BMHS students Jameson Flanagan, Anna Luna, Nashaun Moore, Jordan Toubl, and Ikeehm White participated in a pitch to the Green Bay Packers and the Equity League of Wisconsin for a collaborative funding opportunity. They spent weeks practicing their pitch to different groups and classrooms at the high school. Their presentation highlighted their lived experiences and their stories. We are proud of them for sharing their stories and representing our community. 

Several community partners and individuals were fundamental in securing the pitch opportunity for our students at Lambau Field. They helped our students prepare for their pitch, they continuously encouraged them to be their authentic selves and share their stories. They have helped our students and continue to extend outreach to them. Thank you to Mr. Tony Capozziello, Mr. LaMont Weaver, Mr. Jeff Smoller, Mrs. Kathe Crowley Conn, Bridge and Build, and WAGET.

Michelle and Regina are two staff members that continuously go above and beyond for our students. They leverage their community connections to benefit and elevate the voices of our students, staff, and district. Both of them were recently recognized on the list of Wisconsin’s 52 Most Influential Black Leaders.

Here is what was included in their recognition by Madison365:

• Michelle Hendrix-Nora is principal of McNeel Intermediate School in Beloit. In 2018, responding to data showing alarming African American achievement and behavior disparities, she helped create the Lancer H.E.A.R.T.S (Helping Educate At-Risk Teenage Students) mentoring program. That effort, among others, earned her a YWCA Racial Justice Award in 2021.
• Regina Hendrix is director of Help Yourself Programs at Beloit College, which is dedicated to preparing local youth to be successful in school and preparing students to attend a four-year institution of higher education. She joined the program in 2012 and has worked her way to the top over the past 10 years. In 2014, she became the first Black woman on the Beloit City Council, where she served until 2017. 

This is just a glimpse into what they have done in our district and community. They are also involved with the Rising Knights HBCU College Tour, the Knightangales, and the Step Teams at the High School, just to name a few things. We thank them for their commitment to our students.

The Beloit Freemasons from Morning Star Lodge #10 recently made a $1,000 donation to Hackett Elementary School for them to purchase winter coats, hats, and mittens for their students. Their donation will also be matched by the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin. 

Otis Johnson recently donated $3,000 to the swim program for the purchase of a new computer for the pool area. This new computer will ensure that swim times are reported accurately and quickly. Our students, staff, and coaches are grateful for this donation.

At the beginning of the year, students in our District were also invited to submit their artwork to be displayed at the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration. This celebration was put together by our amazing Bilingual Home School Liaison team.

The artwork was judged based on theme and creativity and the following students were selected as winners for their creative art pieces.

Elementary School Level: Darren Newell

Intermediate School Level: Destiny Suarez

High School Level: Jackelyn Montano

At the beginning of the year, students in our District were invited to participate in an essay contest for our first annual 2022 Stateline Area Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration. This celebration was put together by our amazing Bilingual Home School Liaison team.

The theme of the event was Unidos: Inclusivity for a stronger nation.

After dozens of submissions, there students were selected as winners for their outstanding original essays that showcased the prompts that included quotes by Sonia Sotomayor and Cesar Chaves.

Congratulations to:

Connie Acuachuitl - 1^st Place

Raquel Nevarez - 2^nd Place

Marcela Ramirez Rojas - 3^rd Place

Aurora is a Senior at Beloit Memorial High School. She was recently recognized and honored by the College Board because of her academic achievements in school and outstanding performance in her AP classes, along with maintaining a 4.0 GPA. She received the National Hispanic Recognition Award and the National Indigenous Award. Aurora has taken on a number of AP courses, is a member of the Academic Decathlon team, and president of the National Honor Society. She makes us Beloit Proud.

Jonathan is a talented musician and senior at Beloit Memorial High.

He is a part of our nationally recognized jazz band that attended the 27th Annual Essentially Ellington in New York City this spring. At this event, Jonathan was acknowledged with an Outstanding Drummer award.

We recognize him for not only that but also for being selected to participate in the All-National Honors Jazz Ensemble. This is a musical event that showcases the top performing high school musicians in the United States. This showcase was hosted by the National Association for Music Education in Washington D.C. this November. Jonathan is a true representation of the talented and academically successful students in our District. 

We are recognizing Robinson Art Teacher, Jennifer Wyels for her dedication to our students and staff.

