The Mark Owen Agency was honored at MEEMIC Insurance Company's 2010 Sales Banquet in Auburn Hills on February 25, 2011. The agency has achieved the designation of 2010 'President's Circle of Honor. ' Agency principal Mark Owen was congratulated by Steve Monahan, MEEMIC President and CEO. With this designation, the Mark Owen Agency joins a select group of agents recognized for achieving the company's highest sales agency honor.

Founded in 1950 by a group of Michigan educators, MEEMIC Insurance Company provides personal automobile, homeowners, boat and umbrella insurance for educational employees with over 75 agent locations throughout the state. MEEMIC is ranked among the top 10 private passenger automobile insurers in Michigan.

Karen Salgat, special education teacher at Borland Elementary in Imlay City, is a recent recipient of a $500 MEEMIC book grant. The Mark Owen Agency presented Karen with the grant which will be used to purchase books to meet the needs of her diverse group of students. Congratulations to Karen and her students!

Mr. Keith Verellen, a teacher at Bishop Kelley Catholic School in Lapeer, MI received a $2,0000 grant from the MEEMIC Foundation for the Future of Education. Mr. Verellen applied for a grant from the foundation to underwrite pedometers to be used in a walking program that will complement other subjects like reading, physical education and history.

The program, called 'Walk a Mile in My Shoes - Vancouver 2010' focused on the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Each of the students, utilizing pedometers, tracked the steps they took each day and recorded their travel on a map from Lapeer, MI to Vancouver. Along the way, the students experienced lessons about the various nations participating in the Olympics (social studies), their cultural diversity (religion and ethnicity) tracking distances (mathematics) and human body systems (science.)

The Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP) announced award recipients for their school recognition program, Ready, Set, Success!, sponsored by MEEMIC Insurance Company.

The Ready, Set, Success! program recognizes school improvement teams' successful strategies in the following categories: collaborative leadership and professional learning communities; personalizing school environment; curriculum, instruction and assessment; or ideas to reduce educational costs.

Principal, Kevin Brown and the Davison High School Improvement team were among 13 recipients of the Ready, Set, Success! Award sponsored by MEEMIC and presented by Mark Owen of the Mark Owen Agency.

Award recipients were recognized at MASSP's Annual Convention. Recipients also received school-wide recognition, a check for $500, and their principal will be provided a scholarship to attend the MASSP Convention.

Davison High School held a competition for the 'Best New Business Venture.' In this 'American Idol style' competition, students were given the task of coming up with a proposal for a successful new business venture. They then used their business, marketing and communication skills to impress judges who were: Mark Owen, Local Agent of MEEMIC Insurance Company; Robert Denthick, ISO of Merchant Merchandising; and Kim Crane, Thivent Financial. The student finalists included Tess Niedzielski, Kaleb Forr, Brandon Burke and Ethan Stull. DECA Advisor Tom Benton joined the judges in observing the outstanding presentations. A great time was had by all!

Lapeer's Rolland-Warner Middle School Puts Our Name in Lights!