Bobcat Innovation

Bobcat Innovation Families,

What a Great First Week! 🐾

What an incredible first week of school! It has been so exciting to see our Bobcats back in the building, reconnecting with friends, meeting new classmates and teachers, and jumping right into learning. From the smiles in the hallways to the creativity and collaboration happening in our classrooms, our first week has been a fantastic start to what we know will be an amazing school year!

Our students have done a wonderful job learning routines, getting comfortable in their new classrooms, and embracing the Bobcat Innovation spirit. We are so proud of the curiosity, kindness, creativity, and enthusiasm they have shown throughout the week. We are off to a GREAT start!

As we look ahead, we have some exciting events and celebrations coming up. We always look forward to our family events at Bobcat Innovation. See the main content section of the newsletter for more details on each.

- 🎉 Join Us this Wednesday for Our Back-to-School Picnic - hot dogs and chips! 🌭 - Wednesday at 5:00

- First PTO meeting of the year Wednesday at 6:00

- 🏃‍♀️ Our Walkathon Fundraiser is underway!

- Don't forget to order your class T-shirt by next Wednesday to have them by the walkathon!

- Freedom Fest — Next Thursday! Looking forward to seeing everybody there!

Thank you for helping make the start of this school year so positive and successful. We are incredibly excited about everything ahead and can't wait to see what this year has in store for our Bobcats!

Warmly,
Zach Hamilton
Director of Innovative Programs
(Daily Oversight of Bobcat Innovation In-Person and Hybrid)
📞 (810) 591-6077
📧 zhamilton@gbcs.org

Kevin Keilitz
Assistant Director of Innovative Programs
(Daily Oversight of Bobcat Innovation Virtual)
📞 (810) 591-6375
📧 kkeilitz@gbcs.org

• Wednesday, September 2nd - PTO Meeting and Back to School Picnic

• Thursday, September 3rd - Freedom Fest

• Friday, September 4th and 7th
  No School – Labor Day Weekend

• Friday, September 25
  Half Day – Homecoming

• Monday, September 28th and Tuesday September 29th - Pictures for In-person 2nd-8th and k-8 Virtual and Hybrid

Here is a year at a glance of Bobcat Innovation Events. This is being provided so that you can save the date for important events. However, please be aware that events are subject to change, so please take watch for updates throughout the year!

🎉 Join Us for Our Back-to-School Picnic! 🌭

We can’t wait to see our Bobcat Innovation families this Wednesday at 4:45 p.m. for our Back-to-School Picnic! Come on out to the Pavilion and enjoy some hot dogs, chips, and, most importantly, time together as we kick off another amazing school year! 🐾

After the picnic, our September PTO Meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the Cafeteria. We’d love to see as many families as possible there as we work together to make this a fantastic year for our students!

Can’t make it in person? No problem! We’ll also have a Google Meet available for families who are unable to attend. 💻 Google Meet: gbcs.org/bimeet

We’re excited to connect, celebrate, and start the year strong together! Go Bobcats! 🐾

Hybrid learning is off to a fast start with a project on Day 1! In a riveting Science/Math lesson, students made play doh, on the first day of school! They helped to measure and stir ingredients. It turned out great and all the kids got to take some home!

Fall Fundraiser: Walkathon!

We’re excited to announce that our fall fundraiser will be a Walkathon this year! We invite parents and families to come out and cheer on their students as they participate.

Important: Parents who wish to enter the stadium to attend the Walkathon must have a volunteer application form submitted by September 10th. Please be sure to complete and turn in your application by the deadline.

Want to support your student from home? Online donations are available using this link:

Be sure to check out the flyer below for additional information, including step-by-step directions for completing the volunteer application form.

We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing our families cheering on our students at the Walkathon!

👕 New This Year: Class Shirts!

We are also excited to introduce class shirts this year! These shirts will be worn for field trips, special events, and throughout the school year.

The deadline to order class shirts is September 3rd. Please use the link below to complete the shirt order form.

https://forms.gle/vynEHSnhRhRu69gF6

Important Dates:

• September 3rd: Class shirt order deadline
• September 10th: Volunteer application deadline for parents/visitors entering the stadium

Our elementary kids really hit the ground running this year with STEAM Learning. All of our kids participated in a FULL SCHOOL PROJECT. They all read a book "If I Built a School". Then, they met in mixed groups to brainstorm, collaborate, and design their own schools. They finished by presenting their ideas! What a great way to teach back to school expectations, and really get kids thinking about what school should be, and can be here and Bobcat Innovation.

