The Clubhouse: Winter 2017 Edition

CLUBHOUSE THE

WINTER 2017

Mark Your Calendar MARCH 11 7th Annual FAB Affair Great American Ballpark MARCH 17–19 MHS Spring Musical “Brigadoon” MHS Auditorium

Note from the

Superintendent We’re having another great school year at Mariemont Cit y Schools and I’m grateful for the support we receive from all of our friends of the district, especially as we look to what the future will hold for our high school facilit y. In 2009, the communit y participated in the development of a comprehensive Master Facilities Plan and that plan resulted in the construction of nearly all new—and much needed—schools for our district.

Lef t unaddressed in the 2009 plan was what to do about the high school building. Now, with the high school that much older than it was then, it is time to begin looking at the need and options.

Communit y input is invaluable to the success of this process. If you would like to get involved—and I encourage you to do so—please at tend one (or all) of the Design Workshops. The dates are in the calendar to the right.

I hope you can join me on Wednesday, March 22 for our 3rd Annual Warrior Club Breakfast in the Mariemont High School library. This will be a casual get together, so stop in any time between

8:00am and 9:30am for a cup of coffee, a bite to eat and a glimpse of some district highlight s and student performances while mingling with district staff and fellow Warrior Club members.

My goal is to create a great experience for every student, staff, parent and communit y member who walks through our doors. Our school district has never been bet ter positioned for today and for tomorrow, and I am excited to share some of our success stories with you in this edition of The Clubhouse.

It is because of our supportive communit y that we are able to accomplish so much for our scholars of today and leaders of tomorrow. Thank you for everything you do for our Mariemont Cit y Schools, and please enjoy this edition of The Clubhouse!

Respect fully,

MARCH 20, APRIL 12, APRIL 24 Design Workshops 7pm | Mariemont High School | Please join us!

MAY 5–6 MJHS Play MHS Auditorium MAY 13 17th Annual Kiwanis Golf Scramble 11am | Reeves Golf Course MAY 15 MHS Night of the Arts 7pm | MHS Auditorium MAY 17 MJHS Night of the Arts 7pm | MJHS MAY 22 ME/TPE Strings & Band Concert 7pm | Mariemont Elementary MAY 24 ME/TPE Choir Concert 7pm | Mariemont Elementary MAY 28 MHS Baccalaureate 2pm | Mariemont Bell Tower

Steven Estepp, Superintendent

Save the Date for the 3rd Annual Warrior Club Breakfast!

Wednesday, March 22 | 8am | Mariemont High School Library

Community. Tradition. Innovation.

MAY 31 Last Day of School!

For more school events, please visit the calendar on the district website.

Student Spotlight Anh Le Anh Le is always learning and adapting.

He moved to America from Vietnam in 3rd grade and then he moved to Oklahoma and New York before joining us last year as a high school junior.

“Moving here was a complete change for me, a life-changing experience,” said Anh. “I learned to adapt to different people and a different school. This school is smaller than my last high school, but it’s more interactive and there are more opportunities.”

One of those opportunities is the Master Class series.

From Learning Lab and after-school enrichment at the elementary level to Expeditions at the junior high to the Master Class series at the high school, the district is focusing on helping students turn interest into passion through Warriors BEyond. The Master Class series is student-created curriculum, which is directed by student enthusiasm and interests.

Anh is participating in the Shark Tank master class, which is kind of an idea percolator—the students work with the Warriors BEyond coordinator to turn business ideas into reality.

His business idea? To market and sell leather cell phone cases. “I noticed that a lot of people have cell phone cases, but for those who don’t, they say they don’t like what’s out there or they’re too expensive.” Anh plans to provide consumers with something they want—branded, leather cases at an affordable price.

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“It all boils down to the money-making process of business. In order to succeed you must provide something to the consumer that they want and you have to value your customer.”

This isn’t his first business venture. A couple of years ago, he and some friends had an idea to sell luxury watches. Anh said it failed because “we didn’t plan or know enough, although we learned a lot about the process.”

“I don’t think about failure as an end point. You should learn from your failures; we don’t live long enough so we need to learn from others’ failures as well. People should just execute their idea and if it fails, move on and learn something from the whole process.”

And, through the Shark Tank master class, Anh keeps learning and adapting. His goal by the end of the year is to start selling the product. “The master class makes me stay more focused on my business—it basically forces me to think about it.

I’ve also become a better problem solver. You don’t need a genius idea to do Shark Tank. We can help each other come up with ideas. I didn’t have a great idea, I was just hoping to come up with an idea and be inspired.”

Member Spotlight Barb Anderson Kiwanis lieutenant governor and director of the MariElders (for 32 years!).

Barb attended school in the Mariemont City School District from kindergarten through her senior year, graduating in the class of 1957. Her three kids also attended school in the district for grades K–12, but when Barb attended school in the district, the elementary school was the old Dale Park building and grades 7–12 attended school in what is now Mariemont Elementary.

