Pentwater Public Schools

Pentwater Schools had an engaging week as we observed Red Ribbon Week, dedicated to promoting drug and alcohol awareness. Throughout the week, students participated in themed dress-up days, such as, “Team Up Against Drugs,” where everyone wore their favorite team gear. The elementary students took part in a creative poster contest focused on making healthy choices. On Monday, we were honored to have Amanda Stalmack share her powerful story of addiction and recovery, inspiring students with her journey. On Tuesday, Kelly Harnhardt from Corewell Health delivered an informative presentation about the dangers of vaping, highlighting the importance of making informed choices. Wednesday was filled with small group discussions that explored various scenarios related to drugs and alcohol, fostering open dialogue among students. We welcomed guest speaker Andy Wernette on Thursday, who shared his own recovery story and emphasized the protective factors essential for steering clear of addiction. To conclude the week, Jason Miney and Destiny from Mason County Life Recovery shared their compelling stories of addiction and recovery. Our goal throughout the week was to instill valuable lessons that will help our students to make positive choices, leading to happier and healthier lives. A heartfelt thank you to all the courageous speakers who shared their stories, making a meaningful impact on our students. Thank you also to the PTCO for funding all of the poster winner prizes, decorations and candy for participation throughout the week.

Mrs. Fatura's advanced chemistry class performed Halloween demonstrations for Mrs. Miller's 5th grade class. The demonstrations included the appearing goblin, puking pumpkin, popping ghosts in a graveyard, a bloody hand slap and a dry ice color show. All of the demonstrations seemed magical but were showing chemistry principles such as acid-base indicators, the gas laws and chemical reactions. Both the seniors as well as the 5th grade students had a great time with the experience! Thank you to Kaleb Brown, Nathan Macher and Trey Johnson for being great teachers today!

Our JH/HS staff dressed up as Toy Story for Halloween 2024! To Infinity and Beyond!

Our elementary staff celebrated Halloween with Moana. Mr. Barter makes a great Maui with Mrs. Oleneack as Moana, "I am Moana of Motunui. You will board my boat, sail across the sea, and restore the heart of Te Fiti." "Sometimes our strengths lie beneath the surface...Far beneath, in some cases."

Would you choose a BOOK or a TREAT? All Elementary students got to choose both today at Book or Treat, hosted by Mrs. Voss. Happy reading everyone!

Thank you to Linda Stone, for sharing her spooky Halloween songs, stories, and crafts with our elementary students! Mrs. Stone and her husband, Mike, are great supporters of the district and bring a wealth of knowledge and fun from their years of teaching in the public school systems! Thank you, it was great, the kids enjoy everything you bring to the classroom!

Pentwater High School will be hosting the MHSAA Volleyball District 110 tournament on Monday, 11/4, Wednesday, 11/6 with the finals on Friday, 11/8. Tickets must be purchased through gofan by visiting gofan.co and searching for Pentwater High School. Spectators may also scan the QR codes for each of the district volleyball games, see attached. The schedule is as follows, to be held in the Pentwater Public Schools gymnasium: Monday, 11/4: Pentwater versus Baldwin @ 6pm Wednesday, 11/6: Walkerville versus BRCCA @ 5:30pm Wednesday, 11/6: MCE versus TBD @ 7pm Friday, 11/8: Finals @ 6pm

The Falcon Varsity Cross Country team had Regionals at Benzie Central this morning! Out of a total of nine runners, we had one personal record and two season bests! There were several others who are very close to beating their personal record! We are very proud of the whole team for their efforts today and throughout the season! A big thank you to all of the families and friends of the athletes for their support this season! It's always a great day to be a Falcon!! 💜💛 Top finishers- Wyatt Roberts 18:17.64 (31) Personal Record! Bailey Case 21:53.68 (22) Season Best- Bode Powell 20:59.73 (54) Lauren Davis 25:40.72 (50) Additional Results- Tyler Zimmer 19:37.54 (48) Ben Merten 21:24.45 (58) Michael Smith 23:56.50 (72) Ben Roberson 25:00.44 (76) Abbie Field 29:04.45 (54)

Good luck to the varsity cross country team as they compete at Regionals today in Benzie! Go Falcons! 💜💛

It's been almost a week since some of our middle school students participated in a 4 day/3 night program at Camp Miniwanca and the change in the kids is still visible. The students who participated were 8th graders Janie Hasil, Scarlett Reid, Silas Jobbins, Xach Davis and Brennen Cory as well as 7th graders Brianna Musil, Xaria Davis and Riley Swanger. During their morning leadership sessions, they were mixed with students from other schools with the afternoons planning a project to bring back to school. They grew in confidence and respect for each other daily during this enriching experience. The amount of time they spent listening to each other was exciting and, as a group, they chose to focus on mental health support for all students by helping teach skills rather than on less permanent actions. I look forward to seeing them work toward putting their ideas into action. Ms. Sisung

Today was Mole Day for students in Mrs. Fatura’s chemistry classes. A mole is representative of the number 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd power. So it is celebrated on 10-23! Advanced chemistry participated in Molympics which is a series of 5 events. Most of them use a competition to get a number and then make a mole problem out of it. For example, they had to make as many tally marks as they could in one minute. Then, using the average, they had to calculate how long in years it would take to make a mole of tally marks. The answer is 4.70 times 10 to the 15th power! They also competed in Avogadro's Fitness challenge. Their answers and times will be submitted along with over 100 other schools from all over the world to determine the winner of the traveling trophy! General chemistry tie dyed shirts, completed a Mole Day scavenger hunt and many made a stuffed mole. They ate food such as dirt cake, molasses cookies and chips and guacaMOLE. We also did a toast with 1 mole of water which is 18 milliliters!

