CVHS June Newsletter

We value learning, connection, and growth.

We have a lot to celebrate...

• 52 seniors will graduate Summa Cum Laude - GPA of 3.9 or higher, 39 Magna Cum Laude - GPA of 3.75 - 3. 89, and 58 Cum Laude - GPA of 3.5 - 3.74.
• 732 student and 194 staff recognition certificates were distributed this year as a part of our positive behavior program.
• On Decision Day at CVHS we recognized students going to 37 different colleges or universities, and 3 military branches. Michigan schools: Grand Valley, Wayne State, Eastern, Central, Western, Northern, Michigan Tech, U of M, MSU, Detroit Mercy, Oakland, Macomb CC, Rochester College, Lawrence Tech, Kettering, Cleary, Madonna, College for Creative Studies, Sienna Heights, Kalamazoo College. Out of state schools: Hampton, Clark Atlanta, Savannah College of Art & Design, Kentucky State, Vermont, Baylor, Bowling Green, Kent State, Heidelberg, Valencia, Roosevelt, Illinois Tech, Louisiana State, Tuskegee, Mount Olive, Central Florida, Interlake Steamship Company. Military: Air Force, Marines, Army.
• We had one student named to the Macomb County All-Academic Team. These are the top students in the county based on SAT and GPA. Congratulations to Paolo Escudero for earning this recognition.
• Zachary Neeman, Jordan Bruwier, Zachary Kraemer, and Caden McGiness advanced to the Final of the National Math Modeling Challenge. This is the competition for Modeling and Coding.
• Our Michigan Mathematics League Team ended as one of the top teams in the state, finishing 4th overal. And Peyton French had one of the top individual scores in the state.
• Science Olympiad: Team Members were Zachary Neeman, Griffin Murphy, Zachary Kraemer, Laura Brown, Jessica Davis, Abrielle Sarnacki, Jeffrey Sherbutte, Carson Sherer, Parker Winkler, Max Winkler, Alivya Alley, Jacob Davis and Logan Girdley. Achievements:
• Invitationals: Hawk and Hornet , Plymouth Canton, and Battle of the States.
• Macomb Regional Competition - Placed 5th Overall
• State Competition - Placed 42nd Overall
• Congrats to our seniors Zachary Neeman- Summa Cum Laude (U of M) and Giffin Murphy- Magna Cum Laude (Michigan Tech)
• Natalie Ranieri earned a Silver Key Award from Scholastic in the Personal Memoir and Essay category for her essay, "Neighborly Neighbors."
• Five students earned the Seal of Biliteracy: Camila Garzon, Angelina Lopez, Adrianny Ramirez, and Helian Barriga Barrera in Spanish; and Khrystyna Lialik in Ukrainian
• Alex Wolfe, CVHS senior, was selected to give a She-Talk at MASSP's Women's Summit in Grand Rapids.
• Dr. Deb Teolis, CVHS special education teacher, was awarded the distinct honor of presenting her research at the 2025 Michigan Association for the Education of Children Conference in Grand Rapids.
• Coffee shop
• Lanie Lutteke, CVHS senior, designed the logo that was chosen by the Macomb County Commissioners to represent the Green Schools program next year.
• CVHS earned Evergreen status again this year through the Macomb County Green Schools progam.

• 29 languages are spoken by CVHS students and families: Abhazian, Albanian, Arabic, Assyrian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chichewa, Chinese, English, German, Greek, Hmong, Italian, Jamaican Creole, Korean, Lingala, Macedonian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Tagalog, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, and Wolof.

• CVHS math teacher, Ms. Ruthie Garcia, was named Chippewa Valley Schools Outstanding Teacher of the Year for the high school level.

