Happy Friday to you all—and another beautiful one it is! I know we’re all doing a lot of “extra duty” with the many evening and weekend events this time of year, and I’m sure we could all use a weekend.
Monday I attended the Rotary Excellence in Teaching Awards Luncheon. OHP received many thanks from Lou Vito, Master of Ceremonies, for assisting with the selection process, hosting the judging, and preparing the printed program. It was so gratifying to hear of the contributions our staff had made to this very worthwhile cause. Thanks to Nila Marquard, JoEtta Spain, Shane Haggerty, and Tom Carrig for their fine work and for bringing this positive recognition to our school!
On Wednesday, the Administrative Team held a luncheon for our office support staff in honor of Administrative Professionals Day. We gave them our best culinary efforts in preparing lunch and presented them with flower baskets. It was one very small way we could say a big “Thank you!” for all that they do to support us in our work and to serve our students. We’ve got a great team of office workers, and we’d be lost without them! Be sure to take a moment to express your thanks as well.
Wednesday evening was our Board Meeting, and I have to share with you comments that our board member from the Hardin Co. ESC, Larry Mouser, shared with Eric and me after the meeting. He told us how much he enjoyed the Student of the Month presentations and the way both the students and parents just beam with pride. He said, “I can see their faces, and you can just tell they’re so proud.” He also shared he’s particularly impressed with the comments the parents make expressing pride in their children and appreciation for OHP. I agree with Larry, this really is always a highlight of our Board Meetings!
On Wednesday, we hosted a luncheon for a large group (not sure of the group, but it had something to do with regional planning.) Our Culinary students prepared a wonderful lunch for the group. Bruce Evilsizor , City Administrator for the City of Urbana, e-mailed me the next day and shared, “I enjoyed the visit to Hi-Point today. It was a great lunch and it was good to see well behaved students getting ready for the real world.” That pretty much sums up our students, doesn’t it? Our community members really do recognize the pride and focus our students portray, and each of you play an important role in providing them with the educational experience that makes them the students they are!
You may be seeing a new face on campus these days. Mary Patton, Director of Career Management and Community Outreach with Clark State Community College, will be in the Clark State House (House #3) on Thursdays. She was here Thursday and I gave her a tour and introduced her to some of the staff she will be interacting with. She’s looking forward to working with both our high-school and adult learners and making educational options available to them through Clark State. She also had the highest praise for the cleanliness of the Clark State House and the condition of the entire campus! The work that our Facilities & Grounds staff does always makes me proud.
Darin Roinough, our Adult Education Public Safety Services instructor, e-mailed Darlene Chiles and me this week to share some feedback on an event he hosted this past Saturday:
Just thought I would let you know the annual Fire & EMS School was a success again this year on Saturday. Commissioner Bayliss spoke briefly in the morning to all and provided our invocation. Congressman Tony Core also thanked the group for all they do and for taking their Saturday to enhance their skills. Attendance was up this year with a total of 114 in five different classes.
What a great event! Thank you Darin, for bringing this even to OHP and for your work in providing training for our public safety services professionals. I agree with Rep. Core—there’s no more important work a public servant can provide!
Nila shared with me this week a project that our Cosmetology students have been working on for the Logan County Historical Society. They designed hairstyles depicting various historical eras for display at the Historical Society Museum (including hats!) Beth Marshall, Archivist with the Historical Society, shared:
We finally got photos of the hat exhibit that your students helped with. Thank you again for all your help -- we've had lots of good comments!
I’ve attached one of the photos to the right. What a great project! Thanks to our Cosmetology students and their instructors Judy Gratz and Cindy Harlan for providing this service to our local Historical Society!
One more good message from our community I have to share. I received a note in yesterday’s mail from Candy Camin with the Logan County Relay for Life. (I’ve filled in last names to give proper credit to the individuals she names!) She wrote:
Dear Kim,
We recently held our annual “Crop for a Cure” event for Relay for Live at the Career Center. I just wanted to share with you how wonderful your staff was with organizing and helping to make our event happen. Don (Jaunzemis) and Marilyn (Foos) were incredibly helpful and professional. Bonnie (Dooley) who was our contact on Saturday was awesome to all of us and checked on us to see what we needed throughout the day. You should be very proud of your staff. Thank you so much for letting us use your facility.
