South Campus Features New Space, New Ways of Learning

by Erin Albanese

Caledonia Community Schools — Throughout the new Caledonia High School South Campus, students gathered in groups, busy working in open spaces. The setting resembled groups of professionals from Google or Steelcase, as students worked on projects individually and together, plugged in their tech tools and moved about thanks to mobile, flexible furniture. Students kicked off the 2017-2018 school year using the nearly complete two-story facility...

Two Teens Learn Each Other’s Language, and More by Jaye Beeler

Thornapple Kellogg Schools — In late June, Eryn Schell left her small community along the Thornapple River to live in Shiga Prefecture, Japan for nearly three weeks. Eryn traveled nearly 24 hours with a cohort of peers from the Michigan-Shiga High School Exchange Program...

Making Monster Art: More Fun than Scary by Charles Honey

Northview Public Schools — Children sometimes worry about monsters lurking under their beds. But when Aaron Zenz projected their imagined monsters onto a big screen, East Oakview Elementary children couldn’t have been more excited...

Grad Returns to School ... This Time with Blankets by Erin Albanese

Kelloggsville Public Schools — While clutching a class picture from school year 1955-1956, Jeanne Wendt leaned over to speak to a preschooler who was stretched out on her nap-time cot. A handmade blanket covered the little girl. "That's me in kindergarten"...

rusticus and huppert Two New Leaders for City Schools

"We are all just people who need someone by our side to help us realize our dreams..." - Principal Ryan Huppert

"Take extra time to build positive relationships with people you meet!" - Principal Adam Rusticus

College? Careers? Where’s the Gap?

A Special Chair for a Special Child, Designed with Love

Featured Briefs

How We Can Help Harvey Victims from Home

National Spotlight Shines on Museum School

Sustaining Sponsors:

Grads with Grit

A series about students who have had to overcome unusual challenges and hardships to graduate this spring.
Making Math Add Up

A series on the difficulties students have learning math, and what methods some schools and teachers are using with success.
Stories About Educating Migrant Children

A series about the migrant student population and how teachers and administrators work together to serve them. The series focuses on Kent City Community Schools and Kenowa Hills Public Schools.
The Burden of Poverty: A Backpack of Heartache

A series on poverty in the schools and how it affects students’ learning. We examine the problems poverty creates for students and their families and the schools and strategies that are helping disadvantaged students succeed.
Student Leaders

A series dedicated to students that go above and beyond to serve their school, peers and community.
The Road to Reading

A series exploring some of the many reading activities you'll find in our schools, difficulties students may face while learning to read, as well as early childhood ties to literacy and new initiatives to help all children read.
Hidden Pain

This series focuses on students' mental health, the sources of their distress, and how schools and communities can help.
Reaching Every Child: What’s New in Special Education

A series on special education in Kent County. School News Network will take readers into classrooms around the area to shine a light on new approaches to teaching students with physical and mental disabilities.
Places of Refuge

This series focuses on refugee students and their journeys, their new lives and hopes for a future in West Michigan, and the many ways schools and community organizations are working to meet their needs.
Rockstar Teachers

There's just something about certain teachers that draws students to them in droves and keeps them checking in years, even decades later. Here, we highlight some of these rockstars of the classroom.
State of the Arts

Educators have long recognized the value of music, art, drama and writing for students' creative development and academic success. Yet the arts remain squeezed by tight budgets and test-driven performance standards.
Meet Your Principal

An ongoing series highlighting the newest building leaders of our area school districts.