Rudyard Area Schools

This weeks alumni spotlight is Samuel Otten '02 My best memories from Rudyard schools were working together with peers and teachers to put on some kind of performance, from middle school chorus concerts with Mrs Rathwell to the musicals with Mr Taylor or the basketball and cross country teams over the years. I especially remember JV basketball with Chris Reetz, Josh Oja, Jeremy Piippo, and Michael Christiansen in 1998-1999 because we went 16-4 and beat every team at least once, including a buzzer beater over St Ignace. I ended up becoming a math educator, so I have to say that I appreciated all the math I learned from Turner-Howson on up. But my favorite classes were probably science with Mr Kaminski and Mr Peterson and also English/Writing with Mr Fountain. My advice for students is to be kind to all the people around you (a smile or a kind word really can make a difference for people) and to find something interesting in all the different subject areas (it really is up to you to get interested rather than mentally checking out, and like Mr. Powers always said, "Only boring people get bored"). After I graduated from Rudyard High I continued working on the family farm every summer and I went to Grand Valley State during the academic year. I eventually went to Michigan State for grad school and since 2012 I've been a professor at the University of Missouri. I study math teaching practices and students' reasoning-and-proving, and I am currently the chair of the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum here at Mizzou. Go Tigers! I am a proud Rudyard alum from 2002, the same year as Principal Folkersma!

March 1st is the start of our Elementary Reading Month! Happy birthday Dr. Seuss - wear your red and white!

We are pleased to share that we have 15 students (7th-12th grades) with art work in this year's show at Sault Area Art Center (Alberta House) in the month of March. There is a reception Sunday March 3rd from 1pm-3pm to celebrate their accomplishments, please feel free to attend! This year's students with are in the show include: Esther Harrington 10th Watercolor and Ink Ashlynn Lawlor 8th Paper Mache/Plaster Lilian Girard 11th Clay (2) Jasmine Hickman 11th Color Pencil Amelia Goforth 9th Color Pencil Lila Tuzinowski 7th Graphite and paper mache (2) Melissa Kirschner 7th Watercolor and Ink Wesley Apotheker 12th Recycled Materials Maria Staricha 9th Recycled Materials Emily Pearsall 10th Recycled Materials Ella Moon 10th Recycled Materials Bryce Mitchell 8th Graphite Madisyn Besteman 11th Fiber/Birch / Clay (2) Grace Gregaitis 12th Clay/wire Kayla Bailey 7th Paper Mache Congratulations everyone, pictures to come soon!

Rudyard Area Schools will be closed today, Thursday February 29, 2024 due to weather.

Rudyard Area Schools will be closed today, Wednesday February 28, 2024 due to icy conditions. If you have to travel today, please be safe.

Due to a staffing shortage, Rudyard Area Schools will be closed tomorrow, Friday February 23. Band festival will continue as planned for our middle schoolers who should report by 8:30 am. If you need a ride for band festival, please contact Mr. Clark or Mr. McKee. If you are interested in becoming a substitute teacher, please contact Mr. McKee.

Rudyard Area Schools is proud of the arts, and is honored to host the regional band festival this Thursday and Friday.

This week's alumni spotlight is Scott Ehle '98! It is hard to pick a single memory as the best! In retrospect, it was probably all the little moments with friends that I took for granted. We had a lot of fun as a class, and we were close. A big reason for this was that we dealt with loss as a class more than once. Losing Jackie in fifth grade and Becky in ninth grade was beyond difficult, but really helped the class of 1998 appreciate each other and every day as a gift. I always looked forward to Spirit week, and cheering on fellow Bulldogs in every sport. My favorite classes were Mr. Rose's English class, where he brought writing we had already decided was "boring" to life for us. With Shakespeare, he would have to explain some of the jokes (which usually makes them less funny) but Mr. Rose's sharp wit was infectious. I also enjoyed yearbook with Mrs. Talentino. Also, the teacher who had the biggest impact on me was Mr. Fountain in middle school. I appreciate his love of reading and writing, and he introduced me to many authors like Kurt Vonnegut, who I still enjoy today. Advice I would have for students is to practice kindness toward others and yourself. As a minister, I see the pressure that many students are under to achieve. It is a good thing to try your hardest, but if your hardest produces a C, be proud of that C! As Teddy Roosevelt (might have) said, "Comparison is a thief of joy." After High School I attended Northern Michigan University with the intent of becoming a teacher. But during my college years I got involved in Lutheran Campus ministry and was a counselor at Fortune Lake Lutheran Camp during the summers. All of a sudden church went from a boring activity that my parents insisted upon to something quite exciting. I changed my major to History, and after receiving my Bachelor's degree, attended Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa where I received a Master's of Divinity in 2007. My first call was at Zion Lutheran in Fairwater, WI, and have been serving Bethel Lutheran in Menominee, MI since 2012. I was a bit of a class clown, so I think some of my classmates were surprised at my career choice, but there are a lot of opportunities for laughter in ministry! I'm married to Stefanie, who I met at Fortune Lake, and we are the proud parents of Mark and Lewis.

