The Board of Education announced the finalists in the search for a new superintendent at its April 28 special meeting. Deliberations followed first-round interviews of four semi-finalists April 27 and 28. Moving to the finalist round are Dr. Stephen Bigelow, Superintendent of Bay City Public Schools, and Dr. M. Jon Dean, Deputy Superintendent of the Grosse Pointe Public School System.
Prior to finalist interviews at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 11, for Dr. Bigelow, and Wednesday, May 12, for Dr. Dean, there will be a community meet-and-greet from 3:30 to 5 p.m. All events are held at Brownell’s multipurpose room, 260 Chalfonte, Grosse Pointe Farms. Feedback forms will be available for those in attendance. The interviews will be recorded and posted after both are complete.
The board will deliberate on Wednesday at around 7 p.m. before making its final decision. The deliberations and announcement will be livestreamed.
About the finalists
Dr. Bigelow began his career in education in 1998. He served as a teacher in South Lyon Community Schools, as a teacher, assistant principal and principal in Warren Consolidated Schools, and as Superintendent in Capac and Bay City. He earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan, a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, an Education Specialist degree from Oakland University, and a Ph.D. in Education from Oakland University.
Click here to watch Dr. Bigelow’s April 27 interview. Click here for a resume.
Dr. Dean began his career as a teacher in Detroit Public Schools in 1995. He worked subsequently as a teacher and elementary principal in Algonac Community Schools, as an elementary principal in Allen Park Public Schools, and as an elementary principal and assistant superintendent in Birmingham Public Schools. He began his Grosse Pointe career in 2012 serving multiple leadership roles in human resources, curriculum and currently as Deputy Superintendent for Educational Services. Jon earned a Bachelor's degree and a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Wayne State University, an Education Specialist degree from Saginaw Valley State University, and a Ph.D. in Education from Wayne State University. Click here for a resume.
Click here to watch Dr. Dean’s April 28 interview. Click here for a resume.
South ArtFest goes virtual
Grosse Pointe South’s ArtFest, an annual celebration of students’ visual arts endeavors over the school year, is integral to the curriculum and the biggest event of the art department’s school year, according to department chairman Tom Szmrecsanyi.
After much deliberation, the art teachers decided a virtual show would be their best option to facilitate the event this year, Szmrecsanyi said. And like every year, the show required considerable planning and time, involving teachers, students and volunteers.
“Every year, South art department members enjoy the experience of working with students in the classroom as they look forward to displaying their work in the show,” Szmrecsanyi said. “I’m happy we were able to create this opportunity for students under the current circumstances. The show motivates students and helps to make their work in the classroom something more than a collection of assignments. ArtFest helps them become artists.”
The greatest challenge this year, he added, was the lack of classroom time “followed by the random quarantine-related absences, which make the continuity of instruction difficult. The remote learning format has been especially difficult for hands-on courses.”
Contrary to a perception that the annual event “runs itself by now,” Szmrecsanyi said nothing could be further from the truth.
“Every year is a new effort with new volunteers and, again this year, new staff members in new roles. South is very lucky to have dedicated, hardworking parent volunteers along with extremely generous award sponsors.”
These volunteers include behind-the-scenes help from the Mothers’ Club enabling teachers to focus on their students and their respective roles in organizing and facilitating the show, he added.
“The teachers in South’s art department are driven,” Szmrecsanyi said. “Amber Mades, our photography teacher, has been outstanding in her first year as co-chair. She developed a plan for the virtual show and worked between our volunteers and teachers to coordinate our work. She also assembled the website from the ground up, providing a structure for us to work with.”
Micki Buksar Cecil served as digital art master and updated, transformed and redesigned materials that were previously printed to a digital display format. Candace O’Leary, working between multiple buildings and OneGP Virtual, “took on a disproportionately large share of tasks to support this effort,” according to Szmrecsanyi.
“When teachers have community support and the ability to work together, it enables us to support our students and do big things,” he concluded. “ArtFest is a community effort.”
In spite of the challenges of this year, Mades said there were some advantages. For example, in the past, her Photography I students were only able to display one photo in the exhibit due to limited space. In the new digital format, they were able to submit five images. This gives them an opportunity to show off more work and potentially expose them to more scholarships.
