Jenna Williams, the daughter of Robert and Kathryn Williams, was named the 2014 Chagrin Falls High School homecoming queen. Jenna was escorted by…
Homecoming Queen Crowned
Jenna Williams, the daughter of Robert and Kathryn Williams, was named the 2014 Chagrin Falls High School homecoming queen. Jenna was escorted by Tyler Thompson.
Jenna is a member of cross country, swimming, track and band. She participated in the spring musical and is looking forward to the fall play.
After graduation, Jenna plans to attend college, where she hopes to study biochemistry. She enjoys listening to music, going to concerts, getting Mitchell’s ice cream with friends, volunteering with “It’s a Tree Foundation” and is active in pet rescue.
Community Forum Scheduled
The Chagrin Falls PTO is hosting a community forum on Nov. 17 from 7-8:30 p.m. in the middle school gym as the district continues the conversation about the future of its facilities. It will be a moderated Q&A session. Residents are encouraged to attend and express their thoughts, suggestions and concerns.
Although there will be an opportunity for open question and answer, the district is accepting questions in advance, which will allow administrators to address common themes in opening comments. Please submit questions at: http://tinyurl.com/CF-FAC-ques.
In addition, personal tours of either Gurney Elementary or Intermediate School are being scheduled for interested residents. Please register at: http://tinyurl.com/CF-FAC-tours
CFHS Philanthropy Day
On Oct. 15, seniors from Chagrin Falls High School traveled to Ohio City where they donated their time and man/woman power to help lend a hand to community organizations that help provide for the less fortunate.
Seniors were introduced by Kerry McCormack, director of community affairs for Ohio City Incorporated, and given a brief history of Ohio City along with an overview of what activities they would be partaking in. After meeting in Market Square, across the street from the Cleveland West Side Market, students departed and walked to various community service activities that included working at Kentucky Gardens, Franklin Circle Christian Church, the Urban Community School, the West 47th Street Garden and other beautification projects
Rick Werner, who helps manage the Kentucky Gardens said, “Thanks to the efforts of these Chagrin Falls’ students, we were able to get all of the Donation/Market Garden plots ready for the winter. That work will pay off for the Garden’s continued ability to support itself through Market sales next year as well as the Garden’s continued ability to contribute to the food programs at St. Pat’s and St. Herman’s.”
It was the first year that Chagrin Falls seniors worked outside the local community and ventured to Cleveland. The school district is planning on continuing their partnership with Ohio City Incorporated for the future.
12-Year-Old Excels On ACT
When the Chagrin Falls Board of Education recognized top-scoring students who took college entrance exams in June, the list included current seventh-grader Robert Snider, 12, who took the ACT in December 2013 as a sixth-grader.
Robert was one of 69 Chagrin Falls students in grades 4-9 who took EXPLORE, ACT and SAT tests last year through Northwestern University’s Midwest Academic Talent Search. NUMATS is a testing program that enables gifted and talented students the opportunity to take tests that are normally only available to students at higher-grade levels. About 20,000 students from across the nation participated.
Many of the Chagrin Falls’ students did well, but Robert and his parents, Cynthia and Brian Snider, were invited to attend an award ceremony in September that recognizes the top 1-2 percent of NUMATS test takers. Robert’s score on the reading section of the ACT, a 33, tied for third among all sixth-graders who took the test.
“The experience was really great, especially being at Northwestern University,” he said. “It showed I have strength in reading. Before I thought I was equal in math and reading.”
He does not know how he placed in the other three sections of the ACT. The math section of the test included areas he has not yet studied, he said.
Chagrin Falls Schools’ Curriculum Director Becky Quinn said participating in NUMATS helps students know where they stand academically and begin preparing for the future. The program also provides parents and students electronic access to information and assistance.
“NUMATS not only helps our brightest students frame the learning which still needs to take place prior to graduation, but also compares their performance to other gifted students across the country students who they may eventually compete against for scholarships and/or for acceptance into the most prestigious colleges and universities,” said Quinn.
Robert is currently taking all the accelerated courses available in seventh grade, and plans to take the ACT and SAT again this year.
“I would tell people who are going to take it, it was less intimidating than I thought it was going to be,” he said.
Achievement Hall of Fame
The Chagrin Falls Alumni Association inducted five graduates to the Chagrin Falls Schools Achievement Hall of Fame on Oct. 23 during a ceremony held at the Tanglewood Club. It was the 12th class to be inducted and includes Dr. Bruce Campbell ’72, Dr. Thomas Martinko ’74 (Colonel U.S. Army – Retired), Dr. James Thobaben ’74, David Kravitz ’75 and Dr. Christine Schomisch Moravec ’75.
