Katelyn Vlastaris, a sixth-grader from Westlake, placed second at the Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI) Conference in Minnesota. She qualified to represent the state of Ohio in the individual junior division after winning first place at the state level.

A student at Birchwood School, Katelyn has been researching the topic of “Green Living” for two months to prepare for the competition held at the University of Wisconsin from June 10–13.

Matthew J. Spellman will be the new athletic/activities director for the Bay Village City School District. He was hired on Monday, July 12, at the Bay Village Board of Education meeting.

Spellman has served as an athletic director/assistant principal for the Vermilion Local Schools since July 2008. Prior to that, he was student activities director for the Chardon Local School District and assistant athletic director at Wickliffe High School. His background includes teaching high school mathematics and coaching varsity and junior varsity football, high school basketball and track.

Spellman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Baldwin-Wallace College and a Master of Education, Sport Management degree from Cleveland State University. His post-graduate work in educational administration was done at Ursuline College.

On June 5, the students in the Spirit of America Boating Education Program, sponsored by the Bay Village School District, learned water safety at the Bay swimming pool. Fifty-two students arrived to the first class of the hands-on boating education program. 

Each student was fitted with a free life jacket or personal floatation device (PFD) and they proceeded into the pool area.  Students were instructed in three separate areas of the pool. At one area students practiced helping a person get out of the water using the reach, throw, row and go method. They learned not to go in after someone if not a trained lifesaver.

In another area students, with their PFDs on, jumped into the water to see how the vests would keep them afloat. They had to travel the length of the pool and back. They also tossed the PFD into the water and tried to put it on in the water. Not an easy task. 

 

Each year Bradley Bay Health Center awards a $500.00 Nursing Scholarship to graduating high school seniors who are pursing a career in nursing. The applicants must meet certain requirements including a written essay, teacher recommendations and a specific grade point accumulation. Congratulations to all the recipients as they pursue their nursing careers.

Over the years, Westlake City Schools have raised $309,120.04 to help fund vital research and education by participating in Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart through the American Heart Association.
 

In addition to raising dollars, Westlake Schools have provided valuable heart health education to more than 20,000 students through participation. Over the past 10 years Westlake has raised:

• Bassett Elementary – $79,383.02 (current event Coordinator Simon O’Doghtery)
• Dover Elementary – $67,328.60 (Coordinator Linda McLean)
• Hilliard Elementary – $59,449.61 (Coordinator Tom Urich)
• Holly Lane Elementary – $26,007.58 (Coordinator Nick Miller)
• Lee Burneson Middle – $36,274.86 (Coordinator Sally Falatach)
• Parkside Intermediate – $40,675.97 (Coordinator Cynthia Bailey) 

To put this into perspective, $25,000 can fund a one-year pre-doctoral fellowship to help a medical student begin a career in heart or stroke research.

Westlake City Schools Treasurer/CFO Mark C. Pepera accepted the district’s 17th consecutive Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. The award from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting.

The award for the district’s comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management. The CAFR was judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, including demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the CAFR.

The Westlake City Schools' bond rating was upwardly shifted from Aa2 to Aa1 by Moody’s Investor Service. The upward change places the district one notch away from the highest quality Aaa Moody’s rating. 

Westlake Schools is now one of only 23 Ohio local school districts rated in the Aa1 or Aaa rating categories, placing Westlake in the top 4% of all Ohio schools.

The Aa1 rating highlights the district’s credit quality versus other debt securities, which should mean lower interest costs on future district borrowing – including the recent bond issue – and savings of additional taxpayer dollars.

This shift is part of a large recalibration by Moody’s to bring municipal issuers in line with other global issuers. The new ratings are intended to indicate average levels of credit quality consistently across different sectors and geographies.

Les Szekely of Bay Village has been appointed to take over the reins of the Westlake City School District’s student-run television station, WHBS-TV, this fall. Szekely, a WHS graduate, currently hosts morning drive on WEOL AM 930. He also is an adjunct professor of communications at John Carroll University, Notre Dame College of Ohio and Cuyahoga Community College.

