This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

June 6, 2011

This Week’s Good News!

  • Huron High School's Erik Ljungman was awarded the University of Michigan's Huron High School German Scholarship. Erik is a graduating senior who will attend U of M in the fall.
    This scholarship was funded by leaders in the business community, including Richard Sheridan of Menlo Innovations, Ray Digby of Am-Can Financial, David Granner of Thrivent Financial, and Judith Dabertin of Boulevard Health Care. In fields like Engineering, Business, Chemistry, Physics, Architecture, and Life Sciences, the U of M has a increasing need for undergraduates who have at least a few semesters of German.
    Any student who has taken at least one year of German at Huron High School, and who will take at least two semesters of German at the U of M, is eligible to apply for this scholarship.   During his four years at Huron, Erik Ljungman was on the tennis team, and during the first semester of the 2010 / 2011 school year earned a 4.0 grade average. He took four years of German. During his senior year, he also took Physics, Calculus, and Humanities.
  • King Elementary School 5th grade student, Jalen Yockey, is the overall winner of the 2011 MAEA YAM Sargent Art Contest for his color Lino-cut.  Laura Wayne is his art teacher.  They won a trip to New York along with one of Jalen's parents.
  • Pioneer ceramics student, Hartley Combs, won best of show at the Earth Arts Gallery's Annual Student Nature Art Competition and received a $100 first place prize for his ceramic sculpture.
  • This week Kiwanis Morning Edition generously contributed a monetary award to Logan Elementary School.  These funds will help provide a wonderful end of the year group activity for the Special Education students at Logan and their Peer Buddies.   Peer buddies have been special friends at lunch throughout the school year.    The Kiwanis award will also provide funding for two whole school assemblies for students K-5 by the Ann Arbor Symphony.
  • Huron social studies teacher Katie Jones and EMU professor Peggy Daisey collaborated on a paper entitled, "The Value of Writing 'How-to' Books in High School World History and Geography Class."
    This paper is based on "how-to" book writing about how to do something in the years 300-1500 CE completed by Katie Jones' 86 ninth grade students.
    In an anonymous post survey, students reported that they were proud of and felt ownership in their "how-to" books. More than a third of students noted that they were more motivated to work on this assignment than other tests or projects in the class.
    This paper will be published in The History Teacher journal early in 2012 (according to the editor).
  • I want to recognize and thank all those who planned and organized this year’s graduation ceremonies.  It is quite a task to organize such an event but each was orchestrated very well.
Robert Allen
Interim Superintendent