April 2 2026 | Volume 44, Issue 28

🌿 Bid to Balance:

Win a Holistic Retreat Night

with Yuliya’s Naturals & Yoga w/Barb! 🌿

Looking to relax, recharge, and reconnect—with yourself and your community? Don’t miss your chance to bid on a soul-soothing experience at this year’s live auction! One lucky winner (and up to seven guests) will receive an exclusive Holistic Retreat Evening hosted by Yuliya’s Naturals—a transformative, immersive workshop filled with hands-on healing and holistic wellness.



✨ New this year! We’re excited to welcome Barb Malnar-Styke, who will lead a calming and restorative yoga session as part of this rejuvenating experience.

✨ Herbalism & Candle Making – Create your own body butter, skincare products, and a custom, chemical-free candle.

🌸 Essential Oil Exploration – Learn about over 200 essential oils and their unique healing properties.

🔮 Vibrational Healing Session – A meditative journey blending crystal energy, plant medicine, and chakra activation.

🌿 DIY Herbal Remedies – Make your own tinctures and herbal teas from backyard-friendly healing plants.



🧘‍♀️ Guided Yoga Session – Relax, stretch, and center yourself with a peaceful session led by Barb Malnar-Styke.

Whether you’re a curious beginner or an experienced wellness warrior, this experience is for you. It’s the perfect night for friends, family, or a much-needed self-care celebration.

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, create, and heal from the inside out.

Bid high, breathe deep—and let nature do the rest. 🌿

👉 Buy Your Auction Tickets Now for Your Chance to Bid on This and Other Items!👈

NO SCHOOL

SPRING BREAK

Fri., April 3rd - April 10th

We will be on Spring Break starting tomorrow. We will resume school on Monday, April 13th.

Coming Soon!

Student Pre-Auction Party

Thu., April 23rd

Our anticipated Student Pre-Auction Party is coming soon on Thursday, April 23rd! On this exciting day, students will have the opportunity to spend their hard-earned school auction money on fun items and experiences.

Adding to the excitement this year, students are invited to dress up in celebration of our auction theme—Galactic Gala (sci-fi)! Get creative and come as your own character from a galaxy far, far away.

The fun doesn’t stop there! In the afternoon, we will head out for our final P.E. field trip of the year—ice skating. A big thank you to Alex (Jacob’s dad) and Brad (Fin’s dad) for volunteering to help teach and support our students on the ice!

📢 Important Reminders:

✅ Thank you to the Lau, Schiff, and Nehme families for signing up to provide snack trays for the event!

Thank you for helping make this a memorable and exciting experience for our students! 🎉

🐟 The Salmon Family Is Growing—Join the School! 🐟

Our Adopt-A-Salmon Program continues to gain momentum, and we’re thrilled to welcome even more members into our growing salmon family!

A big thank you to our newest adopters:

• Fran Eldis adopted Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa
• Hedy Zablocki adopted Thateusz, Grazyna, Jeronym, Jadzia, Zbigniew

We love seeing the creativity behind these names—from classic Greek letters to meaningful cultural names—each salmon becomes part of a unique story our students get to follow throughout the season.

For just $10 per salmon, you can join in too! Adopters receive a personalized adoption certificate, and in May, you’ll have the unforgettable opportunity to release your salmon into the Detroit River.

Every adoption supports our live science program and gives students a powerful, hands-on connection to the natural world.

👉 Don’t miss your chance—adopt a salmon and be part of something truly special

SPIRIT DAY

Happy Spring! This month for our High Stepper button design contest, our students focused on March.  Some drew St. Patrick's Day scenes, some drew flowers, but our winner focused on migration!  Jacob's design featured a duck flying north, with the aid of a sign pointing toward "HOME."  It was too cute to resist!  Congratulations, Jacob!

This week is a Double Auction Money Week for the kids, so anyone who remembered to wear Steppingstone gear today earned $200 Kids' Auction Dollars!

As always, we were delighted to welcome special guests for our Spirit Day lunch! Joining us were Cassie and Finnley’s parents, Fin’s great-grandmother, Aurelia’s brother and parents, Jacob’s brother and mother, and Aliya’s mom. It was such a bustling and joyful gathering that we even forgot to take a group picture!

We also took this opportunity to pass out our salmon adoption certificates. Pictured to the left are our student adopters, and to the right is Mr. Roder representing his and Mrs. Coffin’s adoptions.

Annual Giving 2025-2026

We would like to thank everyone who made an Annual Giving donation in the 2025-2026 school year.

$5,000 to $9,999

$1,000 to $4,999

Chong & Yong Son

Dorothea Coffin

Fran Eldis

Shuh Yuan Liou & Shau Ching Tang

Yong Pan

$500 to $999

David Liou

Hedy Zablocki

Michelle Belt

Stepping Stones Wellness Center

$100 to $499

Chris Isberg

Joanne Chang

Joyce Li

Liqun Yang

Minghung Hsu

Simon Margules

$50 to $99

James & Alicia Phillips

Kroger's

Up to $50

Jason Roder

In Memoriam of Max Roder, from Fran Eldis

In-Kind

Volunteers

Auction Chair

Barbara Malnar-Styke

Auction Acquisitions

Michelle Belt

Dena Nehme

Brad Styke

SMART Center Chair

Dr. Reef Morse

Marketing

Jorge Contreras

WISHLIST



A subscription to Highlights Children's Magazine

https://shop.highlights.com/

Donated by Barbara Malnar-Styke

OMAX 1.3MP USB 2.0 C-Mount Microscope Camrea for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux

https://omaxmicroscope.com/products/a3513u

Donated by the Schiff family



ADOPT-A-SALMON

Thank you to our Adopt-A-Salmon donors ($10 per adopted salmon):

Dorothy Linzell -- adopted Fin & Barb

Aliya -- adopted Summer & Aggro

Mrs. Coffin -- adopted Angela, Ray, Nick & George

Dr. & Mrs. Morse -- adopted Isabella, Harrison, Sawyer, Rory, Oliver, Jax, Colette, Nadia & Sophie

Jacob - adopted Waffles, Pom Pom, Blanket and Major Meowser

Francis - Delta, Ay Mi Gato, Captain Rex

Aurelia & Elijah - Amethyst & Emerald

Mr. Roder - Louis, Moses, Jerome, & Samuel

Fran Eldis - Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsion, Zeta, Et, Theta, Iota, Kappa

Hedy Zablocki - Thateusz, Grazyna, Jeronym, Jadzia, Zbigniew