NEWSPAPERS Special Edition
candgnews.com JUNE 18, 2025
MILLER SLAMS OAKLAND DRAIN OFFICE OVER DISCHARGE RESPONSE
BY DEAN VAGLIA dvaglia@candgnews.com
CLINTON TOWNSHIP — Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller released a statement on June 5 criticizing the office of Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash over its response to a state agency about recent discharges into the Red Run.
On April 29, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy sent a letter to the Oakland County Water Resources Commission about a sanitary sewer overflow that occurred at the Red Run on April 3. The agency’s letter required the commission to provide information about the April 3 overflow, an evaluation of operating procedures at the George W. Kuhn Retention Treatment Basin that could affect overflows and provide a corrective action plan to prevent further overflows. The third request included four specific requests about what the plan needed to include: hydraulic modeling of the sewers, evaluation of the capacity limitations and restrictions of the overflow chamber and short-term and long-term corrective action implementation plans to eliminate overflows.
The office’s response was made on May 29 via a letter signed by Chief Engineer Evagelos Bantios. Bantios’s responses about the modeling of the sewers and the evaluation of the overflow chamber’s capacity limitations were as follows:
“Concerning Item No. 3a and 3b, we have not seen areas of high infiltration and inflow in the system from the local communities,” Bantios said via email. “Nor have we seen capacity limitations or restrictions or other impacts that may cause the hydraulic grade line to overtop the overflow chamber in the Dequindre Interceptor with the (George W. Kuhn Drainage District) system.”
Regarding the short-term improvements, Bantios said the commission would “store as much flow as possible” in the system ahead of heavy weather events and “continue to discharge through the (George W. Kuhn Retention Treatment Basin)” under the impression that this will allow for more storage in the Dequindre Interceptor for backwater and reverse flow. Regarding long-term plans, Bantios said the Oakland County Water Resources Commission would work with the Great Lakes Water Authority “to determine how the GLWA system interacts with the (George W. Kuhn Retention Treatment Basin) system to see what improvements can be made to either or both the GLWA and (George W. Kuhn Retention Treatment Basin) systems” and that it would implement any improvements later.
“The Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner’s response shows a total lack of concern about what Oakland County discharges into the Red Run Drain and the damages these discharges do to our environment,” Miller said via
Students serve diners
while raising funds
for Autism Alliance of Michigan
BY K. MICHELLE MORAN kmoran@candgnews.com
GROSSE POINTE WOODS — In teacher James Fisher’s class at Ferry Elementary School, compassion and commerce go together. Every other year, Fisher’s magnet class — which is made up of third and fourth graders — partners with American Coney Island and operates a restaurant at the school for an afternoon. The students seat diners, wait and bus tables, prepare the food, cash out the patrons, publicize the event and more. This year, all proceeds from the restaurant were donated to the Autism Alli-
ance of Michigan.
This year’s restaurant day took place May 8 during lunch. Fisher launched this project 14 years ago after talking with his friend, Grace Keros, who owns American Coney Island. Keros provides the uniforms, donates the food and trains the students, but they do the rest themselves.
“They have been working very hard,” Fisher said. “This unit ties in with all of the curriculum.”
The students vote on which charity will receive the event’s proceeds. Fisher said their selec-
Macomb County and Grosse Pointe papers
ABOVE: Ferry Elementary School students in James Fisher’s magnet class perform multiple roles running an American Coney Island restaurant for a day, with students including Harrison Cavanagh, a Ferry fourth grader in James Fisher’s magnet class, delivers an order to one of his tables. LEFT: Fourth grade Ferry student Drew Steiger takes orders as a waiter.
Photos by Patricia O’Blenes
Students raise money for at-risk STARBASE program
BY DEAN VAGLIA dvaglia@candgnews.com
CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP — In a dimly lit gymnasium inside Francis A. Higgins Elementary School on May 30, fifth grade students fueled by orange juice and sugar cookies celebrated the end of their school year in only the most exciting way possible: simulating the real estate market.