Quick Links to Resources:

- Important back to school information:

- Forms and Information

👉 Supply List

Virtual and Hybrid Students Orientation Slideshows:

- Elementary Orientation Presentation

- Secondary Orientation Presentation

Dining Services:

Don't forget to fill out the Educational Benefits Form. It is very important for everybody to do this because some of our funding is tied to this. https://grandblanc.familyportal.cloud/

📝 Online Registration Reminder

All students—new and returning—must have updated online registration each year. We’re still missing a few, so if you haven’t completed yours yet, please visit:
👉 Online Registration

💻 Program Openings

We still have space available in our Virtual and Hybrid Programs for the upcoming school year! If you know a family who may be interested in joining the Bobcat Innovation community, please have them reach out to me directly at:
📧 zhamilton@gbcs.org

Upper School math utilizing hands on STEAM learning right out of the gate! Students collaborating, being creative, and THINKING, while they "move around some sticks" to solve equations.

Our new PTO board is so excited to welcome families back for the 2026-27 school year! You can follow us on Facebook and reference information on the website!

The first PTO meeting will be September 2, 2026 at 6 PM. Every member present gets a vote! At Bobcat Innovation, every legal guardian is automatically a member!

President: Gretchen Wallace

Vice-President: Nikki Williams

Treasurer: Steven McGovern

Secretary: Andrea Calvert

Committee Chair: Heather Grace

Member At-Large: Aleea Henderson

Member At-large: Teresa Graham-Jones

Look for more communication from us regarding upcoming activities for families and ways for YOU to get involved at school, as well as upcoming FUNdraising where we will need your participation and support to raise money for the engaging and educational field trips, guest speakers and activities students enjoy at Bobcat Innovation throughout the year!

Important September PTO Dates:

September 2, 4:45 PM: - Picnic at pavilion and First PTO meeting of 2026-27 at 6:00 in cafeteria

September 11: Bobcat Freedom Festival celebration and football game

September 15: Dine to donate at Culver's Grand Blanc (tentative)

September 17: Walkathon during school at Don Batchelor field (tentative)

September 15: Homecoming trailer decorating after school in parking lot

Please reference the teacher favorites list if you're looking to add a little welcome back gift for your teacher this fall! It will stay live on the website throughout the year whenever you'd like to send them a little thank you or pick-me-up.

Congratulations to 2026 GBHS Graduates, Vivian Li and Rithvik Venisetty, Bobcat Innovation alumni scholarship winners! Thank you to those members who reviewed all the applications and helped choose the recipients!

Questions or comments? Email bobcatinnovationpto@gmail.com

The 3X3 Advantage

Why Play?

More touches

• Players touch the ball more
• Repeat chances to make plays

More decisions

• Players learn the game faster
• Spacing, Advantages, Reactions

More Defense

• Increased on-ball reps
• Defend with less help

Real Development!

Register: Platform3x3.com/Register/grandblanc

(248) 453-6080

info@platform3x3.com

Do you like being creative and solving problems? Do you like building structures? Do you like performing and being part of a team?

If you said yes to any of these questions, then OM is for you! OM is the world’s oldest international creative problem-solving competition and the only Grand Blanc team is at Bobcat Innovation!

OM is available for students in 2nd through 8th grade. There is a time commitment of at least one hour every week after school. In addition, there will be a Saturday in January or February that you will be required to perform your skit. If we move onto the state competition, another Saturday will be required in March. The closer the competition gets, the more time might be required from the group depending on how things are going.

Each group MUST have one or two adults (anyone with a completed background check) who can commit to supervising the team every week. Mrs. Cramer will be available for team support, help getting started, planning activities and paperwork, but OM is a lot of work and we will need hands-on help to make it happen.

Look for more information this fall as we start to put our teams together. Email Mrs. Cramer at jcramer@gbcs.org if you are interested volunteering your time to assist with a team. Some teams will choose a STEM problem where they will be required to create a structure. This group benefits from engineer-minded adults who can assist with technical work. We are excited for a great year of problem solving!

Our Robotics season starts early this Fall.