Well, Candy, I am very proud of our staff! And our facility is the community’s facility, so we’re happy to see it used for such a worthy cause.
Best wishes to all of our students who will be involved with competitive events this weekend, and many thanks to all the staff members who will be supporting them!
Have a great weekend!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
April 18, 2008
Welcome to the end of another great week! I don’t know about you, but this gorgeous weather gives me such an energy boost; and I always appreciate the promise of renewal that spring brings. My daffodils area blooming—life is good!
This is a time of the school year that I know we all have a problem “fitting it all in.” But it’s also a time that gives me more opportunities to interact with students through various spring activities. On Wednesday, I got the chance to “preview” the presentation that our Early Childhood Education team would be making at state FCCLA competition. After they did a terrific job presented a beautifully designed lesson and I assured them the judges would be very impressed with the content, they informed me they wouldn’t be presenting that lesson—they would have to create a whole new lesson in 45 minutes at competition the next day. Oh my goodness!! I was floored--but they were absolutely calm and confident that they could do it and do it well. (They attended competition on Thursday, and I’m anxious to hear how they did.) I never fail to be amazed at what our students demonstrate with such competence at their competitive events. These young ladies from ECE will also be presenting at my Superintendents meeting next Tuesday and I very much look forward to that.
Tuesday I attended the Ohio Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting. I’ m happy to share that Walt Davis, a member of our Aviation Occupations Advisory Committee and faculty member with the Aviation Department at Sinclair Community College, was elected to the Board of Directors. That’s quite an honor, and we’re fortunate to have Walt share his expertise with us. Also, Edward Jones, with local offices, was honored as one of the top 10 best employers in Ohio. The keynote speakers were Karl Rove (the “architect” of the Bush campaign and former Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bush) and Max Cleland (former U.S. Senator and Vietnam war veteran). They had some interesting insights on the U.S. economy and were both confident in the resilience of our workforce and our country, and I was glad to have heard that part of the presentation. Most of their conversation, however, became a debate on the war in Iraq, and I won’t go into those politics!
I met Wednesday with superintendents from Logan and Hardin Counties and Dr. William Smith from Bowling Green State University. BGSU is seriously considering bringing a physical presence to Logan County. Dr. Smith asked us what we saw as needs for college programs in our County, and we all shared a desire to see greater opportunity for undergraduate and graduate programs in education. (I also mentioned the need to bring programs for Route B licensure programs for career-tech teachers to our area.) With our campus being centrally located, we’re being considered as a site. I’m a little biased—most of you know I’m a BG alum—but I’m excited about this opportunity! I’ll keep you posted on the discussions.
Congratulations are in order for two of our staff members! The River of Life Christian Church in Urbana holds a Teacher Appreciation Sunday every spring, and our Urbana board member Warren Steven shared with me that two of OHP’s own—Pam Clark and Heather Reed— were nominated by students and honored this year. I always say that honors coming from our students are the most meaningful. Congratulations to Pam and Heather!
I’ll end with a comment that came from one of our students at this week’s Straight A Breakfast. Jeremy (a carpentry student) and I were talking about what he has learned about the expectations of employers. He told me, “One thing I’ve learned is that they really want you to have hustle!” What a great insight Jeremy has learned at a young age! We’re fortunate to have a staff at OHP that has “hustle”—and I appreciate that!
Have a great weekend!
This is a time of the school year that I know we all have a problem “fitting it all in.” But it’s also a time that gives me more opportunities to interact with students through various spring activities. On Wednesday, I got the chance to “preview” the presentation that our Early Childhood Education team would be making at state FCCLA competition. After they did a terrific job presented a beautifully designed lesson and I assured them the judges would be very impressed with the content, they informed me they wouldn’t be presenting that lesson—they would have to create a whole new lesson in 45 minutes at competition the next day. Oh my goodness!! I was floored--but they were absolutely calm and confident that they could do it and do it well. (They attended competition on Thursday, and I’m anxious to hear how they did.) I never fail to be amazed at what our students demonstrate with such competence at their competitive events. These young ladies from ECE will also be presenting at my Superintendents meeting next Tuesday and I very much look forward to that.
