TGIF

New Blog Site!

2010-08-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Thank you for visiting my blog site.

Starting in August 2010, I will be blogging on a new site along with my administrative team. Please visit us at http://blog.ohiohipoint.com/
We look forward to sharing our stories with you on our new blog!

Kim Davis, Superintendent
Ohio Hi-Point Career Center

June 9, 2010

2010-06-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

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!

May 28, 2010

2010-05-28T08:10:00.001-07:00

Well, this is that time of year I (and many of you) get the best form of writer’s cramp! I’ve been signing off on certificates of completion, honors certificates, and many others for our high school and adult education students. It never escapes me that every signature on every document certifies a tremendous amount of effort and accomplishment on the part of each and every student. If you multiply out every project done, every paper written, every test taken, every clinical or field experience completed times the number of students completing programs, it’s just mind boggling! What a great time of year and a great opportunity to recognize our students’ achievements.

Getting to spend time with students is a rare and special treat for me, and I had two such chances this week! Monday we hosted the Superintendent’s List Breakfast for our students who had straight A’s any quarter this year. Each received a small gift for their outstanding efforts; and the 14 students who received straight A’s all year received an OHP hoody sweatshirt. (I kind of envied those kids—neat sweatshirts!) Then, on Wednesday, we hosted a lunch at the "Peak of Ohio” for our Lead Ambassadors to thank them for the tremendous work they have done representing OHP this year. We had a beautiful day for the outside event, and the kids had a ball (as you can see in the photo at right!) Couldn’t ask for a better bunch of kids to represent us here at OHP and in the community. We’ll miss our senior ambassadors and wish them the best!

Wednesday and Thursday we hosted the site selection committee from the National Air Force Radar Museum and were excited to learn that Campbell Hill on our campus is one of five finalists for the site! (As you know, this is the former site of the 664th ACW (Aircraft Control and Warning) Station.) Wednesday morning, I had the opportunity to meet with them along with several community leaders, and they were very impressed with the level of support from Logan County. The committee will be visiting the four other sites and, over the next year, will be making their selection. If we’re fortunate enough to have Campbell Hill selected, the push will be on for a local committee to raise funds to renovate one of the former radar towers. I’ll keep you posted!

Memorial Day weekend is here, can you believe it?!? Didn’t we just get back from winter break? In addition to getting some well-deserved R&R, I hope you’ll all take time to honor those who have and are currently serving our country in the armed forces. (I had an amazing experience yesterday at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus which gave me a whole new appreciation for our armed forces. I’ll share with you next week when I have my photos ready!)
Have a great weekend!

May 21, 2010

2010-05-21T06:01:00.000-07:00

I hope you’ve all had a great week, albeit a little wet and dreary. The sun yesterday was great to see! And hang on, I hear there’s more coming our way Sunday. I will say, though, that even a mediocre gardener (such as myself) can have pretty good results with the help of all this rain—everything is pretty lush.

I love to share the stories of hearing good things about OHP from out and about in the community. Earlier this week I needed to call a local law enforcement agency for some confidential records; and when I introduced myself as the Superintendent at OHP, the gentleman on the other end of the line said, “Oh, hi!” (as if we had met). Later in the conversation, he shared with me that his son attends here in one of our automotive programs. He told me, “My son loves Hi-Point. I love Hi-Point, too!” I told him I was really glad to hear that! Sometimes even the more unpleasant tasks in my job reap some positive rewards.

Tuesday evening was our first annual Satellite Senior Celebration here on Main Campus. The start of another great tradition! Several of our satellite teachers combined efforts to put this ceremony together which brought our senior satellite students together to receive their Certificates of Completion. Each teacher also presented an Outstanding Student Award, and the stories of what some of these students have overcome and what they’ve accomplished were simply amazing. All together, 119 students were completers in 15 workforce development programs at our satellite sites—my, how we’ve grown! I could tell the students really enjoyed the recognition, and the parents obviously enjoyed the chance to beam with pride! I look forward to this ceremony for many years to come.

We’re going to have a very special group of visitors next week, so I want to give you a heads up. On Wednesday and Thursday, the Site Selection Committee for the National Air Force Radar Museum will be visiting our campus as a finalist for a museum to honor those men and women who “scanned the skies” to protect our country. We’re very excited about the possibility of the museum being located here on Campbell Hill, the former site of the 664th Aircraft Control & Warning Station. And, although we’re a little biased, we feel the rich aviation heritage of this region makes this the perfect spot! The group will be holding meetings with myself and local leaders to gauge support and touring the campus to see what we have to offer. I know you’ll make them feel welcome as always.

Have a great weekend, and rest up for the “home stretch” over the next couple of weeks!

May 14, 2010

2010-05-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

This week puts us halfway through May—where has it gone?!? I know you’re all as busy as one-armed paper hangers with all the year-end activities happening and being planned for. Lots of excitement in the air!

Anyone who knows anything about OHP knows that we’ve really embraced social networking (well, most of us have). I can’t say the “bug has bitten” me, other than doing this blog. Did any of you see Betty White on Saturday Night Live last weekend talking about Facebook? I laughed so hard I cried! I’m not quite her age (88), but I completely related to her opinion of Facebook being pretty much a waste of time. I, too, have a hard time understanding why high-school classmates I haven’t seen or talked to in over 33 years would expect me to have any interest in their kids' prom pictures. I created a Facebook page during a workshop probably two years ago, I never posted a picture, and I’ve only been back to my page once. However, in all seriousness, I have seen (through Shane’s eyes) the tremendous marketing tool Facebook and other social networking tools have been for OHP, and I’m beginning to see on a personal level how it can help to connect to long-lost friends, coworkers, employers—just about anyone! So I guess I shouldn’t knock it until I’ve tried it—I mean really tried it. Good for all of you who are using it productively!

Tuesday morning I attended the Union County Business-Education Workforce Team meeting and heard updates on the committee’s work to connect educators and students to the workforce. One of their projects, Workplaces of Today & Tomorrow, will be implemented this summer. This week-long program will put educators into multiple workplace settings and give them an opportunity to write curriculum related to real-world skills. Educators can also earn college credits. We’re really excited to get this program off the ground! If you’re interested, let me know or contact the Union County Chamber.

Wednesday evening was the annual FFA Awards Banquet on our Main Campus. Always a wonderful evening! The students get really “dolled up” (or “duded up” for the guys, I guess), and they conduct a very professional program. Their special guest was Ike Kershaw from the Ohio Department of Education (Office of Career-Technical Education). I’m amazed at the many areas our FFA students compete in and the various awards they earn. Thank you to our chapter for the invitation and the privilege of giving the welcome!

I’ve got a great story to share about the “payoff” of building relationships with our legislators. As I shared several weeks ago, State Senator Karen Gillmor visited our campus. I don’t believe she had ever been on a career center campus before, and she was amazed at what we offer students of all ages. You may also have heard about recently proposed legislation which would require all schools to provide 30 minutes of physical activity for students daily. While we certainly agree with the need for healthy eating and exercise, it would simply be impossible for us to carve 30 minutes out of our already shortened day without sacrificing academic or lab time. Senator Gillmor is the vice-chair of the committee which drafted legislation this week, and we were able to get our message in front of the committee in two ways: First, our Urbana Board Member and Legislative Liaison Warren Stevens travelled to Columbus to testify in front of the committee regarding the shortened day we have due to transportation of students from five counties and the fact that our students spend roughly half of their day up and active in their labs. And I was able to get a message to Senator Gillmor prior to the hearings echoing those same concerns. She heard us loud and clear! She proposed an amendment to the legislation exempting career centers from the legislation, which is a huge relief to us. So . . . thanks to all of you who impress our legislators (and others) each and every time they visit—whether it be the warm welcome they get from our office staff, the unique learning opportunities they observe in our labs and classrooms, or the beautiful campus we maintain. Please never underestimate the impact you make or the benefits your efforts might reap in the future!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

May 7, 2010

2010-05-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! (I’m sending this a little early because I’ll be at a conference on Friday, but we’ll celebrate early.)

Monday started off with a wonderful opportunity to see one of our students recognized at the State Career-Based Intervention (CBI) Conference! Jasmine Miller, a CBI student at our satellite program at Bunsold Middle School in Marysville, was selected by the State CBI Board as one of only two students in the state to receive a $1,000 scholarship for further education after high school. I was so pleased to hear, as she gave her acceptance speech, that she plans to attend Ohio Hi-Point in her junior and senior years to help prepare for college. We look forward to having a student of Jasmine’s caliber in one of our workforce programs! (Photos to follow in press release!)

I appreciate those who were able to attend our final Staff Breakfast for the year on Tuesday and those who shared their “celebrations.” We had a bunch! It was nice to hear of all the personal celebrations in your lives (grandchildren, marriages, adult children moving out of the house!) And it was especially gratifying to hear the success stories you shared about our programs and students. I hope you feel great about the part you’ve played in those success stories!

Wednesday at the Logan County Chamber of Commerce board meeting, one of the members of the current Leadership Logan County class shared the experiences she’s had participating in the program. Among other experiences, she described the group’s tour of Ohio Hi-Point on Education Day and couldn’t say enough about how amazing the programs were and what neat opportunities our students have. She echoed a sentiment I’ve often had—she said she wishes she were in high school again so she could take advantage! Just another example of how the OHP story is being shared in the community and how it comes back around for me to share with you.

I hope you all took a moment to express your appreciation to our Health & Safety Coordinator (school nurse), Amy McCarthy, on the flower outside her office as part of Nurse Appreciation Day (Thursday). A very special “Thank You” to our Early Childhood Education (ECE) students for creating this special flower. Angie Walls, ECE teacher, told me it was “huge”; and she wasn’t kidding! (See photo at right.) It was really neat to read all the messages staff and students had written to “Nurse Amy” about the many ways she supports us all and makes this a great place to work. And I’d like to extend that appreciation to the many nurses we have on staff as instructors—you’re helping to “grow” the next generation of healthcare workers which our society needs so very much!

Finally, I wish all of our mothers a happy Mother’s Day! I hope you all get to spend time with your mother, or get to talk with your mother over the miles if you're apart, or spend some time remembering your mother. Did you know Mr. T has a Mother’s Day song? (I’ll let you Google that one to find it on You-Tube; it’s pretty funny.) And if you’re too young to remember Mr. T, the rest of us really don’t want to hear about it.

Have a great weekend!

April 30, 2010

2010-04-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe this is the last day of April! It will be nice to welcome May, even though it sounds like it’s going to be a wet first few days.

Monday we held the final meeting of the Student Advisory Council for the year. Among other things, this group brings recommendations to me and the administration for improvements at OHP. One of their suggestions this year—to widen the doorway between the main building and the tech center wing—will actually come to fruition this summer. At their suggestion, we made observations and saw that this truly is a bottleneck during class-change times and could caused tardies (as well as being a safety hazard). So—next year the opening will be a 6-foot-wide double door. Should speed up the traffic flow—and no more excuses for being tardy! Thanks to the Student Advisory Council for this recommendation, and thanks to our Facilities & Grounds Department for making it happen!

Tuesday I attended another meeting of the Ohio School Funding Advisory Council. I think the subcommittee working on career-tech funding is finally making some headway! After studying CTE program delivery and past funding models, the subcommittee will be looking at a proposed funding model (developed by a steering committee of career-tech superintendents and treasurers) at their next meeting. I’m glad to see this progress; although the common thread throughout discussions has been that any model approved may not be fully funded—it all depends on state funding levels. But it's important that we have some say in the development of whatever model is finally approved. I’ll keep you posted.

Wednesday I had the pleasure, again, of judging the business department’s etiquette luncheon. What a fun event! After the students all heard a speaker on business etiquette, they had a delicious lunch (prepared by Culinary Arts) in groups of 4 or 5 with a judge. I had the pleasure of having lunch with Tessa from Bellefontaine, Allison from Bellefontaine, Shelby from West Liberty-Salem, and Mike from Ben Logan (see photo at right). They were great! We had a nice discussion about their experiences at OHP, their plans for the future, and what they might expect in the business world. I have no doubt these young people are well prepared for lunch interviews and other experiences they’ll encounter as they enter the business world. Thanks to teachers Amanda Blackburn (Information Technology) and Heather Reed (Business Administration Technology) for planning this great learning experience and for sharing your students with me!

Thursday was a "hopping" day at OHP! On Thursday morning I had the privilege of attending and providing a welcome at our annual National Technical Honor Society induction ceremony. This year's "class" of inductees included 24 students who have met very high standards during their time in career-technical education. The current members conducted a beautiful ceremony which was attended by a large group of family members, friends, and partner school staff. Many thanks to Melissa Rofe and Ryan Gilbert for taking the leadership with this important organization and overseeing an impressive event! (And be sure to see the photos from the event on our website!)

That same day, I joined Sharon Halter (Adult Basic Literacy Coordinator) in a presentation to the Union County Commissioners regarding the ABLE program that OHP began to operate for them in 2008. Sharon shared some very impressive enrollment numbers and success stories with the Commissioners. These trying times have hit many adults very hard, and it’s gratifying to know that OHP’s ABLE program is assisting so many of them in starting on new career pathways. The Commissioners were obviously pleased as well, and we look forward to a long relationship with them serving the adults of Union County!

On Thursday evening, we hosted our annual Welcome Dinner for incoming students (along with parent/teacher conferences). This is a great opportunity for students who've already made up their minds to visit labs with family and other guests and to enjoy dinner (prepared by our cafeteria staff). And, for students who are maybe not yet quite sure about attending, it can often be the deciding factor! Thanks to the many staff members and student Lead Ambassadors who assisted with getting all of our guests where they needed to be and making them feel welcome. Thanks also to Clark State Community College for being present and for sponsoring t-shirts for all our incoming students! (And again, check our website for story and photos!)

This morning, I welcomed a regional meeting of GRADS teachers (our program for parenting teens) at OHP. What a great turnout and a beautiful day to have them on our campus! As I've always said about GRADS, this is the one program that impacts two generations, and I admonished them to continue to advocate for this program at the state level so that we can continue to provide this much-needed service to students. Thanks to Francie Ross and Deb Baker for hosting and for inviting me!

Have a great weekend, and remember that the rain will only make things greener and brighter!

April 26, 2010

2010-04-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

This week’s TGIF turned into a TGIM (Monday)—what a hectic week last week! Not sure if I’m late for last week or early for this week. Hope you had a restful weekend. I was actually glad to see the rain this weekend—the grass and plants need it, and hopefully it will knock some of this pollen out of the air!

I have to say last week was one of students coming to my rescue! The pace picks up so much at this time of year (like I need to tell you that!) and so often I have last-minute requests or needs. But no worries last week—our students were great!

Wednesday morning when we hosted our partner school administrators for a legal topics in-service, I found the room not quite set up the way we needed it. (Actually, it was still set up from our partner school Superintendents meeting the day before!) I asked Daniel from Culinary Arts (who was hanging out in the Commons before school) if he could help me rearrange the tables. Within about 30 seconds, he had gathered several of his classmates and they jumped right in to rearrange tables, wipe them down and get extra tables out of the way. (Then they served us a fantastic lunch later that day even though one of their ovens was on the blink!) An amazing group of kids who have clearly learned that “life happens,” you go with Plan B, and everything turns out OK if you don’t panic.

Here’s another example: I was asked by a local businessman for a poster to display at the upcoming Rotary/Kiwanis Golf Outing to advertise a new scholarship program for Logan County students called “Logan County Promise.” Again, I didn’t give Mr. Carrig and his Printing & Graphics students much time; but they came through and Jonathan and Jake delivered a beautiful poster designed by Jennifer and printed by Jonathan right on deadline for me Friday! I can’t wait to have the poster displayed at the golf event—I’ll be proud to say OHP students produced it! And then, I gave Mr. Carrig and his students an even shorter deadline (about one day?) for a banner we needed for a “photo op” at our new North Campus in Kenton. Again—a quality product produced and delivered on-time and with a smile by his student Breanna! (See Shane's news release about our North Campus on our website for a photo.)

Thursday, we had our State Board of Education member, Ann Jacobs, visit our beautiful campus (see photo at right). She lives in the Apollo Career Center district, so we needed to get her here to show her how much better OHP is! (Just kidding to all our friends at Apollo!) But she did rave about our beautiful campus, our advanced technology, our amazing students, and the two Lead Ambassadors who hosted her on the tour: Shana and McCay. I’m thrilled that now, as she fulfills her duties on the State Board of Education, she can now actually visualize the quality education we offer at OHP and the importance of supporting our programs.

I guess I share all of these examples to express my appreciation, because I know not many superintendents are as spoiled as I am when it comes to always being able to call on staff and students to “get the job done” and know that it will not just be done—it will be done with excellence. My thanks to all of you.

Last Thursday several of our staff members and students (both high-school and adult) visited Columbus for the Ohio ACTE Legislative Luncheon. They arrived in Columbus at 9:30 a.m. and took a special hour tour of the State House; then they had lunch at the Renaissance Hotel along with a special program recognizing career-technical education. Joining them for lunch was our State Representative Dave Burke (see photo at right). Representative Burke is a huge supporter of CTE, and we’re so glad he had an opportunity to meet our students and hear their stories!

Last Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day, and we celebrated with our office support staff on Thursday with a salad luncheon prepared by the administration. We don’t claim to be experts at the cooking part, but we sure have fun putting this together for those who make our jobs so much easier and keep us sane! I hope you’ll all express your thanks to all of our administrative professionals for being the “glue” that holds our district together!

Let me back up to Saturday a week ago when we hosted our Prom. Once again, a beautiful event that came off without a hitch! Many, many thanks to Angie Walls, Stacy Colwell, and all the other staff who put countless hours into planning this event (I won’t try to name all staff; I know I’ll miss some!) And thanks also to the student committee who worked tirelessly to make this a special event for their classmates. The “Masquerade” theme was really neat, and the students rose to the occasion with some beautiful dresses, masks, and face paintings! And, of course, their behavior made us proud. I hear every year from the photographer, the police we hire for security, and from the DJ what great students we have. Never hurts to hear it—and we should never take it for granted!

This week will no doubt be another busy one. Have a great week as we wrap up April and head into May!

April 9, 2010

2010-04-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

Well, first of all, welcome back! I hope you all had a wonderful, restful spring break. And what a treat the weather was—right here in Ohio! Just wanted to get a quick TGIF posting up about a few of this week’s happenings.

Several of you have shared what a hectic week it’s been getting back into full gear. Now we’re into that after-spring-break “blur”—but we’ll pull it all off as we always do. The students are so excited about their achievements this time of year, it’s really fun to watch. I hope you’re all taking time to read the press releases and view the photos of our student achievers!

Tuesday evening the Ohio School Boards Association Southwest Region Executive Board hosted it’s spring meeting on our campus, which is at the far north edge of the region! I appreciate that Anne Reames, our Board President, facilitated hosting the meeting here so that we could show off our facilities and our students. Our Lead Ambassadors gave our guests campus tours on that beautiful evening, and our Culinary Arts students treated them to a delicious dinner. I never hesitate to accept these opportunities to bring visitors to OHP because I’m confident they’ll have an amazing experience!

Wednesday morning I attended a “Day of Hope” ceremony sponsored by Logan County Children’s Services in recognition of victims of child abuse. Very sobering. The message I took away is that we in public education have such a huge responsibility to keep a watchful eye on our students—even the “big” ones—and report any suspected abuse. I know you all do a great job of that and provide a supportive environment for our students every day. Keep it up—it matters.

It was announced this past week that the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce has hired a new Executive Director. As a member of the Chamber Board, I have been aware “on the fringes” of the search and selection process; but I was not at liberty to share. What I can share with you now is that the new Executive Director, Fred Burkhardt, hails from Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Fred has extensive chamber and economic development background, and he is very excited about his move to Logan County. You should know that part of the interview process was to have Fred tour our campus on a Saturday and learn about our role in workforce development. He was amazed at what he saw as I walked him through several of our labs (Wisconsin has nothing like the career-tech structure Ohio has). When he returned this week to be formally hired by the Board, he again expressed his eagerness to work with OHP in his new position!

I hope you have a great weekend—warmer temperatures are on the way back!

March 26, 2010

2010-03-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Ironically, today’s “surprise” snow day falls exactly one month after the last “surprise” one we had—Friday, February 26. I had really hoped we were finished with all of this—who knew?!? I guess I jinxed it when I bid winter good riddance last week.

So, have you been waiting for this Friday for a while? I know most of you will be getting some much-deserved time off next week. The timing is perfect—you’ll need to recharge your batteries as we get into the “end-of-the-year avalanche” that’s ahead!

With the exception of the weather today, this has been such a great week. I hope you’re following Shane’s news releases to keep up with the many events around our district and student successes.

This week started with the “grand opening” and dedication of our new paint booth in Auto Collision on Monday morning. We had a great turnout of program advisory committee members, local auto industry representatives, and contractors who worked on the project. And, of course, our Sloan Trustees, who made it all possible. Bob Newland, Auto Collision teacher, and his students did a terrific job of demonstrating the capabilities of this new booth—what a huge improvement over the old one! They’ve been very, very patient as we worked through the permitting, licensing, and construction process for this project (nothing’s ever easy in public schools!) But Bob told me Monday, “I’m at the top of my game now!” No doubt. A sign hangs on the side of the paint booth which reads, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” I’m going to assume it was Bob who put that up as a reminder to his students how grateful they should be for this technology and to remind them to take good care of it. What an appropriate message. I took a video of the students at work in the new booth, but the file was too large and I couldn’t get it transferred from my phone (still working on those technology skills!) But Shane’s coverage of the event and his photos/videos on our website are much better anyway—check them out.

Wednesday evening’s Board Meeting was just chock-full of recognition for students as well as programs. The posting on our website gives full coverage, but in addition to recognizing our Students of the Month, our Information Technology team presented their video on Dr. Earl Sloan as a “Local Hero” (this is the video they took to state competition), we presented Dave Duff, local building developer who partners with us on our Construction Trades teachers on the project house, with a proclamation from State Representative Dave Burke commending him for the construction of the Touchstone Energy Home last school year, and we heard from Donna Atkinson, Business Teacher at our Graham satellite, about the High School of Business Program, which gives our students incredible credit articulation opportunities. We also got an update on the latest competitive events winners in all of our Career-Tech Student Organizations—the list is growing as events take place! Be sure to follow the news releases and our website to see our winners and extend well-deserved congratulations!

Thursday I attended another Ohio School Funding Advisory Council. Not much new to report. The subcommittee working on CTE funding is still pretty much entrenched in learning about CTE and studying the history of CTE funding. It’s been good, though, to be in the room and answer questions as they come up, and even to cite specific programs, delivery models, and student opportunities. One member did commend us, though, for the data we have to show student achievement both while in our programs and after completion; and he asked why our model of contextualized learning isn’t used across all of education. Hmmm . . . good question!!

For those of you who are taking time off next week, have a wonderful spring break! Travel safely, rest up, and we’ll see you back here for the “home stretch”!

March 19, 2010

2010-03-19T05:56:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of winter—good riddance! Spring officially arrives tomorrow, and hasn’t it been a beautiful arrival? I think this spring will be one of the most welcome we’ve had in a long time—we’ve really earned it for making it through this challenging winter. I think I’ll celebrate this weekend by taking the scraper out of the car and putting the snow shovel away!

Thanks to all of you who attended the School Finance 101 session on Monday. The financial future for OHP and all schools I nothing less than uncertain these days. But, as I shared with the group who attended, Ohio Hi-Point has operated from a position of financial strength for 35+ years, and we’ll work hard to protect that financial strength. Will it involve some difficult decisions? Certainly. But in the end we’ll position ourselves to continue to offer those programs that benefit the most students--which is, after all, our mission. We will be posting the data that was shared during the session on our common drive so that you can view it if you were unable to attend—I’ll notify you as soon as that is available. And Eric and I welcome your questions.

Tuesday evening I attended the Ohio School Boards Association Southwest Region Spring Conference at Miami Valley CTC. Over 250 school board members, superintendents, and other school officials were in attendance. Congratulations to the Ohio Hi-Point Board of Education for receiving the Silver level of the Effective School Board Award! This award was based on a self-assessment of board effectiveness on 26 criteria. It’s a pleasure to work with a board that continually strives to get better, and this assessment helped us identify some areas to work on. Next year we’re going for the gold!

Some of our board members were also recognized at the conference for years of service: Susie Bline, Mechanicsburg (15 years) and Joe McKirahan, Logan Co. ESC (10 years). That’s a lot of years of service to our public schools, and we are very grateful to Susie and Joe for giving so generously of their time, energy, and commitment to students!

Wednesday evening five of our best and brightest participated in the American Association of University Women’s Trivia Bee, a fundraiser for local scholarships. “Team Hi-Point” consisted of Caleb Lang (Social Studies teacher), Melissa Sizemore (Math teacher), Benji Billman (Math teacher), JoAnn Ventresco (Language Arts teacher), and Doug Limes (Building Maintenance teacher). A photo of this stellar team is at right. Our team finished 7th out of 28 teams from Logan County. Congratulations Team Hi-Point for an outstanding finish! And thanks for putting in the extra time and effort to support a great cause.

Thursday I attended the National School Public Relations Ohio Spring Conference and had the privilege of speaking on a panel around the topic of social networking in schools. (Thanks to Shane Haggerty for the invitation!) I’m really proud of OHP for being out in front using social networking both for marketing and to allow our students to publish for a “global audience.” I should say I’m really proud of our staff for being forward-thinking enough to support this effort. I always say I’m a “late-comer” to these technologies. I was one of the last people to use e-mail, to get cable TV, to get a cell phone, to blog, etc. Personally, I have to see an assured benefit for the cost. And while I’m still not active with social networking, many of you have demonstrated the usefulness of these tools to reach our students and allow them to express themselves. And you’ve done it while setting high standards of behavior and holding students accountable. What a valuable lesson for them to learn before they enter the workplace or higher education. Thank you for being champions of what can be and not letting "later-comers" like me hold you back!

Enjoy your weekend, celebrate springtime, and get some well-deserved R&R!

March 12, 2010

2010-03-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

Wow, did this week fly by! So many activities this time of year—and many more to come.

Monday I was invited to present to the State Board of Education about the challenges facing career-technical education and the support we need from them. Of course, funding was at the top of the list. I shared several stories about our students’ successes, the variety of students we serve, and their many pathways to careers. I asked the State Board to assure funding for CTE that will allow us to continue to provide quality programming. You may have heard or read that Ohio is a finalist for the federal Race to the Top funding for educational innovation. Unfortunately, career-technical centers were not eligible for this funding as a separate educational entity. However, if Ohio is a winner, the State Board will have discretion over a portion of the funds. So I also asked them to consider us as they determine how those discretionary funds will be allocated. After I presented, we had about a 30-minute discussion—and I wish you all could have been there to hear the many positive comments they had about our career-technical education system in Ohio. They clearly recognize the asset that we are—one Board Member referred to us as the “crown jewel” of career-technical education in the nation—and they were pleased to hear that we are sending more and more of our students to technical schools, colleges, apprenticeship programs, and other post-secondary training. They were also very impressed with the number of college credits our students can earn through articulation and hours they can earn toward apprenticeships. I was very proud on behalf of all of you! Our next step is to have each career center invite the State Board Member from their district to visit the facility and see for themselves. We’ll be extending an invitation to our Board Member, Ann Jacobs from Lima, to visit us soon—I know she’ll be amazed!

Monday evening I attended the Bellefontaine Rotary Honors Dessert where eight of our students were recognized for maintaining a 3.5 GPA throughout high school. Those students were Heather Burk, Daniel McCully, Breanna Schrader, Ashley Kuch, Robert Smayda, Katie King, Mark Salmons and David Thatcher. (See photo of Heather, Daniel, Breanna, and Ashley at right.) It’s neat that our students are recognized both by their home schools and by OHP for their accomplishments—they put our school’s name “in the news” in such a positive way! Congratulations to all these students for this tremendous accomplishment.

Tuesday morning I attended the Logan County RTC Appreciation Breakfast. We were recognized as a business partner for providing a site for job “tryouts” for adults with disabilities and also for providing work for those who work in the adult workshop. (This organization does all of our bulk shredding.) We’re proud to partner with such an organization that provides such great opportunities for these adults!

Wednesday morning, Leadership Logan County held its monthly session on our campus. This group has held its “Education Day” at OHP for several years now, and we’re always glad to educate them about our programs and send them out as ambassadors within the community to spread the good word. Our students provided tours and demonstrated skills—no doubt they left impressed! Thanks to those of you who welcomed them into your labs.

Wednesday evening was our Annual Appreciation Banquet for our advisory committees and other community supporters. I counted them up—we have 52 advisory committees among our main campus, satellite, and adult education programs! We had over 260 in attendance—that’s a lot of expertise dedicated to bettering our programs! Daniel Meeks of our OHP/Kenton FFA chapter was our keynote speaker, and he did an outstanding job of outlining the benefits of career-tech and thanking our supporters. And we also made several award presentations—be sure to check out our website for photos!

Thursday I attended a Report Card Task Force organized through the Ohio Department of Education and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators. Actually, I sat in on the high-school subcommittee as the career-tech representative. A superintendent from a K-12 district commented at length that he feels we owe it to our students to take accountability for their success after high school, not just up to the point where we hand them a diploma. I thought to myself, “Hmmm. We do that in CTE.” I did have an opportunity to share with them our performance measures (including follow-up!) and how we might integrate those measures into the local report card as it is redesigned. We’ll see. This committee will continue to meet next school year, and probably I’ll have another member of the Career-Tech Superintendents organization sit in. But I’ll keep you posted on their work!

I noticed one sign of spring has arrived—worms all over the sidewalk! Another sign of spring arrives this weekend with the arrival of daylight savings. Don’t forget to set your clocks up one hour this Saturday night—and enjoy that extra daylight in the evening. Have a great weekend!

March 5, 2010

2010-03-05T17:52:00.000-08:00

Sunlight after 6 p.m.—how great is that! I think the sunshine this week has done us all a world of good. (A landscaper told me today the Farmer’s Almanac is calling for 30 inches of snow in March, but I’m going to assume he’s talking about North Dakota!)

I’m going to rush spring a little bit and say we’re already well into it with all of our spring banquets, competitive events, and awards programs. There will be lots of news to share regarding these events in coming weeks!

Last Tuesday I attended the Hardin County Chamber & Business Alliance Annual Dinner and had the privilege of seeing our Ridgemont board member, Robert White, receive the Citizen of the Year Award for his work in securing passage of a levy for the County Extension Office and for his support of 4-H programs. Bob told me he was just in the right place at the right time; I told him he was also doing the right things! Congratulations, Bob—we’re proud to have you serve on our board!

This past Monday I had the real treat of sharing a tour of Benny’s Pizza in Marysville (and lunch!) with our Culinary Arts students. I originally had to decline the offer due to my schedule; but when the lunch was rescheduled due to weather they invited me again, and I was able to stop in on my way to a meeting in Columbus. I’ve always been amazed with the customer service at this local favorite, and the tour was really an eye opener. They crank out a lot of great food from very small space in an old building! The kids were great—they were well behaved (of course), asked great questions, ate heartily, and made me feel like an honored guest. Thanks, CUA, for a great experience!

Wednesday I visited our Marysville site and our South Campus and met our Practical Nursing students in those facilities. At Marysville, we have one group about three months away from graduation, and they’re clearly very proud and very excited! Another class there has just begun, and those students seem very determined to take on the challenge and work for a better future. At South Campus we’ve started our very first PN class, and they seem so appreciative of the opportunity. I so admire these adults who embark on such a challenging course of study, and I know the payoff will be huge for them when they graduate. I encouraged them to “keep their eye on the prize” and hang in there when things get tough. I look forward to seeing those same smiling faces at their graduation!

Wednesday we had Chinese students from Urbana University visit our campus. I wasn’t able to be here when they were on campus, but Associate Director Shelly Swaney tells me they were intrigued and amazed by the choices our students have in career-technical training. In their country, their career pathway is decided for them at a fairly young age. As she shared with me their comments, it made me wonder if our students realize how very fortunate they are to have the choices they do. This kind of interaction is so rich for our students—and we look forward to hosting visiting students again!

As the week draws to a close, wasn't it great to have five full days of school? Maybe exhausting, too. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that you have an opportunity to get out and enjoy the sunshine and warmer temperatures!

February 19, 2010

2010-02-19T09:53:00.000-08:00

What is this? Two days in a row with no delays or cancellations? Normal feels good, doesn’t it? And what is that big shiny thing up in the sky? It’s nice to need sunglasses again! As we get into all of our spring events, competitions, and testing, I know it’s tough to get everything rearranged and caught up. I appreciate your flexibility and patience in making it all happen for our students!

Having people stranded at home certainly has made me appreciate the convenience of technology in this day and age. Our AlertNow phone-calling system sure beats the old “phone tree,” and it allows us to notify students, staff, and home school superintendents and transportation coordinators immediately with a single phone call. (And if I goof up the message or if my dog insists on shaking his head and jingling his tags right in the middle of recording, I can always re-record it before I send it!) Our technology also allows the administrative team and many of you to just “keep on working” whether we’re in the office or not. We’ve gotten used to shooting messages and documents back and forth electronically and holding phone meetings! Makes me wonder how we ever got by without it. Many thanks to our Technology Department for keeping us up and running!

It’s been a short week so I’ll have a short blog. But I do want to share one great experience with students that I had on Thursday. I had the opportunity to visit the Career-Based Intervention students from Waynesfield-Goshen and Upper Scioto Valley as they practiced for the upcoming Knowledge Bowl Competition. The two teams squared off and mastered some really tough questions in the areas of language arts, history, geography, and several others. It’s obvious they’ve been working very hard--and they’re ready to compete! They’ll be attending the Regional competition first and then (I’m confident) advancing on to State. I wish I had thought to get a photo—but we’ll get some from their competitions. We wish them well—go Team Hi-Point!

There’s not a lot positive to share on the school funding front lately, but I do want to share some good news we received last week. As I’ve shared in the last several months, career-technical funding is being studied by a subcommittee of the Ohio School Finance Advisory Council. Up until last week, career-tech did not have any representation on that subcommittee, and we were very concerned about their ability to understand our program delivery and funding needs. We have learned that two career-tech professionals have been added to that subcommittee: John Boggess, Superintendent at Miami Valley CTC (and a former career-tech treasurer), and Dave Plahuta, Treasurer at Polaris Career Center. These two gentlemen bring a wealth of knowledge and background in career-tech to the subcommittee, and we’re confident they’ll guide the group toward an effective funding system that will protect our programming well into the future.

