Colton Drake joined Business Professionals of America (BPA) because he plans to pursue a career in business and finance. BPA gives him opportunities to network, gain real-world experience, and prepare for his future career. His favorite part of BPA is competing and traveling to different places. He also enjoys the possibility of earning scholarships. Through BPA, Drake has developed important skills such as leadership, teamwork, and personal development. This year, Drake is participating in events at Western Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, and Davenport University. He would recommend BPA to a friend because of the valuable experiences, skills, and opportunities it provides.

This year, Pennfield welcomed exchange student Jana Beslich from Germany. Jana is excited to experience American school life, meet new people, and make new memories during her time here.

One thing she is especially looking forward to is visiting big cities like Chicago and New York. Since arriving, she has noticed some big differences between Germany and America, especially when it comes to school and food.

In Germany, school usually lasts from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., which is much shorter than the school day at Pennfield. She also noticed that teachers move between classrooms in Germany instead of students moving from class to class.

Outside of school, Jana enjoys playing all kinds of sports and spending time with her friends, family, and dog. While she is here, she hopes to improve her English, have lots of fun, and make plenty of new memories.

Along with Jana, Pennfield also welcomed Philipp Kreutz, another exchange student from Germany. Philipp is excited to experience American culture, meet new people, and get involved in American sports, especially football and soccer.

Since arriving, Philipp has noticed several differences between Germany and the U.S., including school, food, and even cars. One of the biggest differences he has noticed, though, is how people interact. He feels that Americans are generally more open and friendly, while people in Germany tend to be more reserved. Although he misses the greater personal freedom he has back home, he enjoys the more outgoing environment he has experienced in America.

Sam Pennock is a Junior at Pennfield High School and is taking a class at CACC. Pennock is taking Collision Repair Technology. Her first few weeks at the CACC have been great. Her teachers are good at helping out with her hands-on projects. She feels confident about the class despite only being in the class for a few weeks. She feels like she's already learned so much. The reason she is taking the class is that she wants to learn how to repair and restore rusted, missing, and sun-bleached paint. She wanted to go to the CACC so she can get licensed to work on cars and to help restore them. She says her favorite thing about the CACC is the staff. They are all very kind, understanding, and extremely helpful. She is looking forward to restoring their class car. What she thinks will be challenging for her is learning how to color-match older cars because they don't make the colors for them anymore, and it's hard to find their color codes.

Leo Maia Ziegelboim has enjoyed experiencing life in Michigan while adjusting to the differences between Brazil and the United States. Maia Ziegelboim says his favorite things about living in Brazil are being close to his family and friends, enjoying the warm weather, Brazilian food, and being around happy and welcoming people. Since moving to Michigan, Maia Ziegelboim has noticed differences in the weather, school system, daily routines, and food. He says he misses his family, friends, Brazilian food, and speaking Portuguese every day the most. However, he has enjoyed trying American burgers and pizza and going to American football games, which are very different from what he is used to in Brazil. One thing Maia Ziegelboim hopes to experience while living in Michigan is a real Michigan winter. 

Keegan Hinskey, a junior at Pennfield High School, has a unique experience at the Math and Science Center. He takes challenging classes such as honors pre-calculus, honors environmental biology, AP environmental science, and AP biology. Hinskey enjoys meeting new people at the center and appreciates having access to classes that he might not otherwise be able to take. Although students have different levels of interest in their classes, he said, “It’s honestly crazy, because at the center it's an A-day, B-day schedule, so one day I have two classes, then the other day I have two different classes. This means that I have to change focus to different classes on different days, but it also gives me time to complete my assignments.” Hinskey describes the overall environment as supportive, with students often helping each other. Hinskey also said, “I’m really glad that I am going to the center because I have a lot of access to really amazing classes that I normally wouldn't have if I didn't go there.”

Allied Health is a nursing/health program at CACC where you learn a lot of fun things about the body and how to work on it through procedures. Natalie Rackley, a student in the Allied Health course, says they solve tricky math problems, work on manikins, learn how to measure medicine, and of course, do a lot of team bonding. Rackley says she chose allied health because, “I would always ask my grandma to tell me her stories in the medical field and she used to tell me these crazy, fun stories, and I thought it was really interesting and cool.” She really enjoys helping people and thinks it is interesting to be able to find out what's wrong with someone. Rackley enjoys being at CACC because of the different environments. Saying “There's a lot of new people you get to meet that you've never seen before; you get to make new friends, and it's a very judgment-free zone.” After spending time in CACC, she thinks that Pennfield is a little less interesting than before, but still fun!