Tuesday I attended the Ohio Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting. I’ m happy to share that Walt Davis, a member of our Aviation Occupations Advisory Committee and faculty member with the Aviation Department at Sinclair Community College, was elected to the Board of Directors. That’s quite an honor, and we’re fortunate to have Walt share his expertise with us. Also, Edward Jones, with local offices, was honored as one of the top 10 best employers in Ohio. The keynote speakers were Karl Rove (the “architect” of the Bush campaign and former Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bush) and Max Cleland (former U.S. Senator and Vietnam war veteran). They had some interesting insights on the U.S. economy and were both confident in the resilience of our workforce and our country, and I was glad to have heard that part of the presentation. Most of their conversation, however, became a debate on the war in Iraq, and I won’t go into those politics!
I met Wednesday with superintendents from Logan and Hardin Counties and Dr. William Smith from Bowling Green State University. BGSU is seriously considering bringing a physical presence to Logan County. Dr. Smith asked us what we saw as needs for college programs in our County, and we all shared a desire to see greater opportunity for undergraduate and graduate programs in education. (I also mentioned the need to bring programs for Route B licensure programs for career-tech teachers to our area.) With our campus being centrally located, we’re being considered as a site. I’m a little biased—most of you know I’m a BG alum—but I’m excited about this opportunity! I’ll keep you posted on the discussions.
Congratulations are in order for two of our staff members! The River of Life Christian Church in Urbana holds a Teacher Appreciation Sunday every spring, and our Urbana board member Warren Steven shared with me that two of OHP’s own—Pam Clark and Heather Reed— were nominated by students and honored this year. I always say that honors coming from our students are the most meaningful. Congratulations to Pam and Heather!
I’ll end with a comment that came from one of our students at this week’s Straight A Breakfast. Jeremy (a carpentry student) and I were talking about what he has learned about the expectations of employers. He told me, “One thing I’ve learned is that they really want you to have hustle!” What a great insight Jeremy has learned at a young age! We’re fortunate to have a staff at OHP that has “hustle”—and I appreciate that!
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
April 11
What a great taste of spring we’ve had this week! If we can just hang in there through one more cold weekend, I’m optimistic longer-lasting nice weather is on the way!
For some reason I’ve been off one day all week. I could have sworn it was only Thursday coming up and not Friday. I think the days are just getting past me too fast. A gentleman at Kiwanis on Thursday asked me if things were “winding down for the year.” I laughed and told him things pick up after spring break and don’t slow down one bit until after graduations and our convocation are over! With competitions, awards ceremonies, and other end-of-year activities, we hardly get a breather. And then summer brings staffing, facilities work, ordering, and starting to get ready for the next school year literally the day after students leave for the summer. I guess no rest for the wicked. (We’re not wicked—we’re just wickedly committed to working in a very dynamic, exciting field!)
Tuesday I visited our satellite Teaching Professions Academy at Marysville. They’re studying Praxis Domain 4—Professionalism—and Judy Fletcher, their teacher, asked me to come and share some of my background and what we look for in staff professionalism. This is such a great reflective exercise for me. When I graduated from college, clutching my teaching degree in my hand, I truly thought I’d quickly find a teaching job, get married and have 2.5 children (or whatever the national average was), teach for 30 years, and retire. Not one bit of that has panned out! But someone very wise once told me that we all live the life we choose in one way or another. I absolutely loved teaching, but I’ve also found satisfaction and challenge in each new step I’ve taken. And I think the "detours" along the way have taught me the most valuable lessons. As I looked at those fresh young faces so excited and eager to prepare for and start their teaching careers, my best advice to them was to work hard, gain credentials which make them as versatile as possible, and keep their options open. Who knows where they’ll end up one day!
I also had an opportunity to speak on a panel at a New Administrator’s Workshop which was part of the Ohio Career-Technical Administrator’s Conference. I was honored to be asked (I still feel like I need to be in the audience at these!) But I try to take advantage of these opportunities as often as I’m able, because I truly learn as much as I contribute. It was exciting to share the exciting news about your hard work and the transformation of OHP over the past several years, and it was also neat to hear what the other panelists had to share. We’re having such a different dialog about career-technical education than we had even five years ago. The options have expanded, the bar has been raised, and the pathways reach much further into brighter futures. We all need to be reminded once in a while how fortunate we are to be working in CTE at such an exciting time!
