Anyone who attended or taught at Chester, Russell or West Geauga schools is invited to attend the 136th annual alumni reunion on…
136th Annual Alumni Reunion
Anyone who attended or taught at Chester, Russell or West Geauga schools is invited to attend the 136th annual alumni reunion on June 24 at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 11900 Chillicothe Road, Chester Township.
Social time will start at 5 p.m. with a family-style dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 a person, with a cash bar and split-the-pot raffle.
The West Geauga class of 1966 will be honored for its 50th anniversary. Classmates celebrating 55, 60 and 70 years will be honored as well. Entertainment by Glimmer Quartet is scheduled after dinner.
Lindsey Sailboat Regatta
The fourth-grade classes at Lindsey Elementary participated in the 18th annual Sailboat Regatta. The races took place in sealed rain gutters that are 10 feet long. A large box fan set on the lowest setting at the end of the gutters powered the boats through course.
The fastest eight boats entered into a final round. Cheered by their classmates, finalists Sam Paros, Sofia Romano, Max Ritt, Landen Phillips, Savannah Swaye, Aiste Berzinskas, Julia Arnaut and Ian Verma raced their boats. The coveted Lindsey Cup went to Ian Verma, who placed first. John Julian won Best of Show for the coolest looking boat.
Pen Pals
The first-grade students at Lindsey and Westwood elementary schools have been writing letters back and forth throughout the year. They finally had the opportunity to meet with their pen pals. The Westwood students came to Lindsey and shared in a friendship activity, getting to know more about their pen pals.
Lindsey first-grade teacher Patti Trentanelli commented, “My students loved the idea of having a pen pal, especially someone their own age and in the same school district. It was a great way to bring the entire first grade of West Geauga together. There are so many things they learned from this experience such as letter writing, communicating and social skills. It was a very successful and enjoyable activity for everyone involved, even the teachers.”
“The students in my class really enjoyed learning about their pen pals. The students looked forward to this activity for weeks. We were also able to incorporate many academic standards into the letter-writing piece, and the writing activity the students completed that day. It was a great learning experience for all the students involved,” said Tara Mulica, Lindsey first-grade teacher.
Senior Internships
Approximately 120 West Geauga High School seniors participated in the senior internship program. The participants went through a detailed interview process with the senior internship committee, which determined their eligibility. The senior internship took place the last two weeks of school. All students were required to keep a journal, work a minimum of 50 hours during the 10 days of work and give a final visual presentation of their senior internship during their government or English class.
The program is designed to provide interested and eligible seniors with the opportunity to participate in meaningful independent projects of their own selection and design. People and ideas that are not part of the classroom expose the seniors to develop further skills in problem solving, determining possible solutions, reaching and evaluating conclusions and the opportunity to engage in educational pursuit, community service and career exploration.
WGHS senior Rasheed Oladeji chose the West Geauga Board of Education’s finance department for his senior internship. Rasheed spent the last two weeks learning all aspects of finance under the direction of Treasurer Karen Penler.
“I was originally thinking of interning with a bank until English teacher Mr. Connell suggested the BOE,” said Rasheed.
Rasheed plans to major in accounting at Northern Kentucky University where he received the multi-culture diversity scholarship for full tuition.
Rasheed started out as a sophomore at West Geauga High School and is appreciative of all the opportunities at West G. He challenged himself with AP calculus his senior year.
“Math is my favorite subject, I love numbers,” commented Rasheed.
Other school activities Rasheed participates in are throwing the discus for the track and field team. He is also a member of the Gaming Club and the recipient of the Merit Role Award. Outside of school, he enjoys reading, bowling, playing basketball and spending time with his family and friends.
Rasheed said he learned a lot in the two weeks at the BOE and it was a positive experience, although, according to Rasheed, “inventory was a bit tedious.”
Book Breakfast
Students in Patty Trentanelli’s first-grade class at Lindsey Elementary School performed Reader’s Theater Scripts “Who Pushed Humpty, Purple, Green and Yellow,” “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,” “The Story of the Three Little Pigs (From the Wolf’s Point of View)” and “The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Pig” and read poems to their family and friends.
Continuing with their lesson, the students did shared research and writing projects. They chose nonfiction books from the library and researched information about a specific animal. Some of the topics researched were habitats, predators and diet. The students used iPads and the computer to further their research. Once all their information was gathered, Mrs. Trentanelli met with the students to review and edit each individual’s work. After editing, the students wrote their final copies and illustrated their work.
“They all did such an amazing job said Trentanelli.”
