Chagrin Falls High School senior Sage Klein has been selected as the September Chagrin Valley Rotary Student of the Month.
Rotary Student of the Month
Chagrin Falls High School senior Sage Klein has been selected as the September Chagrin Valley Rotary Student of the Month. Klein was chosen based on his academic excellence and leadership and service qualities he has displayed in the community.
Klein has been recognized for his academic success several times during his high school career. He received the AP Scholar with Distinction award and high honor roll. He also had 10 pieces of art selected for inclusion in the annual Chagrin Falls Schools spring art show.
Additionally, Klein remains active in the school community as a member of the Speech and Debate team, International Club, Cha-Green Environmental Club and Philosophy Club. He serves as co-founder and co-director of the Video Production Club, photography editor for the school’s yearbook and will serve as executive president of Student Council throughout his senior year. Klein also served as class president during his junior year and is on the Build Crew for the fall play.
Outside of school, Klein was a volunteer canvasser for the Hillary for America campaign during the 2016 election. He also has been a volunteer canvasser for the Ohio Democratic Party since 2017. When Klein is not volunteering for political campaigns, he works on producing films for Klein Studios, which he co-owns and co-founded in 2014. He also works with the district director of operations after he independently proposed the use of solar panels at Chagrin Falls High School.
His accelerated classes include AP United States History, AP United States Government and Politics, AP Psychology, AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Environmental Science, AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics.
After high school, Klein plans to attend college where he will double major in film and political science.
CFIS Select Choir Working Hard on Vocal Techniques
The 2018-19 Chagrin Falls Intermediate School Select Choir is an auditioned choir made up of 29 students. The choir meets after school twice a week. Performances this year include winter and spring school concerts and three community performances – Holly Hall, Meals on Wheels luncheon and Memorial Day parade and ceremony at the cemetery.
“The students are already off to a great start working hard on their vocal technique,” said music teacher and choir director Susan Smith.
The school also has a non-auditioned choir of 44 students that meets during the day as an elective for the fifth- and sixth-grade music requirement. These students will perform at the winter and spring concerts.
“I am excited to be working with both groups and can’t want to see how they grow as musicians over the course of the year,” said Smith.
Student Urges Others to Volunteer at Ronald McDonald House
Chagrin Falls High School junior Ben Kniskern is starting off the school year by organizing an opportunity for the community to volunteer for those less fortunate.
Kniskern introduced the “Breakfast Club” volunteer opportunity at Ronald McDonald House (RMH) to the district in 2015. It is a way for local teens and families to offer their time by cooking and serving brunch to the 55 families staying in the Ronald McDonald house.
Kniskern began volunteering when he and his family were living in New York and looking for ways to give back to the community other than food or gift drives. They decided to donate their time to the Albany Ronald McDonald House and recruited other kids and families to join them.
When they moved to Chagrin Falls, they began volunteering for the “Breakfast Club” program at the Cleveland RMH and encouraged friends, families and the Chagrin Falls Middle School lacrosse team to join them.
They have been volunteering at Cleveland’s RMH since 2015 and have recently organized volunteers from several Chagrin Falls High School athletic teams, including football, women’s golf, men’s golf and men’s lacrosse, as well as a local Girl Scout troop. The Kniskerns have a Facebook page with links to a Sign-Up Genius for volunteers.
Kniskern’s goals for the new school year are to see new names on the sign-up sheet that will volunteer one date a month. He says that he only commits to days that he knows his family is available, so that even if groups don’t sign up, at least his family can get a group together to serve.
Czerr’s All You Can Read Restaurant Opens
A new restaurant has opened inside of Gurney Elementary School. It’s not really a true restaurant, but it is called “Czerr’s All You Can Read.”
Mary Jo Czerr, the media specialist at Gurney Elementary School, decided to experiment with new ways to have her students find a passion for reading. Going along with the theme of running a restaurant, when her students enter the library, they see the room divided into five areas. Czerr seats her guests at the various tables where they find dozens of books to explore. Students change tables every five minutes so by the end of the session they have been introduced to dozens of new books.
“Just like new foods, you have to try it to see if you like it,” said Czerr. “I’m excited that this experiment to introduce our young learners to the joys of reading is working.”
