Chagrin Falls

January 17, 2013 by Staff Report

Academic All-Ohio Football

The Ohio High School Football Coaches Association has named Chagrin Falls High School varsity football players Jack Campbell, Tommy Iammarino, Matt Markley and Bradley Munday as members of the Academic All-Ohio Football team. To qualify, nominees must have senior standing, must be recognized as a first team selection in their conference, all county or all district in addition to demonstrating academic distinction by possessing a highly competitive GPA. Only 99 of the more than 30,000 high school football players in Ohio qualified for this prestigious honor, which is a true measure of academic achievement and athletic excellence.

In addition, the Chagrin Falls varsity football team has been recognized for academic excellence. To qualify for this honor, the grade point averages of the top 22 lettermen for each team were averaged and ranked. Only 73 of the 715 eligible high school football teams throughout Ohio earned the coveted team honor of Academic All Ohio. The Chagrin Falls varsity football team ranked ninth of all teams honored.

School Board Recognition

During the month of January, the Chagrin Falls Exempted School District joins with Ohio’s 718 other school districts throughout the state to celebrate School Board Recognition Month, which recognizes the important contributions school board members make to their communities.

As citizens who serve children and represent their communities, individual school board members face complex and demanding challenges. Their job entails an endless string of meetings and school functions to attend, reams of reports, agendas, proposals and other information to read and study and a host of difficult decisions to make.

“School board members serve the public interest as they work to implement the vision of a strong, coherent education system meeting the needs of all our district’s children. The unselfish commitment of their time and energy insures the success of our schools. Thank you for your hard work, not only during this recognition month, but for your endless hours throughout the year,” said Mr. Bob Hunt, superintendent of schools.

At this past week’s Board of Education meeting, board members were honored by students from all the buildings. Gurney students Spencer Kaas, Elena Goodwin, Marie Kanzinger and Wesley Kaas recognized Dr. Anne Thomas’ background, volunteer work and service on the board of education. Then they recited a “thank you” poem in gratitude for her service to the schools and presented her with a photo of Gurney students in front of a “thank you” sign.

Intermediate School students Robert Snider and Mary Francis Mahoney presented a watercolor painting of a Celtic knot to Harry Cashy for his dedication and leadership. They also created a unique “pop-up” card with a drawing of the Intermediate School.

Middle School Student Council officers Jack O’Brien, president, Daniel Brown, vice president, and Anne Nafziger, secretary, gave a brief biography of Rob Weber’s service to the schools and thanked him for his efforts. They also identified specific ways Mr. Weber has enhanced the district.

High school students Lauren Lang, student council president, and Shannon Clegg, student council vice president, gave speeches honoring the service and commitment of board members Mary Kay O’Toole and Mike Hogan and gave them a token of the school’s appreciation for their hard work.

We thank the present members of the Chagrin Falls Exempted Village School Board for their years of service. Board members are Dr. Anne Thomas, newly elected president, seven years; Harry Cashy, newly elected vice president, one year; Mary Kay O-Toole, three years; and Michael Hogan, one year. We also welcome back to the Chagrin Falls Board of Education, Rob Weber with four years of service.

Photography Field Trip

Chagrin Falls High School art students in traditional black and white film photography and digital photography classes recently traveled to the B&O Roundhouse on West Third Street and the East Bank of the Cleveland Flats as part of their final exam.

The B&O Roundhouse site visitation was inspired by a recent article featuring the area in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The students really enjoyed the five acres of train cars in varying degrees of restoration or despair. There were numerous photographic subjects available to the students from lots of gears and interesting mechanical parts to interesting rust patterns and peeling paint to scary stories of haunted cars.

The objective of this lesson was to get students out of their comfort zone for a vast difference of scenery and experiences. Following the field trip students had to create a body of photographs from these locations and put them together in a portfolio. Students were provided with various criteria they needed to meet while photographing their subject matter, always keeping in mind proper exposure and composition. Student images from the project are on the photo website at www.cfhsphotography.weebly.com.