Welcome to the Thurston Elementary School PTO

As a parent or caregiver of a Thurston student you are automatically a member of our Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO).  There are numerous ways you can help out at our school through the PTO and we hope you have the opportunity to explore any number of them.

Our meetings usually take place on the 1st Tuesday of the month.  Childcare is usually available and paid for by the PTO.  We would love to get your feedback and it is always nice to hear fresh ideas. 

Note: The June 5th PTO meeting has been cancelled. If you have any pressing issues please contact sherri.akuezue@stryker.com

Graduating 5th Graders - Clague Science Olympiad Team!

Science Fair

We had 75 participants this year from grades K through 5! It is wonderful to see so many kids excited and engaged in research projects, be they large or small, complex or elegantly simple.  Thank you to all the students and adults who participated in this event. We would specifically like to thank the parents, Thurston staff and other friends and relatives who served as listeners for the evening.  Among them were the following:  Sunita Shankar, Urja Sinha, Jody Huhn, Ms. Christine Combi, Ms. Margaret Goodly, Ms. Allison Scovone, Principal Natasha York, Karen Cooper, Inhan Lee, Sherri Akuezue, Rachel Talbert, John Macorkindale, Pam O'Neal, Guey-Meei Yang, Leslie Notargiacomo, Eleonora Katsambouris and Tom Suchan.  We also thank our clean-up crew helpers, Eleonora Katsambouris, Principal Natasha York and Jody Hunh.  Last but not least, we would also like to thank our office staff members Ms. Debbie Riley and Ms. Evon Schmitzerle, and our night custodian Ms. Susan Chapman whose assistance enabled us to hold a Science Fair at Thurston Elementary. 

 If you think you want to participate in next year's Science Fair as a co-chair or as a listener or in some other capacity, please contact Mary Manthey, next year's Science Fair Chair.  She is the parent of a first-grader and co-chaired with me this year.  Most of you probably already know what an energetic go-getter Mary is and how much fun it is to work with her. This is another event run entirely by parents for the students so we always welcome volunteers.

Warmest Regards,
Margaret Weiss and Mary Manthey, 2012 Science Fair Co-Chairs
colinmargie@sbcglobal.net and maryannasm@comcast.net

Hats off to Thurston's Science Olympians!

Thurston Elementary students in grades 2 through 5 competed with children from 24 other schools in the 10^th annual Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad (WESO), the largest elementary science olympiad in the country.  Out of the 22 events in which they competed, the 4^th and 5^th graders garnered 15 medals.  Out of the 25 events in which the 2^nd and 3^rd graders competed, 11 medals were earned.  This placed Thurston  5^th and 6^th overall among the 25 schools that participated.   It also marks the 8^th year in which Thurston has been participating in WESO.  We had 16 second graders, 25 third graders, 17 fourth graders and 23 fifth graders participate. Thurston typically has one of the higher participation rates, and we'd like to see that increase!

We are so proud of how well Thurston students represented our school! They were respectful, displayed excellent sportsmanship and were supportive of one another as well as of friends on other schools' teams.  Thank you for all your dedication and hard work, kids.  We hope you kids AND coaches had A LOT of fun, LEARNED something new, gained a greater appreciation for the importance of TEAMWORK, and will carry what you gained with you as you face new challenges in life. 

We also wish to thank some of our community sponsors without whose support we could not have assembled such a fabulous raffle basket.  Hats off to these local businesses – Cottage Inn Pizza, Foods of India, Kumon, Panera Bread, Trader Joe's and Walgreens Pharmacy – that made generous donations to the Thurston Raffle Basket we had to supply to WESO.  Our industrious raffle basket organizers this year were Shikha Goel and Brenda Noble. They did a fantastic job, once again assembling one of the more desireable baskets at WESO!

Thurston parents equaled their kids in being supportive, enthusiastic and helpful.  Frances and Margaret think you guys are the sweetest folks in Ann Arbor.  We also thank the Thurston PTO for its unquestioning support in this endeavor and Thurston's staff who supported us in various ways.  Following is a list of all those who participated in some way and if someone is missing, mea culpa – it was a huge undertaking that was brought about by many, many helping hands, really the whole school community:

Debbie Riley, Evon Schmitzerle, Renae Borowski, Susan Chapman, Natasha York, Sylvia Muglia, Christine Boltz, Madhan Ramaswami, Sunita Shankar, David and Shana Barnett, Margaret and Adela Baker, Mythili Vedala, Colin Brooks, Mohammed Farrukh, Zaini Lateef, Divya Nyati, Navneet Sangha, Uzma Ahmad, Fuxiang Zhang, Laphillia Andrews, Sherri Akuezue, Tori Melendez, James and Lesley Mason, Shu Chen, Gavin Shatkin, Ra-Mon and Erica Watkins, Kinga Benkes, M. Abdulla Yousuf, Yuji and Yuni Fujii, Ying Feng, Geetha Mantha, Cindy Pletz, Warren and Tonysha Emerson, Anamika Laddha, Gandikota Girish, Kavita Goel, Shikha Goel, Brenda Noble, Stephanie Sherk, Amrita Joshi, Katie Richter, Madhavi Manne, Andrey Kuklev, Shelley Woodrich, Rick Taylor, Jody Huhn, Sunita Banda, Inhan Lee, Suzanne Cho, Meenu Baxendale, Munmun Chattopadhyay, Jing Chen, Keiko Inoki, Catherine Jiang, Phil King, Jinkoo Lee, Qingyuan Li, Geetha Mantha, Ruibin Qu, Zhenming Su, Guangquan Wu, Dongmei Yuan, Jaesook Yun, Anna Schwendeman, Sujata Jaipalli, Hwa-Kyung Nam, Madhavi Reka, Eunjoo Lee, Divya Maheshwari, Kavitha Girish, MinKyoung Kim, John Macorkindale, and Dan Salamone.

We look forward to another great year in 2012-2013!

Sincerely, Margaret Weiss and Frances Yeh, Thurston Science Olympiad Co-Head Coaches

Market Day

Help support our school!  Each month Market Day’s grocery program offers over 150 convenient and nutritious products at competitive prices, including poultry, meats, seafood, family meals, appetizers, breakfast items, beverages, desserts, and more.  A percentage of your order is provided directly back to the Thurston PTO.  Check out Market Day's website at:  www.marketday.com