Happy Memorial Day

I hope that you had a relaxing Memorial Day spending time with your family and friends. I also hope that you had the chance to pause and reflect on the meaning behind this holiday. Today I am thinking not only of those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and for the families they left behind, but also for all who have proudly served to make us the home of the brave. God Bless America and all who have made the choice to serve! See you tomorrow for a 4-day week and the last week of regular classes!

Good Luck Irish

Good Luck to the Notre Dame Men's Lacrosse team who will be competing tomorrow in the NCAA Division 1 Championship Game! Two graduates from Worthington Kilbourne High School, Nick Beattie and Colin Igoe, are members of the Notre Dame team. I think it is incredible that two former Kilbourne students will be competing for a National Championship! Good luck Irish and especially Nick! (FYI - The game is on Monday, May 31st at 3:30 on ESPN. Notre Dame will be taking on Duke for the title.)

The picture above is one that another former Kilbourne student, Andy Gottesman, took of Nick last year when Notre Dame played against Ohio State.

Scheduling Madness

This week the WKHS administration officially "locked" the master schedule into place. What this means is that they have determined where each class will be held during the school day to meet the most student requests possible. They ran through the computer all of the requests and successfully matched on over 70% of the schedules.

Unfortunately, it now becomes a nightmare for the counselors as we go through each of the schedules that didn't match and try to figure out if there is a solution and what possible options we can use to make a schedule fit together. I spent a large part of the week pouring over schedules and still have a long ways to go. Needless to say I have a lot of work to do and will likely have to continue calling down some of you to talk about back up choices based upon the conflicts in your schedule. This is never easy and I know it is disappointing when you don't get all of the classes that you wanted, so I promise that I am doing the best I can to make everything work together.

I also know that as I continue calling down students to talk about their conflicts everyone else wants to come and find out where their classes fall during the day and I am BEGGING you to wait a few more days or even until exam week before we start looking at those pieces. And to answer some of the questions that I heard last year at this time, no, I am sorry you can not have a copy of your schedule and no, it is not set in stone, so even though it might look perfect to you now, I can't guarantee that it will be the exactly the same next year when we start up again. Thanks for your patience!

Way to Go Will!

As the end of the year and spring sports season approaches, the final awards and recognitions for the year are also beginning to be announced. Will Campbell, a senior lacrosse player, has received multiple recognitions. He was selected as an All-American. He was named First Team All-OCC and First Team All-Region. Will was also selected for the prestigious Under Armour All-American team. He is the first senior Kilbourne lacrosse player ever selected for this team and will play in the nationally televised game on July 3rd. Last Saturday Will was also highlighted in the Columbus Dispatch as the top guys lacrosse athlete of the week. Congratulations Will! I'm proud of you!

The guys lacrosse team won tonight (18 - 5) and advance to the Regional Finals on Saturday which will be played in the Toledo area.

Pre-Professional Internship Program

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Delaware Area Career Center and listen to the year-end presentations from students in the Pre-Professional Internship Program. The Pre-Professional Internship (PPI) program is a unique opportunity that allows students to participate in 4 different internship placements throughout their senior year. Students select areas of interest, research organizations to work with, make contact and arrangements for the internship, and then complete their actual internship experience. There are a lot of practical life skills gained as a result of this class and the students also learn more about themselves and their future career interests. Two of my students participated in the PPI program this year – Emma Ellis (left) and Kara Barford (right). Emma presented about her internship experiences with various marketing, communications, sales, and public relations positions. In addition to sharing about her internships and what she learned about herself, she also spoke about the concept of “branding.” Kara’s internships included nursing, teaching, and working with the staff at OSU’s R-PAC. Her presentation also included a discussion about the challenges that negatively impact students and their educational successes. Congratulations Emma and Kara for a great year and your impressive portfolio’s and presentations. I am glad you invited me to be a part of your day.

Girls Lacrosse

Tonight the WKHS Girls Lacrosse team had an outstanding showing in the Regional Semi-Finals and advanced to Thursday's Regional Finals game. I have a lot of students on the girls lacrosse team so I was excited to see them have such a strong game for their final home game of the season. Congratulations and Good Luck on Thursday!

Miami University Bridges Program

Miami University hosts a program called their Bridges Program that is an all expense paid (housing and meals), selective overnight program for academically ambitious high school students. This is for the current juniors (Class of 2011).

Students that are selected and complete the Bridges program will receive a fee waiver for their application and a $2,500 renewable scholarship if accepted and enroll.

There are 3 sessions being offered:

- November 7th and 8th has transportation being provided from Akron, Cleveland and Toledo.

- November 14th and 15th has transportation provided from Chillicothe, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Hamilton and Middletown, Ohio

- November 21st and 22nd is a priority date for out-of-state students

During the Bridges program students will visit & tour campus, spend time in a residence hall, participate in an academic class, eat in the dining halls, and interact with current Miami students, faculty, and staff.

Criteria for applying for the Bridges Program:

- Graduating in 2011

- Minimum of 3.0 GPA or Top 25% of class

- College Prep Curriculum

- Demonstrated leadership/ co-curricular involvement

- Students from underrepresented populations or students who have a commitment to promoting a deeper understanding of and appreciation for cultural diversity

Application Deadline is September 10th. Additional information and application materials can be found on the Bridges website.