By John Jarpe, Supt. Brandywine Community Schools

It’s hard to believe that the school year is already 25 percent over.  The longer I work in schools, the quicker the time flies by.  I’d like to share some highlights of Brandywine’s school year thus far, from late summer until now:

• Back in August, the State of Michigan announced that Brandywine Senior High is a Reward School, an honor shared by 344 school buildings in the state.  This reward is based upon academic improvement and outstanding graduation rates.
• In late August, a nationally known consultant, Debbie Silver, worked with our staff and reminded everyone of the critical importance teachers have on children’s lives.
• We had an outstanding turnout of Bobcat alumni to kick off the year of celebration honoring 50 years of Brandywine graduates, since the first Brandywine Class of 1963.
• In October, we had the official opening of the Lake Michigan College at Brandywine machine tool program.  This partnership will supply skilled workers for jobs that are much in demand.
• Our football team qualified for the state playoffs for the first time in ten years.  Although they lost the playoff game, they had an outstanding season and played as a team all the way.
• Our boys’ tennis and girls’ volleyball teams won conference championships.  The girls went on to win a District title in volleyball.
• On Tuesday of this week, our community showed outstanding support of our school district by renewing our operating non-homestead millage by a two-to-one margin.

We know there are high expectations for education in our state and in our country.  We are working hard to meet those demands right here in our community.