Tag Archives: Godfrey Lee Schools

Snapshots: Wyoming and Kentwood news you need to know

WKTV Staff

joanne@wktv.org

 

 

Quote of the Day

"You get to a certain age, where you know you can’t go over the wall, but I’ll never get to the age where I can’t go through it." - Actor Burt Reynolds, 1936-2018

 

 

Lending a Hand

 

Local nurses were on a hike at Dead River Falls, in the U.P.’s Marquette, but their day hike became a case of being in the right place at the right time. (Supplied)

When a group of local emergency nurses on vacation in Marquette, Mich., learned of an injured hiker they did what anyone with their training and background would do: they went to help. “I fully believe God placed nine ED nurses on that trail for a reason,” said Rylee Kuiphoff, one of the nurses in the group.

 

 

Are You Ready for the Challenge?

 

 

FIRST Power Up, the theme for the 2017 FIRST challenge, was based on a Mario game.

Hundreds of young technology enthusiasts will gather at Grand Valley State University September 8 to celebrate the beginning of the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Tech Challenge season. The event is set for 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Eberhard Center and Keller Engineering Lab building on the Pew Grand Rapids campus. Competitions will take place in the winter.

 

The Rebels Who Are Turning it Around

 

 

Wyoming Lee faces NorthPointe Christian this Friday. The Wyoming Lee team has struggled in years past but last year, Coach Tom DeGennaro credited much of that success to the students: “It’s just the kids buying into the system, working out in the weight room and committing themselves to being here every day. It has nothing to do with coaching. All of the success goes to the kids.”

 

 

 

Killer Light Show

 

 

Well you have about a month and a half until “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the film about epic rock band Queen and its frontman Freddie Mercury, hits the theaters. Until then, the Grand Rapids Public Museum has got your Queen-fix as it will be opening “The Queen Light Show: From Mercury with Love” Sept. 15. The show will feature laser lights dancing to 10 of Queen’s greatest hits. And yes, that does include “Bohemian Rhapsody.” For more, visit grpm.org/Planetarium.

 

Fun Fact:

33.9 Million Miles

Or 54.6 million kilometers. That is the closest Mars and Earth come to each other. Still the distance has not discouraged a love affair with the red planet, which Grand Valley State University explores in its new exhibit "Mars: Astronomy and Culture." The exhibit is set to open Sept. 13 and will feature 140 photographs, drawings, movie posters, book covers and more spotlighting Mars.

Godfrey-Lee superintendent talks about millage request on latest WKTV Journal: In Focus

WKTV Staff

ken@wktv.org

 

On the latest episode of WKTV Journal: In Focus, Kevin Polston, Superintendent of Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, talks with program host Ken Norris about his school district’s upcoming request for public support of an extension of an existing sinking fund millage — an effort to improve safety, security and technology while allowing more general fund dollars to be spend in the classroom.

 

Also on the episode, State Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, a Republican who currently represents the 26th District, which includes the City of Kentwood, talks on a wide-range of topics, including the opioid crisis and her coming effort to become Michigan’s next Attorney General.

 

 

The entire episode of “WKTV Journal: In Focus” airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 and on AT&T Channel 99 Government channel.

 

The episode will continue on WKTV cable channels on Tuesday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m., will again air on Thursday, March 8, also at 6:30 p.m. But all interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal: In Focus are also available on YouTube at WKTVVideos.

 

Once a Rebel … Godfrey-Lee schools induct teams, teachers into Hall of Fame

Godfrey-Lee Public Schools inducted four into its Hall of Fame, with the ceremony taking place Jan. 12 at Lee High School. (WKTV)

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

 

Godfrey-Lee Public Schools inducted four into its Hall of Fame earlier this month, two individuals who made an impact in the classroom, one on the basketball court and in the community, and a series of cross country teams worthy of the name “Team of the Decade”.

 

The induction ceremony took place prior to a varsity boys basketball game on Jan. 12 at Lee High School, but as is the custom at the district, the inductees were not only athletes and athletic teams.

 

The team honored with entry to the Hall of Fame honor was actually not a single team, but a series of cross county teams — The  Team of the Decade of the 1970s, as it is often called.

 

Art Kraai, himself a member of the Hall of Fame, accepted the award for his teams. (WKTV)

While the teams and team members were honored, it was their coach, Art Kraai, himself a member of the Hall of Fame, who accepted the award. Coach Kraai read off a long list of accomplishments for the Long Blue Line in dominate cross county seasons from 1971 to 1982, including the boys winning four state titles and the girls winning one — noting that it wasn’t until late in the run that girls even had state competitions.

 

One thing that unified all the teams, was the coach’s rallying cry, which he repeated as he closed his remarks: “Back in my day, we would say, ‘Coach, coach, open the door and let those Rebels on the floor’.”

