Category Archives: Area Education

Let the (Kids)Games Begin!

June 9, 2016Area Education, City of Wyoming, Kids Activities, Local Faces, Non-Profits, Upcoming Events, VolunteersJack Ponstine, KidsGames, KidsGames West Michigan, Mike DeWitt, Shane Buist, Wyoming, Wyoming Junior HighJoanne

By: Mike DeWitt

Mike.DeWitt@wktv.org

Wyoming Public Schools closed the doors last weekend and ushered in the end of the school year. This Monday, churches and volunteers from around the area will reopen the doors to Wyoming Jr. High School and welcome in over 200 kids to participate in a worldwide, faith-based movement called KidsGames.

The idea started over a decade ago in the Middle East and Spain to give children an experience in a sporting event over the summer. Since then, KidsGames has expanded and evolved all over the world, including right here in West Michigan.

“One of the founding fathers of KidsGames International, Michael Wozniak, is local here in West Michigan,” said Jack Ponstine, the founder of KidsGames in Wyoming. “There was already an event in Byron Center, so he reached out to me to get one started in Wyoming. That was nine years ago.”

KidsGames is a free event for children entering 1st-6th grade. It is focused on making the week as fun as possible while building strong character and building a relationship in Christ. Each night starts with the whole group (kids and volunteers) meeting in the gymnasium to talk about the mission for the year. Past years have worked with Feeding America and sending sporting equipment to low-income areas. This year, the goal is to raise money for water for Flint.

After the opening meeting, kids are broken into three different groups to learn about nutrition, stories from the Bible, and play experimental games with life lessons incorporated throughout. Kids are then placed into small groups for Bible Discovery Time with a small group leader.

Following small group, it’s time to get active again as kids can choose between many different activities or “Tracks.” The Tracks are led by volunteers and include different games, sports, and crafts. Tracks for this year include basketball, beauty 101, crafts/scrapbooking, drama, jewelry making, karate, legos, painting 101, painting 202, soccer, and wacky science.

“We have more volunteers and Tracks than ever before,” said Ponstine. “We couldn’t do it without the volunteers”

Last year, 64 volunteers from 13 different churches helped out at the week-long event. All 64 were needed to help make the experience as positive as possible for the 181 students, from 57 different schools, that attended.

Things don’t look like they’re about to slow down in 2016 either.

“We already have over 100 that have pre-registered. That doesn’t include the large number who will register on Monday when we start,” said KidsGame coordinator Shane Buist.

When the week is over, Jack Ponstine hopes each family leaves having checked all four boxes:

1. They had a great week with the other children and the leaders.

2. That parents enjoyed dropping their kids off knowing the fun they were about to have and the lessons learned.

3. A positive relationship was built with the small group leader.

4. A strong relationship with Jesus Christ was built upon.

In the end, it all comes back to spreading the word.

“My goal is to get churches to come together to spread ministry,” said Ponstine.

Details about the event are below:

Who: 1st-6th graders and volunteers from churches throughout Wyoming
What: KidsGames: West Michigan
When: Monday, June 13 – Friday, June 17 from 6:00-8:30pm (Registration opens at 5:30 Monday night)
Where: Wyoming Jr. High School (2125 Wrenwood SW, Wyoming, MI 49509)
Why: Building character, making new friends, learning about the Bible and having FUN
Cost: FREE!

Visit a Senior, Meet a Pilot or a Teacher, or an Artist

June 7, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Education, Senior Living, VolunteersAmerican House Senior Living Community, Erin Albanese, Kelloggsville, School News NetworkJoanne

Kelloggsville High School senior Thu Nguyen plays bingo with a resident

By: Erin Albanese — School News Network

High school students have learned many interesting tidbits about the residents they are getting to know at American House Senior Living Community in Kentwood.

Each resident has a story, they’ve learned: Betty Reynolds was the first teacher at Battle Creek Christian School; Lois Laffey was a pilot. Margie Halstead is an artist who has 10 children, 35 grandchildren and 53 great-grandchildren. Margaret Gazella’s husband had to leave on their wedding day to fight in World War II.

“I love talking to the residents,” said Kelloggsville freshman Miles Thomas-Mohammad, while crafting glittery cardboard flowers with several ladies, and learning even more details about their lives. “They are so nice.”

They’ve learned other things as well while joining residents for crafts, games and snacks. Kelloggsvile senior Thu Nguyen, who is from Vietnam, said special moments happen over Bingo and just getting to know each other. “I want to make them feel happy so they don’t feel lonely,” she said.

And residents like it too. “It makes you feel young again,” said Elaine Wigger.

Added Ginger Kay, “It’s nice to have young people here, because they are so positive.”

Kelloggsville freshman Miles Thomas-Mohammad sets up crafts for senior citizens

A group of about eight Kelloggsville students, many who are English-language learners, visit the assisted-living and memory-care facilities monthly to spend time with seniors. Coordinated by EL teacher Susan Faulk, the volunteering opportunity is a way for students to give back and step out of their comfort zones and get to know others.

“The students gain patience and confidence as they work with the seniors,” Faulk said. “Many students are really shy and feel awkward around the seniors at first. I see their confidence grow as they realize that they are able to help someone else. I also see them having to learn patience, as a game of Skip-Bo and Rummikub can take a long time with a senior who has to think for a long time before taking action.”

For the past two years, Faulk has also coordinated a volunteer group at Women At Risk International Volunteer Center, a Grandville-based nonprofit organization that unites and educates women and children in areas of human trafficking and sexual slavery.

American House staff said the visits are very meaningful to residents.

Kelloggsville High School senior Dim Ciin eyes her Bingo board

“It’s always exciting to see people cross age barriers relationally,” said Susan Faulk’s husband, Steven Faulk, American House chaplain.

Activities assistant Betty Torres said the residents “love relating to the younger crowd. They have a lot of good stories to tell, our residents. They get so exited about a group coming in. It fulfills their whole being.”

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Sniffing Out the News is Elementary

June 1, 20163-bottom, Area Education, City of Wyoming, Education, Kids ActivitiesErin Albanese, Gladiola Elementary School, Gladiola Wolf Tracks, School News Network, student newspaper, Wyoming WolvesJoanne

Students work on stories (credit: Lysa Stockwell)

By: Erin Albanese — School News Network

Gladiola Elementary School students sat around a table and discussed what lead — that’s journalistic jargon for introduction — would be best for this School News Network article about their new student newspaper, Gladiola Wolf Tracks.

“Meet all the students that made the first Gladiola Wolf Tracks newspaper,” said third-grader Megan Sivins.

“This is four out of 16 of the kids that came up with the Wyoming newspaper called Gladiola Wolf Tracks,” suggested fourth-grader Quinton Gebben.

And, “Meet the Gladiola Elementary students who came out on top and made the first Gladiola newspaper in the whole Gladiola school history,” said fourth-grader Brady Flint.

Fourth-grader Maddy Lee considered the best possible lead. She decided Brady had already nailed it.

Sixteen students in the after-school enrichment program at the Wyoming Public Schools building recently launched the newspaper after learning the basics of journalism from fourth-grade teacher Lysa Stockwell and by interviewing teachers, peers, staff members and even community officials, such as Wyoming Mayor Jack Poll.

They’ve covered events and school programs, with cameras and notepads in hand, learning to get details centered around the who, what, when, where and why questions for their stories. They use technology, including Google Docs, and keep current on what’s going on in the building

“They’ve interviewed all the staff members in the building, from teachers to custodians to parent volunteers. It’s been really, really exciting because the more they do the more excited they get,” said Principal David Lyon.

Elile Silvestre and Madeline Pauline interview Wyoming Police Officer Rory Allen (credit: Lysa Stockwell)

Wolves or News Hounds?

The ace cub reporters recently completed the second edition of their newspaper, with plans for another and monthly publications next school year. Lyon said the almost entirely student-written newspaper will incorporate the school’s newsletter.

Parents can donate $5 to have a message to their child published in the newspaper, supporting the costs of publication.

In class, students studied examples of journalism, heard from a local reporter who shared tips and experiences, and learned about interviewing skills, bias and plagiarism.

They also learned the fun they can have with journalism, Stockwell said.

“Generally, kids don’t have the chance to have their writing published and for them to have that opportunity has really been exciting for them,” Stockwell said.

“Writing has become really authentic for them,” Lyon added. “Plus, they are far more alert now to things going on in the building.”

When a story presents itself, Wolf Tracks reporters have jumped at the chance to grab a notepad. For example, they took the initiative to cover a sneak-peek performance of the Wyoming High School musical.

Brady said he enjoyed writing a story about teacher Kimberly Swiger called “Mrs. Swiger: The Inside Story.” In it she talks about her favorite books, and that she’s spent 25 years teaching, has 10 nieces and nephews and attended Gladiola herself.

“Mrs. Swiger told the best stories,” Brady said. “I really liked being an interviewer and reporter and writing the articles. I am a social butterfly.”

Pinky Nguyen and Dion Idizi are busy with the news (credit: Lysa Stockwell)

Back to the Headlines

Discussion around the table continued after the students had found their lede. They talked about their favorite interviews with the art and music teacher and other staff members.
“I like when I interviewed Mr. Lyon. He can ride a unicycle,” Quinton said.

Further conversation led to the fact that Lyon can also juggle, prompting a follow-up question from Brady: “Can he juggle while riding a unicycle?”

Now, there’s a nose for news.

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

On the Shelf: Some old favorites to add to your summer reading list

May 28, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, Local EntertainmentBook reviews, Janet Evanovich, Thomas Lynch, Vintage PostcardsJoanne

Eleven on Top
By Janet Evanovich

Although her novels are classified as mysteries, Janet Evanovich really deserves a category of her own. Her stories fall somewhere between soap opera and a cheesy whodunit by combining over-the-top drama with a healthy dose of humor and a Nancy Drew twist or two. With a series of successful stories based on the character Stephanie Plum, who can dispute Evanovich’s winning combination? The beauty of this series is that readers don’t need to read each book in succession to get a sense of the characters.

Plum is a moderately successful bounty hunter with a little too much spunk and not quite enough common sense who can’t seem to commit to a permanent relationship. The difficulties between Stephanie and the men in her life, Joe Morrelli and Ranger, pale in comparison to the difficulties she encounters in her job, all of which brings her to a life changing decision: time for a career move. In “Eleven on Top,” Stephanie convinces herself that life in the law enforcement field is over for her, so she attempts to start a new career. While this is great in concept, she just can’t seem to adapt to the mundane and finds herself doing office work for Ranger instead. The tension escalates as Stephanie walks the line between Ranger and Joe and tries to maintain her balance while seeking the identity of the stalker who is trying to kill her.

At the official Janet Evanovich website readers can learn more about Evanovich and all of her novels, www.evanovich.com.

– Laura Nawrot, Grand Rapids Main Library

Bodies in Motion and at Rest: On Metaphor and Mortality
By Thomas Lynch

Funeral home director Thomas Lynch’s essays are as much about poetry as they are about undertaking, as much about life as they are about death.

Acclaimed essayist and poet Lynch runs the family funeral home in Milford, Michigan. “Bodies in Motion and at Rest” is a collection of essays that addresses both of Lynch’s professions but, more importantly, links them wholly to one another. Lynch writes about the struggles of each profession and the struggles of mixing them.

“Reno,” an essay that touches on marketing strategies for a poet/undertaker, contains moving passages comparing words of a poem to words spoken at a funeral.

In essays such as “Bodies in Motion and at Rest” and “Johnny, We Hardly Knew You,” Lynch writes with the knowledge of an undertaker and the wisdom of one who has experienced the death of loved friends and family. He speaks against those who pretend that death may never affect them, and against those who allow the drama of celebrity deaths to overshadow their own losses.

Lynch doesn’t shy away from other serious topics. In “The Way We Are,” he describes the alcoholism that runs in his family, writing with honesty about his own collisions with the disease and, more tragically, his son’s. As a victim of and a witness to alcoholism, Lynch writes with sensitivity and honesty about the grief of alcoholism.

These essays contrast with the funny, lighthearted tone found in the other essays of this collection.

“Notes on ‘A Note on the Rapture to His True Love'” is a step-by-step approach to writing a good poem. With humor and satire, Lynch makes it clear that he is a humble, sincere poet.

“Y2Kat” is a hilarious account of Lynch’s despised pet and adored son.

Like good poetry and good funerals, Lynch’s essays contain some death and some life, some humor and some sobriety, and plenty of honest wisdom.