Compliments to our staff and our facility come from some of the most unlikely places. Sally Andrews, Health Technologies Instructor, shared with me a nice compliment to several of our staff:
Just wanted to pass along a nice compliment OHP staff received last evening. I had been working on arranging the state STNA testing for both my class here on main campus as well as the class at Marysville. I had been on the phone several times with Jennifer from D&S Diversified Technologies in Findlay which is the state’s testing site. Jennifer asked at the end of phone call #6 if everyone at OHP was as friendly as Deb Purcell, Melony Baker, Lois (I didn’t catch her last name) and me. I assured her everyone here was very friendly. She said she so appreciates working with us due to being so friendly, polite, professional, and organized. She also volunteers to schedule anything coming in from OHP because of how easy we are to deal with. I thought it was so nice of her to compliment us. In dealing with people only on the phone, I’m sure she gets lots of different types of personalities.
Even over the phone, our customer-service culture comes through. Nice job, ladies!
I get so tickled at things our students say sometimes, and often those words “out of the mouths of babes” help me to put things in perspective. I was visiting our Early Childhood Education lab earlier this week, and the pre-schoolers were on the playground. The little ones were giving the high-school program students quite a runaround! One of the high-school students stopped playing for a moment and, out of breath, told a little guy, “We need to rest for a minute. I’m old and chubby and can’t keep up with you!” I’m sure a 17 or 18 year old does feel “old and chubby” compared to the energy of a toddler. But I had to chuckle--just wait until they’re my age! I guess it’s all relative.
Regardless of age, if you’re feeling the need for a little rest this weekend, don’t feel guilty (or old)--you’ve earned it! Have a great weekend!
For some reason I’ve been off one day all week. I could have sworn it was only Thursday coming up and not Friday. I think the days are just getting past me too fast. A gentleman at Kiwanis on Thursday asked me if things were “winding down for the year.” I laughed and told him things pick up after spring break and don’t slow down one bit until after graduations and our convocation are over! With competitions, awards ceremonies, and other end-of-year activities, we hardly get a breather. And then summer brings staffing, facilities work, ordering, and starting to get ready for the next school year literally the day after students leave for the summer. I guess no rest for the wicked. (We’re not wicked—we’re just wickedly committed to working in a very dynamic, exciting field!)
Tuesday I visited our satellite Teaching Professions Academy at Marysville. They’re studying Praxis Domain 4—Professionalism—and Judy Fletcher, their teacher, asked me to come and share some of my background and what we look for in staff professionalism. This is such a great reflective exercise for me. When I graduated from college, clutching my teaching degree in my hand, I truly thought I’d quickly find a teaching job, get married and have 2.5 children (or whatever the national average was), teach for 30 years, and retire. Not one bit of that has panned out! But someone very wise once told me that we all live the life we choose in one way or another. I absolutely loved teaching, but I’ve also found satisfaction and challenge in each new step I’ve taken. And I think the "detours" along the way have taught me the most valuable lessons. As I looked at those fresh young faces so excited and eager to prepare for and start their teaching careers, my best advice to them was to work hard, gain credentials which make them as versatile as possible, and keep their options open. Who knows where they’ll end up one day!
I also had an opportunity to speak on a panel at a New Administrator’s Workshop which was part of the Ohio Career-Technical Administrator’s Conference. I was honored to be asked (I still feel like I need to be in the audience at these!) But I try to take advantage of these opportunities as often as I’m able, because I truly learn as much as I contribute. It was exciting to share the exciting news about your hard work and the transformation of OHP over the past several years, and it was also neat to hear what the other panelists had to share. We’re having such a different dialog about career-technical education than we had even five years ago. The options have expanded, the bar has been raised, and the pathways reach much further into brighter futures. We all need to be reminded once in a while how fortunate we are to be working in CTE at such an exciting time!
