April 3, 2009

We’ve finished another week and started a new month! I hope you escaped any April Fool’s pranks—and I’m glad that our computers escaped the “worm” that was supposed to hit on April 1. (I’m sure our Tech Department is happiest of all!)

There’s a lot in the news lately about the economic stimulus money, and I’m hearing about several local projects that have been submitted for this funding. One initiative which is underway is Connect Ohio, Governor Strickland’s plan to bring reliable high-speed connectivity to all of Ohio. Meetings are being held in each county, and I’ve recently attended meetings for Hardin and Logan Counties to give input on local needs. This project is on a “fast track” (as much of the stimulus money dictates), and I think we’ll see results pretty quickly. In order to give input as far as our needs and our students’ needs, I’ve called in the experts (John Case and Matt Heaston from our Tech Department) to represent us at future meetings. I know they’ll represent us well—and I appreciate their help!

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of transporting our March Students of the Month, Lindsey Kelly (Cosmetology, Bellefontaine) and Spencer Wolfe (Carpentry, Bellefontaine) to Kiwanis for their monthly recognition. What neat kids! They were pleasant, conversational, and a delight to have lunch with. I enjoyed hearing their plans for the future—Lindsey will be working for Charles Penzone’s Studio, and Spencer plans to start his own construction business. As I listened to the students from all over Logan County introduce themselves and share their plans for the future, I was so proud of how articulate and focused Lindsey and Spencer were. They both said to me, and they’re absolutely right—Ohio Hi-Point has prepared them so well for their futures and they’re excited about what lies ahead of them. I know we all wish them both the best!

I visited our Architectural & Mechanical Design lab last week to see the model the students built of a skate park which will be constructed in Urbana. The students did an amazing job! And this Thursday afternoon I saw them loading the model into a van to deliver to Urbana. The primary sponsor of the skate park (who wishes to remain anonymous) thought of our students when she needed a model built to show community members what they’re donating to when they donate to the skate park. Our AMD students can be very proud of the part they’ve played in inspiring the community and securing funds to make this project happen!

I met with our Student Advisory Council this past week, which is always a treat. One thing I can say about this group—they’re always thinking! They’ve made suggestions for everything from curbing computer viruses to eliminating restroom vandalism to providing a microwave for student use at lunchtime. I’ve been impressed all year with the maturity and passion of this group! They consider the needs and wishes of the entire student body rather than just their own, and they’re very thoughtful in working through problem solving. They’ve even designed their own Student Advisory Council t-shirts—so be watching for them soon so that you can identify our SAC members. (I’ll give you a hint—think “tie dye”!)

The administrative team and I have recently attended regional updates from the Office of Career-Technical and Academic Education. A lot of good information was shared—and we’ve definitely got our work cut out for us! On the adult education side, new performance measures have been established and targets are being set—all while resources are being cut. On the secondary (high-school) side, we’ve added several new performance measures for next year; and academics are definitely the primary focus. I liked what one ODE staff member said—“Decide what needle you want to move in your performance, and then focus resources on moving that needle.” It will be more important now than ever that, in times of limited resources, we focus our school improvement efforts not on activity but on results—or “moving the needle.” Your Director and Supervisors will be updating you on the new performance measures soon.

We received a letter a couple of weeks ago from Kim Wolverton, School Counselor at Urbana Junior High. Kim said:

Thank you so much for inviting Urbana Jr. High School students to your center. The students and staff really enjoyed visiting your site. I was very impressed with your campus and educational offerings. What a wonderful opportunity for juniors and seniors in high school! Our future 8th grade students look forward to visiting the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center next year!

I appreciate that Kim took time to write, and I’m so thankful that Urbana sends their junior high school students to visit. We send literature to students and make visits to their schools. But as Kim’s letter makes clear, seeing is believing; and when we can get prospective students (and partner school staff) onto our campus, we make believers out of them!

Hard to believe we’re into April already. The rest of this school year will be a blur with all the spring and year-end activities. But I know you’ve been long awaiting next week’s much-deserved Spring Break! As we get into the “Season of Marshmallow Peeps,” I ran across some facts I thought you might find interesting:

· It takes six minutes to make one Peeps chick.
· More than 5 million Peeps are produced each day.
· Peeps have been the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy in the United States for more than a decade.
· Original Peeps have a shelf life of two years. (Now that one’s a little scary! What are those things made of?!?)

Whatever you’ll be eating or doing over break--do your favorite things, get some rest, enjoy family and friends, and if you’re traveling--be safe!