'IMAGINATION IN BLOOM': Students' poetry, artwork on display at Taylor Conservatory & Botanical Gardens throughout summer and early next fall

The Taylor Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, in partnership with the Taylor School District, will be displaying artwork created by students throughout the summer months.

The program, called "Imagination in Bloom," focuses on art and poetry. The winners are scheduled to be displayed on the grounds of the conservatory and gardens, and the woodlands area also located there. The entire facility is located along Northline Road near the Petting Farm at Heritage Park.

Those to be displayed between June 15-29 in the conservatory include:

• Third-grader Fransicsco Ascencio (art, "Fish," Eureka Heights Elementary)
• Third-grader Shannon Sosa (art, "Rainbow," Eureka Heights)
• Third-grader KayAnna Brown (art, "Butterflies," Eureka Heights)
• Fourth-grader Tyra Edison (art, "Flower," Myers Elementary School)
• Third-grader Lauren Davidson (Poetry, "Growing," Blair Moody Elementary School)
• Fifth-grader Ajanae Finley (poetry, "Spring," Holland Elementary School)

Edison's and Davidson's work were considered "Best in Show" during the judging.

Those to be displayed June 30-July 13 in the conservatory include:

• Ashley Ruiz (poetry, "Bodice of Blues")
• Fourth-grader Cameron Carrabello (art, "Blue Flowers," Eureka Heights)
• Seventh-grader Selena Ponder (art, "Blue Jay," West Middle School)
• Sixth-grader Lucas Mullins (art, "Blue Bug")

Ruiz, Carrabello, Ponder and Mullins were all "Best of Show" winners.

Those to be displayed July 14-27 in the conservatory include:

• Third-grader Davon Alexander (art, "Ocean Fish," Blair Moody)
• Third-grader Chineme Ezekoli (art, "Ocean Seahorse," Blair Moody)
• Third-grader Dylan Nitz (art, "Ocean," Blair Moody)
• Fifth-grader Ajanea Finley (poetry, "The Ocean," Holland)

Alexander, Ezekoi, Nitz and Finley were all "Best of Show" winners.

Those to be displayed July 28-August 10 in the conservatory include:

• Fifth-grader Estrella Arevala (art, "Thunder," Eureka Heights)
• Fifth-grader Jasmin Jordan (poetry, "Thunder," Eureka Heights)
• Fifth-grader Saniya Owens (poetry, "Wind," Holland)
• Third-grader Kaitlyn Horner (poetry, "Weather," Blair Moody)

Jordan and Owens were "Best of Show" winners.

Those to be displayed August 11-24 in the conservatory include:

• Sixth-grader Briana King (art, "Orange Lizard")
• Sixth-grader James Cunningham (art, "Watercolor Frog")
• Fourth-grader Amiyah Griffin (art, "Lion and Leaves," Myers)
• Fifth-grader Dakota Levesque (poetry, "Vegetation," Eureka Heights)

Cunningham was named "Best of Show."

Those to be displayed Aug. 25-Sept. 7 in the conservatory include:

• Third-grader Richard Nelson (poetry, "Time," Blair Moody)
• Third-grader Jaclyn Jackson (poetry, "4 Seasons," Eureka Heights)
• Third-grader Gia Cook (art, "4 Seasons," Eureka Heights)
• Fourth-grader Rachel H. (art and poetry, "Earth is our Home," McDowell Elementary School)

Between Sept. 8-14, fourth-grader Dovion Servin's "Woman in Yellow" (art) along with all the "Best of Show" winners will be on display in both the conservatory and the woodlands.

On display between June 15-July 13 in the Woodlands will be:

• Alexandra Welch (poetry, "Tree of My Life")
• Ashley Stahl (art, "Girl and Tree," West)
• Fifth-grader Isaisah Mizell (art, "Tree and Snake," Taylor Parks Elementary School)
• Sixth-grade Kyle Busch (poetry, "Trees")

Busch is a "Best of Show" winner.

On display July 14-Aug. 10 in the Woodlands are:

• Sixth-grader Kyle Busch (poetry, "Trees")
• Eighth-grader Kejsi Caka (art, "Trees and Houses," West)

And displayed Aug. 11-Sept. 7 at the Woodlands are:

• Eighth-grader Clara Barnhart (poetry, "My Home," West)
• Fifth-grader Megan Stokasa (art, "Wolf-Bear and Tree," Eureka Heights)
• Third-grader Ellie Kwaske (art, "Giraffe and Tree," Eureka Heights)
• Third-grader Alex Bean (art, "Lion and Tree," Eureka Heights)

TOMMIE SAYLOR: Graduation is the saddest, happiest time of the year!

“Some of life’s strongest bonds are the ones we forge when everything around us seems broken... We are stronger together than we are alone”

President Barack Obama

By Tommie Saylor

Truman High School Principal

Last week we graduated some 280 students from Harry S Truman High School, Titan and the Career Center, and the Taylor Virtual Learning Academy. Though the ceremony was joyous, rewarding, and rather solemn, it brought a tear to the eye of every educator in the building. If it didn’t, they ought to get out of the business.  

