Local residents, businesses awarded for their ‘excellence’

ROSEVILLE  — Ta’Leah Butler is making the most of her high school years.

With a 4.133 GPA, the Eastpointe High School student has been a member of the concert band for four years, stays busy participating in yearbook and peer mentoring, was inducted into the National Honor Society, and is on the senior class student committee. For that, she was named Eastpointe Student of the Year.

“She is at the top of her class. She is an artist, does hair and nails as well, and also mentors all of her nieces and nephews,” Eastpointe Community Schools Superintendent Christina Gibson said. “Ta’Leah is friendly, positive and a wonderful role model for all students.”

Butler was among several residents and businesses who were honored as Eastpointe-Roseville Chamber of Commerce 2023 Salute to Excellence Award winners. A ceremony was held the evening of Oct. 5 at the Athena Banquet Center, where all the honorees received plaques and applause. Eastpointe-Roseville Chamber of Commerce President Chris Dyki emceed the event. Linda Weishaupt is the executive director of the chamber, and Sandra Maki is the event coordinator director.

During the evening, the chamber also recognized the Roseville Student of the Year, Roseville High School student Jade Sanders. RHS Principal Jason Bettin shared what Sanders’ teachers said about the high school senior.

“There’s a theme that emerged as I heard from teachers about Jade. That theme is that Jade is and has been a dedicated student that teachers find a joy to have in class,” Bettin said. “She has a phenomenal work ethic and a high standard of detail in her class work. Jade currently maintains a 4.245 GPA.”

The Roseville and Eastpointe firefighters and police officers of the year have all been dedicated to their professions, which was noted during the evening. When Eastpointe Police Chief Corey Haines introduced Detective Marcel Prude as the Police Officer of the Year for the city, he listed Prude’s accomplishments.

“Beyond being a police officer, Marcel was also a military veteran who served in the Air National Guard. Marcel began his career working for the Detroit Police Department back in 1993, working patrol at the Sixth Precinct,” Haines said.

Prude held many positions over the years “ but would come to later realize working with young people in the community was his true calling,” Haines said.

As of August, Prude has been the resource officer in Eastpointe Community Schools. Colin Titcombe was the Roseville Police Officer of the Year. Lt. Matthew Layer was named the Eastpointe Firefighter of the Year for several reasons, including his work in fire prevention.

“He was doing the puppet shows at the elementary schools, where we’d go out and teach fire safety to the children,” Eastpointe Fire Chief Brian Marquardt said. “It does really make a difference, because we’d had parents come back to us and say, ‘My daughter, my son, watched your puppet show. They came home and said, “We need to change our smoke detector batteries. We need to do an escape plan.”’ So him being a part of that really does get out to the children.”

Roseville Fire Chief Keith Jacobs recognized Mitchell Sand as the city’s Firefighter of the Year. Sand was acknowledged for implementing changes to benefit the physical and mental health of his fellow firefighters.

“Firefighter occupational cancer is the leading cause of line of duty death for fire service members,” Jacobs said. “It should also be noted the No. 1 cause of death for on-duty firefighters is some form of cardiac event, with suicide coming in as a close second.”

With that in mind, Sand took over the “staple” fund to focus on buying healthier foods for the city’s two fire stations where the firefighters work 24-hour shifts.

“He wanted to be sure that we, as a department, had healthier choices. Doing the shopping, collecting the money and getting the food to the stations (was) completely on his own time,” Jacobs said. “Firefighter Sand also returned to school to receive an additional education in fitness, becoming the wellness program coordinator. He brought this information back to the members, and the members that requested his help built dietary plans and also worked out plans for each individual member.”

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Eastpointe-Roseville Chamber of Commerce 2023 Salute to Excellence Award winners:
• Police Officer of the Year — Detective Marcel Prude (Eastpointe) and officer Colin Titcombe (Roseville).

• Firefighter of the Year — Lt. Matthew Layer (Eastpointe) and firefighter Mitchell Sand (Roseville).

• Citizen of the Year — Betty Bishop (Eastpointe) and Vernard Snowden (Roseville).

• Business of the Year — Fusion Marketing (Eastpointe) and Yolk & Toast (Roseville).

• Capital Improvement Award — There were two named from Roseville: Joe’s on the Ave., and

Motor City Plumbing and Drain.

• Pioneer Award — Andary’s Grill and Deli (Eastpointe) and American House East II (Roseville).

• You’ve Made a Difference — Love Life Family Christian Center and Justine Smith (Eastpointe) and Grady’s Lounge, Culver’s of Roseville and Jay Christopher Burns (Roseville).

• Eastpointe-Roseville “You’ve Made a Difference” award was given to Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick Inc., for both Eastpointe and Roseville.

• Eastpointe Community Schools Educator of the Year — Lisa James (elementary), Suzanne Booth (middle school) and Matthew Ostrowski (high school).

• Roseville Community Schools Educator of the Year — Karen DeMers (elementary) and Daniel Chesher (high school). A middle school teacher was not named.

• Student of the Year — Ta’Leah Butler (Eastpointe) and Jade Sanders (Roseville).

• The Eastpointe-Roseville Chamber Ambassador of the Year for both cities was Maureen Lietz.