Muskego Lakes Family Newsletter

Dear Muskego Lakes Families,

As we approach the end of 2024, we want to take a moment to share our heartfelt thanks to all of you! We are deeply grateful for the incredible ways you partner with us to make Muskego Lakes a second home for our students. Each day, we strive to foster meaningful connections between hearts and minds, ensuring every student feels seen, heard, and truly valued. Your collaboration is essential to achieving this mission, and we can’t thank you enough for your support.

Whether in the classroom, at home, or somewhere in between, our collective efforts create the strong, supportive network our students rely on to learn, grow, navigate setbacks, and bounce back. Middle school is a transformative time—a journey of discovering passions, embracing independence, building character, pushing boundaries, and absorbing lessons from the world around them. Through every challenge and triumph, we are honored to walk alongside your children and provide them with the care and encouragement they need.

Thank you for entrusting us with your most precious gifts—your children. Our Muskies are truly remarkable: talented, creative, curious, resourceful, resilient, and full of positivity. They brighten our days with their laughter, inspire us with fresh perspectives, and amaze us with their determination and growth. Most importantly, they remind us to continually strive to be better. It’s a privilege to be part of their journey, and we cherish every moment.

If the holiday season brings challenges for your family, please know we are here for you. We are a community at Muskego Lakes that extends well beyond the school walls, and we mean it when we say: don’t hesitate to reach out.

Wishing you and your family a safe, joyous, and peaceful holiday season. Thank you for being part of our Muskego Lakes family!

• 12/16-12/20: Winter Spirit Week

• 12/23-1/1: No School Winter Break

• 1/16: Group Photo Day

• 1/23: End of Quarter 2

• 1/24: No School - Professional Development Day

• 2/2: Bandorama

If your child is currently in grades 5–7, our school counselors will visit classes after winter break to preview the registration process for the 2025–2026 school year. More detailed information will be included in the newsletter following winter break. You can review course options in the 2025–2026 Academic Guidebook, linked HERE. All registration forms must be submitted by January 24, 2025

Earlier this week information was shared with you via Infinite Campus about two important events intended to assist with the transition to high school and the course selection/registration process for our students. We wanted to make sure you had this information again to reference.

The first event is the Muskego High School Orientation Evening on Wednesday, January 15, 2025. This night is intended to provide some insight as to what makes MHS such an amazing place and what it means to be a Muskego Warrior. Students and families will hear about important factors to a successful transition to high school and will get a chance to hear current high school students share stories about their experience with the transition. Presentations will be facilitated by the administrative team, the athletic director, and our school counseling team. Families will also have the opportunity to meet coaches and club advisors, and take a self-guided tour. In an effort to maintain two relatively equal size presentation groups and maximize the opportunity to engage in the learning, please follow the alphabetical schedule below. Our orientation event will begin promptly at 6:00 PM with the presentations described in the outline below.

Students - Last Names A-K

6:00-6:35 PM Attend “Keys to Success” presentation in the Performing Arts Center (PAC)

6:35-6:45 PM Walk to the Salentine Gymnasium

6:45-7:05 PM Brief Presentation on Co-Curricular Activities in the Salentine Gymnasium

7:05-7:25 PM Visit Co-Curricular Activities in the Cafeteria and Self-guided Tour of MHS

Students – Last Names L-Z

6:00-6:20 PM Brief Presentation on Co-Curricular Activities in the Salentine Gymnasium

6:20-6:40 PM Visit Co-Curricular Activities in the Cafeteria and Self-guided Tour of MHS

6:40-6:50 PM Walk to the Performing Arts Center (PAC)

6:50-7:25 PM Attend “Keys to Success” presentation in the Performing Arts Center (PAC)

For your convenience, you may park in either the east lot along Racine Avenue (nearest the PAC) or the west lot located off Woods Road (nearest the Salentine Gym), depending upon which presentation your night will begin with.

The second event, Muskego High School Course Information Night, is open to all current and incoming students/families. The goal of this event is to provide students and families access to our entire teaching staff to ask questions about the specific details and expectations of the various courses we offer. This event will take place on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, and will be run in an open house format from 5:00-8:00.

