Wilderness Academy recently hosted a successful Pollinator Garden Tribute Night, bringing together students, families, and community stakeholders to celebrate learning and environmental stewardship.
The evening kicked off with an engaging presentation from Dave Zimmerman, President of the Grand Rapids Bee Club, who shared insights into the vital role bees play in the local ecosystem. Following the presentation, attendees rotated through interactive activity stations, which included terracotta pot painting, filling hydration stations for pollinators, and practicing pollination techniques.
The event concluded with a special dedication ceremony featuring speeches and the official unveiling of Wilderness Academy’s new interpretive sign, which explains how their pollinator garden functions as a thriving ecosystem for diverse organisms including student illustrations. Wilderness Academy extended its gratitude to all the stakeholders and community members whose participation made the evening so memorable.
Go Wilderness Academy!
The evening kicked off with an engaging presentation from Dave Zimmerman, President of the Grand Rapids Bee Club, who shared insights into the vital role bees play in the local ecosystem. Following the presentation, attendees rotated through interactive activity stations, which included terracotta pot painting, filling hydration stations for pollinators, and practicing pollination techniques.
The event concluded with a special dedication ceremony featuring speeches and the official unveiling of Wilderness Academy’s new interpretive sign, which explains how their pollinator garden functions as a thriving ecosystem for diverse organisms including student illustrations. Wilderness Academy extended its gratitude to all the stakeholders and community members whose participation made the evening so memorable.
Go Wilderness Academy!
Due to the projected weather forecast, we have made the difficult decision to cancel today’s Wildcat Festival.
With thunderstorms in the forecast, anticipated rain impacting facility and ground conditions, and the safety and logistics involved in setting up activities between storms, we simply cannot safely and successfully move forward with the festival as planned.
A huge shoutout and thank you to our Jenison High School Student Council members and staff who have put so much time, energy, and effort into planning this event and working through every possible option to make it happen today. We appreciate you!
We will work with Student Council and our participating vendors to explore another date, if possible, and will share updated information once details are finalized.
At this time, there are no changes or delays to tonight’s football game.
Thank you for your understanding and flexibility. Go Wildcats!
With thunderstorms in the forecast, anticipated rain impacting facility and ground conditions, and the safety and logistics involved in setting up activities between storms, we simply cannot safely and successfully move forward with the festival as planned.
A huge shoutout and thank you to our Jenison High School Student Council members and staff who have put so much time, energy, and effort into planning this event and working through every possible option to make it happen today. We appreciate you!
We will work with Student Council and our participating vendors to explore another date, if possible, and will share updated information once details are finalized.
At this time, there are no changes or delays to tonight’s football game.
Thank you for your understanding and flexibility. Go Wildcats!
Save the Date… We’re excited to share the annual Wildcat Festival will take place on Thursday, September 3 right before the first home football game! The event, which happens on the baseball fields this year due to construction, runs from 3:30 pm to 7 pm. It will feature food trucks, the Critter Barn, inflatables, games and so much more. Then stay for the football game and watch the team play Forest Hills Northern. Check out some of our favorite photos from the past two years of the festival and see you there!
Snow days can occasionally require adjustments to school food menus as our nutrition team carefully considers food safety, freshness, and delivery logistics. For the most up-to-date menu information, please check “Food Menus” for your school building under the “More” tab in the JPS App.
Snow days can occasionally require adjustments to school food menus as our nutrition team carefully considers food safety, freshness, and delivery logistics. For the most up-to-date menu information, please check “Food Menus” for your school building under the “More” tab in the JPS App.
Our 2nd Graders had a great offsite field experience at the Kent County Recycling and Education Center!
The kindergarten crew are outdoor naturals! Mr. Chamberlin and Mrs. Steigenga are impressed by their curiosity!
Mrs. Potter's Otters are getting familiar with their outdoor space! It has been an exciting first week at WA!
Welcome back students!
This afternoon JPS welcomed back staff for our annual kickoff celebration! We loved seeing our amazing team return to campus, including the mother-daughter combo of Pinewood Teacher Sara Brower and new High School Teacher Abigail Lovins. Assistant Superintendent Leslie Philipps honored our staff members who reached the 20-year and 30-year marks plus we heard an inspiring, emotional message from Superintendent Brandon Graham about helping our students succeed this year. We're excited to see everyone for the first day of school tomorrow!
Kicking off this week’s Fall Sports Media Day photos is football!
The Jenison High School French program took an amazing trip to France earlier this summer! They spent a week exploring Paris and Northern France, including Normandy and Brittany. "I was super impressed with how our students took themselves out of their comfort zone by using the French they have learned in the classroom to order their food and ask questions in real life situations," French Teacher Becca Frandsen said. "... We are hoping to take a trip to France every other year, and are looking forward to planning a trip for summer 2027!"
Special shoutout to Jenison swimmer Eryn Drayton who is swimming a portion of a 441-mile relay to remember the 50th anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking!
Special shoutout to the Jenison Girls Golf team for an extra creative sports media day photo shoot today! For the first time ever, we had a team bring confetti. Good luck this year girls golf and watch for more sports soon!
Remember the Wildcat Festival is almost here! The annual community event takes place from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, August 28 just outside the football stadium.
Our Fall Sports Media Days are underway! The first team to drop by was boys cross country. Enjoy these top shots and stay tuned for more teams in the coming days! #ReadytoCompete
Excited to see all of our WILDcats on Wednesday!
We are excited to announce that Zach Mendoza has been hired as the new Director of Strength and Performance at JPS! Most recently serving as an Assistant Sports Performance Coach at Grand Valley State University, Zach has led performance programming for multiple collegiate teams, overseen fueling strategies for athletes, and supervised intern development. Please join us in welcoming Zach to the Wildcat community!
The defending state champion Jenison Marching Band finished their pre-camp yesterday with an outstanding performance at the David McKenzie Stadium! Next week they begin their annual band camp, which culminates with a community performance on Friday evening. Check out our favorite photos from the afternoon and stay tuned for more information on the community performance! #ReadytoPerform
