The Clubhouse: Fall 2017

CLUBHOUSE THE

FALL 2017

Mark Your Calendar OCTOBER 31 Elementary School Halloween Parades 1pm | TPE, 2pm | ME NOVEMBER 1 MHS Facility Community Forum 7pm | MHS Auditorium

Note from the

Superintendent It is hard to believe, but we are already two months into the 2017-18 school year. Our student s and staff have been hard at work in the classrooms so I know that we are in for a great year ahead.

Hopefully you have had a chance to look at our annual Qualit y Profile and join us in celebrating our many successes from the 2016-17 school year.

This more comprehensive look at your school district ’s performance is designed to complement other metrics like the state report card, which was also just released. Once again, Mariemont Cit y Schools is one of the top performers in the state.

More information on these scores along with our Qualit y Profile can be found on our website www. mariemont schools.org.

The district is also making progress on the High School Master Facilit y Plan, which is on track to be finalized in the spring. Currently, over 100 communit y members are serving on six different facilit y teams to research all facet s of the high school facilit y. These teams are diving into the topics of finance, learning spaces, technology, design, art s and athletics and will present their findings to the Steering Commit tee at the end of the month.

These facilit y teams have been great opportunities for communit y members to have their voices heard in this process. I am very thankful to those who have volunteered their time to help guide the future of Mariemont High School.

A big thank you goes out to each and every member of the Warrior Club for supporting our school district and continuing to show a vested interest in our scholars of today and leaders of tomorrow.

It is because of your support that we are able to accomplish all that we do.

Please enjoy this edition of The Clubhouse and I look forward to seeing you at Mariemont event s throughout the school year!

NOVEMBER 16–17 MHS Fall Play | 7:30pm | MHS Auditorium NOVEMBER 18 MJHS Fall Play | 7:30pm | MHS Auditorium NOVEMBER 21 ME/TPE Grandparents/Special Person Day NOVEMBER 28 MHS Athletics Meet the Team Night 7pm | MHS Gymnasium NOVEMBER 30 MHS Winter Concert | 7pm | MHS Auditorium DECEMBER 4 ME K-2 Winter Program 6pm, 6:46pm, 7:30pm | ME Auditorium DECEMBER 6 TPE Winter Concert 6:15pm (K), 6:45pm (1-2), 7:30pm (3-4) TPE Gymnasium DECEMBER 6 ME 3-4 Winter Concert 6:30pm, 7:15pm | ME Auditorium DECEMBER 7 MJHS Winter Concert | 7pm | ME Auditorium

Steven Estepp Mariemont Cit y Schools Superintendent

Community. Tradition. Innovation.

DECEMBER 12 ME/TPE Strings and Band Concert 6:30pm (strings), 7:30pm (band) | ME Auditorium DECEMBER 13 ME/TPE Winter Chorus Concert 7pm | ME Auditorium For more school events, please visit the calendar on the district website.

Student Spotlight Hannah Coates Senior Hannah Coates wanted to create a better experience for the girls at Mariemont High School so she decided to jump into action.

As a sophomore sitting in the car on the way home from cheerleading practice, Hannah and a friend discussed the divisiveness they sometimes felt as high school girls. “Girls in our school, and I think most high schools, are in constant competition with one another,” she said. “And often times when girls have the opportunity to promote each other they will either choose a male leader or devalue other girls for going for a certain position. But we’re all going through the same things, if we would just come together we would have such a strong community.”

Using this concept, Hannah and her friend, former MHS student Courtney Dunning, decided to form a club where all girls at Mariemont High School could feel welcomed and secure in who they are without facing criticism from other people. The club didn’t happen immediately and Hannah learned the hard work that is necessary in order to get a successful student activity off the ground. But it was a price she was willing to pay for what she deemed as such a necessary resource.

After several organizational meetings with guidance counselor Pam Tackett and media specialist Emily Colpi, Hannah and Courtney met with MHS principal Dr. James Renner to present their idea.

