BIGGEST BUCK OF HIS LIFE… Brian Arny shot this buck locally on Sunday morning, November 27 with his .44 mag. at 113 yards! It green scores 192″; with a 23-24 inch spread. Biggest buck he has ever seen in the wild let alone shoot! Arny states, “I definitely was blessed to be able to harv-est this amazing animal!”

Hartford Board of Education discusses forming new  athletic conference

By Nancy Albright

At the November 17 Hartford Public Schools Board of Education meeting Superintendent Andy Hubbard announced that HPS is in discussions with nine area schools to form a new athletic conference in Southwest Michigan called the Southwest Ten.

The SW10 would include the Hartford, Bangor, Bloomingdale, Cassopolis, Centreville, Eau Claire, Decatur, White Pigeon, Mendon and Marcellus school districts.

Principals, athletic directors and school superintendents from all ten schools have been involved in the discussions and agree that the SW10 is a better fit for their teams. Hartford High School Principal Dave Janicki and Athletic Director Nick Blackmer are in consensus with the group that the SW10 structure will foster more competition between athletes, providing them with a better opportunity to learn from the performances of opposing lineups to increase and expand their skill levels and grow as teams. The arrangement will also increase athlete recognition throughout the SW10 and other Southwest Michigan conferences.

Coach Blackmer said that team sports will stay the same for both varsity and junior varsity teams, and conference schools will continue to hold leadership conferences and academic All-Conference award ceremonies. The coach also thinks the conference structure will foster open relationships between leadership team members to forge alliances that will benefit all ten schools.

Principal Janicki commented that, “This is a great group to work with and they’re ready to go.”

The organizational shift will also allow for more flexible scheduling, as SW10 schools are closer in proximity to Hartford. Mileage for travel to away games would decrease by 130 miles – 291 miles less traveled by the SAC – creating efficiencies to reduce transportation costs.

Mr. Hubbard said that, “There is no official vote yet, but the majority of the schools have made their decisions and I believe it’s in the best interest of Hartford to make this move.” Board member Mike Banic agreed, stating that, “It’s a good fit based on the number of students at each school and the size of the communities.”

In closing, Superintendent Hubbard told the board that he would like to make arrangements for Hartford and Watervliet to meet outside of the conference to continue the old tradition of rivalry between the Indians and the Panthers.

Woodside and Red Arrow Elementary transition plans move forward

 Elementary school faculty and staff continue to work with a transition coach to build relationships and ensure a smooth merger of the two schools for the 2017-2018 academic year. Current Red Arrow Principal Ed Dickerson has implemented the Name the Building project to begin bringing students together, meeting with staff from both schools, and walking through classes to observe student-student and student-staff interactions to assess the current situation. Mr. Dickerson will assume the role of Elementary School Principal beginning in 2017.

K-12 curriculum map underway

 Current Woodside Principal Brad Geesaman spoke of the K-12 curriculum mapping initiative designed to help staff better advance students to the next grade level. Teachers will take into consideration pacing, organizational techniques and learning curriculums to develop templates and other tools that will fill gaps in student knowledge to prepare them to enter the next grade. Mr. Geesaman stated that, “The mapping system will continue to evolve and it’s a unique opportunity to help our students overall.”

Hartford Middle School Principal Joel Messenger talked about a new mentoring program that is designed to help students with homework and foster better learning skills to achieve higher grades. Mr. Messenger told the board that the program will be introduced to National Honor Society student mentors during their induction ceremony after the holiday break. The program will begin in January and other mentoring projects are being developed to continue to help students improve their academic skills.

Driving learning excellence at HPS

 The Board of Education is establishing an ongoing Professional Development Committee as part of the District Strategic Plan introduced this year to drive learning excellence at Hartford schools.

The PDC will consist of one teacher from each of the five buildings, as well as two paraprofessionals, one from the elementary school and one from the middle school. The group will recommend professional learning opportunities to HPS faculty to enhance and improve their educational skills and techniques. The program is designed to be staff-driven, so teachers can choose 30 hours of district-provided learning experiences relevant to their specialty to help students at all grade levels.

