On Tuesday, November 18, the Heritage Leadership Club put together over 90 fleece blankets to donate to the Mott Children’s Hospital this holiday season.

The Heritage Leadership Club is an exciting, afterschool group that gets together and helps with various activities in both the school and community. Their purpose is to help students understand the responsibilities of how to be a great leader and give back to their community.  Making these fleece blankets was a perfect opportunity for students to demonstrate their willingness to give.  

One Leadership Club student commented, “I think making these blankets will put a huge smile on all the kid’s faces at the hospital. It was wonderful that so many students, moms and teachers wanted to help with this project. I hope all the kids there will be comforted by them"

On Monday night, the Saline High School Language Arts Department hosted the first annual Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest.  Poetry Out Loud is a national program created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation that encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation.  In 2005, after a successful pilot program in Washington, DC, and Chicago, Poetry Out Loud was launched in high schools across the country, with more than 150,000 students participating annually.       

In the inaugural Poetry Out Loud at SHS, thirty-four students presented poems and were judged in seven different categories, from physical presence and voice and articulation to evidence of understanding the poem and presentational accuracy.  Once the final scores were tabulated, the Master Of Ceremonies Ann O’Harris announced that Kelsey Tillman was the winner of the Poetry Out Loud competition.  Megan Anthony was named first runner-up.  Both Kelsey and Megan won $100 for their efforts and will represent Saline High School in the upcoming regional competition.  Dillon Burns was named second runner-up, and will serve as the alternate should Kelsey or Megan be unable to compete in the next round of this competition.

On behalf of Saline Area Schools, I would like to congratulate all of the presenters for the courage displayed as well as the incredible interpretations of classic poems.  Each and every one of you should be proud of your accomplishments.  A heart-felt thank you is also extended to Shelly Yelsma and Carolyn Kreple, for making this competition a reality and to the entire Language Arts Department for their help both in the classroom as well as at the actual event.  It truly was a great night for all that were involved.        

On Monday, November 17, Heritage School took place in the first Mix-It-Up Day during student lunches. Mix-It-Up Day is a nationwide campaign that supports students who want to cross social boundaries that separate them from each other.

For six consecutive years, millions of students in thousands of schools across the country have made the decision to step out of their comfort zones and step into actions that broaden their social groups.

During lunch on Monday, November 17, Heritage students took part in this nationwide event by sitting at new tables in the lunchroom and meeting new people! One 6th grade student commented, “I thought Mix-It-Up Day was a great time to meet new people and learn about them.” Mr. Laatsch, principal of Heritage School, acted as the official Sir-Mix-A-Lot DJ to keep some fun tunes playing during the lunches.

This event was organized and supported by the Heritage school counselors and the Heritage Leadership Club.

Pictured above left to right:  Andrew Miller Madeline Parkinson, Sandra Periord and Alex Rivera as Ethel Savage.
 The Saline High School Drama Club's  production of John Patrick's The Curious Savage was a huge success.

According to High School Prinicipal Mr. Ben Williams -