The party is open to any CSHS Senior graduating in 2013. The party is held at a secret location and is right after graduation. The cost to attend is $100.00. There is an early registration discount of $10.00 if students sign up AND pay by 12/1/12.

There are many fundraisers happening throughout the year. All proceeds from those fundraisers benefit the Senior All Night Party. To find out more about these fundraising opportunities, how to get involved or anything about the party, please see the following:

• Visit us on Facebook:   CSHS Senior All Night Party 2013

• Check the monthly emailed CSHS Newsletters

• See the Bulletin Board at the High School.   We will be posting information there for the seniors, staff and parents.

• E-mail one of the following:

Chairperson, Mandy Swanson swanman1@charter.net

Co-Chair, BJ Towers  vosbeth@yahoo.com

Treasurer, Angie Taylor   fancypants40@me.com

Secretary, Deb Caniff  deb.caniff@yahoo.com

In order to better serve you and your child(ren), we need to keep their information accurate and up-to-date.

For an Address Change – contact Central Enrollment

Ph: 616-696-7317

Fax: 616-696-3755

Email: susan.andrzejewski@csredhawks.org

*Please note – A change in a bus stop may take 2-3 business days.*

For a Contact Information Change – notify your child(ren)’s building. These changes include parent/guardian phone number, e-mail address or emergency contact information. For a complete list of building telephone numbers, please visit www.csredhawks.org/contactus.

We appreciate your assistance in helping us better serve you and your child(ren).

Thank you.

Cedar Springs Middle School student Siera Hull was surprised when she made it into the top ten of the “Art It Up” contest at Art Prize. Siera decided to enter the drawing contest when her art teacher, Ms. Burke presented the offer.

“Art It Up” gives the opportunity for middle school and high school students to create a design to be painted on a Fiat 500 automobile as well as win a cash prize. The “Art It Up” contest was implemented for the sole purpose of promoting art in local schools. An unnamed benefactor provides the winning cash awards and the automobile.

Congratulations to Siera for her accomplishment.

If you are interested in seeing Siera’s winning entry, visit redhawkart.blogspot.com.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) in Evanston, Illinois has named Thomas Waite, senior at Cedar Springs High School, as one of approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.

The competition includes an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, listed honors and awards, write an essay, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

Congratulations to Thomas on qualifying as a Semifinalist and best of luck in the Finals. National Merit Scholarship Finalists will be announced in February. The 2013 scholarship winners will be announced beginning in April and concluding in July.

The Food Service Department has been very active in preparing for the 2012-2013 school year. Nutritional healthy meals play an important role in the education of our students. Studies have proven children learn better with a nutritious meal in their system than those that are less fortunate. We would like to introduce the Healthy Hungry Free Kids Act (HHFKA) passed as a law by congress. Students and parents can expect many benefits from healthier and more nutritious food in school.

New in these regulations are also maximums in the amount of protein, breads and calories served on a daily and weekly basis. Due to these requirements we will have to modify our Salad Bars to Fruit and Vegetable Bars.

We have already introduced the use of whole grains in our bread and bun products. We are adding whole grain enriched cereals and cereal bars. Some of the additional changes that will take place within our meal program, but not limited to:

• Increasing the portion sizes of fruits and vegetables
• Increasing the variety of vegetables to include more dark green and orange vegetables and legumes
• Fat free flavored and unflavored milk
• Unflavored low fat milk
• Reduced sodium content in food choices

We have developed signage that will be posted to assist the students with their daily meal choices.

As you can see, we are in the midst of continuing change. The assurance we give you is that we will continue to be in the forefront in regard to providing a quality, nutritious meal to students at the best price possible.

To learn more about the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010, please visit:

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/cnr_2010.htm

We would like to honor Jim Porter, a loyal supporter of Cedar Springs Athletics programs.

Jim Porter, a 1970 Cedar Springs graduate, proudly wore number 61 as he took the field to play football for the Red Hawks. Besides playing football, Jim wrestled for 4 years. Jim also took his football talents to the rocket field, where he coached for 3 years.

Jim was always willing to lend a hand whenever his wife Sue needed help with the athletic boosters. Cooking the hot dogs was always a favorite of his! He also shared his cooking talents with the football team, making team meals and attending father son camping trips.

We would like to thank his family for sharing such a wonderful man with Cedar Springs Athletics and our entire community.

In Coach Brian Busen’s words, “Jim and his family have not only been loyal supporters of the football program but for Cedar Athletics as a whole. Jim loved watching his boys play and never had a negative word to say; he was proud of his boys and proud to be a Cedar Springs Red Hawk. Jim’s huge smile and firm handshake will be missed but his positive impact he made on me personally as well as the Cedar Springs Community, athletes, and school district will leave a lasting impression. The Cedar Springs Football Family is honored to dedicate this season in the loving memory of Jim Porter, forever a Red Hawk.”