Equipped with slideshows and miniature homes of their own design, the students of Brooke Niskar’s class in the L’Anse Creuse Public Schools district are upselling their peers’ parents on the opportunity to take home their final elementary school project. Yet this is not some elaborate lesson in business studies or anything of the sort, but the final step in a months-long STEM education project turned fundraiser for one of Macomb County’s most notable educational institutions — STARBASE One, located on the premises of Selfridge Air National Guard Base.
“I really like it,” Kate Luplow, a fifth grade stu-
‘It’s kind of a pride thing’
FATHER, SON TEAMS IN POLICE AND FIRE REFLECT ON CAREERS
BY BRIAN WELLS bwells@candgnews.com
STERLING HEIGHTS — When James Bryant Sr. was going to college for accounting, he realized he didn’t want to sit behind a desk all day.
A friend of his that worked at the same firm he was working at was a retired police officer. It sounded interesting, so he switched majors and got a job. He spent three years as a cadet in Troy, then worked for the Sterling Heights Police Department for 25 more.
Being that he’s a first-generation police officer, he was surprised when his son, James Bryant Jr., decided to become a police officer, too.
“I didn’t know if I ever thought (he’d) do it,” James Bryant Sr. said.
James Bryant Jr. said he wasn’t planning to follow in his father’s footsteps, and he hadn’t been wanting to become a police officer since he was a kid.
“There was really no following in his footsteps,” he said. “I didn’t want to do it since I was a kid and he never really talked about work at home, so I really had no understanding or really even a basis on what he did all day.”
James Bryant Jr. was selling insurance and looking for a steadier job when he saw a posting for a job as a dispatcher with the county.
Like his father, he didn’t want to sit behind a desk all day, but he realized he liked the idea of what the officers on the roads were doing.
“(I) decided that I wanted to work towards being on the road instead of being in dispatch,” he said.
When James Bryant Jr. joined the Sterling Heights Police Department, his father had already retired and moved on to work as the city’s code enforcement officer. While the two never worked together, James Bryant Sr. said he’s still proud of his son.
He said it has also helped him to understand the worry his parents had for him when he joined the force.
“I’m extremely proud,” he said. “Now I know what my parents went through. I never worried about myself, but I worry about him, so I know what my parents felt.”
Unlike the Bryant’s, Sterling Heights Fire Inspector Mike White came from a long line of firefighters.
“My dad was a part-paid in Eastpointe,
dent in Niskar’s class, said of the auction fundraiser. “I was nervous for it, but it turned out really well.”
For those lucky enough to have attended it, STARBASE One is the field trip to end all field trips. The first-in-the-country nonprofit education center has combined science, technology, engineering and mathematics education with a hands-on, fun experience for grade schoolers since 1991.
As the name suggests, STARBASE One takes its theme after space exploration. Students get to explore a full-scale recreation of the International Space Station’s Destiny lab module, learn how to program robots by trying to get a rover across a simulated Martian landscape, dine under a re-creation of Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 capsule at the Milky Way Cafe and try their hand at technologies like 3D printing and computer-aided design software.
A common highlight of a STARBASE One excursion is a chance to take a seat in the facility’s space shuttle nose simulator. Students and teachers alike rave about getting to experience a takeoff
ABOVE: Sterling Heights Fire Inspector Mike White, left, poses for a portrait with his son, firefighter Nick White, on May 27 at the fire station.
LEFT: Sterling Heights code enforcement officer James Bryant Sr., right, poses for a portrait with his son, police officer James Bryant Jr., on May 28 at City Hall.
Photos by Brian Wells
A student at STARBASE has a turn at a flight simulator.
Photo provided by STARBASE
STARBASE
from the retired space plane’s cockpit, as well as getting a front-row view of docking with a space station and trying their luck at gliding the shuttle back down to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Even with all the space paraphernalia and simulators, STARBASE Director Rick Simms says it is the nonprofit’s team of educators that make the experience as unforgettable as it is.
“They are so dynamic, and they really engage the students,” Simms said. “They’re very attentive to the students because we have all different kinds of kids that come through here. Everybody learns at a different level, and our teaching staff is very adaptable at working with all these different students. To me, that’s really what makes (STARBASE) memorable; that human connection that they’re having with our teaching staff.”
