The purpose of the St. Joseph Public Schools Foundation is to raise, steward and distribute resources to enrich the education of students in the St. Joseph Public Schools District.
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Welcome to the
Community of St. Joseph
and the SJPS Family
Jenny Fee
Superintendent,
St. Joseph Public Schools
Effective July 1, 2021
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announcing the hiring of Jenny Fee
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BEAR Impact is a new column featuring SJPS Alumni
who are making the world a better place - one Bear at a time.
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Jason Mejeur, SJHS Class of 2000
The Leading Virtual Coaching Platform in Youth Sports
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After graduating from SJHS, Jason attended Hope College majoring in math and business management, and served as captain of the men's basketball team in 2004. He received his MBA from Colorado Christian University, and spent the last 15 years coaching basketball at both the high school and collegiate levels, including 4 years as assistant coach to St. Joe's Gregg Schaffer. As Jason says, "Coaching is close to my heart."
His time as Head Coach of Holland Christian’s Varsity Boys Basketball team inspired a journey that resulted in MaxOne, a company devoted to helping head coaches run their programs. While coaching the Maroons, Jason observed an ever-increasing gap between coaches and athletes. "This generation of athlete is spending up to 6 hours a day with their eyes on their phones – and coaches are struggling to keep up with the ever-changing digital landscape. I just wanted to press one button on my phone and send a video of a drill to every kid in the program."
This concept led to the development of MaxOne, and Jason is excited to have the opportunity to serve coaches and athletes
"We are the market leading virtual coaching platform which allows coaches to deliver skill, strength, and educational programming right to athletes' phones. Jason also states, "We are a venture backed company and just raised a $3M Series A round of funding from Stadia Ventures, Wakestream Ventures, and Chris Paul among others."
Jason and his wife Jacqueline have two children, Jacob (6) and Martha (4), and reside in Holland, Michigan.
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Two Impactful Experiences at SJHS |
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Playing for Coach Schaffer who inspired me to become a basketball coach, which eventually led to starting MaxOne.
- Taking AP Statistics with Mr. Guzzo, which prepared me to major in math at Hope College, and my first job out of college in quantitative market research.
~Jason Mejeur
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"It's no surprise that Jason is leading a successful company that helps coaches and athletes. He was an excellent teammate and player when he played for me and a great mentor for our players when he coached in our program.
He continues to help St. Joe basketball players with MAXONE. We have been a grateful customer of his platform for the past 5 years.
Jason always made the teams he was on better with his winning approach and character. I'm proud of Jason as he expands his reach through MAXONE!"
Coach Gregg Schaffer
St. Joseph Men's Basketball
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#15 Jason Mejeur vs. Kalamazoo Central |
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"Jason was not only a great student athlete at SJHS, he was also a great person. Jason was hard working, polite, respectful, and someone who was a joy to have in class. It is no surprise to me that Jason is doing so well for himself."
~Kevin Guzzo, SJHS Athletic Director
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FIRST TEAM 3620:
The Average Joes
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Virtual Season Doesn't Deter The Joes |
It was a different season for St. Joseph High School's renowned robotics team, Team 3620: The Average Joes. COVID shifted all FIRST competitions to virtual, but the resilient Joes were thankful to compete and entered every possible challenge they could.
2020-21 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
- Two juniors were nominated by The Average Joes Mentors for the Dean’s List, which recognizes student leaders who have led the Joes and our community to increased awareness for FIRST and its mission. These students have also achieved personal technical expertise and accomplishments. Drew Kelleher and Jared Svetlev interviewed at the district level, representing Team 3620. Jared will be moving on to compete for Dean’s List at the State Level.
- Chairman's Award: The team prepared, submitted and presented Chairman's Award (FIRST Robotics top honor) executive summaries and essays virtually for Judges. The Chairman’s award goes to the team that best embodies the spirit of FIRST, promoting STEM and the positive transformation of our culture.
- Game Design Challenge: The Joes developed “FIRST Survival,” an apocalyptic farming game. They are competing against other teams around the world by designing a possible future FIRST Robotics Competition game. After creating the game theme, field elements, game pieces, scoring, and rules, the Joes created a succinct presentation for judges to evaluate.
- Innovation Challenge presented by Qualcomm: The Joes identified a real-world problem related to this season’s theme, designed a solution, built a business model, and delivered a pitch to compete with other FIRST Robotics Competition teams for judged awards.
