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!