SE Oakland News

At a recent board meeting, the Birmingham Public School District recognized students across grade levels for their achievements.

The board had elementary school principals begin the meeting by honoring students who had been a part of the Oakland County Scripps spelling bee. They recognized the top student from each school: Claire Fulton (Beverly Elementary); Eddie Denome (Bingham Farms Elementary); Lucy Andrews (Greenfield Elementary); Adam Sesi (Harlan Elementary); Lowell Storm (Pembroke Elementary); Amy Jiang (Pierce Elementary); Georgia Baldwin (Quarton Elementary) and Ava Gioannini (West Maple Elementary).

The board then recognized their Groves High School Men’s swim and dive team, who competed in the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division II state championship earlier in March and took home the No. 1 spot. After winning the Oakland County Invitational and the OAA League Championship, this win completed their triple crown for the season. The board commended coaches Ricky Forrest and Bill Thompson for supporting their athletes and congratulated senior captains Ian Duncan, Emerson Mousseau and Chase Richardson for an excellent season.

“I got to attend their banquet on Sunday evening, and all of this is very, very impressive. But what was equally as impressive to me is (that) no one ever talked about individual results,” Embekka Robenson, superintendent at Birmingham Public Schools, said. “Every single one of you spoke about how great it was to be a part of this team, how great your coaches were, how wonderful your parents are, which they are. And so that's just really impressive, as well as the stats that you see up here in front of you. I couldn't be prouder. This is a wonderful group of young men. We have wonderful coaches.”

Next up for recognition was the Bloomfield-Birmingham Unified 'Black Hawks’ Women's hockey team, which was recognized for winning the Division II State Championships, beating out Grosse Pointe North 5-4 in a second overtime. This was the first-ever state title for the girls' hockey program. The five senior girls were recognized for their efforts on and off the field, Molly Levin, Jessica Rebock, Clara Tabin, Elizabeth Culbertson and Reese Hentgen.

The final student recognized during the board meeting was a junior from Seaholm High, Ian Weinberg. Weinberg has just written and published his first book: “Invest Early to Grow Your Wealth.” He wrote the book, which is available on Amazon, about investment tactics and strategies specifically for young people. He partnered with Youth Tank Detroit for portions of the book's proceeds to go to Detroit Public Schools.