Hill, Gates, Siple and Central elementary buildings, Hahn Intermediate and Davison Middle School have been named to U.S. News and World Report's listings of Best Elementary and Middle Schools, respectively. The rankings were released late last week by U.S. News & World Report.

Davison High School continues it's ranking on the Best High School list as determined by U.S. News.

Schools placing among the top 40 percent of schools in the state of Michigan were named to the Best Schools list. Thomson Elementary was not ranked because it only houses kindergarten students and does not offer a K-4 or 1-4 grades program.

For each state, schools were assessed on their pupils’ proficiencies in mathematics and reading, as measured by state assessment tests. Half of the ranking formula was the results themselves; the other half was the results in the context of socioeconomic demographics. In other words, the top-ranked schools are high achieving ones that succeeded in educating all of their students.

U.S. News has published numerical rankings for more than 47,000 public elementary schools and more than 23,000 public middle schools. Most schools with an elementary school ranking offer grades K-5 or K-6, while most with a middle school ranking offer grades 6-8 or 7-8. Some schools with wider grade spans were ranked in both categories.

Davison Alternative Education Art Teacher Mrs. Michelle Zimmerman recently took her students to the Flint Institute of Arts located in the Cultural Center. Counselor Mrs. Noelle Cole and Student Mentor Mr. Stephen Maule also accompanied students on the field trip.

Congratulations to the following Davison High School and Davison Alternative Education students named as Students of the Month for December:

9th Grade: Emily Blazen

Nominated by: Mr. James Wilcox

I would like to nominate Emily Blazen for Student of the Month. She is respectful, kind and honest. When she is done with her work, she uses her time wisely, and either reads a challenging novel, or works on things for other classes. Not only is she rocking my class with a 97%, she has a B+ or higher in every other one. She never tries to use her phone in class, and is always smiling. If I am ever struggling to get through the day, her smile helps me.

10th Grade: Ja'Miya Tolbert

Nominated by: Mr. Mike Crongeyer

I would like to nominate Ja'Miya Tolbert, who exemplifies the qualities of academic excellence, athletic dedication and positive leadership, as our Student of the Month. Ja'Miya stands out in our school community not only for her academic success and athletic achievements but also for her kindness, courtesy and outstanding character that make her a role model for her peers. Her dedication to school is evident in her academic record, consistently earning all As and high Bs in her classes. This reflects her strong work ethic, discipline and commitment to learning. Her determination to achieve high grades, despite her busy schedule, sets a great example for her peers. Ja'Miya leads by example, inspiring others to follow in her footsteps with her work ethic and positive attitude.

11th Grade: Charlotte Alaska

Nominated by: Mrs. Karlee Pins

Charlotte is a very nice, caring young lady that helps anyone and everyone. She is very smart, kind and dependable. She always exceeds my expectations in class, and gets everything done in a beautiful, timely manner. I have had the privilege of having her two years in my class, and she is a great student. She always has a smile on her face, and likes to get others around her to smile as well.

12th Grade: Jesus Frias-Martinez

Nominated by: Ms. Jodi Aboneaaj

Jesus is a remarkable young man. I have the pleasure of having him in both my Teacher Cadet program and Criminal Law class. While Jesus is a model student in class, it is his work in the teacher cadet program that is astounding. For two hours every day, Jesus works with some of our youngest cardinals at Thomson Elementary. He has been particularly helpful with students who are new English language learners, he makes the students feel welcome, safe and recognizes when they need extra support. I appreciate the extra time and effort Jesus puts in to his classroom work at Thomson, I want him to know that we recognize his efforts and he is well on his way to making a large impact on Davison students.

DAE: Sophia Knack

Nominated by: Mrs. Nicole Powers

Sophia has shown great growth since she started at DAE. She transferred to online for over a year, and since then Sophia has grown in the area of responsibility, positivity and helpfulness. Sophia's leadership skills in helping others and presenting positive behavior have been supportive to the learning environment, and her respect for the work is amazing. Sophia is the student everyone wants to have in their class.

Members of the newly formed Davison High School Fishing Club took some time after school recently to do a "clean up day". They concentrated on picking trash up around the high school and athletic fields. Building Trades Teaching Assistant Derek Dewitt and Davison Alternative Education Security Officer Troy Simpson are co-sponsoring the club. Members are currently raising funds to purchase equipment and get started on group fishing trips.

For what may be the first time ever, Davison High School will be hosting a book fair for students and staff.