At JCU he teaches public speaking and electronic media studies. At Notre Dame he teaches interpersonal communication, speech, film studies, radio/TV, writing for non-print media and organizational communication. At Tri-C, he teaches interviewing, speech and interpersonal communication.

“I have spent my entire professional career working in both the media and teaching, so a lifetime of preparation has met opportunity,” Szekely said. “WHBS will be the media voice of the entire community, and there is a goldmine of exciting new and unexplored possibilities. These kids are really creative, and we are going to make their creative vision shine.”

 

Anthony Cipollone, associate director of athletics and recreational services for Allegheny College, was appointed as the new Athletic Director. Prior to Allegheny College, Cipollone was associate director of athletics/director of compliance for Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa. There he also services as assistant director of athletics and head wrestling coach.

Cipollone also held coaching positions with Muskingum College and Baldwin-Wallace College. Cipollone has served as chair of the NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee for two years and was an official evaluator at the 2010 NCAA National Wrestling Championships. Cipollone said he was attracted to Westlake’s “excellent reputation.” 

“The district philosophy of directing student's lives to contribute to society is in direct correlation with my individual beliefs,” he said. “In helping to create the whole student, I hope my role as Athletic Director will enable our coaches and athletic staff to continue to create a competitive, fun environment in which the overall success of Demon Athletics will be a great source of pride for all of the students, teachers, administrators and community of Westlake."

 

After 40 years of being a vital part of the Westlake City Schools as a teacher, coach and administrator, Lee Burneson Middle School Principal Dave Newman is retiring.

Lee Burneson Middle School and PTA are hosting a Community/All-District Open House to honor Newman on Monday, June 7, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the LBMS cafeteria. Current and former parents, students and staff, as well as community members, are welcome to attend.

Students at Westlake High School participated in the 75th annual "Le Grand Concours," a national competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French, and came away with several Top 10 finishes. 

Students were evaluated for their written, oral and listening comprehension skills in French. More than 100,000 students in all 50 states competed in the 2010 event. Participants in the 2010 Grand Concours are students of Joy Horvath, Nicolette Miller and Elizabeth Zingales.
     
Sophomore Ben Audebert placed fifth nationally in Level Three and junior Dan Meehan placed 10th nationally in Level Four. The following students received certificates of recognition for their scores and placement in the state of Ohio:

Tracy Sicafuse’s third-grade class at Dover Elementary School worked on an assembly line earlier this month in the school cafeteria to make key chains out of dog tags. 

The students applied patriotic stickers and a ring with beads to the dog tags from Dogtagsforkids.com. The dog tags will be distributed to students at Dover Elementary who bought them through a fundraiser for the nonprofit Dog Tags for Kids, which sends engraved dog tags to children from their parents who are serving in the military. Dover students raised $400 as part of an economics project.

Sicafuse funded the program through a grant from the Westlake Education Foundation.

It can be scary and lonely when children are admitted to the hospital, but Bay Village's Westerly Elementary fourth-graders Alexa Pohlkamp and Olivia Barber decided to do something to help. They would collect toys and games to be given to each child when he or she needed to be hospitalized.

The girls didn't move forward without a plan, however. "They came to me one day last August and said, 'this is what we want to do', and I said OK," said Alexa's mother, Allison. The activities that ensued included creating a marketing campaign and contacting Fairview Hospital to learn how they could make their project work.

After distributing professional-looking flyers and making loudspeaker announcements to solicit donations from their fellow students, the girls carefully stored and tracked the donations. In the final tally, 412 stuffed animals, books and games were presented to Fairview Hospital's Sandy Crisell at a school assembly on Thursday, May 28.

A family, which included several teachers, and who descended from early settlers of Bay Village, continues to support the education of its youth in the form of scholarships.