– Stephanie M. White, Grand Rapids Main Library

Serpent
By Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos

“Serpent,” Clive Cussler’s first “National Water & Marine Agency Files” book, gives readers a new hero for a new age. Kurt Austin has a master’s degree in Systems Management from the University of Washington and much experience in marine recovery. In “Serpent,” Austin and his Special Assignments Team of Joe Zavala and Drs. Paul and Gamay Trout find themselves conquering a mystery of legendary caliber.

“In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue;” Austin and his team soon find that there were a lot of things left out of the popular children’s rhyme. With the help of Nina Kirov, the team investigates industrialist Don Halcon. Halcon is dedicated to carving a new country out of the southwestern United States. To do so, Halcon needs a priceless pre-Columbian antiquity buried in the battered remains of the sunken Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria, and he’s prepared to do anything to get it.

Admiral James Sandecker, from Dirk Pitt fame, sends Austin and his team all over the world to stop Halcon before he can get his hands on the artifact. Austin and Zavala soon find themselves diving the Andrea Doria itself in order to gain access to a secured vault left behind when the liner sank fifty years before.

With a hefty dose of actual historical fact and fictional license, Cussler dishes out a wonderful first episode in the lives of the new heroes of NUMA. The subsequent novels in the series, “Blue Gold,” “Fire Ice,” “White Death,” “Lost City,” and “Polar Shift,” all follow Austin as he pursues a life of intrigue and danger.

Fans of Cussler’s Dirk Pitt will find much to love in Kurt Austin.

– Megan Andres, Grand Rapids Public Library’s Seymour Branch

Grand Rapids in Vintage Postcards: 1890-1940
By Thomas R. Dilley

This volume by local author Tom Dilley is a wonderful contribution to the growing number of books about the history of Grand Rapids. Postcard collectors, historians and researchers continue to find this a useful and interesting book with its black and white reproductions of 228 postcards from Dilley’s personal collection, many of which are quite rare.

Dilley begins the volume with a concise overviews of Grand Rapids history and the history of postcards. Short explanations are given for the various types of postcards: postal mailing cards, real photos, white border cards, linen and chrome cards. He points out the importance of postcards as historical documents capturing the social history of a certain time and place.

The book is divided into three sections: “The City,” “Life in the City,” and ” The City at Work.”

This structure works well in categorizing the wide array of postcards.

Dilley starts by showing aerial views of the city. He proceeds with street scenes, individual buildings and bridges. Dilley does an excellent job of identifying buildings, giving the location, interesting details, the architect when known, and the life span of the structure. Dilley often refers to the contemporary counterpart of a historical building, giving readers a real sense of “then and now.”

The section “Life in the City” includes the commercial, religious, educational and social activities of the growing city. There are wonderful views of museums, theaters, retail stores, cafes, hotels, hospitals, churches schools and parks. The author spotlights social organizations such as the YMCA, the Ladies Literary Club and the St. Cecilia Music Society. Dilley’s book includes rare interior scenes of the YWCA gymnasium and the clothing department of May and Sons.

Section Three, “The City at Work,” shows Grand Rapids as a leader in “wholesale, retail and manufacturing enterprise.”

The furniture industry is given prominence, but other industries are also included. The Grand Rapids Brewing Company, Grand Rapids Brass Company, the Cargill Company, and Bissell Carpet Sweeper Company stand out as a few examples.

Grand Rapids in Vintage Postcards includes many cards that most people have never seen. Included is a rare double card of the Majestic Theatre, a real photo card of the Fanatorium Bowling Alley and a scene of visiting airplanes lined up for the 1919 dedication of the Grand Rapids Airport. Besides the wonderful visual images, a strong point of the book is the accompanying text, which is very helpful in giving a historical perspective on the postcard views. Dilley’s book will serve as a valuable reference work as well as an enjoyable walk down memory lane.

– M. Christine Byron, for the Grand Rapids Main Library

Unconscious Bias: How We Hurt Our Daily Interactions Without Knowing It

May 24, 20163-bottom, Area Education, EducationAlan Headbloom, bias, Feel Like You Belong, unconscious biasJoanne

By: Alan Headbloom – Feel Like You Belong

Today’s conversation around race and racism has moved beyond mere hateful acts of discrimination and bigotry. Fortunately. We are beginning to acknowledge that human beings respond to different races in unintended ways that are nonetheless biased and unfair. In conversations regarding race and ethnicity, we now use the expression Implicit Bias or Unconscious Bias. For our discussion, these terms are interchangeable. Two definitions are important.

Bias = prejudice or attitude against (or in favor of) one group of people compared with others, usually in an unfair way

Unconscious = not recognized, existing below our conscious awareness

We all have biases.

Let me repeat. We ALL have biases. We were raised by parents and teachers and neighbors who tried their best to teach us. They taught us useful things, but they also taught us their prejudices. Sometimes this was by direct instruction: “Don’t hang out with kids from that neighborhood!”

Sometimes this was by unspoken example: They never invited people from other races to their gatherings.

All the while they were teaching us, we were making mental notes. When we became adults, we may have experienced contradictory examples, but we still held some values that we received as children.

Unconscious bias is a huge topic. There are two examples of unconscious bias I’d like to look at today: orchestras and police departments.

Biases in Orchestra Membership

In the 1970s, U.S. orchestras were nine-tenths male. In order to increase female membership, orchestra leaders started auditioning musician applicants behind a screen, so they could hear the playing but not see who was playing. These “blind auditions” are believed to be responsible for a jump in female musician membership to around 35% two decades later. If we believe that women can also be excellent musicians, why did past orchestras include so few women? Well, if judges are used to seeing males playing in orchestras, they have an easy time choosing new musicians based on what they’ve experienced in the past. It’s a bias they unconsciously held that influenced their hiring practices. By using blind audition techniques, other industries now report similar results in the hiring of both women and racially underrepresented applicants.

Biases in Policing

Police officers, like all members of society, have grown up with messages about race. The messages may have come from family members’ storytelling and stereotyping. Messages may come from lived experience. They certainly also came from the media. How are people of color, especially African Americans, portrayed in the media? Who is portrayed as powerful, in charge, innovative, responsible, or accomplished on the front page? (This is something you can test out when you pass a newsstand.) Answer: mostly whites (and most often males). Who is portrayed as needing help or in trouble? Answer: mostly people of color.

A word on brain function: our fear center is the amygdala, sometimes called our reptilian brain. It does not analyze; it does not reason; it acts quickly to protect us. It says “Run away!” or it says “Stand and fight!” It is based on thousands of years of biological survival. Now, if smart, good-willed police officers go to their jobs and need to assess emergency situations quickly, what information informs those decisions? Quiet, rational reflections? Or responses from the amygdala? If we have hundreds of bits of input saying that black people, brown people are dangerous, how will we respond?

Why did a white police officer shoot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2014 only two seconds after arriving at the park where Rice was playing with a toy gun? Would the officer have responded similarly if Rice had been white? Policing statistics suggest no.

What Can We Do?

Given this frightening outcome—much more dangerous than discriminating against female orchestra applicants, what can we do?

The first step is recognizing that we all have biases. Where did we come from, what are our biases (surrounding race as well as other differentiating characteristics)? After we understand these roots, we can begin to put practices in place to override the natural biases we have accumulated in our lives. Remember: It does no good to beat ourselves up; our history is our history. What we do to educate ourselves for the future, however, is completely up to us.

I invite you to join me in this conversation of identifying your blind spots––whether in hiring practices, promotions, discipline policy, and more––and then creating procedures that move your organization forward. Call me today to set up an appointment to talk about your specific concerns. No change happens without intentionality. Let’s act on those intentions today.

Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.

Sisters Follow Identical Career Paths

May 23, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Education, Local FacesErin Albanese, Honduras, Libby Klooster, Sarah David, School News Network, Sister Teaching, West Godwin Elementary SchoolJoanne

Teacher Sarah David helps a student hang up a piece of writing — Teacher Sarah David meets with a group of students in her classroom

By: Erin Albanese — School News Network

West Godwin Elementary School Principal Steve Minard remembers interviewing teachers for a third-grade position. One candidate had an ideal background: an elementary education degree from Hope College and teaching experience in Honduras.

Later that afternoon, another teacher interviewed with the same story. She had the same degree and former teaching job in Honduras. Minard told her about the coincidence.

“We’re sisters,” Libby Klooster explained.

Sisters Sarah David and Libby Klooster were vying for the same job, but rooting each other on at the same time. Both were seeking the next step in a similar journey. They grew up in Grand Rapids, attended Grand Rapids Christian Schools, earned their teaching degrees at Hope College and taught together at American School of Tegucigalpa, located in the capital of Honduras.

Two Spanish-speaking teachers with a background in Central America were too good to pass up, administrators decided. So they hired them both: David to the third-grade post and Klooster as a first grade teacher. “It was like back in Honduras,” Klooster said, noting they had taught the same grades there.

Now, both in their third year teaching at West Godwin, their passion for children and bilingual language skills serve well. Forty-percent of students are English-language learners, and 36 percent are native Spanish speakers. David now teaches fourth grade and Klooster, younger by three years, still teaches first grade.

“It’s pretty cool that they’re sisters because they can talk and interact with their students and help each other out,” said Diamond Jean, a fourth-grade student in David’s class.

School News Network: Sister Teachers — Sisters Sarah David and Libby Klooster took similar paths from teaching in Honduras to West Godwin Elementary School

Language, Culture and Bridge-Building

The American School of Tegucigalpa is prestigious, and families pay high tuition. West Godwin, by contrast, is a high-poverty district. David and Klooster said they love helping students who are learning English, talking with parents whose culture and language they understand, and embracing the community.

“I just got a new student from the Dominican Republic and she speaks no English,” Klooster said. “So I’m so happy I can tell her what to do in Spanish, and my students are also such a help.”

David has a student from Cuba who started the school year speaking no English. “Now I have her reading huge books in English because I was able to communicate with her.”

The sisters’ ability to connect with the students in invaluable, said West Godwin instruction specialist Karen Baum.

“They both have a passion for the kids in this building and this community,” Baum said. “They have really high expectations for kids… Learning can be really challenging for some of our kids, and both Libby and Sarah work harder to make sure the kids get what they need and meet the high expectations the State of Michigan and Godwin has for first- and forth-graders.”

Sisterly Bonds

David and Klooster, who grew up in a household with four children, both decided they wanted to be teachers during a high school mission trip in Trinidad and Tobego where they visited orphanages and taught vacation Bible school. Their father is a retired Ottawa Hills High School teacher.

While attending Hope, David was recruited to teach at the International School of Tegucigalpa. She taught there one year before moving to the American School of Tegucigalpa, where she taught for seven years. The school was English-immersion for students hoping to eventually attend college in the United States. David wanted to learn Spanish.

“Because I loved it so much I decided to stay for eight years and got my sister to come down,” David said. She married a Honduran man and they now have two children.
Klooster joined David after a brief time teaching on the island of Roatan. She taught in Honduras for five years, staying one year after David returned with her husband to raise their children in Michigan.

What led them to Godwin Heights ties back to their love for Honduras.

“I loved the culture in Honduras and the people were so welcoming, loving and caring and would do anything for you,” Klooster said. “The culture is something I really miss. I’m so glad we work here because half my class is ELL, and I get to talk to parents in the morning in Spanish and still feel that culture.”

David taught in Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, which is also largely Hispanic, for one year after returning from Honduras. “I knew I wanted a job where I can use my Spanish and be a part of that culture still.”

While the sisters have different teaching styles, Minard said they look out for every child.

“They both have really unique and wonderful qualities they bring to the building and are both extremely positive people who have incredible work ethic,” he said.

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Butterflies, borrowing books part of new life

May 16, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Our CitiesCommunity Resources Program, Erin Albanese, School News Network, Wyoming SchoolsJoanne

School News Network - Butterflies — What to see next? Erik and Isaac Alfaro study butterfly species.

By: Erin Albanese — School News Network

Parkview Elementary first- and second-graders Erik and Isaac Alfaro spotted monarch caterpillars on milkweed plants at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, in Grand Rapids Township.

“How many are there?” asked Lisa DeMaagd, Wyoming Public Schools English Language-Learner coordinator. “Cuatro!” shouted Erik, counting to four in Spanish. Then he saw another, adding up to “cinco” caterpillars.

The brothers and their mother, Erika Garcia, soon entered the Butterflies are Blooming exhibit, where hundreds of colorful butterflies fluttered by in the Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory. It was a highlight of their visit to the 158-acre botanical garden and outdoor sculpture park.