Enjoy your weekend and stay safe!

February 12, 2010

2010-02-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

Well, let’s see. What have we been up to the last couple of weeks? Watching it snow, watching it snow, and watching it snow some more. I’m mindful of what these interruptions in schedules do to everyone’s work, and I know playing catch-up is difficult. But I also know you’re up to it and we’ll recover quickly as we always do. And I think winters like this make us appreciate spring even more when it comes! I had to chuckle at a quote I read yesterday: “There’s one good thing about snow. It makes your lawn look as nice as your neighbor’s.” As someone who took care of a couple of acres by myself for many years (and not always very well), I can appreciate that!

I want to applaud our Facilities & Grounds staff who did an amazing job of keeping the heat and water on and clearing (and re-clearing, and re-clearing) our campus during the one-two punch Mother Nature threw at us this past week. You almost have to have been here to see what they dealt with. To give you an idea, I’ve included a photo of just one of the many massive snowdrifts they dealt with on campus. Thanks to a great team for a great job!

This past weekend, I attended the second in a series of three weekend seminars in the Cleveland area. The focus of this month’s seminar was technology in education, and it was really good information. First, I immediately recognized how very fortunate we are at Ohio Hi-Point to have the resources we do to put amazing technology into the hands of our students. We’re ahead of the game. I also thought about the many challenges we have faced and overcome related to the freedom we give our students. But it’s a constant struggle, balancing freedom with protection and responsibility. One of the speakers recommended a book that I’ve ordered and will be reading as soon as I get it, 21st Century Skills – Learning for Life in Our Times. I’ll let you know what I think. And I invite you to read along with me; I’d be anxious to hear your thoughts.

Since I haven’t done much lately but watch weather reports and try to reschedule meetings and activities, let me share some of what others have been doing at OHP!

On January 29, the high school held its TAD Incentive Day for the second nine weeks. Students who had perfect attendance and no discipline or tardies were treated to a special Movie Day. The cafeteria was set up like a movie theater and the students were treated to an array of snacks to enjoy before the movie. The movie shown was 17 Again. After the movie, the students were involved in drawings for prizes such as Wal-Mart gift cards, tubing passes for Mad River Mountain, and Burger King gift cards. In addition, the committee tossed out an assortment of t-shirts to the crowd. (See photo at right.) Our students were great achievers for 2nd quarter: 86 students met the criteria and 60 participated in this event. Congratulations to them all!

Sometimes we need to be reminded by our own of all the great things Ohio Hi-Point does for students. When I shared in a recent blog about the Career-Tech Legislative Conference the administrators and I attended, I received the following from Rex Kear, our Career-Based Intervention teacher at Upper Scioto Valley:

Kim, I knew once you started to talk to our legislative group that Ohio Hi Point Career Center would be a no brainer. Just think about scratching the surface: Vocational, 2 plus 2 , Dual Credit, articulation agreements, the Federal Gov’t putting money into community colleges because that is the way to get jobs, jobs, jobs…85% of jobs will come from associate degrees. My students even though they are 9th and 10th graders get excited about tech-prep, dual credits, articulation agreements, and associate degrees. You invest 2 years of college--say $20,000--almost guarantee a job you like (career) and get paid $45,000 with benefits. In today’s economy to have that much potential should get everyone excited. Especially when it is already in place and is flexible enough to fit the changes of the near future. Well I just got carried away. Thanks for all you do for kids! Go Team Go!

Rex, you did an amazing job of condensing into one paragraph the many benefits of career-tech and our impact on the workforce and economy! Thanks so much for sharing your kudos with your peers.

By the way, one result of our visits with legislators in Columbus is that Representative Dave Burke toured our campus on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, with our delayed schedule, he didn’t get to see students in action. But he and his aide Kinsey Jolliff certainly got to see first-hand the amazing facility and technology that we are so fortunate to provide to our students (see photo at right). Representative Burke, Kinsey, and I talked at length after the tour and I was able to share with them my concerns about our current and future funding levels. While I expressed that we will be responsible and make good decisions to position our District to weather these difficult times, I also expressed that we will need his support in advocating for equitable funding as the Ohio School Finance Advisory Council studies our funding system. He’s on board!

Senator Karen Gillmore is scheduling a visit for later this month (she wanted to make sure to be here when students are in session). I’ll let you know when we get that visit scheduled--be ready to have your students show their stuff!

I hope you’ll have time to enjoy the opening of the Olympic Winter Games this weekend--be sure to root for Bellefontaine’s own Louie Vito in the snowboarding competition on Wednesday!! Enjoy your extended weekend, share the love on Valentine's Day, make some snow angels (that’s a winter sport!), and stay safe.

January 29, 2010

2010-01-29T08:15:00.000-08:00

OK, does anyone know what happened to January? It certainly got away from me! Some good news you can hold onto, though—someone told me today only 50 days until spring. Bring it on!

Hope you’ve had a great, productive week. A couple of highlights from my week:

Wednesday and Thursday the administrative team, Shane, and I attended the annual Ohio ACTE Legislative Conference in Columbus (while Jon and Glenn stayed back to hold down the fort—thanks!) Seems what we hear most about today is the need for jobs, jobs, jobs. Our visits with legislators gave us the opportunity to stress to them how career-technical education in Ohio can be part of the solution to the jobs crisis. One visit was especially neat: When Joel and I visited Senator Gillmore’s office, the Senator wasn’t available, so we met with her aide Erica. Once Erica connected who we were, she went on to tell us how much she values career-tech and how she feels more students (including some she graduated with) should take advantage of what we have to offer. She recognized how critical our training programs are to Ohio’s economic recovery. Wow—we hardly had to say a word! If you’ve ever talked with legislative aides before, you know that they’re the “gatekeepers” of information and filter what gets to legislators. So I sometimes actually prefer to meet with them! Erica is one contact we will definitely cultivate. And as we work to stay in touch with our legislators, we will be calling on you to share your success stories and provide data that demonstrates that we get the job done!

During the conference, we also heard some really good speakers on legislation, funding, and the economy. Not entirely the most uplifting messages, but it was gratifying to have legislators, ODE leadership, and business people validate the training we provide to high-school and adult students. We’ve got some tough times and tough decisions ahead of us, but we also have some real opportunities to position ourselves well for the educational reforms being driven by the economy. I’ll have more to share about that at our District Update on February12.

On Wednesday evening we held our Board Meeting and welcomed seven new Board Members. We took a little extra time to educate them on our operations, and I could sense from their reactions that they are really amazed at the many facets of our organization. I’m sure it’s a little overwhelming at first, but we’ll invest time to make sure we get them oriented and up to speed. They’ll be attending orientation sessions the middle of next week, and I look forward to touring them through some of our labs and showing off our students!

We’re heavily into recruiting season, and new opportunities are opening up to us all the time! Last week, Marysville High School hosted a Career Fair and gave our teachers and students an opportunity to come in and share about their programs (see photo at right). This is partnership at its best—making all students aware of opportunities available—and we appreciate Marysville opening their doors to us!

I have to share kind of a cute story about a group of our students. I came out of a meeting in the Inn on Tuesday morning, and I noticed a young man among a group in the Commons with his hat on. I went over and asked him to please remove it (which he did, no problem). I also told them I was glad they made it to school safely in the snow that morning. I have some small bandages on my face where I had some lesions removed. One of the kids—being uninhibited as they tend to be—asked, “What happened to your face?” I had honestly forgotten the bandages were there, so I’m not sure how I came up with this so quickly; but I said, “This is an example of facial piercing gone bad.” He looked pretty shocked, and I could see his wheels spinning wondering why I would try to pierce my face where these bandages are. I laughed and told him I was just kidding—and I reminded the whole group to wear their sunscreen.

Isn’t Groundhog Day coming up? I never can remember when it is or whether we want the little guy to see his shadow or not. Anyway, have a great weekend and hopefully we’ll get to see our shadows!

January 15, 2010

2010-01-15T08:38:00.000-08:00

Well, this has been a sad week. We’ve seen massive loss of life overseas and the loss of one very special life closer to home. As Shelly Swaney put it so well during her invocation at our All-Boards Banquet, “Our hearts are heavy.” The loss of a young life is always so heartbreaking. But if anything positive came of the loss of our student, Ryan Reynolds, in an auto accident on Wednesday afternoon, it gave us a chance to demonstrate how important it is to come together at a time like this. I am so very proud of our staff and students for the way you handled this tragedy. Upon receiving the news, the “machine” of my administrative team went into action to arrange support for students and staff alike. And when you all came together on Thursday morning, it was obvious you cared deeply for those who were hurting, wrapping yourselves around students (and each other)--both figuratively and literally.

I also want to express my deep appreciation for all the support and offers for assistance from our partner school staff and local clergy in providing grief counseling for those who were in need. I was touched that they offered without being asked. I even received offers of assistance from other nearby career centers if needed. It’s a good reminder that, in the educational community, we really are family. Our hearts go out to Ryan’s family and the families of the other boys who were injured. Please continue to lift them up.

On a positive note, we have a new addition to the OHP family—sort of. The construction of the new paint booth in our Auto Collision Technology Program is finally underway! (See photo at right). Bob Newland, instructor, and his students have been very patient as we’ve worked through the lengthy process of obtaining permits, contracting out work, and retro-fitting this new, state-of-the-art booth into an older building. We’re very privileged to have been able to purchase this booth through Sloan Foundation Funds to give our current and future students access to the very best technology in the field. Looks like it’s going to be a beauty—and I know Bob and his students will be anxious to demonstrate once it’s up and running!

The work of the Ohio School Funding Advisory Council is underway to determine how career-technical education will be funded in the next biennium. The Ohio Association of Career-Technical Superintendents has formed a Steering Committee of superintendents and treasurers, and we have begun meeting to draft a funding model, based on the Governor’s evidence-based model, that we feel will serve career-tech adequately and fairly. It’s going to be an arduous task; but we feel it’s important to propose a model based on the expertise of the group rather than having one imposed on us by those with no in-depth knowledge of career-technical programming or operations. I’ll keep you posted on our progress!

January is School Board Recognition Month, and Wednesday evening we held our annual All-Boards Banquet to thank the board members from our 14 partner school districts and 3 county ESC’s. We had a great turnout and good fellowship. Keynote speaker Rick Lewis, Executive Director of the Ohio School Boards Association, gave us an entertaining and enlightening presentation on the many reasons we should be thankful to our school boards. If you have an opportunity to contact a school board member, either from our board or the board where you live, please take a moment to thank them for their service to education.

Speaking of school board members, Ohio Hi-Point welcomes seven new school board members this month:

* Doug Lassiter, Marysville
* Robert White, Ridgemont
* Brian Wright, Riverside
* William McDaniel, Tirad
* Brian Moots, Upper Scioto Valley
* Tom Brookhart, Waynesfield-Goshen
* Chuck Buck, West Liberty-Salem

We thank these members for the extra time they have committed to serving our district, and we look forward to having them learn about the many wonderful opportunities we make available to students of all ages!

Have a great extended weekend, enjoy the warm(er) weather and sunshine, and be good to yourselves.

January 8, 2010

2010-01-08T06:49:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year and welcome back to all of you! And welcome back to our Ohio winter weather. To me, this week seems to have lasted a month with catching up after the holiday break and dealing with the uncertainty of the weather. But no doubt it will be a downhill slide (no weather pun intended!) from now until the end of the school year with the many activities in our compact schedules.

I heard someone on the radio say that we have finished the first decade of this century. Wow—that really puts the passage of time into perspective! Remember all the fuss over Y2K? Seems like yesterday--and now we’re 1/10 of the way to Y21K.

It’s so nice to see our students back—and I really think they’re glad to be back. I’ve had a couple of them giving me advice on when to put us on a delay or cancel school (“as often as possible” is pretty much their philosophy!) One young man asked me every time he saw me on Monday, “Hey, did you catch that weather report?” And some of our very dedicated Adult Basic Literacy Education students were here early on Wednesday in spite of the delay. Joan Manns in Adult Education found them a nice, warm place to work until their classes started. Thanks to all of you for your flexibility with the altered schedules. I know it’s a nuisance—and this is likely just the beginning!

Speaking of dedicated, as I drove in early on Wednesday, I passed one of our staff members who was here even earlier. Tom Carrig, Printing & Graphics teacher, was out trudging through the snow to snap photographs of the beautiful frosted trees for next year’s OHP Christmas card. It really isbeautiful with the frosted trees and blanket of snow, and I can hardly wait to see what Tom and his students come up with!

Monday evening I had an opportunity to meet in a small group with Congressman Jim Jordan at one of his local stops in Logan County. He focused primarily on the Health Care Bill, but I did have an opportunity to share with him some of our new programs, the adult workforce training opportunities we’ve made available to displaced workers, and our expansion into Champaign and Union Counties. He said, “Wow, a lot has changed since I was last there!” He said he’d love to come see it all, so we will work to set that up with his legislative aides. I’ll let you know so you can be ready to show off when he comes!

Well, I’m headed to the Cleveland area this weekend for a workshop. Nothing like picking the worst weather in the state to drive into! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend—stay warm and be careful out there!

December 22, 2009

2009-12-22T06:54:00.000-08:00

This will be a short blog, but I wanted to take an opportunity to wish you all a wonderful holiday season!

This is our first full day of winter, and we had some slick roads this morning. Glad to see everyone made it in safely. And, the good news is, yesterday was the shortest day of the year and now the days are getting longer!

Do you remember wondering as a child how Santa and his reindeer made it to everyone’s house on Christmas Eve? Reportedly the top speed of a reindeer is 32 miles per hour; and at that speed, it would take one 778 hours to fly around the globe. So OK, if you do the math, it just doesn’t work. So just accept it with the awe and wonder of a child and believe anyway!

Enjoy some restful time with family and friends, and travel safely. See you in the New Year!

December 18, 2009

2009-12-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

These weeks are going by so quickly—I let one get away from me last week without blogging. So there’s a lot to share!

First, I want to update you on the school funding front. I received the following communication from State Superintendent Delisle just this morning:

As I am certain you have heard by now, Governor Ted Strickland and the General Assembly have come to an agreement on how to address the $851 million dollar shortfall that has been talked and written about so much during the last few weeks. The final language of the legislation, House Bill 318, is still being crafted, but we do know certain aspects of the bill that are not expected to change.

House Bill 318 addresses the shortfall by freezing state income tax rates at the 2008 level, postponing the final 4.2 percent reduction. The tax revenues made available through this postponement will allow the state to avoid any cuts to education funding.

Good news, of course. Hopefully we’re not dodging this bullet only to have a bigger one come at us later! As to career-tech funding within the current budget, various groups are meeting (which is taking me to Columbus quite a bit) as we work to influence the legislative process of the next biennium. As you know, our state funding is essentially flat-funded for this year and next. During that time, career-tech funding will be studied by a School Funding Advisory Council. The Ohio Association of Career-Technical Superintendents has joined forces with the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA--representing all districts in Ohio) to formulate our “talking points” on the value of career-tech and the need to provide adequate funding. Also, we are working with the Board of Regents, which governs higher education and since January 1 of this year has governed our Adult Education programs.

While we still have no representation on the School Funding Study Council, we are working along with BASA with those who have been appointed to the committee to inform them of the unique structure and costs associated with CTE. We are also joining together with the Ohio Association of Career-Technical Education (the professional organization which represents all CTE staff in Ohio) to secure joint legal representation so that we can take a strong, unified voice to our legislators. And finally, we continue to work with our liaison to the Board of Regents to clarify our position related to adult education teacher licensure, program structure, and funding. These are challenging, interesting times—and we’re going to need your help with grassroots efforts to inform the decision makers. Please be prepared to provide those wonderful student success stories as needed to substantiate the importance of the work you all do daily!

Now, closer to home! Last Wednesday afternoon we hosted the regular meeting of the Champaign Co. Community Improvement Corporation at our South Campus. A good part of the meeting was spent on the importance of community partners working together to strengthen the community during these difficult times. And so, it was very gratifying when I gave the group a tour after the meeting to be able to point out several specific examples of how our partnerships with higher education, community health care, local business owners, and other K-12 educational partners have made our satellite programs in Champaign County possible. They were extremely impressed and grateful to see the educational opportunities being made available to high-school students and adults close to home in their community.

You have probably noticed the Workforce Transition Center located in the house to the right as you pull in our front drive on Main Campus. This center is run by the Logan Co. Department of Jobs and Family Services and provides transition services to displaced workers in the county. It has been a tremendous win-win partnership for us to have them on our campus—DJFS reports that they have had 2,634 visits since they opened this past June! As they work with adults who are obviously very anxious to move forward with their employment, DJFS is able to literally walk them across the street to our Adult Basic Literacy Education office and/or our Adult Education office for the specific next level of training they need. We’ve seen many success stories come out of this partnership, and we’re thrilled that the Department of Jobs & Family Services has received an additional grant to extend their services on our campus through next June. We look forward to many more happy endings for our citizens!

Our annual Board Christmas Dinner was held this past Wednesday preceding the Board Meeting, and our Culinary Arts students outdid themselves again with a fabulous 5-course dinner! And our Professional Turf and Landscaping students assisted with cutting greens for decorations. This has been a great tradition which spoils our board members a bit to show them how much we appreciate them and also gives our students a chance to showcase their skills. Many thanks to the Culinary students who gave up their Wednesday evening to give us such a treat! I also want to publicly express our thanks to our out-going board members for their many years of service to our students. You have made our progress possible!

* Mark Chiles, Waynesfield-Goshen, 4 Years of Service
* Bill Cook, Upper Scioto Valley, 4 Years of Service
* Scott Johnson, Marysville, 4 Years of Service
* Steve Lapp, West Liberty-Salem, 2 Years of Service
* Dean McCullough, Ridgemont, 2 Years of Service
* Bob Sanford, Riverside, 12 Years of Service
* Pat Wagner, Graham, 2 Years of Service
* Brad Wallace, Triad, 3 Years of Service

Thursday evening I had the privilege of attending the Adult Education Health Information Technology winter graduation. Hearing of the accomplishments of these graduates made me realize how rigorous this program is. Graduating students must pass the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist exam (which requires advanced skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint) and certification exams in medical transcription, medical coding & billing, and advanced medical office procedures. I sat in admiration of these adults who embarked on this challenge a little later in life than most. I’m sure there were times when it was difficult to keep going and have faith that their efforts would pay off. But as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.” These graduates can now look back at the “whole staircase” they’ve climbed and be very proud; and they can look forward to the future confident that their new skills will lead to rewarding careers.

Let me brag a little more on our students—first Animal Technology. As Robin Curly, instructor, shared with staff a couple of weeks ago, the Humane Society Serving Logan County had an strep infection outbreak which was really stretching their resources to the limits. Our students quickly organized a fund-raiser and animal-supplies drive and asked staff and students for donations. Robin shared with me that the students collected $450 as well as a van full of supplies to deliver this past Tuesday! What a great project and a great way for all of us to give back.

Our student Lead Ambassadors are involved in so many great projects, it’s hard to keep up with all of them. But I do want to share with you some photos from one of their recent ventures—Christmas at the North Pole in downtown Bellefontaine on (at right). The following Student Ambassadors volunteered their time Friday evening, December 4, to make this community event a success: Christine Samples, McKay Young, Mikki Pickering, Daniel McCulley, and Shelby Shafer. Many thanks to them for representing us so well and for the joy they brought to many children’s lives!

Several other groups of students have been involved in wonderful community-service projects this holiday season. Please watch for Shane's news releases to read about them and see photos!

Our students are apparently gaining quite a reputation within our Tech Prep consortia (a good reputation, that is!) Deb Wortman, Satellite Director, shared with me:

“I attended the Tech Prep Executive Committee meeting at Clark State this morning. Mary helped with the Health program there yesterday and sought me out to tell me about our students. OHP was one of three schools attending, and Mary said there was a distinct difference between OHP students and the other students attending. She said the OHP students were so professional and well behaved. She was very impressed.”

Thanks for sharing that, Deb. We’re impressed also—and we need to let our students know that their “difference” is noticed!

Have a wonderful weekend!

December 4, 2009

2009-12-04T09:52:00.000-08:00

Another busy week under our belts! (And in many cases probably some extra weight under our belts from all the Thanksgiving feasting—but well worth it!)

On Tuesday at our Staff Breakfast, we recognized our latest group of staff “super achievers”—those who have gained the status of Master Teacher. Through a rigorous professional development process, the following teachers have achieved this designation:

Judy Fletcher (Teaching Professions Academy)

Lynne Hall (Guidance Counselor)

Melissa Sizemore (Math)

Shannon Donnelly (Special Education)

Donna Jarzab (Teaching Professions Academy)

Carrie Preston (Special Education)

Melissa Rofe (Language Arts)

Angie Walls (Early Childhood Education).

Congratulations to all of these outstanding educators, and thank you for the example you set for our students in pursuing excellence!

Wednesday evening I was privileged to attend the annual Adult Basic Literacy Education Christmas Celebration (and staff meeting—they did take care of quite a bit of business!) What a treat to hear the “good news” from our ABLE teachers who work with adults to build literacy skills (and, in some cases, to pass the GED). I heard of adults who faced seemingly insurmountable odds in returning to school to achieve a literacy goal, the progress they made little by little, and the ultimate thrill of success. Hearing these stories reminded me of why I originally chose education as a career. I told Sharon Halter, ABLE Coordinator, I think I’ve decided what I want to do in retirement—become an ABLE instructor! Many thanks to the ABLE staff for the invitation and for sharing their “professional hearts” with me.

On Thursday morning, we held our Annual Secondary Perkins Stakeholders Meeting to review with our stakeholders where we have been and where we are going with our high-school programs. We also ask for their input as to how we can position our programs to best prepare our students for the current workforce. One of our stakeholders, Shelly Gamble-Baker, is the parent of one of our students (Brandon Gamble, Electronics Engineering Technology II). I wish you all could have been there to hear her heartfelt gratitude for all that the staff at Ohio Hi-Point has done for her son. She described us as his “family” and she couldn’t say enough about how comfortable and welcome he feels here because of the committed staff and the beautiful facility. She also praised the curriculum Brandon has had the opportunity to master and the real-world, practical experience he has gained. I heard a mother who was extremely confident in her son’s future because of the education he’s received here, and I know she’s only one of many who feel that way. That’s what it’s all about—great job to all of you!

For the past several years, our Printing & Graphics Program has printed holiday cards for us to send to our business associates. This year, I asked Tom Carrig (PTG teacher) to somehow showcase the unique heritage of our campus. What his students came up with is just fantastic—the photo from the front of the card is at right. Tom explained to me that one of his students, Sam Collins, took the photo of Ohio's highest point during a heavy snowstorm, so the historical marker was actually obscured by snow. So Sam took another photo of the marker in clear weather and overlaid it onto the marker in the original photo. Isn’t that amazing?!? I am so proud to be sending these cards out to showcase the beauty of our campus, its rich history, and the wonderful talents of our students. Many thanks to Tom, students Sam Collins, Cleva Rumer, and Brooke Hughes, and the PTG class of 2010 for producing and printing these cards. Wonder how they’ll top this next year?

Our students who qualify for our TAD (Tardies, Attendance, Discipline) incentive program (for not having tardies and discipline issues, and having good attendance) get to take part in a fun activity each quarter. On November 24, this quarter’s eligible students took a trip to TP Bowling Lanes in Bellefontaine. A photo of some of the group is at the right. What a photogenic group! Congratulations to these students and the others who qualified this quarter.

Speaking of the holidays, how many shopping days left before Christmas? Oh forget it, I really don’t want to know. I just hope you all take some time to relax this weekend and enjoy the true spirit of the season.

Have a great one!

November 20, 2009

2009-11-20T10:16:00.000-08:00

This has been such a busy week here at Ohio Hi-Point! We really got off to a roll late last week as 10th graders from our partner schools visited for Sophomore Career Days. We had some make-up days this week for 10th graders who couldn’t visit last week due to fog. And last evening we invited them all back, along with parents and other community members, for our annual Career Preview/Taste of the Future open house. WOW is all I can say! The turnout was fantastic (we’re waiting for final estimates), the labs were full of visitors, the media coverage was terrific, and the food for Taste of the Future was yummy! I know we had many, many students make the decision to enroll as a result of this event. The teamwork in pulling off such a successful event was obvious—thanks to all of you for the extra time and effort you put in!

Seeing our potential students (of all ages) visiting and selecting one of our programs (or thinking about it) reminds me of the courage it takes to take this major step. Adults choose to go back to school to improve skills or take a totally new direction in life, on top of the challenges of families, work, and life. And high-school students leave their comfort zones and venture off, many to an entirely different facility, to take advantage of our career-tech programs. Reminds me of a quote I saw recently: “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” (J.K. Rowling) The choices these students are making will impact both their abilities and their quality of life for a lifetime!

I held my quarterly Superintendents Meeting on Tuesday; and for our “Spotlight on Students” segment, several students from our Electronics Engineering Technology Program spoke to the superintendents about their current lab projects, their involvement in SkillsUSA, and their plans for the future. They did a great job sharing their enthusiasm for engineering and their excitement about entering the field! Many thanks to LaRanda (Mikki) Pickering, Taylor Allen, Brandon Gamble, and Robert Smayda for taking time to share with us—and thanks to Mike Kouse, their instructor, for allowing them to do so!

We had some of our alumni from North Carolina stop in for a visit a week or so ago (a married couple who met at OHP), and they each wrote us a note requesting to be included in our Alumni & Friends Association. Thought you’d be interested in seeing some of their comments:

In June 1979 after graduating I entered the Army as an Electronics Technician and retired in 1998. My current position is Assistant IT Manager for an herb company. I am responsible for 8 servers, 70 desktops, 20 laptops, network switches, and the phone system. I have fond memories of Hi-Point and the people here. I see many additions!
Doug Myers
Printing & Graphics, 1979

The school has changed so much! I notice the curriculum has changed. When I came here, English and Government were the only extra classes. Hi-Point “JVS” as it was called started my career in office management. After attending JVS, I went to Clark Tech for a year and then transferred to Edison State Community College where I earned an Associate’s of Data Processing.
Tami (Saul) Myers
Office Machines, 1979

Well, you’re at it again showing your generosity for a worthwhile cause! Darlene Roll, our Intervention Coordinator, shared the following this past week:

My husband is delivering 11,513 pairs of eyeglasses to the Lions International Eyeglass Recycling Center in Upland, Indiana today. About 100 pairs of those glasses have come from Ohio Hi-Point Career Center employees and students. It’s just another example of how wonderful and giving our staff and students are!

Great job in supporting this project!

We have a mid-year retirement coming up, and I’d like to close by wishing Nancy Decker, GRADS Instructor, many happy, healthy years of retirement. Thank you, Nancy, for your 16½ years of caring and service to our students at Ohio Hi-Point. You will be missed—and know that you’re always welcome to visit!

Enjoy your weekend!

November 13, 2009

2009-11-13T05:31:00.000-08:00

We end another week with some great activities on campus! Not being prone to superstition, I think this Friday the 13th is shaping up to be a beautiful one.

Our Sophomore Career Days have taken place Thursday and Friday, and it’s been really fun to have 10th graders from our partner schools here to visit our programs. The fog on Thursday morning threw a couple of wrenches into the schedule, but as always we regrouped and went on with the show!

I had the chance to get into most of the labs and see what our current students had cooked up for the visitors. They did a terrific job! Charlie in Building Maintenance oversaw the “Cookie Challenge” quiz on basic tool identification. I won a cookie for identifying the bonus tool—a socket wrench. But identifying some of the other tools took a little help from instructor Doug Limes! (See photo at right—recognize all those?)

I also got to see the new Bobcat in Professional Turf and Landscaping being demonstrated—I had no idea that thing had heat and windshield wipers! (See a 10th grader checking it out at left.) And a student in Cosmetology very graciously offered to give me some hair extensions (in hot pink). I told her I didn’t think I could pull it off quite as well as she does. But the wax hand dip was heavenly!

Finally, I got to witness along with the 10th graders visiting Auto Services what happens when jumper cables aren't hooked up properly. Mr. Lindsey and his students had a very entertaining (and memorable) presentation! It certainly stressed the importance of getting it right. (See photo at right)

What a pleasure it was to see our students in action sharing their enthusiasm about their programs! Thanks to all teachers and other staff who made our Sophomore Career Days such a great success. We hope to see all of those 10th graders back for our Career Preview/Taste of the Future on the evening of November 19!

Monday and Tuesday I attended the Ohio School Boards Association Capital Conference for Board Members and Superintendents. On Tuesday morning, the Ohio Association of Career-Technical Superintendents hosted a breakfast meeting for board members, and we had over 181 career-technical board members in attendance representing 42 career centers! I think that demonstrates the tremendous support we have from our board members to assure that our programs remain strong. We appreciate that they took time out of their busy conference schedules to hear state and national updates on career-technical education.

Thursday evening I attended the annual Union County “Salute to Leaders” Dinner. I love that this community takes time each year to formally recognize leaders in several areas, including health care, culture & arts, environmental, military/patriotic, and education. This year’s winner in the education category was Jim Kaufman, who taught science at both West Liberty-Salem and Marysville for a total of 38 years. I thought some of you might know him. He also coached multiple sports and remains active in his community in retirement. What an inspiration!

A belated Happy Veterans Day to all of you who have served our country in the armed forces. We’ve been reminded through recent events how our soldiers put themselves at risk every day, and sometimes danger comes from the most unlikely and unthinkable sources. We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to all who have served and are serving—take time to thank a veteran every chance you get!

Have a great weekend!

November 6, 2009

2009-11-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

Was that the “solid stuff” I saw falling from the sky Wednesday morning!? We had such a nice fall without any serious fog, I guess I had been lulled into a sense of immunity from weather woes. I’m sure the upcoming winter will have some challenges for us, but we’ll get through it as we always do at the Peak of Ohio!

I want to share with you two examples of public acknowledgement of the fine work you’re all doing with our students. Monday I attended a lunch of local leaders and heard a presentation from our State Representative Dave Burke as he gave us an update on the current “state of the state” from his perspective. In addition to budget shortfalls at the state level, he expressed a real concern for workforce development. He motioned to me and asked the group, “Why aren’t we sending more people to Ohio Hi-Point to get the training that will get them ready for the jobs that are available?”

Wednesday morning the Logan County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors met to set our course for the coming year. As we worked through our strategic planning, we focused on the areas of member services, communication, data-driven decisions—but the conversation kept coming back to workforce development and the importance of a well-trained workforce to attract and retain businesses. Ohio Hi-Point, and in particular our partnerships with higher education, was mentioned repeatedly as an underutilized asset that is positioned to provide the skills training needed for our community. I always sit a little bit taller when our school is recognized in groups like these—and I do it on behalf of all of you who make great opportunities happen for our students! Know that your hard work is recognized and acknowledged in our community.

Wednesday at lunchtime I was able to briefly join our OHP Student Bloggers at lunch at Bob Evans (a well-deserved reward for them!) It was fun to sit with them and hear their perspectives on technology today and how kids prefer to communicate. (I’ve included photos of the group at the right--you'll have to forgive me, I don't know how to rotate them!) If you haven’t taken time to read our student blogs on our website, you’re missing a treat! They’re doing a terrific job of journaling their experiences as OHP students.

Thursday morning I ran into the right person (Earl LeVan, Adult Education Diversified Industrial Trainer) at the right time in the front lobby. He shared with me that DIT’s from around the state were on our campus for a meeting and invited me to join them for lunch in the Inn. He didn’t have to twist my arm! I really enjoyed hearing about the training they do with adult students in a variety of areas, including manufacturing maintenance, HVAC, and power line maintenance. I don’t remember the exact figures, but Duke Energy reports that about 75 percent of their line maintenance employees will be retiring within the next few years—which points to huge training needs in this area! We also heard an interesting story from one of the visitors about how he, as a young bachelors-trained engineer, was given a complex project to work on early in his career that became a 30-day valuable learning experience. It made me think of the problem-based learning we challenge our students with regularly. I think it’s the best way to learn, because students use critical thinking and apply knowledge to real-world problems as opposed to textbook simulations. And it’s more fun!

Thursday afternoon as I was walking into the Main Building for a meeting, two students were on the benches out front after school working intently on their laptops. I told them “Good for you—working on homework while you wait for your ride! That is what you’re doing isn’t it?” One of them looked up sheepishly and said, “Uh . . . yeah.” (Not very convincingly.) The other one said without missing a beat, “I’m not!” I told him at least he’s honest. Those kids sure are tuned into the technology; and even though it would be foolish to think they’re always engaged in their studies, at least they’re engaged!

This afternoon, Doug Cox from Bruner Corporation, Robert Walker, and I had the honor of receiving a rebate check for just over $34,000 from Dayton Power and Light as a result of our energy-saving projects on campus. A nice chunk of change to offset some of the costs! And the savings we’re realizing from these energy updates will continue for many years to come—a great investment in the future, I think!

I don’t know how many of you realize, but we have many visitors from all over the country to Campbell Hill (Ohio’s highest point) every month. We provide a log at the landmark for them to sign and make any comments they’d like. This past month we’ve had visitors from Massachusetts, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Washington, New York, Minnesota, California, and even the Czech Republic! Occasionally someone brings the logs to me to read, and we get some funny comments. A couple from Kansas said, “Glad we found it! Hurray for the GPS.” A visitor from California wrote, “Here for USC vs. Ohio State. Decided to visit this unassuming and obscure state high point, but it is rather nice in its own way.” And a clown who didn’t identify his origins wrote, “Wow! Aspen King! Get me down!” OK, so we’re not Mt. McKinley—but I am proud of the beauty of our campus and the fine manner in which our highest point is maintained!

I hope you all enjoy your weekend and stay healthy!

October 30, 2009

2009-10-29T13:45:00.001-07:00

October 30, 2009

I read a quote this week that is very timely: “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” (Mahatma Gandhi) Probably those who appreciate that quote the most right now are those who are suffering with the flu! Our student attendance is actually running just slightly below normal, but seems more staff are being hit themselves or are taking care of family members who have the flu. Please continue to take good care of yourselves!

I spent all of Wednesday morning in the Allen/Hardin County area in preparation for the opening of our Adult Education Practical Nursing Program in Hardin County. Amy Main, Adult Ed. Health Occupations Coordinator, and I visited a medical/dental clinic in Lima which will hopefully be replicated in Hardin County. They’re excited about partnering with us for clinical sites for students. Amy and I also looked at some potential sites for the nursing program, which will open its doors in January. (And then Amy and Lori Ludwig continued to look at sites all afternoon!) We’re really excited to be able to take this training opportunity to residents in the north end of our District!