For the past two years, Ms. Wyels has led her students in creating amazing and thoughtful artwork for the Veterans in our District. This artwork is delivered to every Veteran in our District along with a card and a gift bag to thank and acknowledge them for their service to our country. Without Jennifer this would not be possible, our District is thankful for staff members like her who go above and beyond.

Jennifer is always willing to step up, collaborate and showcase the artwork of our students.

The Big Radio Group is a great community partner.

We honor them for helping to host and promote the “Cram the Bus” fundraiser to collect school supplies for our students. They advertised the event and were on site the day of to promote it with all of their listeners. The whole team at Big Radio are always happy to help and give back to the community. They do this not seeking a recognition, but we would like to recognize them anyway.

Thanks to them, hundreds of school supplies reached the hands of our students and helped them start off the year on the right track.

We are thankful for our staff and community partners who came together to create our 2022 Grow Your Own Multicultural Teacher Scholarship video. You can view the video here.

There is always one community organization and leader who steps up in all circumstances to support the School District of Beloit. During the past two years, and during the challenges of the pandemic, the Beloit Public Library and Nick Dimassis made themselves available to our students, families, and staff in delivering academic, social, and emotional support. During the pandemic, they remained open and provided resources including books, technology, and a safe place. We continue to be in appreciation of the Library’s support as they help us share information about our District, providing a space for meetings, and always looking out for the best interest our students.

Megan was recently awarded the Crystal Apple Award form NBC15 out of Madison. This prestigious award honors teachers who touch the lives of students in extra special ways. Megan has been a teacher for 18 years, and the last 12 have been at Hackett Elementary. She works with more than 100 students who are English Language learners. She helped start the Hackett food pantry, in the winter she helped collect clothing for a lending closet, and has also collected bikes for students. Ms. Hauri goes above and beyond for our students and is an asset to our District.

We honor BMHS Senior Miguel Olivera for his participation in the design of the Challenge Coin for USS Beloit. Miguel, along with three other local artists, played a key role in this important part of the USS Beloit process. The coins will be placed in a box that will be welded to the new USS Beloit ship to bring good luck to the U.S. Navy crew. Miguel has enlisted in the U.S. Navy and will be attending boot camp in July. Miguel is a student who represents our District and community in a positive and creative way. He makes us #BeloitProud. 

We thank and recognize BMHS Senior Reid Stadelman for going above and beyond by volunteering at the High School. The BMHS PACMES Academy hosts a Career Speaker every other Friday. Reid volunteers his time to help set up all the lights and technology for the speakers. He will also greet them in the office, and walk them down to the auditorium. Reid stands out as one of our most appreciated Beloit Memorial High School ambassadors. He exemplifies all the great qualities of a BMHS Student.

We thank Chris Behrens, Niki Behrens, Amy Mitchell, Brenda Plakans, Becky Wong, and John Wong.

For the 10^th time, our BMHS Jazz Orchestra was invited to attend the highly competitive and prestigious Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival in New York City. While we make sure to recognize the exceptional talent of our students, we also want to take a moment and recognize those individuals that help to fundraise, organize, and support our students to make this all possible. They are humble and quiet supporters that do not seek attention or acknowledgement of their efforts. However, we believe, as a District, that they deserve this recognition this evening. Thank you for showing our students that there are adults who care and want to see our students succeed in and out of the classroom with opportunities such as Essentially Ellington.

Dayton Bennett is an entrepreneur and founder of Dabadooya and Company. As a BMHS graduate, Dayton is always looking for ways to give back to our district and community. He is actively involved in different community groups and boards. Our district is lucky to partner with him and his company. We thank him and recognize him for organizing a fundraiser in February to raise money to purchase coats for students in our district. He was able to raise $300 and purchase 10 brand new coats that were donated to students at Robinson Elementary School.

The Stateline Boys and Girls Clubs are an important part of our community. Their organization goes above and beyond to serve the needs of our students and the children in our community. We are extremely thankful for their partnership and are recognizing them as our April Community Partners for donating KN95 masks to our District during a crucial time. We are grateful and appreciative of their support of our students and staff and their continuous partnership with our District.

