DKHS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

HE’s A STATE CHAMP!! HE’s A STATE CHAMP!! That was our cheer as we honored DKHS senior Mitchell Swift and celebrated his wrestling state championship from this past weekend at Ford Field. What a great accomplishment from a great young man. I could not be prouder of the character of Mitchell and the work he has put into making this dream of his a reality. CONGRATS MITCH!!

In our assembly, recognizing Mitch, we also celebrated Evan Stampfler and Griffyn Harmon, who both returned with ALL-STATE honors after their efforts this weekend. Quite a feat for these guys as they wrapped up a great season. We also took this opportunity to honor some other outstanding accomplishments from the winter season of athletics and other student groups on campus.

Our DK GEAR CATS Robotics team finished 12th out of 38 in their first competition this weekend and made it to the playoff round. Our Gear Cats Team at Lakeview was Ty Anderson, Jacob Monaco, and Keith Ryan. Also competing from DK on the Strykeforce team were Robbie Bever and Braydon Campbell. At the end of the qualification rounds, they were ranked #1 with a 12-0 record, making it into the finals and earning the Industrial Design Award.

Our Band scored an overall 1 (the highest you can get) at the recent MSBOA festival in Hastings.

Evelynn Cornyea was recognized for her work on the Belonging & Engagement Committee, and she was awarded Outstanding Junior and Academic Excellence at the FFA State Conference in Lansing. Our Delton Competitive Cheer team scored a school record at Regionals and had its best finish in many years. In basketball this winter, Tyler Howland became just the 4th male in the history of DK hoops to score 1000 points in his career, and Addy Stampfler set a new school record for steals in a career. So many good things are happening here athletically and academically, and our DK Students are working hard to do great things. GO PANTHERS.

I’m proud of how our kids handled the Bowl Water Advisory and all that it impacted. They are cooperative and ready to help in situations that can come up on any given day. I appreciate the character and helpfulness they show. Our parent-teacher conferences were held on Thursday, and I thought they were fairly well attended. The spring dates usually bring a smaller crowd, but we had a good number of parent visitors meeting with teachers.

Spring sports practices started this week. It is not too late to join, and we have a number of teams looking for more participants. Baseball, softball, girls' soccer, and track and field all have room for more athletes. You need to have a current physical on file with the athletic department before you can practice, but interested candidates should see Dr. Munger, Mr. Myers, or any of the coaches.

Almost 100% of student course requests have been submitted, and we are breaking those numbers into sections and looking at the demand in different electives along the Panther Tracks. I think sometime around spring break, we may be able to have the majority of student schedules completed. No promises, but we are way ahead of schedule. Huge Shout Out to Mr. Vanhoose in the guidance office for the extra work he is putting in to get this handled.

This week’s Hogie’s Heroes are Evelynn Courneya and Sam Champion-Paling, who represented us well at the FFA State Conference, and our Robotics participants, Robby Bever, Braydon Campbell, Ty Anderson, Jacob Monaco, and Keith Ryan, for stepping into other challenges and extending their school experience into more real and relevant learning.

National Teacher Appreciation Week is May 4-8, 2026. The Michigan Department of Education’s (MDE) Office of Educator Excellence wishes to celebrate teachers across Michigan for the entire month of May.

MDE invites parents/guardians to submit 15-30 second videos of their students recognizing and thanking a specific teacher for their impact. Cell phones easily capture the videos. Please follow the directions on the flyer. Videos and parental consent must be submitted via the Teacher Appreciation Video Project Google Form. Videos are currently being accepted until April 15, 2026.

Submitted videos may be posted on the Teacher Appreciation Month webpage and MDE’s YouTube channel. Additionally, the Office of Educator Excellence’s Facebook (@MIeducator) and X (formerly Twitter) will promote the videos throughout the month of May.

On Thursday, during our half day lunch, when the whole school is in the cafeteria together, we had an impromptu "Rock, Paper, Scissors" tournament. All the kids paired off, then the winners when to challenge other winners with all the non-winners cheering them on! The kids had a great time and a champion was crowned within 5 minutes. Congratulations to champion, Olivia Vincent!

ATTENTION BOAT OWNERS!!

If you own a boat and love helping kids we have an opportunity for you. We have a few students that want to join the Delton Bass Club that do not have a boat so we are looking for anyone that would be willing to volunteer their boat and time to captain for these students on our Monday night fishing tournaments.

If you are interested in helping out please message Jennifer Sinclair for more details. Thank you!