|
By Dolores Winkler-Wagner
Oakwood has provided an enviable crop of valedictorians and salutatorians to area schools not just at Oakwood High School but beyond Oakwood. Three girls took the top three spots at Oakwood High School. Two of the three will attend Ivy League Schools. The two Miami Valley School salutatorians are also from Oakwood, as is the co-valedictorian of Chaminade-Julienne.
Pictured, left to right, co-salutatorian Colleen Judge, valedictorian Ann Wang and co-salutatorian Jillian Ellis.
Anne Wang, this year’s OHS valedictorian, moved to Oakwood from Houston, Texas in 2005, entering OHS as a junior. It didn’t take her long to cram her remaining two high school years with an abundance of achievements - academic, athletic, musical and extra-curricular. No ordinary valedictorian, she graduated with one of the highest GPA’s for a valedictorian in Oakwood’s history, taking an amazing 11 AP classes.
Two students, Jillian Ellis and Colleen Judge, shared the OHS salutatorian spotlight this year. Interestingly enough, they have been friends and schoolmates since kindergarten days at Smith School.
All three girls, Wang, Ellis and Judge, are accomplished pianists, cellists, National Merit Scholars, varsity athletes - and friends. Wang and Judge played with the Dayton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Wang sitting as principal chair for two years. All three are members of National Honor Society.
The girls also have participated in athletics as varsity athletes; Wang as a swimmer, Judge on varsity field hockey team, and Ellis kicking her way to varsity soccer.
In other activities, Wang and Judge have served on Oakwood’s Academic Decathlon Team, Wang in 2006-2007 and Judge in 2005’ Ellis was a member of Speech and
Debate in the Prose/Poetry category, a co-president of the Ecology Club and a member of the National Spanish Society.
Wang will attend Harvard in the fall, selected from acceptances at MIT, Yale and Princeton among others. She is also preparing for a cello audition for Harvard’s orchestra, a difficult challenge because of the caliber of applicants. She also would like to join a small chamber ensemble. She plans to major in either biology or visual arts, with a minor in music and music theory. Wang is the daughter of Dr. Albert Wang and Joyce Kang.
Class President Colleen Judge will attend Princeton University as an engineering major. One of 100 Toyota Scholars in the nation, she also garnered scholarships from National Merit Corporation, Coca-Cola, WalMart, Kohl’s Dept. Stores, and the Society of American Military Engineers. She is the daughter of Tim and Carole Judge of Lonsdale Avenue.
Syracuse University is college selected by Jillian Ellis,where she plans to major in art photography. The daughter of Nancy Jones of Oakwood and Bob Ellis of Washington Township, Ellis is a National Merit Finalist and has also received a merit scholarship from Syracuse.
Three high school graduates who live in Oakwood but who attended schools other than Oakwood High School also have graduated at the top of their classes.
Aaron Scheid was one of the two valedictorians in this year’s Chaminade-Julienne graduating class. He attended Holy Angels Elementary School, entering Chaminade for his high school education. He lives on Spirea Drive and is the son of Steve and Jan Scheid. He has won many science awards, and will be headed to Notre Dame this fall.
Miami Valley School’s two co-salutatorians were both Oakwood residents. Rachel Atkins of Telford Avenue and Eric Reed of Ridgewood Avenue shared the second-place academic spotlight. Rachel is the daughter of Dan and Karen Atkins. She has been awarded a four-year ROTC Scholarship and will attend Washington University in St. Louis.
Sharing the salutatorian spotlight with Atkins is Eric Reed, son of John and Marylyn Reed. He will enter Georgetown University in the fall. In addition to his rank as salutatorian, he was named this year’s David Saidel Scholar.
By Jim Uphoff, Ed. D.
Five years ago Congress passed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. It is being considered for renewal right now but if it is to be renewed there must, in my personal opinion, be some major changes/improvements made in the law.
The huge emphasis on paper-pencil, mostly very short answer testing is as a “one-size-fits-all” single method of assessment has proven to be a major flaw. Human beings are NOT widgets produced best on an assembly line process with much of the work done by robots. We are diverse, complicated, and resist being told that we must all fit into the same container, be the same size, and act the same way as the current NCLB seems to seek.
Suppose the federal government decided to “improve” our nation’s health care system and demanded that our doctors run test after test after test after test on EACH patient. Think of the time of these professionals being consumed by all of the testing and how much less time would then be available to actually treat each patient. Yet this is close to exactly what now is happening in our schools as we have taken weeks of teaching/learning time away from our children in favor of practice testing time!
Now add to this very real problem of reduced instruction another major “flaw in the law” (I like this phrase-has a bit of a ring to it!) which is the failure of the national government to pay even a reasonable fraction of the costs of the testing, the tutoring, the record keeping, the in-service for faculty, etc. Over the five years of the law these mega costs have, instead of being paid by the federal government, have been forced onto the local taxpayers. The law has been under-funded by billions of dollars from what Congress itself said would be the costs when the act was passed in 2002.