Eric, Isaac and their 4-year-old brother, Israel, spotted butterflies amid the leaves and flowers. Their smiles spread wide as they chatted excitedly in Spanish, spying butterflies landing on fresh fruit.

The family is taking part in the district’s annual community resource workshops, during which immigrant district students and their families are invited on community outings.

As of fall, 858 students at Wyoming Public Schools — just below 20 percent of the district’s population — are ELL students from countries including Puerto Rico, Mexico, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Nepal, Guatemala and Rwanda. Sixty-one students, including 11 exchange students, qualified for the workshops this year as students not born in the U.S. and living here for fewer than three years.

Welcome to Grand Rapids

The community resources program, which the district has hosted for more than 10 years, is funded by a sub-grant of Title III federal funding for immigrant education allocated by Kent ISD to meet the needs of new families and help them get accustomed to U.S. culture.

“We focus very much on community and opportunities for experience,” DeMaagd said.

The group, which varies each year from 10 to 40 participants, focuses on things they need to know for life in the U.S., from information about public safety to leaving tips at a restaurant. Wyoming Intermediate School counselor Christine Karas, who helps lead the program, said families find joy in new experiences and learn things Americans take for granted or don’t often think to explain.

“We teach them what a fire hydrant is, how to walk across the street, why Americans throw pennies in water, how to call 911,” Karas said. “It’s a lot of basic things.”

They tour the Wyoming Branch of Kent District Library and learn how to find books and check them out, as well as about free resources and programs for card holders. They visit to the Wyoming Police Department and head downtown to the Grand Valley State University campus, the Downtown Market, Rosa Parks Circle and Van Andel Arena.

In past years, depending on funding, the program has included a summer session as well, allowing more opportunities like kite-flying, Lake Michigan trips, cookouts, dune rides, zoos and dairy farm tours.

The memories created spill over into the school day, DeMaagd said.

“Teachers have shared with me that tons of the students’ writing pieces have included elements from our program,” she said. “They are asked to write about an experience and all of the sudden they have something more fun to write about than ‘I sat on my couch and played video games.’”

Mom Erika Garcia said she values the opportunities the program provides. The family moved from Mexico six months ago.

“It’s great for the kids to learn new things in the community and to learn about the things we have in the United States,” she said in Spanish, translated by DeMaagd.

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Ana Ramirez-Saenz: Diversity Diva

May 16, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Education, Local Faces, WKTV ProjectsAlan Headbloom, Ana Ramirez-Saenz, Diversity, Feel Like You Belong, La FuenteJoanne

By: Alan Headbloom – Feel Like You Belong

An immigrant child, Ana Ramirez-Saenz was raised in West Michigan by a single mom who worked long hours in a pickle factory. During her days at MBA school and at work in the banking industry, she saw first hand the lack of diversity in leadership and its cost on morale and the bottom line. Today, as President of La Fuente Consulting, she guides companies towards more inclusive practices and more powerful decision making. An exclusive chat with an insightful leader.

Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.

What’s in Your Bucket?

May 5, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Education, Kids ActivitiesErin Albanese, Feeling Bucket, Kelloggsville, Kindness Bucket, School News NetworkJoanne

Kindness Bucket 2 — Counselor Lisa VanKampen is helping students develop a common language around bucket filling at school

By: Erin Albanese — School News Network

Every student at West Kelloggsville Elementary School has an invisible bucket. Johana Cruz explained the importance of keeping everyone’s full.

“If you’re a bucket dipper, you’re not going to have any friends,” explained the second-grader.

Students at the second- and third-grade school are thinking a lot about “bucket filling” and “bucket dipping” as they interact with one another.

“The bucket has one purpose: It holds your good thoughts and good feelings about yourself,” said counselor Lisa VanKampen. “When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it’s empty, we feel awful. Yet most children, and many adults, don’t realize the importance of having a full bucket throughout the day.”

When students fill buckets with kind words and actions, almost magically their own fills up too, she explained. But, alas, say an unkind word or act in a hurtful way, and buckets sink low. VanKampen’s “Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?” program, based on Bucket Fillers 101, is all about spreading kindness to benefit everybody.

Kindness Bucket — Compliments are free and anyone can give them

She says it’s creating a common language at school, a way for students to express their feelings and teachers to state expectations using the bucket as a symbol. Smile at someone: Buckets fill. Scowl? Buckets empty. Students learn everybody has a bucket, regardless of age.

“Bucket filling is inviting someone to play when they are all alone,” Johana said.

“It’s being nice!” said second-grader Scarlett Shepard.

“It’s giving high fives and fist bumps,” added second-grader Angel Gomez.

Filling Buckets

VanKampen has conducted two lessons in each classroom on bucket filling and bucket dipping. The idea is based on the book, “How Full is Your Bucket?” by Tom Rath, which tells of a boy who begins to see how every interaction in a day either fills or empties his bucket. The children’s book is a spin-off of an adult version written by Rath and Donald Clifton. Both books emphasize that it hardly takes any time and it’s all free. “Everyone, no matter if you are 1 or 101, can fill buckets,” VanKampen said.

VanKampen passed out cards with behaviors written on them for students to categorize under “Bucket Fillers are people who…” and “Bucket Dippers are people who…” Each class received its own bucket with blue slips of paper that read, “I’m filling your bucket.” Students write positive feelings, comments or compliment to someone in their class. Teachers read out of the classroom bucket to reinforce the lesson.

“I wroted one to my BFF Eaden,” Scarlett said. “I wroted that you’re the bestest friend anyone can ask for.”

VanKampen also has an interactive bulletin board about bucket dipping outside her office. She hangs bucket-filling “tear-offs” around the school for kids to have for themselves or give to others.

Third-grade teacher Bethany Kamps took the program a step further and hung buckets for each child on her classroom wall.

“I wanted to add it into the classroom because I feel like the whole culture and environment of the class really affects how they learn,” Kamps said. “When kids are treating each other positively and getting along, it makes it easier to get learning done.”

VanKampen and East Kelloggsville counselor Hillary DeRidder are hosting a parent night in May to introduce, educate and model the bucket story with the hope that it will be extended to students’ homes.

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Calling all writers: WKTV News presents a writing workshop with Tom Rademacher

May 2, 2016Area Education, Citizen Journalism, City of Kentwood, Local Faces, Upcoming EventsKentwood Public Librar, Richard L. Root Library, Tom Radmacher, WKTV News, Writing WorkshopJoanne

Update: Due to an unforeseen conflict, the writing workshop will be postponed to a later date!

By: Mike DeWitt

Every artist has a palette full of basic building blocks in which to create their masterpiece. Painters have a palette full of individual colors, sculptors start with a slab of stone, and writers are privileged to the 26 letters of the alphabet and a story at every turn.

This Wednesday, May 4, Tom Rademacher – national award-winning author and former columnist for the Grand Rapids Press – will host a writing workshop at the Kent District Library’s Kentwood (Richard L. Root) Branch to help teach and inspire writers to utilize their full palette.

The writing workshop is one in a series of workshops put on by WKTV News to reach out to potential citizen reporters in the community. The stories in our communities are engaging, endearing, and endless, we just have to tell them!

The workshop is an opportunity to learn from one of the best storytellers around. Tom Rademacher made his mark writing about everyday individuals whose impact ripples throughout the community.

Following the presentation, there will be time for a question-and-answer segment. The writing workshop is free and open to the public.

Details Below:

Who: Tom Rademacher and WKTV News
What: Writing Workshop and Q&A
When: May 4, 6:30 – 8:00pm
Where: KDL Kentwood (Richard L. Root) Branch – 4950 Breton Rd. SE, Kentwood
Why: To sharpen you storytelling skills and learn from the best!

RSVP with your name to news@wktv.org

AT&T lauches “Puede Esperar” campaign to combat smartphone use while driving

April 29, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, Tech Trends, Upcoming EventsAT&T, distracted driving, It Can Wait, Mike DeWitt, Puede EsperarJoanne

By: Mike DeWitt

It only takes one second, one glance down at your phone, to completely change a life. As technology and social networks continually innovate the way we communicate, they constantly vie for our attention throughout the day. Even when driving a car, a metal box hurling down the freeway at deadly speeds, it can be tempting to stay engaged to our social circles around us.

Back in 2010, AT&T created the It Can Wait campaign: a strong and simple message to put down your cell phone while driving. Now, in response to a recent findings on distracted driving, AT&T has shifted their campaign to reach U.S. Hispanics – Puede Esperar.

Puede Esperar is a direct response to new research that found 83 percent of Hispanics admitting to using their smartphone behind the wheel. That number is higher than an already staggering 71 percent of Americans as a whole that admit to distracted driving. Of that 83 percent, half admit to using their smartphone to social network while driving, more than a quarter (28%) take selfies or photos, and nearly 70 percent send texts messages.

The Puede Esperar campaign focuses on education and practical tools to help combat distracted driving. The campaign includes:

https://youtu.be/1o-fbDPw8aE

• The AT&T DriveMode app is now available in Spanish and open to all carriers. The app helps curb the urge to text and drive by silencing incoming text messages once the car reaches 15 MPH.

• A 360-degree video experience that simulates the potentially deadly consequences of glancing at your phone while driving. The video can be viewed on your smartphone.

• A coast-to-coast virtual reality tour visiting local high schools and community events in more than a dozen cities by year-end.

• A website to help share information and resources.

While the most recent campaign focuses on reaching the Hispanic population, it’s a problem that everyone needs to address.

“Now more than ever we need to focus on those who put themselves at high risk behind the wheel,” said Sandra Howard of AT&T. “We want them to know the dangers and take the pledge. Ultimately, we want them to keep their eyes on the road, not on their phones.”

Since the original campaign launched in 2010, It Can Wait has helped grow awareness of the dangers of distracted driving, inspired more than 8 million pledges to keep their eyes off their phones and on the road, and collaborated with AT&T data scientists on research that shows the impact statewide anti-texting laws have on the rates of texting while driving.

Remember, that text, snapchat, photo, tweet, and instagram post isn’t worth a life. Put away your cell phones and focus on the road ahead.

Seniors to Sophomores: ‘Don’t Repeat Our Mistakes’

April 28, 20163-bottom, Area Education, EducationAdvice, Erin Albanese, School News Network, seniors, Sophomores, Wyoming High SchoolJoanne

Seniors Luis Rodriguez, Tan Le and Joey Timm tell students to stop procrastinating

By: Erin Albanese — School News Network

Don’t procrastinate. Learn to manage your time. Do your homework. Work on getting and keeping your grades up.

Those were words of advice from high school seniors who visited sophomore classes recently to help steer their younger peers onto the right path to graduation and beyond. They explained what they would have done differently during their early days of high school, and shared what they wish people would have told them as sophomores. Wyoming High School is a 10th- through 12th-grade school, so the sophomore class is the youngest in the building.

About 50 seniors volunteered to intervene with sophomores because they noticed too many students not focused on their schoolwork, said Cheryl Small, accounting and personal finance teacher.

“My students get frustrated when they see them acting differently than they should be acting,” Small said. “They came to me and said, ‘We want to talk to the sophomores.'”
Seniors came up with ideas for connecting with their younger peers by talking about their own regrets and mistakes and the consequences of their actions.

Senior Luis Rodriguez gives advice to sophomores

“We are telling you guys to try hard in school,” said senior Luis Rodriguez. “When I was in your position I had Cs and Ds, and now I am like busting my butt trying to get all As. I have a 3.0 exactly, but I could have a 4.0 if I was trying in school like I do now.”

Senior Joey Timm added this: “Don’t tell yourself you’ll wait until next year to get better grades. Do as well as you can from the beginning, because it’s really hard to bring your GPA up than to keep it up.”

Destroy procrastination as a habit, said senior Tan Le.

“Students are the ones in control of what they do, how they do it and how they should do it,” Tan said. “What I wish my parents or my teachers thought to tell me was, ‘Put away your electronics for one hour and just do your homework.'”

Small said her students can be role models for the whole building and inspire younger students to be examples as well. They also shared information on applying for college, volunteering and extracurriculars.

Sophomore Lauren Kramer said she enjoyed hearing from the upperclassmen. “I thought it was nice to hear that point of view to get a perspective on what they felt they need to hear as sophomores,” Lauren said. “I feel like it’s going to help a little bit.”