 The Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP), is a standardized test given to public school students in grades three to nine.

The test is used to measure the effectiveness of local school districts in teaching to state educational standards in mathematics, reading, writing, science and social studies. The results are used to help determine school accreditation. Parents are encouraged to help their children prepare for the MEAP test by helping them study the test subjects.

Good preparation includes:

Get kids to bed on time the night before the MEAP

Eat a healthy breakfast

Pack a healthy snack for breaks during the school day

Do not get overly-stressed about the MEAP. The test is important to the school as measurement tool, but students are not penalized for their performance on the test.

For more information, please visit www.michigan.gov/mde or talk with your student’s teacher.

For the first time in their young high schools careers the Cedar Springs Red Hawks freshmen football players experienced defeat last Thursday, September 13, when they fell to the Dux of Zeeland West, 40-8.

The Red Hawks came out fired up and ready to go, but the Dux deceiving wing-T offense proved to be too much, as they scored on their first 5 possessions to jump out to a 40-0 lead.

Photo by Cameron Klompstra.

Cedar Springs was bound and determined not to get skunked, as most of these freshmen boys had not given up more than 18 points in a game, for the last two years. Blake Fisher drove them down the field on a series of pass completions, finally connecting with Keronte Hale in the end zone, giving Cedar Springs its only score of the competition.

One thing is for certain, these boys will not hang their heads on one game, and are preparing to bounce back against Greenville this Thursday, and represent Cedar Springs well. They are determined to get back in the win column.

“We will put this one behind us and get ready for Greenville,” said Coach Covey. Come make the trek to Greenville and support these boys as they go for win number four this Thursday at Greenville at 4:30 p.m.

The first few days of school this week have went great, according to Cedar Springs Public Schools Superintendent Ron McDermed. “It’s been the smoothest start to the school year I’ve ever had, and I’ve been around a long time,” he said. McDermed gave credit to the school staff for the smooth opening. “Everyone was ready, everyone was prepared. I’ve been walking around and seeing it. People that care make a huge difference.”

One thing that helped this year was at the kindergarten level at Cedar Trails. Colored t-shirts were passed out to kindergarten students and all students in a particular class were given the same color. One teacher might be red, another blue, another green, etc. Students will wear the shirt for the first week to identify what class they are in.

“It’s been very helpful in helping students find the right teacher,” noted McDermed. “I spoke to one little girl who didn’t even know her last name, but I was able to help her find her teacher because of her shirt.”

Another change this year occurred at both Cedar Trails and Cedar View. Mike Duffy, longtime principal at Cedar View, is now a co-principal at Cedar Trails with Jennifer Harper. Andy Secor, formerly assistant principal at Cedar Trails, is now principal at Cedar View.

“Mike had been principal at Cedar View a long time, and we thought this would give him a fresh start, something different,” explained McDermed. “And Andy is newer to the administrative team. We try to build leadership in all of our administrators, and this was an opportunity for Andy to have a building. We want to have skilled leaders for when other changes occur down the road, which they will.”

Also new this year is the 24th Century classrooms. There is a test program going on in several classrooms—one kindergarten, one first grade, and two classes in each second, third, fourth and fifth grades—where the students are exploring whether iPads make a difference in learning in the classroom. The study was funded by a federal grant under Title IID. Each student will be given an iPad, and the teachers will work together to see if it makes a difference. “We want to be careful and thoughtful about this,” explained McDermed. “Some schools are doing it because it’s the cool thing to do. But we don’t want to do it for that. “ He said that the study will last two years, and they will make a decision after that.

A change at the high school level this year will help students with online classes. A fulltime staff person will be in the media center during the school day and after school to supply online class work for students taking extra classes or those making up credits they missed. Kent Intermediate School District is providing the courses.

McDermed said the sinking fund money is now starting to come in, and the committee has narrowed down to areas with immediate needs: the traffic drop offs and roads at Cedar Trails and the High School. “By Christmas we should have a plan,” said McDermed. “Next summer we’ll start on one of them, and for the next five or six years, the fund will be used for infrastructure (like roads).”

Front Row (L to R):  Janee’ Austin – Great Start Readiness, Annie Kim – High School English, Laurie Kuberski- 4^th Grade Teacher

Back Row (L to R):  Andrew Smith – 2^nd Grade Teacher, Michael Gariepy – 6^th Grade Teacher, Adam Hendry – Assistant Band Director, Kevin Foley – Choir Director