- Infinite Recharge at Home: The Joes prepared our robot to complete both autonomously programmed and student driven in obstacle courses and ball shooting challenges. While all teams are still awaiting final results, the Joes are poised to place in the top 1.5 percent of all the teams that participated. The Joes also met virtually with judges to present their robot to qualify for the following awards: Autonomous, Excellence in Engineering, Industrial Design, and Quality.
The team would like to thank the community and the
SJPS Foundation for its continued support!
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The Joes hope to host the 1st annual St. Joe Robotics EXPO in May in the parking lot outside the Edward J. Todd Innovation Center. The expo would be open to all SJPS students who are interested in learning more about the exciting world of FIRST robotics. The expo would also kick off team sign ups for the 2021-2022 season. Watch for more information in the coming weeks! |
Students and Mentors of Team 3620: The Average Joes, work through FIRST challenges remotely |
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Drew Kelleher, Junior
Team 3620: The Average Joes
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"It was a good season and everyone learned a lot this year. Our students really stepped it up by taking leadership roles, however we really wouldn't have been able to complete the challenges without our amazing mentors. This year was more of a building season and teaching the new students how everything runs, and I believe we've successfully taught the younger students how things go. I really think we are prepared for next season." |
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Grace Yuan, Freshman
Team 3620: The Average Joes
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“Robotics was such a fun and great experience this season. Being a freshman, I learned a lot about how the team works together and how much work it really takes to get our robot working as well as it does. One of the things I enjoyed the most about robotics is that we can be productive while also having fun and building relationships with new people. I love that there are so many different people on the team with different skill sets, but we all work together to reach the same goal of seeing our team succeed.” |
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Carrie Brunsting
Team 3620: The Average Joes Interim Head Coach
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“I am so proud of everything the students completed this year. Not only were they extremely competitive in every challenge, they learned so much and had fun doing it.” |
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Attention SJPS Students K-12
Do you love art and design? Coming soon - an art contest just for you!
Watch your weekly Principal's blog for more details.
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SJPS Students, Staff and Families
Photo Contest Entries Due 6/30/21
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We Can Offer No Greater Gift to our Children than to dedicate ourselves to educational excellence. |
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In Memory of Joann Averill
Barbara Powe Mortonson
Lynne Powe
Anne Powe Bennett
Gene & Mary Ann Robinson
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In Memory of Elden Butzbaugh
Barry & Jody Conybeare
Bill & Jane Marohn
In Memory of Joe Collins
Patti Ankli & Tony Koontz
Marvin & Susan Pschigoda
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In Memory of Nancy Conybeare
Jim & Peg Harmon
Bill & Jane Marohn
In Memory of Douglas Landis
Bill & Jane Marohn
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Bitzer Family Fund
Dennis & Lynn Bowen
Sean '85 & Kris '89 Ebbert
Charles '83 & Lori Grandy
Melissa Hanks
Keith Johnson
Jim and Nancy '79 Kodis
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Gloria Nelli Lloyd
LPL Financial Foundation
Bill & Jane Marohn
Bernice H. Marshall '64
Debora & Ernest Matlock
Anita M. Schultz
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Tim & Amy Sizer
Debra Stewart
Paul W. & Rose Suchovsky Charitable Trust
Sue Stewart '81
Mary Tomalis
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March SJPS Teacher and Staff Giving
Thank you teachers, administrators and staff for all you do for our students.
Your support means the world to us.
GO BEARS!
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Bryan Arbut
Kim Barron
Kristen Bawks
Alaina Brady
Gandalf Church
Linda DeLapa
Kristin DeVore
Amy Dirlam
Kelly Gaideski
Brenda Graham
Christine Greissinger
Kevin Guzzo
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Craig Hubble
Jamie Huber
Jason Huber
Susan Hunnell
Cindy Igoe
Craig Jeffers
Carolyn Kodis
Amber Lange
Stephanie Lear
Ann LeClear
Becky Lokey
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Anne MacDonald
Mary Ann Milletics
Kara Nicholson
Tracy Olson
Amy Peterson
Natalie Rank
Kathy Reck
Sara Smothers
Brianne VanHekken
Gail Wadel
Amanda Wallace
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SJPS Foundation | 2580 S. Cleveland Avenue, St. Joseph, MI 49085 | 269-926-3252 | sjpsfoundation@sjschools.org | www.sjpsfoundation.org
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