Artists in Excellence (AIE) was honored with a Catalyst Award in the Youth Leader category at the Community Foundation of Marquette County’s Annual Celebration on September 9, 2026. The award recognized AIE’s positive impact on and commitment to supporting creative youth throughout Marquette County.
This recognition follows a community mural project completed by AIE students in June for the Community Foundation. The project gave students an opportunity to collaborate on a large-scale public artwork while contributing their creativity and talents to the local community.
Mrs. Laurie’s Spanish 1 students have been having a blast so far learning the basics of the Spanish language. You can hear us enthusiastically singing the Spanish alphabet together even when my door is closed. What a positive and energetic start to the school year!
Mr. Kilpela’s Calculus class is off to a good start this year with an inquiry based approach using the Math Medic materials that are based first on real easier to understand phenomena that build into the formal math concepts. We will still incorporate a traditional curriculum based on the old textbooks we have but this Math Medic approach is key at the beginning of calculus when formalizing the idea of “limits” which is the building block for derivatives. The free Math Medic resources online will also serve a great supplement for further units throughout the year.
Mr. Kilpela’s large 1st hour Physics class has utilized the library for whiteboard discussions. The library has provided an ideal calm space where we can circle up with chairs and discuss lab results as a group free of many of the distracting features of a lab classroom which can sometimes be a challenge with a large class.
Mr. Kilpela’s Algebra classes have been using small individual whiteboards more consistently for formative assessment and practice during class. It’s a nice way to break things up from the traditional paper and pencil and is a great opportunity for more instant feedback and models mistake making as a vehicle to learning. Thanks to Mr. Bruce for donating them from his unused materials. We’ve been making great use out of them already.
Homecoming Week wrapped up and was very successful. The theme was Children’s Story Books. Students participated in dress-up days, an assembly, the parade and dance. Student Council students did a wonderful job planning the theme and events! We look forward to bringing more positive student council events to our school.
Donations
The Donors Choose project “Sensory for Success: Moving into Middle School,” by Mrs. Dalby, was funded to provide flexible seating options, a variety of fidgets, and other sensory tools to ease the transition for 6th-grade students with sensory needs.