Our 6th-8th grade team is all set and ready to go with Mr. Nick Clute serving as the coach. If you missed the Spring sign-up for Middle School Robotics, please reach out to Mr. Hamilton. We have a limited number of slots still available.

In the past, Bobcat Innovation has also had a Robotics team at each elementary grade level. In order to make this happen, we need some parent volunteers to help. We have a teacher to run the 4th and 5th grade program, as well as the 2nd and 3rd grade program. However, they need some help if we want to run multiple teams at each level. If you are interested in volunteering to help out as an after school activity, please reach out to Zach Hamilton at zhamilton@gbcs.org

🏅 General Athletics Information – Bobcat Innovation

We’re excited to offer a variety of athletic opportunities for our Bobcat Innovation middle school students! Please read the information below carefully and visit the provided links for details on how to get involved.

📌 Eligibility & Requirements

Students in grades 7 and 8 are eligible to try out and participate in all middle school sports.

• They will compete with East Middle School during the Fall and Winter 1 seasons

• They will compete with West Middle School during the Winter 2 and Spring seasons

6th grade students may participate in:

• Cross Country (Fall)

• Wrestling (Winter 1)

• Track & Field (Winter 2)

A physical (dated after April 15, 2026) and a signed Athletic Handbook must be submitted before participation in any practices or tryouts. Students will not be allowed to participate without both forms on file.

Fill out forms electronically at the following link:

🔗 https://ems.gbcs.org/for-students/ems-athletics-fall-spring-25-clone

🍂 Fall 2026 Sports Information

Fall sports are actively being planned, and there’s still time to sign up! Please use your student email to complete the Google Form sign-ups by going to the links below:

• Free Sports Physicals

  Click HERE for more information. For 2026-27 Athletics, you must have a physical dated April 15, 2026 or later. Thank You.

  
  

  7th & 8th Football

  Sign Up for Football HERE. (Sign in using your GBCS Google Account)

  Football Off Season Conditioning Schedule HERE

  
  

  7th & 8th Grade Girls Basketball

  Sign Up for Girl’s Basketball HERE (Sign in using your GBCS Google Account)

  
  

  6th, 7th & 8th Grade Cross-Country

  Sign Up for Cross-Country HERE (Sign in using your GBCS Google Account)

🌐 Helpful Links

• Bobcat Innovation Athletics Website: https://bobcatinnovation.gbcs.org/for-students/pic-athletics

• EMS Athletics Website: https://ems.gbcs.org/for-students/ems-athletics-fall-spring-25-clone

If you have any questions about athletics participation, tryouts, or paperwork, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your school office by e-mailing Mrs. Olmsted @ holmsted@gbcs.org. We look forward to a great season of sports and school spirit!

Speaking of parade, we are in need of a trailer to borrow that can be decorated and that students can ride on. We also need a volunteer to drive in the parade and pull the trailer. Please contact Kevin Keilitz (kkeilitz@gbcs.org) or Zach Hamilton (zhamilton@gbcs.org) if you can help us out!

More Homecoming details will be shared soon! Thanks in advance for any support you can provide.

How to Use Parent Vue Videos and Help Sheets

How to Sign-up for Parent Vue Video:

https://youtu.be/AjQFB_b97Pg

How to Use Parent Vue Help Sheet:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Dr3svYJF9kvd_zSIG2kD1QmPnm2WIIBO18jUFdc4YQ/edit?usp=sharing

How to Use Parent Vue Video:

https://youtu.be/CrJuUU1V59c

How to Use Student Vue Videos and Help Sheets

How to Use Student Vue K-5 Video

https://youtu.be/XRCn5qVl5Nw

How to Use Student Vue K-5 Help Sheet

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fPLRLBaLRal2lfvR2Dpu_eKw6ovKYqv2IlZ3-tPx2b8/edit?usp=sharing

How to Use Student Vue 6-12 Video

https://youtu.be/AExBbA0WARM

How to Use Student Vue 6-12 Help Sheet

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16PjKpSyNvJofF_kgMMeY7Vi8VkgK9chqBOi_Aej-Fr4/edit?usp=sharing

Email: zhamilton@gbcs.org
Website: https://bobcatinnovation.gbcs.org/
Location: 11920 South Saginaw Street, Grand Blanc, MI, USA
Phone: (810) 591-6078
Facebook: Visit us on Facebook at: Bobcat Innovation