The school year has gotten off to an inclusive start at Chagrin Falls Schools where students participated in “Start with Hello” week, a program through Sandy Hook Promise that “teaches students to be more socially inclusive and connected to each other...
Start with Hello Outreach Program
The school year has gotten off to an inclusive start at Chagrin Falls Schools where students participated in “Start with Hello” week, a program through Sandy Hook Promise that “teaches students to be more socially inclusive and connected to each other.”
Five sixth-grade students from Chagrin Falls Intermediate School gave a presentation on the program at the Sept. 20 Chagrin Falls Board of Education meeting.
Board member Kathryn Garvey introduced the student group, noting that the program was “near and dear to her heart.” As part of a military family, she spent time in eight or nine school districts before graduation and was often the new student.
“This program encourages students to be thinking about the new students, students that are quieter, or those that aren’t known to you that you want to get to know a little better,” said Garvey.
Curtis Howell, principal of Chagrin Falls Intermediate School, introduced two counselors, Elizabeth Wolfgang and Annie Schluep, who then introduced five sixth-grade students who explained to the board and audience the importance of “Start with Hello” week. Those students were Maryanne Golden, Jacob Kumins, Olivia Kumins, Jack Hanley and Amelia Edgerly.
“If we can teach students to be better to each other, when they leave here they have a chance to change the world,” said Howell.
Olivia Kumins shared the steps to “Start with Hello” Week – if you see someone alone, you reach out to them, and you start with saying “hello.”
“Just remember, the littlest things like saying hello can brighten someone’s day and that’s what ‘Start with Hello’ Week is all about,” said Olivia.
Maryanne Golden said students and staff wore green from head to toe on Monday to represent the week’s signature color. The school created grade-level kindness chains by each making their own paper link. Grade levels wrote a kind act that they have done for someone or someone has done for them on the paper link.
“This week is a reminder to step out of my comfort zone and meet new people and allow people to feel included,” said Maryanne.
Jacob Kumins said Tuesday was crazy socks day. The students also had conversation starters in the cafeteria including, “If you could invent a school subject, what would it be,” “What are your favorite activities to do during recess,” and “What qualities make up a good friend?”
Jack Hanley noted Wednesday’s theme of “Kindness Ties Us Together,” in which students and staff wore tie dye clothing to help tie them together and bond.
“I think it is important to ‘Start with Hello’ because you can create new friendships and make people feel more noticed and appreciated,” said Jack. “By changing our mindset, we can build a more inclusive school community.
Amelia Edgerly explained how Thursday’s theme was “Dreaming of a Kind World” and all students wore their pajamas and wrote letters of gratitude to someone important to them.
“I think it is important to ‘Start with Hello’ because it helps to make new friends and include everyone,” said Amelia. “This week helps us learn more about our peers and we get to do fun activities that bring CFIS together.”
Friday’s theme, according to Olivia Kumins, was “Share the Spirit of Kindness” – a school spirit day during which all students and staff wore orange and black.
Jacob Kumins said that there were several guidance lessons during the week including student interviews and Schluep played “Start with Hello” bingo with the students. There also were student to student interviews.
“I believe friends are important in our lives because they can help us get through tough times,” said Jacob. “Anybody can make a friend by starting with one simple word…hello.”
Lessons even flowed into Spanish class with Professor Luz Delgado, who taught different introductions and greetings in Spanish. In music, students started the class with prompts to get to know a classmate. In art, students made their own self-portraits in Mrs. Boss’ class. Ms. Packard had students make custom name tags with designs that represented themselves in the Innovation Lab.
Chagrin Falls Middle School also celebrated “Start with Hello” Week with many activities. On Monday, students completed an activity where they could say hello and share a dream they had for Gurney Elementary students. They wrote these down and decorated them on a piece of paper. Then, any students who were interested were able to go to the Innovation Center to record their message. The messages were compiled into videos and shared with the students at Gurney. On Tuesday and Wednesday, students wrote chalk messages on the sidewalks to say hi and share their dreams they have for the Gurney students this year. Any interested students were able to record their video shout out to the Gurney students.
On Wednesday, students wore green and the staff ate lunch with the students so everyone could be together as a school.
On Thursday, Guidance Advisory Councils greeted every student with a sticker, a bagel, and a “hello” as they entered the building in the morning.
The week ended with the high school Wellness Council leading a walk and talk with the middle schoolers. Students were randomly divided into 30 groups, and each group had high school leaders asking questions of the groups so they could get to know each other.
CFIS sixth grader Maryanne said, “Hello week is not just something we should do for just a week, it is something we should do every day of every week, and we should always try to make people welcome.”
Gurney Elementary School teachers also introduced several activities to their students. For example, second-grade teacher Ellen Jones’ class started their own kindness board and encouraged her students to write sentences on the board highlighting classmates who showed a “spot of kindness.”
“These amazingly kind, empathetic kids fill me with awe,” said Jones.