STARBASE funding at risk
Free for schools to visit so long as they provide transportation to and from Selfridge, Simms says a typical STARBASE One engagement takes place over 25 hours, spread across five weeks. But when Niskar’s class visited this winter, the Higgins Elementary fifth graders had their STARBASE adventure cut short after the fourth week. STARBASE One lost its funding.
Though starting at Selfridge with a W. K. Kellogg Foundation grant and volunteer help from base personnel, STARBASE has since become a Department of Defensefunded program with over 80 programs located across the United States and the territories of Puerto Rico and Guam. Despite its nationwide reach and a broad mission to teach more students about STEM-related subjects, Simms says the STARBASE program has fallen off the nonbinding presidential budget recommendations since the Obama administration and has required legislators, namely Michigan’s U.S. Senate delegation of Sen. Gary Peters and the retired Sen. Debbie Stabenow, to get STARBASE back onto the federal budget.
But as Higgins Elementary students were visiting STARBASE One in the early spring, Congress was failing to pass a budget. The budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year had been delayed since fall 2024 and while stopgap funding was made available through continuing resolutions, the nature of the resolutions means only so much funding is made available. STARBASE was seeking $60 million in the 2025 budget, but the Senate was only willing to give the program $20 million, and the Department of Defense
comptroller ran with the $20 million budget number.
“What that meant was, as they kept extending the continuing resolution, for our sites here in Michigan, funding ran out on Feb. 7,” Simms said.
Michigan’s three STARBASE programs ran out of federal funds on Feb. 7, leading to educational staff being furloughed and the indefinite closure of the programs — the first-ever such closure in STARBASE One’s 34 years.
The closing and the loss of the STARBASE One trip struck Niskar’s students hard, but not just because they lost out on their year-defining field trip.
“STARBASE was a great experience for us, and we wanted other kids to have that same experience,” Luplow said. “We really just wanted the future fifth graders to have the same experiences.”
As Niskar recalls, the progression of some curriculum items was not going as quickly as she expected, which meant the big project of building a solar-powered home was at risk of being dropped due to time constraints. However, the 27-year veteran teacher made the decision to adjust the lesson plans to bring the home project, which was originally part of the math curriculum, in as a catch-all STEM project to close out the school year.
“I knew we weren’t going to get to (the solar home math unit) because the end of the school year was coming up, but it looked and sounded so cool that I didn’t want to pass it up,” Niskar said. “I decided to squeeze it in … it really did capture all of the science, technology, engineering, mathematics. My boyfriend actually is an engineer, and I had to ask him for some help at some points.”
The project, which was “extremely involved” in Niskar’s words, saw students group up and try building a scale-sized home that would retain the most energy when exposed to sunlight. Work for the project included testing the heat-absorption of different materials and paints, becoming adept at reading thermometers, developing different kinds of solar collectors, trying out different insulation materials and performing other experiments in order to build the toastiest home possible. Size of the homes mattered as the area of windows was tied to how big the homes were.
“We actually did the measurements of the windows,” fifth grader Sam Sherrill said. “The total dimensions of the windows had to be exactly 1/8th of our house’s total dimensions.”
Students were given leeway in how they chose to design and build their homes. Sher-
STARBASE
from page 4A
rill said his group built a sunroof into their design.
Niskar planned to have the students present the homes to their fellow students at the end of the year, but then students in the class had an idea. Luplow presented the idea of auctioning the projects off to parents like they were real homes, while peer Noah Kodra jumped in with the idea of donating the raised funds to STARBASE One. The ideas won the support of the students, and Niskar got the word out to parents that an “open house” was scheduled for Friday, May 30. Before the day would arrive, students would also write letters to legislators asking them to support restoring funding to the STARBASE program.
“It was attempting to free STARBASE and try to get other children to experience it,” Kodra said.
And by the time the homes were sold, the parents came through by raising $1,170 for STARBASE.
Along with anticipating how excited the students would be once they found out the final raised amount, Niskar was proud to know the students had taken the initiative to develop and put on the fundraiser.
“For me, that’s more important than anything else,” Niskar said. “I teach the kids the curriculum, but for me it’s more important that they leave my classroom as good human beings. They came in as good human beings, but they got even better with their empathy and their kindness, so for me that was the most important (thing) of all, that they could help others.”
Niskar believes the students’ experiences visiting and fundraising for STARBASE will follow them throughout their educational careers.