This week's alumni spotlight is Lisa (Kangas) Lemmerman '92! What was your best memory from school? I have too many great memories to pick just one! All the goods time with friends that have become lifelong friends. What was your favorite class/activity? My favorite class was with English with Mr. Rose. He was a great teacher and always treated students with respect and kindness. What advice do you have for students? My advice to students is to live in the moment. When you wish time away, you forget to enjoy what’s happening around you. What did you do right out of high school, and what do you do now? After high school I earned my associate degree in Early Childhood Education from LSSU. I worked at a child care center before starting here at Rudyard in the GSRP (Preschool) classroom as the assistant teacher. I have since gone back to school to earn my bachelor’s degree and am now the lead teacher. It’s never too late to further your education!

This weeks alumni spotlight is Travis Johnson '08! What was your best memory from school? I had a ton of great memories from school, playing t ball during cross country meets, being a part of the plays and musicals, all the various dances, pretending to be President Bush while giving a state of the union address for government, the list could go on and on. What was your favorite class/activity? I was involved in so much I don’t know if I can pick a favorite activity, but my favorite classes were drama, art, and any government class with Mr. DeYoung. What advice do you have for students? You don’t need to know what you are doing or where you want to go. Go into every situation with an open mind and make the best of it because you never know when opportunities will knock. During your journey make sure you are learning from everyone and everything, improve from your failures, analyze your successes, don’t let set backs define you or crush you. Even if what you are doing isn’t apart of your ultimate goal do it to the best of your ability because you never know what will be valuable to you in the future or what experiences will help you along the way. I had teacher in high school that use to say “if you get cast as the 7th spear carrier, you be the best darn 7th spear carrier that anyone has ever seen.” And that has been surprising helpful to me throughout my career. What did you do right out of high school, and what do you do now? I graduated from Northern Michigan University with a Degree in criminal justice with a focus in psychology. I got a temporary backroom job at Walmart after I graduated while I tried to find something in my field. But along the way Walmart kept promoting me and giving me more money and I decided see where the company could take me. I am currently a Traveling Remodel Manager and working on remodeling the store in Petoskey.

Yesterday our CTE Education students were able to meet with Alan Mather who is the President of the The Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching; to talk about the GA Scholars Program. The Golden Apple Scholars Program is launching in Michigan in January 2024. This is an undergraduate teacher preparation program that recruits and supports students who commit to earning an education degree and teaching license from a Michigan EPP and teaching for five years in a school-of-need. Scholars receive: financial assistance undergraduate academic & social emotional supports extensive classroom teaching experience instruction from award-winning educators and expert partners job placement assistance upon graduation mentoring in the first years of teaching Seniors who are interested in becoming teachers are encouraged to apply to be a scholar with the program! Thank you to Mr. Mather for coming from New Mexico to share with our students!

Rudyard Jr/Sr High School is proud to announce that Cameron Peterson is the class of 2024 Valedictorian and Aiden Bickel is the class of 2024 Salutatorian! Both students have over a 4.0 GPA, excelled in both high school and dual enrollment college classes over their time at Rudyard. Each of them are also are EUP Principal Award Recipients. Cameron and Aiden are often know by the community for excelling in athletics, but their academic success is a testament of what it means to be a student-athlete. Congratulations to both of you!