Our Board Meeting Wednesday night was really a fun one. In addition to our Students of the Month and regular reports from administration, Shelly Swaney made a presentation to Donna Beale, who has earned culinary ProStart certification both individually and for her program. I don’t know all of the details of the certification, but I know it has required a lot of training and testing on Donna’s part and a lot of additional hours on the part of her students. Congratulations to Donna and her students—this will certainly open many new doors for them as they move into their culinary careers!

We also heard from Richard Johnson, Adult Ed. Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning instructor at South Campus, and one of his students (also Richard). I wish you all could have heard the comments this student made! He’s a 38-year-old displaced worker who expressed his gratitude for the training opportunity, told us how he’s already using the skills he’s learning in a part-time job, and also told us how his young son thinks it’s really neat that his dad is in school and asks him every day if he “earned any A’s today”. This gentleman embodied what, to me, lifelong learning is all about. Life throws us curveballs, but we can readjust. And when we do, we teach all of those who are watching us, especially those with young, impressionable eyes, the tremendous value of learning and gaining skills. I wish Richard the very, very best of success.

It’s going to be an eventful weekend! We’ll have a holiday (Happy Halloween!), a time change (don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour—and enjoy that extra hour!), and a new month. Here’s a useless but interesting bit of trivia—according to the National Confectioners Association, $2.225 billion dollars will be spent on Halloween candy this year. Parents, brace yourselves!

Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to vote next Tuesday!

October 23, 2009

2009-10-23T09:47:00.001-07:00

Welcome to another Friday—I hope you’re all staying healthy! I read a scary statistic the other day—apparently the flu virus can live on a dollar bill (or probably most surfaces) for up to 17 days! Yuk. All the more reason to follow Nurse Amy’s advice and wash, wash, wash those hands!

On Tuesday morning I had the privilege of seeing some of our Lead Ambassadors present to sophomores at Waynesfield-Goshen High School to prepare them for our upcoming Sophomore Career Days. What a great job they did! I think kids listen most to their peers, and these young people were so articulate in sharing their experiences at OHP and telling about our programs. I overheard one young lady saying very emphatically that she just had to get into her first-choice program because “this is what I’ve wanted to do for my whole entire life!” It was neat to see the excitement among those kids—our future students! Thanks to our ambassadors for representing us so well.

On Tuesday I also met with our Student Advisory Council, and as always it was a lively discussion. In addition to talking about technology issues, t-shirts (they’ll be getting them), a graduation party on campus (that won’t be happening), and other issues on their minds, they also talked about their overall OHP experience. I thought you should know that one student shared (and the rest concurred) that he definitely feels our teachers care about students and that they really know their stuff. So go ahead and break your arm patting yourselves on the back!

Wednesday I attended the annual meeting of the Educational Tax Policy Institute. I just became aware of this organization last year, and I was really impressed with the publications they put out. They are a non-profit group made up of representatives from Buckeye Association of School Administrators, Ohio School Boards Association, Ohio Association of School Business Officials, Ohio Education Association, Ohio Federation of Teachers, and school district around the state. Their purpose is to educate state policy-makers and the public about the implications of proposed changes to state and local tax policies in Ohio’s public school districts. Through the services of an economist, this group is able to positively impact policy for schools. One recent example was the adjustment to the average teacher salary used in the Ohio Evidence Based Model for funding. I was pleased to hear that they are very aware of the current flat-funding model for career-tech and the fact that we do not have representation on the School Funding Study Council (although it’s hopeful we’ll have representation on the subcommittee where the work will really get done.) ETPI is also collecting and distributing information about the real impact on education of bringing gambling to Ohio. Interesting stuff—you can check it out on their website at www.etpi-ohio.org.

I visited WPKO/WBLL Thursday afternoon, along with Mike Minnich from NetGain Information Systems on behalf of United Way of Logan County. In order to get the employees’ attention and hopefully add some entertainment to our request to support United Way, we donned “Vote for Louie” buttons and t-shirts and danced in to the two-step. I don’t put on a goofy t-shirt and dance for just any cause—but United Way is one that is near and dear to my heart. I hope you will all give whatever you can to support our community in this time when needs are greater than ever.

I’ll end with a neat experience I had this past weekend. I decided I’d better get on the ball and buy some pumpkins. There’s a roadside stand at the end of a driveway around the corner from our house which has had pumpkins for several weeks. It was curious to me that I never saw anyone out there to make sales. I stopped to see what they had, and there was a money can (with several dollars in it) and a sign that read, “Take what you need, leave what you can.” What a great philosophy in this time of struggle for so many. Actually I think that’s a great philosophy for life—think what a difference it would make if everyone took only what they needed from the world and left far more for those that will follow.

Enjoy your weekend!

October 16, 2009

2009-10-16T06:59:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I want to thank you all for a terrific job with our evacuation drill this morning! In planning the drill, we had hoped for one of those cool, crisp, sunny fall days. Instead we got fog, mist, and COLD! (We all have a good excuse for a bad hair day.) We always learn from these drills (that’s the point!) We’re pleased with the way the drill went, and we take comfort in knowing that in a real evacuation situation we would have a clear procedure and a safe place to relocate our students. We hope the hot cider and hot chocolate waiting for you when you got back were just reward for your efforts!

Monday I attended a Logan County Families and Children First Council committee meeting. The Council is embarking on a data-collection process whereby they identify community needs and set a specific plan to address those needs. I’ve been asked to serve on the “Young People Succeeding” Committee, which will gather data to determine success rates of our youth in various school and community programs. We were asked what data we could provide about our students’ success, and I was very proud to share that we do collect a significant amount of data on our students. Of course we have our Performance Measures data which is required for both the State and U.S. Departments of Education. But they were also impressed with the amount of internal data we’re collecting to determine how we can better serve our students. I’ll look forward to having our data included as part of the report. While it will certainly identify our challenges, I know it will also tell a great story about our student successes!

Monday evening I attended the Champaign County FFA Administrator’s Dinner as a guest of our Agriculture Education programs at Graham. What a nice evening! The students “ran the show” and had clearly done a good job of planning. It was nice to see so many administrators and other school personnel from across the County show up in support. The keynote speaker was from the Ohio Farm Bureau and his topic was current ballot Issue 2. I learned a lot about this issue and agriculture in Ohio in general. I won’t try to influence your vote, but I hope you’ll read up on both sides of the issue if you’re not familiar with it—and talk to some local farmers—before you vote.

I serve on the Logan County United Way Board, and this year I’ve been ask to contact small businesses to encourage them to support a campaign within their businesses. I’ve been doing so (along with other Board members), and I can’t tell you how many times the door has been opened for me because these businesses are aware of our programs, have hired one of our students, have had employees trained here, or have employees serving on advisory committees. It’s good to experience this evidence of the “circle of influence” of our District and the quality programs we offer!

Robin Curley, Animal Management Technology teacher, shared an e-mail with me that she had received this week from a former student. It read, in part (and I’ve not corrected for grammar):

I was in your animal care class in 92 and 94.I hope you remember me because wow I can't forget about you. You was a awesome teacher. You don't know how much you mean to me. I was abused in every way you can think of at home it was hard but you always put a smile on my face each day and made me feel like I was someone.
Also when I was in school I wanted to learn better and my parents just thought I was dumb. They would not try to help me get better. You always try to help me. You made me feel like the other kids. Thank you.

I can remember as a teacher that hearing from a former student and knowing I’d made an impact was the truest compensation for teaching. I’ve said before and I’ll say again—never underestimate the impact you can have on a student with the smallest acts of concern and kindness. Thanks for sharing, Robin!

I’ve gotten my flu shot, have you? It was pretty painless, actually. We were fortunate enough to have a flu-shot clinic for our staff here at the Bellefontaine Campus on Tuesday. Many thanks to Amy McCarthy, Health & Safety Coordinator, for organizing this clinic!

On that note, have a great weekend—stay warm, dry, and healthy!

October 9, 2009

2009-10-09T11:14:00.001-07:00

Welcome to another (foggy) Friday! Hope it’s been a productive week for all of you.

I want to start with a great student story. Early last Friday morning I was walking into the Airport Café in Urbana for a breakfast meeting. I saw some high-school-age students walking out, and I asked them if they were students in our Aviation Occupations Programs. Sure enough they were, and they shared with me that they meet for breakfast every Friday morning before class. While we were eating breakfast, the waitress asked us if those students were ours. We claimed them (of course), and she went on to tell us they were the most polite students she had ever seen. She said even one of the other customers had made a point of telling the students how well-behaved they were. I think we could put just about any of our students in a similar situation and they’d make us just as proud! Be sure to tell them so when they do.

Wednesday evening I attended the Logan County Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting. This is always a great event at which some of our local leaders are recognized. The theme was “Your Story is Our Story,” and local businesses and other organizations were invited to put a plaque about their businesses at the tables (we were well represented!) One of the neat things mentioned was that there are nine companies that have been in business in Logan County for over 100 years. Can you name any? This year, the Chamber Ambassador of the Year Award went to Carrie Reynolds with Alan Galvez Insurance, the Integrity in Business Award went to Alan Galvez Insurance, and the Richard J. Rupp Leadership Award went to Rick Gildow, President of Transportation Research Center. Communities are only as strong as their leaders, and we’re fortunate to have citizens of this caliber giving of their time and talents to Logan County!

Thursday morning I attended a “Community Conversation on Workforce” in Dublin which brought local businesses and education leaders together to talk about how to bridge the gap between the two groups in preparing our future workforce. One of the business representatives was from a software development company, and she talked about how much difficulty she had navigating the K-12 educational system to facilitate high school internships at her company. My ears perked up, of course, and I spoke to her afterward about how we in career-tech are well positioned to have our students participate in internships (and you can bet I got her contact information!) We also heard a really good speaker (Mark Milliron with Catalyze Learning International) who described several projects around the country which have helped companies to work with schools to prepare the young workforce for the road ahead. As he said (and we all know), in the United States we have an industrial age school system model on an agrarian calendar attempting to prepare students for an information age. That presents a lot of challenges! We work hard in career-tech to be sure our students are prepared for the rapidly changing workplace they’ll work in, and this presentation challenged me to make sure we do an even better job at that!

A big part of Dr. Milliron’s presentation dealt with educational technology. We’re one of the few schools brave enough to give students e-mail accounts to use while at school. While I know this gives our Technology Department a fair amount of grief as they try to police the “over-users” of e-mail, it also provides a wonderful opportunity for us as staff to interact with students. I hear from students now that I know I never would have without e-mail. Recently, I received an e-mail from a senior in Animal Management telling me she wants to do her senior project on attracting wildlife by enhancing their habitat. She is specifically interested in attracting birds, and she asked if there was an area on campus she could do her research. (And she thanked me for my time!) What a neat project. I was happy to connect her with our Facilities & Grounds Department so that she could identify areas on campus to do research, and I was also happy to provide her with a resource through Adult Education (a gentleman who has taught ornithology). I’m so glad she included me, and I wish her the best!

Standing in line for lunch one day this week, I saw a young lady use the hand sanitizer we have available at the beginning of the lunch line (and it prompted me to do the same). I asked her if she’d had her flu shot, and she said she wasn’t sure she wanted to. She asked me if I’d ever had one and if it hurt. I assured her if it hurt very much, I wouldn’t have gotten one! I know I sound like a broken record, but we all need to head Nurse Amy’s advice during this flu (and allergy and cold) season and get our flu shot, wash our hands frequently, keep our hands away from our faces, and get plenty of rest.

On that last note, hope you have a restful, enjoyable weekend!

October 2, 2009

2009-10-02T10:05:00.001-07:00

Wow, it’s October already! Feels like it, too. I don’t like to rush things, but I sort of consider October the beginning of the holiday season. Seems like it’s a blur from now through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then we’ll be into the New Year! But let’s just enjoy the changing leaves for the here and now.

I know most of you are familiar with the Sloan Trust that provides us with a generous amount each year to purchase equipment for eligible programs. Last Friday as I was on my way to Columbus for a meeting, I got a call from Harold Marker, one of our local Sloan Trustees. He had a visitor from the Sloan Trust office in Boston (Kim Gluck), and he asked if Kim could possible take a tour of our building. Shelly Swaney quickly arranged a tour to show her some of the labs with recently purchased Sloan equipment. Shelly shared with me later how impressive our students and staff were in expressing their gratitude and excitement with Ms. Gluck about the opportunities the Sloan funds make possible. I want you all to know how proud I am that I can always contact you at the drop of a hat and know that guests will be well taken care of—that means a lot and reflects so well on the entire District!

This is the time of year that Lisa McCullough, EMIS Coordinator, tallies the Professional Development Points earned during the past school year. Thirty-two of our staff members earned the Professional Development stipend by accumulating required points (including technology points). Way to go to all of you who “made the grade,” and thank you for the time and effort you put into keeping your skills and knowledge current! (Thanks also to Lisa for the great job she does tracking these points for all of us every year.)

I don’t know what you’re hearing or reading about the state budget, but not much of it is good. I do want to share with you that I received an e-mail from State Superintendent Deb DeLisle this week describing some preliminary impact on schools if the video lottery issue doesn’t pass. I’m not advocating you vote one way or another—just wanted to clarify that the predictions were based on that issue.) Fortunately, her e-mail did state that career-technical funding could not be cut any further this year or the state would risk losing $44 million on federal career-tech dollars. So we’ll just hold on for the ride for now and plan for the worst but hope for the best!

Let’s end on a positive note (and we have lots of those!) Lynda Arehart, Guidance Counselor at Bellefontaine Campus, copied me into the following e-mail she sent to Heather Reed (Administrative Office Specialist teacher) about a phone conversation she had with a student’s parent:

I just received a phone call from Allison’s mother that I wanted to make you aware of. Her call was full of praise for you and your program. She said that Allison is so excited about OHP and everything that she is learning here, including the opportunities for college and the support that she has been given. I wish I could express her enthusiasm in my email, but since I can’t, I will tell you that I could sense her joy over the phone!!

That’s a great story and I’m so glad Lynda took the time to share with Heather. I had a similar experience myself this week. While I was having my “natural” hair color put back in one evening, the nail tech at the salon shared with me that her son (a senior) had decided somewhat late to enroll in our Aviation Occupations Program in Champaign Co. She was worried about him because he just hadn’t seemed to find his direction in life. She said he loves the program and she’s never seen him so excited about anything! She’s thrilled that he’s now considering the Air Force after high school. Did my heart good to hear that story!

Enjoy your weekend, and remember—in mid-January these temperatures will sound balmy!

September 18, 2009

2009-09-18T07:48:00.001-07:00

Wow, what a quick week! September is slipping away—but you can’t beat this beautiful weather.

This week has been one of meetings, meetings, meetings for me. I’ve had a chance to get out and meet all the new superintendents in our career-technical planning district (CTPD). We’ve got a lot of new faces this year! (And some familiar faces in new positions.) I like to get out and meet them in their districts and give them a quick overview of Ohio Hi-Point’s programs and our relationship with their respective districts. And I look forward to giving them a tour of our facilities at my first CTPD Superintendents Meeting on September 29! One note of interest—Dr. Bobby Moore, the new Superintendent at Mechanicsburg Local Schools, is a graduate of the Precision Machining Program at Dayton Patterson High School. (I shared with him that I’m also a graduate of a career-tech program—although I think quite a few years before he was!) He clearly understands and values what career-technical programs can mean to students.

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to serve as a tour guide for the Union County Covered Bridge Festival. We went through training so that we could share information about the County’s many covered bridges with our bus-loads of tourists. It was a really fun experience and I learned so much! (I’d recommend taking the self-guided tour if you ever get the chance.) In one of my groups, there was a young man who looked to be about 10 or 11 who was absolutely fascinated with the architecture of the bridges. I asked him about his school, and in the course of our conversation and all the talk of bridges, it came up that his brother had attended Ohio Hi-Point in our Architectural Mechanical Design Program. He went on and on about the really cool bridge his brother had built for a competition, how lightweight it was, how strong it was (and why). I have to admit he pretty much lost me on the architectural details—but what wasn’t lost on me was his enthusiasm for the applied physics learning experience his brother had gotten at OHP! I told him I hoped he would be coming our way as an 11th grader—and I get the feeling he probably will be!

On Monday, I met with representatives from Honda’s Educational Outreach Program (at their request) to discuss how we can work more closely with Honda. With input from several staff members, we generated a lot of ideas for having them work with our students on employability and “soft” skills, possible internships, and of course our various advisory committees. And we also discussed several ways we might be able to help them with various projects within their vast organization. I’m looking forward to an even stronger relationship with this great corporate partner!

Wednesday at the Champaign County Community Improvement Corporation Meeting, Mary Lee Gecowetz, a member of the Grimes Field Airport Development Committee shared with the group that an aviator from another city who was in Urbana for the recent fly-in learned of our Aviation Occupations program and was absolutely astounded at the work our students are doing at such a young age. So astounded, as a matter of fact, that he’d like to replicate the program in his community! Shane recently shared a press release with all of you about three recent graduates from this program who are now attending college in aviation programs. It’s really great to see a new program develop and to see the “payoff” at the end of the road—students continuing their education in a career field they’ve found a passion for because of career-technical education!

Today you may see some “smaller” students on our campus. We have fourth graders visiting today and tomorrow as part of the Logan County Agriculture Tour. They are learning about our renewable energy and energy-saving projects on campus such as wind and solar energy, geothermal heating and cooling, and composting. We’re glad to be able to host this event, show off our campus, and hopefully be recruiting a few students for the incoming class of 2016! Thanks to all of you who have given of your time, talents, and lab space to make this project possible.

I’ll end with a kind of cute story about one of our students. I was in the lunch line this week and recognized the young man in front of me as one of our Culinary Arts students. I told him I heard his class was going on a field trip to Gordon Foods. He said very earnestly and without missing a beat, “It’s not a field trip. Field trips are just another excuse for getting out of school. It’s a study trip and we have a lesson planned that we’ll be studying on the trip.” I told him I was sure he’d learn a lot and have a great time as well! (And obviously someone has been teaching him the importance of making the most of “study” trips!)

Have a great weekend!

September 11, 2009

2009-09-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

Today marks an anniversary many of us would rather forget. I’m sure many of you, like I, will pause each time you write or think about today’s date to reflect on the horrific events of eight years ago. It was a day that changed us as a country forever—and maybe even as individuals. I know I lost some sense of being invincible as an American and feeling immune from the terrors we heard about around the world. We’ve endured some of the inconveniences of additional security measures that other countries have lived with for decades. And yet it was also the beginning of a new era of patriotism and pride in knowing that we as Americans stood to lose so much because we have so much. I hope we never forget that. We all join together this Patriot Day to honor those who lost their lives and to remember the families and loved ones who miss them still.

Along the lines of being thankful, JoAnn Ventresco (English teacher at Bellefontaine Campus) has shared with me that her English students have been writing essays on what the “American Dream” means to them. JoAnn shared the following (and we did not correct for grammar or punctuation—she’s working on that!):

The more I read the more I am just blown away by the minds and talent I have in my classroom this year. I keep telling my juniors they are too quiet, but clearly they have a lot to say! Look at this one, written by AN ELEVENTH GRADER:

As Thomas Wolfe once said, "…to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity ….the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him...", I think this is the true "American Dream", The things in which people should focus on now in these times of life, Instead of just trying to have the best... Be happy with what’s given to you and make something of it on your own. When you have accomplished this task in life you will understand what the "American Dream" is and you will be able to say you felt something that no man nor woman could feel by just being rich or having the best house nor car...

Another student wrote:

Luckily living in America gives us the opportunity to follow through with a lot of the dreams that we have. Personally my dream is to work in the Health Care field. By living and growing up in the united states i have been handed multiple options to take advantage of in order to succeed in the Health Care Field. For example coming to Hi Point. I plan to continue on living my American dream until I feel content with my life.

Our students do great work—and they’re able to do so because of the great work out staff does with them. I’ve often said I hear great news about OHP from some of the most unlikely place! Carrie Preston, Special Education teacher on our Bellefontaine Campus, shared the following amazing story with me:

I just thought you'd like to know that OHP has a good reputation, all the way to Indiana! I recently caught up with a childhood friend of mine, who lives there. When I told her what I do for a living this was her response: "Some of my friends have kids going to Hi-Point. They are thrilled with it and felt like the move to Hi-Point was EXACTLY the right plan, and frankly, the better option. I mean, they are thrilled! So whatever you and your staff are doing...big props to you!"

Yep—big props to all of you! Thanks to JoAnn and Carrie for sharing so we can all enjoy.

We continued a tradition on Wednesday and recognized Dr. Earl Sloan’s birthday (which is actually September 8) by having our students and staff pay tribute to the contributions his trust has made to our labs through state-of-the-art equipment. Two of our high-school students and three adult education students shared their thanks with representatives of our Sloan Trustees. I know it’s been said that teenagers tend to be self-absorbed ingrates (and I was probably guilty of that at that age!) But I can honestly say that our high-school students were equally as sincere and eloquent in their words as the adult students as they thanked the Trustees. How neat it was to hear all those students describe the specific impact the Sloan-sponsored equipment has had on their training and their future plans. I want to thank the staff who were present to personally thank the Trustees and particularly those who spoke. I know Mr. Marker and Mrs. Reynolds very much enjoyed the birthday party! (A photo of the student speakers, Mr. Harold Marker, and Mrs. Connie Reynolds is shown at right.)

Have a great weekend and enjoy every bit of this wonderful, outdoor weather while we can!

September 4, 2009

2009-09-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

We’re back in full swing, and how fun it has been to have our high-school students back and to see a group of our adult education students celebrate success! (It’s also great to have all of our staff back—we really do miss you in the summer!)

On the high-school side, the last three weeks have been busy, busy, busy with student orientation sessions, classes starting, and getting everyone settled in. I want to share a comment I heard at a recent Logan Co. Chamber of Commerce Board Meeting. One of the members, whose nephew is attending OHP this year, made a point to tell me how impressed her sister (the young man’s mother) was with our orientation/registration night. She appreciated how smoothly everything flowed and how helpful everyone was. I know many of our staff assisted with making those orientation/registration evenings as convenient and efficient for students and families as possible—and you were obviously successful!

On Thursday evening, our Adult Education Nancy J. Knight School of Nursing conducted its 27th graduation ceremony. The ceremony was moved to a new venue this year—Marysville High School—because we had outgrown our own facility. Good problem to have! Among our Bellefontaine daytime and evening programs, our Marysville satellite class, and our Urbana satellite class, we had 67 practical nursing students complete this rigorous nursing program and proudly accept diplomas. As I walked from the packed parking lot into Marysville’s Alumni Hall, I saw everything from little girls in frilly dresses and little boys in shirts and ties (which I’m sure weren’t their idea!) to the elderly on walkers filing in to support the graduates. One of the things that makes this ceremony so rewarding every year is the excitement and pride on the faces and in the voices of family members and loved ones. What a tremendous example these adult students set!

As we talk about “back to school,” I’m reminded of how many course approvals I’ve signed recently for staff members returning to school! I think it’s wonderful that so many of you are practicing what you preach—the importance of lifelong learning—and seeking to better your skills. I know it’s tough as an adult student to juggle family, job, and just life along with school. I wish you all the best and trust your classes will give you new perspectives and new skills!

I’ve been off campus for a day and a half this week working with the Ohio Association of Career-Technical Superintendents to prepare our proposal to legislators for corrections to career-technical education in the Corrections Bill for HB1 (state budget). It’s going to be a very time-consuming process. But, as we’ve discussed in our meetings thus far, the next biennium budget will likely set the career-technical funding formula for the next 15-20 years. So it’s time well invested. How can you help? Be prepared to have your students show off their skills and share their future plans as we have legislators visit us. Be prepared to share written “success stories” of your students past and present. Continue to hold yourself and your students to high standards of teaching and learning. And work diligently to utilize resources efficiently and effectively—always be analyzing the “return on investment.” The overall “pie” of the state budget has shrunken and needs to be sliced up among many state agencies. But I’m optimistic—I’m confident—we and our stakeholders will demonstrate the tremendous value we add to workforce development in Ohio.

Have a great, extended holiday weekend—and try to rest at least as much as you labor this Labor Day!

June 3, 2009

2009-06-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe, but we’re wrapping up another year with our high school students, our GED students, and many of our adult education students. This is the fun part—seeing everyone’s hard work come to the end result we all look forward to!

The Administrative Team and I have been covering all of our partner school high-school graduation ceremonies over the past couple of weeks (with a few to go). On May 22, I attended Ridgemont’s graduation—what a nice ceremony! Small and very intimate. I especially appreciated that each Ohio Hi-Point student was asked to stand and his/her career-technical program was announced. (I’m told Upper Scioto Valley does the same thing.) We appreciate the special recognition our students are given “back home” for their career-technical achievements!

Our own Convocation was, as always, a beautiful ceremony. The weather didn’t exactly cooperate—in fact it teased us all day. But we decided better safe (and dry!) than sorry. I want to personally thank the “army” of people it took to move our Convocation from our campus to the Bellefontaine High School gymnasium. Our OHP team always does a terrific job putting together a memorable ceremony for our students. There are too many to mention—but you know who you are. Thanks so much! And I want to publicly thank the staff at Bellefontaine High School—they could not have been more helpful or accommodating. When schools work together, students win!

I’ve attended a lot of graduation ceremonies over the years; and, of course, the students are always happy. But I have to say our students last Wednesday just beamed as they came across the stage! That’s a tribute to all of you for the positive experience you create for our students at OHP and the excellent preparation you give them for their futures!

I’m sure you, like I, have heard many positive comments about the ceremony. I’d like to share two comments I had from our partners:

"Fantastic job with the ceremony last night! You can all be very proud. The student speakers were outstanding and the evening went very well. Thanks so much again for all you do to take care of our students after they leave USV."

Jon Cook
Upper Scioto Valley Schools

"Congratulations on a great convocation ceremony last evening. I enjoyed watching the excitement in the eyes of the graduates and the parents. You have much to be proud of at this time. I know (two students) would have probably dropped out of high school if it wasn't for Hi-Point and the great staff. Both students are going on to the Adult Education in Phlebotomy this summer."

Pete Yost
Champaign Co. Department of Jobs & Family Services

Last Tuesday evening, I and many of you attended the Construction Trades Academy open house at the project house. What a terrific turnout! This year’s house featured many energy-saving features, and Touchstone Energy partnered with us on our open house. It really was standing-room only. I appreciate the many staff members who took time to stop by—it means so much to those students to be able to show off their hard work over the past year. They built a beautiful house that will no doubt become a comfortable home for a lucky family. Congratulations to the students and teachers—Terry Hedges, Bob Lawrence, Doug Limes, and Dave Marsteller—for another successful year!

Our Administrative Team and I met with representatives from Urbana University last Friday about some potential new partnerships in both academics and career pathways. It’s too soon to have specifics for you. But just let me say that our team had partnered off with counterparts from UU and no one wanted to break up the discussion. That’s the sign of a good meeting! We’ll keep you posted as the details of these opportunities for our students come to fruition.

In parting for the summer, I want to wish you all a wonderful, safe, restful summer. Enjoy a slower pace to spend with family and friends. If you’re traveling, be safe. And take time to recharge your batteries and plan for another great year next year!

May 22, 2009

2009-05-22T08:16:00.000-07:00

We’ve had quite a scare at the end of this week with the bus accident involving our Graham students, but things could have been much, much worse for our students. How ironic that we had our mock accident exercise on Thursday; and then on the way home, these students lived that experience. While none of our students was seriously injured, it had to have shaken them up quite a bit even to witness the accident. We’re so, so grateful that they’re all still with us. Please keep the families and loved ones of those who were killed in the van that collided with the bus in your thoughts and prayers.

On the topic of our mock accident, I want to thank Carol Siebeneck and the others who assisted for orchestrating this very powerful experience for our students. I never knew how many agencies were involved in making this happen! I can only hope that it will make our students stop and think during this graduation season and make good choices. If one life is saved (which we’ll never know), it’s well worth it.

I’ve had the opportunity to stop in and visit some classes in the past couple of weeks, and think our seniors, especially, are working fast and furious to complete senior projects, portfolios, exams, and the other demands of being a senior! But the ones I’ve gotten to speak with are also very excited about taking the next step and focused on where they’re going. And the common thread I hear in their comments is that they feel well prepared. To all of you—job well done for getting this next group of students ready to take on the world!

Last Thursday I accompanied the Professional Turf and Landscaping students on a field trip to Scotts-Miracle-Gro Company in Marysville. It’s typically difficult for student groups to get into Scotts, but a former Union County Leadership Institute classmate of mine facilitated the visit. It was really neat! The students actually participated in a class taught by one of their Training Institute instructors, receiving the same content he would present to landscapers and other lawn and garden professionals about Scott’s products. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of grasses, fertilizers, and weed killers! (Definitely gives me a complex about my yard.) We also received lollipops with (edible) bugs embedded in them. Kind of gross—but they were a hit! In addition, we visited one of their research greenhouses. I appreciated the behavior and mature, thoughtful questions our students had while on the tour. Hopefully this will spur them on to continue their education and perhaps someday take advantage of employment opportunities at Scotts!

Monday I attended the first meeting of the Champaign Co. Economic Development Advisory Council. As we worked through a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), it occurred to me how much collaboration we have in Champaign Co. For example:
• Ohio Hi-Point has collaborated with Urbana University (and Clark State) to establish credit-articulation programs within the health careers pathway to encourage more adults into higher education.
• The Department of Jobs and Family Services is at the beginning of that pipeline to identify under-educated, under-employed adults and provide them with basic skills training (for which they collaborate with OHP for Adult Basic Literacy training).
• The City and County have been instrumental in helping OHP establish a South Campus (at the former Armory) to bring workforce training programs to Champaign Co. for high-school students and adults.
I really look forward to working with this committee of community leaders to strengthen those partnerships and our opportunities in Champaign County.

Thursday evening I attended our OHP FFA Annual Awards Banquet. This is always such a great evening and a class act! Robin Curly’s and Cole Carpenter’s students do a great job of running the show, and the students are so proud of their accomplishments (rightfully so!) I especially appreciate the number of staff members who attend this event every year—it’s a wonderful show of support for these students!

No doubt you’re all looking forwarded to this extended weekend as much as I am! It comes at a perfect time when we could all use a breather. I’ve kept a newspaper column by Regina Brett that I cut out of the Cleveland Plain Dealer when I was there for Memorial Day several years ago titled “45 Life Lessons and 5 to Grow On.” It’s a great mix of philosophical and practical advice. There are too many to list here, but some of my favorites are:
• Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
• When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
• Pay off your credit cards every month.
• Don’t compare your life to others; you have no idea what their journey is all about.
• It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
• If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
• Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.
• The best is yet to come.

Have a great weekend; and on this Memorial Day, take time to honor the memory of those who have served our country. And if you’re traveling, be safe!

May 8, 2009

2009-05-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week! There’ve been so many great recognition activities going on, it’s difficult to capture them all here. I’m a little late getting this out because I’ve been busy with some of these activities even today.

This past week, among others, we recognized our National Technical Honor Society inductees, our top 15 academic achievers who each selected their “Honored Educator,” our academic achievers at the Logan Co. Academic Achievement Recognition Breakfast, and our Project SEARCH interns. Please watch your e-mail for Shane’s press releases and photos and take time to read them—it reminds us why we’re all here! And congratulations to all of our student achievers for their outstanding performance this year.

This past weekend was chock-full with activities related to our 35th Anniversary celebration. Friday evening, we had an Alumni & Friends gathering, and several past students, staff, and supporters of OHP stopped by. It was a nice, casual evening to enjoy some refreshments and catch up with old friends. Saturday morning was our Top of Ohio 5K Run/Walk. The weather was a pleasant surprise, and we had a great time! One special team that walked and ran the race was our Project SEARCH team (see photo above right). They truly took the “team” approach and supported one another right up to the finish line!

Saturday evening was our third Showcase of Success Distinguished Alumni Induction. It was such a special evening. Our three inductees were Beth Brentlinger (Cosmetology, 1976), Carol DelGrosso (Drafting, 1978), and Aaron Wren (Plumbing/Pipefitting, 1979). Of course, we all love to hear the success stories of our alumni; but what I enjoy most is seeing our inductees reconnect with OHP in a significant way and truly appreciate the great start their teachers here gave them. Be watching our Showcase of Success wall for these three inductees to be added and take time to read their stories!

Monday I had the opportunity to attend the statewide Career-Based Intervention spring conference where our very own Deb Wortman was recognized as an Outstanding Partner for her work in starting CBI programs with partner schools. Very well deserved! These programs have made such an impact on students needing just a little extra guidance in middle school and high school in order to get on and stay on the right track. One of those students, Bryanna Baker at Upper Scioto Valley, was also recognized as the recipient of the Jeff Akers Scholarship at the state conference. She gave a beautiful and eloquent speech as she shared with us her plans to go on to become a nurse. Let me share with you some of her words:

My CBI class through Ohio Hi-Point has helped me develop this plan and taught me the process to moving through all of the steps. This scholarship and your belief in me have increased my self confidence, which adds to my personal drive to work towards my goals.

Best wishes to Bryanna—I have no doubt she’ll one day make a wonderful nurse!

You know, our students are some of the most grateful teenagers I’ve ever worked with (and you don’t often hear “grateful” and “teenager” in the same sentence!) One example I’d like to share with you is the following e-mail one of our students sent to Tracy Franck in our Technology Department:

Mrs. Franck, I just wanted to thank you again for helping with my senior video. We watched it in lab today and everyone loved it, it was very emotional. And thanks to you I was able to get everyone a copy of the video today. You don’t know how much that meant to me. I was unable to get my fellow classmates a graduation present and this made me feel a little bit better. It also gives each one of us something to look back on, we will all now have something to remember each other by and the time spent at Hi-Point. So thank you so much.

Amie' Hoffer

Culinary Arts 09'

I’m sure Tracy thought nothing of helping this young lady with her project, but what an impact it made! Even when we’re just “doing our jobs,” never underestimate the difference we can make.