Each spring, the Bay Village Women's Club Foundation chooses from among Bay High School applicants to award scholarships to graduating seniors to a college of their choice. The group raises funds to support the scholarships along with money contributed from the Hassler Charitable Trusts.

The six 2010 scholarship winners were introduced at the Honors for Scholars' Luncheon held at the Cleveland Yachting Club on May 13. They were each awarded $2,000.00.

The Bay Village Education Foundation, entering its 25th year, held its most successful fundraising event ever at the end of January. Approximately 140 people attended the fourth annual fundraiser, “Creating Opportunities,” at Arrabiata’s in Bay Village. Attendees enjoyed food and drinks while they listened hopefully for their name to be drawn for one of over 30 door prizes.

In addition, guests placed bids on their favorite silent auction items. Items ranged from local restaurant gift certificates to artwork to sports packages. One of the most popular items was three hours of manual labor to be performed by Bay High’s principal, Jim Cahoon. The event was emceed by the Foundation President, Rhonda Schneider, and event Chairman, Dwight Clark. Because of the generous contributions of local businesses and attendees, the Bay Village Education Foundation raised over $15,000. 

Bay Middle School students took writing to a competitive level through their participation in Power of the Pen, a creative writing competition for seventh and eighth grade students.

Seventh-graders Tim Garner and Olivia Swasey, and eighth-graders Amanda Brian, Thomas Shelton, Shaley Stearns, and Hannah Wittkopf qualified at the district competition in January to participate in the regional Power of the Pen competition that was held at Learwood Middle School in Avon Lake on March 6.  

Qualifying for state-level competition, to be held at the College of Wooster on Friday, May 21, are seventh-grader Tim Garner and eighth-graders Amanda Brian and Hannah Wittkopf.

Students at Bay Middle School participated for a full week in May in a variety of activities that allowed them a chance to experience a special empathy for people with disabilities.

Whether it was watching a performance done in sign language, doing tasks while blindfolded, or listening while wearing headphones, students were immersed in a world very different from their own. Students learned how it might feel to be hearing impaired, orthopedically handicapped, visually impaired and to have reading disabilities. 

Students also welcomed visitors with a variety of disabilities, and they learned new skills to appropriately interact with people who have disabilities.

In one of the most rigorous and detailed assessments ever of its exemplary music program, the Bay Village City School District has been named for the eighth straight year to the NAMM Foundation’s Best Communities for Music Education list.

Each of the 174 schools from across the country receiving the “Best Communities” designation scored in the 80th percentile or higher in the survey's grading process. The districts were measured across curricular and programmatic criteria as well as public support of their music programs.

Participants in the survey answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program, and other relevant factors in their communities' music education programs. The responses were verified with district officials, and advisory organizations reviewed the data. The survey was developed and administered by The Institute for Educational Research and Public Service, an affiliate of the University of Kansas.

After fierce competition, the Bay Middle School Lego Club received a first place trophy in the 7th-9th Grade Theme Competition during the 2010 Nordson/LCCC Lego Olympiad held at Lorain County Community College in Elyria on Friday, April 16.

Leading the charge for the trophy and the first place win were: Gabriel Deutschman-Ruiz, Jack Reiss, Eddie Rychel and Cameron Taylor. The Bay Middle School Lego Club competed against 500 students from across North Central and North Eastern Ohio.

Congratulations to the entire 21 member 2010 Bay Middle School Lego Club for the trophy and for being great sportspersons and school ambassadors.

Over the last two years, students in Bay High technology instructor Luke Kieffer's Home Construction and Energy classes have been working on an alternative energy project. The goal was to construct a full-size windmill that will pump water from one location to another.

While many different students have worked on the project over the last four semesters, sophomores Alex Morley and Bill Samilson put the effort in over the last few months to finally make it happen. The boys took their creation out in the wind and rain in April and the project came to life, successfully using the power of the wind to pump water.