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Superintendent Announces Retirement

April 26, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Education, Local FacesDavid Britten, Erin Albanese, Godfrey Lee School District, retirement, School News Network, SuperintendentJoanne

By: Erin Albanese — School News Network

The way Superintendent David Britten approaches his job is hands-on, vocal and in a way that touches others’ lives. He’s at many athletic and extracurricular events, he’s outspoken about issues that affect students, teachers and classrooms, and he’s known for encouraging every child he meets.

Britten will continue to work hard to improve the lives and education of students while heading the small, low-income district until June 30, 2017, when he plans to retire, he recently announced.

Britten, 61, in his eighth year as superintendent, said his retirement will come after two lengthy careers in education and the military.

“I have as of this year had 42 years of two very stressful careers,” Britten said. He noted that he loves the intellectual part of serving as superintendent and working directly with students, but is tired of dealing with the state government on education issues and budgets.

His Heart is with Students

Britten is a vocal leader in the district and a public-education advocate. He is known for speaking out on many issues that affect education, and for his familiar presence in school buildings, at athletic events and extracurricular activities.

“I don’t know if I’d be retiring if I was still principal at Lee Middle/High School,” he said. “There’s a lot of energy to be derived from being around kids.

“It gets harder and harder to do that in this job,” he added. “As more and more requirements come down from Lansing, and as we have to keep squeezing our budget and cutting administrative costs, I have to take on more roles that keep me from being around kids.”

A graduate of Grand Valley State University, Britten was an Army reservist for eight years starting at age 19. He taught at Muskegon Catholic Central High School for two years before beginning active duty in the U.S. Army, which was his career until he took early retirement in 1995.

After that, Britten served for six years in Wayland Public Schools as an elementary principal. He then served as Lee Middle School principal from 2002 to 2004, which evolved into a combined post as Lee Middle/High School principal until 2008.
Big Shoes to Fill

Godfrey-Lee School Board President Eric Mockerman said the board is in the process of determining how to proceed with a search for a replacement, possibly with help from a search firm or adviser. The board is surveying parents and staff members about what they would like to see in Britten’s successor.

Plans are to post for applicants early next school year, conduct interviews around January and make an offer by spring break. “We really want to have someone coming into place by March or April of next year so we can have a couple months of transition,” Mockerman said.

Mockerman hopes choosing a new leader will be a tough decision. “We have a lot to offer at Godfrey-Lee and I’m hoping we get some really good candidates,” he said.

Britten is leaving “big shoes to fill,” he added. “It’s a tremendous loss. He’s been a tremendous and visionary leader for the district.”

The district is in the first full year of a human-centered design process, which involves exploring ways to revamp education in the district. Britten said he’s confident the process will continue after his departure.

“That was a big push by Dave to change the way we as a district think and go about educating kids,” Mockerman said.

Rebranding Godfrey Lee

Britten has been an active presence in the district, which consists of a majority of Hispanic students, as it has grown from 1,400 to 2,000 students since 2002. It has also experienced a large increase in the percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, now at 95 percent, and in those who live in poverty, at 37 percent.

Britten has been at the helm during efforts to beautify the district, equip it with technology on par with more affluent schools and build community support. He also implemented a plan that helped turn high school achievement around after it was designated a Priority School, meaning among the lowest 5 percent in achievement, according to the state’s Top-to Bottom list rankings in 2010. The designation was lifted last year.

“The most rewarding part about being superintendent has been being able to rebrand this district,” Britten said. “It’s a much more successful district than people thought it was… It had a bad image. Now it’s a place people want to come to.”

Mockerman said Britten’s commitment is remarkable. “He’s been an amazing example of how involved people can be. He is deeply involved in the lives of the kids. He’s at every event going on.

“He lives for the kids. It’s amazing.”

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Code Red Robotics moving on to World Finals

April 20, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Education, Non-Profits, Tech Trends, Upcoming EventsCode Red Robotics, FIRST in Michigan, World TournamentJoanne

By: Mike DeWitt

After a strong showing at the FIRST in Michigan State Championship, Kentwood’s own Code Red Robotics has earned a bid to the World Finals in St. Louis from April 27-30.

The State Championship at the DeltaPlex saw Code Red Robotics finish 11th in the qualifying rounds before eventually bowing out in the quarterfinals.

WKTV News will be sure to keep up on their journey!

The Full Story on Graduation Rates – Godfrey-Lee

April 12, 20163-bottom, Area Education, EducationDavid Britten, Dropout Rates, East Lee, Godfrey-Lee Graduation Rates, Graduation Rates, School News NetworkJoanne

By: David Britten, Superintendent of Godfrey-Lee Public Schools

The State of Michigan has released the graduation rates for the cohort Class of 2014-15 and overall they continue to climb.

Reports by local media tend to show a district’s combined graduation rate, lumping together all of the high schools within a district, including those designed to provide an alternative pathway to a high school diploma or GED for students who for many reasons were not successful at their home school.

The chart below depicts the 4, 5 and 6 year graduation rates for those students in our district who graduated in 2015. As you can clearly see, the rates continue to improve overall but don’t tell the full story for each high school.

14-15 graduation dropout trend all rate years/all students

Lee High School, which has experienced significant growth as well as a substantial cultural change since the dawn of the 21st century, continues a strong 4-year on-time graduation trend as the chart below depicts. Considering that the community battles with the highest child poverty rate in the county and our extraordinary staff works to help many limited-English-proficient students meet success, we should be proud of what our students, parents and staff accomplish each year!

GodfreyLee — 14-15 graduation dropout trend Lee High School

The trend for Lee High School’s graduation rate continues to be higher than the statewide graduation rate as the following two charts indicate:

GodfreyLeeDropoutTrend — 14-15 graduation dropout trend statewide

East Lee Campus is a non-traditional high school that provides many young men and women with what often is their last chance to successfully complete high school or prepare for the GED test. This school is an “open enrollment” campus that allows students who have dropped out or find they are struggling due to a number of life’s circumstances to return to the classroom. Many are already behind in their education and it isn’t unusual for students to take an additional year or two to complete their graduation requirements. We believe the opportunity we provide these students is invaluable and contributes positively to the community and Greater Grand Rapids area at large. The federal and state government and many of our citizens, however, don’t always see it that way and prefer to label our district as sub-standard or failing. Little do they know.

The chart below illustrates the 4-year graduation rate at East Lee but as I pointed out, it’s unfair to brand the school as anything but exemplary given that most students arrive there behind in their respective educations. Because it’s not unusual for a student to need a 5th year to get on track and successfully complete the Michigan Merit Curriculum requirements for graduation, the next subsequent slide shows the positive 5-year trend for graduates through 2015.

14-15 graduation dropout trend 2015 graduation cohort

As you can see from the chart below, the trend has accelerated significantly since 2010 but actually, it has been improving since the graduation rate was sort of drifting along hit bottom in 2009-10, as the next chart shows. At that point, we made some changes and much of this improvement is attributable to effective leadership and the hard work of staff and students to rebrand the school and develop a more rigorous academic and job skills focus. Since those changes, the improvement has been very positive.

This chart is a similar trend chart as the one above but for the four years preceding. If you follow this one to the one above it, you will get an idea of the dramatic turnaround at East Lee Campus these past seven years.

We’re proud of our high schools (as we are of all our schools) and the success they are achieving! We’re very excited for the future of our students who have been demonstrating time and again they have what it takes to overcome many obstacles they face and reach their educational goals and life dreams.

If you wish to examine this data in more detail or look at other data for our district, state or any school in the state, you can go to http://www.mischooldata.org.

Schools Learn New Ways to Teach Reading

April 11, 20163-bottom, Area Education, EducationErin Albanese, Kent Intermediate School District, reading, Reading Now Network, School News Network, writingJoanne

High-Performers Provide Good Models

School News Network - Reading — Practicing letters on a clear board is just one fun way to learn phonics

By: Erin Albanese — School News Network

Collaboration is the way forward, say leaders of West Michigan’s Reading Now Network. Teachers teaching other teachers, more staff with reading expertise, and learning from those whose students are excelling, are all actions the region’s schools are taking to change reading achievement numbers.

Dorothy VanderJagt, RNN field study member and director of Teaching & Learning at Kent ISD, said teachers presented best practices at the Fall Institute, share tips on the RNN Twitter feed and “are visiting other schools to dig deeper into those common traits of the high performers.”

Educators from the Field Study Team are working directly with schools that need to make big gains, with administrators who set a goal to meet or exceed their peers in two years.

The work of Reading Now Network, a collaborative effort to increase reading proficiency involving 100 districts in 13 counties, is well under way. It is paying off in districts like Kelloggsville, where additional staff and new techniques are helping students read in fun, new ways.

Kyle Mayer, an RNN field study member and Ottawa Area ISD assistant superintendent, said the project’s findings have prompted many schools to take action.
“Every day I come to work and I hear about something else happening because of Reading Now Network,” Mayer said.

The network was launched in the spring of 2014, examining best instructional practices at five West Michigan elementary schools with high reading success rates in order to implement them region-wide.

Schools studied ranged from urban to rural, with varying levels of poverty. They are: Brown Elementary in Byron Center, North Godwin, Lakeshore Elementary in Holland, Coit Creative Arts Academy in Grand Rapids, and Sunfield Elementary in Lakeview Community Schools.

Curriculum leaders visited the schools (all of which scored high on third-grade reading MEAP tests), over the course of an eight-month study to identify why they were high performers.

Students “arm spell,” a multi-sensory approach that helps them remembers sounds

One District’s Response

Tammy Savage, Kelloggsville Public Schools director of instruction, added two new reading instructional specialists this year, partly in response to information she learned at a spring RNN symposium.

Specialists Suzanne Schmier and Janna Schneider joined Sue Lathrop this fall to work full-time in the district’s three elementary schools. For the past few years, Lathrop was spread among all three schools, assisted by paraprofessionals.

The goal is to create a consistent, structured, very focused reading intervention program for students, Savage said. Teachers are using data to identify students’ needs.

Learning how to implement best practices is taking shape in different ways, said Mayer, the field study member. A sold-out event at Kent ISD in November brought together 200 area principals to learn from leaders of the schools originally studied for their reading practices.

“Principals can go back and start making immediate changes based on what they learned,” Mayer said.

Three schools where educators are not satisfied with reading results have been named “lab” schools. Field study members are working with them on instructional practices to help them improve their results, Mayer said. The schools represent three counties and have varying demographics, including differing income levels and locations.

A Peek Into a Classroom

In Kelloggsville, reading sessions are a multi-sensory experience. Students see, touch, hear, and even smell and taste the words — when letters double as licorice sticks.

During a recent class with Shmier, West Kelloggsville Elementary students acted out what they were reading. A sentence about a girl who hurt her lip had them pouting. Another about flying kites had them pretending to send them soaring.

“That’s fun!” said second-grader Alyssa VanVolkinburg. “It’s fun to make the motions.”
Students wrote letters on plastic tablets, velvet and laminate; they spelled out words with their fingers and while touching different spots on their arms. They talked vividly about what they read.

The coaches, all longtime Kelloggsville teachers, were also recently trained in Orton-Gillingham methodologies, which promote multi-sensory learning.

Tools Are Available

In-depth videos with interviews from administrators, teachers and students taken at the school, are available on the Reading Now Network web site.

One thing made clear from the field study was that high-performing schools are “data-driven,” meaning they constantly used test scores and other data to improve instruction – often on a daily basis. Teachers are being trained to easily access data through an Edify software system, which Kent ISD first developed.

Enadina Mencho-Vail acts out flying a kite after reading about it

Kent ISD received a state grant to develop an early literacy alert and intervention system. The intent is to equip teachers participating in RNN with lots of resources to help students reading below grade level. These resources will be offered free of charge to the schools and service agencies within the Reading Now Network.

CONNECT

SNN Article on Reading Now Network Symposium

Reading Now Network Resources

Reading Now Network Website

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Aldo Leopold Festival 2016 – Celebrating the North Huron Birding Trail

April 10, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, Recreation, Upcoming EventsAldo Leopold, Dianna Higgs Stampfler, Les Cheneaux, Promote MichiganJoanne

By: LesCheneaux.org

Les Cheneaux welcomes you to celebrate the legacy of Aldo Leopold— one of America’s most influential naturalists— by visiting a place he spent summers in his youth. Les Cheneaux is now home to a historical marker honoring Leopold’s time in Les Cheneaux. See the woods and water that surely formed Leopold’s early impressions of the natural world.

The 2nd Annual Aldo Leopold Festival is scheduled for May 13-15 in the Les Cheneaux Islands, centered around the communities of Cedarville and Hessel.

Who Was Aldo Leopold & Why Do We Care?

