SCRIP goes digital

Tuition. Who doesn’t want to reduce it?

SCRIP or School Cost Reduction Incentive Program has been helping families do just that without the fuss of fundraising. Families purchase gift cards from the school for places they frequent as customers. While they enjoyed face value of their money, SCRIP takes a percentage of each card. Half goes against the family’s tuition bill and half remains with the school. It is a win-win.

Now families can order SCRIP without the trip to the St. Joseph Parish Center. In fact, they can order SCRIP in their pajamas, in their car, even in line at Target.

It starts with going to www.ShopWithScrip.com. SCRIP Coordinator Joy Finnila recommends creating an account on a computer as opposed to a smartphone. Don’t worry; the cool smartphone-part is coming!

Click “Get Started” and then “Join a SCRIP Program”. Our BCACS Enrollment Code is: 4884793F457.

Once you have an account, you can easily sort through all 813 local and national vendors. When you select a vendor, you get a choice. There is the “Physical Gift Card” that goes in your wallet or a “ScripNow eCard”, which you can access through a phone or computer.

Certain vendors allow you to reload an existing card, provided it was purchased through SCRIP and registered to your account.

When you register a card, you can give it a name. Helen Guzzo, longtime BCACS parent and frequent SCRIP user, designated a Meijer card for each member of her family. It’s a great way to give gas money to teenage drivers.

Reloads take 24 hours to become available after purchase. Some vendors have a “ReloadNow” option, which gives instant access after purchase.

When you finish selecting your cards, you have two options to pay. The “check” option sends the order to Ms. Finnila. Much like traditional SCRIP, you show up at the SCRIP office, drop off your check and pick up your cards.

The “PrestoPay” option sends payment from your checking account, enabling “ReloadNow” to be truly NOW. “PrestoPay” takes a couple of days to set up and requires your bank account and routing number. There is a 15-cent fee per transaction, but you can buy as many cards as you like per transaction.

You can also create a SCRIP wallet for your smartphone. Type www.myscripwallet.com in your phone’s browser, log in, and click “add to home screen”. An icon will appear, which opens your digital SCRIP wallet.

Making SCRIP more accessible makes tuition more affordable. It doesn’t just help one family, but the whole BCACS family.

“The power of SCRIP is in the marginal use,” Mrs. Guzzo said. “The more people who use it, the bigger the impact for our schools.”

That power isn’t limited to school families.

Mrs. Guzzo is a big advocate of “Tuition Angels” – people outside the school who buy SCRIP and designate the rebate for a school family. Mrs. Guzzo is grateful for her family’s “Tuition Angels”.

“My Angels were supporters of the schools and supporters of my children,” Mrs. Guzzo said.

Now that her youngest daughter is set to graduate, Mrs. Guzzo has become an “Angel” for the BCACS band program.

“It’s truly the app that keeps me being a regular user,” Mrs. Guzzo said. “I’m doing social good just by spending my regular money.”

Want to learn more? Contact Joy Finnila at 269-963-3034 or jfinnila@bcacs.org.

It’s a difficult track, but one Coach Minier won’t run alone

St. Philip track coach Jeff Minier built his championship program around a simple philosophy.

“Track is a team sport, not an individual sport.”

Recent health issues have shown Coach Minier he’s a member of the BCACS family, not just a BCACS coach.

Coach Minier began suffering tremors last March. A barrage of doctors ran a barrage of tests, but they had no answers. Meanwhile, the 2017 track season was underway. Since this team included his own children (Tim, Class of 2017, and Gabby, Class of 2020), Coach Minier decided to let everyone know.

“I told them, ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but by God, we are here to run track, and we’re not here to worry about this stuff,’” Coach Minier said.

The St. Philip Track Team after winning their fourth west division championship in 2017.

The assistant coaches and team captains took on more responsibility and St. Philip earned their fourth division, third league, and first regional championships. The tremors, however, continued. The Minier family couldn’t help but worry. 

Coach Minier decided to go to the Mayo Clinic over Thanksgiving Break. As his appointment approached, his BCACS family mobilized.

The high school said a Rosary at the Grotto, each class leading a decade for Coach Minier’s health.

“Jeff has done so much for our kids,” St. Philip Principal Vicky Groat said. “He’s always pushing them to be better, not just as athletes but as young men and women.”