The Ohio PTA, through National PTA, holds an annual cultural arts program, “Reflections,” to recognize children for the creativity in portraying yearly themes. Children in preschool through grade 12 are encouraged to create and submit works of art in six areas: Literature, Visual Arts, Photography, Dance Choreography, Film Production and Musical Composition.

The 2009-2010 theme was "Beauty Is... "

Congratulations to the following students who placed at the Ohio PTA Reflections Competition:

Sameer Shah
Hilliard Elementary School
Award of Outstanding Achievement in Literature
Intermediate Division (grades 3-5)
               
Rachel Kim
Parkside Intermediate School
Award of Outstanding Achievement in Visual Arts
Middle and Junior Division (grades 6-8)

Congratulations to the following students who placed at the Westlake PTA Council Reflections Competition:

Primary (Preschool-2nd grade)

Dance Choreography: Anna Luu
Literature: Colt Rujawitz

Kate Humphrey, a Westlake High School senior art student, and Chris Dunlap, a WHS freshman, received national Gold Key awards in the 2010 National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. 

Kate earned a Gold Key award for an altered book sculpture, “The Birds.” Chris won a Gold Key award and an American Vision medal for his metal embossing of “Old Church.”

Kate, Chris and their families will travel to New York City with their teachers, Christine Filmer and Debra Gantz, to receive their awards at Carnegie Hall.

The Westlake City School District’s STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) Program of Excellence has been selected for inclusion in the Magna Best Practices Database of the American School Board Journal. 

STEM was one of 83 highly-scored programs selected for this special recognition from the 334 nominations received.

The Magna Awards is a national recognition program co-sponsored by American School Board Journal, the National School Boards Association and Sodexo School Services that honors school board best practices and innovative programs that advance student learning. 

The LBMS MATHCOUNTS team took home top awards in the state and regional middle school competitive mathematics program. At the state competition at Columbus State College, 265 individuals and 39 teams competed.

Representing Lee Burneson Middle School were Kartik Dhinakaran, Krish Shah, Aswin Bikkani, Chris Tsuer and Ameesh Shah. Kartik placed in the top 10 percent at 23rd place overall. The remaining Westlake students placed in the top 33 percent.

 At the regional level, the team of Kartik Dhinakaran, Krish Shah, Aswin Bikkani and Chris Tsuei took home first place. Individual awards went to Kartik (first place), Krish (second place) and Aswin (third place). Ameesh Shah placed fifth in the competition on an individual level.

Lee Burneson Middle School eighth graders Rudy Keppler, Patrick Evans, Chris Stone and Clay Hoon won first place in the regional Design Squad Challenge at the WVIZ studios. 

The team had to conduct three problem-solving STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) activities. LBMS science teacher Sandy Vontroba acted as coach by directing the team through the problems by asking probing questions.

“They needed to listen to my questions and figure out how to plug in the directive to solving the problem,” Vontroba said.

Westlake High School senior Alison Gray won the second place poetry award in the 2010 Ohioana Robert Fox Award for Young Writers contest. The award will be presented Saturday, May 8, during the opening of the 4th annual Ohioana Book Festival: Celebrating Ohio’s Authors in Columbus. Ohio’s first lady Frances Strickland will open the festival. Gray will read her wining entry, “Repeated Extinction,” at the festival.   

Repeated Extinction 

Out of Kaleidoscopic Chaos our Gaea egressed,
With verdant vines and towering trees overlooking
Blue-gray tides that curl like the toes of a newborn child—
A silent soundlessness wrapped the earth in a blanket and the crib mobile spun hypnotically.
Darkness.
Tyrannical lizards tangoed through forests, and raptors darted through wildwood,
Flickering their tongues and fanning their crowns.  Yellow eyes bid death to onlookers.

Four Westlake High School Engineering & Technology Education Department students won the title of state champion for their “Best of Show” awards at the Ohio Technology & Engineering Educators Association state conference school exhibits competition held in Columbus on April 9 and 10.   

