Ottawa Area Schools Are FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE

“It amazes me that less than a year ago Marcy’s goal for Arlo was to have a fifty-word vocabulary and now we’re working on three to four-word phrases, and I can actually talk to my child,”  —Christina Threloff, parent

“Having the “Salmon into the Classroom” program in the classroom is a great opportunity for 6th graders to build awareness about our natural resources and it encourages them to take an interest in protecting our Great Lakes ecosystem.” —6th-grade teacher Katie Hankins

“’Bigger Than You’ is a labor of love – it’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard of, and schools all around the state have contacted us about starting something similar.” —Bigger Than You teacher Jason Veeneman

“Though there is a focus of engineering skills on the surface, FIRST builds many other skills and opportunities for students.” —Evan Barista, Black River Public Schools student

“I want to be an engineer,” one student says. “We build and design stuff, and that’s what engineers do. That’s what I want to do when I get older.” —Coopersville student

"MAT has helped us so much. I don’t know where we’d be without it. I’m very thankful my town and my school district has it." —Angela Lesley, Grand Haven resident

“It’s an amazing group of kids – the whole district, all of the schools. It makes me so proud to see first and second graders bring their piggy banks in to donate.” —Tom TenBrink, Jenison Public Schools Superintendent

“Empathy is a complex emotion that doesn’t say, ‘I understand what you are going through, I’ve been there,’ in the semi self-involved way that sympathy does. It says, ‘I hear you, and I want you to know that I support you.’ Empathy is the best foot you should always put forward while walking through life.” —Ashleigh Higgs, previous host of The Share Chair Podcast at Spring Lake High School