Saginaw Township View

STCS honors board of education, students




A reception, held to honor the board of education, was held prior to the Saginaw Township Community Schools’ Board of Education meeting on Monday, Jan. 13. January serves as Board of Education Recognition Month. Members are, from left to right, Jenean Coughlin, Lyric Peterson, Janice Collison, Michael Colucci, Anthony Duncan, Arik Smith, David Jaffe, and Marianne Bird. Missing from the photo is junior student representative Lauren Gaiser. Photo by Mandilee Hecht

A reception, held to honor the board of education, was held prior to the Saginaw Township Community Schools’ Board of Education meeting on Monday, Jan. 13. January serves as Board of Education Recognition Month. Members are, from left to right, Jenean Coughlin, Lyric Peterson, Janice Collison, Michael Colucci, Anthony Duncan, Arik Smith, David Jaffe, and Marianne Bird. Missing from the photo is junior student representative Lauren Gaiser. Photo by Mandilee Hecht

SAGINAW TWP. – The board of education at Saginaw Township Community Schools was recognized during a reception set to honor them, held prior to the school board meeting on Monday, Jan. 13. Members were honored with cake and refreshments, along with special talks from district superintendent Bruce Martin, who praised their hard work and efforts.

Rep. Rodney Wakeman, District 94, also spoke to the board at the meeting, during which he thanked them for their tireless dedication and service to our youth, he said. He presented each of them with a Certificate of Excellence, signed by himself and Senator Ken Horn.

STCS joins 529 local and 56 intermediate school districts throughout the state in celebrating January as School Board Recognition Month.

“Our school board members spend countless hours of unpaid time working to provide the best possible education for our students,” said Superintendent Bruce Martin.

“They also serve as the corporate board of directors for one of our community’s largest employers. Celebrating School Board Recognition Month is one way to say ‘thanks’ for all they do.”

Board of Education members are: Michael Colucci, president; David Jaffe, vice president; Jenean Coughlin, secretary; Arik Smith, treasurer; Marianne C. Bird, Anthony Duncan and Janice Collison, trustees; senior student representative Lyric Peterson and junior student representative Lauren Gaiser. Bird has served on the board since 1987; Coughlin has served since

2006; Colucci, since 2014; Jaffe and

Smith, since 2015; Peterson, since 2018; and Collison, Duncan and Gaiser have served since 2019.

Other board recognitions included Hemmeter Elementary students Asher Deibel, Diya Ramakrishnan, Jarom Deibel, Luke Carpenter, Oliver Ridley, Rohan Joshi, Sophia Oldeck, and Yathaarth Poddar, who received the FIRST LEGO League Team Inspiration Awards; and 26 White Pine Middle School students involved in Michigan Youth in Government. The group recently received a designation as a Premiere Delegation.

Students and members of the Heritage Thespian Troup who took part in the state competition, were also recognized. They are: Ally Sanchez, Alix Zwingman, Hadley Gorsline, Cade Lambert, Lila Duvendack, Megan Douglass, Nina Groll and Felix Meisel.

Hadley Gorsline, who was a Stratford Shakespeare Festival Participant; and the nominees for both the Dr. Jack Nash Award for Best School Involvement and STEA Starfish Awards, were also honored. Starfish recipients were Michelle Bell, nominated by Michelle Frost; and Amy Sporman, nominated by Marcie Winters.

During the meeting, it was also noted that the annual Hawktion will take place Friday, April 17 at the Saginaw Country Club. The event serves as a fundraiser for Heritage athletics.