Compliments to our staff and our facility come from some of the most unlikely places. Sally Andrews, Health Technologies Instructor, shared with me a nice compliment to several of our staff:
Just wanted to pass along a nice compliment OHP staff received last evening. I had been working on arranging the state STNA testing for both my class here on main campus as well as the class at Marysville. I had been on the phone several times with Jennifer from D&S Diversified Technologies in Findlay which is the state’s testing site. Jennifer asked at the end of phone call #6 if everyone at OHP was as friendly as Deb Purcell, Melony Baker, Lois (I didn’t catch her last name) and me. I assured her everyone here was very friendly. She said she so appreciates working with us due to being so friendly, polite, professional, and organized. She also volunteers to schedule anything coming in from OHP because of how easy we are to deal with. I thought it was so nice of her to compliment us. In dealing with people only on the phone, I’m sure she gets lots of different types of personalities.
Even over the phone, our customer-service culture comes through. Nice job, ladies!
I get so tickled at things our students say sometimes, and often those words “out of the mouths of babes” help me to put things in perspective. I was visiting our Early Childhood Education lab earlier this week, and the pre-schoolers were on the playground. The little ones were giving the high-school program students quite a runaround! One of the high-school students stopped playing for a moment and, out of breath, told a little guy, “We need to rest for a minute. I’m old and chubby and can’t keep up with you!” I’m sure a 17 or 18 year old does feel “old and chubby” compared to the energy of a toddler. But I had to chuckle--just wait until they’re my age! I guess it’s all relative.
Regardless of age, if you’re feeling the need for a little rest this weekend, don’t feel guilty (or old)--you’ve earned it! Have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
April 4, 2008
Welcome back to all of you who were on spring break last week! (I know some of our satellite locations had spring break either the week before or this week.) I hope everyone got or is getting some well-deserved rest and time doing what you enjoy most.
I took a couple of days off as Scott and I are moving to Marysville. Both my move to Bellefontaine five years ago and this move have taught me a valuable lesson about not becoming a slave to “stuff.” Purging is a very freeing experience. I’ve also learned that change—even for the better—is stressful! I’ve gotten most things carefully and thoughtfully put away, and now I can’t find anything! I’m wearing mostly whatever I can locate these days (please forgive me if you see the same outfit twice in one week). And I struggle with the simplest of changes, such as now keeping in a drawer what I used to keep in a cabinet. My first reaction is to think it can’t possibly work—then I remember to ask myself, “Why not?!?” Definitely some valuable life lessons in this experience.
Part of this “purging” involved giving some baking supplies I knew I wouldn’t use to our Culinary Arts Program. Donna Beale, Culinary instructor, shared with me what a great job her students did with some Andes peppermint baking chips I gave her:
I gave one bag to Dallas and Matt; it didn’t take long for them to use their creativity. They certainly make me proud. I am glad that you enjoyed the dessert.
The open bag was passed around the class and sampled. A few students did notice that there was a website on the package www.tootsie.com . It didn’t take long for them to explore the website. Most were amazed with the valuable information that was provided and the history. The culinary curriculum and goals for this week include food cost, inventory and sales. As the students searched the website they shared that Andes Candies was acquired by Tootsie Roll in 2000. One student noticed the annual report and mentioned that we should sell tootsie rolls for a profit, apparently total net sales were over four hundred twenty million dollars and the company produces more than 60 million Tootsie Rolls per day. Another shared with me a tootsie roll cheesecake recipe. We plan to make it on Thursday. Of course they thought it would be a great idea to visit the factory for a study trip. The students were amazed with the website. Although it was not on my agenda today, it certainly was related to the curriculum and goals and was a great learning experience. The students were clearly engaged. (Sometimes the best lessons are not planned).
Thank you for thinking of us! It was amazing to hear and watch the students excited and enthusiastic about peppermint chips and its website.
Donna
Now that’s a teachable moment! It’s great to hear of a student-driven learning experience using technology which was incorporated into the lab. Great job!
