UNION
RECORDER
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Union, Richwood and Walton
THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012
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BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS
Ryle reunions celebrate 20 years
Community, teacher events are May 11-12 By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
UNION — As the 20th school year winds down at Ryle High School, the community is ready to celebrate. Two reunion events are coming up for Ryle.
reservations can email teacher Robyn Bain at robyn.bain@boone. kyschools.us. The main event of the reunion weekend will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 12, at Ryle’s football stadium. The ceremony is open to everyone from the Ryle community including former students, parents, relatives and neighbors. “We’re trying to include everything that makes Ryle such a
The faculty reunion, open to anyone who ever taught at Ryle, will be Friday, May 11, at Receptions in Erlanger. Ryle teachers have worked hard to make Ryle a nationally recognized school, and this will be an opportunity for everyone to celebrate together, said Sarah Meece, a former Ryle teacher who’s been helping plan the reunion. Any teacher who hasn’t made
special place,” Meece said. The event will have multiple presentations and guest speakers. “We have a really nice program scheduled with both the Ryle family and the Cooper family. The school was named after Larry Ryle, former Boone County Schools superintendent. Randy Cooper was the school’s founding principal and held the job un-
til he died in 2006. Along with honoring the families, the ceremony will recognize some of Ryle’s highlights over the last 20 years. After the ceremony, current Ryle students will give tours of the building. “Many people haven’t seen the addition,” Meece said. For more about your community, visit www.NKY.com/union
Gaines House opening May 6 Historic site will be open in summer By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
“Kids are brilliant. They’re very creative,” she said. “My favorite saying in the whole world is ‘a child never dreams of being insignificant.’ When you’re working with a group of children who have no limits on their cre-
WALTON — A Walton landmark has a new milestone. The Abner Gaines House will open for summer hours starting Sunday, May 6. The house will be open from 1-5 p.m. on the first and third Sundays of the month through the summer. Tours will cost $3 for adults and $1 for students. On May 6, vendors will be on the property for a special event with demonstrations from a blacksmith, soap maker and other trades from the era the house was built. The city of Walton purchased the house, built in 1814, for more than $300,000 in 2006 with the goal of making it a history museum, and this will be the first time the Gaines House will have regular visitor hours. “I think it’s a great accomplishment,” said Mayor Paula Jolley. Jolley served on the city’s Gaines House committee before becoming mayor and the house holds a special place in her heart, she said. “I’m glad to see it’s come this far,” Jolley said. A large reason the house will be able to welcome visitors over the summer is because of the Friends of the Gaines House group. A group of close to a dozen volunteers, the Friends of the Gaines House do everything from cleaning up the house to
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Area children perform “Out of Character,” one of the latest performances of the Union-based Kids on Stage. THANKS TO JENNIFER PETERSON
Kids on Stage taps creativity Drama classes keep kids busy and challenged
By Stephanie Salmons ssalmons@nky.com
UNION — There weren’t drama classes when Jennifer Peterson, of Villa Hills, was growing up. Instead, she would “drag every kid in the neighborhood” together to perform plays that she directed and would create the costumes for. Now she’s able to offer that opportunity for local children with her children’s theater company, the Union-based Kids on Stage. Kids on Stage is “just getting kids together that think very creatively and are not afraid to express themselves,” she said. Peterson has been involved with musical theater for more than 25 years, even incorporating drama into a youth ministry
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she and her husband were a part of. “I always found it was better to bring a child in and involve them in a Bible story, rather than just sit there and teach them,” she said. About four years ago, the owner of Union’s The Learning Curve had asked Peterson to do a drama summer camp. “We’ve been doing it summer, winter and fall ever since,” she said. In addition to drama classes, Peterson also has two two-week drama camp sessions and Saturday morning Story Book Theater during the summer, an American Girl series, private lessons and vocal lessons. She works with her students for a week or two before she decides on the play, “which is why I tend to write them, so I can cus-
Kids on Stage will offer classes and drama camps this summer. Storybook Theater will be 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays, May 26-July 14, with a performance on July 14 at the Learning Curve across from Ryle High School in Union. Cost is $120 and the program is for kindergarten through third grades. Drama camp will be 2-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, June 11-22, at the Learning Curve. Cost is $150 and the camp is for grades 4-7. The performance will be June 22. An additional drama camp will be 2-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, May 28-June 9, at The Pointe, 622 B, Buttermilk Pike, Crescent Springs. Sibling discount and payment plans are available for all classes. For more information, call 859-512-7812 or visit www.kidsonstage.biz.
tomize them to our group,” Peterson said. From what parents have told her, there’s little in the way of the arts for children to do in this area without having to travel to Covington or Cincinnati, said Peterson, which isn’t a problem for some people, “but for some it is.”
SPARKLE AND SHINE It’s prom season for Boone County high school students. B1
IF YOU’RE NOT AT YOUR LAST JOB, YOUR 401(k) SHOULDN’T BE EITHER. CE-0000496908
KIDS ON STAGE OFFERS CLASSES
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