By: Maria Allard | Roseville-Eastpointe Eastsider | Published December 15, 2025
EASTPOINTE — Eastpointe High School is currently being known for something sweet and something exemplary.
At the Dec. 8 Eastpointe Community Schools Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Christina Gibson announced two accomplishments that Eastpointe High School achieved.
It was a sweet victory for the culinary arts students, who finished in third place during the recent Michigan Schools & Government Credit Union dessert competition.
“It was a Dubai chocolate cheesecake that did it for this team of CTE (career and technical education) students,” Gibson said. “Congratulations to them and their teacher leader chef (Candace) Shoemake at Eastpointe High School.”
Gibson also recognized the library, which was recently named as an “exemplary” media center in the School Libraries for the 21st Century evaluation system administered by the Library of Michigan.
“A number of years ago we started to make libraries an important part of what we do here at Eastpointe Community Schools to increase the love of reading and access to literature. We recently purchased new library furniture creating a welcoming access,” Gibson said. “Cynthia Williams-Sandoval is our current librarian. She applied and wanted to get some recognition for all the work Eastpointe High School has done on its library.”
According to the website michigan.gov, School Libraries for the 21st Century Measurement Benchmarks are a tool to help measure the quality of school library programs within individual school buildings in Michigan.
The benchmarks align with the American Association of School Librarians National School Library Standards and are organized into four topics: school and district infrastructure, which includes staffing and resources; building the learning environment to be welcoming and accessible; teaching for learning that includes integration with curriculum, information literacy and instruction; and leadership in the community such as engagement, advocacy, collaboration and outreach.
Schools can achieve “qualified” or “exemplary” status by completing and submitting an evaluation to the Library of Michigan through an online application. According to michigan.gov, the status earned is valid for three years.
“A big shout to Cynthia Williams-Sandoval, Principal Todd Yarch for all of the work, Assistant Superintendent Stephanie Fleming for continuing to keep a focus on growing access to literature and to books across Eastpointe Community Schools,” Gibson said. “What an honor and distinction to have an exemplary library in our community.”