News and Announcements

Four TKMS Odyssey of the Mind teams will advance to the state finals with two other middle school teams placing at the regionals but narrowly missing the cutoff to advance to the state.

Three Thornapple Kellogg Middle School eighth-grade students were named winners in the Hastings Elk Lodge 1965 annual writing contest. This year’s theme was “Why our veterans are American heroes.”

Sahara Coston and Cash Rabley won the Thornapple Kellogg Middle School spelling bee honors. Both are sixth graders and will represent TK at the regional spelling bee hosted at TK Middle School Feb. 27.

Basic blue duffel bags were turned into brightly decorated gifts to give foster children something they could call their own.

Thornapple Kellogg Middle School students donated funds they raised for Veterans Day to the Middleville Veterans Memorial project and the Barry County United Way for veterans assistance programs.

Mitchell Corner helped Wyatt Miller search through racks of winter clothes, bins with hats and mittens, and storage tubs filled with children’s boots to find just the right winter gear for a student in need at McFall Elementary. Lillian Lienesch’s middle school service learning class has taken over operations of the Classmates Care program. With the help of middle school “Links” students like Corner, Lienesch’s special needs students sort and organize the clothing donations, take orders as they come in from different schools, and fill and deliver the orders to students in the district.

When Thornapple Kellogg eighth graders walk down the main hallway, they'll think twice as they notice the footprints on the wall leading to a display called "Building Blocks of Liberty."

Big bears, little dogs, rainbow rabbits, and pink lions - all collected by Thornapple Kellogg Middle School students to bring smiles to faces of children. The Teen Leadership classes at the middle school take on different community service projects throughout the year. This quarter, students decided to give to a local charity started by another young person.

An eerie quiet fell over a crowd gathered for the first Barry County Patriot Day Ceremony as everyone listened to the sound of airplane engines fly over Middleville – four planes from the Hastings Fly Club simulating the four planes used in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on America. “Remember one thing from this. Remember this day. Never forget,” said Charlie Pullen as he paused briefly to keep his emotions in check as he spoke to the crowd gathered at Middleville's Sesquicentennial Park Sept. 11.