Graduation is the goal, the epitome of our profession, the great reward we as educators all seek. To see those who you have placed so much effort, so many tears, so much sweat and agony, to see those who you have worried over, fought over, and even prayed over, to see those who you have pushed, prodded, and pulled through good times and bad finally achieve the ultimate educational goal is very emotional, to say the least.

Some of us handle this swelling of emotion by crying, others by laughing, and those like myself, try very hard to suppress the flood while fighting back the tears.

Graduation is a joyous occasion, but it is also sad. For educators it is like Christmas, the Fourth of July and a birthday all rolled up in one.

You are losing students with whom you have spent years forging a relationship; it’s like losing one of your own kids with no guarantee that you will ever see them again. So you put on a brave face, give them a hug and send them out into the world hoping that you prepared them well. Once in a while one or two may return for a short visit, but most of the time they are lost to memory.

Graduation is the saddest, happiest event of the school year, and of an educator’s career.

To the new graduates I say good luck, and Godspeed.

I hope and pray that we did our job well in preparing you for the “real world.”  For those of us in the educational trenches, I say it is time to dry our eyes, wipe our noses, close out the rest of this school year and begin to prepare for the next.  

Before we know it, another graduation will be upon us.

Remember, their future is in our hands. Improving one week at a time. The New Truman High School….

TAYLOR PARKS: Event celebrates another great year!

Students, teachers and parent volunteers had a wonderful "Fun Day" at Taylor Parks Elementary School.

The event included games, activities and treats and celebrated another great year at the school.

BLAIR MOODY: Children take part in Great Lakes Education Program on Detroit River

Yesterday (Thursday, June 6) fourth-graders from Blair Moody Elementary School took part in the Great Lakes Education Program.

The pupils participated in a number of hands-on activities that brought the classroom learning to life as they sailed on the Detroit River.

On shore, they discovered what makes wetlands special and had an opportunity to get up close and personal with a few of the wetlands' inhabitants.

The Great Lakes Education Program, celebrating 23 years in existence, offers educational cruises from either Macomb or Wayne counties. They provide a hands-on experience for students to examine plankton and benthic samples, test water clarity, practice marine knot tying, take air and water temperature readings and more. The cruises usually last between two and three hours.

The experience also offers follow-up classroom experiments and discussion using the data that the students collect during the field day. A great learning experience.

For more on the program, click here. 

A Great Lakes Education Program video is located below.

HOLLAND: Wonderful concert sends Mrs. Stone into retirement

If you happened by Holland Elementary School recently, those pleasant voices you may have heard involved the fourth- and fifth-grade chorus performing a concert for the rest of the school and parents.

Mrs. Stone, music teacher, had the chorus sing beautiful songs that promoted patriotism, hope and "holding on to your dreams." The performance marked Mrs. Stone's final presentation because she will be retiring at the end of the school year.

Principal Massucci noted that Holland has talented pupils and that Mrs. Stone always brings out the best in them -- and their voices!

Several soloists did wonderful work and Principal Massucci knows that "we'll all see them on Broadway someday."

"We're sad to see Mrs. Stone go, but we want her to know that she leaves behind a legacy of musical inspiration and hundreds of children who have a greater appreciation of music because of her," Massucci said. "Thank you to Mrs. Stone for years of service and dedication to our children!"

And a tip of the hat from "Talking Taylor Schools."

HOLLAND: Classroom project turns into school-wide summer safety discussion

Pupils at Holland Elementary School received a little more bang for their buck, so to speak, thanks to a year-end writing assignment.

Mrs. Stewart's third-grade class was working on the project. It was an end-of-the-year paper on safety tips for the summer. But instead of just keeping it in their own classroom, it branched out into a school-wide event.

Pupils wrote about tips that could keep their friends safe during the summer vacation. Safe while swimming in the pool or lake. Safe while playing outside. Safe while riding their bikes. Safe while playing in the park.

Mrs. Stewart's pupils then went to different classrooms at Holland and read their papers to the class.

Everyone learned plenty of important tips, like:

• Never swim alone
• Wear a life jacket when boating
• Don't talk to stranger who try to tempt you with candy or puppies
• Always wear a helmet when you bike or skateboard

Thanks to some this great learning experience, Holland pupils are ready for a safe summer vacation!

Health center, career center officials combine to create new vegetable garden at Sixth Grade Academy

Sixth Grade Academy students now can harvest vegetables with the addition of a new vegetable garden.  

Robert Cox, a prevention coordinator from the Taylor Teen Health Center, wanted to start a vegetable garden at the Sixth Grade Academy.  Robert approached Bob Murray from the Taylor Career Center to ask for help building the raised garden box.  Murray, along with assistant tech Paul Nowitzke and student Josh Demattio, volunteered to help. They built the boxes and donated the materials to make the garden a reality.

The garden will be used by Sixth Grade Academy students and the Taylor Teen Center's summer academy participants. The administrators are very excited and appreciate all the work that went into making the garden a success.   The vegetables will be harvested and donated to local food banks and students.

School gardens are a wonderful way to use the schoolyard as a classroom, reconnect students with the natural world and the true source of their food, and teach them valuable gardening and agriculture concepts and skills that integrate with several subjects, such as math, science, art, health and physical education, and social studies, as well as several educational goals, including personal and social responsibility.

If you would like more information on the Taylor Teen Health Center’s program please contact Robert Cox at 734-287-2076.