St. Philip High School students saying the Rosary at the Grotto for the Minier Family.

“I found it very humbling that anyone would think that highly of me to want to do something,” Coach Minier said. “I will take all the help I can get.”

A group of moms from the Class of 2017 contacted Penna Michele, longtime BCACS teacher, to make a prayer quilt from track t-shirts.

“Penna is amazing,” Jeanine Winkler, one of the moms, said. “She put aside another project she was doing in order to do that.”

The elementary and middle school had an out-of-dress-code fundraiser to give the Miniers some spending money while at the Mayo Clinic. The money arrived with the quilt.

“That really threw [my wife and me] backward,” Coach Minier said. “We were dumbfounded that they would do anything. I don’t really have anything to do with the elementary and middle school.”

Mrs. Doyle’s first-grade class sent an additional gift while the Miniers were at Mayo.

“We made him a Rosary book letting him know that we're thinking of him and offering him and his family up in prayer,” Mrs. Doyle said. “I had [the Minier] children here at school, and I think the world of him and Christy.”

The Rosary book was waiting when the Miniers returned.

“I don’t know who [the first-graders] are, and they probably don’t know who I am, but they took time out of their day to do something,” Coach Minier said. “That brought me back to the fact that I’m not just a coach at the high school and my kids aren’t just at a high school.”

“Once you come through our doors, even if you are only there for a year, you are part of the family,” Mrs. Groat said. “We wrap our arms around each other.”

The power of prayer has produced good news. The doctors have diagnosed Coach Minier with a functional movement disorder, a condition that responds well to physical therapy.

It’s a difficult track, but one he won’t run alone.

Mr. Minier (center) with the "dream team" from the Class of 2017. These young men had been running the relay together since their St. Joseph Middle School days when Coach Minier put the team together.

Having fun makes MATHCOUNTS

Can you solve this math problem?

The sum of the digits of a two-digit integer is 12. The integer is equal to 15 times its units digit. What is the integer?

Need help?

Ask any of St. Joseph Middle School’s MATHCOUNTS club members. You’ll find them in math teacher Molly Williamson’s room after school on Fridays.

Mrs. Williamson introduced MATHCOUNTS this year, having participated in the program while teaching at St. Augustine in Kalamazoo. Founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the CAN Foundation, MATHCOUNTS is only for middle school students.

“There are a lot of kids in middle school who love math, and I really wanted to capture that,” Mrs. Williamson said. “I wanted them to have an extra-curricular place where they could play with math and have fun with it.”

The club took off, with over 20% of the middle school participating.

“They love it,” Mrs. Williamson said. “They just keep coming back.”

[l. to r.] Gigi Pontoni, Therese Campos, Gregory Garfield, Chris Adam, Nathan Pawlowicz

 Each week, Mrs. Williamson gives them a series of questions – some easy, some hard, some “really over the top, like college level.” The students try to noodle them out on their own, then again with the answers provided.

“Sometimes if you get an answer you can work backward,” Mrs. Williamson said. “There’s learning there.”

On MATHCOUNTS days, students gather after school to tackle the problems as a group, taking turns illustrating their solutions.

“I am not the sage on the stage,” Mrs. Williamson told club members. “I am not here to teach you. You are here to learn from each other.”

“People have really different methods,” eighth-grader Therese Campos said. “It’s cool to see the different ways that I could have solved it.”

Since MATHCOUNTS is middle-school wide, the teaching comes from all grade levels.

“It is interesting because [the older students] do math that I haven’t learned yet,” sixth-grader Adam Thome said. “It’s fun to watch them explain the answers they get.”

That doesn’t mean the eighth-graders have all the answers.

“It is surprising sometimes that the younger kids understand it better,” seventh-grader Gregory Garfield said.

[l. to r.] Jeremy Gallaway and Gregory Garfield

Having fun with math is translating into having courage in the classroom. Mrs. Williamson has noticed a drop in students skipping difficult problems and a rise in students sharing their solutions.

And the students have noticed a difference, too.

“I decided to do MATHCOUNTS because I thought it would help me in math class,” seventh-grader Merlina Montesino said. “And it did. I really like it.”

Although MATHCOUNTS could just be a club, Mrs. Williamson included the competition piece.

“I think the kids are event-oriented,” Mrs. Williamson said. “[The competition] gives their hard work a culminating event.”