We are thankful and appreciative of the partnership we have with Shelvin Garrett and his company 360 Signs & Wonders Graphics. Gaston Principal, Fonda Lewis said that Shelvin and his company have been an integral part of supporting the building culture and community at Gaston. Shelvin worked with our staff to provide window clings and a life size “Bandit” for the Gaston families, students, and staff. Everyone can feel the Gaston Bandit spirit as they walk in the front doors and through the halls of Gaston School and this is all thanks to Shelvin.

Shelvin actively works with many of our school principals and District staff to provide great quality work that truly makes a difference in our building and District.

First National Bank and Trust was a fundamental partner in helping fund the "Shop with a Hero" program. The "Shop with a Hero" program benefits our students and families. The "Shop with a Hero" program connects our students with local law enforcement officers and fire personnel, as well as members of the national guard. They shop for Christmas gifts for themselves or family members. It is a great kick-off to the holiday season and something our District always looks forward to participating in. Thank you First National Bank and Trust for being a great community partner!

The Jacobsen family has continuously been supportive of our Purple Knight Basketball teams. They have provided countless snacks, meals, sports equipment, and athletic wear for our Purple Knights. They continue to not only provide supplies but they always have encouraging, positive, and reinforcing words for our teams. They have certainly gone above and beyond as supportive and positive fans, mentors, and allies. They do this out of the kindness of their heart and for the love of our district, athletics, staff, and students.

We thank them for making a difference in the lives of our students. 

Youth 2 Youth 4 Change is a local nonprofit program. They are a youth-led peer education/advocacy group that educates youth in our community about the dangers of substance abuse. Recently, they have taken on many more community projects to give back to the commmunity. We recognize them for their continuous work and partnership with our District and students. We thank them for the recent donation of masks they provided to our School District.

The Women’s Infinity Group at Amazon collected and donated several boxes of school supplies to our District. We distributed the school supplies to our elementary schools and our Even Start Family Literacy Program. Backpacks, notebooks, crayons, pencils, and so many other school supplies went into the hands of our students. We are so grateful to have Amazon in our community; from day one they have truly gone above and beyond to be good community partners.

The volunteers and staff at Central Christian Church donated dozens of backpacks with school supplies for all of our elementay schools at the beginning of the school year. The Central Christian Team provides outreach, support, and help to our District year-round. They go above and beyond as a community partner and are really an intrical part of our Beloit community. We are truly appreciative of their generosity.

The Practice Interview Program consists of dozens of community leaders, business owners, and district staff that take time out of their day to participate in Practice Interviews at Beloit Memorial High School. There are three Practice Interview Facilitators that take the lead and drive this collaborative program. We recognize and thank Danielle Marx, Rick Barder, and Ron Whitley. The impact of the practice interview program is evident by the feedback from our students. We are so lucky to have a community that supports and takes part in this great program.

Walmart reached out to our District to donate school supplies! Right away, we had our facility staff coordinate a pick up of more than a pallet of school supplies. We sorted them out and distributed them to every single one of our schools. We are truly grateful for the generosity of Kim, Jessica, and the whole team at Walmart for thinking about our District, and most importantly about our students. We are grateful to have so many businesses like Walmart in our community. Big and small, throughout our community, local businesses continuously lend a hand to us for the ultimate benefit of our students.

Big Radio Group

The Big Radio Group (105.9 The Hog, 99.9 WJVL, 101.9 & 1490 Iron Country, 92.3 & 98.9 The Beat, WCLO) were instrumental in making the Cram the Bus event that was held in mid-August so successful. They helped advertise the event and were on site the day of to promote it. Thanks to them, we received hundreds of backpacks, notebooks, folders, glue, pencils, crayons, and so many other school supplies that were put in the hands of our students.

Durham School Services

Durham School Services was essential in the success of the Cram the Bus event. Shanda Richardson staffed the bus all day on behalf of Durham. She gave tours of the bus when families stopped by and was truely excited to be there. Shanda was also instrumental in the delivery of the school supplies to the Kolak Education Center where our staff spent two days soarting through them and delivering them to our schools.

First National Bank and Trust

Several local First National Bank and Trust locations hosted a school supply drive. Their generous staff and customers collected dozens and dozens of school supplies that were then donated to Merrill Elementary School! 

Kerry

Kerry hosted a school supply drive with their staff in August. Many staff members participated and even shipped in items if they were working from home. Their generous donation of school supplies benefited our elementary school students. Thank you Kerry for supporting the School District of Beloit.