It’s come to my attention that, if we had a “Safety Award of the Week,” it should go to Melissa Sizemore this week (Melissa is a math teacher on our Bellefontaine Campus). Apparently as Melissa and some students were setting up outside for field day today at about noon, the tornado siren went off. Melissa didn’t realize this was a weekly occurrence (to test the siren), and she had a real sense of urgency about getting her students back into the building to a safe location! Melissa, your friends and co-workers are having a little fun at your expense. But I’m glad you have that intuitive instinct to protect our kids. Hope it didn’t stress you out too much!

Finally, let me wish all of you a wonderful Mother’s Day. Treasure your mother if you still have her, treasure her memory if you don’t, treasure motherhood if you are a mother, and treasure the anticipation of motherhood if you’re a mother-to-be!

Have a great weekend!

May 1, 2009

2009-05-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 1, 2009

Yikes, is anyone else hyperventilating over how fast time is going by?!? A typical spring in any school, I suppose. (By the way--welcome to May and happy May Day!)

The Administrative Team put our best culinary foot (feet?) forward on Monday and provided lunch for our office support staff. This is the very least we can do to thank them for the tremendous support they provide to all of us and, most importantly, our students! It was a lot of fun and such a treat to be able to sit down and have lunch with the whole gang. A photo of the festivities is at the right.

We recognized our 3rd-quarter Straight A students with “walking tacos” and special recognition on Monday afternoon. What a great group of kids! It was nice to spend some time with our achievers; but true to form, they didn’t stick around long—most of them wanted to get back to class to finish some assignment or project! So we sent them on their way and told them to “go get some more A’s!” Thanks to all of our teaching staff who work with these students to help them succeed.

Wednesday evening I attended the West-Central Ohio Tech Prep Consortium Recognition Dinner and had the privilege of seeing two of OHP’s finest receive recognition. Ashley Sprang, Health Technologies senior from Kenton, and Lance Salyer, Auto Technology senior from Triad, will both be receiving Tech Prep scholarships—Ashley for Rhodes State and Lance for University of Northwest Ohio. Congratulations to these two fine young people and best wishes in your college and career! We know you’ll make us proud and go on to much success.

I was off campus on Thursday attending an “Issues Forum” with the career-technical superintendents. On the topic of the next biennium budget, among other things we are working with the Senate Education Committee to assure:
· That career-tech leadership has representation on the committee that will study our funding over the next two years
· That open-enrolled students and weighted funding are included in the amount that the proposed 1.9 percent funding increase will be based upon
· That Adult Workforce Education is fully integrated into the University System of Ohio (now that we are under the Board of Regents)
We’re on voice among hundreds, no doubt, lobbying with Senate right now over this budget bill, but we are a united voice! I’ll keep you posted.

Thursday evening we hosted our annual Career Focus Dinner and invited those students who have applied to our programs to come in, have dinner with us, and spend some time in their future labs getting to know their instructors better. We had a great turnout and I was able to talk to many excited future students (and grateful parents!) I also heard comments from several of our staff that this seems like such a nice group of kids (not that that’s anything new). We look forward to working with them over the next two years!

We’ve had a lot of activities around our 35th Anniversary this week, with many more to come! I hope you’ll all come out and join us at our Top of Ohio 5K Run/Walk tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. It’s an exciting event which draws a bigger crowd of runners/walkers every year. And best of all, it raises money for our Scholarship Fund! Thanks to all of you who are volunteering your precious weekend time for this event.

Next week is one of celebrating special people! Tuesday is National Teacher Appreciation Day, and Wednesday is School Nurse’s Appreciation Day! Let me be the first to say we greatly appreciate the professionalism of all of our teachers/certified staff and all you do to help our students chase their dreams. And I know I’m not alone in saying that I always feel a little bit safer knowing we have “Nurse Amy” watching over us as our Health & Safety Coordinator. Thanks for all you do. We’ve got the best!

Have a great weekend!

April 24, 2009

2009-04-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

TGIF April 23, 2009

Welcome to another Friday—and a beautiful one at that! I hope you’ve had a good week; and I can safely assume it’s been crazy busy for all of you. And we’re not even to “May Madness” yet!

The administrative team and I have been out and about the state this week at various teacher recruiting events. It’s a difficult time to be away from campus, but this is such an important opportunity to talk to and recruit the very best teachers for our students. (That’s how we’ve found many of you!) I always enjoy the chance to talk with young people (and some more “veteran”) who are seeking teaching positions and listening to their teaching philosophies and experiences. Takes me back to when I was seeking my first teaching job (too many years ago to mention!) I can sense their excitement, nervousness, and anticipation. How wonderful that we still have so many young people who consider teaching to be the ultimate career.

At both of the two recruiting events I attended (Ohio University and University of Findlay), I had candidates approach me (academic teachers) and tell me they had done or were doing their student teaching at career centers and they absolutely love it! They were specifically seeking opportunities to teach in a career center. This is a huge pat on the back to career-tech in Ohio because it’s obvious these young teachers have realized the value of relevant academic instruction tied to career pathways. Good for them for taking notice!

Speaking of outstanding teachers, I’m sure most of you have heard or read that our very own Deb Purcell, Health Technologies Teacher, was selected as a 2009 recipient of the Rotary Excellence in Teaching Award. Deb, who was nominated by a student, is one of three teachers selected from a very distinguished group of nominees. We’re proud of you, Deb; and thank you for the excellent work you do for students every day!

We held our final meeting of the year for the Student Advisory Council on Thursday and celebrated with ice cream. (Most of them said they’d never had Graeter’s Ice Cream before, and I just didn’t feel they could go through life without that experience!) This has been a great group of students to work with—they’ve brought us concerns of the student body, worked to solve problems within the school, and served as spokespersons for communicating administrative decisions to students. And, a little selfishly on my part, they give me an opportunity to connect with students, which is a rare treat in my position. I look forward to forming a new group and continuing the discussion next year.

Next week will be chock-full with activities for our 35th anniversary! I hope you’ve all taken notice of the promotion of scheduled events in the various media and through Shane’s communications. Please join us for as many events as you can to celebrate the tremendous contribution this school, and the many staff members over the years, have made to the region.

Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend, wear your sunscreen, and get some rest!

April 17, 2009

2009-04-17T07:20:00.001-07:00

First, welcome back from spring break! I hope you all enjoyed some time away from work and were able to relax and renew. It was mighty quiet around here without staff and students—it’s good to have all the activity back! We certainly had a typical “Ohio smorgasbord” of weather during the break—snow, rain, sun, a little bit of everything. I hear some of you escaped to warmer climates—good for you!

Last Wednesday I met as part of an Ohio Association of Career-Technical Education task force to write a formal response to legislators regarding replacing the Ohio Graduation Test with the ACT as a measure of academic attainment for high-school graduation. The group discussed several pros and cons. What we came to agreement on is that:

· Ohio ACTE supports the four components of the proposed graduation requirements as a more representative and complete assessment of all students. Implementing graduation requirements that include a standardized test, community service, senior project and end-of-course exam is a better way to measure students’ attainment of 21st Century Skills and a more reliable indicator of future success, whether a student is entering college or the workforce.
Ohio ACTE recognizes the significance of a nationally standardized assessment, such as the ACT, as one part of an overall assessment for graduation.
· Career-technical education has a tradition of project-based learning and community service. Our students are well prepared to enter college or the workforce upon graduation and have a positive impact on Ohio’s economy.
· Many career technical programs have in place excellent models of project-based learning and senior projects, and we would be happy to share those with you and all members of the State School Board.
· We offered our assistance and support as legislators plan, design, and assess the four-part components for graduation requirements that are essential to the attainment of 21st Century skills.

Tuesday morning I had an opportunity to meet with Jeff Tomko, Vice President of Honda Transmission Manufacturing of America. I also had a chance to tour the plant at Russell’s Point. As I’m sure you’ve heard or read in the news, all of Honda’s production facilities are facing difficult times and making cutbacks in order to weather the current economic tough times. But the mood as I spoke with Mr. Tomko was optimistic. It’s amazing to me how complex organizations such as Honda are and yet how relatively quickly they can respond to changing economic conditions. I think they set a great example for those of us in education. I look forward to having Mr. Tomko tour our facilities to view our engineering/manufacturing programs and academic offerings.

Wednesday I had the absolute pleasure of judging the Business Department’s Etiquette Luncheon. (The luncheon, by the way, was a delicious meal prepared and served by Culinary Arts!) How fun it was to sit and have a “business lunch” with four students: Cody from Bellefontaine and Devon from Marysville (Information Technology students), and Chelsea from West Liberty-Salem and Ashley from Triad (Business Administrative Technology students). The time just flew by as we talked about why they chose to come to OHP, what their plans are for the future, what they like most about their career-tech programs, what their “dream job” would be—even what their favorite fast food is! These young people are well on their way to being successful in interviewing situations and on the job. Many thanks to Amanda Blackburn and Heather Reed for organizing this wonderful learning experience for these students and allowing me to participate.

The Logan County Chamber of Commerce Safety Committee meets monthly at our facility, and I had a chance to sit in on the meeting Thursday. The topic was identity theft, and Jim Ball from Fifth Third Bank was the presenter. Scary stuff—and something we all need to be concerned about. Long story short—check all your statements carefully every month; if you receive offers that seem too good to be true, they probably are; don’t open e-mails from sources you don’t know; and keep those passwords carefully protected!

This morning I had the privilege of welcoming secretaries from our 14 partner school who attended Ohio Hi-Point’s District Secretary’s Workshop. This is the fourth year we’ve extended an invitation to these office professionals to attend this event. It’s one very small way we can thank those who take care of us day in and day out for all they do to keep our schools running smoothly. Next Wednesday is Administrative Professionals Day—hint, hint! Don’t forget to recognize those who do so much to support you in your work.

Another income tax filing day has come and gone—I hope it wasn’t too unkind to you. Did you know that Abraham Lincoln signed the U.S. income tax into law in 1862 to help pay the expenses of the Civil War? Somehow the tax has stuck around long after that war ended! Old Abe did so much good for our country, I guess we have to forgive him this one slip-up.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

April 3, 2009

2009-04-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

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!

March 19, 2009

2009-03-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, fast week! I’m sure it’s been quick for all of you too, with altered schedules, OGT testing, day and evening classes—never a dull moment! Spring arrives tomorrow (hurray!), and my calendar tells me Saturday is the birthday of Benito Juarez. I have to admit—I had to Google him to find out why I would want to know this. But I’ll bet our Spanish teacher Rene Mejia can give us a lesson on this man’s importance!

Last Friday I attended the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) Ohio Spring Conference with Shane Haggerty and JoEtta Spain. Shane is an officer of the organization and helped plan the conference, and both he and JoEtta were recognized at the awards luncheon. JoEtta received the “Friend of Education” award for all the work she has done to recruit students into our programs, network with business & industry through our school-to-work program, and bring recognition to our school through her public relations efforts. Shane accepted the “Best of the Best” award for our website and “Mark of Excellence” award for our Hi-Lites newsletter. I was really proud to be there amongst representatives from school districts all over Ohio to celebrate this recognition (see photo at right). Thanks to both JoEtta and Shane for all you do to keep us in the public eye in such a positive way!

Monday evening I spoke at the Urbana Rotary Club at the invitation of Dr. Stephen Jones, Urbana University President. I shared with them some of the history of our current, updated them on our high-school and adult programs, and expressed that we are looking forward to expanding into our South Campus in Urbana. They had several questions about our programs as well as the alternative energy projects we’ve embarked upon. We have many, many supporters in Champaign County; and I especially appreciate our partnerships with Urbana University, the school districts in Champaign Co., Jobs and Family Services, the City of Urbana, and several businesses that have supported our workforce development offerings there. Our teachers in those programs have done an excellent job and paved the way for future growth!

Wednesday evening five of OHP’s finest competed in the American Association of University Women Trivia Bee fund-raiser held here at our facility. Ohio Hi-Point’s team—Caleb Lang, Doug Limes, Surena Neer, Melissa Sizemore, and JoAnn Ventresco—did a great job and had a lot of fun! (See the photo of our astute-looking team at right.) I hear from JoEtta Spain, who was also there serving as a judge, that we need to have our team bone up on Logan County history—but other than that they did great! Thanks to all of you for participating and representing Ohio Hi-Point so well!

I was not able to be at the Trivia Bee on Wednesday evening to cheer on our team because I was attending the Hardin County All-Boards Banquet. It was my privilege to be there to recognize and thank our Board Members from Hardin County (Dean McCullough from Ridgemont, Russ Blue from Kenton, Bill Cook from Upper Scioto Valley, and Larry Mouser from the Hardin Co. ESC). The speaker was John Thomas, a former school superintendent, who gave us several examples from around the state of collaboration among school districts and other agencies that have resulted in tremendous benefits to students and communities. The topic was very timely—as resources become more scarce, it will be even more important for us all to work together to leverage rather than duplicate resources and efforts to best serve our customers.

Recently I received an e-mail from Joyce Brown, wife of former U.S. Senator Clarence Brown, from Urbana. She shared with me that two of our Culinary Arts students, Jacob Park and Krysten Beckett, had presented to her Delta Kappa Gamma organization and demonstrated very ornate garnishes. This gave her the idea to have our students prepare centerpieces for the grand opening of the new Cedar Bog Education Center in Urbana on April 17. And so . . . our students will be doing just that—preparing nature-themed centerpieces out of fruits and vegetables! I suggested a frog since one of the themes of the Bog has been “A Frog in the Bog.” As their instructor Donna Beale said, you never know when opportunities will come along, and she’s taught her students to be prepared to take advantage of those opportunities. I will be attending the grand opening of the Educational Center, and I know the work of our Culinary students will be a hit and make us all proud!

Mary Jo Alstaetter, Project SEARCH instructor, shared with me recently that her interns present a traveling trophy monthly to a staff person or department for outstanding service to the Project SEARCH program. She forwarded a note they had received from a recipient in the Dietary Department at Logan Acres:

To all the young project SEARCH men and women, you make my day brighter when you walk in the door. You all do so much to make my job easier. Each year I can’t wait for a new group to come and miss each and everyone as you go. Thanks for the award trophy you gave us in Dietary. We have the Shining Star on our shelf in the kitchen as a reminder of all you are and will be in the future as you go out in the world, whatever it may be you do. Your teachers and leaders are fine also. Keep your heads up high and a smile on your faces!

Stephanie Dysert

What a great tribute! And isn’t that what it’s all about—teaching our students to give back and show appreciation to those who have helped them along the way. Thanks for sharing, Mary Jo!

Seems as if our students aren’t the only ones getting a little rambunctious with spring fever these days. I looked out my window Thursday afternoon and saw one of our Animal Tech students chasing one of her four-legged “clients” down the hill—must have had an escapee! I think we all just want to get outside and enjoy this weather. I hope you have a chance to do just that this weekend!

March 13, 2009

2009-03-12T18:11:00.000-07:00

As we wrap up another week, we’re just about halfway through March—can you believe it? And a busy week it’s been.

On Monday I attended a meeting of the Hardin County Chamber and Business Alliance to discuss a project focused on bringing business and education together to address the critical workforce needs in that county and the urgent need to “do education differently” to leverage resources in tough times and better prepare students for their futures. Hardin County isn’t alone in attempting to address these concerns. It’s important to note that in four of our counties (Hardin, Logan, Champaign, and Union), when economic development discussions are held, I’m invited to the table--I don’t have to ask for a seat! And I’m typically the only educator there. This is a testament to the credibility that our district has established (that you have established!) with local business leaders as a critical partner in workforce development in this region.

Monday evening the Bellefontaine Rotary Club hosted its annual Honors Dessert for Logan County seniors who have maintained a 3.5 GPA during their senior year. Ten OHP seniors were honored, and several of them were in attendance to receive their honors. We’re so proud of their accomplishments and proud to be able to recognize them as OHP students. Thanks to Shelly Swaney for making the presentations and to JoEtta Spain for organizing the students!

Wednesday we once again had the pleasure of hosting the Education Day session of Leadership Logan County. JoEtta organized the visit, and several of our administrators and teachers welcomed our visitors during their tour. The participants visited many labs, and they had an opportunity to talk with students and experience engaged, hands-on learning in Architectural & Mechanical Design, Electronics Technology, and Manufacturing/Engineering Technology. Candace Watson, Director of Travel & Tourism for Logan County Chamber of Commerce and a member of the class, wrote to me afterward:

JoEtta & Kim-

Oh my gosh! The Leadership class today was the best we’ve had so far! I thought I would know most of the material from today’s class, but I did not. The students are such good kids. They were so professional (as were the instructors). You can tell that they are passionate about their fields of study and really enjoy learning at OHP. I can’t tell you how many times my Leadership classmates said, “Wow!” One classmate told me that, before today, he had an “old” view of OHP. This classmate just went on and on about how OHP has changed, how none of the students seemed unengaged or bored, etc. Great job!

She’s right—great job to our students and staff in giving these visitors the “Wow Factor!”

Wednesday evening we hosted our Annual Appreciation Banquet to honor and thank our advisory committees and other community supporters. What a great turnout! We needed to go into “overflow mode” and seat people in the Commons—great problem to have! (Sure glad we took out those walls.) Kendall Sullivan, Auto Collision Technologies student, gave a heartfelt and eloquent thank-you to our supporters for the difference they’ve made in his life and the lives of his peers. And Ray Jeffers, a Toledo-area businessman and advisory committee member himself, admonished our audience to continue to support our programs and hold us to high standards.

Special recognition went to our Advisory Committee of the Year (Construction Trades at our Marysville satellite for their help in establishing our partnership with U-Co Industries as a site to build a handicap-accessible house), the Making a Difference Award to Dave Bacher of Urbana (who has housed our Adult Ed. HVAC program free of charge for many months while we await the renovation of our South Campus), and our first annual OHP Alumni & Friends Association Distinguished Service Award to former Board Member Cliff Baughman (from Graham Local) for his many years of dedicated service to our District. The meal was delicious (provided by local caterer Chattan Loch), and it was extra special because it was served by several of our Project SEARCH current students and graduates. (Chattan Loch is committed to employing individuals with disabilities.) It was just a delightful evening which brought together so many wonderful supporters in recognition of all that has been accomplished in our programs. Thank you to all of our staff members who hosted advisory committees or who serve on committees, and thanks to Shane Haggerty, Don Jaunzemis, and our Facilities & Grounds staff for a great job in pulling off a class act!

Ohio Hi-Point serves as a learning site for more “students” than you might realize! Recently I received a thank-you note from a nursing student at OSU who completed her preceptorship under our Health & Safety Coordinator Amy McCarthy:

Good Morning,

I would like to tell you what a good experience I had at Hi-Point with Amy McCarthy. I am an OSU nursing student; I am in the RN to BSN program. I have spent my whole career as a nurse working in the hospital—ICU/ER and lately the Recovery Room and the pre-operative area.

Amy gives a whole new meaning to me as to what a school nurse does. I realize she also does the safety aspect as well. However, she is also a social worker, counselor, consoler, and so much more to kids at Hi-Point. Many a girl had stopped into the office for advice from Amy or just to say hi. She has formed bonds with a lot of those kids. She does a remarkable job with them and Hi-Point is very lucky to have her.

She also did a good job being a preceptor to me; she is kind and patient. She also possesses very good clinical skills.

Crenah K. Zimmer, R.N.

Crenah only confirms what we all know—we are very lucky to have Amy on board! Thanks to Amy for the terrific job she does in all of her roles every day!

So many signs of spring are popping up--I saw a convertible with the top down the other day. I think it had to have been a little chilly, but you have to admire the optimism! Have a wonderful weekend and rest up for the next week of “March Madness!”

March 8, 2009

2009-03-08T15:49:00.001-07:00

Well, my TGIF posting turned out to be a TGIS (Sunday) this week. I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the gorgeous weather we had yesterday! And I hope you remembered to move your clocks up one hour—otherwise it’s later than you think.

March brings the promise of spring, and it’s also Women’s History Month! (Somehow I’ve missed that up until now.) I’m not sure if there’s a Men’s History Month—sorry guys! I was reading an article written in honor of this month and learned of several inventions which are credited to women: the windshield wiper, the dishwasher, Scotchgard, the curling iron, and Liquid Paper. Who knew? I won’t give away which women invented these—those who are curious can do some research on your own.

March 9 (tomorrow) is also Barbie’s Doll’s 50th birthday! She was named after Miss Barbie Millicent Roberts from Willows, Wisconsin. I think most girls around my age owned one or more throughout our childhoods. (Barbie and I are the same age, but she’s holding up much better!) My oldest sister had one of the original 1959 models which would probably be worth a fortune today if it were in good shape. But that poor Barbie endured too many haircuts and make-up jobs with markers to hold her value.

Over the past week and a half or so, I’ve had the opportunity to visit several of our satellite programs (I try to get out to each of them at least once a year—which is getting tougher as the number grows!) What great, neat things are happening! Just as here on our Bellefontaine Campus, students are engaged and excited about their career paths and are doing amazing work through applied learning. They also promote such a positive image of Ohio Hi-Point, which helps us all! Thanks to all of our satellite teachers “afar” for the fine work you do with these young people.

Tuesday evening we tried a new venture, Power Up Your Future Night, to promote our Construction and Automotive Programs. Those in attendance got great information about careers from Dave Duff, a local construction contractor; and they got to visit labs and talk with instructors and college representatives. The ice cream and popcorn were also a hit! Thanks to Glenn Smith and his instructors (Dave Marsteller, Bob Lawrence, Doug Limes, Terry Hedges, Rodney Peterson, Bob Newland, John Wilson, and Dave Lindsey) for putting together such a great evening. Thanks also to JoEtta Spain and our Lead Ambassadors, Amy McCarthy, and Brandie Roberts for assisting (and my apologies to anyone I’m forgetting!) As the words gets out in future years, we look forward to having the event grow.

Meetings regarding the upcoming State Budget are requiring a lot of time these days, but it’s time well spent to make sure our position as career-technical centers is understood and supported. On Thursday, several career-technical superintendents met with our Legislative Liaison (sounds better than Lobbyist!) But lobby is exactly what we need to do. We have some serious concerns about unintended consequences of the Governor’s proposed budget plan. The plan eliminates per-pupil funding for the K-12 districts and funds them rather on a teacher/student ratio. The plan further states that the JVSD’s will be dealt with in the next biennium budget. That’s all well and good, except that our funding is based on per-pupil funding flowing from our associate school districts to us, including the satellite programs we house in their buildings. So the Governor’s plan essentially leaves us with no basis for determining funding for any of our programs. That won’t work!

In addition, the 1.9 percent increase for career-tech included in the Governor’s Plan is not clearly attached to any particular number, other than last year’s funding for CTE overall. So there’s no provision for increased funding with increased enrollment. In addition, the $4.5 million study that is to be conducted to evaluate career-tech funding will be charged back to our state budget line-item, which more than zeros out the proposed increase. Ouch! We’ve put together our list of concerns and will be communicating these to the Education Chairs of the House and Senate through formal testimony and personal meetings. This budget bill is likely to go right down to the wire (June 30), but we’ll stay at the table until we’re assured of continued support and funding for our programs.

Friday morning I attended the Logan Co. MRDD annual breakfast in honor of MRDD Awareness Month. It’s always a great gathering of people who support services for individuals with disabilities. We always hear from the State Director of MRDD and local legislators. As we moved through the line for breakfast, I noticed there were several quotes posted throughout the building. One was from “Kate,” whom I figured out to be a graduate of our Project SEARCH Program. She said how much she enjoys helping the residents at Logan Acres through her job there. That’s the real pay-off for those of us in career-tech—seeing our graduates go on to success and satisfaction with their careers and their lives!

I hope you had a great weekend and got rested up for another busy week!

February 27, 2009

2009-02-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

I hope you all enjoyed a productive week and enjoyed the warmer weather (I think it’s over!) I know your schedules are filling up quickly with all of our career-technical competitive events and all those other spring activities typical to schools. It will be a blur from now to the end of the school year!

Over the past couple of weeks, many of you saw (and contributed to) our students collecting coins in the cafeteria for Relay for Life. I usually don’t have my wallet with me when I’m in the cafeteria; but one day I did, so I was happy to make a contribution. I couldn’t decide which program to donate to, so the two young men working the table suggested I donate to their programs—made sense to me! But I didn’t have any coins—so I thought I was doing them a favor by putting in dollar bills. I didn’t learn until the winners were announced that the programs won by weight of money collected! Oh well, I was happy to contribute to such a great cause. Congratulations to Electronics I and II, Health Technology II, and Culinary Arts I and II for taking the lead.

We held our 2nd quarter Straight-A Lunch last week (a little late after a couple of snow delays!) What a great group of kids! They each received certificates, a gas card, and pizza prepared by our Culinary Arts students. I think the pizza was the biggest hit! I sat and talked with two students from our Construction Trades Academy. I was surprised by how tuned-in they were to the current recession and what it might mean for their careers. They both talked very knowledgeably about the possibility of starting their own business, what their niche market might be, and the risks that would entail. I think that’s pretty amazing for high-school students—but, then, our students are pretty amazing!

The Logan County United Way wrap-up was held last Thursday morning at the YMCA, and Jack Reser, Campaign Chair, made special mention of the tremendous generosity of Logan County schools employees. I want to say one last “thank you” to all of you who gave so generously; it’s money being put to use right here in our communities for those most in need.

Last Friday I attended the annual Hardin County Tax Incentive Review Council. At these meetings, which each of our counties holds, we review active tax abatements and vote whether to continue them based on jobs and taxes generated. Not terribly exciting stuff; but as I sat and listened to these small- to medium-sized business owners speak about their current economic struggles, I could see the strain on their faces and hear it in their voices. Yet they were all very hopeful and confident that we will pull out of this recession and thrive again. These are the men and women who “put it all on the line” with their small businesses that are the backbone of our economy. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.

Monday evening, Deb Wortman and I presented at the Marysville Board of Education Meeting to update them on current satellite programs and discuss potential future growth. It was gratifying to recount the journey we’ve had putting these programs in place, creatively finding space for them in the community through the generosity of community members, and watching them grow. It’s been a challenge on many fronts, and it’s only through the sheer will of both districts that many of the programs came to be. It’s clear that Marysville is very thankful to have programs in their community, and the leadership of the district greatly values career-technical education. Our thanks to Scott Johnson, our Marysville Board Member, for arranging to have us present.

Wednesday was our Women in Technology and Engineering Day, hosted by several of our programs. I heard a lot of positive feedback about the numbers that attended and the interest that was generated. I know that Bellefontaine sent quite a few students because they had to send a second bus to come pick them up! Amanda Blackburn shared:

We had a GREAT time at Women in Technology and Engineering Day. We had almost 60 freshman and sophomore girls from Bellefontaine and West-Liberty Salem attend. They went to 6 different hands-on sessions in IT-2D animation, Electronic Soldering, Robotics, Architecture, 3D Animation with the Tech Dept and a science session. The comments we received on the evaluations were very positive about the sessions and the school. Most said they didn’t realize we had all this to offer and were excited about coming to Hi Point in the future. Overall, all the teachers got great feedback throughout the day.

Thanks to Amanda for sharing and all who were involved in planning and hosting this event. It’s one more way to spread the good OHP news!

I stopped out to visit Joyce Lyon in our Career Assessment building on Thursday. She had only one student that day; Chelsea from Urbana. I tell you what, Chelsea had some pretty amazing manual dexterity! I observed her going through several of the assessment instruments, and she handled them all with ease. Joyce shared with me the report that she is able to generate for students as a result of these assessments. Many students from our partner schools take advantage of Career Assessment which aides them in making good program decisions for OHP. Thanks, Joyce, for your work with these students and for allowing me to visit.

We held our second annual Hi-Point Hi-Tech Night on Thursday evening. Our current students did their usual fine job showcasing their programs, and our Lead Ambassadors welcomed our guests and guided them through tours. The turnout was light, but we made many great connections with future students. Those that attended got their hands onto our technology—one young man lost his tour group because he got so engrossed in the electronic chess game! We heard many, many positive comments about what we have to offer. Thanks to the many staff members who were in attendance to assist.

One connection we were able to make at this event was with the home-school market. I spoke with the parents of a home-schooled student who were very excited about the technology we have to offer. They offered to submit our marketing materials to their home-school “co-op” newsletter. We’ve always served home-schooled students very well, and this will hopefully bring a whole new level of awareness to that group.

Our Technology Department continues to tackle the virus problem we’ve experienced. They’re finishing up student computers now. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, and I hope you’ll all give the a pat on the back for a job well done. Robin Curley shared with me the following experience she had with a member of our fine Tech Department:

Talk about student centered…… With all the problems John, Tracy, and Matt are dealing with concerning viruses and our network, Tracy took time this afternoon to help one of my “student coaches” produce packets (noxious weeds and tack) to help train my Equine Management team for state competition. Kudos to her for once again putting students at the top of the priority list! We are lucky to have her on staff.

Yep, we’re lucky to have the whole bunch! Thanks, Robin, for sharing.

Have a great weekend and get some rest!

January 30, 2009

2009-01-30T10:31:00.000-08:00

We’re wrapping up another week and—hard to believe—another month! Not sure where January has gone, other than it’s been buried under a pile of snow! I hope you were all able to travel safely, stay warm, and maintain power throughout this latest winter blast. I’ve noticed all the spring gardening supplies are on display in the stores. That and the extra few minutes of daylight every day are hopeful signs of warmer, sunnier days to come!

Several members of the Administrative Team, as well as Shane Haggerty, attended the Ohio Association of Career-Technical Education Legislative Conference this past Wednesday and Thursday with me. We had an opportunity to meet with all six of our local legislators or their aides: Senators Keith Faber, Steve Buehrer, and Karen Gillmore, as well as Representatives Cliff Hite, John Adams, and Dave Burke. Many thanks to Shane for setting up these appointments. These face-to-face visits give us an opportunity to share with our legislators success stories of our students, new initiatives we have on campus, and future program plans. We are also able to stress to them the importance of maintaining our per-pupil funding as well as our career-tech weighted funding so that we can continue to offer services at the current level. Building these relationships is especially critical during these times of transition for education in Ohio. Several of the legislators and/or their aides requested additional information from us, and we will certainly send that to them right away. In addition, we encouraged them to visit our programs to see for themselves the tremendous opportunities we offer young people and adults; and we’ll follow up with a formal invitation in the near future. (Representative Burke is already scheduled for February 13.)

We learned from one of the many speakers at the Legislative Conference that 48 members of the House of Representatives have two or fewer years of experience as legislators—so we have a lot of educating to do! I’m confident that when those legislators visit us that they’ll recognize the quality instruction you provide our students and see the difference that the relevance of career-technical education makes.

I also shared with you earlier this week a summary of Governor Strickland’s State-of-the-State Address. While it’s difficult to argue with the premise of his proposed reform package, the question on all of our minds is how these initiatives will be funded, particularly in light of funding cuts proposed last month by the Governor. One of our speakers on Thursday morning at the conference was John Stanford, Executive Assistant and advisor to the Governor on education policy. I had the opportunity to ask Mr. Stanford if, in light of the Governor’s reform package, the earlier proposed cuts could still be expected. He explained that, if the President’s economic stimulus package should pass the Senate without major revision, the cuts will be reconsidered due to the revenues that Ohio would receive. But he also said something that concerns me—a good portion of the stimulus funds would come to states as Title I and IDEA funds, which would put considerable restrictions on how they could be utilized at the local level.
However, a recent update from the National School Boards Association outlined that while $26 billion of the education stimulus package would be administered through Title I and IDEA (Ohio’s portion for these would total approximately 9.8 billion), another $39 billion would flow to states through “emergency state funds” to K-12 and higher education (it’s unclear what Ohio’s portion would be). These emergency funds would flow over the next two years; so in my mind, that begs the question—then what? I suppose the more answers we get the more questions we’ll have! Governor Strickland has promised to roll out his state budget plan to the legislature early next week, and that should answer some of the looming questions. These certainly are interesting times to be in education!

Speaking of “interesting times,” I hope you’ll all take a moment to thank our Facilities & Grounds staff for the tremendous job they’ve done this week (and this winter) in keeping our campus clean and safe during all this messy weather. While you’re at home in the morning waiting for that phone call regarding a delay or cancellation (and I’m trying to find my glasses so I can see the computer screen to register the AlertNow phone call!), our Facilities & Grounds staff are already at work in the very early hours of the morning to get a head start on clearing parking lots and sidewalks. Snow is one thing, but a “sandwich” of ice, snow, and more ice make it an even more difficult task. Having spent quite a bit of time in downtown Columbus this past week slopping through uncleared snow and ice, I can truly appreciate how good we have it!

Have a warm, safe weekend!

January 23, 2009

2009-01-23T10:28:00.000-08:00

I hope you all enjoyed your extended weekend last weekend and that you’ve been able to get caught up on the days we missed. I know it’s a busy time of year for all of you and even more difficult when trying to play catch up!

Tuesday evening Robert Walker and I attended a Champaign Advocates for Renewable Energy (CARE) symposium at Urbana University at which various renewable energy product vendors were asked to exhibit. Ohio Hi-Point was asked to be there to showcase the renewable energy projects we’ve implemented on our campus. It was an interesting mix of exhibitors, and it was nice to have an opportunity to learn from them and share our experiences. Upper Valley Career Center was also there exhibiting an adult-education program they’re launching in renewable energies. We were proud to be the one school there that has taken steps district-wide to reduce energy consumption, save energy dollars, and provide our students with learning opportunities in renewable energies!

Along the lines of environmental responsibility, I want to share that we are in discussions with the Solid Waste District of Logan Co. to allow them build a recycling center on our property on the east side of Sloan Boulevard (across from the entrance to our Land Lab). Our Board has given the preliminary nod, and I expect to have a finalized contract to take to them in February (we’re working out a few details regarding the construction process, access from Sloan Boulevard, etc.) We feel it’s an exciting partnership which will give citizens on the east side of the County (and us!) an opportunity to “do the right thing” and recycle as much as possible.

Wednesday evening I attended a School Funding Roundtable at Urbana University, which was organized by UU, OHP, Urbana City Schools, and the Ohio School Boards Association. Clearly school funding is at the top of all our lists these days, and the meeting was attended by several school board members, superintendents, and other interested individuals. We certainly didn’t solve Ohio’s school funding problems in 90 minutes! But we came away with a plan to organize locally so that we can respond quickly and in a unified way to school funding proposals from the Governor and ODE. We should all know more about the Governor’s plans after next week; he will be delivering his State-of-the-State Address next Wednesday at noon and we’re also anticipating some specifics on his proposed budget.

