Claudia Ramsey, a 2013 Vicksburg High School graduate will receive her medical degree in May from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Ramsey graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences from Central Michigan University. During her time at CMU, she won four biology department scholarships, completed three medical/public health Global Brigades to Central American and participated in tuberculosis research. While earning her MD at the Medical College of Wisconsin, she received the Hiram Benjamin Award in Anatomy, was a Pasteur Award candidate, and was a four-time recipient of the Scott Scholarship. She managed the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Saturday Clinic for the uninsured and participated in research to increase access to fresh produce for Milwaukee residents. Ramsey will graduate as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and will begin her training at the University of California San Diego and Rady Children’s Hospital Pediatric Residency Training this July.
After a challenging year, Vicksburg Middle School and High School bands are preparing for their spring concert. The event will be held outdoors in the Vicksburg Stadium at 7 p.m. May 25.
During the concert, the winners of the annual spring raffle will be drawn. Tickets are $5 with a chance to win $2,500, $1,000, or $500. They’re available for purchase from band students, band parents or at Craig Rolfe’s office at 328 West Prairie Street, Vicksburg.
As Band Director Ben Rosier reflects on the year, he’s proud of his students and their continued striving for excellence; he is also thankful for the help of the administration’s safety protocols that “kept our student musicians healthy throughout our music making.” Rosier is planning a full calendar of events for summer as well as the return of the Big Red Machine in the fall.
Vicksburg Education Association President Jennifer Rodas wants the union to be involved in administrative discussions centering on the 2021-22 academic year, she told School Board members at an April 12 meeting.
“We are asking that the district include us in the process. We are hoping that decisions and discussions will be made with us and not communicated to us later,” Rodas said. “We are hoping to have a better return to school than we did in the 2020 fall.”
She also implored board members to consider hiring more school counselors to help students who are struggling with stress and other issues wrought by COVID-19. She said more school counselors would provide relief for a five-person team of counselors that, she said, is overworked and at risk of burnout.
“We are hoping that the district and the school board will invest in the emotional well-being of our students and give our counseling staff realistic expectations with the amount of students they can service effectively,” she said.
The district took the first step in a borrowing process to purchase six new buses. Assistant Superintendent Steve Goss said the installment purchase agreement was originally discussed in February.
The 77-passenger, gasoline-powered buses will be purchased through the Michigan School Business Officials Cooperative bidding program at a total cost of $533,478.
“In our experience, we get the best prices available by doing that,” he said. “We’re going to take advantage of very low interest rates and we’ll pay those notes off in three years.”
Also, O’Neill said the district’s partnership with South County Community Services and Kalamazoo County Health Department to stage a vaccine clinic at the high school was a success. The event took place March 31.
4th graders Emma Welch (left) and Alyssa Smith (right) help advisor Michelle Malito with Earth Day activities.
By Bob Willhite
The Vicksburg Community Schools Foundation approved a grant for the district’s third-grade students to receive books via mail throughout the summer, adding an additional component to the three elementary schools’ summer reading initiatives.
To help engage current third-grade students to read throughout the summer, the staff proposed the implementation of Kids Read Now, a nonprofit summer reading program.
Kids Read Now sends children nine brand new books through the mail, and families are able to keep the books. Students also receive comprehension postcards which help connect students to their reading.
During a kick-off event, families and students will learn about the summer program, and students will select their first three books, designed to share their interest and preferred genres. The total cost per student is $39.99, totaling $7,118.22 for all of the district’s third grade students. The VCS Foundation funded $6,618.22.
The foundation also gave a $300 Curiosity Grant to the Sunset Lake Leadership Team – the student council – for its Earth Day service project. The total cost was $612, with the leadership team paying the other portion. These student leaders handed out 600 Douglas fir saplings to the entire student body and staff.
Vicksburg’s Social District was expected to open May 1, kicking off a designation that was months in the making.
During the April 19 village council meeting, Alex Lee, the village’s director of community engagement, said the district’s downtown boundaries are showcased on the village’s website. He said the social district is an area downtown where patrons can leave with a drink in hand from one business and walk to another. Contents of the specially designated cup must be consumed before entering the next business.
While the social district will never amount to Fremont Street in Las Vegas or Bourbon Street in New Orleans, village officials said it does loosen some rules that they hope foster patronage at the five participating establishments.
