St. Ignace Statistics Reveal Strong Student Participation in Sports
By Paul Gingras

Participation in sports at the high school level is strong this winter, which has positive implications for student achievement, said LaSalle High School Principal Don Gustafson at the Monday, January 14, school board meeting in St. Ignace.

"As of now, just in winter sports, we are not far away from half of our student body being involved on an athletic team. That is a good rate of participation," he said.

One hundred four of LaSalle's 246 students are on a winter team, and many more participate in nonwinter sports, he added.

According to research, students involved in activities outside the classroom are more likely to succeed in school, Mr. Gustafson said. He noted that sports offer many extracurricular opportunities, but students involved in band, church groups, student government, and other activities all benefit.

"They learn skills in the involvement process that are critical throughout their entire lives," Mr. Gustafson said.

Now that the school has finished its annual collection of demographic data, Mr. Gustafson said the ethnic make-up of the school and community have remained stable, even though the number of students in the district has steadily declined over the past four years. Giving Native American enrollment as an example, Mr. Gustafson said that population has remained almost constant, at about 60% of students, over the past three years.

Pete Everson, superintendent of the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District (ISD), told the board that school boards will be soon be expected to pass resolutions defining acceptable levels of student achievement in classes now required by the state. Soon, all ISDs will be required to report how they are consolidating services among districts, such as St. Ignace and Gros Cap schools' collaboration on busing, and will have to establish a common calendar for districts.

The district's bus mentoring program began at the end of January with two middle school and two high school mentors riding Randy Gustin's bus to help younger students, reported Elementary and Middle School Principal Bonnie Ledy.

The idea was proposed by Michigan State University in December.

The idea is for older students to help their younger peers with discipline issues, protect them from bullying, and on long bus rides, they may help with homework.

Middle school students Angela Donajkowski and Sarah Smith and high school students Michael Foster and Frank Beaudoin are bus mentors this year. Phillip Quinn of the Michigan State University Extension office provided their training.

"We are hoping that we will be able to expand it to the other buses, and then I would like to expand it to having sidewalk people who would work at least through dismissal," said Mrs. Ledy.

The district's crisis response team has been well received by the community, Mrs. Ledy said.

"If we have a crisis in our buildings, such as a death or a car accident, we have a team that will come in and help us," she said.

The group is composed of 11 community members, including Jeanette O'Rourke, Kathy Campbell, Kurt Stage-Harvey, Sally Day, Ronda Engle, Steve Therrian, Kathryn Mizzi, Mike Lane, Fred Strich, Fred Feleppa, and Sandy Feleppa.

School employees on the team include Superintendent Mike Springsteen, Mrs. Ledy, student and family advocate Deanna Kreski, and guidance counselor Connie Olsen.

School Board President Jane Weiss said she appreciated a presentation on middle school science teaching materials, offered to the board by teacher Trudy Olsen. Such demonstrations help the school board, she said.

This year, fifth-through-seventh grade students are using a new series of textbooks that include supplemental compact disks (CDs). Internet versions of the books are available to students, also. The multimedia approach offers students ways to interact with data, Mrs. Olsen said.

Rather than thick, traditional textbooks, the books are slim, and about once a month, students receive a new one, which helps keep them interested and feeling accomplished, she said. The CD and Internet versions of the books allow students to click on difficult words, which the computer pronounces for them. Students can click on active-art components, such as a picture of a cell that reveals an animated version of cell development.

"Some students understand [data] better when they see it," Mrs. Olsen said.

Each chapter includes two sets of worksheets. One is developed for students with difficulty in reading or science. Pupils in her class do not know who is working on which version, she added.

For students who happen to forget their worksheets, the CDs and online versions allow them to print out assignments. Students exceptionally interested in certain content can click on links that connect them to further studies.