OHP has recently grown! (Geographically, that is.) We recently received final documentation that a parcel of land (approximately 9.5 acres) that was taken by the State in the early 1970’s for construction of the Rt. 68 bypass (which never happened) has been returned to us. This land, along Rt. 33, will be added to our Land Lab for student use. Many thanks to Robert Walker who worked closely with the Ohio Department of Transportation to see this process through!

Thursday morning I represented Ohio Hi-Point Career Center at a Logan County Family & Children First Council Community Planning Meeting, which works in partnership with Logan County Family Court. Francie Ross, GRADS teacher, represents us on the Family & Children First Council, and I appreciate her continued involvement. Past planning meetings had gathered information regarding the most crucial needs in serving families and children in Logan Co., and at this meeting we learned that the most critical issue identified is child abuse with a focus on sexual abuse. What a sad reality. The statistics were staggering, and they likely don’t represent the whole picture because many cases of child abuse and sexual abuse go unreported. Sometimes we don’t think of our 11th and 12th graders as “children,” but they are still susceptible to many types of abuse. I applaud the work all of you do every day to serve the “whole child” and to be watchful for any of our students who might be in need assistance.

Several of our staff members who regularly interact with the community have participated in various county leadership programs. I appreciate their willingness to commit to the time demands of these programs, to seek networking opportunities, and to spread awareness of OHP. Joel Staudter, Instructional Supervisor, is currently participating in Leadership Logan County, and he shared the following with me today:

At this month’s Logan County Leadership meeting I was approached by two individuals that verbally praised Ohio Hi-Point Career Center. First, Pam McBrien of Mary Rutan Hospital praised Deb Purcell and our Health Technology students. Pam and Deb work collaboratively to provide volunteering opportunities for Ohio Hi-Point Health Technology students. Throughout our conversation Pam praised students on their positive attitude, professionalism, and enthusiasm. She loves having Ohio Hi-Point’s students volunteer!

In a second conversation with Carly Schaub of Fast Track Signs I learned that she and Shane Haggerty discussed social networking and other various marketing strategies. With much enthusiasm she emphasized how awesome it was to speak to Shane, aka “The Guru of Social Marketing.” Shane provided some unique insight that was very beneficial to Carly and her husband’s business.

I feel these are two powerful testimonials worth celebrating. Congratulations to our Health Technology Teachers and Shane for having a positive impact on our surrounding communities.

I know we all echo Joel’s congratulations to these staff members.

I’ll also share more praise we received for students going “above and beyond” over the Christmas Holiday. JoEtta Spain organized a group of our Student Ambassadors to assist with the downtown Bellefontaine holiday festivities (on their own time, mind you!) Susan Froebe, Executive Director of the Bellefontaine Downtown Partnership, e-mailed me about another matter this week and tacked on the following:

I wanted to share with you how wonderful it was to have Joetta Spain and her student volunteers help with “The Night at the North Pole.” Actually, they more than helped! They created the most magnificent experience at Canterbury Coffee I have ever witnessed. We only asked for students to assist with the photo ops and “build a buckeye” table, but they were so much more than that! They provided a “WOW” factor!

The students were amazingly engaged in the event and made it a memorable experience for the children! They made the photo op so much fun! I don’t know the names of the students, but these young ladies at the photo op location could get the shyest child on top of the reindeer for a picture…it was very cute! I even thought the students were great fun when I stopped in periodically. They didn’t know me and they were welcoming me to Canterbury…something the business owner should be eternally grateful for. And to top it all off Joetta stayed for the entire event and welcomed every person that came through the door. I’ve never been to Canterbury when it has been so welcoming!

Once again, our students have made us proud and a staff member has supported them in making it happen. Thanks to JoEtta and her Student Ambassadors—job well done!

Enjoy the warmer weather (while we've got it) and have a great weekend!

January 16, 2009

2009-01-16T13:16:00.000-08:00

I remember when we returned from Winter Break I said how nice it was to be back into a routine. So much for that! I know these cancellations (although perhaps a welcome additional break) just compact schedules at a very busy time of year. But, as we always have, we’ll figure it out and get it all done.

Several of you have asked me about the state budget cuts and what it will mean to Ohio Hi-Point. All I can say at this point is that the cuts the Governor has made public for the next biennium budget are still “proposed.” However, our Adult Education Department has withstood a series of cuts over the past two years, and I commend Darlene Chiles and her staff for being proactive in absorbing these cuts while still remaining in the black. It hasn’t been without some pain, but this department remains in a position of financial strength. District-wide, we’re certainly looking closely at the overall budget to have a contingency plan in place in case the new cuts should come at us fast and hard (what’s that commercial say—“Life comes at you fast!”) What we don’t know is the amount the cuts will add up to. We’re also hearing recently of possible federal aide, but that is uncertain as well. Governor Strickland will be delivering his State of the State Address on January 28 at noon; perhaps we will have more definitive information after that. What we do know is that we certainly won’t see increases in funding. And what I assure you is that as soon as I know what we’re dealing with, you’ll know.

Our Alumni and Friends Committee met on Wednesday, and we’re well under way with plans for our 35th Anniversary Homecoming plans! Details are being firmed up (stay tuned—Shane will be sharing more), but we definitely will be inducting the next class of Distinguished Alumni into our Showcase of Success. This is such a wonderful way to recognize those who have completed our programs and gone on to notable success, and the winners also serve as shining examples to our current students that they can accomplish great things! Please, if you know of a graduate from 1999 or later who has gone on to distinguished success in his or her career field, go online to fill out a nomination form (or contact Shane Haggerty for a form). We know those distinguished alumni are out there!

January is School Board Recognition Month, and our annual All-Boards Banquet was held on Wednesday evening as a thank-you to the Board Members from all our 17 participating school districts and ESC’s. The weather was lousy and the turnout was small; but those who attended heard a wonderful presentation from our keynote speaker, Logan Co. Sheriff Andy Smith. Andy started out as an education major before veering off into law enforcement, and he really drove home the importance of investing resources into our educational system and our young people. He spent several years heading up the Juvenile Detention Center; and he knows, as we do, that when you work with young people sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But our youth are always worth the effort! Thanks to my administrative team, Shane Haggerty, and Beth Kennaw for making this event a success.

You couldn’t turn on the TV yesterday or today without hearing about the US Airways plane crash in the Hudson River. What an amazing story! Certainly the pilot is a hero and a perfect example of competent execution under unbelievable pressure. But I’m also struck by the tremendous teamwork that resulted in not one single life being lost. I got chills up my spine watching how quickly those ferryboats were on the spot to rescue passengers. We at OHP know that it takes teamwork to be successful, and this story illustrates that sometimes you start your day not even knowing you’ll be part of the team. But by being watchful to others’ needs, you can play a vital (and maybe even life-saving) role. Let’s all remember that next time we get out of bed!

I hope you’ll all take some time on Monday to commemorate Martin Luther King Day in your own way. This holiday seems especially poignant to me at this point in our nation’s history. We’re facing some of the toughest times, maybe the toughest times, we’ve seen in our lifetimes. But we’re also witnessing some of the most amazing events that should make us proud of our country. The “dream” that Dr. King had has certainly become a reality with our new President being inaugurated next week. Regardless of your political affiliation, what an amazing country we live in where each of us has a voice and can exercise the right to even have an affiliation without fear. That’s cause for celebration!

Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!

January 9, 2009

2009-01-09T08:04:00.000-08:00

First of all, welcome back and Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed some restful time off and enjoyed some down time with family and other loved ones. I don’t know about you, but the thing I enjoy most about the holidays is the fact that everything and everyone slows down for a bit. (And I have to admit, it was nice not having to worry about what was going on with the weather in the mornings!) Even here at work, I was able to catch up on some projects that needed a “big chunk” of time to work through while it was nice and quiet.

I hope Santa was good to all of you. My favorite gift was a bag full of suet cakes from my niece—the birds have been having a feeding frenzy and they’re beautiful to watch! And I think the best gift of all is the brand new year that we get to unwrap with all of its possibilities and potential. This year will present some challenges, no doubt; but I’m confident have the resilience to handle whatever 2009 might bring us.

I saw an awful lot of students on Monday greeting one another and appearing very glad to be back. I think they really missed one another (and you!) and they missed the routine. Really, I did too. One can only eat, read, and putter around so much before starting to feel like a slug!

Well, this has been a week of mostly meetings, most of which haven’t been terribly exciting. On Thursday I did meet with the Ohio School Facilities Commission to discuss some possibilities for expanding their funding program beyond facilities and into operations. They were intrigued and it was a great brainstorming session. Certainly one of the challenges we’ll face in 2009 (and 2010 and 2011, most likely) will be our funding cuts. I heard someone on a public radio program say, “In times of a slow economy, fast innovation and creative solutions will define the survivors.” Good advice for tough times. And we’ve already shown we can innovate and be creative—so we’ll need to hone those skills and focus on what we do best.

This weather is driving me crazy! I’d rather have six inches of snow than this deceptive ice that sneaks up on you. (Although I should be careful what I ask for—sounds like I might get it!) On my way to a meeting in Urbana on Thursday afternoon, I came upon a minor accident on Ludlow Road in Logan County. A tow truck was already there, but I stopped to see if everyone was OK and to ask if they needed a phone. The two young men involved had Urbana High School sweatshirts on; and since they were heading south from Bellefontaine, I figured they might be Hi-Point students. I asked them if they were, and they said yes. (Thankfully everyone was fine.) I introduced myself, told them I was so glad they were OK, and pleaded with them to please be careful. They looked a little sheepish—the accident scene indicated it might have been a case of driving a little too fast and following a little too closely. I just hope and pray we can get through this Ohio winter without any serious injuries.

Sounds like this might be a good weekend to “cocoon.” If you have to go out, please be careful--and enjoy your weekend!

December 19, 2008

2008-12-19T05:52:00.000-08:00

Well, the day that many of you have been waiting for is finally here! Any even those of us who work some over Winter Break are looking forward to a little down time coming soon. I think we all could use some rest—including our students! But I know you’re also aware that it’s a very stressful time for many of our students and you’ve been very sensitive to that. They may not admit it—but many of them miss you and the supportive environment you provide while they’re away.

There’s never a good day for bad weather to hit, but our calamity day Wednesday seemed to hit at a particularly inconvenient time. Of course, a lot of testing got thrown off schedule; and I know there were a lot of holiday activities planned. But one planned event came off without a hitch regardless of the weather, and I think this story is a perfect example of the work ethic we instill in our students and the respect that our staff earns from those students.

Our annual Board Christmas Dinner, prepared and served by our Culinary Arts Students, was scheduled for Wednesday evening prior to the Board Meeting. When I had to cancel school, I didn’t call Donna Beale, Culinary Arts Teacher, right away because I thought she might want to enjoy a couple extra hours of sleep. I figured I could always order pizza for the Board! But soon Donna was on the phone to me telling me that her students who had worked so hard to plan the dinner were text-messaging her like crazy asking her what was going to happen, telling her they still wanted to go ahead with the dinner, and begging her to let them come in. She and I talked and decided that, if they were willing to put in that effort and felt that strongly about it, we certainly didn’t want to stand in their way! So later that afternoon, 11 of our Culinary Arts students (and Mrs. Beale!) arrived to begin cooking, setting up, and decorating for the dinner. I can’t tell you how proud I was of that group of kids. How many high school students do you know that would give up an afternoon and evening when their school was closed in order to carry out such a commitment? Our Board of Education was also tremendously impressed and appreciative, both with the students’ commitment and the wonderful meal. My heartfelt thanks to Donna and her students!

Thursday afternoon, Urbana University hosted an open house here in the Sloan Inn to bring together educational leaders in Logan County and make them aware of the opportunities for our students both on their Urbana campus and here at OHP. University staff outlined several fantastic new scholarship opportunities specifically for Logan County high-school graduates. Nancy Sweeney, Director of UU’s Nursing Programs, noted for the group that two graduates of their nursing program are employed here at Ohio Hi-Point—Lori Ludwig, Adult Ed. HIT Program Coordinator, and Mari Stormer, Adult Ed. HIT Instructor. UU President, Dr. Steve Jones, expressed publicly his appreciation for allowing his institution to have a “home base” here, and he is excited about expanding partnerships with our county schools.

Thursday evening was another great highlight of the week—I had the privilege of giving the welcome at our Adult Education Health Information Technology graduation ceremony. Twelve adults completed the program and received their certificates. As is always the case, there were many children of the graduates in the audience. The front row was entirely filled with youngsters who cheered on their moms. I couldn’t tell if they were more excited when their respective mothers walked across the stage or when it was announced that cookies and punch would be served afterward—but their enthusiasm was fun to watch! Thanks to Lori Ludwig, Program Coordinator, and Instructors Mari Stormer, Tanya Knief, and Alyce Kalb for the invitation and for their dedication to helping these students achieve their dreams.

We’re often reminded what a small world it is, and one of our staff members shared with me one such reminder this week. I received notification that our Early Childhood Education Program had passed its licensing inspection with flying colors, and I made a point to congratulate Angie Walls, ECE teacher. Angie shared with me that the very next day the same inspector (who is known to be pretty tough) visited a program run by her sister (but the inspector didn’t know it was Angie’s sister). Her sister shared with Angie that the inspector talked about having visited OHP the day before and just went on and on about what a top-notch, high-quality program Ohio Hi-Point runs. Having four sisters of my own, I know that sometimes a little competitiveness and jealousy can creep up when one of us get a little too much praise! So Angie’s sister finally had to tell the inspector that Angie was her sister and that she knows all about our program. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with setting the standard! Congratulations again to Angie, her aides Stacy Colwell, Barb Hopkins, and Deb Vermillion, as well as our ECE students for the great job they do every day to provide top-notch childcare.

I’ll close with a wish to all of you for a beautiful holiday season. I got a free box of Christmas cards from a magazine I subscribe to, Real Simple. (I love that magazine—it’s like Better Homes and Gardens for Dummies!) The verse on the card says, “Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” While we could worry ourselves crazy with all that’s going on in our world, I hope you’ll all take time to relax, rejuvenate, enjoy family and other loved ones, and appreciate how good things really are.

We’ll see you in the New Year!

December 12, 2008

2008-12-12T08:57:00.001-08:00

Someone mentioned yesterday that Christmas was two weeks away—holy cow! I had planned to do some wrapping this weekend, but I just realized I don’t have anything to wrap yet! I hope you’re all more organized than I am—I know you’re every bit as busy.

Last Friday evening I attended a reception for the December graduates at Urbana University. I have to share one really neat story. There was a gentleman who stood out in particular who was graduating with a degree in Business. He was so excited he just couldn’t sit down and enjoy the refreshments. He told me he will turn 60 in three months and plans to continue in his current job, and he feels his degree will make him a better employee. What an inspiration! Here’s a man who truly embraces being a lifelong learner.

Tuesday afternoon I attended grant presentations by the Union County Business-Education Workforce Team (through the Chamber of Commerce). The grants are presented for projects that tie academic instruction to real-world applications. (That’s what we do best, isn’t it!) We’ve received these grants in the past, and this year three of our teachers received grants! Congratulations to Sally Andrews, Health Technologies Teacher at Marysville; Ben Ludlow, Construction Trades Teacher at Marysville; and Cheryl Hess, Biomedical Sciences Teacher at Marysville and Urbana. Sally’s project involves students becoming certified in EKG, Cheryl’s project will provide equipment to study human body systems and view autopsies and surgeries, and Ben’s project will involve building shelving for a local community agency. What great opportunities for our students!

Wednesday morning was our Secondary Stakeholders Meeting where we invite key business and community leaders to give us input on our work toward meeting the goals of Perkins legislation. We had what I and the H.S. administrative team felt was one of the best discussions ever. In a nutshell, we’re performing well, we have room for improvement, and we have plans in place to reach our goals. And we need to continue to counter the stigma career-tech has carried for over 30 years and make sure our communities are aware of the college-prep opportunities we offer. Of course, much of our discussion centered on the current economic situation and specifically the role career-tech can play in transitioning displaced workers and giving our high-school students every advantage in this tough job market. We’ve always been seen as a tremendous workforce development asset to our communities; but it was very apparent we’re now being seen as an even more critical solution to workforce needs. Many thanks to Joel Staudter, Shelly Swaney, and Deb Wortman for being there to share with our Stakeholders!

I know a lot of our programs are conducting community service programs during the holidays to help our less fortunate families. Doug Limes and his Building Maintenance Program are conducting a Toys for Tots drive, and it was fun to go toy shopping for the first time in many years (my nieces and nephews are all high-school age or older now!) Also, our ProjectSEARCH is collecting gifts for the holiday gift shop at Logan Acres and will be playing Santa’s Elves this Friday and next. Thanks to Doug, Mary Jo, and all the rest of you who are teaching your students to give back!

Shane Haggerty, Communications Coordinator, recently shared with me that he had been asked me to accept the role of V.P. of Professional Development for the National School Public Relations Association/Ohio for the remainder of this year. Shane will take over the professional development planning for the organization for the rest of this school year, including being in charge of NSPRA/Ohio’s spring conference. Shane will be one of two CTE professionals on the board (the other being Lisa Riegel from Delaware Area Career Center who serves as V.P. of Communications. Congratulations, Shane, and thanks for representing CTE so well at the state level!

I was in Walgreens the other evening buying batteries (when I should have been Christmas shopping so I’d have something to wrap!), and I ran into Carmen Scott, a local citizen and volunteer who was very involved with the Logan County Planning Commission when our career center was established. We talked a little bit about the presentation I had made to the Logan-Union-Champaign Planning Commission (as it’s called now) a few weeks ago about OHP. He told me his work in helping to establish our school is one the proudest accomplishments of his career because of all the lives this school has touched in such a positive way over the years. Now that’s a compliment I couldn’t help but pass along to all of you!

Many of you know I’m a huge proponent of networking in order to be successful in our work, and I often encourage our staff to “steal shamelessly” when they see best practices in other schools. I’ll end this week with a quote I came across from Woodrow Wilson: "I not only use all the brains I have, but all that I can borrow." Great advice!

Have a great weekend!

December 5, 2008

2008-12-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

I couldn’t help but notice this past week how many of us are sniffling, sneezing, and coughing. The news media has even talked about how many people are sick with sinus infections and upper respiratory problems in our region. I’m not sure what it is about this year that is making us all more susceptible! (Amy McCarthy tells me we all just need to keep our hands away from our faces!) I appreciate all your hard work in spite of not feeling so well.

As we came back from Thanksgiving weekend, I couldn’t quite get used to the idea that it’s December already—it kind of snuck up on me. And the winter activities are picking up. Tuesday I attended the Satellite Holiday Luncheon and had a rare opportunity to talk with all our satellite teachers in one place at one time! It did make me stop to think how those programs have grown so much over a relatively short time and what a great team of teachers we’ve assembled to deliver these programs in our partner school districts and communities. I appreciated the invitation!

Tuesday evening I attended an alumni meeting for Union County Leadership Institute. It was good to re-connect with my class and other classes that have gone through the program. All of the four county leadership programs I’ve completed have proven to be a great network of people to help me make connections for business/industry input, field trips and experiences for our students, and support for Ohio Hi-Point in general. We’re fortunate to work in a region that has these programs available. Two different people at the meeting made a point to speak to me and commend Ohio Hi-Point for our work in Union County (specifically our acquisition of the Union County ABLE program). It was nice to have this recognition from leaders in the community!

At the Logan County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday, Natalie Comer, Economic Development Coordinator, gave an overview of the report the County received from a consultant group who had reviewed our “readiness” for attracting new businesses. She said one of the factors they look at is “workforce readiness,” and I asked her how they determine that. She said they take into account the educational levels of current workers and potential displaced workers from other businesses that have or plan to close. While Logan County struggles in this area, she said it is certainly a “plus” when we can demonstrate rapid-response training programs such as we have at Ohio Hi-Point in our Adult Education Department, as well as the future well-educated workforce we are developing by sending so many of our high-school students on to higher education. Just another example of the value we add to our community!

Thursday morning started off with my three hours of required annual public records training through the State Attorney General’s Office (Yawn! Thanks to Lisa McCullough for sitting through that with me!) But the day finished with what had to be the highlight of the week—our “Taste of the Future” Career Preview/Open House! The committee tried a lot of new things this year, including culinary delights from local restaurants and our own Culinary Arts Program. I finally had to make myself leave the cafeteria area after a walking taco, pizza, and four desserts! But the event really lived up to its name—we had a “taste” of something for everyone, and the community came out take advantage of it! Those that attended really seemed to be there with a purpose—whether to learn about adult education job training programs, get information about local colleges, visit our high-school program labs, or even get a flu shot! It was just great (as always) to visit the various areas and hear our staff and students sharing enthusiastically about what we offer. Shane Haggerty was taking lots of photos, so I know he’ll post those for you to view soon. Many, many thanks to Shane and his committee who worked so hard to put this wonderful event together, to JoEtta Spain and our Student Ambassadors for taking such good care of our visitors, and to all our staff members who gave up their evenings to be here. It will pay big dividends, no doubt!

The Christmas cards are starting to come in from our colleagues at other schools, agencies, and businesses. We received one from Miami Valley Career Technology Center that had a really neat quote on it that I wanted to share:

“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”

I love that!

Finally,

· Have a great weekend,
· Stay warm,
· If you’re healthy, stay healthy,
· If you’re not, get well soon!

November 21, 2008

2008-11-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

TGIF November 21, 2008

Good frigid Friday to all of you! I hope you’ve all been able to dig out your winter coats, gloves, hats, etc. I always seem to have a hard time finding that stuff when the cold weather hits. But it’s like finding old friends to help get through these winter months.

If I had to give this week a theme, I’d have to say it’s been a “week of validation” for Ohio Hi-Point and the value we provide to our region. Monday I attended a luncheon at Clark State Community College (along with Sharon Halter, ABLE Coordinator, and Amy Main, Adult Education Health Occupations Coordinator) to meet with Clark State’s accreditation team. This team of representatives from all over the country wanted to hear how Clark State has partnered with us to serve students. We were able to share how we’ve worked with Clark State in our Tech Prep programs to give many students a head-start toward college, how they’ve been leaders in facilitating dual enrollment classes for us, how they have co-located on our campus to bring higher education to Logan County, how our Adult Education Practical Nursing Program is pioneering a blended-curriculum program in Marysville with Clark State, and how we are partnering with them to bring public safety services training to Logan Co. Afterward, I received a personal thank-you from David Devier, VP of Academic and Student Affairs at Clark State, for sharing and for the tremendous cooperation he has received from my staff on all these initiatives—he couldn’t say enough about the professionalism of all of you in the high-school, adult education, and even facilities and grounds for making them feel so at home here. Thanks to all of you for living up to the high bar we’ve set!

On Wednesday, Darlene Chiles, Adult Education Director, attended a meeting with the Logan County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development as a member of a stakeholder team convened to position Logan County competitively as businesses look to locate here. Prior to the meeting, she had given the visiting consultants a tour of our facilities. She shared with me and our Board on Wednesday evening that the visiting team just couldn’t say enough at the stakeholders meeting about what an asset Ohio Hi-Point is to Logan County; as a matter of fact, they cited us as the number one asset to the County in attracting new businesses. How about that!! (Darlene said it was actually a little embarrassing that they kept raving about us at the meeting, but of course she didn’t stop them!) I think it’s important for all of you to hear examples such as this when outside sources come to our region and recognize the quality educational opportunities we provide. We expect a lot of ourselves, we deliver, and people are noticing!

Thursday evening I had the opportunity to present to the Logan-Union-Champaign Regional Planning Commission at their annual meeting. This group included about 140 county commissioners, county engineers, elected officials, and other leaders from this three-county region. Jack Reser, Logan County Commissioner, had asked me to speak because we serve this same region. I agreed because I thought it was a perfect fit! Jack also shared with the group as he introduced me how very impressed the visiting consulting team for the Chamber had been with our facility. The theme of my presentation was the history of our site in Bellefontaine, the establishment of the Ohio Hi-Point Joint Vocational School District, and our impact on the region. I have to say I had a lot of fun digging through some old records to learn more about how our District was established. Did you know the initial 3-mill, 5-year levy to establish the District, initially placed on the ballot in November of 1970, failed twice before it was finally passed in May of 1972? I didn’t! Reading through those old leather-bound board minutes from the meetings of our original Board of Education helped me to understand that it took a very dedicated group of persistent pioneers to make our school a reality. We all owe them a tremendous debt, and I’m sure they would all be proud (or are proud if they’re still with us) of how far we’ve come in our first 35 years! Many thanks to Robert Walker and Shane Haggerty for their assistance in helping me put this presentation together.

I understand there’s some big football game going on this weekend? Have a great weekend and stay warm!

November 14, 2008

2008-11-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

I’m back to blogging after a brief absence! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks—some planned activity, some unplanned. And from what I’ve seen and heard, you’ve all been very busy as well!

Early in November I had the opportunity to attend the American Association of School Administrators Women in Leadership Conference. The overall theme was having the courage to affect change, and I think we at OHP have all learned through our many changes over the past several years that change does indeed take courage! Featured speakers were the Superintendents of Atlanta, Georgia and Huntsville, Alabama Public Schools. Both of these districts have come from being low-performing schools to showing tremendous improvement over the past five years in spite of difficult conditions. The superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, Beverly Hall, described the strategic plan her district enacted through decentralized building leadership teams focused on standards. She also shared that financial restrictions required her to cut over 1,000 employees from their central office (makes me wonder how many they had to begin with!) It’s hard for me to fathom an organization that large and complex. But I think this district is an excellent example that schools can achieve success even in tough times by staying focused and working together.

Once again our GRADS Department (Deb Baker, Nancy Decker, Francie Ross) worked with the March of Dimes on the “Light a Little Star” event which raises funds to help prevent birth defects. At Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, the GRADS Department had a brownie day and a teacher Soup Luncheon for donations (and we all got some great soup recipes as a result!) In addition, students sponsored a Harvest Dance on November 7 with proceeds going to the “Light A Little Star” Event. Ohio Hi-Point’s total donation to March of Dimes was $350, which was presented at the “Light a Little Star” community event on November 8 at Northeastern Elementary school in Bellefontaine.

Many thank to our GRADS instructors and the following students who worked very hard to organize the Harvest Dance:

Alison Godfrey, Cosmetology I from Bellefontaine
Michael Overfield, Cosmetology I from Bellefontaine
Alyson Mowery, Cosmetology II from Marysville
Emma Barrett, Cosmetology II from West Liberty-Salem
Mary Rose Sanders, Culinary II from Urbana
Ashley Kuch, Cosmetology I from Ben Logan

A photo of the “Light a Little Star” Committee is pictured at right. Absent from the photo is Nancy Decker, GRADS Instructor.

This past Monday and Tuesday I attended the Ohio School Boards Association Capital Conference in Columbus. We heard from both Governor Strickland and our new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Deborah Delisle. Governor Strickland vowed that school funding reform will be his first priority in 2009 and will be reflected in his proposed state budget. We’ll have to wait for the details on that! Mrs. Delisle spoke enthusiastically about her goal to make the Ohio Department of Education a service and support organization for Ohio’s public schools. I have to say it is refreshing to have a State Superintendent who has superintendent experience in an Ohio public school (Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District) and who has been “in the trenches” with us in enacting federal and state mandates. I look forward to the perspective she brings to the position.

During the Capital Conference, the Ohio Association of Career-Tech Superintendents met and heard from Tom Ash, Legislative Specialist with Buckeye Association of School Administrators (Ohio has no shortage of “Associations,” does it?!) Tom cautioned us to expect another round of cuts to the education budget from the Governor’s office yet this school year, most likely in February/March. We’re fortunate at Ohio Hi-Point not to have to worry about the possibility of a negative cash balance with news of such cuts, but we certainly need to work very carefully to watch our resources and plan to spend even less than what was appropriated by the Board in September. The Administrative Team and I will work together to assure we can operate even within a reduced budget, and I want to thank all of you for your efforts to use our resources wisely.

Speaking of budgets, a new State Biennium Budget will be enacted in the first half of 2009. This is likely to be one of the “leanest” budgets we’ve seen in quite some time; and Shane Haggerty, the Administrative Team, and I will be setting up appointments to talk with our legislators in January during the Ohio ACTE Legislative Conference. It’s critical that we keep the importance of career-technical education at the forefront as they begin the budgeting process.

OK, enough with the gloomy news! Let me share some of the great things our students are doing! During the Capital Conference, I attended a session on Satellite Programs presented by Sharon Maurice, Supply Chain Management Instructor at Urbana, two of her current students, and one graduate of the program. They were just great! The two current students, Victoria Noble and Wade Nichols, are juniors in the program; and their presentation was as professional as you would expect from any business person. The former student, Chris Rittenhouse, talked about his experience both in the program and at his current job with the Defense Acquisition University at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Wow—the experiences he’s having! And, of course, it takes an enthusiastic teacher to get kids this excited about a program, and Sharon certainly fits the bill. Thanks to all of you for representing us so well at a state-wide conference!

Last evening I attended the annual Union County Chamber of Commerce “Salute to Leaders” Dinner. The Chamber holds this dinner because they strongly believe in growing and recognizing local leadership. Leaders are recognized in several areas; and the gentleman recognized for his contributions in Culture/Arts, Larry Ohnsman, stated he was a former career-technical construction trades teacher. I spoke with Larry afterward and asked him where he taught, and it was right here at OHP! Some of you may remember him. He talked for quite some time about how much he enjoyed his teaching here.

JoEtta Spain, who advises our Student Ambassadors, has been very busy out and about with this group of students beginning our recruiting efforts for next year at our partner schools. I was able to see a very brief portion of their presentation at West Liberty-Salem (next year I’ll schedule better and stay for the whole thing!) But even in the short portion that I saw, the enthusiasm of both the students and Joetta was tremendous. JoEtta shared:

I really wanted to tell you how proud I have been of the work the Lead Ambassadors have done this year on our visits to the partner schools. The information the students are able to share with them is so powerful for our recruitment efforts. We have such wonderful students and they really give 100% to do a great job for OHP. I always look forward to each year and the new group of students we have as Lead Ambassadors. I enjoy the time I spend with them also.

JoEtta also shared about this year’s first student incentive activity for grades/attendance:

This Thursday, November 6, was our first student incentive activity. We went to T.P. Lanes for 2 games of bowling and pizza and drinks. We had 175 students make the TAD list (tardy-attendance-discipline). Out of the 175 we took 112 to the bowling lanes and had such an exciting time. The students were so good even the staff at the bowling lanes said what a good bunch they were. I had great help with the group from Eric Harman, Tammy Troyer, Judy Gratz, Carol Siebeneck, and Ryan Mulholland. I really appreciate all their help. Thanks so much for allowing us to give the students such a fun activity.

Thanks to all of the staff members who assisted with this well-deserved activity for the students!

I often say that I run into good news about OHP just about everywhere I go. My husband Scott spent last weekend in Union Memorial Hospital in Marysville with a pulmonary embolism. (He’s doing fine now—just has to keep his blood thinner than water!) When we got to the emergency room at 2:30 Friday morning, I of course had to fill out all the necessary paperwork for insurance. When the lady helping me saw that I worked at Ohio Hi-Point, she asked what I do here. (I was almost embarrassed to admit I was superintendent, because I definitely had my “just-rolled-out-of-bed” look going on!) She said, “Oh, we have your students here all the time! We really enjoy them.” I thanked her for the clinical experiences the hospital makes available to our students. I also found it interesting that Scott had two male nurses in the ER, and his physician was female. Those gender roles are clearly being redefined in the health care field!

Finally, I’d like to wish all of our staff members who are veterans a belated Happy Veterans Day! I hope we never take for granted the freedoms we enjoy because of your dedication to our country.

Have a great weekend!

October 29, 2008

2008-10-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

I’m posting to my blog today (Wednesday) because I was off campus last Friday and will be again this Friday. But there’s a lot to share about the past week and a half!

If you’ve been on our Main Campus lately, it would be hard not to notice the historical marker which has been placed at our entrance in honor of the 664th AWC—the Air Force group that was on our campus from 1951-1969. It’s a very fitting tribute to those who served here to protect our country during the Cold War. On October 20, several veterans of the 664th were on campus to dedicate the marker, and their pride in placing the marker was really touching. We are so very fortunate that this site was turned over to the Ohio Hi-Point JVSD so that this school could be built to serve thousands of students over the past 35 years. Please take a moment to read the historical marker—it tells a wonderful story!

On October 21, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown hosted a round-table discussion at OHP for representatives from a cross-section of Logan County: education, local government, retail, real estate, health care, agriculture, manufacturing, and banking. It was good discussion. I asked Senator Brown if he had visited other career centers, and he said a few. He called us a “jewel of the state”—a fitting description, I think! He commended us for the contribution we make to workforce development at the local and state level.

Tom Oates, V.P. for Academic Affairs at Urbana University, paid a visit last Wednesday to talk with me about how we and UU can partner better to provide additional pathways for our students. I was impressed by the message he relayed from President Steven Jones—that the University is ready to break through past barriers and work with us and our student population to provide relevant, affordable, and convenient degree programs. As we work toward formal agreements, I’ll keep you posted as to the new opportunities our students will have!

Thursday and Friday I attended the National Career Pathways Network Conference (formerly the Tech Prep Conference) in Cincinnati along with several other staff members. When national conferences come to Ohio, I think it’s great to take advantage of the opportunity. I attended some good sessions on partnerships with business & industry, retaining students in high school, and transitioning students to higher education. But the real highlight of the conference for me was attending a presentation made by Art Spragen and five of his Architectural and Mechanical Design students on inquiry-based learning. They were super! They presented a project they completed on streamlining the production process of an office chair and designing packaging for the chair—impressive stuff. But I was most impressed with how they fielded questions after the presentation. Their maturity level was amazing! The answer that struck me most was that through working as a team, they got to know each other better, learned each other’s strengths and limitations, and maximized each team members capabilities to work efficiently as a team. Wow! Those skills will serve them will in any career pathway they take! Congratulations to Art and his students (Jonathan, Scott, Zac, Daniel, and Brandon) for a terrific job, and thanks for representing OHP so admirably.

We host a lot of meetings here at OHP; and during one meeting I recently attended here, we decided about mid-way that we needed some snacks (in other words—we got the munchies!) It was about 5 p.m. on a Friday evening, so I had to use my magical master key to go snack-hunting in the kitchen. (And for the record, I made a list for Jann of what I took so she could bill us!) A gentleman who was also attending the meeting came into the kitchen to help me, and he looked around and said, “Wow! Who keeps this place so clean?” Those kinds of observations make me so proud of our facility—as you should be also. Certainly I don’t police the kitchen for cleanliness—there’s no need to. Our cafeteria staff does a super job of providing tasty, nutritious meals out of an immaculate kitchen, and I wanted to pass this compliment along so they know others are noticing. Nice job ladies!