Lee said the village’s website and a QR code at various points downtown show boundaries of the district and its five participating businesses: Main Street Tavern, Village Hide-A-Way, Jaspare’s Pizza, Distant Whistle and Vicker’s Lakeside Tavern.
“A visitor can scan a QR code from any of our district boundary signs and be linked to a page that includes a map, social district rules and direct links to the businesses,” he said. “If you click on any of the logos of the businesses, you’ll go directly to their websites.”
Each of the five businesses has cups that feature the social district logo. The cups are 16 ounces for beer and 9-ounce cups for wine. Lee explained a sticker will be applied to the cup when a patron leaves and wishes to finish the drink en route to another business.
Hours of the social district are 4 to 11 p.m. Village manager Jim Mallery said the last social district alcoholic beverage can be sold at 10 p.m. He also said research is being conducted that would likely lead to the ban of smoking within the district.
Council member Rick Holmes said he recently had occasion to check out the social district in Saugatuck. All indications appear that businesses and visitors are in favor of the concept there, he said.
“The one thing that’s really surprising is families. You tend to think of this as a frat party … the images go through your mind that people are out getting tanked,” he said. “It’s not. It’s really interesting to have watched it both in the middle of the day and into the evening hours. It’s not a party atmosphere, it’s very calm and you just see people congregating.”
Holmes referenced a conversation earlier in the meeting about Vicksburg being ahead of other communities and being forward thinking. Establishment of the social district, he said, aligns perfectly with those goals.
In other business, council member Denny Olsen said a controlled fire at the former Plainsman Motel on U.S. 131 north of Schoolcraft has been delayed due to the discovery of additional amounts of asbestos.
Several area departments were planning to spend May 1 and 2 conducting intentionally-set fires for the benefit of arson investigations and other training. A rescheduled date for the activity hasn’t been set.
Left: Brendan Monroe delivers a pitch. Right: Parker Wilson holds the runner close to the bag.
By Travis Smola
Vicksburg varsity baseball picked up their first two key wins on the road against Paw Paw, giving up a single run in the doubleheader.
The Bulldogs won the first game handily, 10-1, then dealt a shutout in the second, 6-0. The team had had some early struggles in the season against tough teams like Portage Central and Mattawan, but it was the first conference game against Paw Paw that Head Coach Brian Deal had been looking forward to playing.
“We’ve played some non-conference games against some really quality opponents,” Deal said. “And we’ve had some tough go on those games, but it’s all been kind of building up for this opening night of conference play.”
Senior pitchers Parker Wilson and Brendan Monroe both put on a clinic in the games. Wilson had 13 strikeouts in the first game and Monroe had nine in the second game. Both pitchers helped bail their team out of situations where the Red Wolves had runners in scoring position.
“Those two are veterans for us and they did a great job coming into the zone,” Deal said. “It kept the pressure off of our defense, and then, when we did need to make a play, we did make one behind them, so just having those guys who can pound the zone like that, that’s going to be a huge help for us.”
In the second game, Monroe also started off the hits with a single. Vicksburg took a 1-0 lead after they loaded the bases. A high pitch allowed Jacob Conklin to run home. In the top of the second, Zach Myers started things off with a single before Monroe hit a monster triple to far right field that just barely failed to clear the fence. That brought Myers home to make it 2-0.
Conklin brought Monroe home to make it 3-0 immediately after that with a single. Conklin also managed to steal third on that series but got stranded at third.
The score remained 3-0 until the top of the fifth, which ended up being the final inning due to light fading. Paw Paw walked Dylan Zemitans and Myers to start things off. Zemitans scored off a Cole Gebben single and Myers scored off another single from Monroe to make it 5-0.
Conklin was the next batter and was hit by a pitch to load them up. The Red Wolves gave the Bulldogs a freebie when they walked Wilson to make it 6-0.
After last season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Deal praised his younger players with limited baseball experience for their performance, though he noted that the biggest challenge so far is that the strength of their opponents is mostly unknown.
“It’s interesting because you have no idea of what the other teams are going to be like in the conference because you didn’t see them play last year,” Deal said, “So, now every time we go out against a conference team, we’re just hoping to play the best we can possibly play because we don’t know what their teams have or what they’re going to throw at us.”