In January, there will be a mini-competition to determine the ten students advancing to the regional competition in February. The top four of those ten will compete in the team portion.

“It will be cool to see who goes,” eighth-grader Alexis McCullin said. “We’re all good at different types of problems.”

The competition, however, is not the focus.

“This year my goal is just exposure,” Mrs. Williamson said. “Let them see other kids who also love math and realize they are a piece of something very big and very great.”

And for those still puzzling out the math problem, the answer is 75.

Honesty, Caring, Responsibility, Respect, & Marshmallows

Starting middle school can be a challenge.

“Friendships change, cliques start forming, and that sense of independence is evident,” said Laurie Murphy, sixth-grade advisor and St. Joseph Middle School social studies teacher.

This transition is why our BCACS sixth-graders attend a weeklong camp near the start of the school year. No mom and dad, no homework or tests – just their classmates, the great outdoors, and the opportunity to grow closer together.

"Camp is a wonderful experience,” said Tina Sprague, St. Joseph Middle School science teacher. “It allows the students time away from their parents and pushes them out of their comfort zones. It is a great team-building experience for the class."

The entire sixth grade went to Sherman Lake YMCA Camp from October 9-13th this year.

Beforehand, camp counselors met with our middle school staff to better understand the kids and the goals the staff had for them.

One of the camp’s counselors was a familiar face – BCACS Alum Nick Reincke, Class of 2012.

Sixth Grade with Nick Reincke, Class of 2012.

“I explained to the class that he had attended our schools and that I had had him in class,” Mrs. Murphy said. “I thought it was great he was there.”

This year, the middle school staff wanted to emphasize HCRR, which stands for Honesty, Caring, Responsibility, and Respect. Students embraced these concepts through a series of outdoor activities that included low rope and high rope obstacle courses, swimming, rock-wall climbing, archery, crafts, a giant swing and, of course, campfires.

 

The middle school staff, who took turns being on site that week, was impressed with their growth.

“I saw students who are not typically buddies supporting one another with positive words and actions,” said Molly Williamson, St. Joseph Middle School math teacher. Crossing social boundaries can be uncomfortable for middle school students, and it was inspiring to see them rise to the challenge.”

They impressed their camp counselors, too. The boys’ cabin counselor even nominated them for the HCRR Award. He wrote, “You, as a whole, have been the most respectful, fun, and HCRR cabin I have ever had. In my eyes, you are all HCRR leaders.”

The most rewarding part was how that unity carried over into the classroom after camp ended.

“It was affirming to witness a shift in mindset in the classroom the week following camp,” Mrs. Williamson said. “I found students to be more supportive and patient with one another and far less critical.”

“After camp, I notice that they ‘know’ each other better through skills and team building, and are happier and more confident when they are in the classroom,” Mrs. Murphy said. “Camp is a bonding experience that extends into the classroom and beyond.”

"These kids are my vitamins"

St. Joseph preschool teacher Kelly Francisco considers BCACS a family. Her father worked there, she graduated from there, her husband graduated from there, and her children now attend there. But it took breast cancer to reveal the depth of her school family.

“I wouldn’t say [having cancer] is a blessing, but it has definitely shown me why I send my kids here,” Mrs. Francisco said.

When Mrs. Francisco received her diagnosis, she knew she wanted to keep teaching. Her fellow teachers and classroom aides helped her make a plan. Together, they told staff, parents, and students.

“I explained to my students that Miss Kelly has a boo-boo inside of her and I have to take it out,” Mrs. Francisco said. “The kids were really good about it.”

The kids weren’t the only ones.

“Teachers from all over, parents from this year and the past started bringing these gifts – anything they thought I would need for recovery,” Mrs. Francisco said.

Retired teacher Penna Maichele made a “Hope” quilt. Every BCACS student, teacher, and administrator signed a board with the words “I am not fighting alone”. St. Joseph staff members Jeanine Winkler and Don Shafer collected student well wishes in a book. Fr. Chris Ankley gave her a special blessing.

Teacher’s aide Riki Albert made pink “wish” bracelets for students and their moms. Ms. Albert and preschool teacher Aimee Downey created a photo collage of the children’s hands in prayer, all wearing this bracelet. The caption read, “God is watching over you. We know because we asked him to.”

St. Philip principal Vicky Groat asked Mrs. Francisco, a former St. Philip volleyball player, to be an honorary coach at the team’s annual “Pink Game”, which raises money for Borgess’ Tree of Life.