With his approval, and the supervision of Mrs. Tackett, “Mariemont Girls United” was born.

“By definition, we are an organization to unite the girls of all grades within the school,” Coates

Warrior Club | Fall 2017

explained. “For a lot of people it has become a safe place to express who they are, how they feel and make some new connections. It is where people are pushed and challenged to be themselves in a world where social media and a lot of societal factors make that really difficult.”

Guided by Hannah’s leadership, the group meets every other Thursday throughout the school year.

They discuss reflective and progressive topics, including “Dear Past Me” and “Dear Future Me” segments. Mariemont Girls United also has participated in group outings and is working on planning a self-defense class for this school year.

“As a leader it has been challenging at times because I am going through all of these same things alongside these girls,” she stated. “But they have opened my eyes to all of the truth around me and I am really grateful for them.”

Two years after the conception of Mariemont Girls United, Coates is now a senior preparing for Graduation in May. While she will be leaving the school, she is hopeful that the club can continue on. “I am hoping it will become something larger than just Mariemont or the girls who are in it. This club is important because I know the issues we are facing aren’t unique. You know you always have people rooting for you and that is truly special.”

Member Spotlight Don Keyes Don Keyes moved to Mariemont in 1973 with his wife, Peggy, and two children, Bob and Todd.

For many years Mr. Keyes spent each day going to work and coming home, not really knowing his neighbors or investing in the community. But one day he joined the Mariemont Preservation Foundation which began a snowball effect of community support and activism.

Today the retired electrical engineer is an active member of the Mariemont Preservation Society, the Warrior Club and the local Kiwanis chapter, volunteers with the woodworking Expedition at the junior high on a weekly basis, takes on landscaping projects with his wife for the Mariemont Garden Club and Park Board, is a leader at the Village Church of Mariemont and works as the Building Commissioner. So how did somebody who used to not even know his neighbors become somebody so actively involved with his neighborhood?

His first step was finding a group of people he could relate to. “Becoming active in church and various other things, I began to not only know my neighbors but began to recognize what was happening in the community,” Keyes said. “I joined the Mariemont Preservation Foundation and then started to connect with some other folks in a little organization here that is talking about how to educate the community.”

After his children graduated and began careers of their own (there are nine University of Cincinnati degrees amongst the family), Don and Peggy joined the Warrior Club after one of their sons

encouraged the membership. “We got notice that the Warrior Club was available and what it was about,” said Keyes. “And of course they gave us a promise, if you become a member of the Warrior Club you get into the ball games for free, so we said ‘of course!’ That was an easy decision. We have gone to the breakfasts, we have gone on a couple of tours, we have been to a lot of the ball games and most of the plays because of the Warrior Club.”

Through his active role in the Kiwanis chapter, Keyes began volunteering with Mariemont Junior High School teacher Joe Regruth (featured as the Staff Spotlight in this newsletter) to teach a woodworking Expedition as part of the Warriors BEyond program. The class is each Friday afternoon and Keyes has been at each one since its inception in 2015.

“Somebody said it was happening and asked if I would be willing to volunteer. I discovered that a lot of the kids have never held a tool but it has been very fun and very rewarding for me.

That, combined with my role as the Building Commissioner, has been very interesting to become a part of the community and to use my expertise to try and help solve the problems and difficulties that arise.”

Life is busy now for Keyes who is always running from one organization gathering to another. His decision to become an involved member of the community has changed his life and Mariemont City Schools is certainly thankful for it.

Program Spotlight Elementary STEM This school year, all fifth and sixth grade students at both Mariemont Elementary and Terrace Park Elementary schools will take a STEM class that will include hands-on learning in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math.

Kathy Zubelik was hired as the district’s STEM instructor over the summer and leads these classes at both schools. She brings many years of real-life STEM experience to Mariemont after earning a master’s degree in engineering and spending four years as a member of mission control for NASA. “I am very excited to be able to share my love of STEM and problem solving with these kids,” Zubelik said. “Whether it’s engineering or not, so much of life is just how you work through problems. Being able to take what I know and love and teach it to the students is a lot of fun.”

