th graders on the same topic. Please have conversations with your students about this topic and how seemingly innocent comments, social media posts or texts can become hurtful if people hear about what has been said. We live in a society where drama run rampant. There are few secrets in the hallways of a high school and students can get hurt even when that is not the intention. It is important that all students feel safe and confident when coming into our school.

A caring community is one where all people: teachers, students and parents give information to our students to take care of all the people in their community even if they are not in our circle of friends.

Good Times!

Hey!

Scott Rolando here rolling out the weekly blog. I am very proud to say that after a good season that our Lakeland Marching Band had a great show this past Saturday at the HVI, Huron Valley Invite, (see blog below) and finished the season 8th in the state! This is a huge accomplishment for them and we congratulate them on a great season so far. They travel to Ford Field in Detroit for the Michigan Competing Bands Association State Finals this weekend! Flight I finals, which we are in, start at 8:15am. Tickets are $16/person. Come on out and support the band! If you can't make it to that, our Lakeland Boyis Cross Country Team and lone girl runner Morgan Bridgewater will be competing in the MHSAA State Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn on Saturday. Our boys team finished 3rd at the regional this past Friday to qualify for the state finals. Senior Garrret Zuk finished 2nd in the ENTIRE REGIONAL with a new personal record and leads the team into the finals. Morgan finished in the top runners of the girls regional to qualify as a individual for the finals, while the team finished 9th in a tough girls regional. Congrats to all and good luck girls volleyball as they host MHSAA Volleyball districts all this week here at Lakeland!

It really has been a great fall here at Lakeland and as we look toward the winter, I see other great event upcoming, like the Lakeland Toys for Tots Holiday Party for Handicapped Children, a Lakeland lipdub that we are working on to promote school spirit and pride, and the winter sports season. I am looking forward to a great rest of the 1st semester! Thanks!

So Many Offering

Last night was the annual Fall Choir concert. The concert was well attended and well performed. The choir sounded better than ever under the direction of Ms. Erinn Wrobel. Ms. Wrobel has done an incredible job working with our students who have an interest in the choir. We have more students than in many years in the choir and we know that Oak Valley and White Lake have strong choirs which will continue the resurgence of the Lakeland choir program.

Two weeks ago and again on Saturday, the band will host the HVI (Huron Valley Invitational). This all day event allows students from school in the area showcase their band abilities. We know that our band often is a leader in these events as our first place finish last week at the West Bloomfield Invitational. The Lakeland band, under the direction of Bob Green, goes on at 9:30 as the last band of the evening followed by the award ceremony. Come out and watch our band students continue their glory. I want to also thank the band for a renewed interest in not only their halftime shows but also for staying and playing in the stands at a couple of games and the drumline for adding to the excitement in the student section.

Lastly, our Lakeland thespians in conjunction with the Lakeland Players have their fall play taking place Nov. 10-13. Please purchase a ticket and support this fine group of students in the theater.

One of the prides of Lakeland is that our students have so many opportunities to find an activity in which they can shine.

END OF MP 1... A FRESH START or CONTINUED SUCCESS?

With marking period 1 recently coming to end, most students find themselves in one of two places with their grades. For many of our students the new Marking Period is simply a continuation of their academic success from the previous 6 weeks. However, a number of our students also look at the new marking period as an opportunity to get a fresh start in a class that did not go so well the first 6 weeks. Which ever place a student finds themselves, the staff at Lakeland High School is here to help. For any student needing help with a writing assignment, Mrs. Miska's writing center is up and running! If a student needs help completing an assignment or understanding new material, tutoring is easily accessible from NHS students in the Career Center. Coming soon will be a Math Support Center for students who just can't understand why Alternate Interior Angles are equal?!?! In addition to these support opportunities, our counseling department will be meeting with struggling 9th grade students in their Freshmen Focus groups, Mr. Fray will be gathering 10th graders for the Sophomore Success Series, Mr. Kay will chasing 11th graders around about their post-secondary plans, and Mrs. Mosher will be planning a final exam study session (with cookies!). So whether its a fresh start, or continued success, the new marking period is an opportunity for all students to reach their full potential :)

The wonderful world of Student Activities

Hey!

Scott Rolando here blogging today. Mr. Kay let me take a spin at the blog and I figured what the heck! As you know I spend a lot of time my living in the world of student activities. The world of clubs, programs, leadership groups, and honor societies. I am very proud of all the various clubs and activities that we have here at Lakeland. Tonight is the annual National Honor Society induction ceremony, at 7pm and everyone is welcome to attend! The NHS group is one of the hardest working groups here at Lakeland andI know that tonight they will shine. With all the hours of community service they put in and by doing such things as blood drives they really are making a difference in our community and in our world. Congrats to all the new NHS members and congrats to ALL of the NHS members on making a difference! Have a great one!