“That’s the thing about our schools if something happens to any of the people in our family the whole community comes out and helps,” Mrs. Groat said.

On the day of her mastectomy, administrative assistant Lee Papke organized a rosary before school with Mrs. Francisco. All the staff was there, wearing pink.

“I was supposed to take six weeks off [for the mastectomy], but I took two.” Mrs. Francisco said. “The reason I took two is this is my second family – these kids are my vitamins. They help me get through every day and so does the staff.”

Mrs. Francisco’s prognosis is good and she plans to work through her remaining treatments. Parents and teachers continue to overwhelm her with support and encouragement.

“The outpouring of love and affection I’ve gotten has made going through this a lot easier,” Mrs. Francisco said. “This is why I send my kids to St. Joseph. It’s not just a school – we’re a family.”

Want to join the fight against breast cancer?

October 5th is the St. Philip Volleyball Team's annual "Pink Game" to raise money for Borgess Tree of Love, which offers free mammograms to underinsured women. The JV game starts at 5:30, with the Varsity game to follow. Former team members and current breast cancer fighters Kelly Francisco and Meghan (Downey) Darlington will be honorary coaches. There will be a 50/50 raffle, a prize raffle, a serving contest for free pizza, "pink" treats at the concession stand, and "TIGERS ROAR against Cancer" T-shirts available for purchase. Direct donations can be made for the Tree of Love on site.

The classroom of service

“I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.” James 2.18

There was a lot of work to do on the St. Joseph Parish grounds before Superfest opened. Amid the thuds of hammers and the buzz of drills was the sound of laughter. Fresh from school Mass, St. Joseph eighth-graders went up and down the parish center stairs carrying oversize items for the silent auction.

They weren’t skipping class. They were practicing their faith.

Learning about the faith is important. But as St. James asks, “What good is it…if someone says he has faith but does not have works?”

Our BCACS believes following Christ means caring for our church and our neighbors. Students start as soon as pre-school, bringing cans of food for the needy at Mass and offering prayers for the sick in class. Just as students’ understanding of the Catholic faith deepens each year, so does their understanding of Christian service.

St. Joseph Middle School transitions students from simple acts of service to sustained community awareness. The school coordinates student projects with organizations like Haven of Rest, Hands-On Battle Creek, Operation Shoebox, Community Inclusive Recreation, the Charitable Union, the Salvation Army, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and our three Battle Creek Catholic parishes.

“We are trying to give them the idea that when they get out of school their community will be much greater,” Don Shafer, St. Joseph Middle School Theology teacher, said.

By eighth grade graduation, every student will have clocked a minimum of 45 service hours. Many students will exceed that number.

Service plays an important role in preparing our middle school students for Confirmation, which is why specific service hours are reserved for Corporal or Spiritual Acts of Mercy.

“We want them to understand what it means to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and tie [these Corporal Acts of Mercy] to some very basic beliefs we have in the Catholic faith,” Mr. Shafer said. “We’re trying to promote what that looks like and how we can help those people who are less fortunate.”

Although the school prays the rosary regularly together, each student must offer a minimum of four rosaries on their own. It is a great way to employ one of the Spiritual Acts of Mercy – to pray for the living and the dead.

Having students help with Mass and parish-based service projects, like Sunday Suppers or the Giving Tree, lays a pathway to adulthood in the church.

“[These projects] get our kids into the parish to see what it is like to support the church,” Mr. Shafer said.

This on-the-job training for life as a Christian is more than an education, it is following in the footsteps of Christ.

One family from the battle to the dance

[l. to r.] Katie Reed, Bronwyn Pasche,
and Sara Meyers

Life isn’t always fair, but love is always there.

It wasn’t fair that St. Joseph Middle School student Bronwyn Pasche was diagnosed with leukemia in the fifth grade, but her St. Joseph family was there.

“It was inspiring to witness our students fight Bronwyn's battle right along with her,” Katie Reed, St. Joseph Middle School assistant principal, said. “They assisted her by carrying her books, helping her with her studies, and praying for her when the fight became tough.”

And when Bronwyn completed her final treatment two and half years later, her family was ready to celebrate her victory.

Middle school teachers Don Shafer and Tina Sprague organized a living rosary in the gym, where middle school students and staff were the beads.

