Lakota high schools made U.S. News & World Report’s list of top-ranked public high schools in the state and nation.
Schools were awarded gold, silver or bronze medals based on a range of performance indicators, such as state proficiency standards and how well they prepare students for college.
During a focus group at the Lakota Central Office May 3, 2012, it was the students teaching Lakota administrators on how to better run the state’s seventh-largest school system. In picture, Lakota student Jennifer Shafer shares her opinion. Photo taken by Adam Kiefaber.
To let West Chester and Liberty Township residents catch up with the news that they need to know, WestChesterBuzz.com will list and link to all of last week’s top local stories every Monday.
Lakota students share opinions on how to run district – During a focus group session at the Lakota Central Office last Thursday, it was the students teaching Lakota administrators on how to better run the state’s seventh-largest school system.
Former Lakota West football players get chance with Bengals – Lakota West graduates Grant Hunter and Josh Chichester will both have the opportunity to prove to the Cincinnati Bengals that they are worth a roster spot. Hunter, who played linebacker at Butler, was among one of the 14 college free agents that the Bengals signed Wednesday. While Chichester, was one of the three players with local ties who were invited to try out at next weekend’s, May 11-13, rookie minicamp.
Ex-assistant prosecutor indicted in Butler County – Sheila McLaughlin reported last week that a former Butler County assistant prosecutor was himself indicted for allegedly forging an indictment against an alleged robber. Jason Phillabaum, who has been working in private practice, is charged with two counts each of forgery and tampering with records and misdemeanor charges of derelection of duty, interference with civil rights and using a sham legal process.
Schedule released for 2012 West Chester concert series – The schedule for the 2012 Fifth Third West Chester summer concert series at Keehner Park has been released. The free Saturday concerts will take place at the Keehner Park amphitheatre from 7 to 9 p.m.
After-Hours on The Square at Union Centre 2012 schedule – DV8 will kick off the 2012 season of the First Financial Bank After-Hours on The Square concert series in West Chester May 24. The band will perform from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Square at Union Centre. The concert series will take place every Thursday
Mojo Running moves to new location – Mojo Running, the West Chester running specialty store, is itself on the move. The shop relocated from 9318 Union Center Blvd in the U.S. Bank Plaza to a more visible space two miles away, at 8777 Cincinnati Dayton Road in Olde West Chester, near the Post Office, owner Paul Heintz said.
Lakota West sweeps rival – For the second time in four days, a Lakota West pitcher shutout the defending Division I baseball state champions. Behind sophomore pitcher Grant Schuermann, Lakota West blanked the Lakota East Thunderhawks by the score of 3-0 on April 27. Then, last Monday, it was senior Zak Farmer who shutout Lakota East in a 7-0 victory at the Hawks Nest.
On a warm spring day at his family’s home in West Chester, Khetag Pliev slowly breathes in the air. He says that it is “peaceful” here, remembering a time when he thought that he may never see it again.
About 10 years ago, Pliev had offers to wrestle at universities throughout the United States. He was coming off back-to-back state and national wrestling titles at Lakota East and seemed destined to accomplish his dream of becoming an Olympian.
“I think about it every day. I try to forget it because that time is gone,” Pliev said. “I was 100 percent thinking, that now that I was No. 1 in the U.S. that I would be No. 1 in the world. At least that was my belief at the time.”
Every college wrestling program in the country wanted Pliev, who grew up in The Republic of North Ossetia. In that southern Russian republic, wrestling was king.
“They give their sons to wrestling. If he succeeds, he succeeds. If not, at least at some point of his life, he will. It is like hockey in Canada. Everyone kid competes, so they have the best selection of kids,” Pliev said.
At Lakota East, Pliev succeeded on the mat. In the classroom, however, the wrestler, who struggled with the English language, didn’t have the grades to qualify to compete in the NCAA, so he went to Lassen Community College in Susanville, Calif.
There, he eventually decided to return to Russia, against the advice of his Lassen coach Rex Branum.
As Branum feared, Pliev would never get that chance to wrestle at Lassen. Instead, after arriving in Russia, the former Lakota East star athlete was trapped for what turned out to be three years. While there, he missed his family and didn’t feel like he was home.
Khetag Pliev, who will be wrestling for Team Canada in the 2012 Summer Olympics, spent some time training with Eric Ramsey at the Jorge Gurgel Mixed Martial Arts and Fitness Academy in West Chester May 3, 2012. Photo by Adam Kiefaber.
“It went downhill for me,” said Pliev. “I was not of U.S. and I was not of Russia. I wanted to come here, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t completely there and I wasn’t here. I didn’t train well. I wasn’t focused.”
With each passing year, his family back in West Chester worried that they would never see him again. His father, Alex, called it a time of “deep depression.”