Our Parental Community

One of the great aspects of LHS is our parent community. This was clearly evident last week and today at parent teacher conferences. It is so wonderful to see parents who clearly take an active role in their student's lives and to make sure that they are working to potential. It was as equally gratifying to see parents who have students in multiple AP or honors classes who came to hear teachers speak highly about their child as it was to see the parent working with teachers to see how we could intervene with struggling students.

LHS is an awesome place and that is due to the fact that we have parents who care about their children's education, respect our teachers and are willing to take the time to come and understand what it is that we do here each day.

Are you ready for some football?

Tonight is a big game for Lakeland High School and our White Lake community. The big rivalry game vs. the MHS Mavericks. A win tonight by the Eagles could mean a possible playoff spot and spoiler role. The Milford team desperately needs to win to get in the playoffs. This game should be exciting!

The weather is going to be cool but perfect for a football game. Let's hope for the same perfect outcome when it comes to the final score... a crushing Eagle victory. So, this is an all call for a large crowd! I look forward to seeing our staff on the visitor's sideline cheering on the boys.

In a tradition begun last year, our cross country team will be running the game ball from our school across town to the Milford stadium. Rumor has it the losing school administration will wear the attire of the winning team on Monday.

Come on out and cheer on the Eagles to victory and celebrate good times!!

LHS rewards Positive Student Behaviors

As part of the Caring Community Initiative at Lakeland High School staff members have been recognizing students for actions that help create a positive school culture. These actions have ranged from picking up trash in the hallway without being asked to mediating a disagreement between fellow students. It is our hope that recognition of these behaviors will empower students to ensure Lakeland is a safe and caring environment for everyone.

The process goes like this: Teachers acknowledge a student's positive behavior by filling out a ticket that shares the student's name and positive behavior. The ticket is given to the student and the student drops the ticket in the Caring Community Box in the main office. Every Friday four tickets are drawn and read over the school wide announcements. The students' whose tickets are drawn receive a homemade chocolate eagle head courtesy of Foods Teacher Ms. Skufca.

The following students have had their tickets pulled this year:

9th Grade: Tiffany Azo, Adriana Ball, Luke Ells and Ryan McHale

10th Grade: Amanda Heath, Josh Smith and Zach Terwillegar

11th Grade: Grant Kirchner, Richard Kirkland, Mike Markley, Lauren Shamo, Brenden Trembath and Kourtney Tschirhart

12th Grade: Corey Armstrong, Max Cullen and Jillian Klapec

We would like to thank these students and the more than 250 other students who have already been nominated this year!

Knowing Your Administration

One of the great joys of being an administrator is getting to know students and parents. Please come in during conferences and introduce yourself and say hello. Many people think that the associate principals wake up in the morning and can't wait to discipline. Well, this is farthest from the truth. In fact, we live for the days when students are not written up or have discipline issues. This allows us to walk the hallways, stop in on classes and talk with students about their day.

As we have a new administrative team, let me give you a few facts about who we are:

Mr. Paul Gmelin is known to many of you as your student worked with him when they were at White Lake. Mr. Gmelin is a product of the Huron Valley School District and a graduate of Milford High School. After college, he came back to his home district and has been a teacher, assistant principal (at Lakeland), principal at White Lake and now has returned to Lakeland as principal.

Mr. Marc Kay has been associate principal for 2 years. Prior to this, he was an English and Social Studies teacher at Lakeland as well as Dean of Students. Intervention is very important to him as is creating positive relationships with all students. He runs the annual Communication Camp and has been taking students down to Florida to do Habitat builds during spring break.

Ms. Liz Mosher is our newest addition just starting a couple of weeks ago. Ms. Mosher comes to us from the Farmington Public School District where she was a teacher in the business department. She is very excited to come to Lakeland and begin her administrative career.

Mr. Greg Michaels is our athletic director. He has held this position for eight years and came from the classroom in Farmington Public Schools. Mr. Michaels has a passion for athletics but not for just the wins and losses but also for the positive impact it can have on these young men and women.

Mr. Mike Fray is our Dean of Students and this is his third year. He came to us from Milford High School where he was a math teacher. He is also a coach for the JV football team at Milford as well as had been a basketball coach at Highland Middle School. He continues to grow in this position helping to make our students successful at Lakeland.

Please get to know these people as they are here to make your students experience at Lakeland the best it can for four years.

Connecting with the Staff

There are so many ways to connect with your student's teachers as Lakeland. First, come out on Thursday, October 20 or Tuesday, October 25 for conferences. It should not matter if your student is a 4.0 person or less you should come and meet those adults who are working with your young adult.

