Dear Macomb Community,

There's a line from one of the stories in this issue that I keep coming back to. James Black, who teaches English at Macomb Middle School, offers this: to lose the artistic side, the human side — and just focus on the ones and zeros — is losing a bit of ourselves. He said it in the context of reading and technology, but it applies to something larger. It applies to what Macomb CUSD 185 is trying to do every single day: keep the human beings at the center.

This Spring issue of FlightPath is full of evidence that we are doing exactly that.

At MacArthur Early Childhood Center, Caroline Harrell has eighteen jobs in her preschool classroom — one for every student, rotating each week. There's a librarian, a timekeeper who loves announcing that there are five minutes left to play, and a hamster named Small — named by classroom vote, beating out Chicken Nugget, Crayon, and Marker as finalists. Behind every small detail is a large intention: that every three-, four-, and five-year-old who walks through that door feels like they belong to something important.

Across the district, you'll read about an agriculture program raising flowers — and raising awareness. Kaity Bowman's Flowers for Farm Safety subscription program at Macomb High School will donate more than $7,000 to McDonough County Fire and Rescue for grain bin rescue equipment. Her students voted on the name for their Valentine's Day shop — Bomber Blooms — and then ran it themselves, start to finish.

You'll read about Valentina Pérez-Araya, a senior headed to the University of Illinois to study neuroscience on the pre-med track. She arrived in this country at eight years old, unable to speak English, and decided — her words — to turn all of that into motivation. She now tutors ESL students and is collaborating with district staff on a proposal to better connect our newest families to the Macomb community.

And you'll meet T.J. Steele, an eighth grader at Macomb Middle School who came here from Chicago and found something worth building on — including a 4x400 relay team that finished third in the state of Illinois, with T.J. running anchor.

Every story in these pages belongs to this community. I hope you'll take the time to read each one.

With deep gratitude,

Dr. Mark Twomey Superintendent, Macomb CUSD 185