AP English Literature Students Zoom With Best-Selling Local Author
On Sept. 28, Bobbie Serensky’s AP English literature classes had a Zoom session with best-selling author Thrity Umrigar. According to Umrigar’s online biography, her books have been translated into several languages and published in over 15 countries. She is a Distinguished University Professor of English at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Serensky’s 12th-grade students read Umrigar’s “Honor” as part of their summer reading. During that time, Serensky reached out to Umrigar, who excitedly offered to meet.
“I was absolutely thrilled when I received Umrigar’s response,” said Serensky. “I knew my students would love the chance to interact with a famous author.”
While students did experience some nervousness before the Zoom meeting with Umrigar, they quickly relaxed and asked what Umrigar called, “some of the most brilliant and unique questions audience members have ever asked her.”
Upon reflection, students shared that they benefited in numerous ways from conversing with Umrigar.
“I found it interesting to hear about Umrigar’s approach to writing; for example, how she does not start writing until she has a fully formed idea of a story in her head,” said student Liam Butler. “She does not write to appease an audience as Umrigar would consider it ‘selling her soul,’ and she treats reading and writing as something of a ‘religious experience.’”
“As a writer myself, listening to Umrigar speak about how she thinks through her stories certainly impacted how I will now go about my own writing process,” said student Sofia Clark. “Hearing how she lets ideas formulate into stories in her mind and not allowing herself to stare at a blank screen really are amazing pieces of advice from an incredibly experienced author.”
Perhaps Shannon McElhinney sums it up best: “Umrigar’s intelligence and literary skills amazed us and helped us understand how “Honor” developed into the novel we all enjoyed so much.”
Last year, Serensky had the unique opportunity to have her students meet with poet Richard Blanco, President Obama’s Presidential Inaugural Poet. Serensky’s students continue to enjoy this type of transformative experience.
“I value giving students opportunities to engage in live moments with authors,” said Serensky. “Without the generosity of Ms. Rassi’s Principal’s Fund and the Student Board of the Chagrin Falls Education Foundation grant, we could not have hosted Umrigar.”
CFIS Tigers of the Month
Tiger of Month is for students who show consistent behaviors. It doesn’t mean the student has to be the best behaved or have the highest grades. The award is for students who continually try to do their best. They may make mistakes but are approaching their school experience with a “YET” mindset.
Congratulations to: Lilah Pace, Josie Bird, Payton Felder, Stella Halvorson, Zoe Zabell, Dane Lyle, Tommy Muir, Hannah Bracco, Vivian Self, Dylan Barnett, Crosby Horvath, Loe Monda, Kylie Stinson-Chandler, Peter Franz, Audrey Rutherford, Dempsey Ingold, James Simon, Bryan Lasch and Harrison Venezia.
CFMS Students of the Month
The mission of the Chagrin Falls Middle School Students of the Month is to acknowledge and reward students for exemplary performance. The students depict Tiger Techniques: Think, Integrity, Grit, Effort and Responsibility. Each month, the seventh- and eighth-grade teams collaborate and choose a male and female “Tiger of the Month” and the students receive personalized tiger water bottles from the PTO.
Students of the Month for September are seventh-graders Olivia De La Cruz and Max Beatty and eighth-graders Emmi Venezia and Jake Huey.
Olivia De La Cruz has started the year off with an eagerness to learn. She is consistently prepared for all her classes. She is always excited to contribute to class discussions and adds great perspective to our conversations. Olivia has made so much progress in cross country. She continues to work hard each day.
Max Beatty has started the year off as an enthusiastic and well-prepared student. It’s a pleasure to hear him engage in conversations with his teammates during class. Max continues to be a leader in the orchestra program. He is always engaged in rehearsal and his positive attitude spreads across the rest of the ensemble. Max is very encouraging during both cross country meets and practices.
Emmi Venezia is always prepared for class and with a smile. She is consistently eager to learn, and she has a great sense of humor. Emmi is a positive force on our book club, where she models a healthy reading life to her peers. She is engaged in all lessons in her classes, helpful to others, and demonstrates quiet leadership, serving as a terrific role model.
Jake Huey is always willing to participate and is a leader in class. He consistently comes to class with a positive attitude and a smile on his face. Jake participates often and works well during group work. He is polite, respectful, and hardworking, which makes him a great role model for his peers. He is also very encouraging to his teammates and runners from other teams.
Speech and Debate Team Recognized
Chagrin Falls High School’s Speech and Debate Team has earned significant recognition from the National Speech & Debate Association for the 2022-23 school year. Students earn Honor Society points and degrees based on competition, leadership and service activities that contribute to a school’s strength points. Because of CFHS’s chapter achieving 132 or more strength points last year, they earned membership in the national association’s prestigious 100 Club.
“Your Club Award is remarkable because it demonstrates outstanding commitment to teaching students essential life skills…including communication, research, listening, writing and organization,” said Executive Director J. Scott Wunn, National Speech & Debate Association. “The hard work you have invested to achieve this distinction will pay dividends for years to come. The National Speech & Debate Association commends your leadership of an active speech and debate program. Because of you, students are learning to harness the power of words to shape their worlds.”