Winning a state champion title for his Best of Show award in the Graphic Arts Technology category was sophomore Nick Halczuk for his airbrushed thunderstorm illustration.    

Winning a state champion title for his Best of Show award was junior Nathaniel Renkel for his cardboard chair in the statewide “Sitting Machine” contest.   

Also winning a state champion title for their Best of Show award was the senior team of AJ Suever and Jeff Thaler for their “Thinking Big, Building Smart” and energy efficient house design in the Construction/Architecture Technology category. Suever also won a second state title for her Best of Show award in the Engineering category for her Pop-Up Chair design. 

Students at Bay High School launched into an intensive week focused on healthy eating and exercise by listening to Dr. Michael Roizen, Chief Wellness Officer at the Cleveland Clinic, co-founder and chair of the RealAge, Inc., and co-author of the popular series of health books that began with “YOU: The Owner’s Manual,” tell students what really happens inside their bodies when they choose the wrong foods.

Roizen showed students compelling animated video that illustrated how blood cholesterol and glucose (sugar) interact to create damage inside the body’s blood vessels. He discussed healthy food choices and the importance of exercise.

"I'm even more nervous talking to you today than I was when I first appeared on Oprah," he joked, explaining that he knew their age group tended to feel immortal. "You have the best opportunity to live long, healthy lives because you have time – you can commit to the healthiest lifestyle choices now and avoid the physical damage that comes with poor choices."

The Empire State Building will be lit in gold on the evening of June 9 in honor of the 2010 National Scholastic Art and Writing award winners. Those winners, who will be recognized at a ceremony at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, include three Bay Middle School eighth-grade students: Alyse Arko, Thomas Shelton and Aubrey Theobald.

 “Happy Birdie” by Alyse Arko is a linoleum print and won a national Silver Medal. “Thomas Shelton’s “Bunny” is an enamel on porcelain steel mixed media piece that also won a national Silver Medal. A third national Silver Medal was won by Aubrey Theobald for her photograph, “Shoes and Fall.”

Bay Village PTA Council honored a number of its volunteers this year to recognize their work done on behalf of the students in the Bay Village City School District.

Receiving honors for their work with various schools were Laura Sylvester (PTA Council), Pam Bonnett (Bay High School PTSA), Suzanne Hippler (Bay Middle School PTSA), Wendy Mastromatteo (Westerly Elementary PTA), and Lis Sobczak (Normandy Elementary PTA). For their work with the Bay Village Early Childhood PTA, Jacquie Mayer and Chrissy Morscher were honored.

Superintendent Clint Keener received the PTA Council Apple Award.

A team of sixth graders from Parkside Intermediate School claimed one of 24 regional awards in the Toshiba/National Science Teachers Association ExploraVision National Science Competition. Sixth graders John Willi and Jack Bogart took the regional award for their invention, the Downspout Generator, that generates electricity by harnessing the energy of descending water in a downspout.

The gutters accumulate water, which plummets through special Y connectors down the downspout, attaining speed on the way down. The water strikes several micro-turbines, spinning the minute generator and creating electricity that passes through a diminutive transformer, amassing in a battery.

The invention conserves energy costs by using this electricity to power appliances for use during blackouts and storms. Sponsored by Toshiba and administered by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the ExploraVision program is the world’s largest K –12 science and technology competition.

The Westlake Music Boosters’ 12th annual Summer Band Program will be held June 16-July 3.

The Elementary Summer Band program for grades 5 and 6 involves 10 sessions, held Monday through Thursday mornings from 9:30 to 10:20 a.m. in the Lee Burneson Middle School band room. 

The Summer Jazz Ensemble & Blues Improvisation Workshop for 6th through 8th grades will be held from 10:30 to 11:20 a.m. each day.

Dates of the program are June 16 and 17, June 21-24 June 28-30 and July 1. Cost is $79 per student. 