Spring brings so many activities to our campus, both school-related and community events. This increase in activity requires the coordination on the part of so many, and I’m always proud to hear about the fine work our staff does in this effort. JoEtta Spain and I recently received the following e-mail from the organizers of Logan Co. Relay for Life, which will be held on our campus this summer:
Good morning ladies,
We just wanted to send a quick note to thank you for allowing us to hold our Relay For Life team kick-off event at the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center last night. Everything went great and I think everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. We also have to say that your janitorial support team along with a gentleman named Don (I'm not sure of his title) did an excellent job. They are the most professional and courteous folks that you could ever ask to work with. Each one of them was very accommodating which made our job so much easier. Thanks again and we can't wait to hold our event here in June! Marilyn Angelo and Penny Higgins Event Chairs
My thanks also to all who made them feel so welcome! (The “Don” they’re speaking of, by the way, is Don Jaunzemis, our Business Operations Coordinator.)
I posted in my blog a couple of weeks ago that OHP had a team participating in the AAUW Trivia Bee here at OHP on March 19. I’m happy to report that Team Hi-Point took 10th place out of 39 teams that night! Congratulations!! JoEtta Spain suggested that we have both a student team and a staff team next year, which I think is a great idea—we can take the top two places! Thanks to everyone who participated for your hard work in preparing and for representing us so well.
For those of you who receive the Bellefontaine Examiner, I hope you saw the feature on Mary Jo and Mike Alstaetter who received the 2007 Farm Family of the Year Award. (Mary Jo is our ProjectSEARCH Instructor.) It was a great feature story about their decision to go into farming and the hard work that has gone into the success of their cattle farm. Congratulations to Mary Jo and Mike for this well-deserved recognition!
Last week was pretty quiet around here, but it enabled me to get a little bit caught up on paperwork. (I actually had an empty e-mail inbox for approximately 90 seconds! Hasn't been empty since.) I was also able to attend the quarterly policy meeting of the Ohio Workforce Coalition along with Darlene Chiles and heard presentations from several governmental agencies, including the Governor’s office, the Ohio Department of Development, Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, and the Ohio Board of Regents. The theme was consistent—we are at a point in Ohio where we must work together collaboratively in developing our workforce in order to remain competitive in today’s economy. The very fact that these meetings are happening is testimony to the fact that all parties feel a sense of urgency, and career-technical education is definitely included in the discussion. We also heard from Bill Spratley with Green Energy Ohio. He presented some amazing statistics about the potential of “green” energy development in Ohio. His quote that struck me most was “My vision is that we will build a country where alternative energies are second-nature to our children and where we won’t be sending our children off to war to fight for oil.” Whatever your political affiliations, in these days of nearly $4-per-gallon gasoline, I think you’ll agree we need to work to decrease our dependence on petroleum products.
Several administrators and I attended the ODE Regional Spring Update this past Tuesday and received finalized information on the local plan we will need to submit for the new Perkins IV legislation. Details will follow from your Directors, and we will be involving many of you as stakeholders. But suffice it to say that we will be very busy between now and June 1 when our plan is due to ODE! Thank you in advance for the insight you’ll provide.
We’re actually supposed to get some spring weather this weekend—so enjoy!
I took a couple of days off as Scott and I are moving to Marysville. Both my move to Bellefontaine five years ago and this move have taught me a valuable lesson about not becoming a slave to “stuff.” Purging is a very freeing experience. I’ve also learned that change—even for the better—is stressful! I’ve gotten most things carefully and thoughtfully put away, and now I can’t find anything! I’m wearing mostly whatever I can locate these days (please forgive me if you see the same outfit twice in one week). And I struggle with the simplest of changes, such as now keeping in a drawer what I used to keep in a cabinet. My first reaction is to think it can’t possibly work—then I remember to ask myself, “Why not?!?” Definitely some valuable life lessons in this experience.
Part of this “purging” involved giving some baking supplies I knew I wouldn’t use to our Culinary Arts Program. Donna Beale, Culinary instructor, shared with me what a great job her students did with some Andes peppermint baking chips I gave her:
I gave one bag to Dallas and Matt; it didn’t take long for them to use their creativity. They certainly make me proud. I am glad that you enjoyed the dessert.