Book fairs have traditionally been held in our elementary schools but new District Librarian Nancy Schultz-Speck knows big kids like new books as well. The high school book fair will take place December 9-13. Students will be able to browse and purchase books throughout the day and after school until 3:30 p.m. on Monday through Thursday.

"(Nancy) approached me a while back about it, and I thought it was an awesome idea," said Davison High School Principal Jerry Piger. "Although commonplace at the elementary levels, having one at the high school promotes reading and is a fun event for high schoolers."

Mrs. Schultz-Speck has also recently started a book club for high school students. The club meets at 8:30 a.m. on late start Wednesdays in the library. For December, students will be reading "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.

The DHS Environmental Club participated last Sunday in the Treemendous Tree Planting project at Wolverine Campground in Columbiaville. In all, 500 trees were planted.

Students in Mrs. Erin Mohrman's art classes at Davison Middle School just finished a project where they created characters made out of paper mache.

"There are several steps to this project; planning (rough draft idea), building, adding paper mache and painting with acrylic paint," Mrs. Mohrman explained. "All projects were created with newspaper, tape, wire and cardboard. The students did an amazing job!"

Students knocked the socks off two separate Socktober collection events.

Third graders in Mr. Robert Schleicher's CAP class at Central Elementary collected around 1,500 pairs of socks, which were donated to Carriage Town Ministries. It was the second year for the fundraiser.

The Socktober event organized by the Davison High School Key Club was also a hit! Club members successfully gathered 797 pairs of socks, which were donated to Outreach East.

T'is the busy season for Coach Jake Balla and his ESports teams. Here is a quick rundown of where each team is at:

• Varsity Smash Singles (Davison Up-Smash): Finished the regular season 6-2. Projected to face Manistee SSBU in their second round of playoffs after beating Mason High School Varsity Smash 3-0 this past Wednesday.
• Varsity Smash Crew Battle (Jab-Lock): Finished their season 6-1, and are going to playoffs at the University of Michigan-Flint December 7.
• JV Smash Singles (Davison Down-Smash): Finished their season 7-1 and are heading into their first round of playoffs today against Oakridge High School JV Smash.
• JV Smash Crew Battle (Stage-Spike): The season has concluded with a 6-1 record. The team is scheduled to start their online playoffs matches Monday.
• A Fun-Filled Fall: Team members had a blast at their recent ESports party held over intersession. "For those unfamiliar with this event, we call it the Random Gamer Bash or RGB for short," said Coach Balla. "Our ESports kids get together, eat pizza, drink gallons of Mountain Dew and play a variety of our ESports titles. The event this time around even had a Wii Sports Tournament."

Nine vocal music students auditioned for and were accepted to compete in the Michigan School Vocal Music Association (MSVMA) Regional Honors Choir.

Davison High School Vocal Music Director Mr. Garth Starr and the students will be traveling to Hope College on Saturday, December 7, to rehearse, audition for State Honors Choir, and perform in a concert with the other Region A MSVMA Honors Choir singers. Students from Davison High School attending include:

• Anna Allswede ALTO I
• Chloe Starr ALTO I
• Marley Horsley ALTO II
• Lylianah Anders ALTO II
• Jayden Henderson BASS II
• Eva Jones SOPRANO I
• Lincoln Verburg TENOR I
• Jacob Barr TENOR II
• Gabrial Martinez TENOR II

Unfortunately, we missed some veterans in the "Roll Call" feature we included in last week's Chirp Sheet for Veterans Day. We want to be sure to recognize:

Keith Quick, Security Officer at Siple Elementary, served in the U.S. Army as an Infantryman. He was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea and then to the 24th Infantry Division in Georgia.

Keith was deployed to the Gulf Conflict and received several commendations/medals while enlisted.

Hill Elementary Success Coordinator Amy Walker's grandpa, Larry Gaubatz, was a Marine in World War II.

The swim and dive season will officially end this weekend when Davison Schools sends six of the Cardinals off to states in Holland. This is Davison's largest State team in documented history AND the first time a relay team has made the cut since the 1990s.

Senior Lucy Stevens has the most individual state qualifying times since 2008, and the most ever for one season in documented school history with three (2 individuals and a relay). These ladies' names are also on eight of 13 available school records; Lucy with five, Isla and Morgan with two each and Becca, Augusta and Merrick, all with one each.

It is safe to say that these ladies of the Davison Girls' Swim and Dive team have etched their mark in school history and helped drive our swim program forward.

Be sure to check out our video below featuring students participating in activities at the October Intersession.