Living Rosary for Bronwyn in the school gym

Forty students wore red shirts for the “Hail Mary” beads. Five members of Bronwyn’s seventh-grade class wore black shirts for the “Our Father” beads. And ten of the teachers and staff wore orange – the color for the fight against leukemia – as the last decade of the rosary.

As a school family, they said the Luminous Mysteries in gratitude for Bronwyn’s recovery and sang “Ave Maria”.

Afterward, Bronwyn’s mother Heather Pasche addressed the students.

“The kindness and the love and the caring that you have shown Bronwyn has been the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed,” Ms. Pasche said. “From helping her on the risers during concerts to carrying her books to praying for her, it was all a very important part of Bronwyn becoming healthy again. I think I speak for all the adults in the room when I say we are all so very proud of you and how you have grown up.”

Bronwyn received a bouquet of orange tulips and a resounding round of applause.

Dance proceeds went to the St. Baldrick's Foundation

The celebration continued that evening, as students returned to the school to dance and give back.

“Bronwyn loves to dance and she loves popcorn, so we decided to celebrate a dance in her honor,” Mrs. Sprague said. ”We talked to her mom to find out what charity she would like the money to go to.”

The theme was “spring” and the cause was the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which raises money for childhood cancer research.

“It was a spring dance and Bronwyn has new life and spring is the celebration of new life,” Mrs. Sprague said.

Everyone had a wonderful time. Better still, $300 was given to St. Baldrick’s in Bronwyn’s name to assist other children in their battle against leukemia.

“I believe this is a true testament as to why our schools are so special,” Ms. Reed said. “We absorb each other’s challenges and get through them together because we are not only a school, but also a family.”

Taking on the role of Jesus

There are many ways BCACS students reflect on the Lord’s Passion – they study the scriptures, they attend the Stations of the Cross, they say the Sorrowful Mysteries on the Rosary. When they entered the eighth grade, they bring the Lord’s Passion to the stage.

“Watching the play in the past, it has always been really neat to see how the kids put themselves in the places of Peter, James, John, and Mary,” Don Shafer, St. Joseph Middle School theology teacher, said. “I think the kids really try to embrace and get into those parts as much as they can, and they really do a super job.”

This is Mr. Shafer’s first time directing the play, which has been passed from teacher to teacher for more than ten years. Although the script remains the same, each class leaves its own mark. This year seventh-graders Nathan Pawlowicz, Arianna Pontoni, and Cami Arroyo played the piano.

“We did add a seventh-grade influence this year,” Mr. Shafer said. “Tina Sprague [middle school science teacher] had the idea to add music during transitions. It turned out really nicely.”

The play is primarily an eighth-grade production, taking these Confirmation candidates on a unique journey with the Lord.

“How do the kids take on the role of Jesus, knowing how important that is beyond just knowing the lines?” Mr. Shafer said. “I think it’s the fact of representing, maybe in a very small fashion, what Jesus gave up for us. What does that really mean and how does that come to life in our own lives?”

Students spend nearly two months reflecting on these questions and memorizing their lines.

“[The hardest part was] demonstrating the struggle that Jesus went through and doing it with my whole person,” Ben Shafer, who played Jesus, said.

“As a narrator, I was trying so hard not to make a mistake and make sure I pronounced everything correctly,” Kathryn Keller said.

“[The best part was] being able to be Peter and share his passion for Jesus,” Pedro Reyes said.

Normally, the show takes place in St. Joseph Church, but due to ongoing roof restorations, it was moved to the school gym.

“It was different, just to get a lay of the land, to be able to know how we were going to move, our transition from one scene to the next,” Mr. Shafer said. “The administration did a great job helping the kids get to that transition point with practice.”

Challenges aside, on Holy Thursday, elementary and middle school students, as well as the greater St. Joseph community gathered to watch the Lord’s Passion as performed by our eighth-graders…and a few seventh-graders.

“The kids made me very, very proud,” Mr. Shafer said.

Building a better bridge

When Tina Sprague became the St. Joseph Middle School science teacher, she inherited science kits from the Michigan Department of Transportation. Mrs. Sprague liked what she saw, but needed to complete MDOT training to keep the kits.

So, she took the training.

After Christmas, her eighth-graders took on the Bridge Builder kit. This civil engineering project involved physics, geometry, algebra, computer-aided design (CAD), teamwork, and the scientific process.

