Congratulations Grand Haven Science Olympiad!

The Michigan Science Olympiad tournament was held at Michigan State University on Saturday, April 26, 2008. There were 48 high school teams and 48 middle school teams competing in the tournament. Grand Haven High School finished in first place in the High School Division for the 11th time in their 23-year history of participating in Science Olympiad. This makes the third consecutive year of first place finishes for Grand Haven High School. White Pines Middle School finished in first place and Lakeshore Middle School finished in eighth place in the Middle School Division.

Grand Haven High School and White Pines Middle School will continue on to the National Science Olympiad tournament on Saturday, May 31st, at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. This will be the 18th consecutive year of going to the national tournament for GHHS and the seventh consecutive year for WPMS (eight years total). Also representing Michigan at the national tournament will be Plymouth Christian High School from Grand Rapids, and Heritage Junior High School from Sterling Heights, for their second place finishes in the state tournament.

Click here for the full results>>

Grand Haven High School's Bucs’ Blade staff wins awards

Journalists from The Bucs’ Blade, Grand Haven High School’s student paper, took home 26 individual awards as well as the Spartan Award at the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association’s spring awards day, held at the Lansing Center on Monday.

To win the Spartan, which is the highest award given by MIPA, papers must score over 900 out of 1000 points on a comprehensive evaluation that included writing, design, coverage and photography. The Bucs’ Blade has won the award 21 times in the past 23 years.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this group of kids,” adviser C.E. Sikkenga said.  “This is one of the most inexperienced staffs we’ve had since I’ve been doing this and also the largest, which made it that much harder to keep things organized. This group just kept charging forward and doing exceptional work.”

In addition to winning the Spartan award, Blade staffers won numerous individual awards, including four first place awards.

First place winners included Megan Birkett (Diversity Coverage), Becky Boeve (In-Depth Feature), Krista Clement (Feature Column) and Alex Cotton and Lydia Coutre’ (Photo Story).  According to Sikkenga, Birkett was the first sophomore to win a first place in his eight years advising the paper.

“That’s pretty amazing,” Sikkenga said.  “It was a really complicated story about two of our students who moved here from Iraq.  It’s the sort of story that has to be done just right and normally we push those toward seniors, but she came to us and said she had this really fantastic story she wanted to tell and so we said ‘hey, run with it.’  She did and she just nailed it.  It was beautifully written.”

Birkett showed her multiple skills by also winning an Honorable Mention in the portrait category.

In addition to their first place awards, Boeve and Cotton combined to win nine more awards. Boeve, the paper’s News Editor, also took a 2^nd Place for info graphic and two Honorable Mention for news page design as well as an Honorable Mention for feature column. Cotton, a photo editor who also edits the paper’s AMP section, took a 2^nd Place and Honorable Mention for sports photo and two Honorable Mentions for news/feature photo.  Cotton also shared an Honorable Mention for photo story with Angelina Greenrose and Hayley Carter.

“Those two kids are amazing,” Sikkenga said of Boeve and Cotton. “They have been leaders on our staff for the past two years and they’re just great kids who are involved in everything from student government to Science Olympiad.”

Sikkenga also reserved special praise for Editor-in-Chief Reva Oleszczuk. 

“She probably had the toughest job of any of my Editors-in-Chief,” Sikkenga said.  “We have more staff than we’ve ever including more first year kids, so she’s been under a lot of pressure to give them on-the-job training, and she’s really risen to the challenge—as have all of our editors.”

Other award winners included:

·         Aly Mendels—2^nd Place Sports News Story; Honorable Mention Environmental Coverage.

·         Sam Schoonover—2^nd Place Alternative Story Form

·         Mike Donlin—2^nd Place Bylined Opinion

·         Darcy Dubuc—3^rd Place Sports Feature Story

·         Dann O’Neill and Peter Mousseau—Honorable Mention Pro/Con Editorial.

·         Lydia Coutre’—Honorable Mention News Story

·         Alissa Jullie—Honorable Mention Informative Feature, Honorable Mention Story Package

·         Kirsten Tardani—Honorable Mention Personality Profile

·         Vince Panozzo—Honorable Mention Diversity Coverage

·         John O’Neill—Honorable Mention Editorial/Opinion Spread

“These awards go beyond just our staff,” Sikkenga said. “We are fortunate to receive a lot of financial and moral support from our administration, both at the building and district level. Beyond that, we couldn’t do this without the flexibility of our friends at The Grand Haven Tribune.  Rob Francis and the whole crew down there are always willing to bend over backward to help us out when we call with a last-minute problem—and that has happened more than once this year.”

For further info, contact C.E. Sikkenga at 616-405-6712 or email: cesikkenga@gmail.com

Grand Haven Area Public Schools Teacher Chosen For Wilderness Leadership School

Lake Hills Elementary School teacher Kirby Chittenden has been selected to attend the American Wilderness Leadership School (AWLS) this June. He will participate in a credited wildlife management program with other educators in the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Sponsored by the SCI West Michigan Bow Hunters Chapter, Chittenden is recognized for his active role in outdoor education as a teacher for Grand Haven Area Pubic Schools. The AWLS provides teachers with useful hands-on experiences they can use in the classroom. The seven-day program consists of academic lectures, discussions and field trips addressing wilderness values and management, aquatic and wetlands ecology, wildlife ecology, environmental ethics, natural resource management and state wildlife conservation practices. Nearly 5000 educators have attended the leadership school since 1976 which is sponsored by the Safari Club International Foundation, a charitable organization that funds and manages worldwide programs dedicated to wildlife conservation, outdoor education and humanitarian services.

For more information, please contact Lake Hills Elementary School Principal Susan Mueller at 616-850-5600

The Grand Haven High School Chamber Choir has been selected as the Outstanding Choir this year by the Michigan School Vocal Music Association.

This is the third year the choir has received this prestigious award. Previous years include 2000 and 2003.

The GHHS Chamber Choir will perform at Western Michigan University on Friday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m.

For more information, please contact Shirley Lemon at 850.6131.

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