SIXTH GRADE ACADEMY: Carousel Walk builds relationships

Pupils at the Sixth Grade Academy recently built relationships by doing a Carousel Walk to get to know each other.

SIXTH GRADE ACADEMY: Team Transformers get their 'game on'

Sixth Grade Academy Team Transformers at Game On were caught recently getting their “game on.”

The morning was spent working in groups participated in team building activities, according to Cindy Tumas, Language Arts teacher.  According to Tumas, they did a great job working together to complete most of the challenges the teams were given to complete.

MELISSA SKOPCZYNSKI: Truman Homecoming caps a busy week

By Melissa Skopczynski

Truman High School Principal

Wow, what a week.

Homecoming can be very stressful for students and staff alike but when it is all said and done it is a very rewarding experience for all. It is a time for us all to come together as a community and make memories that will last a lifetime.

I couldn't be more pleased with the way things turned out this year. The Truman High School gym looked absolutely beautiful, we won our Homecoming game 54-0 over crosstown Kennedy and the dance went off without a hitch.

A huge thank you to Mrs. Hamilton and Mr. Solak for organizing such a wonderful event.  Thank you to the class advisors who spend countless hours working with their classes to make Homecoming special. Thank you to the staff who showed up to support the students at the parade, dance or just the game. It meant a lot and did not go unnoticed.

Thank you to the maintenance staff you worked relentlessly to make sure our field and school looked in tip-top shape and put in extra hours to clean up after the game and dance.   We truly are an educational community and I couldn't be prouder to be a Cougar!

Congratulations to Tyler Nunnery and Kristen Bailey, our 2013 Homecoming king and queen.

Let’s have another great week.

This is your school, this is my school and this is our school. We are making a difference!

SIXTH GRADE ACADEMY: Up and down the hallways, it's 'All About Me'

Pupils in the Sixth Grade Academy have made their school hallways a little more attractive -- and informative -- with a new project.

The pennants and spheres dotting the hallways involve "All About Me," and focus on how the children are building relationships.

Stop by the school and check out their artwork!

MYERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: It's a busy time, and Walk & Roll To School Day is coming up

It's a busy fall at Myers Elementary School.

The ninth annual Walk & Roll To School day is scheduled for Friday (Oct. 18) beginning at 8:15 a.m. The American Heart Association, National Kidney Foundation, HealthLink EMS and AAA of Michigan are among the school's community partners.

The event promotes the importance of school and community relationships along with pedestrian health and safety. For more information, just contact the school.

Meanwhile, several businesses and organizations have benefited the Myers Elementary School family.

Masco donated 75 backpacks filled with school supplies.

Meijer of Taylor donated $50 gift cards, which will be used to buy sweat pants for our clothing pantries.

Jo-Ann Fabrics of Taylor is periodically donating clearance items to Myers, which are used for student projects and prizes for parent events.

Fifth Third Bank will be donating 50 brand new coats to students

And the Taylor Rotary Club will be purchasing approximately 25 brand new coats for students.

A big "thank you" to all of those businesses and organizations donating to Myers. 

TOMMIE SAYLOR: Be a friend today, or a hero for a lifetime

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

Henry Adams

By Tommie Saylor

Kennedy High School Principal

It was 4 a.m. on a late August morning of 1986 when I opened my eyes and saw a mountain of a man inches from my face screaming at me. I had no idea what he was saying and my mind was still foggy. All I knew was that a big, black man was bent over my bed shaking with rage screaming at me as his spittle covered my face.  

Then, like a slow computer finally booting up, my mind caught up with my body and I realized that this was Day One of basic training in the U.S. Army. From this point on, this V-shaped big black man – wide across the chest, thin at the waist with arms bigger than my legs – became known as Drill Sergeant Cole.

He always spoke in a deep growling voice and targeted me with an unrelenting passion. To this day, I swear that Drill Sergeant Cole’s only mission in life was to make my life a living hell, to break me, to make me rue the day I was born.  

I couldn’t speak without dropping and giving him 50 pushups, I couldn’t look at him without dropping and giving him 50, I couldn’t breathe without dropping and giving him 50!  Day, night, meal time, bathroom time, Drill Sergeant Cole was always there, raging like a mad dog, never satisfied with my performance, never yielding, always pushing for more and still more.

At one point, early in my training, I came to the conclusion that Drill Sergeant Cole was going to be the death of me, but I was not going to go easily.  