Drain
from page 1A
press release. “After years of sanitary sewage overflows, and only after constant demands by Macomb County that state regulators do something, their response is that they’ll continue to discharge but they’ll look into it. That is NOT a corrective plan.”
Miller’s recommendation would be to build a larger retention basin or upgrade old infrastructure. She called on EGLE to require a definitive plan for improving the infrastructure as a requirement for renewing Oakland County’s discharge permit.
“If EGLE allowed them to actually do
“I think that they’re going to remember this more than anything else, quite honestly,” Niskar said. “I think it already has inspired kids to possibly one day become involved with a STEM profession of some sort.”
By the time the fundraiser was held, STARBASE One was already back in operation. Funding for the program was restored in April after Congress passed another continuing resolution, leading to students across the region once again making memories at the Selfridge-based nonprofit.
But Simms has not ceased finding funds to support STARBASE’s survival.
Simms says the goal of STARBASE is to operate as though it is going to continue forever — the program is already booked full for the 2025-26 school year.
“We always look ahead that we’re going to be in full operation, because we do not want to make an assumption … and not schedule people right now,” Simms said. “We want to hit the ground running come the start of the school year and get the classes out here first thing in September.”
Along with running as though there’s no end in sight, Simms and the STARBASE team are working to add more funding streams. A fundraiser at a Buffalo Wild Wings was held in Chesterfield, a golf outing is planned to take place this summer on the SANGB golf course, and the program is working with a grant writer to apply for funding. Several state legislators toured STARBASE One earlier in the year, and Simms said the program is in conversation with state and federal legislators about future support.
“This is a community asset that has been here for 34 years,” Simms said. “To lose that I think would be a shame because all of the knowledge that we have guarded over these years and the delivery of a very highquality STEM program would go away, and that wouldn’t be something that’s available to the community anymore.”
what Oakland County is suggesting, the end result would be more discharges by Oakland County into Macomb County and more flooding because the Red Run doesn’t have the capacity to handle even more during large rain events,” Miller said. “At a time when EGLE is involved in studying flooding in southeast Michigan, I can’t imagine that EGLE would approve of their response.”
Miller’s statement included an overture to Nash, calling on him to join her to lobby state and federal legislators to provide more funding and resources for infrastructure improvements.
Sanitary sewer overflows from Oakland County have been blamed for solid waste entering the Clinton River and Lake St. Clair.
ABOVE: Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickerham awards and shakes hands with Meritorious Award recipients Deputies Aaron Schmittler, Morgan Cooney, Corey Babbitt and Michael Valken at the 2025 Sheriff’s Recognition Awards.
LEFT: Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham and his executive staff shake hands with new hires and promoted members of the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office during the 2025 Sheriff’s Recognition Awards on May 22.
Photos by Patricia O’Blenes
Sheriff recognizes deputies, community members with awards
CLINTON TOWNSHIP — On May 22 at the John R. Armstrong Performing Arts Center, Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham honored members of the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office and select members of the community at the 2025 Sheriff’s Recognition Awards. Honors were awarded based on exceptional performance and nominations from coworkers. Categories included lifesaving, professional excellence, various “of the year” awards and the Sheriff’s Star Award. The awards were emceed by Simon Shaykhet of WXYZ.
THOSE HONORED INCLUDED:
Sheriff’s Star Award: Project Manager Crystal Montagne
Command Officer of the Year: Sgt. Eric Holmes
Deputy of the Year: Deputy Bret Sypniewski
Corrections Deputy of the Year: Corrections Deputy Philip Camus
Dispatcher of the Year: Dispatcher Cidnee Schramm
Employee of the Year: Fiscal analyst Julie Patterson
MCLAREN MACOMB NURSES, STAFF HOLD PICKET
MOUNT CLEMENS — On May 22 from noon to about 1:30 p.m., nurses and support staff held an informational picket outside of McLaren Macomb Hospital.
Organized by the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 40, the picket aimed to raise awareness of the union’s desire for higher staffing levels and “highlight the hospital’s union-busting tactics, stalled negotiations, inadequate proposals and abusive regressive language, along with retaliation on our members’ rights,” according to an email from OPEIU Local 40.