The Pentwater middle school team placed 2nd at the Cardinal Classic Invitational hosted by Mason County Eastern! Great job Falcons!

The Falcon Cross County team had a super night at the Cardinal Classic. Overall, we had 8 personal records and 2 season bests. We just ran this course last week, so it was awesome to be able to improve on those times. We also had a great fan base tonight! Thank you, Mrs. Case, for making the awesome signs! We love the support! Cooper Roberts and Arlo Radvansky also ran the 1 mile fun run tonight for elementary students and did a fantastic job! This was the last meet for the middle school team. It has been so much fun having 10 middle school athletes. We have enjoyed their energy and enthusiasm. Every one of the middle school athletes earned a medal tonight! In addition, we were surprised at the end of the meet to learn the middle school team earned a 2nd place trophy as well! Lastly, Lauren Macher was the 1st place girl overall finisher in a race that ended in an all out sprint! Such a great group of kids who we look forward to coaching in the future. In the varsity boys race, Tyler Zimmer was the top finisher with a big personal best time of 19:28! Wyatt Roberts, Bode Powell, and Ben Merten showed great teamwork by helping Michael Smith and Ben Roberson have a great race! The boys team placed 4th. The varsity girls team placed 2nd and earned a trophy tonight! Bailey Case was our top finisher in 3rd place with a new personal best time of 21:43! Lauren Davis had a great race and earned a season best. Abbie Field finished her season tonight with a huge personal best time of 28:58! Amazing work team! Next up for the varsity team is Regionals on Saturday at Benzie Central. Go Falcons!! Middle School Results: -Skyler Compton 12:34 (4) Personal Best, earned a medal! -Chi Jeruzal 12:59 (6) Earned a medal! -Ben Jorissen 13:01 (8) Personal Best, earned a medal! -Lauren Macher 14:04 (1) Personal Best, earned a medal! -Karoline Slotegraaf 17:52 (6) Earned a medal! -Colton Jorissen 19:18 (13) Earned a medal! -Sierra Stein 19:39 (7) Personal best, earned a medal! Varsity Boys- -Tyler Zimmer 19:28 (16) Personal Best! -Wyatt Roberts 22:02 (26) -Ben Roberson 22:04 (27) Season Best! -Michael Smith 23:38 (37) -Ben Merten Unfortunately we don’t have a time or place yet! :( -Bode Powell 23:53 (39) -Alden Grondsma 23:56 (42) Personal Best! Varsity Girls- Bailey Case 21:43 (3) Personal Best, earned a medal! Lauren Davis 25:51 (8) Season Best, earned a medal! Abbie Field 28:58 (14) Personal Best, earned a medal!

The first All Pro Dads event for the 2024/2025 school year is scheduled for Thursday, 10/31, at 7:10am for Donuts With Dad in the cafeteria!

The community is invited to the Pentwater bands (JH; HS; and Jazz Bands) Fall/Halloween Performance on Thursday, 10/24/24, at 7pm in the school gymnasium! The performers will be wearing their Halloween costumes; be prepared to have a "goulish" good time!

The Varsity Falcon Cross Country team competed in Shepherd at the Class D State Meet. It is a meet dedicated to preserving small school cross country programs. The meet is open to any school with a high school enrollment of 168 students or less. We had a small group, but everyone ran really well despite it being very warm today! Congratulations to Bailey Case who earned All-State honors for Class D by placing 19th in a time of 21:57.60. Places and times for today were…. -Wyatt Roberts 19:51.10 (55) -Tyler Zimmer 20:12.80 (58) -Ben Merten 22:31.40 (86) -Bailey Case 21:57.60 (19) -Lauren Davis 27:46.80 (59) -Abbie Field 32:12.40 (70) Only one week until our Regional meet! Go Falcons!

On Saturday, 10/26, Oceana LEADS, the District Health Dept. #10 and the MI State Police will be hosting a drive-thru DEA National Takeback event. The hours will be from 10am - 2pm at the Michigan State Police Post, 3793 W. Polk Rd, Hart. Bring your old/expired tablets, capsules, patches and other solid forms of prescription drugs; no liquids or sharps will be accepted.

The ASH Network (The Accessible Supportive Healing Network) invites you to their IHOP Spooktacular Event on Friday, 10/25, in Muskegon for a spooktacular evening with a percentage of all proceeds going to The ASH Network which supports assistance for individuals suffering from substance abuse.

A small group of 7th and 8th graders have the incredible opportunity to go to Camp Miniwanca for 4 days 3 nights for Michigan Middle School Leadership camp. The intention of the camp is to grow leadership within our middle school. They are coming up with a project that they can lead to make a difference in an area of need they identified within our school community. They got to camp shortly after 10 on Wednesday and we will be here until Saturday afternoon. The time has been jam-packed, including meeting kids from Ludington, Whitehall and Notre Dame Academy. We have also practiced our communication skills. Each school takes a turn setting the table for dinner and cleaning up. It has been amazing so far! Ms. Sisung

Esports wrapped up week 3 of competition today. Super Smash Brothers team of Bode Powell, Alden Grondsma and Rodney Grondsma fell to a very tough Rockford team on Tuesday. Fortnite team of Aiden Henry and Bryce Whalley fell in an intense match that had many ups and downs against Traverse City Central on Wednesday. Mario Kart wrapped up the competition for the week today with Jane Howard and Bailey Case bringing home the win against Pewamo-Westphalia, Corunna and Napoleon. A special thanks to Mr. Rodriguez this week for being the coach this week so Ms. Sisung could go to the middle school leadership camp.