At the core of the STEM program is an interactive experience, which Zubelik acknowledges is the best way for students to learn. Her class takes academic topics, such as the scientific method and the engineering design plan, and turns them into handson experiments each day.

The reason for having a STEM program for young kids at the elementary level goes beyond the specific lessons the students are learning and focuses on their preparation for the future. “The earlier that you expose them to these subjects, the better off they are

when they get to high school,” Zubelik said. “If they study the periodic table of elements later in their education, they can recognize what they already learned in STEM classes. Now the first time they see it in high school, it doesn’t go right over their head, they have a chance to catch it. The sooner you can show it to them and get them excited about it, the more inclined they are to remember it and stick with it. You don’t want the peak of a student’s science career to be in the fourth grade.”

In addition to preparing them for the next level of their education, the elementary STEM program also opens the students’ eyes to the possibility of a career in a STEM field. Zubelik likes to ask the students to draw what they think a STEM career looks like and usually gets the same response—Albert Einstein in a lab coat. So with each hands-on experiment the students complete she likes to explain a STEM career that uses the tools they just learned. She hopes this practice will help students recognize the broad range of STEM careers that are available to them.

Although still early in her first year, Zubelik’s elementary STEM program has been a rousing success. Students have shown great interest in these subjects and have learned practical skills in an exciting and hands-on way that is preparing them for tomorrow.

Staff Spotlight Joe Regruth In an era of fast-paced technology and instant gratification, Mariemont Junior High School eighth grade American history teacher Joe Regruth has found a way to get students excited about the oldfashioned art of woodworking. For the past three years, Regruth has used his passion and hobby to teach an Expedition class where working with your hands, not a computer, is the method for success.

As part of the district’s Warriors BEyond program, MJHS Expeditions classes are hands-on, ungraded courses that the seventh and eighth grade students take once a week. Taught by the school’s teachers as well as community members and other professionals, Expeditions amplify the traditional curriculum and delve into topics that students find interesting and want to learn about.

When principal Molly Connaughton rolled out the Expeditions program to staff and asked for ideas, Regruth didn’t hesitate. “Molly came to all of the teachers and said ‘here is what I want to do, figure out what you want to lead’. A hobby of mine is woodworking so it was natural for me to put this in as my contribution,” he said.

Since the launch of Expeditions, Regruth’s woodworking class has been one of the most highly-sought after classes among the students.

He isn’t surprised, however, noting the many similarities between the woodworking and the technology they are used to. “I think there is stuff that they do with their technology that plays into woodworking,” he said. “The problem solving

Warrior Club | Fall 2017

that they are getting really good at, I think it plays perfectly into this class. They have a picture of what they want to build and they have to figure out how to make a pile of wood become that picture. So problem solving is a natural.”

Throughout the class, the students have built several projects including bird houses, tool kits and the triangle peg game often found at Cracker Barrel restaurants. Regruth has found that whatever the class is working on, the students are excited about it.

“What I think they are getting the most enjoyment out of is the idea that ‘I did that!’. You can see it on their faces—they are excited to walk out of here carrying whatever was the project of the day.”

Regruth knows that the success of the woodworking Expedition would not be possible without the help of local community members who volunteer to help teach this lifelong skill to the district’s seventh and eighth graders. Several members of the local Kiwanis chapter (including Don Keyes who is featured as this issue’s Warrior Club member spotlight) make their way to Fairfax each Friday to help Regruth demonstrate and oversee the construction of the projects. According to the history teacher, they view it as a way to pass the woodworking tradition on to the next generation.

“It has been really great having them do this with us,” said Regruth. “It is nice to have an adult there who knows what they are doing and can supervise kids. They really are invaluable to the success of this program.”

WARRIOR CLUB 2 Warrior Way | Cincinnati, Ohio 45227

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