“McLaren Macomb has always been a community hospital,” Dina Carlisle, OPEIU Local 40 president, said via press release. “This is our reputation. These are our family members, our patients and our friends. We’re trying to do what’s best for our community, not just McLaren’s pocketbook. The ongoing unfair labor practices—such as direct dealing, regressive bargaining, refusing to bargain in good faith and targeting our members—must stop. We are fighting for our rights and for the safety of everyone who comes through our doors.”
McLaren Macomb president and CEO Tracey Franovich stated that McLaren hopes to reach a contract with the union.
“Our goal is to establish a contract for each group that is beneficial to both parties, and we are committed to that outcome,” Franovich said via press release. “As negotiations continue, our hospital leadership and physicians remain focused on patient safety, and the bargaining process has not compromised that focus. However, the union has chosen to conduct an informational picket, which is within their rights.
“McLaren Macomb has earned recognition for quality patient care and remains committed to providing the highest quality care to the community we serve. Our team members work diligently every day to improve clinical outcomes and maintain a safe environment for care. The current union activities will not distract our team from this dedication to our patients. We are hopeful that we will reach mutually agreeable contracts in the very near future. Until that time, our focus will continue to be serving the patients who come to our hospital and entrust us with their care,” Franovich said.
Once I get the right diagnosis for the cause of your heel pain, I will provide you with a tailored treatment plan, which outlines exactly how we can fix your heel pain and keep you free from future foot pain. If you are ready, call me for an appointment to start your journey back to normal life, free from heel pain.
Photo by Patricia O’Blenes
Nurses and support staff hold an informational picket outside of McLaren Macomb Hospital on May 22.
and my grandfather on my mom’s side retired as a lieutenant from Detroit, so I grew up around it,” he said.
His son, Nick White, also grew up around it. He became a fourth-generation firefighter.
“From a young age, honestly, there was nothing else I wanted to do,” Nick White said. “I mean, other than playing sports, professional sports, which would have been awesome.”
While Nick White was studying nursing and playing baseball at Rochester College, he decided he was ready to go into the fire academy.
While his dad now works on the administrative side of the Fire Department, there was about a six-to-eight-month period after Nick White was hired where the father and son team worked on the same crew.
“It was a great time,” Nick White said. “We went on a handful of fires together, dealt with everything — medicals, car accidents, fires — and that was cool to me. That was the goal I had, to try to get into working for a little bit before he decided to retire or go somewhere on the administrative level
where I wasn’t going to be able to work with him on the front line. So it was cool. It was awesome.”
Mike White said when his son first became a firefighter and was working with Waterford-Pontiac and was expected to cook for the department, he would test his meals out at home.
“In this arena, they can be pretty rough on you when you don’t put something decent on the table,” Mike White said. “You definitely don’t want to put a bad meal on the table.”
Mike White said it was exciting to see his son become a firefighter and work at the same department.
“It’s kind of a pride thing,” he said. “It’s one of these things where, you always want your kids and family to be successful and to see him get into a career that is going to have a good life … I was happy just when he wanted to be a fireman. He grew up around this department, so for him to want to come here, that was pretty exciting.”
Wolfe Middle School student shines bright at Special Olympics
BY SCOTT BENTLEY sbentley@candgnews.com
CENTER LINE — Wolfe Middle School eighth grader Joshua Grady competed in the Special Olympics Michigan games throughout May and thrived on and off the track.
Joshua first competed in the regional games held at Northville High School on May 3. There, he earned a gold medal in shot put and standing long jump, while also taking home a silver medal in the 100-meter.
“As someone who works with Josh, I’m thrilled that he’s flourishing,” Wolfe Middle School special education teacher Mark Schott said. “I think Josh is doing very well with his athletics. We’re all really proud of him.”
Grady did so well in regionals that he earned a spot in the state-level track and field games at Central Michigan University during the final weekend of May. The star eighth grader would showcase his abilities yet again, winning the gold in standing long jump.
“All three (events) I like,” Grady said. “But the (one I like the) most has got to be the standing long jump. That was so fun.”
Grady also took home a bronze medal for shot put and finished fourth in the 100-meter at the state level.