Lisa McCullough, our EMIS Coordinator, prepared a report for me recently documenting the professional development points earned by our staff over the 2007-2008 school year. As I looked over the multiple professional development opportunities our staff took advantage of, I was amazed at the variety of topics related to so many different positions. As a staff, you earned a total of 2,418 PDP points! Thanks to all of you for your commitment to continuous improvement on a personal level so that you can better serve our students.

Have a great finish to the week, stay warm now that winter seems to have rolled in, and I’ll be back on my blog on November 7!

October 17, 2008

2008-10-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

The temperature is finally matching the color of the leaves and it feels like fall! Hope you’re enjoying this beautiful time of year.

Our District’s liability insurance is not one of the most exciting topics I deal with in my position, but this past Monday I did have the opportunity to have some fun with representatives from our insurance providers, Hill & Hamilton Insurance here in Bellefontaine and The Cincinnati Insurance Company. Five folks from Hill & Hamilton and two from Cincinnati Insurance spent an entire day touring a sampling of our Satellite and Main Campus programs to get a feel for what it is our students do. As you can imagine, they were amazed with the variety of programs we offer, the variety of school and community sites for our programs, and the wealth of educational opportunities our students are exposed to. Of course, they appreciated the culture of safety all of you have established in your labs, and they loved the enthusiasm! As one put it,

Thank you so much for the wonderful tour! We are so proud of your programs and of your students’ accomplishments! We saw the pride in both the teachers and students and that says a whole lot!

I love giving these tours. Thanks for all you do to make showing off our students, programs, and facilities such a pleasure!

Wednesday evening we held our fall Work Session with the Board to review our 5-year forecast and our district strategic plan. It always makes for good discussion as we look forward and take our best shot at predicting where we might be financially over the next five years. As Eric Adelsberger always says, these forecasts are “fiction” because it’s virtually impossible to anticipate all the forces that impact our financial picture. But it’s also exciting to estimate where we think we’re headed based on how far we’ve come! I think it would be fun to take our 5-year forecast from five years ago and see if this past year looks anything like what we predicted. I doubt it! On the positive side, we’ve grown more than we could have anticipated both on our Main Campus and particularly in our Satellite programs (since we were at zero then!) On the not-so-positive side, we’ve had some unpleasant surprises with funding cuts at the state level. But overall, we’re in solid financial shape and have every reason to believe we’ll continue to be so. Thank you for continuing to be good stewards of our public resources!

Thanks to all of you who attended our District In-Service this morning. We appreciate your suggestions and questions you raised during the security drill debrief. The Administrative Team and I were very pleased with the way the security drill went and we learned some things as well. We’ll just keep getting better at this! And as I said, I’d rather learn lessons during a drill than during the real thing.

I also appreciate your warm welcome for the family of Roy Angle. As we made the presentation, I thought about the many unsung heroes who must have worked behind the scenes to make Ohio Hi-Point “JVS” a reality. I didn’t realize until talking with Robert about Roy’s influence that the initial operating levy (which supports us to this day) didn’t pass the first time! So everyone involved worked double hard to put the issue back on the ballot to secure the funding for our school. Vocational schools were a new concept at that time, and I suppose the communities we serve had to warm up to the idea a bit. But I think you’d be hard pressed to find a member of our communities today who wouldn’t agree it was a great thing for our region! We hear it from parents, students, and employers all the time. (One great example is Steve Austin who spoke at our H.S. staff meeting in support of United Way this week. He went out of his way to thank us for the great job we do in preparing students for the automotive field!)

As I promised last week, at the right are the photos I took during the statewide Communicators Meeting here at OHP and the Culinary students preparing lunch for them. I think I’ve got this Blackberry transfer-of-photos thing down!

Have a great weekend and enjoy this beautiful fall weather. Remember--snowflakes are coming!

October 10, 2008

2008-10-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, is this a beautiful time of year or what?! I enjoyed the beautiful fall colors in Vermont last week and now get to enjoy them here at home.

I was reminded this week that I'm able to take a vacation and not have to worry about a thing here because we've got a great staff! As many of you have caught me up on last week’s activities, it’s comforting to know I could take on the challenge of biking those Vermont hills knowing that the district was in good hands and business was going on as usual (meaning our students were being taken care of). Thanks to all of you!

Tuesday we took part in a ribbon cutting for the Logan County Convention and Tourism Bureau Welcome Center, which our Building Maintenance students constructed last year. This is a great way for visitors coming off Rt. 33 at Rt. 540 to pick up information about the County. Our students did a great job and had reason to be proud! If you haven’t seen it, stop by the Park and Ride on Rt. 540 west of Rt. 33 and take a look. Thanks to Doug Limes and students for taking on this community service project!

Our Alumni and Friends Association met on Wednesday. I wasn’t able to make the meeting due to a commitment in Columbus; but from reading the minutes, I can see the committee officers are charging ahead with a lot of great plans and activities to build a strong network of alumni and provide resources to current students. It’s especially exciting that many of the events planned for this year revolve around our 35th anniversary. Stay tuned regarding specific activities—it’s going to be a busy year and we’ll need staff involvement!

On Thursday we hosted a statewide Career-Technical Communicators meeting at OHP. Shane Haggerty hosted his counterparts from both career centers and K-12 schools as well as ODE officials, and the topic was using social networking in public relations. I was able to welcome the group and sit in briefly on the discussion. I’m proud that OHP is seen as a leader in this area, and I applaud Shane’s efforts and all of you who are using Web 2.0 technologies to enhance instruction and spread the good word about our programs! I got a good photo of the group, but I can't figure out how to get it off of my Blackberry. That's my "technology challenge" for the coming week--I'll have it for you next week!

I slipped out of the meeting through the Culinary Arts kitchen where the students were busy at work preparing a wonderful lunch for the communicators group. (I also got some great photos of this group too, which I'll share next week!) The dessert was a wonderful baked-apple bread-pudding concoction which was almost too pretty to eat. But, of course, when asked to taste-test it, I felt I should. (It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it!) Yum! Donna Beale and her students always do a terrific job taking care of our guests!

Thursday I sat in on a training session for our United Way Captains. I want to personally thank JoEtta Spain for agreeing to captain our Main Campus, Earl LeVan for taking charge of Adult Education, and Sally Andrews for stepping up for Satellite Programs. Jack Reser and Ilene Heaton of United Way really helped to clarify the impact we can have as a staff if we each give just a little bit. Ilene also mentioned the five students we have involved with United Way Youth Allocations and said, “You’ve got great kids!” She didn’t get any argument from us on that! I hope you’ll all consider doing what you can to support United Way in these difficult economic times. When times get tough, community needs become even more critical. Together we really can make a difference.

I always like to share when I run into former OHP students in the community. I tried a new venture this year and ordered half a pig through a local meat processor. When I went to pick it up, the young man saw my nametag and told me he had gone to OHP in the Machine Trades Program. While he never worked in that career field, he shared that he felt he'd learned a lot through his time here about how to be a good employee. He must have, because he certainly provided great customer service! He was polite and thorough in assuring the order was filled correctly. (He also assured me the pig met its end quickly and painlessly--that meant a lot to me!) Just another example of how we prepare students not just for careers but for success in life.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the beautiful fall colors!

September 26, 2008

2008-09-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well, we’re wrapping up another week and another month! Hard to believe we’re almost into October. This past week has been a busy one with a lot of excitement around OHP.

Tuesday we hosted our first Staff Breakfast for the year, and I want to thank all of you who attended and all of you who signed up to serve on OHP Congress Committees. These committees are the “backbone” of a lot of the improvement efforts in our district, and the time you commit to the work of these committees really makes a difference! I also want to thank all of you for your consideration of supporting United Way. Together we can make such an impact in helping those in need in our community, which ultimately helps us all.

Wednesday I heard State Senator Karen Gilmore speak and was happy to hear what an advocate she is for young people in our region. She stated her beliefs about the value of assuring that all students complete high school and move on to higher education, and she recognizes that “higher education” takes many forms. She commented to me that she has attended several community events in our facilities and has been very impressed. I told her I’d love to have her visit while our students are here and assured her she’d be even more impressed!

Thursday I attended a meeting of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA) Board of Regents Committee. I volunteered to serve on this committee in light of all that is happening with dual enrollment, CT2 articulated credits, and the transfer of Adult
Workforce Education to the Board of Regents. The committee is made up of several superintendents from both K-12 districts and career-technical districts. As the group talked about the importance of academic rigor, raising standardized test scores, and improving ACT and SAT scores in order to get students into college, I asked them not to lose sight of the fact that we want students to go on to college (which isn’t always a four-year college) for a reason. I think we in career-tech really have a handle on realizing that higher education is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Discussions such as this make me proud of the impact we have on students’ lives and the impact we have on economic development.

As I drove onto campus coming from a meeting Friday morning I saw a fire truck in our parking lot, which always makes me a little uneasy. But then I saw the preschoolers from our Early Childhood Education Program exploring the truck (with their teachers, of course!) What a great opportunity for them! It’s nice to see our community public safety services folks partnering with us to give these students the thrill of getting up close and personal with the “big red truck” and no doubt teaching them a lot in the process!

One of the added benefits of our student laptop program and student e-mail accounts is that I occasionally hear from our students. Friday (which happened to be the last day I could call myself “40-something”) a student e-mailed me:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We share the same birthday. I thought it was cool that I share the same birthday with two of the OHP staff Members. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I am sorry if I have inconvenienced you with this email. Thank you for your time.

I’m not sure what little birdie told him it was my birthday (sure hope age wasn't discussed!) And I’ll keep the “other staff member” anonymous. But what a nice gesture! I thanked this young man and told him I was not only not inconvenienced by his e-mail but was delighted to receive it.

This week Robin Curley, Animal Technology teacher, shared with me an e-mail she had received from the father of one of her students:

Ruth and I are very excited and proud about (our daughter’s) opportunity to attend college and truly appreciate all the efforts you personally and the rest of the Marysville and Ohio Hi-Point staff have spent in support of (her). Without everyone's dedication and belief in her, this wouldn't have been possible. We know college will be a struggle for (her) but believe the Marysville schools and Ohio Hi-Point have provided (her) the best education for her needs and provided her a strong base on which to continue her education. It is difficult to say, but starting next year it is up to (her) to finish the journey we all helped her start. Thank you very much for your continued support of (our daughter) and please pass along our thanks to everyone else that has supported (her) over the past 12 years.

This is a perfect example of how we "partner" with our partner schools to help students achieve success, and we rely on the foundation they give these young people. Thanks for sharing, Robin!

We also have a lot of satisfied customers as a result of the customer service many of our programs provide. Diana Payne, English teacher, shared with me an e-mail she had sent to Rodney Peterson and his Auto Technology class:

Just wanted to thank you and your students again for such a FANTASTIC job on my mom's car. My mom is now in a nursing home, but I had to take her out Friday evening to see her car - it looks brand new! That car hasn't looked that good in YEARS! She was tickled, and I am amazed at the job your students could do in such a short amount of time! Thank you again! You guys are great!

Rodney and students—you made someone’s day!

I’ll be away on vacation next week cycling in Vermont. Right now the weather forecast looks cool and potentially rainy, but I’m sure it will be beautiful even still. For those of you familiar with the Stephen Covey principles, I’ll be doing some serious “saw sharpening”! But I know I’m leaving our students and district in good hands. Have a great week!

September 19, 2008

2008-09-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

As we’ve listened to the news around the state and nation this week, I can’t help but think how fortunate we are. As those crazy winds blew through on Sunday, I kept wondering if it was as bad as it was in Ohio hundreds of miles away from where Ike made landfall, what must it have been like in Texas?!? Really makes me feel for what those people went through (and are still going through). And as I hear many surrounding schools continuing to remain closed due to the power outage, I’m grateful we only had to miss one day. I suspect we’ll be glad we still have days left when January and February come along!

Speaking of Monday, that day was a perfect example of the teamwork our OHP staff shows when the going gets tough. I was on the phone most of the day (from a home with power, thankfully!) staying in touch with Robert Walker regarding conditions on campus and speculating when we might get power back. He and his crew kept a close eye on our electronic systems, powered several items down so that there wouldn’t be a damaging surge when the power came back on, and they got a head start on cleaning up the debris on our campus. John Case continued to check the status of our network and made a trip to campus late Monday afternoon after the power came on to assure that everything would be up and running for Tuesday morning. Don Jaunzemis monitored the status of our cooler and freezer to make sure the food was kept at safe temperatures, and he had even identified a location to move the food to preserve it should our power not have come back on by Tuesday. I so appreciate that our staff just sees what needs to be done in an emergency situation, steps up to do it, keeps everyone necessary informed, and gives me the information I need to make good decisions. Way to go team!

Even though our schedule interruptions (due to water and power outages) have been somewhat disruptive, I can at least say our students have been grateful! One young man shared with me in the cafeteria line that he really enjoyed Monday (even though his mom made him clean up the yard) and he appreciated that it came on a Monday so the weekend was longer. I told him I was glad we could oblige!

The week was unexpectedly shortened for us all and my week has consisted mostly of meetings and paperwork: but there have been some new developments. On Wednesday, we had two visitors from Bowling Green State University, as well as the Mayor of Bellefontaine, pay a visit to tour our campus and discuss possibilities for bringing bachelor’s degree programs to Logan County which would build on associate’s degrees that are earned through our community college partners. They were very familiar with our College Tech Prep programs and were impressed with the many articulation agreements we have in place. Local officials are very eager to bring new postsecondary partners to Logan County to improve the educational level of our workforce and to help retain our young talent. We discussed several areas of most need including healthcare degrees, teacher education programs (particularly in secondary math, science, and special education), and graduate-level coursework for educators needing to renew or upgrade licenses. While having no higher-education institution in Logan County has been a disadvantage, it has resulted in several schools seeking to provide services locally, which can only benefit our high-school students and adults. I expect to see new partners joining our campus soon!

A few of you asked for the answers to the questions posed in my blog in honor of Google’s 10th birthday, and here they are! The population of Uzbekistan is 27.8 million, the state bird of Maine is the blackcap chickadee, and Napoleon Bonaparte was 5 feet 7 inches tall. There you go—remember those tidbits—they may help you win “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” someday!

Fall officially starts Monday—it’s really here! And the Columbus Dispatch reports that today is “Talk Like a Pirate Day.” I’ll let you do with that what you will!

Have a great weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather!

September 12, 2008

2008-09-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

As we wrap up another week, it’s finally feeling like fall and fall activities are ramping up. We really don’t get a period of time to “ease into” the school year anymore or “wind down”—it’s just full steam ahead from start to finish!

Ohio Hi-Point is recognized as a valuable asset to the community and a partner to other organizations in so many ways. A great example is a visit we hosted last Friday evening for Dr. Stephen Jones, the new President of Urbana University, and his wife Judy. I had the pleasure of giving them a tour of our campus (they were impressed, as most are!) Having moved here recently from Alaska, they were not familiar with the career-technical system in Ohio and were amazed at the comprehensive program offerings and opportunities for students to earn college credits. After the tour, we were joined by other Logan Co. folks who serve in some board capacity at Urbana University (I serve on the Foundation Board) for a reception in the Urbana University house on our campus. Dr. Jones shared with us his vision for the University, and he referenced OHP several times as an organization he wants to partner with to bring more college options to Logan Co. We’ve already set a follow-up meeting, and I expect our partnership with UU to expand greatly in the near future!

Monday I attended a meeting of the Ohio Association of Career-Technical Superintendents to begin to draft a response paper to Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut’s 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education. As I’ve shared with you over the past several months, the new University System of Ohio will encompass Adult Career-Technical Education (including ABLE) officially on January 1, 2009. Our group wants to assure that Chancellor Fingerhut clearly understands the assets and value-added that both Adult and Secondary Career-Technical Education bring to the University System and that we are given equal footing with community colleges and four-year colleges as to funding and ability to delivery training which can lead to college credit. The devil is in the details, and those are yet to be worked out, but I’ll keep you posted!

Tuesday morning we hosted the annual Logan County School/Family Court Meeting as we have for several years. I’m always struck at these meetings the magnitude of issues that our young people face these days, and how important our work is in helping them to succeed. The reality is, we can’t save them all. But I think all of you at OHP do a darn good job of taking kids from where they are, teaching them critical career skills and life skills to help them taste success, and give them a hand-up to the next step in their careers and education. You should all be proud!

I stepped in during the orientation for our new Practical Nursing classes on Wednesday morning—what a big group! These students will be in our daytime and evening courses on Main Campus as well as at our Marysville and Urbana satellite sites. It was fun to see the anticipation on their faces (and maybe a little fear) and to imagine them at their graduation as were the students at the PN graduation last week. It’s going to be hard work, but they’ve got great futures ahead of them! Thanks to Amy Main, Nursing Program Coordinator, for the invitation.

We had our annual Sloan Reception Thursday afternoon to honor Dr. Earl Sloan’s birthday and to thank our Sloan Trustees for their generous support of our programs. We give our students, both high-school and adult, an opportunity to thank the Trustees personally for the impact the equipment purchased with Sloan funds has had on their training. I have to tell you, these students bring me to tears every year (I know—it doesn’t take much. But I saw some of you other staff members getting a little weepy-eyed too!) The Trustees seem to be more overwhelmed by the expressions of gratitude every year. I looked at the photo of Dr. Sloan on the wall and wondered if he could ever have imagined the impact his generosity would have on so many lives. He’d be proud. Thanks to our staff for such a great turnout—it means so much to the trustees and the students!

Robert Walker, Facilities & Grounds Supervisor, shared with me earlier this week that Roy Angle, his long-time mentor and local engineer, passed away. Robert represented the District at the funeral, and he shared with me that the minister commented that Roy was instrumental in securing the site for Ohio Hi-Point Career Center which has since served thousands of young people for their futures. In addition, he noted that the Career Center which Roy was instrumental in getting started has been such a benefit to this community and all the surrounding areas as well. What a touching tribute! Many thanks to Roy for all he did to make our existence possible.

I’ve often said that the many talents of our staff never fail to amaze me! Bob Newland, Auto Collision Teacher, shared with me some of his handy-work. Take a look at the website www.purpleharley.com. Bob painted the red and white Bike of the Month in the center of the page. Beautiful job, Bob! Do you do bicycles?

I’m sure you’ve all heard or read in the media that Governor Strickland has enacted $540 million in budget cuts for the 2008-2009 budget year. (Yep, that’s this year!) The press releases state that several areas, including foundation funding (our per-pupil funding) and career-technical “enhancements” are exempted from the cuts. We have received word from Kathy Shibley, Director of ODE’s Office of Career-Technical Education, that although she has not received specific direction regarding the cuts, it appears that the reference to career-technical “enhancements” includes High Schools That Work, OCIS, part of the Tech Prep Expanded Grant, Correctional Institutions Tech Prep, and the Agriculture 5th quarter program. This is reassuring, since we are involved in most of these programs. Shane Haggerty, Communications Coordinator, and I are preparing a press release to inform our stakeholders how we expect these budget cuts to impact us and what we’re doing to prepare. Keep an eye on our website for that to come out!

There’s going to be some water falling from the sky this weekend. Don’t panic—for those of you who can’t remember the last time you saw such a thing—that’s rain! Have a great weekend!

September 5, 2008

2008-09-04T18:37:00.000-07:00

Boy, these four-day work weeks go fast! Here we are at Friday again. I hope you all had a terrific Labor Day weekend.

I had an e-mail late last week from a young lady (19 years old) who had dropped out of school before the 9th grade and realized she needed to return to school to complete her education. She was initially interested in one of our high-school programs, and I explained she needed to get her eight high-school credits first. I told her if that wasn’t possible through her home school, she should certainly contact our Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE) program to get started on her GED preparation. I congratulated her on recognizing the value of continuing her education and wished her the very best. The fact that she contacted us first made me think of our vision . . . “To be the premiere choice to prepare a world-class workforce for new and renewed careers.” The great thing about education is there is no wrong time to get started, and I’m proud that OHP has offerings to assist people at all stages of their lives.

Wednesday at the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meeting, I was able to present a letter of thanks to the Chamber for their very generous donation to our Scholarship Fund as a result of hosting the “Rally at the Peak” (formerly Honda Homecoming) Vendor Fair on our campus in July. I assured them it will help many of our students to continue their studies and to contribute to a strong and healthy economy in the region as high-skilled employees. Because the contract we have entered into for our House Bill 264 energy-saving loan fund does not allow our property to be used for profit-making activities, we will no longer be able to host the Vendor Fair. But I have offered the new organizers (Honda will no longer be involved) the use of our campus for other activities related to the event. My sincere thanks to the many students and staff who volunteered to assisted with the event over the past two years (and to JoEtta Spain for organizing them all!) Your willingness to help has clearly brought benefit to our students!

At Kiwanis on Thursday, our guest speaker was State Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Stratton. Contrary to what I might have expected, she did not give a re-election speech (even though she is running for re-election) and did not give us a rundown of the mundane aspects of her position. Instead, she focused on how she has been blessed through her work to be able to advocate for adopted children and the mentally ill. She ended with a story about her missionary parents, a stranger who helped them in time of need, and how that assistance has come full circle in her life. It’s a wonderful story with an amazing twist at the end that illustrates how we never know the impact of even our smallest acts of kindness. If you Google “Violet Moon Story,” it will take you right to a U-Tube video of Judge Stratton telling the story. It’s well worth 7 ½ minutes of your time!

Speaking of Google, the Columbus Dispatch reports that September 7 is the 10th anniversary of the founding of Google . . . “before which finding the population of Uzbekistan, the state bird of Maine, and the height of Napoleon Bonaparte might have taken us more than 60 seconds.” (Know the answers to those?) How did we ever live without Google?!?

Thursday evening was the 25th annual Adult Education Graduation Ceremony for the Nancy J. Knight School of Nursing. This is always such a touching ceremony, and this year’s was no exception. At the beginning of the ceremony, I saw what appeared to be a brother and sister, probably about four and six years old respectively, squeezed into one chair in the front row of the Seminar Center. I have to say they looked bored to death during the typical introductions and speech-making (particularly mine) that started the evening off. But when their mother walked across that stage to receive her diploma, they gazed up with huge smiles in absolute awe and admiration for her. What a proud moment for that family, and what a great example she set for them as a lifelong learner!

We had a smaller group of PN graduates than usual this year (21 graduates) because it was just our daytime PN class. But next year, with combined daytime and evening classes from Main Campus and our satellites in Marysville and Urbana, we’re anticipating over 80 graduates! Think about the impact the many hundreds of graduates from this program have had on the healthcare industry in our communities over the past 25 years. Our PN staff has to be proud of that—I sure am!

It looks like we’re finally going to get some rain this weekend! I’m grateful mostly for the sake of the farmers, then for those of us who like to garden, and finally just for all of us who have lawns that look like straw mats. The cooler weather will be welcome as well. Enjoy your weekend!

August 29, 2008

2008-08-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we’re off and running with a brand new school year! It was great to welcome our new staff last Monday and our entire staff back last Tuesday. And it’s always great to have our high-school students back both on our Main Campus and in our Satellite programs. We’re glad to have a breather during the summer to get caught up on work and prepare for the coming school year, but it’s great to have the hallways filled with the smiles and voices of our students again.

Of course, our adult education students are with us year-round, with start-ups and graduations at various points in the year. With new programs being started here on Main Campus and out in our communities all the time, it’s tough for me to keep track of (I know the adult ed. staff probably tire of my asking and re-asking when classes are starting, who’s teaching where, and when classes finish!) One big event that’s coming up for adult education is our Practical Nursing graduation which will take place on Thursday, September 7, at 7 p.m. in the Seminar Center. Join us if you can—it’s a very moving ceremony as these adults of all ages embark on their nursing careers!

I’ve had a chance to be in our Main Building and interact with students a little bit over the past week, which is always a treat. Somehow I’ve managed to hit the lunch line three days in a row at the same time and have had lunch with Megan from Professional Turf and Landscaping. She’s been so good to sit and talk with me on those days, and I’ve learned a lot from this young lady. One thing I learned is that the idea of putting a penny in your hanging flower baskets to keep bugs off is a myth. So don’t waste your pennies! Thanks for clearing that up, Megan. I also talked with Brittany from Early Childhood Education II in the lunch line one day. When I asked her how her program as going, she said, “I love this program. It’s my life!” She has big plans for winning at state competition this year; and judging by her determination, I think Brittany will make that happen!

On Wednesday, Doug Limes presented me with a copy of a drawing (framed and all) that one of his students, Robert, had done titled “Battle for High Point.” This young man is quite an artist and likes to sketch various historical battles. He created this one depicting a battle to defend our campus, and it’s really amazing. You’re all invited to stop up and see it. Thank you Robert for the drawing, and thank you Doug for sharing!

If you’ve been on campus I’m sure you’ve noticed the many facilities improvements we’ve made this past summer. Summer is always a real rush to get these projects started and completed at least to the point where we can function within such a short time. The new flooring and furnishings have made a huge improvement, and our Facilities & Grounds staff pulled off a miracle moving all of that lab equipment in and out during the project. I appreciate everyone's patience as we put the finishing touches on some of the work and wait for some back-ordered items to come in. In the end, it’s well worth it and ultimately benefits our students. As we’ve worked in phases over the past several years to upgrade our campus, I’ve been so pleased with the gratitude our students have expressed for the improvements and for their maturity in taking care of the new items. Just goes to show, I think, that if you expect great behavior out of students you usually get it.

I’m on a mailing list with the Ohio State University Learning Center, and about once a month I receive an e-mail called “Leadership Moments.” This week I got one that reminded me so much of all of you and the excellence you demonstrate every day:

The opportunities for excellence are all around us. They come in many different forms: emails requesting help, demands for an unexpected report, a fellow employee facing a problem with new software, a customer calling with a billing problem, a guest showing up early and in desperate need of a room, a new deadline for a proposal, a leaking faucet, a hysterical patient in need of medical help, or a lost person seeking directions. All around us are people who need and seek our help. They are a burden if we choose to see them as such; alternatively, they are also opportunities to create masterpieces. It is up to us to choose how to view and to respond to them.

We do not need to wait for tragic events, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, or legendary occurrences. Every new day brings opportunities to transform tedious mechanical work to fine art in a moment of Daily Choice. Rather than planning to do excellence one day in the future, or waiting for opportunity to knock on the door, we need to discover excellence in everything we do. The opportunities are numerous as the people we meet and communicate with every day. The people who are impacted by the results of our work are our opportunities for excellence.
Reference: Arussy, L., (2008). Excellence every day: make the daily choice – inspire your employees and amaze your customers. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.

I see examples of excellence every day in our district in the way you serve our students, deal with the public, take care of our facilities, and work collaboratively to be the best career-technical school we can be. We’re off to the start of another great year, and I look forward to celebrating excellence even more than ever.

As summer starts to near its end, the nights get cooler, and the crickets get louder, I’m trying to take advantage of as much great summer food as I can. I think the sweet corn this summer has been absolutely out of this world! I was reading an article about “corn on the cob facts” (I know, I need to expand my reading repertoire), and I learned that each ear of corn has about 600 kernels, and there is one strand of silk for each kernel. Who knew?

As much as I’d like to say enjoy the beautiful weather we’re going to have this weekend, we could really use rain instead! But enjoy the warmth and sunshine—before we know it the snow will be flying. Have a great weekend!

2008-05-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me as I started this message that in last Friday’s TGIF posting I said last week was the last Friday in May. Oops! That would be today! (Surprised no one corrected me on that—you must all be as dazed and confused as I am at this hectic time of year!) But this really is the last Friday in May and it wraps up an absolutely wonderful week at Ohio Hi-Point.

The highlight of the week was Wednesday with our Senior Awards Breakfast and our Convocation. These are two great events that really wrap up the high-school year and put a nice bow on it, reminding us of why we come to work every day—student achievement! It was kind of hard to focus in my office during the middle of the day as the Seniors went through Convocation rehearsal up on the hill—I could sense the anticipation and I was really excited for them. And, while I know I’m just a little biased, I really believe our Convocation ceremony gets more beautiful and more touching every year! I’m not the only one who was impressed; here are some comments I received by e-mail from others:

To each of you and the faculty, I'd like to commend you for an excellent Convocation last evening. It appeared to be the biggest I can remember. What a beautiful setting and evening! The graduates, the faculty, the families and friends, and the press made it a memorable evening. We have a great deal to be proud of and are grateful for each of you as board members. Thank you for all your efforts and leadership. Please pass along.
Anne Reames, OHP Board President (Bellefontaine)

The Convocation last night was again a replica of the top-notch dedication the staff and administration has to provide a setting for the students and parents that they will remember for a lifetime. The program was excellent and the facilities looked great. Please pass along my appreciation for their efforts.
Bill Ramsey, OHP Board Vice President (Benjamin Logan)

What a wonderful ceremony last night!!! I heard some of your staff say it was the best one yet! I am so sorry I haven't attended before now, and I am so glad I went last night. Great job!
Nancy Wood-Allison, Superintendent (Upper Scioto Valley)

I’ve included a photo of the procession from the Peak of Ohio at the right. To see the other great photos from the event, visit our website at www.ohiohipoint.com. I can’t begin to thank all the individuals who had a hand in making this Convocation so lovely; but please know that I realize it takes a tremendous team effort; and you can take satisfaction knowing that your work means a great deal to me, our Board, our community, and most importantly our students!

I also received some high praise late last week from partner school staff for three of our staff members who went above and beyond to help one of our students reach success:

I would like to let you know how much help 3 of your employees were to our school. We had a student who did not pass the Social Studies OGT. Through the process of informing students of scores and checking to see if (this student) qualified under the alternative pathway for graduation, three of your employees were very helpful. These are Shelly Swaney (Instructional Supervisor), Lynne Hall (Guidance Counselor), and Darlene Roll (Intervention Aide). I would like you to know how much these ladies did to help us out.
Thank you,
Craig M. Hurley, Principal (Upper Scioto Valley)

I appreciate Craig sharing, and I hope these three ladies realize the impact they’ve had on this student’s life. Thank you!

Sometimes our students don’t reach success along the path we would like, but I firmly believe we “plant a seed” for success within every student we serve! One perfect example was shared with me by Dave Marsteller, our Carpentry Teacher. He received this e-mail from one of his former students. (Note: I've omitted the student’s name and have not corrected for spelling or grammar!)

Hey Mr. Marsteller, well I lied on your voice mail im writing you now. But that's cool I hope. Anyways like I said I never knew you sent me a letter. Right now I'm on a 3 day home visit and I'm helping my mom clean and I found your letter. I was totally shocked. Thank you for writing me. Well I was in JDC for 4 months then they decided to send me to Xenia- Miami Valley Juvenile Rehabilitation Center. I've been there since January 25th. I've got 40 some days left and ill be done. I've gotten the opportunity to graduate. I had to double up on my school work, but now i get my diploma in 9 days!!!! Well yesterday on my way home i passed the house. Man you guys are doing a GREAT job on that house. I love the brick it looks awesome. But hey i want you to know I'm not giving up on my dream to become a carpenter! Im 18 now and I'm going to be a graduate soon and I'm going to talk to the superintendent and hopefully he will let me come to do night classes with you! I'm DETERMINED!!! Its my dream and I'm going to fulfill it. So hopefully you could put in a good word with him if he happens to ask about me. I'm sorry i basically bailed on you. I made a really big mistake but im not letting that hold me back. So i just wanted to tell you thank you so much for writing me and you may write me were im at if you would like.

Dave has to feel good about the impact he had on this young man, and I think the fact that this student reached out to communicate with Dave reflects the respect he has for Dave as a teacher and mentor. Dave, I think this young man is going to make it! Thanks for the crucial role you played in his life.

While I’m on the topic of achievement, I have another staff achievement to share! I received this e-mail from Susie Knox, Practical Nursing Instructor and our resident running coach:

I did not know if you were aware that Mary Jo Alstaetter (ProjectSEARCH Teacher) walked the Cleveland Rock and Roll Half Marathon this past Sunday (13.1 miles). I think she should be acknowledged for this accomplishment. Mary Jo is pumped up and signing up for two more! I am trying to encourage other staff to follow in her footsteps, particularly two of my Get Fit for Life team members that have done a super job moving toward a healthier weight. Our team is leading the weight loss challenge going into the final weigh-in; we had lost a total of 71 pounds between us with our Monday weigh-in. We were never mentioned early on as we did it slow and steady, but we have persisted.

Mary Jo agreed to let me share this so long as I encouraged others to get active too. Thanks, Mary Jo, for being such an inspiration—and best wishes in the other events you’ll be walking in!

I also want to congratulate all of you who have participated in our “Biggest Loser” contest. Winning is great; but whether you were the “biggest” loser or not, if you reached a goal or are off to a good start, that’s what counts. Keep it up!

This will be my last TGIF for the year, as most of our staff will be off enjoying their summers, participating in professional development, taking classes, or just recharging batteries! My heartfelt thanks to all of our staff for another wonderful year and for all you do for our students! Have a wonderful summer, be safe traveling, and I’ll see you back here in the fall!

May 23, 2008

2008-05-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

Happy TGIF on this last Friday in May (yikes)! I apologize I didn’t get this out prior to the end of the school day; just too much going on! But I know I don’t have to tell all of you that.
This is that time of year I get my favorite case of writer’s cramp signing all the certificates of award for our students (and wishing I had prettier handwriting!) It starts about mid-May with all of our high-school honors and continues right through GED graduation in June and Practical Nursing graduation in September. This is the real “payoff time” for our students as they achieve their goals here and move on to the next step in their career pathways. As I signed the high school Certificates of Completion this week, I recognized several familiar last names. We should be proud of the fact that we serve so many students whose siblings have attended OHP. For a parent to allow us to serve two or more children is a real show of confidence in our fine programs! I also recognized a couple of last names that matched those of our staff and, as I’ve said in the past, allowing us to serve a child is the ultimate compliment from a staff member!