Aldo Leopold and his family spent several months a year in Les Cheneaux at their cottage on Marquette Island. There, young Leopold spent his days in the woods and on the water, where he developed an appreciation for the environment and wildlife on the island while mapping trails and listing the flora and fauna he found.

Beginning in the early 1890s, the Leopold family made annual treks from their Burlington, Iowa home to their cottage, first by steam ferry from Chicago to Mackinac Island, and later by rail. As a young adult, Leopold continued to visit the Les Cheneaux area until about 1919, according to family photographs of Leopold in the area.

If one believes that our love of the land begins in childhood, it can be said that those summers spent roaming the islands, by foot or by canoe, were instrumental in helping to shape Leopold’s own land ethic. His brother, Frederick, wrote of their summers on Marquette describing Aldo’s explorations: “Aldo knew most of the island intimately. He produced several handmade maps artistically decorated and illustrated with typical trees, animals, and birds in appropriate places. All of the trails were shown including some newer trails which he himself created.”

While in the Les Cheneaux Islands, Leopold met the headmaster of the Lawrenceville School, a preparatory school that eventually took him to Yale, the only school in the country at that time that offered a forestry degree. Graduating from the Yale Forest School in 1909, he eagerly pursued a career with the newly established U.S. Forest Service in Arizona and New Mexico.

By the age of 24, he had been promoted to the post of Supervisor for the Carson National Forest in New Mexico. In 1922, he was instrumental in developing the proposal to manage the Gila National Forest as a wilderness area, which became the first such official designation in 1924.

Following a transfer to Madison, Wisconsin in 1924, Leopold continued his investigations into ecology and the philosophy of conservation, and in 1933 published the first textbook in the field of wildlife management. Later that year he accepted a new chair in game management – a first for the University of Wisconsin and the nation. In 1935, he and his family initiated their own ecological restoration experiment on a worn-out farm along the Wisconsin River outside of Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Planting thousands of pine trees, restoring prairies, and documenting the ensuing changes in the flora and fauna further informed and inspired Leopold. When Aldo Leopold wrote about considering the natural world “as a community to which we belong,” the world was a different place than it is now. The simple idea of leaving a few trees behind to seed the next generation of forest was a wild idea in a time when it was thought the American landscape offered unlimited resources that were ripe for the taking. Leopold’s influence on modern land ethics, land and wildlife conservation, and on American love of the land, is still felt today.

Aldo Leopold Festival – Program at a Glance

All weekend: Follow the Birdie – Berry Hunt
Location: Hessel School (Scavenger hunt maps and programs available here)

Friday, May 13:

9:30 am – Wings of Wonder raptor program
Location: DeTour Elementary School, DeTour – Open to public

1:30 pm- Wings of Wonder raptor program
Location: Les Cheneaux Community School, Cedarville – Open to public

6-9 pm – The Historic Waters of Aldo Leopold Kayak Outing
Location: Woods & Water Ecotours, 20 S. Pickford Ave., Hessel

7 pm – “Native Orchids of the Eastern U.P. and Tip of the Mitt” by Dr. Steve Baker
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

8 pm – “Beautiful Birds of the Eastern U.P.” – by Paul Rossi
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

Saturday, May 14:

7 am – Bird Walk at Gerstacker Preserve with Dave Ewert of The Nature Conservancy
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

7am – Birding for Warblers at Search Bay with Elliot Nelson
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

9am – Wildflower Walk with Pat Wilson
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

10 am – Aldo Leopold Festival “ALF” Triathlon
Location: Begins at Hessel Beach

10-4 pm – “Green Bird” Bird Houses Family Workshop
Location: Pickle Point, 138 Pickford Ave., Hessel

12 pm – Birding Trail Opening Celebration
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

1 pm – Wildflower Walk with Pat Wilson
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

1:30 pm – Birding Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands with Elliot Nelson
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

3 pm – “Cold Love” Documentary Film Screening
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

7 pm – “Migration of land birds in the Great Lakes region: Natural history and conservation”
by Dave Ewert
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

8:30 pm – “The Storyteller’s Night Sky” by Mary Stewart Adams
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

Sunday, May 15:

7 am – Bird Walk at Gerstacker Preserve with Dave Ewert of The Nature Conservancy
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

7 am – Birding for Warblers at Woollam Preserve with Elliot Nelson
Location: Hessel School, 3206 W. Cedar Road, Hessel

9 am – Drummond Island Alvar Tour
Location: Drummond Island (Participants should arrive in DeTour at 8:20 am to catch the 8:40 ferry to Drummond Island)

10 am – The Historic Waters of Aldo Leopold Kayak Outing
Location: Woods & Water Ecotours, 20 S. Pickford Ave., Hessel

1-3 pm – Lions Club Community Picnic
Location: Snows Heritage Park, 267 Blindline Rd., Cedarville

This article was republished with permission from Dianna at Promote Michigan. We do our best to help with the promotion of the great State of Michigan!

UN.EARTH showcases KCAD students’ imaginative, captivating work

April 8, 20163-bottom, Area Education, design, Education, Entertainment, Local Entertainment, Upcoming EventsApril 13, Downtown Market, earth, garment, KCAD, nature inspired, Pamella Roland DeVos, School of Fashion, senior thesis, un.earthJoanne

By KCAD

The most imaginative and captivating work from students in Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University’s (KCAD) Pamella Roland DeVos School of Fashion will be presented to the public at their annual fashion show, to be held inside the Grand Rapids Downtown Market on April 13 from 7:30-10 pm.

“It’s fitting that all of the hard work and dedication the students in our Fashion Studies program have displayed throughout the year culminates in an event that they have the freedom to make their own,” said Interim Dean of the College Ron Riksen. “The KCAD community looks forward to celebrating their accomplishments.”

Titled UN.EARTH, the event will feature work from all class levels of the Fashion Studies program that ties into the event’s theme of nature and personal growth. The theme is based on the earth’s terrain and includes three subcategories: peak, valley, and coast. Specific color schemes and key words associated with each subcategory informed class projects in Fashion Studies courses throughout the spring semester of the 2015-2016 academic year.

Underclassmen will be displaying individual garments, selected through a juried process, that were designed within the parameters of different class projects. Graduating seniors, on the other hand, will be displaying their full capstone collections, multiple garments that have been designed with much more creative freedom at the students’ disposal. A number of fashion illustrations will also be on display.

“We chose to call the fashion show UN•EARTH specifically for its definition and connotation,” said Fashion Studies senior Audrey Langejans, one of the event’s lead organizers. “The word ‘earth’ got us thinking a lot about incorporating the nature-inspired trends that are so relevant in the fashion industry right now – trends that would give the underclassmen a chance to be extra creative in their interpretation of the theme. The definition of the word ‘unearth’ itself felt like the perfect summation of the senior experience. We seniors have spent three years working on class projects and learning different techniques, and now we have been able to unearth our own aesthetics and identities as designers through our capstone collections.”

Fashion Studies Program Chair Lori Faulkner added, “In our Capstone course, senior students use all the technical skills and knowledge they have gained through their years of study at KCAD to create an individual collection that specifically reveals their individual vision. Up until their senior year, they have been designing with certain guidelines in mind, but for this project they are given complete creative freedom. Regardless of their class level, I am consistently amazed by the unique designs that my students are able to take from concept to finished product.”

UN.EARTH will be held at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market on April 13, 2016 from 7:30-10 pm. Appetizers and refreshments will be provided by Martha’s Vineyard. Admission to the event is free, and the public is warmly welcomed to attend. Attendees are asked to please RSVP through Eventbrite to reserve their free tickets. Space is limited.

Top-5 Stories from the month of March

April 1, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, Local Faces, Our CitiesGrand Rapids Youth Symphony, march, Maria Erazo, OnPoint Tutorials, Piano, Sami Ahmad, Siegel Jeweler, Thom Vander Klay, top stories, WKTV News, Wyoming Theater Company, Wyoming WolvesJoanne

Mike DeWitt

Mike.dewitt@wktv.org

March brought some record numbers to WKTV News because of stories about people who make Wyoming and Kentwood a great community to live in.

If you happened to miss some of March’s top stories, make sure to check them out below!

After 31 years, Thom Vander Klay and the Wyoming Wolves are still making history

Coach Vander Klay has coached basketball in Wyoming for over three decades. The 2016 season marked a new experience with Wyoming’s first four-year class of Wolves.

18-year-old pianist wows crowd performing Rachmaninoff at Grand Rapids Youth Symphony concert

At only 18 years old, Sami Ahmad mastered Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. His mastery of the piece earned him the honor of being the featured soloist at the March concert.

Not just another pretty face

First generation immigrant Maria Erazo is a woman of many talents: Entrepreneur, business woman, author, motivational specialist…and the new Face of Siegel Jewelers.

Wyoming Theater Company presents the original ‘despicable me’ Roald Dahl’s ‘The Twits’

Wyoming High School students worked hard to put on a wonderful performance of Roald Dahl’s “The Twits.”

OnPoint Tutorials, Tips & Tours – the show about all things creative

OnPoint Tutorials, Tips & Tours airs on WKTV and focuses on providing viewers with step-by-step tutorials on particular techniques each week. The show airs Monday at 6 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Ilze Larsen: Second Career Shepherd

March 30, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, WKTV ProjectsAlan Headbloom, Feel Like You Belong, Ilza Larsen, Latvia, Lutheran MinisterJoanne

By: Alan Headbloom – Feel Like You Belong

Growing up in Latvia is tough in any century. If it wasn’t being overrun by the Poles, Swedes, and Germans, it was being crushed by Soviet oppression. This led to floods of Latvian refugees to the United States in the 1940s and 50s. Decades later, the aging Latvian Lutheran congregations needed a fresh supply of pastors for their churches. Enter Ilze Larsen, former cellist and newly ordained minister from the Baltic. Listen as Ilze tells of the feisty fortitude that still characterizes her people 5,000 miles from their homeland.

Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV that is focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.

Finding and Sharing the Beat

March 21, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Education, RecreationDrummunity, Drums, Erin Albanese, Godfrey-Lee, Music, School News NetworkJoanne

“Drummunity” Encourages Cooperation Through Music

By: Erin Albanese – School News Network

The beat of Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center students’ drums mixed with jangling tambourines, clanging blocks and sounds made by hitting sticks on household items recycled as instruments.

“Let’s all start a beat. … Here we go. … Let’s all start a beat,” said Lori Fithian, whose program Drummunity gets people pounding, tapping and grinning everywhere she goes.

Second-grader Jalyhia Reid bangs on the drum

As part of music class, students at the preschool-through-second-grade school gathered in a circle with Fithian in the middle, to use bongo and hand drums and other percussion instruments and to play simple drum-circle games.

Together, they made music, playing in unison. Later that evening, parents participated in a community drumming event.

Fithian, an Ann Arbor resident and artist who has studied different drumming traditions, said her concept is simple. “I help people make music together,” she said. “We basically just learn how to cooperate and come together. … It’s not really a musical thing. It’s more of a community-cooperation exercise, though we are using music to learn about all of that.”

First-grader Latrese McFerrin said she learned how to “make echoes” using instruments. “We got to switch instruments like drums and a plastic block,” she said.

Everyone Can Drum

Drummunity brings drumming to schools, libraries, community centers and other locations. Fithian’s visit was paid for through a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council.

Isabel Deleon-Magana smiles as she plays

Every culture has its own drum tradition and all ages can participate, she said. Getting students to drum with her is different from teaching other instruments.

“Everybody knows how to play drums; even babies can play drums. It’s a really natural thing that people can do together,” she said.

Students learn to keep a steady beat, and a whole lot more.

“They get a little bit of everything,” Fithian said. “They get to pound on something, play something, just explore the different sounds or learn what a drum is and how we can make music together.”

With older kids, Fithian teaches the concept of improvisation, creating new beats as they play. “We are not reading any music here; we are able to make something up with our own creativity.”

Tami Nelson, ECC music teacher, said she planned the event for her students to have the chance to make music with other people.

“This is a very good way for them to interact and see what they can do,” Nelson said. “One of the things about percussion instruments is various ability levels can easily access them. … They get to freely experience their music-making.”

Students said it was an experience they enjoyed. “I liked playing the drum,” said first-grader Taclara O’Bryant. “I like the music.”

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Evening of Science, Slime and Snacks

March 17, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Education, Kids ActivitiesErin Albanese, Kelloggsville, Kelloggsville Middle School, Rocket Family Night, School News NetworkJoanne

By: Erin Albanese – School News Network

Colorful slime gelled and circuits connected recently during Rocket Family Night at Kelloggsville Middle School.

