Monroe Review

At their Jan. 9th board meeting, the Pinconning school board named their first Spartan Spotlight of the year, George Schwerin.

During his 16-year career, Schwerin has taught a variety of subjects at both the high school and middle school level, including metal shop, wood shop, robotics, engineering, drafting, computer science, English and keyboarding.

“Mr. Schwerin has instructed students within the metal shop class that has produced projects that resulted in regional and state level championships at MITE's: Michigan Industrial and Technology Education Society,” said Superintendent Andy Kowalczyk. “I know the one year we had the big thing here in our gym where they came from all over the state competition, so many awards I have come out of his classroom.”

Schwerin has also learned how to operate all the new machinery that the district has obtained over the years, many of them obtained from the $150,000 grants he wrote and submitted.

He has coached the Pinconning Robotics team for the last nine years and has served as the president of the Pinconning Education Association, which serves as the teachers' union. His fellow teachers admire and appreciate his impact and passion for his students and their education. Mr. Schwerin was unable to attend the meeting to receive his recognition due to a prior commitment building a house.

Kowalczyk also took some time at the board meeting to recognize all the board members for their time and effort in serving the school district. As January is school board member appreciation month in Michigan, he called for the community to thank the board members and read the recent article in a local journal describing their efforts and responsibilities.

A student council representative told the board that they were able to give away over $2,000 worth of presents to over 100 students during the holiday season. They also reached out and read some holiday stories to elementary school students and donated money to help replenish a local food pantry after the holiday season.