That’s five total medals and three gold medals across both the regional and the state level and Grady couldn’t be happier with his performance.
“The Olympics were good,” Grady explained. “I just won medals and everything.
It was a close matchup, but I did good.”
Grady’s hard work started well before the final weekend, however. Training was a part of his weekly schedule, and he learned a lot throughout the process.
“I felt smart,” Grady said. “These three events were absolutely amazing. I just did my best. Tried, worked hard, and did anything to win these medals.”
Grady trained with a lot of other participants in the region, and he was supported by friends and family. According to Grady, his dad was active in the process and would take him to practice where he would work with track coaches Jim Holloway and Joe Liobl.
The success of Grady isn’t a surprise by those who are around him on a daily basis. His hard work and determination are something that his family, and the school, have admired about him for years.
“Anything he puts his mind to, I know he can do it,” Schott said. “He’s headed to the high school next year and I’m anticipating that his successes will continue next year.”
Not only has his final year of middle school been a blast for him, but other students and staff in the community have loved supporting Grady’s efforts as well.
“Josh is loved by everyone in the school. He’s a standout in our school,” Schott said. “All of his classmates and teachers know about these events and when he returns from events he’s celebrated. We’re all really proud of him.”
The star gold medalist even received attention from Michigan Congressman John James. After Grady’s stellar performances,
James wrote Grady a letter congratulating him on his achievements.
“You have not only achieved something special for yourself, but you have also set a powerful example for your teammates, friends, and your entire community,” James wrote. “Keep believing in yourself and never stop reaching for your dreams.”
Saturday May 31.
with all of his medals and competitor numbers after finishing his events for
When Grady was asked about what it meant to become a champion, he had a simple response.
“That feels pretty good.”
Special Olympics Michigan has events throughout the year to participate or volunteer in. To learn more about how to sign up or to help the organization, go to somi.org.
ABOVE: Joshua Grady smiles next to the competition area for track events at Central Michigan University on
LEFT: Grady poses
Special Olympics Michigan.
Photos provided by Mark Schott
tion of the Autism Alliance of Michigan fits with the school’s “mission of integration of all children.” He said it also speaks to the character of the students.
“They’re caring students,” Fisher said. “They care about everybody.”
More than a few alumni of Fisher’s class returned to support it this year, including Grosse Pointe North High School senior Wes Ramsey, 18, of Grosse Pointe Woods. Ramsey was a chef for the chili and hot dog station.
“It’s one of my favorite memories from elementary school,” Ramsey said. “I remember it a lot. It’s just so unique to this school and this class. It’s a very fun and fruitful experience.”
He said he walked away from the project with better quick- and critical-thinking skills, along with an awareness of the importance of good customer service.
“As I got older, I got a job at a restaurant busing tables,” Ramsey said. “This experience is very helpful, and it helped me understand the restaurant industry.”
Ramsey’s younger brother, Eliot Block, 11, of Grosse Pointe Woods, was another returning alum.
While he’s in fifth grade now, Block returned to lend a hand, dressing up for a while as a hot dog.
Block has fond memories of working at the restaurant two years ago.
“It was very fun,” Block said. “It was very unique. It was a cool experience.”
There’s academic substance behind this project. Fisher said the students use a variety of skills from school, including math and economics, when doing this. They get to be creative, too, using graphic design for the menus.
Third grader Lawson Blunden, 8, of Grosse Pointe Woods, who worked as a cashier, can attest to the skills used. Blunden said adding up the tickets and dessert purchases gave students more experience with math.
“We practiced a lot,” said fellow cashier Eli Johnson, 10, of Grosse Pointe Woods, a fourth grader. “We actually used real calculators and stuff. And we had other classes coming to help us.”
Cashier and third grader William Jaeger-Karalla, 9, of Grosse Pointe Woods, said they used play food in simulated sales experiences, with students from other classes acting as restaurant patrons.
“They do a lot of practice runs,” said classroom mom Annie Nicholls, of Grosse Pointe Woods. “If you happen to stop by
(Ferry), suddenly you (might) find yourself sitting at a (restaurant) table.”
Parents say they’re impressed by what the students do.