Students also learned new skills. When learning was remote earlier in the year, “they had to learn how to use a desk lamp as their studio lighting and bedsheets as their backdrop,” Mades said. “I think that they’ve done amazing this year even with all the circumstances. We still won a lot of awards through Scholastic.”
Another advantage is the show will be accessible to more community members.
New this year is the online auction May 5 to 7, which provides an opportunity for community members to purchase artwork students have selected for sale. Avid art connoisseurs — and parents — may be interested in the “buy-it now” option. Final proceeds from each item are divided, with 80 percent going to the student and 20 percent going to the Robert R. Rathbun Scholarship Fund.
Go to artfest2021.com to view student galleries, ArtFest award winners and Scholastic Art award winners.
Charity Week benefits GPAAS
Pandemic puppies will be out in abundance on Sunday, May 2.
That is the hope, at least, of members of Grosse Pointe North and Grosse Pointe South high schools’ Student Associations, which are planning a Dog Walk as the culminating event of this year’s Charity Week. Proceeds from the week benefit the Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society.
The event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., starts and finishes at Grosse Pointe North. At the conclusion of the one-mile walk, participants can shop from local businesses, participate in a raffle, take pictures at the dog photo booth and more. The cost is $25 per family. During registration, participants will have an opportunity to purchase North and South pet gear, including leashes, bandanas, water and food bowls and plush dogs.
On tap are 13 raffle baskets. Descriptions of each basket and instructions on how to secure raffle tickets are available online. Participants also may purchase raffle tickets with cash at the Dog Walk and the drawing will be held on Sunday.
Celebrating the Earth
Students throughout the district celebrated Earth Day on Thursday, April 22, with a variety of activities.
Kindergarten classes at Richard did their part to clean up litter on the school grounds and Young 5 students in Sierra Koleber’s class made different creations out of recycled materials they collected, ranging from Earth Day crows to telescopes to a bunny’s habitat.
Monteith kindergarten and Young 5 classes also conducted a grounds clean-up in addition to learning and writing about reducing, reusing and recycling. Kindergarten teacher Natalie Bruveris hosted a “tissue box challenge,” encouraging her kindergarten students to find value in reusing items around their homes to create something useful and unique. Students each planted a sunflower seed to watch sprout and grow over the next few weeks before they bring them home to plant in their own gardens. Finally, they focused on teamwork as their Leader in Me habit as an Earth Week tie-in.
Second graders in Pam Liagre’s class at Monteith incorporated their writing skills and imagination into Earth Week. They read the book “Michael Recycle” for ideas, brainstormed a name for their superhero, came up with their own superpower, and determined what their superhero would do with these superpowers to make the Earth a better place to live.
At the middle school level, Parcells Middle School recognized Earth Day with Lights Out, according to Green Team faculty leader Marci Charuba. All teachers and staff worked with the lights off, wherever possible, to bring awareness to Earth Day. In addition, many classes participated in lessons about Earth Day throughout the week, focusing on ways one person can make a difference by reducing the use of plastic bags and bottles. The art classes conducted a flash sweep of the school grounds, collecting debris and storing it safely in proper receptacles, whether garbage or recycling. The art classes also created Up-cycle projects using materials from their homes that otherwise would have been placed in the trash.
Brownell’s Green Team ran a two-week “walk or ride your bike to school” campaign, according to Green Team faculty leader Tracey Corden, awarding tickets to students as they arrived to school. The Green Team held a drawing and students were awarded a number of prizes. Funding came from National Junior Honor Society funds. Plans this week were underway to clean out old garden beds and plant new flowers to brighten up Brownell’s campus.
Green Teams throughout the district conduct events throughout the school year to help students learn about the importance of protecting the environment, reinforcing the concept Bruveris said she discussed with her kindergarteners — “the importance of being a friend to the Earth every day, not just on Earth Day.”
For example, read about the efforts of Brownell’s Green Team — which was awarded the highest “Evergreen” status from Wayne RESA for the third year in a row — in next week’s School Pointes.
The show must go on
One-act plays are a time-honored tradition at Grosse Pointe South High School and this year, in spite of the challenges presented by the pandemic, was no exception.
South’s Pointe Players performed five student-directed one-act plays Thursday afternoon after overcoming a number of obstacles.