Dr. Bruce Campbell has been a career diplomat for the United Nations with a focus on reducing poverty and addressing humanitarian suffering. He has worked in Honduras, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Ghana, Nepal, Eritrea, Zimbabwe and Vietnam. During the time of It’sraeli occupation in southern Lebanon, Campbell was director of a 40-bed hospital for Palestinian refugees. His next post was directing a medical program for Afghan refugees, which provided clinical services to 1,100 patients a day. He also worked for the Royal Tropical Institute of the Netherlands as a technical advisor and consultant. He went on to be chief technical advisor for the Ministry of Health in Ghana for four years and in Nepal for seven years. One of his proudest achievements was helping oversee a program that saw the sharpest decline in HIV prevalence in the history of the epidemic in Zimbabwe. After 30 years abroad, living in nine countries, Campbell is now the director of United Nations Population Fund – Technical Division in New York City, where he leads a team of more than 90 professionals who provide policy and technical advice to six regional and 129 country offices.
Dr. Thomas Martinko had a lengthy and decorated career in the military before heading two different departments of pediatrics and at prestigious universities. Martinko earned the rank of colonel of the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army and was deployed overseas on several occasions including stays in Honduras, Germany and Afghanistan. During his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, two Army Commendation Medals, Joint Services Commendation Medal, the Order of Military Medical Merit, the Combat Patch, the Afghanistan Service Ribbon, the Government War on Terrorism Ribbon and the Armed Forces Reserve Ribbon. Martinko is currently an associate professor and director of adolescent medicine in the Division of General Pediatrics at the University of Florida, which are positions he previously held at the University of South Alabama. Additionally, he has devoted many hours to youth programs, is a Eucharistic minister and was keynote speaker of the 2014 Chagrin Falls Memorial Day Program.
Dr. James Thobaben is a professor and dean of the School of Theology and Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary. He currently oversees Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment, managing the decanal accreditation process for the institution. His academic fields are bioethics, social ethics and sociology of religion. His special research interests are disability issues (especially traumatic brain injury related), social benefit from and concern with genetically modified non-human organisms, the spiritual and cultural meaning of pilgrimage, ecclesial architecture, and rural life. As well as working full time at Asbury, he serves as the pastor of a small, rural church, is a part-time professor in the University of Kentucky, College of Public Health, an adjunct professor at Trinity International University and operates a small tree farm. For both academic and spiritual reasons, Thobaben has twice walked the Camino de Santiago de Compostela and several of the long pilgrimage routes in Great Britain. Prior to assuming his current position, he was vice president of a physical rehabilitation facility centered on the treatment of those with traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. His academic degrees are from Oberlin, Yale and Emory.
David Kravitz is an entrepreneur and inventor who served in various senior executive, directorship and advisory positions throughout his career in the life sciences. For over 20 years, his focus has been in the fields of trauma and transplantation medicine, women’s reproductive health, therapeutics adherence, and regenerative medicine. Kravitz is a co-inventor of several dozen medical technology patents and has been a founder of numerous med-tech companies including Organ Recovery Systems, where he served as chairman and CEO. He presently serves as CEO of Lifeline Scientific, Inc., a company that he co-founded. Kravitz has led companies through international public and private institutional financings, and the development and launch of several global medical technologies, including LifePort family of solid organ recovery and transport systems. He has remained active in early childhood education, having founded a Montessori-based preschool in his local community, and is a publisher of books, innovative products and curriculum in the field of early childhood literacy.
Dr. Christine Schomisch Moravec is a staff research scientist and director of basic research in the Kaufman Center for Heart Failure at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Schomisch Moravec is also one of three associate directors of the Bakken Heart-Brain Institute and holds secondary appointments in the Department of Molecular Cardiology and the Center for Integrative Medicine. She also runs the human heart tissue bank at the Clinic. Schomisch Moravec was named an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association. In addition to her research work, she holds academic appointments at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Cleveland State University. She serves as chair of graduate studies within the Lerner Research Institute and president of the Board of Directors of the Northeastern Ohio Science and Engineering Fair, a regional science fair held each spring for 600 students from the Cleveland area. Dr. Schomisch Moravec has been invited to present her research at national and international meetings and conferences. She has also earned the Outstanding Educator Award from the Lerner Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.