Another way is through email. Send one and introduce yourself and give any information that may help the teacher work with your child. Let them know that you are part of a partnership between home and the school to insure that your student is successful during their time at Lakeland.

Third, all teachers are working on a webpage or a Moodle page. Get the information from your student on how to access these pages. This will allow you to see what is going on in their classrooms, see a calendar of up coming test, quizzes and projects or to see what homework sheets have been attached. What a great way to quietly keep track of what is going on academically with your student.

Know that our teachers want to work with you to insure that all students receive the best education and experience. By creating a positive partnership, you and the teacher will be able to work with your student through all positive and constructive situations.

If you come to conferences stop by and introduce yourself to the administration as well and you are always welcome to email us with all the positive experiences your young adult is having at Lakeland High School.

A Caring Community

What a great day of Pink here at Lakeland High School. To support Breast Cancer Awareness Month, students and staff work pink to school and will be wearing pink to tonights football game. It is great when the LHS community comes together for a cause such as Breast Cancer Awareness.

I would also like to share a couple comments from some staff today about things going on in our classrooms and buildings:

From Mrs. Amann:

Students have awakened their Spanish minds from the summer break. I have had a couple of Spanish 1 students tell me that they recognized a word in a Spanish portion of a pop song and knew its meaning.

I had two Spanish 3 students tell me that they texted in Spanish to each other for over an hour.

My Spanish 4 students are starting to joke/be sarcastic in Spanish. It seems even more comical in Spanish than it would in English.

Other... Mrs. Russel's Spanish 2 students wrote letters to my Spanish 4 students and they replied to them in Spanish. It was a great way to connect students.

From school social worker Nicole Grabow:

I walked in this morning (Friday 10/14) and Lori K. said that Venus, food service director, had made up a fruit basket for us. On the basket was a note saying have a great day. I think little things like that from one person to another (or group) helps you realize that others care about you. Ultimately your mood increases and maybe in turn, will do something positive for someone else.

From Jeanine Roberto, office Para:

A freshman parent was just in to pick up his daughter. His unsolicited comment was that "he couldn't be happier" with how things were going at LHS.

This is a great community and we should all be proud. Have a great weekend and Go Eagles!!

Things from First Cardmarking

We have had great things going on over the last six weeks as reported out by many staff members. Here is a sampling of those:

Mr. Perry says:
To kick off the first ever ELA 10/U.S. History team class, we are starting the school year with a marking period-long series of games we call "The 51st State Competition." Students have formed groups, and each group has created a submission for the 51st state to the Union. Each group had to design a flag, map, and create Official State Documents for their submission. Now, every Friday, groups compete for points based on knowledge of the 50 states (everything from capital city, current governor, state symbols, nickname, etc.) as well as the United States Presidents. At the end of six weeks, the group with the most accumulated points will receive a prize. The students are having fun, learning valuable information about the country, and getting more comfortable with the team-class setting by collaborating with others in several team-building activities.

Ms. Schwarb received this email from a parent:

I just wanted to let you know that I'm very impressed with your website, it will really help us out at home knowing what's expected of Ben on a weekly basis.

From Mrs. Amann:

Today began "Conversation Wednesdays" in Spanish 4. Every Wednesday we back off on perfecting grammar and instead focus on just getting the students speaking in Spanish. The goal is for students to leave Spanish 4 comfortable using the language in every day situations. All of the students came prepared with a topic to speak about and then had to respond to impromptu follow up questions. They were awesome!

This is from Ms. Rushton our new counselor:

Coming new to a high school after being in a middle school for 17 years was a bit daunting. Just like new students, I was afraid that I wouldn't have any friends and that I wouldn't know what to do. I hope that new students have found the same wonderful experience I have had of being greeted by so many warm and friendly staff, students, and parents who are eager to help me and make me feel comfortable. I couldn't be happier. Well, maybe if we started school at 10 a.m. :)

These are just a few things making Lakeland a great place to Celebrate.

Opening Statement

School has been in session for 6 weeks now and there have been many reasons to "Celebrate Good Times." This blog will be written by each of our administrative members as well as ocassional special guests. It is our goal, through this blog, to share with our community of parents, students and community members the good things that are ocurring at LHS on a daily basis. The positive experiences happen in the areas of academics, arts, and athletics regularly. Often times, we focus on the negative frustrations of teens and high school but forget that so many times a day we have positive moments and interactions among staff and students. It is my hope that you will check on us regularly so that everyone understands how much good happens at LHS and that it is truly a gem of education. Sit back and enjoy each of our positive moments as shared by all of us at LHS.

Please feel free to sign on and make comments throughout the year about what makes LHS great and moments that we can all celebrate. This is all part of being in a caring community and making sure we know how positive high school experiences can be for all involved from our students to our parents to our staff. Let this be a place of CELEBRATING GOOD TIMES!