The open bag was passed around the class and sampled. A few students did notice that there was a website on the package www.tootsie.com . It didn’t take long for them to explore the website. Most were amazed with the valuable information that was provided and the history. The culinary curriculum and goals for this week include food cost, inventory and sales. As the students searched the website they shared that Andes Candies was acquired by Tootsie Roll in 2000. One student noticed the annual report and mentioned that we should sell tootsie rolls for a profit, apparently total net sales were over four hundred twenty million dollars and the company produces more than 60 million Tootsie Rolls per day. Another shared with me a tootsie roll cheesecake recipe. We plan to make it on Thursday. Of course they thought it would be a great idea to visit the factory for a study trip. The students were amazed with the website. Although it was not on my agenda today, it certainly was related to the curriculum and goals and was a great learning experience. The students were clearly engaged. (Sometimes the best lessons are not planned).
Thank you for thinking of us! It was amazing to hear and watch the students excited and enthusiastic about peppermint chips and its website.
Donna
Now that’s a teachable moment! It’s great to hear of a student-driven learning experience using technology which was incorporated into the lab. Great job!
Spring brings so many activities to our campus, both school-related and community events. This increase in activity requires the coordination on the part of so many, and I’m always proud to hear about the fine work our staff does in this effort. JoEtta Spain and I recently received the following e-mail from the organizers of Logan Co. Relay for Life, which will be held on our campus this summer:
Good morning ladies,
We just wanted to send a quick note to thank you for allowing us to hold our Relay For Life team kick-off event at the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center last night. Everything went great and I think everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. We also have to say that your janitorial support team along with a gentleman named Don (I'm not sure of his title) did an excellent job. They are the most professional and courteous folks that you could ever ask to work with. Each one of them was very accommodating which made our job so much easier. Thanks again and we can't wait to hold our event here in June! Marilyn Angelo and Penny Higgins Event Chairs
My thanks also to all who made them feel so welcome! (The “Don” they’re speaking of, by the way, is Don Jaunzemis, our Business Operations Coordinator.)
I posted in my blog a couple of weeks ago that OHP had a team participating in the AAUW Trivia Bee here at OHP on March 19. I’m happy to report that Team Hi-Point took 10th place out of 39 teams that night! Congratulations!! JoEtta Spain suggested that we have both a student team and a staff team next year, which I think is a great idea—we can take the top two places! Thanks to everyone who participated for your hard work in preparing and for representing us so well.
For those of you who receive the Bellefontaine Examiner, I hope you saw the feature on Mary Jo and Mike Alstaetter who received the 2007 Farm Family of the Year Award. (Mary Jo is our ProjectSEARCH Instructor.) It was a great feature story about their decision to go into farming and the hard work that has gone into the success of their cattle farm. Congratulations to Mary Jo and Mike for this well-deserved recognition!
Last week was pretty quiet around here, but it enabled me to get a little bit caught up on paperwork. (I actually had an empty e-mail inbox for approximately 90 seconds! Hasn't been empty since.) I was also able to attend the quarterly policy meeting of the Ohio Workforce Coalition along with Darlene Chiles and heard presentations from several governmental agencies, including the Governor’s office, the Ohio Department of Development, Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, and the Ohio Board of Regents. The theme was consistent—we are at a point in Ohio where we must work together collaboratively in developing our workforce in order to remain competitive in today’s economy. The very fact that these meetings are happening is testimony to the fact that all parties feel a sense of urgency, and career-technical education is definitely included in the discussion. We also heard from Bill Spratley with Green Energy Ohio. He presented some amazing statistics about the potential of “green” energy development in Ohio. His quote that struck me most was “My vision is that we will build a country where alternative energies are second-nature to our children and where we won’t be sending our children off to war to fight for oil.” Whatever your political affiliations, in these days of nearly $4-per-gallon gasoline, I think you’ll agree we need to work to decrease our dependence on petroleum products.
Several administrators and I attended the ODE Regional Spring Update this past Tuesday and received finalized information on the local plan we will need to submit for the new Perkins IV legislation. Details will follow from your Directors, and we will be involving many of you as stakeholders. But suffice it to say that we will be very busy between now and June 1 when our plan is due to ODE! Thank you in advance for the insight you’ll provide.
We’re actually supposed to get some spring weather this weekend—so enjoy!
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