 

Douglas Greenwold was a star Rebel in the class room and on the basketball team. (WKTV)

First up of the individuals on the honor roll was Douglas Greenwold, who was a star Rebel in the class room and on the basketball team — being named valedictorian leading the Rebels to the 1960 state finals — and then went on to play on University of Michigan’s first Final Four team in 1964. He earned his bachelors and two masters degrees at U-M, and went on to a long career in business and a continuing career in religious studies, including as an author and a teacher.

 

James D. Skidmore brought a passion for teaching and head for accounting to Lee high school. (WKTV)

The next honoree was James D. Skidmore, who brought a passion for teaching and head for accounting to Lee high school. Skidmore earned a bachelors degree from Ferris Institute and a masters from Michigan State University before joining the Lee staff in 1958. As a Rebel, he not only taught bookkeeping and accounting but also was faculty advisor for the Echo yearbook, Arial student newspaper and the National Honor Society. His late wife, Sally, was also a teacher at Lee. Skidmore went on to a long and distinguished teaching career at Grand Rapids Community College before retiring in 1999. But you know that they say: once a Rebel, always a Rebel.

 

Since the early 1960s, Patricia Camp Bartlett has been involved with the high school and the school district in literally all levels. (WKTV)

The final individual honored was Patricia Camp Bartlett. Since the early 1960s, she has been involved with the high school and the school district in literally all levels. She attended Lee, graduating in 1965, with four years in the band and four years in the Future Teachers of American group — a harbinger of a career to come. After getting her bachelors degree from Michigan State, she returned to Lee as a teacher in 1969, later earned a masters degree, and went ton to spend 37 years in district classrooms. In 1990, she was  a state finalist for Michigan Teacher of the Year. After retiring in 2005, she remains active in the school district including as part of the Feeding America food distribution program at Lee high and currently serving on the Godfrey-Lee Education Foundation Board of Directors.

School News Network: Real Brain-Stretchers: Non-Google-Able Riddles

Santiago Reyes-Hoover, Mason Caine and Jenna Sivins work together to crack the code.

By Erin Albanese

School News Network

 

Godfrey Lee Early Childhood Center Second-graders were stumped.

 

Class time had turned into an out-of-your-seats scavenger hunt that combined math, reading, art and some thoughtful sleuthing. But in figuring out the passcode to a lockbox where stickers waited inside, students had reached a point of frustration.

 

“But there is no key!” one said. “We’ve tried everything. There’s just no way to get it open,” another added in despair.

 

Mia Porter works to get the lock open

“You’re getting frustrated. I can see that,” said teacher Kara Jones. “So let’s take a step back so we don’t get super-frustrated.”

 

Lo and behold, after more examination and just a little guidance from Jones, students Lacey Smith, Ashley Morales-Vega and Keonah Wilson realized a pattern in the clues in front of them. It was unveiled by using subtraction and matching colors. “I figured it out!” Lacey yelled, jumping up and down. It was time to open the box and get the stickers.

 

In playing Breakout EDU, teacher Kara Jones’ students scrambled to crack codes at six stations using their math, teamwork and problem-solving skills. The game involved pre-created learning adventures and kits, challenging students to solve riddle after riddle as they worked toward a prize or treat. Godfrey Early Childhood Center students who successfully finished the puzzles to open all six boxes earned stickers that spelled the words “We make hard things look easy,” across Thanksgiving-themed headbands.

 

“It is so hard not to give them a clue to help,” said Jones, laughing. Instead, her students must rely on one another. “They use critical thinking skills; I think that’s the important part. They have to decipher the code and try to figure out things… Sometimes it’s right in front of them and they don’t see it.”

 

David Carcis is intent on getting the lock box open.

Fun for All Ages

The elementary students were doing a fairly simple version of the game, but Sarah Wood, Godfrey-Lee technology and media integration specialist, and Kelly McGee, district media specialist, have since introduced it to elementary through high school classrooms.

 

They learned about Breakout EDU during professional development at Kent ISD. Similar to The Great Escape Room (a popular team-building activity in the corporate world in which players are locked in a room and have to use elements of the room to solve a series of puzzles to escape), Breakout EDU challenges students to think outside the box to open the box.

The point is for participants to solve “non-Google-able” riddles. “You have to use and apply your brain,” Wood said.

 

Mason Caine puts his headband together with the stickers he’s gotten from the lockboxes.

While Jones’ students participated in a “no-tech” version of Breakout EDU, the game often involves technology like QR codes that lead to online puzzles. Teachers can use different themes in any content area.

 

“The content is the focus, but there’s so much else that goes into Breakout (such as) being able to work with a team and persevere,” Wood said, and students unexpectedly often step out as leaders and apply skills that they learn in class.

 

Not to mention it’s a fun way of reinforcing what they’re already learning. “They don’t realize they are doing the math. They just want to get into that box.”

 

Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.