Our programs provide customer service to our communities in more ways than I can name, and I often receive compliments on the fine work our students do. This week I received a letter from Jennifer Wanamaker, PTO President at Fairbanks Elementary, about such fine work. Jennifer wrote:

The Printing & Graphics Program under the supervision of Tom Carrig is top notch! Our PTO was in need of notepads and staff tee shirts for Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week. In addition, we needed a design to be printed on tee shirts for our Spring Fairbanks FUN’d Walk. Through the efforts of Angie Walls coordinating with Tom Carrig, our need was filled and expectations exceeded! The Printing & Graphics Programs designed and made over 70 notepads, 182 tee shirts for our walk, and 46 tee shirts for our elementary staff. The staff raved over the original design and high quality of their new shirts. It was the highlight of their week! . . . I understand that one student in particular worked extra hard on this project. Please acknowledge the efforts of Jennifer Grube. Her vision and ability are incredible!

I happened to visit the Printing & Graphics lab while this project was underway, and I agree with Jennifer! The tee shirts were adorable. Thank you to Mr. Carrig and Mrs. Walls for giving our students this opportunity to shine!

I also received a letter from Marysville Middle School this week applauding the efforts of another of our staff members. (It’s been a fun week to open the mail!) Janet Dunn, Marysville Middle School Career and Consumer Science Teacher, wrote:

On behalf of the students, staff, and administration of Marysville Middle School, I wish to thank you and the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center for making presentations about Ohio Hi-Point Career Center possible for our eighth-grade students during the 2007-08 school year. JoEtta Spain and the student ambassadors provided very informative and engaging talks for our middle school students. Eighth grade students are very excited to plan their high school and career futures. Learning about the opportunities that await at Ohio Hi-Point are important facts to add to their pool of choices. . . . It is my hope that many Marysville students will exercise the opportunity to visit your campus during their freshman and sophomore years to gain an even deeper awareness of the wonderful opportunities that are available through Ohio Hi-Point. I hope that Marysville Schools will continue to enroll quality students in your programs and that our students will use their skills to become positive and productive members of our community.

What a tribute to JoEtta and our student ambassadors! Thanks for the fine work you do in representing us to Marysville and our other partner schools.

As you know, we’re all about accountability in career-technical education, and that applies to all of our programs which serve all age levels. We received word this week that our ABLE (Adult Basic Literacy Education) Program received a Superior rating from the Ohio Department of Education for the 2006/2007 school year. This rating is based on a review of several areas including student achievement, enrollment, retention, cost per student, student standardized test scores, and administrative requirements. Congratulations to Sharon Halter, ABLE/GED Coordinator and her talented, dedicated staff for the fine work they do in serving our adult population. And speaking of our GED program, I strongly encourage you to attend our GED graduation on June 5 at 7 p.m. in the Seminar Center. This is one of the most touching ceremonies I have the privilege of attending every year, and it’s a reminder to us all that achievement comes at all ages and through many forms of motivation. I promise you you’ll be inspired!

As for events for the week, I’ve had some interesting ones! Monday I had a visit from Ed Roberts, a legislative aide in the office of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown. He had heard about Ohio Hi-Point Career Center in workforce development discussions with both the Logan and Champaign County Chambers of Commerce (good for us!) So he called to set up a meeting to see what we’re all about. I talked with Mr. Roberts about our many high-school and adult education programs and the value we bring to workforce development training. Then I gave him a tour of our campus. Unfortunately, our students had left for the day, but several of our staff members were in their labs. Whenever I get the chance, I’ve learned it’s best to be quiet and let our staff tell their story; and they did a fantastic job! Mr. Roberts was, as so many are, amazed at what we offer and the high level of academic and technical education that our students receive. My thanks to Craig Bales, Art Spragen, Deb Purcell, and Tammy Heitmeyer for doing us all so proud!

Thursday afternoon I, along with several other staff members, stopped by the Construction Trades Academy Project House Open House. Once again, our Construction Trades Programs have outdone themselves in constructing a beautiful home for developer Dave Duff. It doesn’t get much more “authentic” than this as far as putting technical skills to work in the real world! The students obviously took a great deal of pride in their work, and the many parents and friends who visited also beamed with pride. Congratulations to Mr. Hedges, Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Limes, and Mr. Marsteller for another successful year! And I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but stay tuned for some really neat innovative technology on next year’s project house.

Thursday evening I attended the Mad River Region Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame Awards in Springfield (I serve on the Logan County Junior Achievement Board). Jerry Shiffer was honored posthumously as a Hall of Fame Laureate; many of you will remember that Jerry was the visionary behind our Aviation Occupations Program. Congressman Dave Hobson was also honored. I sat next to former U.S. Congressman Clarence Brown who lives in Urbana and was pleased to learn that he is very familiar with Ohio Hi-Point and our programs. He was especially complimentary of our efforts to provide satellite programs in Champaign County to better serve that area with both high-school and adult programs. I don’t know when I’ll quit being surprised that we’re as well known as we are—we really have done a commendable job of getting the word out about what we do!

Well, it looks as if it’s finally going to start feeling like spring (maybe even summer!) this weekend. I hope you have (or had) a wonderful extended weekend and that you took time to remember those who have served our country as well as those whom you’ve lost who are dear to you.

May 16, 2008

2008-05-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

Can it possibly be Friday again? These weeks are going by way too fast (we all have too much to do at this time of year!) But all of your efforts are paying off in such neat ways.

This past Saturday, we held our 4th annual Top of Ohio 5K Run/Walk. What a great event! The weather was perfect—we had a beautiful day sandwiched in between two cold, rainy days. We also had a record turnout—103 runners/walkers last I heard. I couldn’t run because I had to be the starter and give medals at the finish (oh darn), but it was really fun to see so many of our staff and community members come across the finish line. I even had an Urbana City Schools staff member stop me as she came across the finish line to tell me how great our programs are for her students! This event is a fundraiser for our scholarship fund; and while I haven’t heard the final tally yet, I know the amount raised will top previous years and assist many of our students in pursuing higher education. Thanks to Shane Haggerty for heading up the organization of the event, and thanks to the many staff members (and adult education students!) who volunteered or participated to help make it a success!

Tuesday morning I attended the ProjectSEARCH Recognition Breakfast at Logan Acres. This is one of the most gratifying events I attend all year. These young adults with disabilities spend a year polishing their employability skills and learning valuable job skills, and it was a delight to hear each of them share what they had learned, what their strengths are, and what their plans are for the future. This program is a partnership among several community partners, and the commitment was very apparent as evidenced by those in attendance from Logan Co. MRDD, BVR, Logan Co. Commissioners, Logan Acres, our partner schools, our own staff, and of course parents and other supporters. Many thanks to Mary Jo Alstaetter who is the passion behind this program, and Barb Culp, her committed and enthusiastic aide. The young folks completing this program will no doubt become a valuable asset in our communities.

Wednesday evening our Animal Technology and Professional Turf and Landscaping Programs held their annual honors banquet. It’s always a nice evening, and the scope of awards presented never fails to impress me. The students “run the show” at this banquet and do a terrific job! Many thanks to the students and their instructors, Robin Curley and Cole Carpenter, for such a great event and for your work with these great students all year!

I serve on the Board of Directors for the Graham Digital Academy, and Thursday evening I attended their Annual Honors Ceremony. These are students who, for whatever reason, choose an alternative form of education. The GDA serves students in grades K-12, and they’re an amazing group of students. I was especially proud to hear that two of their graduating seniors have completed one of our programs—one in Aviation Occupations and one in Biotechnology. This is a perfect example of collaboration to serve the unique needs of students, and I appreciate the partnership with GDA. Thanks to Frank Drain, Aviation teacher, and Cheryl Hess, Biotechnology teacher, for your support of these students and for bringing their dreams to life!

I’m tempted to whine a little about the weather not being as warm and sunny as I’d like for mid-May; but when I consider the suffering of those around the world who are enduring hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, and wildfires, I realize how very fortunate we are. Enjoy your cool, cloudy weekend!

May 9, 2008

2008-05-09T08:54:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday to you all! Thanks for another great week of supporting our students and helping them achieve and celebrate success.

I want to thank all of our OHP Congress Committee chairs who reported out at our Staff Breakfast on Tuesday morning. When you hear all of those reports at one time, it really hits home how busy the committees are all year and how much they accomplish. These are voluntary, staff-driven committees, and you do a terrific job of making our district a great place to work. Thanks so much!

Wednesday, after the Logan Co. Chamber Board of Directors meeting that was held at the Honda East Liberty plant, I had the opportunity to tour the plant for the first time. Having recently bought a CRV, it was fascinating to see so many of them rolling off the production line! (I believe it’s 950 a day!!) It was also reassuring to see all the quality-control measures that go into making those cars. I made a good choice! (OK, end of my Honda commercial.) But during the tour, our tour guide Cathy mentioned to the group that they expect a very large number of retirees over the next five years and she is excited about a partnership with Ohio Hi-Point to help encourage more people to consider a manufacturing maintenance pathway. Now, she didn’t know me from Adam and her comments were totally unsolicited. How neat!! (Of course, I introduced myself after that and told her we are excited about the partnership, too!)

Thursday we held our annual scholarship selection luncheon, which is always a pleasure. I can’t let the cat out of the bag about selections (scholarships will be announced at the Senior Breakfast on May 28). But I can say that we had a terrible problem—we had so many high-achieving and deserving students that the selection was really very difficult. What a great problem to have—and I think it’s only going to get harder! Thanks to our committee--Harold Marker (Sloan Trustee), Anne Reames (OHP Board President), Lynne Hall, Lynda Arehart, Nila Marquard, Deb Baker, Nikki Smith, and Eric Adelsberger--for your assistance in making these selections. It’s a very gratifying experience!

Thursday evening, I attended our first annual Honored Educators Recognition Banquet as part of our National Teacher Appreciation Week activities. What a delightful evening! Our top 15 students academically selected the educator who they feel has had the most impact on them and presented them with a framed letter of appreciation and photo to commemorate the honor. It was such a pleasure to see both our “cream of the crop” students honored and to see the pride in the honored educators’ eyes in being selected. The students read their letters and they brought tears to my eyes (doesn’t take much, I know!) But I noticed there weren’t many dry eyes in the whole crowd! The event got great front-page coverage on WPKO’s website (www.peakofohio.com) --check it out! Thanks to all who worked so hard to make this inaugural event such a success, and I look forward to this being a long-standing tradition.

I received an e-mail from one of the honored educators, our very own Caleb Lang (Social Studies). I think it really captures the essence of why we chose education as a career:

Dear All,
Thanks so much for your hard work in organizing the banquet last night. I think everyone who attended was touched by the words of the students. I am not sure I deserved the kind words that were spoken but it definitely confirmed that I am doing the right thing with my life. I just wanted to let you know that your work in putting this event together was very much appreciated!
Thanks!

I also had an e-mail from Shannon Donnelly, Intervention Specialist, on another topic and wanted to share part of that with you along the same lines:

Hi Point has been the most rewarding experience I have had as an educator, and I am so thankful that you offered me the opportunity to stay next year. The staff and students are the best and I am so grateful to be a part of the OHP team.

Our staff and students are the best, Shannon; thank you for sharing your thoughts!

I had a chance this morning to hear Senior Project presentations by our Information Technology Program, and all I can say is that I was absolutely in awe. While I couldn’t follow much at all of the content (way over my head!), it was obvious the students knew exactly what they were talking about! High-level critical problem solving was integrated into each project, and it made me realize how far we have come in challenging our students to apply their learning. Thanks to Amanda Blackburn, IT Instructor, for the invitation. I know there were many other Senior Project presentations going on over these final weeks, and I truly wish I could hear them all. Thanks to all of our academic and career-tech instructors who have assisted our students in this very worthwhile endeavor.

The brochure for the 2008 Logan County Home & Garden Tour has been released, and Stop #1 with the featured speaker is our very own Ohio Hi-Point Career Center! Cole Carpenter, Professional Turf and Landscaping teacher, and his students will be landscaping Campbell Hill for this event and I can’t wait to see the end result. The tour is June 8 from 1-6 p.m.; contact the Logan County Chamber if you’re interested. (And, of course, you can walk up to Campbell Hill any time you’d like to see the progress!) Thanks, Cole, for taking on this very worthwhile project with your students.

In closing, I’d like to wish all of our mothers a very happy Mothers Day! Whatever your situation, take time this Sunday to enjoy and appreciate being a mother, having a mother, or remembering a mother. Have a great weekend!

May 2, 2008

2008-05-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

Looks like we’re going to end this week on a cloudy, rainy note. But we actually can use the rain, so can’t complain.

This morning I saw a group of students loading into a van to undoubtedly head out to another event of some sort, and I know we’re still in that “sprint to the end” of the school year with almost too much going on to keep track of! But it’s important to take time to fully appreciate all the great happenings in our programs.

I serve on the Urbana University Foundation Board of Trustees, and Tuesday evening I had an opportunity to meet and speak with one of the candidates for the presidency at the University. While I’m not at liberty to discuss anything related to him personally, I can say that he and his wife are very familiar with career-technical education in Ohio and value the partnerships that have been forged with higher education in recent years. Whether he is ultimately selected for the position or not, it’s gratifying to know that CTE is very naturally a part of the conversation with candidates for a position such as this. We’re definitely putting ourselves on the “map” of educational pathways!

On Wednesday morning, Logan County TechStart hosted a meeting here on our campus. This is the parent agency for initiatives such as TechColumbus, a technology industry incubator which you might have been reading about in the Dispatch. One of the presenters mentioned a partnership between a technology start-up and the local career center in producing a prototype of a new product. I spoke with him afterward and he shared how very impressed he was with our facilities and asked for an opportunity to learn more about our programs. Of course we’ll give him that opportunity! I can think of a multitude of ways our students could be a valuable resource to entrepreneurs in our area, as well as becoming the entrepreneurs of the future! I look forward to this partnership developing.

Wednesday evening I attended the West Central Ohio Tech Prep Consortium awards dinner along with several other staff members and students. Two of our students (Katie Hoying from Indian Lake in Health Technologies and Dustin Roosa from Urbana in Auto Technologies ) received Rhodes State Scholarships, and Shelly Swaney presented Terri Nichols and Doug Weeks from Honda with a Distinguished Business Partner Award. How great to see Ohio Hi-Point’s outstanding student performance and business partnership initiatives recognized! I know we were all very proud.

Thursday I was able to stop in briefly to hear some of the staff presentations during our early release. It was really gratifying to hear the level of discussion and implementation that our teachers have reached with our High Schools That Work program. And it’s especially exciting to hear how this work is impacting student learning! In the short time I was there, I heard about:
· Academic students taking pride in displaying their work
· Aligning instruction with content standards (tedious but important work!)
· Closing the gap for our students in preparing them for college-level expectations
· Providing duel-enrollment courses
· Collecting data around concerns so that solutions can be targeted and effective

On the technology side, I also heard and saw:
· Second Life application in Printing & Graphics
· A Professional Learning Community related to our TOOLS program focusing on technology integration, the value of technology, and having all students reach technology literacy
· Student podcasting projects and their pride in putting their work out there “for the whole world to see”
· Using graphing calculators to allow students to visualize math concepts.
· E-mailing our daily announcements and the “value added” of including educational information and trivia
· Training for all students on cybersafety, cyberethics, and intellectual property laws (has curriculum changed over the years or what?!?)

What a rich sharing experience for our staff, and I thank all those who participated!

Thursday evening I “graduated” from the Union County Leadership Institute. This was my fourth (and final!) county leadership program since I’ve been in this position. While these programs have required considerable time away from the district and playing “catch-up” upon return, they have also been a tremendously valuable networking and learning experience for me. The biggest benefit I have seen is in these programs is the chance to share the great news about Ohio Hi-Point Career Center throughout our counties and to make connections for our staff and students. The common thread has been the eagerness of businesses and community groups to work with us, which I know is entirely due to the professionalism our students and staff show when they interact within our communities. Thank you!

This TGIF message is a little late today because I’ve had a very busy day with some really great activities. This morning, we hosted a breakfast for the first meeting of our OHP Alumni & Friends Association, a group which has formed to further the “cause” of Ohio Hi-Point in our communities, build a network for alumni and supporters, and strengthen support for our students. We had a wonderful turnout of folks truly committed to these goals. The leadership will be turned over the group at this time, but certainly we will be called upon as staff to assist them in many ways—so stay tuned! Many thanks to Shane Haggerty for conceiving of such a group and organizing this kickoff event.

After that meeting, I met with Bill Russell from the Ohio Board of Regents regarding the transfer of our Adult Education programs to the Board of Regents. Mr. Russell is visiting all 49 career centers in Ohio, and we’re number 36! He took great interest in the variety and scope of programs we offer to adults and was particularly impressed with our industry and higher-education partnerships. He commented that it was like driving onto a college campus to come to OHP, and he noted both the beautiful facilities and the fact that three colleges are housed on our campus. I shared with him concerns we have about the assurance of funding and reasonable credentialing for instructors; but overall we’re very positive about this move. He assured me that he and Chancellor Fingerhut have become keenly aware of the value that our adult workforce programs at career centers bring to Ohio, and their intent it to leverage that network to reach the goal of increasing enrollment in Ohio’s colleges by over 230,000.

After handing Mr. Russell off to Darlene Chiles (thanks, Darlene!) I attended the National Technical Honor Society induction luncheon in the Inn. What a wonderful ceremony! It’s such a pleasure to honor those of our students who have achieved “at the top of the pack” and met very rigorous induction criteria. It was especially nice to see so many parents, grandparents, and other supporters of the students there to share in the celebration with them. Thank you to Mrs. Beale and her students for a delicious lunch, and many thanks to Serena Neer and Melissa Rofe for serving as advisors to NTHS and organizing such a wonderful ceremony!

I’ve said many times that we have an amazing staff and I never cease to be amazed at the talents they exhibit outside of their jobs. One such talent is that if Suzie Knox, an avid runner who has organized a running club among our staff. Suzie recently ran her second Boston Marathon and gave me permission to share her experience stating that it’s one of her proudest personal achievements (no doubt!)

Boston is certainly a tough course with all its hills, but it is the most amazing experience with the hundreds of thousands of spectators cheering you on along the entire course. In my typical running fashion, I looked in awe at my fellow runners and saw how they come in all ages, shapes, cultures/races/nationalities, abilities, and sizes. I looked around and even in the late miles I was running side by side with people with obvious physical handicaps, and people way older than my 48 years. Of course I was running with the best of the best in Boston since you have to meet a rather challenging qualifying time based on age and sex; with the exception of several thousand charity and invited runners, but even if the runners I mentioned previously were in that category – they were running with me, and many probably faster. My purpose for relaying this is not to necessarily to get you to think about running 26.2 miles, but to encourage and inspire and remind that some things take time and dedication. Six years ago when I started running, I never imagined I could run a marathon, let alone 10 – with two Boston qualifiers and two Boston Marathons. My mantra this year was “believe and you shall achieve” and of course the Adidas “impossible is nothing” :-)

Suzie, you’re an inspiration to us all—thanks for sharing!

Another staff note: Next Wednesday is National School Nurse Appreciation Day. While we have one “official” school nurse (Amy McCarthy, our Health & Safety Coordinator), we are blessed to have many nurses on our staff as instructors and administrators. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had a sense of assurance knowing I’m surrounded by so many medical professionals! Please take a moment to express your appreciation to Amy and the others for the expertise and care they bring to us and to our students.

It’s FRIDAY!!! Have a wonderful, restful weekend.

April 25, 2008

2008-04-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

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!

April 18, 2008

2008-04-17T18:50:00.001-07:00

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!

April 11

2008-04-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

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!

April 4, 2008

2008-04-03T15:19:00.001-07:00

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!

March 14, 2008

2008-03-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

It’s so nice to be writing a TGIF posting and not be worrying about the weather! How long has it been since that happened?!? What a beautiful couple of days it’s been—a sure sign that spring is coming soon to reward us for making it through a very difficult winter.

Monday evening, Nila Marquard, JoEtta Spain, and I attended the Rotary Honors Dessert which honors seniors in Logan County schools who have maintained a GPA of 3.5 or higher. I’m delighted to report that OHP had several students honored during this special event, and it was our honor to be there to recognize them. It’s only been during the last few years that we’ve been included with the other schools, and I believe it reflects our emphasis on higher standards and higher level academic courses. Our students have risen to the occasion and continue to make us proud!

On Wednesday, we had Leadership Logan County participants visit our building during their Education Day. Three of our staff members (Darlene Chiles, Shane Haggerty, and Deb Wortman) are participating in the program this year. The group toured our programs, heard about the adult, main campus, and satellite programs, and were served a wonderful lunch by our Culinary Arts students. It has been so nice to have more groups of this type visiting our campus and learning about what Ohio Hi-Point has to offer. These are current and future leaders of Logan County, and they’re a great group to educate so that they can go out and spread the good word! Thanks to JoEtta Spain for arranging and hosting their visit.

Wednesday evening, the Taste of Logan County was held here at OHP. While I couldn’t be here for the event, I’ve heard several positive comments. One community member that I saw after the event told me what a blessing it is to have a facility such as ours to host such activities. I did see our Facilities & Grounds staff setting up for the event; and I know that, as usual, they took very good care of our guests. Kudos to them for another fine job! As I’ve said before, our campus is a community resource, and it’s gratifying to know that our fine facilities are appreciated.

Thursday evening was our annual Appreciation Banquet during which we honor our Advisory Committees and other supporters in the community. It’s always one of my favorite events of the year! It is amazing how many members of our community come together to lend us their expertise and guidance to make our programs the absolute best, and seeing them all in one room is quite impressive. Thanks to all who assisted with arranging the banquet and to our staff members who hosted Advisory Committee Meetings prior to (or after) the banquet and made our guests feel welcome. And congratulations to the ProjectSEARCH Advisory Committee (and instructor Mary Jo Alstaetter) for receiving the Advisory Committee of the Year Award, and to Jeanne Bowman, Administrator at Memorial Hospital in Urbana, for receiving the Making a Difference Award. Recognition well deserved on everyone’s part!

Speaking of the Appreciation Banquet, I've been asked by a competitor in our Biggest Loser contest to plead with the "powers that be" to please postpone the weigh-in until Monday! This staff member feels it's just not fair to have to weigh-in the day after such a wonderful feast! I said I'd do my best, but I don't know that I have much pull here. From what I read in the e-mail updates, the competition is getting pretty aggressive. Good luck to all of you, and good for you for your health-conscious efforts!

Next Wednesday (March 19), the American Association of University Women will be hosting their annual Trivia Bee here at Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, and we have six of our very own staff members competing as a team! Please wish Pat Roby, Melissa Sizemore, Surena Neer, JoAnnVentresco, Caleb Lang, and Mark Davis the very best as they compete next week. We’re proud of Team Hi-Point; and with all that brain power, we know you’ll do just great!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

March 7, 2008

2008-03-07T05:52:00.000-08:00

Here I sit writing my TGIF again with another storm coming in! At least the timing of this one will hopefully let us get a full day of school in. Only in Ohio could we have an ice storm, a near-70-degree day, and a blizzard all in one week! Tuesday was eerily reminiscent of the ice storm of 2005. Fortunately, we didn’t get quite as much ice, the power outages were spotty and fairly short-lived rather than several counties wide and a week or more long, and not as many branches and trees fell (I think all the weak ones fell in 2005 and what’s left is pretty sturdy!) I know some of you have been without power since Tuesday evening, and I hope you’re all back up and running by now.

This seems like such a quick week with one day out already. But I know we’ve got a lot of activity going on with spring activities, including competitive events, OGT preparation, and end-of-quarter work in classes. Some of you (including students!) have actually begged me not to cancel or delay school—I know it really wreaks havoc on schedules. Believe me, I operate on the philosophy that we’re in the business of holding school, and I won’t interrupt the schedule unless it’s absolutely necessary. But when school busses can’t roll, we just can’t get the students here. I do appreciate your patience and flexibility in making sure the “show goes on” and that our students have these opportunities with as much continuity as possible.

I can’t write this TGIF without taking time to thank our Facilities and Grounds crew. They have had a heck of a winter this year keeping up with snow and ice—mostly ice, which is even tougher to deal with! Just know that they are hard at work and in touch with me in the very early hours of the morning doing everything possible to get our campus ready—often against impossible odds as snow and ice continue to fall. We all owe them our gratitude for the great work they do under very difficult conditions.

As far as my activities this week, I’ve mostly been catching up in the office while it’s been quiet! On Thursday, I did participate in the monthly session of the Union County Leadership Institute and heard from local government officials. We have a new State Representative from the 83rd District, Dave Burke from Marysville. I had spoken with him by phone prior to the election and had a chance to speak with him Thursday. He is somewhat familiar with career-technical education; his uncle taught plumbing at Tri-Rivers Career Center in Marion. He told me he has the utmost respect for what we do and he looks forward to visiting our campus and learning more about our programs. I’ll certainly make sure we get him here and bring him up to date on the new opportunities available through CTE!

Don’t forget to “spring forward” on your clocks this Saturday night (and let’s focus on the “spring” part—it’s on its way!) Have a restful and be safe if you have to go out!

February 29, 2008

2008-02-28T17:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday and Happy Leap Year Day! I didn’t get a chance to check—but if any of you have a birthday today, I envy you. You only have to add to your age every four years!

As we take this extra day to catch up with the sun (literally!), I thought I’d share some leap-year superstitions that were featured in the Columbus Dispatch this past week:

According to Irish legend, February 29 is the only day a woman can ask a man to marry her, because St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick that it took some men too long to do it themselves. (No comment.)

A Greek superstition claims that couples have bad luck if they marry in a leap year, so one out of five couples won’t. (Whew! I just missed that one!)

Apparently leap year has a reverse effect on a business. It is supposed to be lucky to start a new business during a leap year. So to all you entrepreneurs--go for it!

This past Monday evening, we hosted our first ever Hi-Point Hi-Tech Night in partnership with Honda of America Manufacturing. What a wonderful evening! We estimate we had about 150 potential students, parents, and adults present to learn about career opportunities in Ohio’s new manufacturing economy. After a video presentation, Honda representatives described career pathways including coop experiences with Honda that can lead to exciting careers as manufacturing maintenance technicians. Then, participants had the opportunity to tour our manufacturing-related labs and see for themselves the hands-on education that we offer at OHP. (See the photo at right.) We were thrilled with the results of the evening and look forward to this continuing partnership with Honda to strengthen our programs. The individuals involved in organizing this even are too numerous to mention; but let me just say that the OHP team, including administration, staff, and student ambassadors, came through as usual with flying colors and put on a class act! Thank you so much.

Incidentally, in spite of the news that Honda will cease motorcycle production at the Marysville site, we have been assured that the need for manufacturing maintenance technicians will continue to be strong and that our partnership with Honda will continue to be a priority.

We had our monthly Board of Education meeting on Wednesday evening, and one of the highlights of our meetings for me is always the recognition of our Students of the Month. This month was especially neat because our female student of the month, Brittany Godfrey, was accompanied by her mother (who drove in from Ft. Wayne to be there, by the way!) Her mother is also an OHP graduate from our adult education health program! I can’t tell you how proud I was to know that our programs have had such a positive impact two generations of one family. We just never know how far-reaching our work can be!

When we come back on Monday, it will be March. We’re rounding the corner into spring—and I think this year it’s especially welcome! Have a great weekend!

February 22, 2008

2008-02-21T18:44:00.000-08:00

TGIF to all of you—and once again, you may be reading this from home because of bad weather!! I don’t’ know about you, but I’m ready for spring rains and hot, humid weather. Enough is enough! Fortunately the weather hasn’t interfered with too many activities this week.

As I read about two different school bus accidents in back-to-back issues of the Bellefontaine Examiner, I realized how very fortunate we were this past Tuesday morning that none of our students on the bus from Kenton to Hi-Point, which was hit by another vehicle, were seriously injured. Many thanks to Bruce Johnson, Instructional Supervisor, who got to the scene as soon as traffic would allow, to see to the needs of our students and to relay information to Nila and me in Columbus (where we were attending a conference). Thanks also to Amy McCarthy, Health and Safety Coordinator, who went to Mary Rutan Hospital to meet the students and their parents as they were transported there. Bruce reported that he was very proud of our students for conducting themselves in a calm, mature manner in what had to have been a very frightening situation. Please keep the driver of the vehicle that hit the bus in your prayers; last I heard, he was in critical condition. I read in the paper that that same afternoon, a school bus in Cottonwood, Minnesota was involved in an accident and four students were killed. How very sad and tragic; we all need to keep the families and loved ones of those families, as well as the 14 injured, in our prayers as well.

Tuesday and Wednesday, Nila Marquard, Shelly Swaney, Darlene Chiles, Julia Barton, and I attended the Ohio ACTE Policy & Leadership Forum in Columbus which had the theme “Economic-Education Summit.” We were especially happy to have economic development coordinators from four counties (Ed Wallace, Logan County; Dave Faulkner, Champaign County; Eric Phillips, Union County, and John Hohn, Hardin County), as well as Doug Weeks from Honda of America Manufacturing, join us for this excellent summit. (See photo at right--Nila and Shelly are not pictured because they had returned to school for a staff meeting!) The keynote speakers and breakout sessions were excellent, and we came away with a sense that we are definitely on the right track—perhaps even leading the pack—with our industry/education partnerships and our focus on workforce development for Ohio’s new economy. (Watch for us on the agenda next year!) Change is hard work; and for those of us in career-technical education, change is especially rapid as we strive to keep up with current technologies. But your tremendous efforts will pay off in the brighter futures you’re opening up for our students!

I’ve often shared comments that come to me about OHP from the most unlikely sources. Wednesday evening, I had an appointment with my insurance agent; and as I was leaving, he commented to me what a difference he’s seen in Ohio Hi-Point and its programs over the past several years. He recognized that we’ve really “ratcheted up” the quality of our offerings and that we’re very visible in the community. He congratulated me; but of course, I had to tell him this progress has been made through the efforts of a very dedicated staff and a lot of great students. Then, I went to get my hair cut (late evening!); and when I walked into the salon, I saw a young lady in one of our OHP shirts. She got a big smile on her face when I acknowledged the shirt and asked her about her program. I’m ashamed to say that I don’t recall her name, but what I do remember is her quiet enthusiasm for her Culinary Arts program and her beaming face as she told me she “loves Ohio Hi-Point!” Her aunt owns the salon, which was what brought her there. She was pitching in and sweeping floors and answering phones—there’s that terrific work ethic we see in our students! I’ll tell you, the good news about OHP is everywhere. I can’t escape it, and I don’t want to!

Robin Curley, Animal Management Technology teacher, shared with me just this evening some great praise for her colleagues at Hi-Point:

We recognize students for going “above and beyond”. I wanted to extend that courtesy to some of our staff members who certainly qualify for “above and beyond”! On Tuesday evening, Ohio Hi-Point FFA hosted the Public Speaking CDE for our Central Sub-District.

First, let me say that our campus shows our pride! Thanks to Robert Walker and crew, it is always clean and neat. I’m in enough schools to know that we are among the finest in that respect!

Our guests were greeted by my FFA members and shown to the ISC. Here they were treated to an array of goodies, thanks to Jann Salyers and our wonderful ladies in the cafeteria. It was yummy, as usual, and certainly appreciated by our guests.

Finally, two of our instructors, Judy Gratz and Melissa Rofe, gave graciously of their time to judge 2 of the events. Judy was gracious enough to sub in at the last minute when one of our original judges went AWOL. She judged our “Beginning Prepared” event. Melissa Rofe not only scored student compositions for the “Beginning Prepared” and “Prepared” events during her weekend, she also stayed to judge the “Prepared Public Speaking” event. Both ladies stayed until results were announced to give students that would go to the next level of competition, specific suggestions for improvement.

I wanted you all to know how much they give, how they impacted our image in the community, and how much I appreciate their teamwork! They are just another example of the commitment to students that our staff is known for!

I echo Robin’s thanks to Robert, Jann, Judy, and Melissa; and I recognize that this is just one of many examples of our team working together to pull off a “class act” in representing Ohio Hi-Point. And, most importantly, our team does it to serve our students. Great job!

I know you’ve all been anxiously awaiting the answers to last week’s Presidential Trivia . . . so here they are!

1. Who was the first president to be photographed? – John Quincy Adams
2. Who didn’t learn to read until he was 17? – Andrew Johnson
3. Who built a swimming pool and a movie theater in the White House? – Franklin D. Roosevelt
4. Who was ambidextrous? – James A. Garfield
5. Who was president for only 32 days? – William Henry Harrison (who died of pneumonia)
6. Who ordered the White House’s first bathtub? – Franklin Pearce
7. Who had the White House’s first telephone? – Rutherford B. Hayes
8. Who held his wedding in the White House? – Grover Cleveland
9. Who let his horse graze on the White House lawn? – Zachary Taylor
10. Who gave his pet mockingbird free reign of the indoor air space? – Thomas Jefferson

How’d you do?

Have a great weekend, and be careful out there!

February 15, 2008

2008-02-15T03:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday to all of you. We’ve reached the mid-point of February already—hard to believe!

I know the weather has been a challenge and wreaked havoc with a lot of schedules and events. But we’ll regroup and pull it all together—we’ve done so many times before. I appreciate all of your efforts to provide continuity of instruction for our students. When I see some of the devastation the weather has caused around our country, I’m just grateful we’re all safe. And I’m grateful to have had two days in a row without any delays or cancellations!

Last Friday I had the opportunity to speak to the Leadership Champaign County class about our programs and expansion in Champaign County. I’m always glad to have an opportunity to spread the good news about OHP, and it seems I’m getting more and more help these days! Our Triad board member, Brad Wallace, also spoke to the group as part of a panel of school board members. In addition to sharing about Triad, he took the opportunity to commend our school and our staff for the great opportunities we provide students. Thanks, Brad, for being such a great ambassador for OHP!

On Wednesday morning, I was “Day Chair” for Leadership Logan County; and the topic was local government and leadership. In addition to a session on Strategic Leadership, the class heard from County Commissioner Jack Reser and Mayor Adam Brannon. Darn it if it didn’t happen again—Ohio Hi-Point and the benefits we provide to the community popped up in both of their presentations! (And honestly, I don’t think it was just because I was sitting there!) I hope you all realize what a “local treasure” our school is perceived as in our communities. The value that your hard work brings to our students is recognized!

As we’ve just passed Valentine’s Day and are headed toward President’s Day, here’s a little trivia related to those two holidays. Since Valentine’s Day is the day we give our hearts, do you know how many times the human heart beats in a day? And here are 10 pieces of presidential trivia:

1. Who was the first president to be photographed?
2. Who didn’t learn to read until he was 17?
3. Who built a swimming pool and a movie theater in the White House?
4. Who was ambidextrous?
5. Who was president for only 32 days?
6. Who ordered the White House’s first bathtub?
7. Who had the White House’s first telephone?
8. Who held his wedding in the White House?
9. Who let his horse graze on the White House lawn?
10. Who gave his pet mockingbird free reign of the indoor air space?

