The SWWC Weekly
March 1, 2026
WEEK 26
WHAT TO KNOW FOR THIS WEEK
Thursday, March 5th
Saline Half Day - End of Trimester
Chelsea Final Exams - End of Trimester
All SWWC Students who attend class at Saline High School AND Chelsea CTE Center will remain at their home high school for the day. *Cosmetology and Building Trades will run as normal
Friday, March 6th
Saline Half Day - End of Trimester
Chelsea Half Day - End of Trimester
All SWWC Students who attend class at Saline High School AND Chelsea CTE Center will remain at their home high school for the day, including Building Trades. *Cosmetology and Building Trades will run as normal.
LOOKING AHEAD
Friday, March 13th
- Milan - Half Day (Morning transportation will be available to take students to SHS.)
- Lincoln - No School
SWWC STUDENT AND PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Growing Success: SWWC Students Complete First Hydroponic Harvest
This past week was an exciting one for SWWC Botany students as they completed the first harvest from our new Vertical NFT hydroponic systems!
After weeks of planting, monitoring, and caring for their crops, students harvested fresh lettuce, spinach, dill, basil, and cilantro. These herbs and greens will be donated to the Saline/SWWC Culinary Arts program, where they will be used in culinary classes—creating a meaningful farm-to-table connection between programs.
Students are eager to continue the project throughout the school year. Because the hydroponic systems allow for ongoing growth, plants will continue to develop and be harvested periodically, giving students sustained, hands-on experience with modern agricultural practices.
We are incredibly grateful to Domino’s Pizza for their generous donation last spring, which made the purchase of these hydroponic systems possible. Their support is helping provide authentic, career-connected learning experiences for our students, and we truly appreciate their investment in education.
Incredible Success at the FCCLA State Conference!
FCCLA advisors, Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Freeburn are bursting with pride to share the phenomenal results from this past week’s FCCLA State Conference held in Lansing. Our students represented our schools with such professionalism and talent, and the results truly speak for themselves!
Out of the 21 students who attended, we brought home an incredible medal count: 22 Gold Medals, 11 Silver Medals, 1 Bronze Medal. Most impressively, 16 of our students have officially qualified for the National Leadership Conference!
The success didn’t stop at the competition level. We are thrilled to announce that we now have two Michigan State Officers for FCCLA within our ranks: we are home to the new State Vice President of Programs- Miss Vivian Ferguson and the State President of FCCLA Miss Lily Chai!
In addition, we won the following Chapter Awards, 8 or more for the 80th Anniversary Membership Campaign, Third place in the State- Service Initiative with over 200 hours of community service, a Gold Go for the Red Award, and The Outstanding Chapter Award- awarded to just six chapters in the state!
SWWC Students Excel at SkillsUSA Cosmetology Regionals
The SkillsUSA Cosmetology Regional Competition took place last week, and two SWWC students showcased exceptional talent, professionalism, and technical skill. We are proud to celebrate the following winners:
Junior Cosmetology
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🥈 Second Place: Cecilia DeLong (Chelsea)
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🥉 Third Place: Kennedy Cunningham (Saline)
We are incredibly proud of these students for representing the SWWC. Their creativity stood out in competition. Congratulations to all of our competitors on an outstanding performance!
Student Leadership in Action at College & Career Fair
Thank you to Neveah (Lincoln) and Audrey (Milan) from the SWWC Cosmetology program for joining Ms. Visel and Mrs. Stemmer at Lincoln Middle School’s College and Career Fair. It was a wonderful opportunity to share information with middle school students about the Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes available to them when they enter high school.
We are proud of our students for representing their program so professionally and helping inspire the next generation of CTE learners!
GENERAL NEED TO KNOWS (REPEAT)
WHAT IS THE SWWC?
The South & West Washtenaw Consortium (SWWC) provides Career and Technical Education (CTE) opportunities to 11th and 12th grade students enrolled in the Chelsea, Dexter, Lincoln, Manchester, Milan, and Saline school districts. Approximately 950 students participate in our state-approved CTE programs as they continue to plan and prepare for college and career.
On behalf of the thirty-eight SWWC staff members, thank you for enrolling in one of our twenty-four Career and Technical Education classes offered at Chelsea, Dexter, and Saline High School, as well as our off-site locations specifically for Cosmetology and Building Trades. We are excited to have you in the consortium!
If you have any questions, please contact Kara Stemmer, the Director of the SWWC at 734.401.4371 or via email at stemmkar@salineschools.org.
ATTENDANCE
Notification of Absences: The following procedure must be followed when a student is absent.
The parent or guardian must email SWWCAttendance@salineschools.org and/or call the SWWC office at 734.401.4283 to report an absence. Parents/Guardians should also contact the student’s home school to report the absence.
Absences include: Illness and/or hospitalization, Illness of other family members or death in the family, Court appointments, Medical or dental appointments, Absences due to school-related activities, where school or classes are missed. (This includes athletic events, band competitions, academic competitions, field trips, or other special school-approved events.)
Chelsea and Saline students should not miss more than 7 days per trimester; Dexter, Lincoln, Manchester, and Milan students should not miss more than 10 days per semester.
TRANSPORTATION
Some students will remain at their home school for their SWWC class while other students may have to attend another location. For those students who need to go to another building/site, most likely, your district is providing transportation to the SWWC class. It is expected that ALL students ride the district-provided bus to/from their home school. Here is the Transportation Document. It is not fully complete but will be ASAP. Please confirm you're looking at the correct program location/time, i.e. morning or afternoon and that it's for the correct school. Students should report to their bus loop a few minutes ahead of the listed time.
There are some classes that require a student to “self-transport”. You should have received an email but just in case you haven't, please read below.
ALL SWWC students who are approved to park at Saline High School, Chelsea's CTE Center, and Building Trades, MUST receive a SWWC parking permit.
There is no cost for this and it will be provided to your student upon completion of the SWWC Long-Term Driving Form. This is only intended for students enrolled in programs that do not offer district transportation. Once approved, students will receive a SWWC hang tag from their teacher to put on their rearview mirror while attending their SWWC class.
Saline SWWC students will only receive a SWWC hang tag if they are driving to another location. All Saline SWWC students still need to purchase a SHS Parking Sticker in order to park at SHS for the day.
POWERSCHOOL
Students will need to check their SWWC grade using Saline’s PowerSchool. This means students need to log into Saline’s PowerSchool using their Saline-provided username and password. This confidential information is provided to students by their SWWC teacher during the first week of school.
- Parents/Guardians will need to establish an account to have access to the SWWC grade. Here are the directions to do that.
SWWC CALENDAR
Here is the SWWC Master Calendar. This can be used as a guide to confirm the SWWC schedule. Please note, that this calendar is subject to change. Here is an At-A-Glance version of the calendar.
SWWC HANDBOOK
- All students and families are encouraged to review together the SWWC Handbook. It can also be found on our website at www.TheSWWC.org.
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