We are excited to begin our partnership together and hope to see you at these important events. If you have any questions about either event for your incoming high school student, please contact the MHS Student Services Office at (262) 971-1790, ext. 4509.

Is your student interested in trying out for volleyball? 8th grade try-outs will be held on Jan 27 and 28th from 3:15-4:45pm. 7th grade try-outs will be held on 29th and 30th from 3:15-4:45pm. Students should have a ride home at the end of try-outs.

If you have more questions, please contact Allie Tome alexandra.tome@muskegonorway.org.

As part of our comprehensive Academic and Career Planning at the middle level, we are hosting a Career & Community Fair for our 8th graders on the morning of February 14th.

We are looking for a wide range of speakers in order to ensure we have representation across the U.S. Department of Education's 16 clusters:

• Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
• Architecture & Construction
• Arts, Audio/Video Technology & Communications
• Business, Management & Administration
• Education & Training
• Finance
• Government & Public Administration
• Health Science
• Hospitality & Tourism
• Human Services
• Information Technology
• Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security
• Manufacturing
• Marketing, Sales & Service
• Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
• Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

If you or someone you know might be interested, please reach out to Jim Brickweg, 7-8 School Counselor, who can provide more information. Thank you for considering!

In lieu of events this week in Wisconsin, our student services team wanted to share with families three different resources for processing grief and traumatic events. Please see the information below for more details.

Common items we find are:

• water bottles
• school supplies
• assignment notebooks
• lunch bags
• sweatshirts

Please encourage your child if they are missing sweatshirts, jackets, water bottles, pencil cases, hats, headbands, etc. to stop by student services to check for their missing items.

Shown below are the upcoming co-curricular events at Muskego Lakes.

If a change occurs from the date of this newsletter, we post on Infinite Campus in the announcement section. We commit to letting students/families know about changes and updating Infinite Campus announcements as soon as possible once we've been notified of a change.

For more detailed information about MLMS events, click here.

The MLMS PTO is looking to continue the traditon to have snacks for staff each Wednesday. We need your help though by signing up to donate snacks each week. This greatly helps them make it through the week. You can donate snacks or a group of families can donate. We have roughly 100 staff members. Snacks can be anything you'd like.

Please sign up HERE for a date below if you can. Drop off will be in the front office by 8am on the Wednesday you sign up.

Please consider joining the Muskego Lakes PTO. We meet monthly in the MLMS library at 6:30pm. We always welcome new faces and would love to hear your ideas on how we can make this an amazing school year ahead!!

Our last meeting Dates for the 24-25 School Year are:

• January 6
• February 3
• March 3
• April 7
• April 28

In an effort to ensure students can move through the lunch lines efficently, we ask that you remind your student to ensure that they bring their school ID card with them to lunch daily or ensure that they have gotten their finger scanned.

For you ease, we have linked the September menu below with other helpful resources. You can always find the link to updated lunch menus, at the end of this newsletter.

• Lunch Menu
• Guide to Making a Complete Meal
• Top Ten Reasons For School Meals

2024-25 Lunch Prices:

• Elementary School $2.55
• MS Diner meal $2.95
• MS Pizza meal $3.50
• MS Grab n Go $3.50
• MS Creation meal $3.90
• Adult $4.65
• Milk Carton $0.50
  
  

Questions related to the food service program can be directed to Benny D’Epiro, Food Service Director at 262-971-1790 x4522.

We are proud to continue to partner with Clinical Psychology Associates (CPA) to offer on-site counseling services for students enrolled in Lakeview Elementary, Mill Valley Elementary, Bay Lane Elementary, Lake Denoon Middle, Muskego Lakes Middle, and Muskego High School. For information about CPA’s services and therapists or to get started with an appointment, please visit our website.

Please make note of days off and important events on the 24-25 calendar. It is ideal to make dentist and doctor appointments on days we do not have school whenever possible.

The 2025-2026 school calendar is now available for you to review and use for planning purposes.

Website: https://www.muskegonorway.org/schools/muskegolakes/
Location: W124 S8009 North Cape Rd.
Phone: 262-971-1860
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/muskegolakesmuskies

To view current support staff job vacancies, click HERE