Five classrooms were set up with hands-on science experiments for students of all ages to experience. Each allowed youngsters to create something to bring home, such as paper airplanes and slime. Rocket Family Night is a district initiative to offer the community a free meal and an evening tied to academics.

“We want parents to get into the buildings and the district. We also want our students to know how fun some of the subjects can be if you give them a chance,” said Middle School Principal Jim Alston.

Along with going through lots of science supplies, staff served more than 250 plates of food.

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Young Entrepreneurs Create Learning Marketplace

March 15, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Education, Kids ActivitiesEntrepreneurs, Erin Albanese, Godwin Heights, School News Network, T21 Marketplace, Team 21, West Godwin ElementaryJoanne

By: Erin Albanese – School News Network

West Godwin Elementary first- through fourth-grade students spent an evening working as mini-entrepreneurs at the T21 Marketplace, selling candy and other goodies, masks and chances to shoot hoops and bowl.

The event, hosted by the after-school program Team 21, introduced students to real-life concepts of buying and selling goods or services, said Betsy Berry, West Godwin Team 21 coordinator. While Berry purchased materials, students cooked, created their products, advertised and cashed out at the end of the evening. Each good or service cost one Berry Buck, fake money students had earned for good behavior.

“The purpose of learning about being a consumer as well as a producer was beyond achieved,” Berry said.

Connect

Team 21

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Terence Reuben: Running Inspired

March 14, 20163-bottom, Area Education, Citizen Journalism, WKTV ProjectsAlan Headbloom, Feel Like You Belong, Terence Reuben, WKTVJoanne

By: Alan Headbloom – Feel Like You Belong

Terence Reuben discusses discrimination and racial segregation growing up in Durban, South Africa. Rising above his Apartheid roots, he earned a physical therapy degree and landed a career an ocean away. At Metro Health Hospital, therapist Reuben helps patients recover from injuries. On weekends, triathlete Reuben pushes wheelchair “captains” over marathon courses and across finish lines.

Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV that is focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.

Michigan Maple Weekends Celebrate Sweet Agricultural Heritage

March 6, 2016Area Education, Food, Upcoming EventsDianna Higgs Stampfler, Maple Syrup, Michigan Maple Syrup, Promote MichiganJoanne

By: Dianna Higgs-Stampfler

The Michigan Maple Syrup Association is once again planning three weekends of celebrations focused on the state’s oldest agricultural activity during the 4th Annual Michigan Maple Weekend. Overall, more than 25 sugar makers are participating in the festivities.

Due to the state’s diverse weather and geographical elements, events are first held in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula (south of US10), March 19-20, followed by events in the upper half of the Lower Peninsula (north of US10), March 26-27 and throughout the Upper Peninsula, April 2-3.

“The weekend provides the people of Michigan and surrounding states a chance to see how our oldest crop is produced,” says Joe Woods, event coordinator. “For many people it is a chance for them to experience firsthand where their food comes from and the work and expense that goes into bringing a crop to market. For the producer it is a chance to meet new customers, educate consumers and display the workings of a sugar bush. Together this brings awareness of the maple syrup industry to the public.”

The family-friendly events held around the state are a great time for people to get out and get a firsthand look at how maple sap is collected, boiled down and turned into sweet maple syrup and other maple treats. Many of the farms will offer tours of their operation including tree tapping demonstrations, samples of their products, recipes for the use of maple syrup and local maple syrup products available to purchase.

Visitors to local farms can meet the farmers and their families that produce maple syrup and to get outside and enjoy Michigan’s early spring weather. Attendees are reminded to wear boots as mud and snow may still be abundant at this time of the year.

Michigan Maple Syrup Facts:

▪   Michigan ranks 5th in maple syrup production in the United States.
▪   Average maple syrup production in Michigan is about 90,000 gallons per year.
▪   Economic contributions of the pure maple syrup industry to Michigan are nearly $2.5 million annually.
▪   Maple syrup is a Michigan tourist benefit. It is a “thing” to buy.
▪   Maple syrup, as an agricultural commodity, benefits Michigan farm markets.
▪   There are an estimated 500 commercial maple syrup producers in Michigan with some 2,000 additional hobby or home use producers.
▪   Michigan law requires that processor of maple syrup must be licensed.
▪   The production of pure maple syrup is the oldest agricultural enterprise in the United States.
▪   Maple syrup is one of the few agricultural crops in which demand exceeds supply.
▪   Only about 1 percent of Michigan’s maple forest resource is used in maple syrup production.
▪   In an average year, each tap-hole will produce about 10 gallons of maple sap, enough for about a quart of pure Michigan maple syrup.
▪   Maple sap is a slightly sweet, colorless liquid.
▪   It takes approximately 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.
▪   A gallon of standard maple syrup weighs 11 pounds and has a sugar content of 66 percent.
▪   Maple syrup is the first farm crop to be harvested in Michigan each year.
▪   Maple syrup is not the recipient of any crop support or subsidy programs.
▪   A maple tree needs to be about 40 years old and have a diameter of 10 inches before tapping is recommended.
▪   Warm sunny days and freezing nights determine the length of the maple season.
▪   The budding of maple trees makes the maple syrup taste bitter. Thus, production ceases.
▪   Freezing and thawing temperatures create pressure and force the sap out of the tree.
▪   A very rapid rise in temperature (25 to 45 degrees) will enhance the sap flow.
▪   While the sugaring season may last 6-10 weeks, during this period, the heavy sap may run only 10-20 days.
▪   Average sugar concentration of maple sap is about 2.5 percent.
▪   Maple sap is boiled to remove the water and concentrate the sugars in a process called evaporation.
▪   In a conventional evaporator one cord of hard wood is required for every 25 gallons of syrup produced.
▪   Tubing collection systems with vacuum can increase average sap yields approximately 50 percent.
▪   Maple sap becomes maple syrup when boiled to 219 degrees Fahrenheit, or 7 degrees above the boiling point of water.
▪   Pure Michigan maple syrup has 50 calories per tablespoon and is fat-free. It has no additives, no added coloring and no preservatives.
▪   Maple syrup has many minerals per tablespoon: 20 milligrams of calcium, 2 milligrams of phosphorus, 0.2 milligrams of iron, 2 milligrams of sodium, 35 milligrams of potassium.
▪   Maple syrup is classified as one of nature’s most healthful foods.

Other maple syrup events in Michigan this spring include:
▪   March 5-27 — Afternoons at the Sugarhouse – Chippewa Nature Center, Midland
▪   March 12-13 — Maple Sugar Festival – Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo
▪   March 13 — Maple Sugaring – Hillside Homestead, Suttons Bay
▪   March 19 — Maple Syrup Day – Chippewa Nature Center, Midland
▪   March 19 — Maple Syrup Festival – Fenner Nature Center, Lansing
▪   March 28 — Maple Sugaring Days – Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Newberry
▪   April 22-24 — Vermontville Maple Syrup Festival
▪   April 22-24 — Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival

This article was republished with permission from Dianna at Promote Michigan. We do our best to help with the promotion of the great State of Michigan!

Technology makes our reading lives easier but can’t replace the library

March 5, 2016Area Education, Citizen Journalism, Local Faces, Upcoming EventsDeidre Doezema-Burkholder, goodreads, KDL, kindle, march reading month, overdrive, Public Library, reading rainbowJoanne

Diedre w: Librarian — Book, libraries, and especially librarians have always been a big part of my life

By: Deidre Dozema-Burkholder

I’ve had a library card since I was in kindergarten. Thinking of the library always brings back fond memories of trips with my Dad to the local book heaven to check out books. I would select a few different books for my Dad to read to me at bedtime. I still enjoy reading at night before I fall asleep. There have been more than a few times where my husband has come to bed only to find me asleep with a book in my lap or on his pillow.

Over time, my choice in books has changed as well as how I choose to read those books. For a while I strayed away from the library and opted to purchase books directly from retailers and Amazon, back when books were pretty much the only thing they offered. Then in 2007 Amazon launched a digital reading device called the Kindle.

The idea of digital books wasn’t something exactly new – a patent from 1949 shows the idea for a Mechanical Encyclopedia – and books on Tape/CD had been around for years. However, the Kindle was a game changer. It was the idea of holding something tangible in your hand and reading for enjoyment and knowledge.

The first Kindle cost $399.99 and sold out in less than 6 hours. It remained out of stock for five months. While I would have loved a Kindle, the digital experience of reading books didn’t seem worth the $400 price tag.

With that, I rediscovered the library, and soon the library discovered technology. My local library had already placed computers into their realm but now it really looks like the libraries are catching up with the technological curve. Certain libraries can checkout Kindle or iPads just as easy has checking out the latest James Patterson novel.

Libraries offer other options through technology as well. There are a handful that I highly enjoy.

The first is called Overdrive, it’s an application which you can download on to your computer or mobile device and “checkout” books from the library. You can even request a book just the same as you would before. If you prefer picking up an album or movie at the library, you should try Hoopla. Hoopla offers movies, TV shows, music, audiobooks, and comics. If you prefer browsing magazines, take a look at the application Zinio.

I love all three of these applications because they’re so easy. I don’t have to worry about returning the item since many of these applications have auto-return. The item simply returns itself after the allowed checkout time. The one downside to auto-return happens when you’re midway through a book and the time is up. You end up having to go through the process of downloading or requesting it again the book again. However, that’s something I’m okay with because I no longer have late fees!

Of course, if you’re an avid reader it can be easy to lose track of what you have read or what you want to read. For this, I like to use the website called GoodReads. I was introduced to GoodReads several years back, and it’s something I like to keep in my back pocket to find books from authors I like.

On top of finding books from authors, GoodReads also offers the ability to check the order of your favorite book series, give notice when a favorite author is releasing a new book, and suggest other authors or books based on your reading history.

Sometimes when I’m wandering Schuler’s Book Store, I pull out the app and scan a book so I can remember the book when I’m at the library next. I also use it to check reviews from what others who have already read the book had to say about it. My reading list currently sits at 41 books and includes everything from classics like The Maltese Falcon and Gone with the Wind, to “beach reads” which will remain nameless.

I can’t write this without making note of a show way back in the day called Reading Rainbow. I watched this show growing up and would often go to my local library to find the book featured on the show. For over 23 years this show aired on PBS and featured specific books or a centered theme which was explored throughout the show.

After the show stopped airing in 2014, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to help fund an App. Within 24 hours the campaign reached $5 Million with over 100,000 thousand donors. The campaign set an all-time record for the most backed kickstarter since its inception. It seems that a lot of people still wanted to take a look in a book and see the butterflies in the sky.

If you don’t have the iconic Reading Rainbow theme song in your head by now, you should do so by clicking here.

As for me, I don’t think I will ever stop reading. While technology continues to evolve, I still enjoy picking up a book and holding it in my hands. It’s something tangible. Plus, reading an actual book is easier on the eyes than a digital screen. Trust me, your eyes need a break from the screen!

I still take the time to visit my local branch to see the same librarians that have helped me find books all my life. Their help and suggestions have helped enrich my life. Now, instead of just asking for books, I take time to talk to the librarians that mean so much to a community. They are more important than the books they recommend.

With March being National Reading Month, take a look and rediscover your local library.

Deidre owns and operates Organisum: Technology Services, a business serving the West Michigan area. In her free time she likes to hike & bike local trails with friends and family when she isn’t pinning, instagram’ing or Netflix’ing.

The educators are coming—5,000+ of them!

March 4, 2016Area Education, Education, Local Business, Our Cities, Upcoming Eventsadministrators, classroom teachers, conference, devos place, educational technology, knowledge, MACUL, school board members, workshopJoanne

From Wednesday, March 9 through Friday, March 11, thousands of educators will take over the DeVos Place Convention Center. It’s not an invasion. It’s the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning’s (MACUL) 40^th annual Conference for Educational Technology.

One of the nation’s largest conferences for educational technology, the event will gather more than 5,000 teachers, administrators and school board members from Michigan, neighboring states and Canada. National leaders and classroom teachers will present more than 350 sessions on best practices and trends in educational technology, along with special events and featured speakers planned to meet the needs of every attending educator in Michigan.

“The MACUL Annual Conference is the highlight of the year for educators who strive to explore and utilize innovative teaching tools and strategies,” said Kevin Clark, president of the MACUL board of directors. “With the constant influx of new technology, it can be a challenge for teaching professionals to keep their practice relevant. The MACUL Annual Conference provides the opportunity to see ideas in action, get hands-on professional development, and make connections with colleagues from around the state.”