Barb Anderson has lived in Mariemont since she was two years old. The year was 1941—the same year the village was incorporated. “My mother wanted to live out here and they bought a house on Petoskey, which wasn’t in the original Mariemont but she was happy. Many years later, my husband and I bought the property from my mother for a very reasonable price, which doesn’t happen around here anymore.”

Many things have changes between 1941 and now, but some things stay the same. Barb is just as involved in the community as she’s ever been. She is on the leadership board for the Village Church of Mariemont; she volunteers with the MariElders as well as with Deupree House; and she is actively involved in Kiwanis. In the past, Barb has served as president of the preschool mother’s club, PTA board member, Girl Scout leader, Cub Scout den mother,

“I have memories in this building that hit me every time I’m in here,” said Barb, referring to the current Mariemont Elementary building. “We never had snow days when I was here. Most of us walked to school. We didn’t have buses until 1958 when Terrace Park became part of the school district.”

Barb’s oldest grandson is a graduate of Mariemont High School, and Barb’s daughter Becky lives in the school district community now and her grandson attends Mariemont High School. The tradition continues.

Barb met her husband, Bob, working at a summer camp. She was a camp counselor and he was the program director. She attended Hanover College and double majored in biological science and physical education. She and Bob married in a chapel in Hanover in 1961 before graduation and her sorority sisters hosted the reception. “I received my teaching degree and taught at Princeton High School for a year and then I got pregnant. I stayed at home after that because I wanted to raise my children.”

And Mariemont is a great place to raise children, she said. “You can walk wherever you want to go, whenever you want to. There is a lot to do but it’s up to you to seek out what you’d like to do. It’s such a pleasant community, even though so much has changed and it’s been developed so much. I remember being able to stand at the movie theatre and look out toward the bluff and see all the way to the concourse.”

Barb joined the Warrior Club because “I thought it was a good thing. We used to go to the games and now I can support the schools and the community.”

Program Spotlight Elementary Career Day This year, all Mariemont City School District 5th and 6th grade students participated in the 2nd annual Career Day. Thirty-one volunteers attended the event at both elementary schools to speak to the children about their careers in eight fields: Arts/Design/ Communication, Business, Education, Government/ Legal, Manufacturing/Engineering/Construction, Natural Science/Resource Management, Social/Heath, and Technology.

“The elementary school years are not too early to begin to achieve a vision of what one desires to do in life,” said Suzie Lehman, district elementary school counselor. “Exposure to a variety of jobs and careers is an important part of self-discovery and goal setting and an eye-opening experience to see how education is connected to a successful future.”

The students had the option to visit different career stations, which were hosted by at least two professionals, who spoke about their careers and demonstrated their craft with props, anecdotes and insight. The volunteers hailed from professions such as illustrator, business executive, lawyer, retired police chief, pharmacist, web developer, business owner, school principal, internist, marketing scientist, inventor and engineer.

Mrs. Lehman said she overheard one student saying, “I learned that I am unique and that there is a job out there for everyone, we just need to follow our passions and interests.” And another student saying, “I didn’t know there were so many different fields you can go in to! I found another option of what I want to be when I grow up!”

Staff Spotlight Nicole Parr Mariemont Junior High School 7th grade social studies and world history teacher Nicole Parr recently had a unique experience as both a teacher and a learner. Selected as one of 40 of nearly 200 applicants, she embarked on a training opportunity at Yellowstone National Park through a weeklong teacher fellowship.

EPI’s Teacher Fellowships provide unique professional development opportunities for educators to collaborate with one another on realworld conservation projects and learn in the field.

“I’m looking at experiential learning more and more, and to be on the student end, but see both sides as a student and a teacher, was an incredible experience,” said Nicole. “I think the reason they accepted me to this program is because what we do here in Mariemont makes us unique, especially to this part of the country—experiential learning is so much of who we are and what we do.”

Mrs. Parr is a huge advocate of experiential, project-based learning, in which she gives students a real-life scenario or problem to map out and solve. The students work with local architects, designers and historians, and then present their end products to an authentic audience. She said she wants

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students “to ask questions rather than just be receivers of facts.” She is also an advocate of crosscurricular teaching and is always thinking of ways to improve teaching methods by incorporating elements from other disciplines into her class.

“My biggest takeaway was how I can have students investigate and collect data and try to experience history rather than just be receivers of facts and information. Rather than me just doing direct instruction, I want them to experience history as much as possible.”

She plans on taking what she learned during the fellowship and applying it to her classroom experience as much as possible, as well as sharing insight from the experience with her peers and tying it into service learning and Builder’s Club.

Mrs. Parr said the experience made her “consider how I teach and it put everything in perspective. It was such a privilege and a blessing. And it was good for the kids to see me take a risk. It was a selective process and I was out of my comfort zone. My students got the chance to see me as a learner taking risks and doing the same things they do every day.”

WARRIOR CLUB 2 Warrior Way | Cincinnati, Ohio 45227

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www.mariemontschools.org