“The bridge-building one was really cool,” Mrs. Sprague said. “There was a lesson online where the kids can learn about bridge load, what types of bridges are best for what, and the different kinds of bridges.”

After the lesson, Mrs. Sprague gave each student a piece of thin balsa wood and an apparatus that held a bucket. They filled the bucket with sand until the wood broke. Next, they laminated two pieces of balsa wood together, testing it again vertically and horizontally.

Using these results and a basic CAD program, students designed their own box bridges. The computer virtually tested the strength of their digital bridges, after which students improved their designs.

“Then they get to build the bridge that they designed on the computer,” Mrs. Sprague said.

Students had to meet certain criteria using only the materials in the kit. Over the weeks they built, glued, and pinned their box bridges together.

“They all started out on an even playing field,” Mrs. Sprague said. “It all depended on their design. Some of them used all [of the material], some of them ran out because they didn’t think about how much it was going to overlap or the extra cuts that they made that were wrong.”

When the bridges were finished, the eighth grade invited the first grade to watch the testing. Students hung the bucket apparatus on each bridge, filling them with sand until they broke, delighting their young audience.

“[The bridges] held a lot more than I thought they would hold,” Mrs. Sprague said. “The kids were amazed, too. They didn’t think they would be as strong as they were.”

Afterward, students wrote up reports, detailing the scientific principles they used, the challenges they faced, and the conclusions they drew.

“I loved doing the bridge project because we learned how to make a bridge stronger by just changing a few simple things,” eighth-grader Nick Meyers said.

Best of all, Mrs. Sprague successfully supplemented the eighth-grade science curriculum with a hands-on activity, much like the Math and Science Center kits the sixth and seventh grades enjoy.

“This was my guinea pig class,” Mrs. Sprague said.

Next up is the Magnet Levitation kit, where students will build levitating foam vehicles.

“That’s what I’m going to research over Spring Break,” Mrs. Sprague said.

Middle school students take the road less traveled...

St. Joseph Middle School was empty on March 3, 2017, but school was still in session.

All-girl and all-boy teams crisscrossed the city, exploring careers not typically associated with their gender.

This hands-on “Nontraditional Career Fair” is part of our Crayons to College and Career program. Kellogg Community College hosted the event, which was funded by a Calhoun Intermediate School District grant.

The girls began the day at the Regional Manufacturing Technology Center, exploring heating ventilation and cooling, pipefitting, robotics, maintenance, machining, automated manufacturing, electronics, and computer-aided design.

Meanwhile, the boys were on KCC’s main campus, exploring health field careers, such as physical therapy, radiation, magnetic resonance imaging, emergency medical services, and nursing.

“The girls jumped as sparks flew from the welding and electricity demonstrations and the boys were startled by a mannequin in the nursing simulation that sat up and said he was going to be sick,” said Katie Reed, St. Joseph assistant principal.

After lunch, the girls and boys switched locations.

“It was truly an amazing experience for our students to learn and understand the many opportunities that their future could hold while also gaining an appreciation for the people who work in manufacturing, teuchnology, and health fields,” Ms. Reed said.

The day was also unique because each ten-member team consisted of different grades.

“At the beginning of the day [my group] was kind of quiet, by the end of the day, I feel we had formed a little sisterhood,” said Kyra Rabbitt, director of student services and creator of Crayons to College and Career.

Students completed anonymous surveys afterward, showing an increase in nontraditional career awareness.

“We definitely saw movement and growth in terms of what they felt like they knew about the careers that they visited,” Mrs. Rabbitt said.

Many students saw careers they wanted to pursue.

“When we controlled the robot and checked the pulse and the heartbeat, it made me feel like a real nurse.”

“The best part was I got to learn about other jobs that I wasn’t interested in until now.”

“I can’t wait to be old enough to attend these classes. Thank you for this amazing school trip!”

Although a majority of students want to return next year, Mrs. Rabbitt favors doing so on a three-year rotation. She wants to keep college and career exploration fresh for our middle school students.

Future Crayons to College and Career opportunities may include investigation of creative fields or financial literacy classes as it applies to college.

Whatever form these programs take, our students can count on more “nontraditional” school days.

“This is an opportunity for us to grow and continue to provide college and career programming for students at their level,” Mrs. Rabbitt said.