Kent County school districts attending and participating in MACUL include Grand Rapids Public, Godwin Heights, Wyoming, Grand Rapids Catholic Central high school, Forest Hills, Kentwood, Kenowa Hills and East Grand Rapids. The Student Technology Showcase, highlighting he projects of K-12 students from across Michigan, will be held on Thursday, March 10 from 11:00 am to 1 pm. The showcase will feature some of the top technology projects being used by students in their classrooms. Students and teachers will be available to discuss and share their projects.

The exhibitor section of the MACUL conference will feature more than 200 booths, representing nearly 150 companies. Displays of the latest and greatest in hardware, software, and services will highlight how technology can enhance teaching and learning. Exhibit days and times at DeVos Place will be Thursday, March 10 from 9:30 am – 5 pm and Friday, March 11 from 8:30 am to 1 pm. The exhibits are open to the public with a $20 admission charge at the door.

For more information, including a complete list of exhibitors, go here.

Wyoming KDL Vegan Cooking Demo Draws a Crowd

March 1, 2016Area Education, Health, How-To's, Local Food, Non-ProfitsCarrie Bistline, KDL, Kristen Siegel, Vegan Workshop, Wyoming Brach, Wyoming LibraryJoanne

By: Carrie Bistline

Youth Librarian and workshop presenter Kristen “Kris” Siegel demonstrated how to cook easy, delectable vegan comfort foods this past weekend, proving that opting for vegan does not equate a sacrifice for the palate. The spread included demos and taste samples for brunch, lunch, dinner and dessert, using a multiple-table spread spanning half the width of the Wyoming KDL community room.

“I’m a vegan for animal rights, environmental and health reasons,” said Kris, who has been vegan since 2009. She admitted to the audience that switching to vegan wasn’t easy, initially. It took practice, preparation, trials and errors and a great deal of help from her ever-growing collection of vegan cookbooks. She’s found a routine, formed her own adaptations, and she’s willing to share her tips for cooking vegan with all who seek the knowledge.

Being a taste-tester myself of each of the samples, I’d say it is absolutely time for Kris to write her own cookbook. Who knew the secret ingredient in Tofu Scramble was the sulfury-smelling black salt? Or that pulverized cashews could replace cheese for a creamy, comfort-food pasta? Or that nutritional yeast can be substituted for cheese in thousands of recipes, including Vegan Basil Pasta?

But wait, did I mention there was dessert? A 95-calorie serving of Genius Chocolate-Chip Blondies, created with the unlikely combo of a 15-ounce can of white beans and peanut butter, among other ingredients.

After successfully entrancing us with the kind of spell only expertly prepared comfort food can induce, Kris sent us on our way with an impressive list of her favorite Vegan resources in Grand Rapids (email Kris Siegel at ksiegel@kdl.org for a copy), a brochure highlighting her favorite vegan cookbooks (circulated by KDL!) and eight pages of vegan honorable mention comfort food recipes. The recipes included her own addendums with tips on substitutions and meal leftover uses.

While the Wyoming KDL Vegan Cooking Demo left vegans, omnivores and multi-faceted dabbler like me, dazzled and impressed, Kris finds a comfort of her own in her vegan venture. “It makes me feel like I’m in alignment with my beliefs,” she said.

The workshop was not only impressive and educational, but also incredibly genuine.

Next up for Wyoming KDL: Parent and Child Yoga. Visit the KDL Events Website for more info on upcoming events.

Carrie Bistline is a freelance writer, blogger and marketer with an MFA in Creative Writing. She divides her free time amongst family, work, sports and Jane Austen, and uses what’s left to chip away at her every-growing bucket list.

Stereotypes vs. Generalizations

February 26, 2016Area Education, Citizen JournalismAlan Headbloom, Feel Like You Belong, Generalizations, StereotypesJoanne

By: Alan Headbloom – Feel Like You Belong

What is the difference between the following statements?

1. Latinos are closed to outsiders; they only do business among themselves.
2. Trust is important in the Latino community; to do business, you first need to build relationships.

In intercultural conversations, we make a big distinction between stereotypes and generalizations. If you remember only one idea from this conversation, remember this:

• Generalizations are helpful.
• Stereotypes are hurtful.

These two concepts are often confused because they both involve making broad statements about a group of people. This is where the similarity ends.

When we make a generalization, we are attempting to look at the behavior of many people and note similarities. While we do this, we focus on being descriptive and not judgmental. We are also able to modify this broad view if we encounter new examples which disprove the description we are trying to make.

On the other hand, stereotypes tend to lock people into categories with the idea of limiting that group. Stereotypes seek to make judgments rather than to describe. Once we make stereotypes, we then are reluctant to modify them.

In the examples we mentioned earlier, statement #1 uses judgmental words like “closed” and “only.” By contrast, statement #2 gives examples to describe (and not judge) interpersonal behavior. We can use this second statement to inform how we might approach Latinos for the purpose of doing business.

The first statement gives us a negative view which doesn’t allow any flexibility or growth; this negative view will be retained in our subconscious (where we don’t think about it) and can influence our future interactions. On the other hand, the generalization of #2 gives us actionable knowledge which may (or may not) be borne out in individual interactions with, say, Venezuelans or Mexicans, for example. We don’t take the generalization as iron-clad, but it gives us principles to consider when we enter into relationships with members of that group.

Here’s a useful summary to keep in mind.

Generalizations are helpful because they
1. Are used consciously and analytically
2. Are descriptive and flexible
3. Seek to be accurate
4. Are an attempt to capture similarities and principles
5. Are constantly modified by new input

Stereotypes are harmful because they
1. Are used unconsciously and reactively
2. Are judgmental and rigid
3. Seek to be simple
4. Are an attempt to limit and pigeonhole
5. Are fixed and not open to revisiting

I hope this distinction is useful to you. Let us know if you have good examples of generalizations that have helped you in intercultural situations.

Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV that is focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.

Senator Gary Peters announces new legislation to make college more affordable and accessible

February 25, 2016Area Education, Education, Hard NewsFerris State, Gary Peters, Making Education Affordable and Accessible Act, Senator Gary PetersJoanne

U.S. Senator Gary Peters payed a visit to the Kendall College of Art and Design at Ferris State University campus on February 22 to announce the Making Education Affordable and Accessible Act (MEAA). The MEAA is a new bipartisan legislation intended to expand options for high school students to obtain college credit, making higher education more affordable and accessible while improving high school and college graduation rates.

“The escalating cost of higher education should not deter hardworking, motivated students from obtaining a quality higher education,” said Senator Peters. “I am pleased to introduce this bipartisan bill to help reduce the price tag for higher learning by allowing students to complete college-level courses while they are still in high school. Students will save time and money as they kick-start their careers through a personalized curriculum.”

The MEAA would expand access to dual and concurrent enrollment programs and early/middle college programs by providing grants to institutions of higher education. The National Alliance on Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships estimates 1.9 million high school students enrolled in a college course during the 2014-2015 school year.

Peters was joined by Ferris State University President David Eisler, Rockford Public Schools Superintendent Michael Shibler, and students enrolled in Rockford High School’s concurrent enrollment program with Ferris State University.

Currently, Ferris State has partnered with 20 schools across Michigan to give high school students a jump on their college requirements.

“We can help make college more affordable and more accessible by offering expanded opportunities for students to earn college credit while in high school in a cost-effective manner,” said Ferris State University President David Eisler. “I thank Senator Peters for his efforts to support dual and concurrent enrollment and early college programs that will give students in Michigan more opportunities to start their college careers.”

Concurrent enrollment provides high school students the opportunity to take college-credit bearing courses taught by college-approved high school teacher, while dual enrollment involves students being enrolled in two separate institutions. These high schools and programs are located on college campuses or within schools, and they allow students to begin working towards an associate’s degree while they complete coursework for a high school diploma. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, early college students on average earn 36 college credits, and 30% of early college students earn an associate’s degree. There are 23 early/middle college high schools and 67 early/middle college programs in Michigan alone.

“Earning college credit in high school prior to graduation is a life changing experience for our students,” said Rockford Public Schools Superintendent Michael Shibler. “The opportunity to experience the rigor of college coursework, as well as prepare students to make more informed decisions about their postsecondary path, is invaluable.”

The Making Education Affordable and Accessible Act allows for money to be used to provide grants to institutions of higher education. These grants can be used to:

•   Carry out dual and concurrent enrollment programs as well as early/middle college programming
•   Provide teachers in concurrent enrollment programs with professional development
•   Support activities such as course design, course approval processes, community outreach, student counseling and support services

Senator Peters introduced the legislation alongside Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, Colorado Congressman Jared Polis, and New York Congressmen Tom Reed.

“This legislation will help motivated students customize their coursework to create the learning environment that works best for them,” said Steven Ender, President of Grand Rapids Community College. “By introducing students to the academic expectations of college while still in high school, we can dramatically improve college preparedness and significantly boost graduation rates.”

The Tree Amigos and a quest for a healthier Wyoming

February 22, 2016Area Education, Community Health, Health, Local Faces, Non-Profits, Our Cities, Upcoming Events, VolunteersBill Brown, City of Wyoming, Greg Bryan, Mike DeWitt, Stelle Slootmaker, Tree Amigos, Tree City USA, Trees, Wyoming City CouncilJoanne

Trees are not only beautiful, but they add many other benefits to a community

By: Mike DeWitt

What started as a routine tree removal ended up igniting an inner-passion in Wyoming resident, and former city commissioner, Greg Bryan.

“If the city was smart, they would’ve replaced my tree and this group never would’ve been created,” exclaimed Greg with a tinge of humor in his voice before getting serious once again. “When the city came in and chopped down my trees, I said to myself, ’this has to stop!’ So, I called [city council member] Kent Vanderwood and told him we have to do something.”

That ‘something’ has morphed itself into a group called the ‘Tree Amigos,’ a Wyoming, Michigan citizens committee supporting a vibrant tree canopy. The group started as a Neighborhood Watch campaign to raise awareness of the Gypsy moth blight in the Oriole Park neighborhood.

Now the group has a new focus: to establish a new commission centered on planting trees in the City of Wyoming. Ultimately, the goal is to have Wyoming become the 120th city in Michigan, and part of 3,400 communities nationwide, to become a part of Tree City USA. In order to achieve status as a member of Tree City USA, a community must meet four core standards of sound forestry management: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry, and celebrating Arbor Day.

Wyoming's former tree planting program — Wyoming’s former tree planting program

A tree planting program is nothing new for Wyoming. In fact, a program existed back in the 70’s to plant and install trees under contract by the township. However, the program ran out of money due to budget cuts and the city hasn’t planted trees since.

“There’s so much beauty and serenity in trees and the wildlife that comes with them. There are also huge health benefits as well,” explained Tree Amigos member Stelle Slootmaker on her decision to help lead the group.

Those benefits? Well, trees are extraordinarily energy-efficient. Amazingly, 100 trees remove 26 tons of CO2 and 300 pounds of pollutants from the air. They provide the net cooling effect of 1,000 air conditioners! The same number of trees can also intercept more than 200,000 gallons of rainwater each year, reducing the need for storm water controls, and providing cleaner water.

On top of reducing costs for the city over time, trees can also add market value to residential real estate. One large tree can add 10 percent.

While trees are helpful from a numbers perspective, they also benefit in ways that are more difficult to measure. Trees build strong ties to neighborhoods and communities. They help promote better psychological well-being and make people happier. More trees are linked to faster hospital recoveries, increased employee productivity, less crime, and reduction in stress and anxiety.

According to one survey, having on average 10 more trees in a city block improved how someone rated their health by a level comparable to an increase in annual personal income of $10,000, moving to a neighborhood with a $10,000 median income, or being seven years younger.

With all the benefits of trees, it seems like a no-brainer for the city to implement a tree planting plan. However, whenever there’s work to be done, there needs to be someone willing to take up the new workload. It’s always easier said than done.

That’s where the Tree Amigos come in. The group has already put in the time and effort to research the steps to make Wyoming a part of Tree City USA. They have also taken the time to present the idea of forming a new commission to the City Council. Most importantly, the Tree Amigos aren’t simply dropping the workload for someone else to pick up. They’re looking to be on the front line as volunteers wherever this effort takes them.

Stelle Slootmaker and Bill Brown addressing the Wyoming City Council

“It’s important to Greg. He represents a neighborhood that needs help with trees,” said Wyoming City Council Member Kent Vanderwood. “It’s the right response for us to get behind as a city. Whatever I can do to help, I’m going to do.”

