Chances are good that most of the 1,000-plus students at Michigan’s largest elementary school didn’t even know their schoolmate, Chase Reaume, who is suffering from a rare, serious blood disease.

            But when word spread through Monroe Public School’s two-building Custer Elementary School Campus that Chase, a fifth grader and one of their own, needed help, the children stepped up to “Lace ‘Em Up for Chase,” a half-mile jaunt along the school’s paved walking and running track in early November.

            The result -- $5,252 was raised for Chase’s family to pay medical bills, and more than $4,100 of it came as a result of children bringing money in for the opportunity to run in the event.  As Principal Lisa McLaughlin said, it didn’t matter how much they brought in, just that they did.

            “Some of the kids who brought in money were from families who could probably least afford it but it was important to the kids they that they help the ‘boy who goes to my school,’” Mrs. McLaughlin said.  “Some of the kids brought in their donations in nickles and dimes wrapped in plastic wrap.

            “We told the kids that no matter how big or small the donation was, everyone’s input is valuable, ” Mrs. McLaughlin said.  The kids went home and go mom and dad involved, too, she added.

            The event had some other benefits that might not have been totally anticipated but were successful because the students got their parents interested.  For instance, the bone marrow donor group, Be The Match, set up a table at “Lace ‘Em Up for Chase,” and came away with a number of potential bone marrow donors they did not have before.  The local Red Cross chapter also was present to promote an upcoming school blood drive.  The response was so strong and so many people signed up for a December blood drive that another blood drive has been scheduled for January.

            “This whole event has helped our students to see how important it is to think of others.  The kids know now that even though they are young, they can still help out and their input is important,” Custer third grade teacher Teresa Stewart said.   

Service to the community and to “members of the family” in a variety of ways is a tradition at Monroe High School, especially with its student council.

            A full-time class for which the students must apply and be chosen, the student council not only works on various activities year-round as a team but the 30 students in Mrs. Anne Knabusch’s class also are graded on whether or not they spend the required number of hours as an individual in community service projects throughout the Monroe community during the school year, too.

            The group does the fun and funny – like plan and carry out Homecoming and Winterfest (important rites of passage for high schoolers,) and they even don cartoon characters’ costumes to walk in the local Christmas parade or help with the school district’s Monroe County Fair booth which attracts well over 15,000 children each year.  It also does the serious side of service such as serving food to the homeless at a local traveling soup kitchen or spearheading a winter coat drive.  While doing all of that, they are using the event planning principles they have learned in class to plan a blood drive and pull together the Christmas items for the group’s Adopted Family at Christmas. 

            Whew.  That might be tiring for many.

            But the group always has time and a burst of energy to take care of “one of the family” when it needs to.  Especially in a pinch.

            At the start of the school year, the student council learned that a legally-blind freshman at Monroe High School wanted to purchase a special $15,000 set of eyeglasses.  She had tried them at a clinic and for the first time, had gotten to see her mother’s face. 

            Knowing it just had to help, the student council sought permission from the athletic department and did collections at a school soccer match and the high school home football game a few nights later.  The collection?  More than $1,700 in coins and dollar bills.  But the collection was topped off when one of the council members appealed to the Monroe Exchange Club which donated another $500 to the cause.  Just before Thanksgiving, with the help of the student council, the student crossed the $15,000 threshold so she will be able to obtain her glasses and experience the joy of sight.      

Several weeks ago, more than 2,200 people signed up to add texting to the way that Monroe Public Schools can contact them for various items of interest in the district.  However, some people did not sign up with the initial offering but have since decided that they wanted to sign up to receive text message from MPS. 

          Parents and staff members still have time to sign up.

          Just follow these easy instructions.

• Ensure that the mobile phone number you are calling from is on file with your child’s school.  You will know that it is if you have received group phone calls from Monroe Public Schools before on that phone and number.
• Using that device, text Y to the number 68453.  As simple as that, you have been registered.
• If you need assistance while doing this, text H-E-L-P to 68453.  To opt out at any time, text STOP to 68453.  Message and data rates may apply.   

The Monroe County Health Department will hold an immunization clinic for children who are newly enrolled in their school district, kindergartners or seventh grade students who need to be vaccinated.

          The clinic is scheduled for 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday, December 3, at the health department office at 2352 S. Custer Rd. at Herr Rd., which is the road you take to Monroe High School.

          These vaccination are given by appointment only.  Please call for an appointment at 734-240-7800.  Most insurances are accepted and the health department will provide service to those who are underinsured or uninsured.  A $20 administrative fee will be requested per vaccination.

          Parents or guardians please note – If you need a vaccination waiver, you also can call for an appointment at the same number.  New state rules require that if someone needs a waiver they must go to the health department rather than getting it at schools as it had been done in the past.     

Students will have a half-day of classes on Wednesday, Nov. 25, and no school on Thursday and Friday.  The early-release times for all of our students are 10 minutes earlier now than they have been.  The new release times are listed below.  Just a reminder, too, that our Riverside and Custer Kids’ Clubs will be open their regular hours this Wednesday.   

Monroe High School -- 10:30 a.m.

Orchard Center High School -- 10:40 a.m.

Monroe Middle School -- 11:09 a.m.

Arborwood North Elementary School -- 11:43 a.m.

Arborwood South Elementary School -- 11:48 a.m.

Custer 1 Elementary School -- 12:14 p.m.

Custer 2 Elementary School -- 12:11 p.m.

Manor Elementary School -- 12:01 p.m.

Raisinville Elementary School -- 12:01 p.m.

Waterloo Elementary School -- 11:46 a.m.