Back at Lassen College, his coach decided to fly to Moscow and visit the U.S. Embassy, hoping to get Pliev a student visa.
“I thought it would help if I was there,” Branum said. “But the guy just looked at me and said ‘Rex, I know that you have come a long way, but there is no way in hell.’”
Trapped in Russia, Pliev filled out paperwork and requested a student visa in person five times at the U.S. Embassy. He was never accepted back into the United States.
He was, however, allowed to go to Canada.
While there for a tournament with his Russian team, a Toronto man named Ruslan Kuchiev, who grew up with Pliev’s father, convinced him to stay in the country.
Kuchiev helped him fill out the proper paperwork in order to become a Canadian citizen and in just a little more than two years, he was successful.
“Never in my mind was Canada, but God made it that way and he is ruler of all and everything,” Pliev said. “When I was here, I obviously wanted to be a U.S. citizen … but Canada opened a door for me.”
With Canadian citizenship, the door was open for Pliev to see his family.
“It was a long five years,” said Pliev. “There was a lot of happiness.”
At this year’s Summer Olympic Games in London, his lifelong dream will become a reality when he wrestles for Team Canada.
“It doesn’t matter where I live, even if I am in Africa. It is the same goal – to win gold in the Olympics,” Pliev said. “It is any small boy’s dream even here, especially where I am from – North Ossetia – that is the main goal, to be Olympic champion.”
During a focus group session at the Lakota Central Office Thursday, it was the students teaching Lakota administrators on how to better run the state’s seventh-largest school system.
The student-led focus group was the first of four sessions with Lakota officials, as the school district looks for more effective ways to educate its students.
“Students will tell you the truth and that is what we are looking for,” Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia said. “We want to make sure we are responsive school system in meeting their needs. In order to do that, we need to ask them.
“This is just the tip of the ice berg.”
After the discussions with students, Mantia said that he hopes to extend an invitation for future focus groups with teachers and eventually with the community.
Among the topics covered, during the two-hour student focus group, included what ways students learn the best, how technology plays a role in their learning, what skills do they think they need to know for their future and what changes need to be made to the school system.
Lakota West senior Melody Stewart shares her opinion during a student focus group at the Lakota Central Office May 3, 2012. Photo taken by Adam Kiefaber.
One change some of the students agreed on was the district needing to be more lenient with online restrictions. Currently, students cannot visit websites like Twitter, Facebook and other blogs while on school grounds.
“Anything that could help us with our studies should be allowed,” Lakota West senior Melody Stewart said. “If that means going on Facebook to get something, then we should be allowed to do that. If you abuse that privilege than it should be taken away, but for educational purposes we should be able to go online and search for what we need.”
Stewart, who played volleyball in the Lakota school system and will continue her athletic career at Northern Kentucky University, also thought that the school system should focus on having more extracurricular activities.
“If I didn’t play volleyball, I don’t think that would be as involved in the school today,” Stewart said. “I think these activities help students feel connected to the school district. I believe we should get students more involved and have more extracurricular activities so they can have that connection and feel what I felt.”
Another Lakota athlete, who still has two more years of high school before he graduates, worries about the change in the academic schedule when the high schools move to six-period days in the fall.
“Next year is going to be a lot harder because we only have six periods,” said Lakota West sophomore Malik Grove, who has played varsity football, basketball and bowling. “You still need to earn enough credits. I will still need another foreign language and a fine arts class. I only have two years left to get those in order to get into to a good college.”
Meanwhile, Stewart hopes Grove and other future graduates will receive the same education she received while at Lakota.
“When I leave, I don’t want to see the school district go down the drain. I want them to keep improving,” Stewart said. “My experience at Lakota was great. I feel that I am very prepared for the future and I want other students who come up to feel the same way.
“I really hope that this meeting will give the school district a lot of information to keep improving our studies … because I believe there are many things that we can to do, to better prepare students for college and the workforce.”
After a day of parading in a glittering prom gown and an evening of dancing and dining, junior Staci Burkel readies herself to climb on to a bucking bull.
Adding to the oddity of the spectacle are excited classmates who encircle her in Lakota East High School’s gym and the time – 1:17 a.m. Sunday.
Staci gamely hangs on as the bull spins and dips. Finally it bucks her off, safely on to thick-cushioned mats.
“It was kind of scary when I fell off. That was a new experience,” Staci says with a giggle.
Welcome to the world of after prom.
It’s a place rarely seen by adults, a colorful midnight-to-dawn festival where high schools morph into equal parts amusement park, raffles, video arcade, dance hall, casino and all-you-can-eat buffets.
A place where teenagers shed their flowing prom gowns and high-fashion tuxedos, step away from rented limousines and enter a locked-down world designed to assure both their entertainment and safety.
