Northwest Wayne News

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools (P-CCS) concluded the 2023-24 school year with a series of notable achievements. Students excelled at state, national, and international levels, while teachers and staff received recognition for their contributions to education. These accomplishments come as P-CCS surpassed Michigan and U.S. test scores amid ongoing recovery from pandemic-related learning loss.

“The 2023-24 school year was truly amazing, with our students, teachers and staff earning more recognitions and awards in more areas than many of us can remember,” said P-CCS Superintendent Dr. Monica L. Merritt. “I am deeply grateful to our students, teachers, staff, families and community partners for all their hard work throughout the school year and being committed to our culture of excellence at P-CCS.”

Notable student achievements include:

- Canton High School senior Vaibav Ramu achieved a perfect score on the 2023 advanced-placement Microeconomics exam.

- Canton High School junior Sophie Sumampow was runner-up in the 2024 New York Times international high school memoir writing contest.

- Plymouth High School senior Anirudh Krishnan won the Michigan High School Athletic Association 2024 Scholar Athlete Award.

- P-CEP students Emilio Herrero and Nolan McDowell received gold certification from DECA for their retail and marketing work on Plymouth High School’s store.

- Middle school students Rawan Hammad (Discovery), Simon Reed (West), and Evan Zhen (East) reached the state finals of the 2024 National Civics Bee.

- The Plymouth-Canton Educational Park culinary team won the 2023 national ProStart cooking competition.

- Nine P-CEP arts education students earned accolades at the national Scholastics Arts and Writing awards.

- Janet Sutherland’s Advanced Video Production class were national finalists in the Courageous Persuaders Video competition.

- P-CEP radio station 88.1 The Park won its sixth consecutive Michigan Association of Broadcasters High School Station of the Year award.

- East Middle School’s chess team won its third consecutive Michigan middle school chess championship.

- The East Middle School Science Olympiad team won the state championship.

- P-CEP’s winter percussion program triumphed in statewide competition.

- The Salem High School girls basketball team reached the MHSAA Final Four; Madison Morson was a finalist for Miss Basketball.

In addition:

- Pioneering efforts in E-Sports saw Luke Meier named Ultimate All-State Award Winner in Super Smash Brothers competition; Pioneer Middle School’s E-Sports team also claimed victory in this event's finals.

Teacher and staff achievements include:

- Liberty Middle School English teacher Hawanya Urquhart was named Michigan Council of Teachers of English Middle School English Teacher of the Year.

- Liberty teacher Daniel Parsons joined the 2023–24 Michigan Teacher Leadership Collaborative.

- Bird Elementary teacher Pamela Morgan was named VFW Michigan K–5 Teacher of the Year.

- Canton High School advanced placement teachers were included on College Board's AP Honor Roll for 2024.

Social workers Mary Demarest (Canton/Starkweather) received recognition from MASSW for improving student mental health; Susan McDaniel was honored for over two decades of service.

Finally:

- Kimberly May, director of state/federal programs at P–CCS, earned a State Leadership Award from NAFEPA.