Dear Families,
I hope you have enjoyed this fantastic weather we have been experiencing this week.
Tonight is opening night of Howell High School's production of Mamma Mia! The talent of our students is on full display in this musical. On Wednesday afternoon, we hosted a special performance of Mamma Mia! for our local senior citizens, who were raving about how fantastic the show was. Tonight and tomorrow, the show begins at 7 p.m., and on Sunday, April 16, there is a 2 p.m. matinee. To read more about the production, please visit https://bit.ly/3lBLBhd.
Next Friday, April 21, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. is the 2023 Senior Survivor Kick-Off Carnival in the Howell High School Field House. This fun event is the start of Senior Survivor Week. The carnival will feature games, entertainment, arts and crafts, raffles, inflatables, and more. Admission is $10 for ages 3-18*. Adults and children two and under are free. There will be multiple food trucks with food available for purchase. This year Senior Survivor is raising money to support the Highlander Hownds, the district’s therapy dog program. With the support of Senior Survivor, we hope to be able to place a therapy dog in each school building and create a fund for the care of the dogs. Please visit www.howellschools.com/survivor for more information on Senior Survivor 2023.
Three of our high school athletics teams have recently earned Division 1 All-State Academic Honors from their state-wide associations. The girl's basketball team claimed first place with a weighted grade point average of 3.9624. Our cheer team earned first place in their division with an unweighted grade point average of 3.824. The wrestling team took fifth place with a team grade point average of 3.75. In other athletic news, Howell High School wrestler Brynn Green was the runner-up for Ms. Wrestler, an award given to the best female senior wrestler in Michigan.
The Highlander Way Middle School sixth grade choirs recently performed at the District 4 Choral Festival at Waterford Kettering High School. At the festival, students are given a score for their stage performance and sight-reading music. Based on their scores, the choirs earned the highest possible rating of a Division I, earned a perfect score in sight-reading, and each singer received a blue medal. While at the festival, the singers also worked briefly with a seasoned choir director to further improve their singing skills. On Tuesday, the Highlander Way, the seventh and eighth-grade choirs traveled to Brighton High School to work with Oakland University choir director Dr. Mike Mitchell. Both choirs performed two songs for Dr. Mitchell and the other Brighton choirs in the audience. Each ensemble was given 45 minutes to work on their musicianship with Dr. Mitchell, and both made tremendous progress in that short amount of time!
Last weekend the S.C.O.T.S. Bots, our high school FIRST Robotics team, competed at the FIRST in Michigan State Championship. At the event, the team finished qualifying matches ranked 22nd in their division. They were selected as a member of the second alliance and fell just short of reaching the division championship match, ending in third place in their division. The S.C.O.T.S. Bots earned the Team Spirit Award at the State Championship and finished their season in 59th place out of 479 teams in Michigan, with enough points to advance to the world championship in Houston, Texas, April 19-22. You can read more about the team's season at https://bit.ly/40ciIqh.
Members of the high school's Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club recently attended their state conference and took part in the organizations in the Students Taking Action for Recognition (STAR) competition. The four students who completed were Elaina Pennell, Atlas Mitchell, Lorelei Miller, and Aubrey Stevens. Each student received a silver medal and advanced to the National FCCLA Conference and competition. The club also earned several honors at the event. To learn more about the FCCLA club and its honors, please visit https://bit.ly/3UznBbO.
Recently Hutchings Elementary fifth-grade students held their National Parks Fair. The event was the culmination of a research project on America's national parks. Since November, the students have been working to learn about their selected national park. They researched their park online, reviewed park brochures, read books, and referenced the encyclopedia. Additionally, the students have called, emailed, and even had conversations over Zoom with park rangers at locations around the country. At the National Parks Fair, the students presented their completed projects to students and families at the school.
Sincerely,
Erin J. MacGregor, Ed.S.
Superintendent
Howell Public Schools
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