Chagrin Falls High School (CFHS) senior Kelly Wynveen has been selected as the April Chagrin Valley Rotary Student of the Month.
Rotary Student of the Month
Chagrin Falls High School (CFHS) senior Kelly Wynveen has been selected as the April Chagrin Valley Rotary Student of the Month. Wynveen was chosen based on her leadership and service qualities she has displayed in the community.
Wynveen has been recognized for her academic success several times during her high school career. She received the AP Scholar Award, Tiger of the Semester, Chagrin Falls High School Honor Roll, and Biliterate Certification provided by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Assessment of Performance Towards Proficiency in Spanish Language. She also was a We Solve Problems Essay Contest finalist, First Team All Ohio and First Team All Region for lacrosse, and top 25 of 11,000 entries for Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition. Further, Wynveen received two Gold Keys, four Silver Keys, and one honorable mention from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
In her time at CFHS, Wynveen has been involved with several clubs and sports. She is a Link Leader, a Positive Coaching Alliance participant, on the Student Athletic Advisory Board, a member of the Cross Country Team and a member of the Art Club, which she was the vice president her junior year and currently services as president during her senior year. She also is a member of the girls varsity lacrosse team, which she is a three year letterman, three time state runner up, and has served as captain both her junior and senior year. Additionally, Wynveen has been a Student Council representative both her junior and senior year, a Zookeeper spirit leader, and participates in Foreign Exchange and Service Programs including Centro Mundolengua, Rustic Pathways, and Up with People.
Outside of school, Wynveen is a Sunday school shepherd at Federated Church, retail clerk at Knuth’s Boutique, lacrosse coach at Xcelerate Lacrosse, volunteer at Safety Town and participates in club lacrosse at Ohio Premier and Midwestern Force.
Her accelerated classes include AP Environmental Science, AP English Literature, AP English Language, AP Probability and Statistics, AP Spanish Language, AP Three Dimensional Portfolio Art, AP United States Government and Politics and AP United States History.
After high school, Wynveen plans to attend Tulane University as a Distinguished Scholar and a member of the Honors Program. She plans to major in business and minor in Spanish.
Tiger Shuffle
Students at Gurney Elementary School who need a quick “get up and go” break can now engage with an indoor movement course. First-grade intervention specialist Dayna Vilk with consultation from occupational therapist Stephanie Cohen created a movement course in the hallway of the school.
Vilk received a PTO grant and the money was used to purchase a machine to cut vinyl pieces to be added to the floor for the course. After the school custodian sanded the floor, the vinyl sticker pieces were arranged in the proper order and the custodian sealed the floor with several coats of wax.
The course starts with pieces that are tiger paws and the directions to jump from one to the other. That is followed by a series of smaller stone-like pieces and the directions to step quickly – on tiptoes. After that are wall push-ups, placing your hands on the paws that are on the wall. Next is hopscotch, walking on a line similar to a balance beam and then a jumping sequence that has students turning 360 degrees by the time it ends. The next activity moves students along as they jump inside and outside of the boxes followed by a modified bear crawl of moving sideways and crossing the left hand over the right all the way. Next, students step in between “waves” alternating their right foot over their left all the way. Finally, the course ends with students doing the crab walk by placing their hands and feet on the crab shapes and moving to the finish line. The course engages a student’s whole body, crossing midline often, working on balance and building strength in a fun way.
Creating a purposeful movement course that was visually stimulating and fun for elementary students was the goal. The sensory path created allows children to activate their senses, develop motor skills, and take a much needed brain break.
“When trying to determine how it would work we realized that we had to refer to it as something and that’s how the name The Tiger Shuffle came to be,” said Vilk. “Starting it off with paw prints was fitting and incorporating nature/jungle-related concepts at various points to connect it seemed to work well with the title.”
Other obstacles have standard shapes and include foot/handprints to help guide the students in their movement.
The activities focus on the student’s proprioceptive and vestibular systems, allowing them to improve their balance, spatial awareness, hand eye coordination, organization and focus. For example, their proprioceptive system is being engaged/stimulated through weight bearing activities such as the wall push-ups, crab walks, hopping and sideways bear crawls. The vestibular system is being inhibited when walking in a straight line (linear movement), inverting their head upside down and jumping. We also focused on building activities that connect the right and left hemispheres of the brain. These are seen when students cross the midline of their bodies, for example during the cross crawl walk or feet cross over walk.