Hartford High School U.N. Club travels to Lansing

 Sixteen members of the Model U.N. Club will travel to Lansing on December 1 for a two-night, three-day field trip to tour the Michigan State University campus. The group will also tour the State of Michigan capital building and be recognized on the House floor.

The students will join hundreds of other regional U.N. club members whose collective numbers represent different countries. The gathering of approximately 500-600 students are formed into five committees that participate in three stages of activities for each country. This structure enables beginners to participate and decide if they would like to continue with the program.

Advisor Daniel Brininstool told the board that last year U.N. club members won prizes at last year’s conference, which is “virtually unheard of for small schools like Hartford. The students are committed to the process and have spent a lot of time preparing for this trip.”

HPS bus driver retires

 After 10 years of transporting Hartford students to school safely and on time, bus driver Karen Randolph is retiring. Superintendent Hubbard thanked Miss Randolph for her hard work and dedication to HPS.

Mill site market study presentation

 What should be done with the vacant mill site? A class from Western Michigan University led by Dr. Derrick McIver researched and developed plans for the site.

WMU’s students were asked to develop opportunities that would cost less and increase revenues based on market research conducted by the class. The diverse plans presented were a community center concept- a “Mill District” with a mix of uses, a beer and wine museum, and an alternative parks plan. Over the course of the next month the class will continue to develop the options, finalize the business plans, and identify an execution strategy for implementation.

Thanks to Jim Shymkus for spearheading this initiative with WMU. The presentation to the Watervliet Downtown Development Authority will be made Wednesday, December 7 at the Watervliet Fire Station at 217 W. Pleasant Street. All are invited.

Coloma Jr. High Robotics Team creates a vortex

 Take a group of junior high students, combine them with some motors, sensors, batteries, and metal struts, add in a set of tasks and sprinkle with ingenuity, creativity, inventiveness, sweat and fun.  What do you have? The “FIRST” Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics event is coming to the Coloma High School gym this Saturday, December 3.

On Friday and Saturday, twenty-four junior high school robotics teams from around the State of Michigan will be arriving in Coloma to compete in this year’s game, Velocity Vortex. The event at Coloma High School, entitled the Sunset Coast Splash Qualifier Event, is one of fifteen Michigan district qualifying events that are being held from early November to December 10 allowing the almost 340 Michigan FTC teams to compete.  This year has seen tremendous growth of Michigan junior high FTC teams with the creation of 109 rookie teams.

To participate in the FTC Velocity Vortex game, the students are asked to design and build an 18”x18”x18” robot that performs a series of tasks.

Each Velocity Vortex match is divided into two periods: the 30 second autonomous period and the two-minute driver-controlled period. During the autonomous period, the robot operates using only pre-programmed instructions moving particles into two different vortexes. During the subsequent driver-controlled period, a student collects particles and places as many as they can into either the Center Vortex or Corner Vortex.  The variety of designs and strategies employed by the different teams is fascinating.

The “FIRST” organization consists of four levels of robotics competitions. They include Jr. “FIRST” Lego League (JrFLL) for kindergarten through 3rd grade, “FIRST” Lego League (FLL) for 4th through 6th grades, “FIRST” Tech Challenge (FTC) for 7th and 8th graders, and “FIRST” Robotics Competition (FRC) for high school students. A number of schools in Berrien County have teams at one or more of these levels. The Sunset Coast Splash Qualifier Event is the first and only FTC event held in Berrien County and has been made possible by the support of the CW Tech Robotarians high school team, Coloma Community Schools, the southwest Michigan Sunset Coast Alliance, a multi-team FRC group, and Whirlpool Corporation.

The event is free to the public with opening ceremonies starting at 10:00 a.m.

YOUNG ARCHER… 6-year-old Mauricio Molina started shooting at the Watervliet Rod and Gun Club’s archery program for youth and adults when he was 4 years old. “He loves shooting the turkey!” states, national archery instructor, Julie Holtsclaw. “(This is) why I keep coming out and teaching for 16 years, young Mauricio smiling looks up at me and announced ‘I really love your class here!’ I just melted, it wasn’t dad saying now tell the lady thank you… it was from the little guys heart.”