WHS senior Conner Dempsey received a phone call from U.S. Senator George Voinovich confirming his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. There are only 1,500 appointments given out annually. Conner recently placed 7th at the State Wrestling Tournament and participates in Scott Kutz’s high school engineering program.

Kim Bonvissuto is the Communications Coordinator for Westlake City Schools.

The following is the summary of the 2009-2010 school year grants awarded by the Westlake Education Foundation, a non-profit group that awards grants to help teachers fund creative projects in the classroom. 

The WEF is participating in funding for the district-wide Home Language Literacy Program initiated by Jennifer Petticord at Lee Burneson Middle School. The program objectives are four-fold: 

• to facilitate social inclusion of the many students for which English is their second language;
• to increase parent-child reading at home and, therefore, increase family literacy;
• to boost reading comprehension for the ELS Students with approved bilingual Accelerated Reading test books; and
• to affirm the importance of a multi-lingual environment. 

Once ordered and received, the books will be available to any school within the district via inter-library loan. The WEF has committed to funding $650 for the program (half of the requested amount). 

Westlake High School senior Brenna Goodwin won third place and $100 at the state level of the George S. and Stella M. Knight Essay Contest sponsored by the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Western Reserve Historical Society.

Brenna’s essay, “Separation of Church and State,” previously won first place at the local level. She wrote the essay as part of a WHS government class taught by Elizabeth Noren, who challenged the students to write about an aspect of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.

Hilliard Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Kim Toncar was selected as the MonSTAR Teacher of the Month for April after being nominated by her student, Sameer Shah.

The MonSTAR Teacher of the Month, presented by National City Bank, recognizes those teachers who are making a difference in the lives of their students. Sully, the Lake Erie Monsters mascot, surprised Toncar in her classroom last week, along with a National City Bank representative. Toncar received game tickets to a Lake Erie Monsters home game and will receive a special in-game recognition at a future date. 

In his nomination letter, Sameer said his teacher makes learning fun for the whole class by doing hands-on science demonstrations, showing educational videos and making learning more visual.

Seven students from Westlake and Bay Village who attend the Birchwood School in Cleveland received top honors at the district level of the National History Day Competition.

The competition, held at Case Western Reserve University on March 13, requires students to conduct primary and secondary research on a particular theme and present their work through creative and scholarly projects.

The LBMS MATHCOUNTS team took home first place and the top three individual awards in the national middle school competitive mathematics program. The team of Kartik Dhinakaran, Krish Shah, Aswin Bikkani, Chris Tsuei took the first-place team award.

They will go on to compete in the state competition in Columbus this weekend. Ameesh Shah also will participate in the state competition in an individual level.

Individual awards went to Kartik Dhinakaran, first place; Krish Shah, second place; and Aswin Bikkani, third place.

The Westlake High School String Orchestra achieved the top rating of “Superior” from every adjudicator at the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) State Orchestra Contest held at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium.

Orchestras from throughout Northeast Ohio attended the event. Three adjudicators judged the orchestra on three prepared selections in the auditorium, and a fourth judge rated them in sight-reading.

The WHS Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Chorale and Women’s Choir also achieved “Superior” ratings at the OMEA District Adjudicated Event. All four groups will go on to compete at the OMEA State Event in April.

The Maasai Music Project (MMP) is a cutting-edge collaboration between the Cincinnati Zoo, Miami University, the African Conservation Center, and The Lee Burneson Middle School (LBMS) Environmental Club (a national-award-winning youth organization). 

Middle and high school students from the United States will travel to Kenya, Africa, this summer to write and record collaborative original music with Maasai of the same age. The participants will also collaborate on additional science, education and artistic objectives. 

The Maasai Music Project

MMP is unique in its goals and innovative in its approach. The LBMS Environmental Club (E-Club) believes that science, art and education are not separate, isolated disciplines, but instead deeply interconnected. We believe that the most powerful force for change is the uniting of many voices into a collective voice, and the uniting of many disciplines under one cause. And, we believe that kids have a voice and they should be heard.