This weeks alumni spotlight is Jesse Carter-Powell '18! It's hard to choose just one memory. From being late to Spanish every morning because ol' Johnny Folkersma and I needed our coffee from the library, the countless pranks on Mr. Dugan or the never-ending track and cross country memories. If I had to pick one, it would have to be making the paper in the SAC conference track meet in the Sault after chasing down another team that had a 50-75m lead and winning the race. My favorite class: obvious answer would have to be P.E. but they all had their own place in my favorites list. Definitely NOT for the classwork, but for the fun environment the teachers allowed us to make most days fun in their own ways and allowed me to be a constant class clown. The advice I can give for students now and anyone who will come through in the future is, it's never that deep. By that I mean you can't take what people think of you too personally and deeply, and don't ever let anyone tell you that you aren't enough/not doing enough. Only YOU know what giving your 100% is and never forget to have fun with whatever your doing at the same time. I enlisted into the U.S. Marine Corps straight out of high school. (I mean that literally. I arrived at bootcamp the day before I was supposed to walk at graduation). I signed a contract to be a part of a job called "Combat Camera," (now called Communication Strategies and Operations) and I love it. During my 5 and a half years in the Corps so far I have done primarily Graphic Design and Photography (you can find my images by searching my name on DVIDShub.net). After two years in North Carolina, and deploying to Norway for about 6 months during that time, and spending two years working with the Recruiting Station in Michigan. I am currently stationed at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California (had to get back away from the cold).

The 7th grade also had an end of quarter celebration today! The students were treated to hot coco, s'mores, and a bonfire! The weather was good enough for some fun in the snow too! Thank you to Mrs Hammer, Mrs Pearsall, Mrs DeWitt, Mrs, Morley, Mr VanSloten and Mr Garries for helping make it a success!

In an effort to ensure our students' safety and comfort, we have added another bus route! Please check your child's backpacks for his/her new bus times. If you do not see any notes, assume the time has not changed. If you have any questions, please call the office and leave a message. We will get back to you!

The Rudyard CTE Allied Health - EMT class will be hosting a blood drive on January 30th from 11-2 PM at Rudyard High School. The community is welcome to come and donate. Community members should enter the school from the Football parking lot to the Tech Wing. (Signs will be posted) This event is in partnership with the Upper Peninsula Regional Blood Center.

This week's alumni spotlight is Taylor (Bitner) Casey '17! My best memory from high school is all of my days spent in the gym for basketball. Practices, games, and open gym. I miss the atmosphere, music and nerves I felt before a game! I also miss playing in Pep band. My favorite class was definitely wood shop! Shout out to Mr. K! My advice for students is to keep it real, stay focused, and be present. Be realistic about your future decisions. If you want to head to college you need to start thinking and working for that immediately. But, it’s not just about grades, you also have to be involved and take leadership positions because at the end of the day in the real world that’s what makes you stand out. Stay focused. Keep your focus on the future, especially if you feel like your high school experience might not be the best. Drama and problems with other students are so common, and even though it’s easier said than done, you have to ignore it. High school isn’t all about making friends or “who’s cool” it’s about making a name for yourself and being focused on working on yourself to become the best version of you that you can be. Although you need to focus on your future, also be present. Live in the moment. Before you know it, high school is over, and there are no re-dos. Make connections, but stay true to yourself. Right out of high school I left home, at 17. Attended Northern Michigan University, where I worked on receiving my Masters in Athletic Training and Bachelors in Science. I pushed myself and received two degrees in 5 years. I graduated in May 2022. Right out of college I started two jobs, one in my Athletic Training field, with UPRehab, and my other job working in Hospice at Trillium House. For my Athletic Training job I specialize in preventing, assessing, diagnosing, and treating musculoskeletal injuries and illnesses. For my Hospice job I am the Lead Care Aide, where I help create a peaceful, homelike environment for individuals who are at the end of their journey here on earth

Tonight's Varsity Girls Basketball game at Cheboygan has been cancelled due to weather.

Reminder: Rudyard Area Schools is scheduled to have a 1/2 day of school on both 1/18 & 1/19.

At 1:45PM, the school was made aware of a verbal threat. The school went into secure mode and an investigation began. At 2:50PM the investigation concluded that no one was in any danger. The resource officer removed the suspect from school grounds and there will be consequences.