• Our Big Reds Marching Band performed at the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Detroit.
• The band performed received a unanimous 1st Division Rating from all three adjudicators, receiving all A’s in every category at the MSBOA Marching Band Festival.
• On Saturday, February 15th, music students from CVHS performed at the MSBOA State Solo & Ensemble Festival held at Warren Cousino HS. Students had to earn a 1st Division Rating at District S&E Festival to qualify to perform. Students were awarded ratings for their performance from 1st Division through 5th Division. CV had 10 events perform, with 8 events receiving a 1st Division Rating, and 2 events receiving a 2nd Division Rating. Students receiving at least one 1st Division rating: Jordan Bruwier, Yujin Chang, Lila Chesher, Elizabeth DeLage, Ethan Fustin, Dalveer Grewal, Auden Harriman, Willie Julian, Timothy Tobia, Alexis Williams, Evan ZiBerna. Students receiving at least one 2nd Division rating: Carson Sherer, Callie Zito. Congratulations to all our students who performed!
• 7 CVHS students were selected for The Michigan School Vocal Music Association Region C Honors Choir! These students learned music on their own, recorded an audition video and submitted it for review by an audition panel. From there they performed at the Regional Honors Choir in December and auditioned for State Honors Choir. Of those students, two were selected to perform at State Honors Choir in Grand Rapids in January. These students earned the opportunity to perform with the top 200-240 students in Michigan! They are: Helena Donnenwerth and Andrew Curcuru.
• Congratulations to the following students for being selected as Sutton Foster Awards Nominees for their performances in Cinderella at CVHS! The Sutton Foster Awards recognize outstanding work in high school musical theatre in the state of Michigan. Those students are: Alina Bucanovic for her performance as Marie/Fairy Godmother, Julia Johnson for her performance as Ella (Cinderella), Mackenzie Martin for her performance as Ella (Cinderella), and Norah Shields for her performance as Charlotte.
• https://www.candgnews.com/news/savage-marks-new-ground-for-chippewa-valley-drama-club-7822
• Congratulations to Anthony Bonacci who received a National Silver Medal for the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing National Awards. His piece, a beautifully creative Jack-o-Lantern sculpture is called “Juntas Somos Hermosas,” which translates to “Together We Are Beautiful.” Getting an art piece in regional scholastics is extremely difficult, however getting it recognized nationally is of the highest accolades. Only forty-seven students in all of Michigan were able to pull this off, with Anthony being one of them!
• 2025 Chippewa Valley Art Showcase: https://tinyurl.com/chippewavalleyshowcase2025

• Jezani Neferkari and Aubrey Leitch were named CTE Outstanding Seniors by the Macomb Career & Technical Education Administrators Association (MCTEAA) in Finance and Careers in Education, respectively. In addition, Aubrey earned a MCTEAA Scholarship.
• Congrats to the following DECA students on receiving top scores and earning medals at the district competition: Andrea Parham, Anthony Bowers, Evan Carter, Ashia-Arie Cathey, Trenton Clapp, Deionte Cooley, Matthew Cox, Jack Dobner, Rachel Kovalcik, Dominic Legato, Tivonni Mahaffey, Sammy Mestari, Ava Moore, Abby Paa, Nia Pilgrim and Anthony Scardina.
• 21 Deca students traveled to Downtown Detroit to compete with over 3,000 students at the State Career Development Conference. Antonio Baynham, Lanie Peters, Jessika Vushaj, Abbey Paa, and Matt Cox were recognized as state finalists.
• The Chippewa Valley and Dakota combined CyberPatriot Team finished in second place for the State of Michigan. This year's gold tier finish was a great improvement over last year's second place finish in the silver tier. Congratulations to our team: Garrett Kaminske, Preston Hang, Michael Meyering, Jayson Steenbergh, Metias Zora.
• 25 students made states for HOSA.
• The following students have successfully passed the ASE - Automotive Service Excellence Education program, Student Entry Level Certifications in one or more areas: 1 Certification area: Christian Anton, Ryan Carlson, Aiden Carver, Rhett Contor, Antonio Esquivel, Carter Lee, Hugh May, Vance Ratliff, and Gannon Smith; 2 Certification areas: Alex Sunderman, and Tyler Vallone; 3 or more certification areas: Nick Kania, Nick Rescoe, and Noah Safran. In addition to the ASE student certification the following students have passed the Michigan State Mechanics Certification and are officially State Licensed Mechanics: Nick Kania, and Noah Safran.
• Noah Safran who is now a state licensed master automobile mechanic after passing his 8th test in the series needed to be a State of Michigan Master Mechanic. He is now certified in Engine Repair, Automatic Transmission, Manual Transmission and Driveline, Steering and Suspension, Brake Systems, Electrical / Electronic Systems, Heating and Air Conditioning, Engine Performance / Drivability.
• 51 of 56 students passed the NHA Certified Patient Care Technician/Assistant (CPCT/A) exam

• Ella Bist made the All-County bowling team.
• In E sports, the Super Smash team made it to round 3 of the play off series.
• Lilianna Peace qualified for the Cross-Country State meet for the 2nd year in a row. Lilianna had a PR of 19.34 in the Regionals.
• Our volleyball team earned their third consecutive MAC Blue Championship.
• Our boys basketball team won a district championship.
• Rachel Kincher for set a new school record in the 100 meter backstroke with a time of 59.44 seconds. The previous record was set in 2013.
• The boys tennis team won the MAC White tournament.
• Mia Barnett set a new school record in the 100m Hurdles. She also broke the MAC RED Divisional Track Meet record in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.5. The previous record of 14.7 was set in 2008. She ended her season finishing 3rd in the state with a time of 14.1 at the state meet.
• We had a total of 1,027 student athletes this school year who played on 58 different teams over our three seasons. Of that amount, 580 played at the Varsity level, or 56.48%. A little over half of our Varsity student athletes, 54.82%, earned a MAC academic award for having a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Here are the numbers broken down by season:
• Fall – 199 Athletes – 119 MAC Academic awards or 59.80%
• Winter – 100 Athletes – 66 MAC Academic awards or 66%
• Spring – 189 Athletes – 133 MAC Academic awards or 70.37%
• We had 29 graduating seniors commit to play sports in colleges across the country
• We had 34 three sport athletes.