Two members of the Tree Amigos, Stelle and Arborist Bill Brown, gave a formal presentation at the City Council meeting on February 8. They are meeting with the Council again this Wednesday, February 24, to talk about the next step.

Bill is hoping everyone is on the same page going forward, “I grew up in Wyoming. This is what I do everyday. I understand the importance of trees. It’s something Wyoming needs now.”

10 Foreign Words That Are Hard to Say

February 19, 2016Area Education, Citizen Journalism, Education, Food, How-To's, WKTV Projects10 mispronounced words, Alan Headbloom, Feel Like You Belong, LanguageJoanne

Feel Like You Belong is focused on helping migrants fit into America and feel like they belong.

Language is a barrier for many people. Not only is it tough for those learning English as a second language, but think of the many conversations you’ve had with others that just didn’t seem to click. Better yet, think of the conversations you have with your best friends and why they flow so freely. It’s because you both GET each other, right? Cultural references roll off the tongue, slang flows freely, and you both truly understand exactly what the other is trying to communicate.

For those new to the English language, it can be difficult to learn all the nuances that come with being fully immersed into a culture. That’s why Feel Like You Belong is trying to help. In this segment, Alan untangles 10 commonly mispronounced words that English has adopted from other languages.

Tết, the Lunar Calendar, and the Year of the Monkey

February 19, 2016Area Education, Holidays, Upcoming EventsAdrian Đặng Bảo Oánh, Chinese New Year, Lunar Calendar, Monkey, new year, Tết, Vietnamese New Year, Year of the MonkeyJoanne

By: Adrian Đặng Bảo Oánh

Most of Asia observes the lunar calendar, which is based on the cycles of the moon as compared to the Western solar calendar. The celebration of the lunar New Year is perhaps the single most important and prominent event over much of Asia. Western folks sometimes mistakenly call it the “Chinese New Year” for lack of knowledge. The Vietnamese folks call it “Tết”.

Each year carries the sign of one of the animals in the “Asian Zodiac”. These twelve animals, in proper sequence, are: the rat, the ox, the tiger, the cat (also called the rabbit in some countries), the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat (or ram), the monkey, the rooster, the dog, and the pig. Year 2016 carries the sign of the MONKEY!

Since the lunar calendar staggers a bit when compared to the solar calendar, the lunar New Year usually falls into the late January or early February timeframe of our Western Calendar. In much of Asia, this would mark the beginning of spring time and, quite appropriately, the beginning of a new year, a new beginning.

In the modern days, people who observe the lunar New Year would limit their celebration to three days due to their busy schedules. There are still some quaint villages in Asia where people would celebrate New Year for as long as three months, in extreme cases. However, the first day is always the most important.

There are many aspects of the lunar New Year celebration. The Asian people politely usher the ending year “out”; then they respectfully and joyously welcome the new year “in”.

Starting a week before New Year’s eve, each household performs the ritual of sending off the kitchen gods back to heaven to report the year’s worth of happenings to the Jade Emperor (the divine God).

During New Year, we can really feel the seasonal change in the climate; it truly feels like a new beginning. The buds and new leaves are sprouting on trees and plants. The birds start laying eggs and animals give birth to young ones. People also join in and celebrate with the rest of nature.

Spiritually, it is time to look back and commemorate the family ancestors. Each person also reflects upon himself/herself to recognize the negative things and mistakes during the departed year to improve upon or get rid of, and he/she solemnly makes resolutions for the entire upcoming year. It is also time to revisit religious beliefs in each individual.

During Tết’s time, lower ranking family members traditionally go to all of the older or higher ranking members and present them with good wishes for the new year. In return, older folks will hand out “lucky money” in beautiful little red envelopes and also wish the younger members well. This tradition is also extended outside of the family to show respect, fondness and thoughtfulness to friends, neighbors, and acquaintances.

The first person who enters any home after the turn of the year is believed to bring his/her good or bad luck into that home. Residents of each home are very careful about who shall be the first person to set foot into their home. People really avoid sad or unlucky subjects during this special time of the year.

For celebration, there are usually plenty of food and beverages of the best varieties. People set off firecrackers to ward off evil spirits. The dragon dances also serve to bring luck and chase off any evil spirit from the last year. There are games that are reserved mostly for New Years time. There are also cultural shows in the performing arts discipline that are presented almost only during Tết’s time.

Happy Year of the Monkey. May you have tranquility in all aspects of your lives, and may all your wishes come true!

‘Lunch Lady’ Returns to Cook with Students

February 17, 2016Area Education, Education, Food, Non-Profits, RecreationCooking, Di Szczesny, Erin Albanese, Godwin Heights Elementary, School News Network, Team 21, Valentine's DayJoanne

Di Szszesny instructs West Godwin Elementary fourth-graders on coating their treat in melted chocolate

By: Erin Albanese – School News Network

West Godwin Elementary fourth-graders stood in line taking turns shaking a bag filled with a Valentine’s Day treat of Chex Mix and powdered sugar.

To the tune of singer Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off,” students vigorously shook the bag, while instructor Di Szczesny, “Ms. Di,” told them what they would be doing next. “We are going to take our chocolate and pour it over our Chex Mix. Pour it all in there. Shake it all in there. Everybody can stir and everybody can shake.”

Soon, things got even sweeter with red M&Ms and sprinkles.

“We’re making it red for Valentine’s Day because you’re the loves of my life,” Szczesny told students.

Students dance, giggle, grin and, perhaps best of all, feast when they learn to cook with Szczesny, who hosts cooking classes for the after-school program Team 21, which is run through a partnership with the City of Wyoming. Over the side dishes and desserts they create together, Szczesny gives attention to each student, doling out kind words and lots of silliness with instruction. Somehow everyone stays on task.

“It’s my passion. I love kids and I love food,” Szczesny said.

Meals, Manners and Measurements

Retired after 14 years working in food service for Wyoming Public Schools, Szczesny now spends her evenings teaching elementary students to cook. She leads classes for Team 21 at Godwin, Wyoming and Kelloggsville schools and in many Kent County schools through Artists Creating Together, a Grand Rapids-based non-profit organization that provides artist-in-residency grants for students with special needs across Kent County.

During Szczesny’s classes, students make kid-friendly dishes. The 14 West Godwin students stuffed and wrapped veggie spring rolls and mixed Chinese chicken salad in honor of Chinese New Year. They dipped marshmallows in melted chocolate and shook the cereal and powdered sugar-laden snack known as puppy chow. It was the first of four visits planned, so students from all grade levels get a turn cooking.

Students learn about nutrition and the value of homemade meals, Szczesny said. They learn etiquette, food safety and math skills as the measure ingredients, reading skills as they follow recipes. They must have good teamwork to hustle and get several dishes ready at the same time.

“The main thing is to eat what they make,” she said. “I focus on good nutrition and healthy habits. I would like them to be able to start dinner at home, to learn the basics.”

She also wants them to learn hospitality, what to do when you hate your great aunt’s cooking and to remember to chew with your mouth closed. “I teach them manners, to open doors for a lady, how to set a table and just to be kind to each other.”

Betsy Berry, West Godwin Team 21 coordinator, said cooking with Szczesny is students’ favorite activity.

“Di has a unique approach to connecting and bonding with all of the students in all the grade levels. They love this class more than any other they do in Team 21,” Berry said.

Aryanna McCrary said she learned tips on how not to burn food from Szczesny. “She is a very good cooking teacher and kids can learn from her,” said the fourth-grader. “She introduces me to new foods too.”

Between chopping, mixing, cooking and presenting, students say being a good cook involves a lot. “It’s amazing the work you have to put into it,” said fourth-grader Adrien Rochelle.

After the cooking was done and lemonade poured, students settled down to eat before heading home. “I like everything,” Aryanna said. “The salad was the best.”

Be sure to check out School News Network for more stories about our great students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan!

Tying the knot in Kent County and breaking ties with the myths of divorce

February 15, 2016Area Education, Our Cities50 percent divorce rate, Divorce Rate, Kent county divorce rate, Kent County marriage rate, Marriage Rate, Michigan Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Mike DeWittJoanne

By: Mike DeWitt

In a 15-year stretch from 2000-2014, according to Michigan’s Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Kent Country recorded 66,692 marriages and 31,580 divorces. When weighted per 1,000 country residents and compared with Michigan’s other 83 counties, Kent County residents have handled the new millennium well, ranking high in marriage rate and low in divorce rate.

•   9th-highest marriage rate in 2000 (17.3 per 1,000 residents)
•   20th-lowest divorce rate in 2000 (7.2 per 1,000 residents)
•   16th-highest marriage rate in 2014 (14.3 per 1,000 residents)
•   35th-lowest divorce rate in 2014 (6.4 per 1,000 residents)

While some will look at those numbers and smile, thinking of their own special day, others will take them in with a healthy dose of cynicism. After all, half of all marriages end in divorce, right? At least, that seems to be the shared belief in our culture when it comes to marriage and whether they actually last until “death do us part.”

But what if the 50 percent “fact” that has been perpetuated for all these years is nothing more than a myth? As it turns out, the divorce rate is no longer rising, it hasn’t been for some time, and half of all marriages actually do not end in divorce.

There was a time when the divorce rate was steadily climbing and 50 percent looked to be more than reasonable. However, that was back in the ’70s and ’80s, a peak in the divorce rate that looks to be the exception rather than the rule. In the three decades since then, the divorce rate has only creeped lower and lower. If trends continue, two-thirds of marriages will never involve a divorce.

Marriage and Divorce Rates over time in Michigan (blue) and the United States (red) Source: Michigan Division of Vital Records & Health Statistics — Marriage and Divorce Rates over time in Michigan (blue) and the United States (red) [Source: Michigan Division of Vital Records & Health Statistics]

So, what happened? Well, the 70’s and 80’s also coincide with the rise in a new feminist movement. With women gaining more societal confidence and power—add in the fact that women initiate two-thirds of all divorces— and you can start to connect the dots on why the divorce rate spiked. With both men and women adjusting to the newly refined roles and expectations, it makes sense that the divorce rate has been making its way down the mountain.

There are other reasons for a declining divorce rate that stem from people getting married later in life or not getting married at all. In Kent County, the marriage rate fell from 2000 to 2014. In fact, 73 of Michigan’s 83 counties experienced a drop in their marriage rate. An increase in societal acceptance for single family homes and living together before marriage, thus experiencing a breakup instead of a divorce, has had an impact on the reduction of marriages.

A big proponent to a falling marriage rate is economical. Now more than ever, people feel the need to be financially established and stable before they decide to take the plunge into marriage. With changing societal norms and expectations leading to more women in the workplace, it’s led to higher unemployment amongst men and fewer suitable bachelors for women to marry. Claire Cain Miller of the New York Times explains:

“Men are more likely than women to remain unmarried, 23 percent to 17 percent. Part of that is linked to the fact that the share of men aged 25 to 54 who are not working has been increasing for 50 years. At the same time, 78 percent of never-married women say that a mate with a steady job would be very important to them, more than any other quality in choosing a spouse. Pew analyzed the pool of employed, unmarried men, compared with all unmarried women. There are 65 employed men for every 100 women.

Blacks place more importance than whites on finding a partner with a steady job before marriage, according to Pew, and among unmarried young blacks, there are 51 employed men for every 100 women.”

A man without a degree is less likely to hold a stable job and less likely to be married. Marriage is no longer about survival, but has become a luxury.

While a lot of different factors contribute to a couple’s staying power, the amount of education is a strong indicator on whether a couple will last the test of time. Chances of divorce among people with colleges degrees is significantly less likely than those with a lower education, whose divorce rates hover closer to the numbers seen during the peak divorce years of the 70’s and 80’s.

The institution of marriage gets a bad rap when the “50 percent” myth is flung around recklessly. When you dive into the numbers, it’s crystal clear that there’s no rush! Get educated and take your time; the statistics say you’ll have a much better chance of making it until “death do us part.”

High-Performers Provide Good Models

“Drummunity” Encourages Cooperation Through Music

From Wednesday, March 9 through Friday, March 11, thousands of educators will take over the DeVos Place Convention Center. It’s not an invasion. It’s the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning’s (MACUL) 40th annual Conference for Educational Technology.

From Wednesday, March 9 through Friday, March 11, thousands of educators will take over the DeVos Place Convention Center. It’s not an invasion. It’s the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning’s (MACUL) 40^th annual Conference for Educational Technology.