“It’s all kid-run,” said classroom mom Stephanie Cleland, of Grosse Pointe Woods, whose son, Clay, was working at the beverage station. “They did everything. They even made the centerpieces.”
Nicholls said the students “work the whole year on this.”
Cleland said the students have to take out loans from their parents — on which they’re required to pay interest and put up collateral, such as a favorite toy — to pay for supplies and other materials.
“He wants them to take it seriously,” Cleland said of Fisher. “Mr. Fisher is amazing. My son has been hoping to be in his class since he was in kindergarten.”
Nicholls’ daughter, fourth grader Rosie Nicholls, 10, was working as a waitress.
“It’s been very good,” Rosie Nicholls said. “We helped decorate.”
Among those who came for lunch were Woods City Councilman Todd McConaghy, whose youngest son, Daniel, was one of Fisher’s students. He said Daniel is now a junior at North.
“We’re big supporters of Mr. Fisher,” the councilman said. “This is one of the coolest community events, because it involves citi-
zens from our youngest citizen to our oldest citizen.”
Woods Mayor Arthur Bryant was there as well, as were Grosse Pointe Board of Education President Colleen Worden and Board members Valarie St. John and Timothy Klepp.
“I think it’s amazing,” Worden said. “This student-led enterprise is vibrant and successful.”
She praised the students and Fisher, as did other attendees.
St. John said the food tasted “extremely professional,” as if attendees had gone into a Coney Island restaurant elsewhere. She also said it was an excellent learning experience for the students.
“They’re getting great life skills,” St. John said.
“The food is terrific,” Klepp said. “I think it’s so nice so many friends and family come. They get to see the school. They get to see the spirit (here). It’s really beneficial for the community.”
Fisher said the event drew about 250 customers and raised $3,700. He said he was “very proud” of his students. The 2023 restaurant day attracted 225 and raised $3,500, Fisher said. Organizers say they’re looking at possibly doing a dinner event instead in 2027, so that more parents and students would be able to attend.
SUMMER SALE
Polish festival returning to Sterling Heights for 43rd year
BY BRIAN WELLS bwells@candgnews.com
STERLING HEIGHTS — A celebration of Polish food and culture is returning to Sterling Heights later this month.
Now in its 43rd year, the American Polish Festival will bring a mix of Polish bands, local music, folk dancers, arts and crafts, and Polish/American cuisine to the grounds of the American Polish Century Club June 20-22.
“We’re very excited to be hosting our 43rd annual Polish festival,” Festival Chair Arnie Beller said in a statement. “We’ve had second- and third-generation families coming every year for all of the music, fun, food and crafts.”
According to a press release, this year’s craft show will feature over 50 different crafters displaying their works. Additionally, each day will feature a number of performances from different artists as well as different activities, including traditional Polish dance performances throughout each day, a Pierogi eating contest and a Polka Mass at noon Sunday.
This year’s festival will also feature three Polish beers, including one that was brewed specifically for the festival, as well as domestic beers and Polish and premium spirits, according to the press release. There will also be American food available.
“Our trademarked Polish nacho and Polish egg rolls are the best anywhere, and this year we will have new comfort food items on the menu at the Kielbasa Kafe,” Beller said.
Leonard Palermino, general manager of Century Banquet Center, which hosts the event, said the festival is an important way for the Polish community to reminisce about its culture while also being able to share it with newer generations.
“We like to keep our newer generation informed, to share the upbringing that we had and the culture that we had by passing that to the next generation,” he said. “One way to pass that is to show, by example.”
For the American Polish Century Club, Palermino said the festival is a way for it to honor its commitment to its members and the community by promoting Polish heritage.
“It’s nice to know that we’re part of the succession of traditions and culture that we’re passing on,” he said.
The 43rd annual American Polish Festival and Craft Show is being held June 20-22 at the American Polish Century Club, 33204 Maple Lane, in Sterling Heights. Admission costs $5 per person and anyone under 17 is free. Free parking and shuttles can be found at the Career Prep Center and Sterling Heights High School.
For a complete schedule of events, visit americanpolishfestival.com.
Photo provided by Darryl P. Onderik
The 43rd annual American Polish Festival and Craft Show is being held June 20-22 at the American Polish Century Club, 33204 Maple Lane, in Sterling Heights.