Congratulations to the Waterloo STEAM Elementary’s robotics team which this past weekend qualified as one of only seven teams to advance to the First Lego League State Tournament to be held December 12 at Jefferson High School.  The team competed last Saturday (Nov. 21) in the FLL Regional Qualifying Meet at Monroe High School. .

                Thirty-one teams from around Southeast Michigan competed and only seven advanced.  In addition, the Waterloo team received the “Inspiration” Award which is given to the team that is empowered by the FLL experience and displays extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit.   David Hogan, the team’s mentor who is a high school member of the Monroe-based Team Virus robotics team won the Mentor of the Year Award.  He was nominated by the seven-member Watrerloo team for his hard work and commitment to the team. 

                The members of the state-tournament-bound  Waterloo STEAM robotics team are Mason Dykes, Dylan Evans, Seth Kimberlin, Mackenzie Mielke, Raelynn Runyon, Brianna Stubleski, and Kyle Thacker, all of whom are fifth- and sixth-graders.  Team coaches are Laura Demarco and Waterloo’s robotics teacher, Kyle Reed.   

                The team competed in robot design, robot performance, core values, and a research project which they presented to a panel of judges.   

     During the recently completed College Application Week, seniors at Monroe High School submitted 615 college applications, 532 of which were to in-state institutions.

     In all, 343 members of the senior class submitted at least one college application and 226 seniors submitted their first college application ever during College Application Week.

     A major push for college applications is being made at Monroe High School this year, with a whole day – October 28 – of College Application Week dedicated to being career and college-ready for the entire student body.  While seniors spent a portion of the day completing their college applications, they also participated in such activities as completing resumes for job and scholarship opportunities, performing a career inventory, doing college and career searches and completing specific career and college activities for their educational development plans.   

     Every activity was geared toward helping the students to succeed. 

Early release times for half-days of classes for all of Monroe Public Schools will be changing as of November 25.  Here are the new early release times listed in the right column.

     Monroe High School is one of only 100 high schools across Michigan selected by the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN) to receive a $5,000 grant to boost efforts to help students to pursue education beyond high school. 

     “This grant assists us in focusing on the college portion of post-secondary planning,” said Mrs. Sandra Kreps, principal, Monroe High School. 

     “The biggest benefit in receiving the grant is that it helps us to be more strategic and intentional about how and where we can improve the career- and college-ready initiatives and culture at Monroe High School,” said Monroe High School Post-Secondary Planner Savannah Garcia, who had submitted the application for the grant. “We are seeing it work already because just recently we used a portion of the money to offset the cost of sending 50 students to visit Central Michigan University.

     “Without this grant, we would not be able to offer as many college visits to our students.  We also look forward to having the grant renewed next year if we meet all of the terms this school year,” Ms. Garcia said.  “All of our efforts that support our career and college-ready culture help make Monroe High School the place where your child succeeds.”

     Called the Reach Higher grant, it is a first-year program of MCAN, the network which last school year provided a grant allowing MHS to hire a college advisor who now is on staff, although the grants are not related.   MHS now has a college advisor and two post-secondary planners to help students.

     The Reach Higher Grant addresses four elements of a high school strategy.  They are:

--Establish a post-secondary advisory council to lead the college access strategy.

--Conduct a self-assessment to measure the effectiveness of career and college readiness counseling, support and programming.

--Participate in three college-access events by planning and involving seniors in college access events such as College Application Week, College Cash Campaign and College Decision Day on May 2.

--Evaluate the school’s college-going culture using success access mapping tools.

Monroe High School already was participating in several of the activities.  In fact, recently it was the first county school to have a Career and College Readiness Day as part of College Application Week. 

Mrs. Kreps praised the work of the post-secondary planners and the response from the students.

     “Just last week, with assistance from our planners, Ms. Garcia and Manuel Hoskins, and college planner, Jaclyn Sawasky, we had 54 Monroe High School students apply to the University of Toledo,” said Mrs. Kreps.

     MCAN’s goal is to improve the number of Michigan residents who have earned post-secondary degrees or certificates to 60 percent.  The state’s rate now is 38.4 percent, a modest gain from a year earlier.  The national average is 40 percent.  Last school year, 88 percent of Monroe High School’s grads had a post-secondary plan, many of which involved college, employment, the trades or the military.

This is a paper that Monroe Middle School 8th grader Jayme Laney wrote in honor of Veterans Day.  It is being entered into a patriotic writing contest.  Given the events in France on Friday, its words take on a far more important, urgent tone. Thank you, Jayme, for sharing your thoughts.

 Freedom.  The choice everyone wants to have.  The most priceless thing in the whole universe.  Even though people want it, that doesn’t mean that people understand it.  So that sparks a question, what does freedom mean?

          Freedom means to have your own opinion, your own house, your own life.  Freedom is not something that should be taken for granted.  But we all forget who have which brought this freedom to us and fought for it.  We are using the freedom that our brave and fierce soldiers strive for.  This luxury is truly something worth fighting for.

          But what if we did not have our soldiers at all, no one to fight for us.  That means no freedom, no luxury.  For instance, my uncle was a paratrooper in World War II.  What would America be today if he had not parachuted onto the legendary beaches of Normandy, June 6, 1944.

          You might not have had the freedom or ability to have an opinion about these words I’m saying.  You couldn’t talk.  You couldn’t walk.  You couldn’t think for yourself.  You would be a puppet for a tyranny government and would not like any second of it.  In this world today, we still have places under abusive control.  The world would be a better place if we all had freedom.  But unfortunately, the world we live in today would fall apart in riots and protests if we all combined into one government.  Thus this paper concludes that I shall – we shall – declare that freedom is the most honorable piece of our country and society today.  But the most important thing of all is to not take freedom for gated, not something to be abused, and not something that everyone is handed on a silver platter.  Because our country – our lives – were based on liberty and freedom.