• During Cancer Week in September we were able to raise over $7100 which was donated to Relay for Life.
• Holiday giving this year included:
• Teamed with Kiwanis to help them create food baskets for families in Macomb County. We donated 1219 cans from our canned food drive.
• We will also be holding a Toy Drive in December to donate to Chippewa Valley elementary school students.
• Additionally, we are collecting $25 gift card donations to present to our own families in need.
• For the last three years we’ve asked our Sophomore Student Council kids to make stockings to donate to the Macomb Foster Closet. The Macomb Foster Closet is an all-volunteer nonprofit 501c3 organization providing much-needed clothing and other essential items free to children in foster care and the amazing families that care for them. In addition, they also provide additional services throughout the year such as loaded school backpacks, birthday bags, Easter baskets, and holiday gifts. We assigned different stocking age groups from newborn to 18 years old, hoping we could provide one stocking per age group for either a boy or girl. The students in Sophomore Student Council exceeded our expectations and put together and donated 21 beautiful and thoughtful stockings and gift baskets with items that are needed, wanted, and age appropriate. The thought put into these gifts is apparent and heart-warming.
• Our NHS members have made a bunch of fleece tie blankets. If you would like to pick up blankets to donate to the cause of your choice, the blankets will be in the office across from my room (231). Please let me know how many you take and where you are donating.
• The walkathon raised approximately $1,900 for the KnowResolve charity.

• We partnered with the Teen School Outreach Librarian from Clinton-Macomb Public Library on a number of occasions throughout the year.
• DECA hosted the Inaugural Macomb Black Business Expo, partnering with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, Omega Xi Omega Chapter.
• Coalition Teen Council partnered with Turning Point, CARE of Southeastern Michigan, Know Resolve, Macomb Family Services, Ulliance, Family Youth Interventions, and the Clinton Township Police Department to spread awareness and educate about substance use, mental health, and suicide prevention.
• We partnered with professors from Wayne State University and the University of Southern California to help with their research on how student relationships with peers drive upward mobility and outcomes, and also a professor from Syracuse University on the study on students’ perceptions of economics.

• Community Choice Credit Union hosted a Financial Reality Fair for our Personal Finance students.

• We partnered with Our Time to host a voter registration and pre-registration drive for students.
• We partnered with Alliance of Therapy Dogs to bring in therapy dogs for U Matter Week.
• The Eastside Model A Club brought 6 Model A Fords to campus and shared their cars and knowledge with our Auto students.
• Ms. Loren Cicalo from the Disability Network of Eastern Michigan has come in to work with students with special needs to develop career readiness, success at work, and self-advocacy skills. The Disability Network of Eastern Michigan is committed to promoting inclusion for all by breaking down barriers and opening paths towards independence and personal choice through resources, advocacy, information, support, and education.
• Our AP Biology and Human Biology students took part in the MSU Community-Based Service and Education Project. Their teacher, Ms. Mattia, worked directly with professors and medical students from Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine, to create a five-part learning series on a specific disease. The goal is to use a case-study approach to provide our students with evidence of the real-world applications of the information they study. The presentations are developed by first and second -year medical students, overseen by their professors. They use the content from AP Biology and Human Biology to build the case study from the perspectives of immunology, anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, and pharmacology. This partnership has continued since 2021, each year with a new group of students and a new case study - cystic fibrosis, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, and Huntington's disease. In March of 2022, CVHS was honored as the project received one of five awards for community engaged learning from MSU.
• Dr. Janet Brelin-Fornari, the founding director of Technology Engineering for the College of Engineering at Michigan State University, presented to our Information Technology and Engineering students. Technology Engineering is a newly approved program that combines the disciplines of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Computer Programming to better serve the demands of industry for multi-disciplinary engineers/designers.
• 2009 CVHS alum, and current Marvel Comics creator, Jim Towe, presented to our Graphic Design students. - https://www.marvel.com/comics/creators/13561/james_towe

• 2001 CVHS alum and current IMBd actor and art director, Erik Steele, presented to our Graphic Design students. - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4637360/

Thanks for a great school year! Have a great summer!

Todd Distelrath

Principal