Think about those over your long weekend, and I’ll give you the answers next Friday. Have a great weekend!

February 1, 2008

2008-01-31T16:30:00.000-08:00

Well, January has slipped away (where did it go?) and here comes February! And you may be reading this from home or at school on Monday if Friday’s weather pans out as forecast. But even with the crazy, roller-coaster weather we’ve had this week, I'm seeing signs of spring. The days are getting longer, and I saw two really fat robins outside my window this week.

Last week, several members of our administrative team, Shane Haggerty, and I attended the Ohio Association of Career-Technical Education Legislative Conference. We were able to meet with all six of our legislators and share with them the good news about Ohio Hi-Point. We also provided them with electronic decision-making machines (assembled by our Electronics Technology class) to help them with those tough decisions they make! While this is not a state budget year (that comes next year!), we know it’s important to stay in front of our legislators and build those relationships so that when we do need to lobby for continued funding and legislative support, they’re well aware of the value we add to public education in Ohio. Thanks to my administrators and Shane for representing us so well!

At our Board Meeting each month, we recognize both our male and female students of the month. We always give the student, parents, or students’ guests an opportunity to say anything they would like on behalf of the student. I was especially touched by the comments made by the parents at last week’s meeting. One thanked the staff and Board for allowing her daughter to “chase her dream.” The other spoke at length about the quality of instruction and dedication of our staff. I wish you all could have been there to hear them—you’re the ones who deserve the credit! But I certainly wanted to pass those comments along to you.

On Tuesday, we hosted our second “Straight-A Breakfast” for our students who maintained straight A’s for second quarter. What a treat it is for me to be able to spend some time with this group of enthusiastic, hard-working students! It’s sometimes hard to figure out what is the best reward for teenagers; but Nila, JoEtta, Shane, and I decided that food and time out of class is probably the ultimate reward! Thanks to these folks for their work in setting up such a nice event.

Many times I’ve shared with you comments that I’ve heard out in the community about our school. But I know I’m not the only one who hears those comments, and they’re heard in the most unlikely of places! JoAnn Ventresco, English teacher on Main Campus, shared the following with me just this week:

I had to share an experience I had yesterday. I was at the chiropractor, and I was actually lying on the table, waiting for my adjustment. Well, there was a boy on the other table next to me and they were working on him first. His mother was standing there asking him questions. She said, “Did you have a good day?” The boy replied, “Yeah, I went to Hi-Point!” Of course I said something about working there, so I asked him if he enjoyed his visit and he said, “Yes!” That was the extent of it so the doctor could continue working, but I thought it was pretty neat. He was very enthusiastic. He must have been on one of the 8th grade tours yesterday. I guess they are telling their parents about it so our mission is getting accomplished!

Thanks for sharing, JoAnn, and for conveying to this potential student your friendliness and interest in his visit! It will just add to the positive experience he obviously had during his visit.

I hope this storm prediction is all a terrible mistake and that we’re all here on Friday with sunny skies. But if not, enjoy your extended weekend and be careful if you have to go out!

January 18, 2008

2008-01-18T07:59:00.000-08:00

Here we are with another cold, snowy Friday—but we’ll take it! No matter the weather, the pace of activity never slows us down around here. (Well, except for maybe an ice storm that knocks out power for a week—but I won’t dredge up those memories!) Hope it’s been a great week for all of you.

On Monday I attended a second meeting with the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD), this one intended for educators. I joined several other career-technical superintendents as well as K-12 superintendents and representatives from the Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA) and the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA). It was an open discussion during which we were invited to give the ODOD specific examples as to how tax-reduction incentives designed to attract and retain businesses impact schools negatively. (I’ve got a great example of the beauty of technology. I didn’t have a financial figure I needed, so I e-mailed Eric Adelsberger from my Blackberry and he had it back to me in seconds. How cool is that?!?) Anyway, I was really pleased with the support that representatives from BASA and OSBA voiced for career-tech. They clearly recognize the added value we bring to public education in Ohio and want to assure that our interests are protected. Yet we all realized the need to attract and retain business to strengthen our economy. The end result was a better understanding of how incentives impact schools, and assurance from ODOD that they will support a new funding structure in Ohio that rewards rather than penalizes schools in high-growth areas. We have a new biennium state budget coming up this year, so stay tuned!

Wednesday evening we held our annual All Boards Banquet to recognize board members, superintendents, and treasurers from our 14 partner schools and 3 partner educational service centers during School Board Recognition Month. What a great evening—and possible only through a great team effort! We had four student ambassadors who conducted tours prior to dinner: Andrew Lemmon, Cory Calland, Brittany Godfrey, and Spencer Wolfe. They did a terrific job (as always) and made us so proud. Thanks to JoEtta Spain for arranging to have them help! Programs were printed by Printing and Graphic Arts and looked terrific—thanks to Tom Carrig and his students! And Cole Carpenter and his Professional Turf and Landscaping students had the planters in the Commons looking beautiful! Thanks also to my administrative team for being there and representing us well, and to Don Jaunzemis, Robert Walker and the Facilities & Grounds crews for having everything in tip-top shape. Finally, thanks to Shane Haggerty and Darryl Hanger for arranging dinner, taking RSVP’s, and making everyone feel welcome at registration. I had several compliments that evening (and several by e-mail since) thanking us for such a nice banquet and commenting on our wonderful facilities and students. In all ways, it was a job well done!

Dr. Robert Head, President of Urbana University, was our keynote speaker, and he encouraged us to “fly above the clouds” where the sun always shines when the going gets tough by remembering that we who work in education have a very special calling. Good advice—and I think we at OHP have weathered some tough transitional times but are breaking through the clouds to see the payoff—better student achievement, growth in enrollment, and expanded programs. We’ve got a lot to be proud of.

I wanted to share a communication that we received from the parent of a former Supply Chain Management Program student. This young man, Christopher Rittenhouse, secured employment at Wright Patterson Air Force Base while still in the program and is currently attending Clark State Community College in their Supply Chain Management Program:

Last Friday the DAU and Clark State Green Campus had a signing and Christopher had been invited to attend. I went with him and was able to meet a lot of them. They truly are great people, and I know their words of encouragement means a lot to Christopher. The president of Clark State was very impressed that Christopher was there. . . and she was able to witness the closeness and wonderful comments that the people of DAU were giving to him. I was also bursting with pride!

I thought I'd just let you know, he is still making a good example of how the Hi-Point/Urbana High/Clark State/Wright Patterson connections are working. The students in your class who are willing to take the leap of faith and continue to study and work hard there is a great future waiting for them. There are wonderful and encouraging people along the way that are willing and waiting to give a helping hand. I and the whole family are so pleased to see Christopher growing and gaining wonderful experiences under his belt, to make him an asset for any employer.

This made me think of how all of our students take a leap of faith to leave their high schools and enroll in our programs, or to be pioneers and enroll in our satellite programs in their schools, or to enroll in adult education programs later in life. And you are the “wonderful and encouraging people” that this parent speaks of who help these students along the way. I wish we could collect all stories such as this one—I know there are thousands!

It’s going to be really, really cold this weekend!! Stay warm, be careful if you have to be out, take care of your outdoor critters, and enjoy your extra day!

January 11, 2008

2008-01-11T07:13:00.001-08:00

Good Friday to you all, and Happy New Year! It’s been great to see everyone back; I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable holiday season. And I hope your first full week of 2008 was a good one. (And I hope you’ve all come out of mourning after that “unfortunate incident” on Monday evening!)

As you might expect, it was pretty quiet around here over break, and that was OK—I got quite a bit of work done! But we did have some “happenings” that I want to share.

First, on January 2, we had Clark State Community College officials on campus to sign the formal lease for their new space on our campus (in House #3 out front—I hope you’ve noticed the sign!) Anne Reames, our Board President, and I were happy to welcome them. It was a cold, windy, snowy day to have our picture taken by the building, but it was a great occasion! Clark State’s presence will allow them to expand their general education course offerings (in addition to the healthcare pathway courses they’ve been offering), leading to multiple associate degree options and transferrable to any public college or university in Ohio. We also have an exchange-of-services agreement with them that will give our staff a 1/3 tuition scholarship. We anticipate this partnership bringing many benefits to adults and high-school students alike, and we welcome Clark State to Ohio Hi-Point!

We held our Board of Education Organizational Meeting on Saturday, January 5. Anne Reames from Bellefontaine was re-elected President, and Bill Ramsey from Benjamin Logan was re-elected Vice President. Scott Johnson from Marysville will continue as our Legislative Liaison with the Ohio School Board’s Association. We also welcomed four new Board Members: Pat Wagner representing Graham, Steve Lapp returning to represent West Liberty-Salem, Kim Boswell returning to represent Indian Lake, and Dean McCullough representing Ridgemont. We thank these Board Members and all the others for their continued leadership and dedication to our District!

We also have three new faces on our Main Campus! Don Jaunzemis has replaced Denny Livingston (retired) as Business Operations Coordinator, Rene Mejia is our new Spanish teacher, and Stacy Colwell is a new aide in Early Childhood Education (replacing Barb Culp who has moved to ProjectSEARCH). Please take a moment to welcome these new staff members—it’s great to have them on board!

Wednesday evening, Shane Haggerty hosted a meeting of the Steering Committee for the newly forming “Ohio Hi-Point Alumni and Friends Association.” We are working through the details of the membership and mission for this organization. But stay tuned—we’re confident we’ll be building a dynamic group of supporters of OHP and thinking of ways to benefit our current and future students. And we’ll be seeking your input!

I’m a little late in passing this along, but I wanted to share with you that I received a letter in mid-December from Harold Marker, one of our Sloan Trustees, congratulating us on our excellent performance on our performance measures. Harold wrote:

Congratulations to you as well as to all the administrators, faculty, students, and staff members at Ohio Hi-Point Career Center! Being ranked tenth in the State of Ohio on the list of the top career and technical schools is a huge accomplishment! The speed with which the rise in rank occurred is very impressive!

Harold is one of our biggest cheerleaders and supporters, and we appreciate his acknowledgement of this accomplishment!

I have to share kind of a cute story. One of our vendors was on campus this week, and she was with me in the lobby of the Main Building carrying a fairly big load. One of our students passed by and, without hesitation, asked if he could assist her. She declined, and he went right on his way. I wish I had gotten his name, but he seemed in a hurry to get to class. The visitor said, “Wow, I’ve never had that happen in a school before!” She seemed kind of taken back that a student would be so forthcoming with an offer for assistance. I told her I wasn’t surprised at all—our students are just like that!

For the first time, I’ve had a response from someone outside our District who read my blog. I wasn’t sure that would ever happen! But it’s nice to know someone has happened upon the blog and learned of some of the great things happening at OHP! I hope that “global audience” will grow, and I encourage you all to keep “feeding up” the good news so that I can share!

Have a great weekend!

December 21, 2007

2007-12-20T13:46:00.000-08:00

Greetings! I know this is a long-awaited day for most of you, although some of you will already have begun Winter Break by the time this is sent. I’m still amazed we’re nearly halfway through our school year and ready to begin 2008. Where has this decade gone?!? Remember all the Y2K hype?

It’s been fun to see and hear about all of the holiday activities going on throughout our programs (and with our staff!) I’m especially proud of our Student Advisory Council on Main Campus for organizing a food drive to benefit our local food banks. Alyssa Ziehm, a Council member and Architectural and Mechanical Design student, e-mailed me that the project wasn’t as successful as she had hoped. But she realized every little bit helps, and I assured her that she and the other members of the Council have started a tradition that will surely grow! Thanks to everyone who participated.

In spite of the holiday spirit, I haven’t been goofing off all week! On Monday, Darlene Chiles and I attended an Ohio Department of Development regional meeting to discuss the new focus of the Department under Governor Strickland’s administration and to evaluate various incentives which are offered to attract and retain business and industry in Ohio. We were the only educators present, thanks to Darlene’s membership in the Ohio Economic Development Association. The others in attendance were primarily business and industry representatives and economic development coordinators. One of the topics discussed in our breakout groups was the impact of economic incentives (such as tax abatements and tax-increment financing incentives) on schools. I was very glad to have an opportunity to share our perspective as a JVSD and describe the impact of these incentives and other state budget changes on our state funding. (In a nutshell, JVSD’s are not always invited to the table when incentives are discussed and we typically lose tax revenues.) But I also “switched hats” and recognized the importance of attracting and retaining business to strengthen economic development in our communities and stressed the important role career-technical education plays at both the high-school and adult levels in providing a well-trained workforce. The group was very receptive to what I had to say and agreed that they need to get behind a school funding system in Ohio that provides schools with progressive growth in funding without reliance on personal property taxes. The facilitator of the meeting indicated that he would next be working with “education representatives” to further discuss the school funding issue, and he was agreeable to including the Ohio Association of Career-Technical Superintendents. I look forward to continuing to work with the Ohio Department of Development on this important issue.

On Tuesday I visited our satellite programs at Riverside Schools—Career-Based Intervention and Teaching Professions Academy. What a treat! Brandie Roberts, CBI teacher, and her junior high students gave me a wonderful welcome and shared the work they’ve been doing in learning about careers and applying academics while learning the Microsoft Office Suite programs. I observed the group researching banks and credit unions and creating Venn diagrams to compare the two. I was also able to observe them charting data they collected about personal interests and hobbies in Excel. One of the surveys they asked me to respond to was which video games I like the best. I’m embarrassed to admit—I had never even heard of any of the games listed!! (I’m really beginning to realize my age.) So I just picked the names I liked best—I hope I didn’t skew the data! These students were great fun and were totally engaged in their work from beginning to end. They also presented me with thank-you letters to Ohio Hi-Point for our support of them and their program. The letters were a delight to read, and I wish I could share them all; but some excerpts include:

Thank you for supplying all the wonderful things. I love being able to work on the laptops. I really like the new plasma screen TV, it is any 15 year old’s dream to use one . . . Thank you for supplying the best teacher in the world.

Thank you for letting us come to the career center and showing us all the things you can do at Hi-Point.

Thank you for putting a program like this in Riverside. Now we will be able to know how to do things before we’re out of school that some of our parents don’t even know how to do.

The entire eighth grade went to Ohio Hi-Point and it was pretty cool . . . From what it looks like I plan on going to Ohio Hi-Point. I think it would be fun and educational to go. I would also like to say how good Ohio Hi-Point’s staff was. They are very polite.

First off I would like to thank you for CBI class. It is one of my favorite classes at school. Thank you for the opportunity to go to the symphony at Clark Sate. It was really fun . . . This class has given me a lot of new possibilities. I am really looking forward to the Knowledge Bowl contest later this year.

Thanks to Mrs. Roberts and her students for a great visit, and best wishes as you prepare for the Knowledge Bowl Contest!

I also visited Donna Jarzab and two of her Teaching Professions students (most of the students were out on their internships in classrooms). The group had been to Graham High School earlier that day recruiting for the program and were still so excited they could hardly sit still. I’ve always said our students are our best marketers, and these two young ladies were a shining example! They also shared with me their internship experiences and how they felt about working with the various age groups. Adding to the excitement was the fact that one of the girls, Brandy, learned while I was there that she had been elected to the Snowball Court for Riverside’s winter dance. Congratulations Brandy! And thank you to Mrs. Jarzab and her students for taking time to share with me.

Wednesday evening we held our December Board Meeting and our annual Christmas Board Dinner prepared and served by our Culinary Arts Students. They continue to out-do themselves every year! The menu was delightful, the Inn looked festive, and the students were articulate and mature in their presentation. I know our Board felt like very special guests and greatly appreciated the talents of our students. These students and staff were all here on their own time on a Wednesday evening to make this very special event possible. Many, many thanks to Donna Beale, Culinary Arts Instructor, her able assistant Tami Troyer, and our Culinary Arts Students for a fantastic job!

Thursday at lunchtime I visited our Adult Education Staff for their Christmas party which they sandwiched in during their Stephen Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People training (presented by our very own Eric Adelsberger). I appreciate the dedication of this group in pursuing professional development in the area of self management in order to be more effective in both their professional and personal lives. And I appreciate the invitation to join them for their festivities!

I’m noticing a theme here—most of my activities this week have involved eating! Speaking of food, our Staff Holiday Luncheon will be Friday from 10:30-12:30 in the Hi-Point Inn. Please stop in if you have an opportunity—we’ll have a delicious lunch and a very special visitor!

Finally, here’s wishing all of you and yours a joyful holiday season. I know many of you will be traveling—please be safe. Take some time to get rested, enjoy family and friends, and ring in a New Year full of new possibilities!

December 14, 2007

2007-12-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Good Friday morning to you all! I hope you’ve all had a good and productive week—and I’m glad we got a full week in this week! It’s been a busy one, and I know we’ve all had to juggle schedules to make up for missed events due to last week’s weather.

Tuesday we hosted all of our satellite teachers on Main Campus for their quarterly meeting and a Christmas Luncheon. It was great to have them all here and get a collective update on all the terrific things happening in these programs! I heard about grants received, community service projects, field trips, business partnerships, and innovative curriculum. I shared our 2006/2007 Performance Measures with them and thanked them for the important role they played in making our success possible. It’s not often we have these folks together in one place, and I was appreciative of their enthusiasm and team spirit. And I also appreciate that they serve as such positive ambassadors for OHP in our partner schools, which is clearly benefitting our Main Campus as well. Many thanks to this group of dedicated teachers!

Wednesday the Tri-County Community Action Commission, which serves Champaign, Logan, and Shelby Counties, held a Senior Citizen Luncheon here at Hi-Point. Darlene Roll, who had been coordinating the event with the CAC, unfortunately couldn’t be here due to a family emergency. But JoEtta Spain and her group of able assistants from our staff, as well as several of our students, stepped right in and did a wonderful job serving lunch, providing musical entertainment, and making our guests feels very welcome! Denise Bergen, Executive Director of the CAC, made a point of thanking me for allowing them to hold their event here and said she just loves to facilitate intergenerational events such as this—it benefits both age groups!! (Some of the staff and I were commenting that we’re far closer to the “senior citizen” end of the spectrum than the “youth”!)

JoEtta shared with me her thanks as well:

A special thank you in for Mr.Carrig’s class who printed the holiday poem and the placemats, Amanda Blackburn’s class for the design of the placemat, and Sally Andrews’s class for helping with the serving and set-up as well as Mark Davis’s 7th-period class. I don’t want to forget Jessica Elliott from Culinary Arts who couldn’t go on the field trip so she wrapped all the cookies for the event. Last but not least were the students who performed (below). The show wouldn’t have gone on without all their help! Hope I didn’t forget anyone.

Bobby Ward
Sallie Roth
Anna Steggeman
Joe Winiger
Barb Taylor
Spencer Wolf
Jessica Skeen
Jeremy Stewart
Tim Sutton
Rechel Renkel
Breanne Gamble
Matt Overfield
Tiara Hinkle
Jordon Fitzpatrick
Deidra Thompson

On Thursday, we hosted our partner school guidance counselors for their regular meeting as well as a special luncheon prepared by our Culinary Arts Students. I could only stop in briefly and wasn’t able to stay for lunch, but it certainly looked wonderful!! (I’ll get to sample the same menu when these students prepare dinner for our Board next Wednesday.) Thanks to Lynne Hall and Lynda Arehart, our Guidance Counselors, for facilitating these meetings and keeping the lines of communication open with our partner school counselors.

While walking through the cafeteria on Thursday, a delightful young man named Dalton (Graphic Arts student) stopped me and asked if I had participated in the Netday survey. I asked him to tell me more about that, which he did very well! He explained that the purpose of the survey is to collect information so we can make improvements in our technology. Then he gave me a small card with the website to go to for the survey and a password. How neat to see our students actively involved in improving their school and their own learning! I appreciate Tracy Franck’s efforts in organizing this survey. And it’s important that staff participate also! If you haven’t filled out the survey, please go to http://www.netdayspeakup.org and use the password “starfish.”

I received another e-mail from one of our Board Members, Scott Johnson from Marysville, congratulating us on our Performance Measures. He apologized for being a little late—he’s been under the weather!

I am very proud of the efforts that you, your administration and staff have made over these past few years. I know all of you have been working very hard at improving the entire educational experience at Ohio Hi-Point; and from these latest results, I think others are sharing that same belief. I am thankful that you have allowed me to sit in on several of your work sessions these last two years. In those I have always been impressed at how the overall spirit of everyone attending and how focused they are on improving Ohio Hi-Point. Those meetings have also been a great learning experience for me as a Board member.

It always nice to see hard work pay off, and in this case, it has paid off very well. Again, please accept my most sincere congratulations for the great gains you have all made at Ohio Hi-Point over these past three years.

Thanks,
Scott

As I said last week, our accomplishments wouldn’t be possible without our very supportive Board of Education!

Joan Manns in Adult Education shared with me this week that Perry Hodies, who teaches our Digital Photography course and is attending Columbus State finishing a degree in Digital Design and Graphics, recently won a digital Holiday Card Contest. Joan asked him to share his winning design with us, and he responded:

Good morning! You had asked me about my card design that placed in the Holiday Card Contest at Columbus State. If you go to www.cscc.edu and let the main photos scroll (about every 5 seconds), my picture will come up. Click on the picture to get to the article.

Congratulations, Perry, on your recognition; and thank you for sharing your talents with the adult students in your classes!

As many of you know, we lost a dear friend and supporter this past fall with the passing of Judge James B. West, one of our Sloan Trustees. But I’m very happy to share with you that we recently learned Judge West and his wife Shirley had decided before his death that they would endow a James B. West Scholarship for our adult education Practical Nursing students. Shirley had taught in our program years ago, and Judge West had encountered many of our students and graduates in local health care facilities. He commented frequently on the fine nurses that our program produces and expressed appreciation for the asset that these adults are to the community. The scholarship has been put in place, and we know it will have a very positive impact on the lives of many future nursing students!

Well, tell you what. Since the weather predictions are so bad, I’m going to go ahead and cancel school for Saturday and Sunday. Have a great weekend, stay home if you can; and if you can’t, be very careful!

December 7, 2007

2007-12-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday to all of you, although I suspect many of you will be reading this on Monday! I hope you’re enjoying your second snow day this week. While I know these days can be a welcome gift of “found time,” I have to say I’m not crazy about the fact that we’ve had two snow days already and it’s the first week of December! But who knows, maybe Old Man Winter will settle down after the New Year. Most importantly, I hope you will all be safe as you’re out and about.

These two days have given me time to dig through some piles on my desk and feel some sense of being caught up. It’s mighty quiet around here with all of you gone!

While it was a short week, it was an eventful one! On Tuesday at our staff breakfast, which many of you attended, we were thrilled to announce that our high-school performance measures for 2006/2007 placed us at #10 in the state, up from #37 just four years ago! We also announced that our Adult Education programs met 7 out of 9 high-performance targets for 2006/2007, and rankings will follow. This is huge, and I couldn’t be more proud of the accomplishments of this school. It has truly been a team effort—teaching staff, support staff, administrators, board members, and—of course—our students! Without everyone staying focused on improving performance, it just wouldn’t happen. It’s great (and important) to look back and celebrate. And it’s equally important to keep an eye on the horizon! The state and federal measures we’ll be accountable for will change significantly over the next few years, and we need to continue our excellent initiatives to assure our students’ continued success--I’m confident we will!

The community and our stakeholders have also taken notice of our success and are happy for us. Board President, Anne Reames, wrote:

Kim,
On behalf of the Board, please share our congratulations to all. It is heart-warming to see all work so hard to achieve goals. This one was hard earned. So pleased that I am a part of it all.
Anne Marie Reames

Warren Stevens, our Board Member from Urbana, wrote:

Kim,
I commend you and all of the Staff for this most recent accomplishment. Everyone has worked very hard to attain this new ranking.
Warren

Bill Cook, our Upper Scioto Valley Board Member, wrote:

Congrats to all involved ! I'm sure we will hear more about the road to success and the map for the future.
Bill

One of our community agency representatives wrote to Darlene Roll:

Darlene,
I just wanted to write and congratulate the Ohio Hi Point Career Center for being ranked 10th in the state! I heard that on the radio this morning and just wanted to pass on my congratulations!
Susan Downing
Tri-County Community Action
Community Relations Specialist

And finally, I heard the following from Candace Watson, Director of the Logan County Convention and Tourism Bureau:

Kim, Nila & Shane-

Congratulations on being ranked 10th in the state! I think it is important for the community to realize the positive progression that OHP has achieved. This is good news to all Logan County businesses owners seeking quality employees.

On Thursday morning, the current Union County Leadership Institute (which I’m participating in) visited Ohio Hi-Point as part of their Education Day. I didn’t serve on the committee planning the day and didn’t even suggest that they come here (although I would have!) But a member of the committee approached me and asked if the group could take a tour, and of course I jumped on the opportunity! Nila Marquard introduced five of our Student Ambassadors who talked to the group about why they came to OHP, what they like best about their experience here, what kind of extra-curricular activities they participate in, and what they have planned for the future. Due to our delay that day, we called on students other than those we had planned to use; but the substitutes stepped in and never missed a beat! Deb Wortman filled the group in on our Satellite Programs, and Darlene Chiles informed them about our Adult Education offerings. The students then gave them the “grand tour” of our main building. I just wanted to burst with pride in watching and listening to the student ambassadors as well as our students in labs! They were mature, articulate, and confident as they spoke; and it’s clear they value the experience they’ve been given here at OHP. Most of the visitors had never been to our campus, and I heard from several of them later in the day how impressed they were with our students, our facility, and our vast program offerings for both young people and adults. Thanks to Nila, Deb, and Darlene, as well as Pat Roby, Joel Staudter and Shelly Swaney, who assisted with tours. And special thanks to JoEtta Spain for her work in preparing our Student Ambassadors to represent us so well. All around, it was a class act!

I have to share one cute story from this event: One of the students who spoke, Andrew, told the group that he ended up at Ohio Hi-Point “by accident” because he got on the wrong bus at Graham during 10th grade visits. But he came up anyway and liked what he saw. Now he’s a half-day student here and very active in band, SkillsUSA, and our Student Ambassador program. Andrew—we’re glad you got on that wrong bus!!

I hope you all have a safe, warm, and relaxing weekend!

November 30, 2007

2007-11-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and that the time off recharged your batteries a bit. It seems as if it’s been a marathon of activities since we started school, and it’s hard to believe we’re past Thanksgiving and on our way to Winter Break! But the results of all that activity have been very positive, so take time to stop, look back, and appreciate all you’ve accomplished.

I’ve had the opportunity these past couple of weeks to get out and visit some of our programs “afar” in our various satellite locations. It’s exciting to see all the developments in program growth and the outstanding work our students are doing. An overriding theme is their appreciation for the programs and the support OHP provides to them. I know that this positive perception of our school spills over to all of the students in our partner schools and is helping to raise interest in our Main Campus programs as well. Thanks to all of our satellite teachers for the quality programs you deliver!

We held our annual Perkins Stakeholders Meeting (an advisory group for our federal performance measures) last week, and I was so pleased with the turnout representing all of our counties and the feedback from the group. They fully support our efforts to “raise the bar” with our academics, are excited about industry-based skills assessments for our programs, and confirmed that we’re on the right track with our program offerings. Jack Reeser, currently Logan County Commissioner and possibly our next State Representative, specifically commended the positive direction Ohio Hi-Point has taken in increasing programs and aligning them closely with workforce needs. While I realize we’ve all lived through a lot of change the past several years and fully understand that change is just plain hard work, kudos to all of you for the tremendous strides you’ve made in providing a quality product to our students! People are noticing!

On Monday, I was given the opportunity to present to the Bellefontaine Rotary Club and share the DVD of testimonials from our students, parents, employers, and higher-education representatives. They really enjoyed the personal stories and had a lot of great questions about “what’s new” at Ohio Hi-Point. They were particularly impressed by our percentage of students going on to higher education, the partnerships with higher education that we’ve established, and the variety of career-tech and academic programs we offer. Little by little, we’re getting the word out and dispelling some of those “myths” about career-technical education! Thanks to Shane Haggerty and JoEtta Spain (Rotary members) for helping me field some of the questions.

Tuesday I visited our ProjectSEARCH program at Logan Acres nursing home and also heard a presentation on the program at our Board Meeting on Wednesday. This is our program for young adults with disabilities who have completed graduation requirements and are transitioning into competitive employment. I never cease to be amazed at what these young people can accomplish and how much they are appreciated by their co-workers! And they just beam with pride when telling me about their duties. It’s also so gratifying to see the social bonds they’re forming with one another in the class. Two graduates of the program presented at the Board Meeting and I wasn’t sure who was more proud—the graduates or their parents! Both of these young ladies are now employed in the community and have matured so much since I met them when they started the program. Mary Jo Alstaetter, program instructor, has brought this program from a dream to reality; and I’d encourage you all to arrange a visit with her and to help spread the word about the very valuable employees this program is producing!

On Wednesday, Nila Marquard, Deb Wortman, Shelly Swaney, Lynne Hall, Bob Lawrence, and I attended the West Central Ohio Tech Prep Consortium Administrator/Counselor Luncheon hosted by Honda of America Manufacturing. In addition to touring the plant that builds the Accord (which was absolutely amazing—1,800 Accords a day!!), we heard from their staffing department about the critical need for manufacturing maintenance employees. They described a partnership they’ve formed with several community colleges and OHP’s Adult Education division (the only career center in the group!), and they’ve also committed to assisting us in recruiting for our high-school programs which train students in this career pathway. We know we have the training they need; it’s a matter of getting the word out to students and parents that manufacturing is not a “dead end” job and the opportunities are tremendous. We’re happy to have Honda partner with us in this initiative. Special thanks to Bob Lawrence for driving the bus and transporting staff from several surrounding school districts to Honda—we were in good hands!

I hope you’ll all participate in the “Let It Snow” contest and take a guess at the date of our first snow day. I received special permission to participate, so I may be calling a snow day when it’s 50 degrees and sunny if that happens to be the day I picked!

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

November 16, 2007

2007-11-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Friday—again! It’s good to see the sunshine after yesterday’s sloppy weather!

I know it’s been an extremely busy, exciting, and probably exhausting week for all of you! Our Career Preview/Open House event last evening was absolutely wonderful—I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many parents and potential students visit to learn more about our programs! The weather certainly didn’t keep people away, which shows how much you truly piqued their interest in our programs. As I did a “fly-by” through all of our labs, I was so proud of our current students and Student Ambassadors for the part they played in making the evening a success. Their pride in their programs and our school just “oozed” from every pore—and they truly are our best salespeople! No doubt the success of last evening’s event was due largely to the tremendous effort that went into our Career Days visits for 10th graders and the committee of high-school and adult staff who worked to organize Career Preview. So, many thanks to all for a great job—I hope you’re as pleased with the results as I am! The data will soon be compiled as to the number of visitors, number of applications received, and other information we collected—I can’t wait to see the results! Be sure to check www.ohiohipoint.com for photos of the evening.

Speaking of Career Days and 10th grade visits, we received a lot of positive feedback from our partner schools on their visits here. Jon Comer, Guidance Counselor at Graham High School, e-mailed the following:

Just a brief note to let y'all know how much our students and chaperones enjoyed their day on the Hi-Point campus yesterday. The activities and hospitality were beyond expectations, as usual! Thanks again for your last-minute flexibility in light of our transportation difficulties. I have already taken a number of completed applications just this morning.
It must be working!!

Jon, Mindy and the GHS staff

JoEtta Spain, Recruiting and Placement Specialist, also coordinates visits to some of our middle schools. Janet Dunn, Marysville Middle School, recently wrote to JoEtta:

Thank you so much for visiting MMS yesterday. My students had very positive comments to share today. They enjoyed hearing the information you share. Several had questions about the application process. I encouraged them to keep in contact with their guidance counselors at the HS level and to take advantage of opportunities to visit the campus.
Breanne is a wonderful ambassador. She brought a great message. The students appreciated her comments.

JoEtta tells me the student Janet is talking about is Lead Ambassador Breanne Gamble, in our Administrative Office Specialist Program and a post-secondary student.

On Monday and Tuesday, I attended the Ohio School Boards Association annual conference, which includes a breakfast for career-tech board members and superintendents. At the breakfast Tuesday morning, Eric Fingerhut, the new Chancellor for the Board of Regents, which oversees higher education in Ohio, spoke to the group and emphasized the critical role career-technical education plays in workforce development. He stated that the ultimate measure of success for our adult education system in Ohio is not the number of degrees earned or the number of students enrolled; the measure for success is the improvement of the quality of economic life for everyone in Ohio. He also stated the direct need in Ohio is a skilled, technical workforce; and he acknowledged that our Adult Workforce Education system can best provide that.

As of January 1, 2009, all of our Adult Workforce Education programs, including ABLE, will be moved to the Board of Regents for governance (as opposed to the Ohio Department of Education.) While the details of administration and funding have not all been worked out, career-tech administrators are an integral part of the Transition Team which will put the new system into place. We see this as an opportunity to strengthen our programs and simplify the system of higher education in Ohio to make it more user-friendly for students.

Tuesday evening OHP hosted the first (and we hope annual) Transition Fair for special needs students and their families in Logan County. I had a chance to talk to representatives from several of the agencies represented, and I was really impressed with the scope of services available to these young people. Mary Jo Alstaetter, our ProjectSEARCH teacher, coordinated the event and did a super job! Her program is one of those opportunities for special needs young adults in our District, and I’ve heard many expressions of appreciation for the tremendous job she does. Thanks, Mary Jo!

I stopped by to see our evening Practical Nursing class in action on Wednesday evening and to welcome that group of students. These are adults who typically also work full time and have family responsibilities in addition to completing the very challenging curriculum of our PN program. They appeared very eager to learn and up to the challenge, and I know they have the best PN faculty in the State to support them! I had to chuckle—after I let myself into the building and stood at the doorway of the classroom, several of the students looked at their instructor, Tara Rhodes, and said “There’s a stranger here!” Tara explained to me that they had been notified their lockdown drill is coming soon, and the students are somewhat on “high alert.” Good for them for being so aware! (And I explained I wasn’t the intruder they’ve been waiting for!) Mostly, I hope not to be a “stranger” next time I see them. Best wishes to all of them in their studies!

I understand there’s some big football game going on in Columbus tomorrow? Hope it turns out as everyone hopes! Have a great weekend!