I was not going to let him beat me.

So, I started fighting back in the only way I could. When Drill Sergeant Cole told me to drop and give him 50, I gave him 60.  When he told me to run two miles in less than 18 minutes, I did it in less than 12. When he told me that I needed to hit at least 26 targets out of 40 at the firing range, I hit 39 out of 40.

I was going to get him back by breaking every standard he set, I was going

to prove to him that I was more than he expected, that he had nothing on

me.

Then one day it was over.  

We graduated from basic training and I was truly surprised. I did not think that I would ever make. On that day Drill Sergeant Cole came up to me, in a rather formal, ceremonial manner, and placed on my collar my E-3, Private First Class stripes.

Without even knowing it, I earned two steps of rank while in basic training trying to prove something to Drill Sergeant Cole. I’ll never forget the words he spoke to me.

“I’m proud of you. I knew you could do it”

Immediately following all the pomp and circumstance of graduation, I searched for Drill Sergeant Cole in the crowd and finally found him on the edge of the mass of humanity gathered on the parade field. Loved ones fell into each other’s arms, hugging and holding each other in celebration and relief following such a long absence.  

I caught up with Drill Sergeant Cole just as he was beginning to walk away and asked him, “Why did you say that your were proud of me? You hated me …”  

Drill Sergeant Cole turned around. I waited for his wrath. Never before had I challenged him. But instead of blinding rage, Drill Sergeant Cole smiled, walked up to me and spoke to me words that warped my world and changed me forever.  

Drill Sergeant Cole said, “I saw something in you, and I knew that I had to reach deep inside of you and pull it out so that you could see it, too.” 

With that, he walked away. I stood there slack-jawed. I did not know what to say.

I wrote this story because we need to do this with our students. We are not their friends. We have a much higher calling.

They may hate us now, but in time they will see the wisdom in our actions.

Think back: The most influential people in your life are most likely the ones you disliked, maybe even hated when you knew them, yet today you silently thank them for helping to mold you into what you are today.  

The best gift you can give your students, the way you can truly show them that you care, is not by being easy on them. Don’t allow them to get away with anything less than their absolute best. It’s by pushing them, forcing them to live up to demanding, obtainable goals, that we mold them into quality individuals. That includes having their ID cards, checking them during hall sweeps, making sure that they have their passes, and the like.

These initiatives only work if teachers make it work. The administration can spin our wheels all we want creating these programs, but until the teaching staff buys in and enforces these programs with fidelity, nothing will change.

Don’t be afraid to be hard on students. It is for their good. Later is life when your students are employed because they learned the lesson of the importance of being on time to work, they will silently thank you. When danger is averted because we check ID cards at the door, or when your students are able to maintain their future employment because they have become accustomed to having their ID cards with them, they will silently thank you.  

Remember, we teach more that just science, math, English and social studies. We teach lifelong lessons. That often means the difference between success and failure.

With this I make the call to all staff members at Kennedy High School to show your students that you care by holding them to our standards. You must choose to be their friend today or be their hero tomorrow.  

If you choose to be their lifetime hero, you must be hard on them today.

Enforce the hall sweeps. If the tardy bell rings and they are not in your classroom, turn them out and make them go to ISS. If they are not properly displaying their ID cards, do not allow them in your classroom. Take attendance by having your students showing you their ID cards and only answer your student’s questions by having them first show you their

ID cards, Make ID cards an issue and your students will comply.  

Don’t allow your students to have their cell phone out during class. Don’t allow your students to charge their cell phones in class. Don’t take a student’s cell phone from them if they violate your directive: Simply write them up if they do not comply and send them to ISS. Follow pass procedures: One student one pass, no passes the first and last 10 minutes of class, anyone in the halls between classes without a pass will be sent to ISS.  

These procedures may seem hard, but they carry with them aspects of self-discipline, security, command and control, self-reliance and personal responsibility that will serve your students well throughout

their entire lives.

You can be a hero. You can be part of some future story your students will tell their children and grandchildren. Or you can be their buddy today. The choice is yours.

Remember, their future is in our hands. Making Kennedy the school of Choice. Excellence by design.

EUREKA HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: 'Green' turns into pizza!

Eureka Heights Elementary School held its "All Green Month Raffle" recently!

The winners, which included two from each classroom, had a pizza party with none other than Principal Hall.

A big Talking Taylor Schools' salute to all of those who participated ... and did anyone save us a slice?