By Denny Morrison
Just a reminder that nominations for the Hall of Honor for the Xenia Community Schools Foundation 2017 Class are being accepted until Friday, Feb. 3.
Nominees should be graduates of XHS who have achieved remarkable success in their career or anyone who has made a significant contribution to education in Xenia. The Hall of Honor Banquet will be held Saturday, April 22 at Tecumseh Elementary School.
Student aviation art competition: The National Museum of the United States Air Force is having its 34th Annual Student Aviation Art Competition. The theme is “The United States Air Force — 70 Years of Service.” Students should research any of the Air Force aircraft or Air Force missions including flying the President of the United States, then use their imaginations as they explore and create their own artistic interpretations. Entries will be judged in seven categories: Grades K-1, 2-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, and special education grades K-6 and 7-12. The deadline to submit entries is Friday, March 10.
Kudos Paola: Former XHS English language learner, Angie “Paola” Prieto Ariza, is from Colombia and moved to Xenia with her mother in 2009. Paola knew no English when she arrived. Because she is strong willed, determined, independent, and refuses to give up on anything, she has learned English, graduated from XHS in 2012 with a 3.8 GPA; graduated from Wright State University in December 2016 in the nursing program and is currently working in the trauma unit at Miami Valley Hospital. Great job Paola.
Xenia Preschool: Exciting things are always happening at the preschool and this past week was no different. The children enjoyed the SNAP-Ed lessons provided by the Greene County Extension Office. These nutrition classes introduced the students to healthy eating habits and provided snacks as well. It is so exciting to see the beautiful painting of the hallways to brighten up the building. Thank you maintenance team. The preschool numbers continue to grow and we will be opening up another morning classroom. Alicia Ehrhart will be the classroom teacher for that class.
Arrowood: Every month the River Valley Credit Union selects one teacher in the Miami Valley to receive their “Teacher of the Month” Award. For January, it has selected Arrowood first grade teacher AnnMarie Evans. She received a check for $500 — half of which goes to her personally with the other half to be used to purchase classroom supplies. Evans is just one example of the hundreds of fantastic staff members we are fortunate to have in Xenia. Students were recognized last week for having good grades on their report card for the first semester. Congratulations to all of the students. Keep up the great work.
Cox: Nikki Hurley’s fourth grade social studies classes learned about the United States government in preparation for the inauguration. Students researched and wrote about past presidents. Keith McKinley’s third grade students and Carla Skaggs’ kindergarten students are working collaboratively to do a penguin research project. They are researching 10 kinds of penguins using books and the internet, creating scale model drawings, and writing about their findings. Both classes are enjoying working as a team.
McKinley: Landon Willis, a third grade student, was selected as the winner in an essay contest sponsored by Wilberforce University Athletics. Willis was called to center court during halftime of a recent Wilberforce basketball game and presented an Outstanding Student Service Award plaque. The McKinley Super Saturday science and STEM enrichment program has begun for 2017. Students will be learning computer coding, as well as basic physics, chemistry and materials engineering. McKinley’s Lego robotics computer coding classes are also underway meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. McKinley’s service club members are collecting items to donate to the Living Stone Church to help homeless people have food, clothing, and shelter on cold nights.
Tecumseh: Thanks to Bill Ryan for engaging the students with the robots during Digital Literacy. The students are not only having fun but also learning programming skills. Tecumseh staff members are also preparing for the February themes- Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Heart Healthy Month. These are all timely ideas and Tecumseh teachers will be integrating them into their classroom instruction.
Warner: Congratulations to Dezarae Webster, a seventh grade student, for completing her college credit plus math class through Sinclair Community College. Webster is the first middle school student to take an online college level class and she did extremely well. Warner capped off spirit week with a pep rally last Friday. The rally was attended by 900 students and the XHS Pep Band. It was a successful event planned by the leadership team. Congratulations to Tina O’ Neill who won the trophy. Great spirit, great pride and great students capped off a great week.
XHS: Congratulations to Lauren Nipper, who has been nominated to be recognized this summer in Boston by the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists. She received the Award of Excellence for her outstanding academic achievement, her leadership potential, and her determination to serve humanity in the field of medicine. Great job Lauren. The pep band did a fantastic job while visiting Warner Middle School last Friday afternoon. Thanks to Zavaan Johnson for his work on this.
XTAR: Donna Shaw’s and Leah Pham’s classes worked together for the lesson on area and perimeter which was followed by eight stations that had students practicing what they had learned. Students even calculated the area and perimeter of their own bodies. Students then solved the problem of the day which asked them to divide a square into four rectangles with each rectangle having a perimeter of 20 units.
Letter to legislators: At our Greene County Superintendent’s Meeting last Friday we drafted a letter which each of the superintendent’s signed. This letter called for limited state testing, the new graduation requirements to change, an elimination of the College Credit Plus Program, a requiring of the same level of accountability for charter schools as public schools, appropriate funding for school buses, keeping the teacher performance rubric side of OTES as it is, and for adequate funding for all day preschool. This letter is being sent to our legislators.
