June 9, 2010

This, my final posting for the year, will actually be a TGIW (for Wednesday). Our students finished yesterday and most of our staff will finish today. As we wrap up another school year, we can look back on many challenges: the tragic loss of one of our main campus and one of our satellite students, reduced revenues and the need to “do more with less,” the brutal winter we endured, and the need to make up calamity days (hence the reason we’re here so late in June!) But it’s also been a year of great accomplishments: our students have achieved at record levels in their Career-Tech Student Organization activities, our students earned a record number of scholarships, our application numbers continue to grow steadily, our adult education division will hold its first joint graduation with a record number of graduates, our South Campus is fully operational with both high-school and adult programs, and our adult programs will open a new North Campus in Kenton in July! Challenges don’t hold us back at OHP—they make us stronger.

Our high-school Convocation last Thursday was another successful celebration of student achievement. While the threat of rain forced us inside, our students did an outstanding job of conducting the ceremony in a heartfelt but professional manner. We got great cover in the local newspapers; and I received so many compliments from our partner school staff, including a very nice e-mail from Bob Simmons with the Hardin Co. ESC:

I really enjoyed the graduation last Thursday---great job---I was impressed that it was student lead and I was impressed with their speeches. Great job as I always expect from activities at Hi-Point.

Again---great job at Hi Point for the 2009-10 school year and a great graduation.

Thanks to the team of staff members it took to pull the Convocation together, particularly with the challenges of taking it off campus. Another job well done!

This week I also received a letter from Kris Myers, Superintendent of the Bellefontaine Joint Recreation District, thanking our Lead Ambassadors for a community service they performed by conducting a major clean-up at Mary Rutan Park. Kris wrote:

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the students that helped with the Parks and Pool cleanup and duties. The time your students spent with us was actually a lifesaver. Due to many circumstances, we have been very shorthanded and wondered how we would get everything done to get the pool open on time. Your students made that possible. 25 extra hands made it possible to do what we needed to do that day. The creek at Mary Rutan is flowing nicely and looks so much cleaner. You have a wonderful group of students and we can’t thank them enough for all their help.


See the photo at right of our Lead Ambassadors in action on this great project—what a wonderful way to give back to the community!

Finally, I want to end this year with an e-mail we received from a former student (who has given me permission to share). This gentleman exemplifies the successes that each of you make possible every day. I think his story also reminds us we should never underestimate the potential of our students once they leave us!

I went to school at Ohio Hi-Point to pursue a job in Electronics. I graduated in 1984 and by the time I did I knew I had no interest in staying in the field. Mr. Payne and Mr. Grimm did their best to foster an interest for me but Honda was calling and I soon started a career there. After three years of water proofing cars in the paint department I had to have a change so I transferred and got one of the best jobs in the Honda plant...Test driving new cars. This was great for about a month and I knew I had to start preparing to get into a field I could enjoy. One thought kept returning to me during this time when I was thinking about a career change....The LPN program at Ohio Hi Point...I always had feigned disinterest with that while at Ohio Hi Point but I was always interested...That thought encouraged me to go back to school...First to Clark State and then to Wright State. My first full time year at Clark State I was still working full time at Honda which made for a disgruntled wife at home...Thank goodness we did not have children at this time.

After graduating from the RN program I attended Wright State to further my degree and then went into Oncology Nursing in Columbus Ohio. After doing that for five years I was approached to work as a research coordinator basically conducting clinical trials in cancer patients who had no other treatment options. After doing that for three years I was approached and recruited by a large Pharmaceutical Research company to continue working in clinical trials except at this point I would be traveling across the United States bringing Physicians and researchers access to pipeline drugs that were not yet approved by the FDA for their patient populations. Here I was traveling the world, educating RN's, PhD's and MD's on how to conduct trials with our research department as well as how to safely administer the compounds that were being tested. The biggest and most important part of my job was patient safety and ensuring their rights by making sure they were all give proper informed consent. Educating patients and the research staff to do this the correct way was critical so that patients knew what they were getting into.

Long story short...I was a trouble making brat at Ohio Hi Point that put my teachers through heck and back but they put up with my antics and somehow instilled in me the qualities that got me noticed in a medical world that resulted in my traveling the globe and educating Physicians. I have been published in my own clinical trial and been to meetings in London England and San Juan Peurto Rico all thanks to Ohio Hi Point.

Jerry Hinton RN, OCN, CCRC

Wow! (By the way, Shane Haggerty will be talking further with this graduate and will be preparing a full feature story to be released soon.)

With that story in mind, please go into your summer break knowing that who you are and what you do makes a difference! Here’s to some time at a more relaxed pace, warm breezes and sunshine, making memories with family and friends, and safe travels. Rest up and recharge for the start of another great year!