Rather than an auditorium packed with family, friends and community members as in the past, the actors performed in front of their peers and South staff members who took time out of their day to watch the culmination of their students’ work.
It wasn’t easy getting to this point, drama teacher Meaghan Dunham said. In fact, pulling off any sort of performance this year has been a challenge. In the fall, approximately 30 to 40 students auditioned on Zoom for a fall production. Since learning was remote at the time and no activities were allowed in the building, rehearsals were conducted primarily outdoors. Unfortunately, nature thwarted their efforts and they were unable to hold an outdoor performance as planned.
In a typical year, the one-acts are performed in February. This year the process was delayed until students were back in the building, Dunham said. Auditions and many rehearsals were held over Zoom. With small casts and a crew made up of only stage managers and light and sound technicians, live rehearsals could safely be held in the auditorium with students wearing masks and distancing. When students were out in quarantine due to close contact with a student who tested positive for COVID-19, they participated in rehearsals via Zoom.
What was most important to Dunham was allowing the students to see the process through to performance, even if it meant making last-minute adaptations.
“It’s an educational experience,” she said the week before showtime. “They’ve earned it and we’ve got to make it happen.”
While Dunham said it’s been difficult for her as a teacher and director not to provide the students all the opportunities they would have in a normal year, the students themselves have moved on.
“They’re over it. They’re not letting it get them down,” she said.
The five student directors are seniors Sarah Campau, Kerrigan Dunham, Gigi Niforos, Quinn Sahutske and Campbelle Stencil.
“We’ve all been involved in Pointe Players since we were freshmen,” said Quinn. “We watched the upperclassmen ahead of us do it. And we auditioned for it and it’s exciting. I think for all of us it’s something we’ve been looking forward to. It’s kind of a rite of passage.”
“I think it means more especially this year because we haven’t gotten to do anything like we would usually get to do,” said Sarah. “The fact that we get to do some sort of live theater really means a lot to all us, especially during very difficult times for live theater.”
While the process was different this year in many ways, the directing and learning aspects of it were “very much intact,” Kerrigan said. “I’ve still been really proud of the experience we’ve been able to have with rehearsing and blocking. It’s felt pretty much like what I expected it to be.”
“It’s just as chaotic,” Campbelle added.
The directors shared actors, which made scheduling tricky, they said.
“One random thing. When we were casting, we had auditions and I realized I have to make cuts,” Quinn said.
Blocking the show and assembling props were other challenges the directors hadn’t faced before as actors.
“It’s a trial to be able to step into this new area that you’ve also relied on other people to do for you, and that builds character,” Kerrigan said, adding among the rewards were “interacting with cast members, exchanging ideas, and seeing those ideas develop over the course of the production.”
“Seeing my cast do it for the first time without scripts was really rewarding,” Campbelle added, “especially when it seemed so daunting to put a show together during a pandemic.”
They agreed while acting and directing are fun in their own ways, they missed acting, especially since they have had fewer opportunities to perform this year.
“It’s already a different year, so taking on a different role makes sense and doesn’t feel as different or as intimidating because we’re already used to a new kind of behavior,” Kerrigan said.
Several of the seniors are pursuing the arts in college. Gigi plans to study art design at the University of Michigan, Kerrigan is majoring in theater and performance studies at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., Quinn is interested in acting and Campbelle, who recently was among only 16 soloists in the state selected to perform at the Michigan Youth Arts Festival in May due to her outstanding top-rated performance in the Michigan State Vocal Music Association competition, plans to study vocal performance.
Sarah plans to major in education with “possibly a minor in theater and directing so I can do what Meags does.”
“They are amazing,” said Dunham. “And they have overcome so much.”
The technical side of the production was scaled down as well, but freshmen Maggie Green and Abi Pongratz had the opportunity to work in an apprentice capacity with GPPSS performing arts center design staff members PJ Veltri and Christine Karpinski on sound and lighting to enhance the production side of the performances. Awmeo Azad was stage manager and Gabriela Dulworth was assistant stage manager. The production was recorded by South TV production teacher Steve Geresy and a link provided to families for later viewing.
Next year will be a rebuilding year for South’s drama program, Dunham said. The focus will be on “getting everyone back and involved and learning how to do theater again.”
School Pointes is a publication of the Grosse Pointe Public School System. To submit story ideas or Pointes of Pride, email info@gpschools.org.