The goal of addressing and meeting the needs of ALL of our children is a solid one and needs to be kept. But the administrative regulations and the problems cited above MUST be changed. Accountability is a two-way street and the feds must meet their responsibilities just as must the local schools. I am a strong believer in accountability, but if it is not fair, it will not be supported by the public, and the result will be a loss of faith in the government itself.
The new student registration day for Oakwood Junior High School is Wednesday, July 25 from 9 -11:30 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Please bring a copy of your child’s birth certificate, immunization record, and a copy of your purchase or rental contract to the Oakwood Junior High Office at 1200 Far Hills Ave.
If you would like a registration packet mailed to you or if you have any questions, please call Dawne Roeckner at (937) 297-5328. Please visit the website for additional information about Oakwood Schools at www.oakwoodschools.org.
Local McDonald’s restaurants are once again offering MAC Grants to help teachers Make Activities Count for their students. McDonald’s recognizes that lessons often become more meaningful when demonstrated with hands-on experiences. The MAC Grants program provides financial support so teachers can supplement regular classroom curriculum with activities that the school’s budget may not allow.
The MAC Grants program has awarded more than $115,000 to area teachers over the past 4 years, and is available to teachers in the Miami Valley, Richmond, IN and the Greater Lima area.
Kindergarten thru eighth grade teachers may apply for up to $500 for interesting and educational projects in their classrooms. Teachers can use grant money to energize a science lesson by building a weather station or make history come alive by
recreating pioneer life with butter churning and candle dipping. Because McDonald’s is soliciting ideas from teachers, project ideas are limitless.
Teachers can find out more information and submit an application online at www.mcohio.com/macgrants. Completed applications must be postmarked by October 1, 2007. A limited number of grant recipients will be chosen on or before November 1, 2007.
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian) today announced the winners of its 2007 Girls Going Places® Entrepreneurship Award Program, a national competition that recognizes and rewards teenaged girls who demonstrate exceptional entrepreneurship and community service. Fifteen winners were selected from more than 4000 nominations across the nation.
The national first place winner in the 2007 competition is Stephanie Brown, 18, from Centerport, N.Y., who founded Oakwood Universal 1, Ohio’s first student-run high school credit union.
Guardian will award the fifteen girls a total of $30,000 to be used toward their college education or their businesses. The first, second and third place winners will receive prizes of $10,000, $5,000 and $3,000, respectively, and the 12 finalists are granted prizes of $1,000 each.
“Now in our seventh year of the Girls Going Places program, we have seen thousands of nominations for extraordinary young entrepreneurs across the country,” said Emily Viner, Field Vice President, Guardian, New York. “These nominees are an inspiration to all women and young business owners.”
Rachel Bissett, 2003 graduate of Oakwood High School, graduated from Ohio University on June 6, Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Restaurant, Hotel and Tourism.
Bissett will return to Ohio University this fall to attend graduate school in the Food and Nutrition program. She has been awarded a Graduate Associate scholarship which includes full tuition and a Graduate Assistant position in the College of Health and Human Services.
She is the daughter of Linda Bissett of Germantown, Ohio and Steve Bissett of Dallas, Texas.
David Curry of Oakwood, a graduating senior at Miami University, has been named as a recipient of university awards in both athletics and academics. For the past two years, Curry has served as coach of the Miami Wrestling Club, which competes with more than 130 schools in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association. His 2006 team finished seventh in the NCWA National Championships, and his 2007 squad followed up with a 14th place finish. Two of Curry’s wrestlers won national championships in their weight classes, and 4 were named All-Americans.
Miami recently honored Curry’s efforts by naming him as “Miami Club Coach of the Year” for 2007. Curry also participated as a wrestler on the Club team, and was a 3-time qualifier for the national tournament. Curry also earned University Honors with Distinction, graduating cum laude with a dual major in Financing and Accounting. He was elected to National Honorary Societies for both Business and Spanish. David also served as an officer in his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Order, and was a 4-year member of the Miami Men’s Glee Club.
He has accepted a position in the accounting department of Parker Hannifin Corp. beginning in July.
David is the son of Bob and Donna Curry of Oakwood.
 The United States Naval Academy has named Midshipman Josh Elliott, class of 2010, to the Superintendent’s List, the Academy’s highest honor roll, for both semesters of the 2006-2007 school year.
Midshipman Elliott is a Systems Engineering major and a 2006 graduate of Oakwood High School. In March, he was selected to participate in a one-week exchange program with the British Royal Naval Academy in Dartmouth, England. Midshipman Elliott qualified for the USNA Infantry Skills Team and was selected to represent the Academy in the Sandhurst Trials at West Point, a competition involving military academic teams from the United States and other NATO countries.
He will be serving a summer tour aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk between Brisbane and Sidney, Australia.
He is the son of Mrs. Susie Elliott of Oakwood and Mr. David Elliott of Beavercreek.
top of page
|
Chaminade-Julienne 