The trend of after proms at local high schools started in the 1990s as a safe alternative to unsupervised, post-prom parties that can include excessive drinking, drug use and potentially deadly driving.
The costs are borne by school parent organizations and booster groups. In Lakota East’s case, private donations of $25,000 helped fund last weekend’s event. The Butler County school’s giant, three-story main hallway was transformed with festive lighting, hundreds of balloons, ribbons and lit from above by a giant star-shaped light fixture.
“I didn’t expect the school to come alive like this,” says the 17-year-old Staci as she surveys the boisterous crowd.
“I thought more people would just be sleeping on the (gym) bleachers. But there are tons of sugar to keep everyone awake and they have enough music and activities to keep everyone going,” she says. (more…)
The Sunshine Review, a nonprofit organization that claims to be dedicated to state and local government transparency, has honored Lakota Local Schools by concluding that it has “one of the most transparent” government websites in the nation, according to a release from the school district.
According to that release, Lakota won a Sunny Award for transparency and only 214 government websites – out of 6,000 studied – earned the award.
“The Lakota Local School District belongs to the community. That’s why we’ve worked hard to make it as easy as possible for the public to obtain district information,” said Treasurer Jenni Logan. “And we intend to find ways to make it even easier for the community to learn what’s happening in Lakota.”
The Sunshine Review gave Lakota’s website, Lakotaonline.com, an A- grade when compared to others in the state. In its evaluation, it concluded that it should have more information online in only one category – public records and forms.
Since that evaluation, Lakotaonline.com has added a button on its home page that allows visitors to request public records.
According to the school district, the website attracts 12 million page views annually.
There will be plenty to do in the West Chester area this weekend, including the opportunity to meet a pair Cincinnati sports legends, a farmers’ market and a chance to gaze at the stars. However, there is a chance for showers and thunderstorms for Saturday’s outdoor events.
Meet Rose and Anderson – Cincinnati sports legends Pete Rose and Ken Anderson will both host autograph sessions this Saturday afternoon at rival sports memorabilia shops. The Rose signing session will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Sports Gallery, 7967 Cincinnati-Dayton Road in West Chester, while Anderson will be hosting his autograph session from 2 to 4 p.m. at Advanced Sports Marketing. 7043 Yankee Road in Liberty Township.
The weekly West Chester Farmers’ Market returns to the Square at Union Centre next Saturday, May 12. During the winter months, West Chester hosts a farmers’ market about once a month. Photo provided.
Farmers’ market – The farmers’ market season in West Chester Township is on its way back. There is only one winter farmers’ market remaining before the weekly West Chester Farmers’ and Art Market will open for the 2012 season May 12 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Just like the weekly farmers’ market, the last winter market will take place at The Square at Union Centre. The winter market will take place this Saturday from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Gaze at the stars – West Chester Township will be offering its first Star Gazing program of 2012 this Saturday at 9 p.m. at Keener Park. The program is free to the public and will take place near the tennis courts at the park. The Dayton and Cincinnati Astronomers Society will be providing their telescopes so that the public can view the stars and planets up close.
National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day – Law enforcement agencies across the region are participating in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Drug Take-Back Day. On Saturday, dozens of police agencies in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are providing sites for community members to drop off expired, unused or unwanted prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Drugs can be turned in 10 a.m.-2 p.m., with no questions asked. The local drop-off location will be at West Chester Presbyterian Church, 8930 Cincinnati-Dayton Road.
Arbor Day and Earth Day celebration – Mueller Parker Funeral Home, 6791 Tylersville Road, is hosting a community Arbor Day and Earth Day event from 9 a.m. to noon this Saturday. This community event will provide opportunities to recycle and to remember loved ones with plants.
Free family theatre – A free performance of River Rat and Cat, a comic tale for the entire family, will be presented at Miami University’s Voice of America Learning Center 3 p.m. Sunday. A production of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Off the Hill education series, River Rat and Cat is a comedy about friendship and cooperation.
The Lakota West High School Chorale will perform Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Crestview Presbyterian Church, 9463 Cincinnati-Dayton Road in West Chester, at 7:30 p.m. next Friday, May 11.
The choir group will be joined by Michael Young, baritone, who will be singing the role of Elijah; Alexandra Kassouf, soprano; Andrea Spencer, mezzo soprano; and Andrew Jones, tenor. All of the special guests are present or former graduate students from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
Robert Nims, professor of music emeritus at Ohio Wesleyan University, will accompany the work on the piano.
The 80-voice Lakota West Chorale consistently earns superior ratings at the AA level at Ohio Music Education Association adjudicated events, has twice been invited to perform at the CCM Feast of Carols, has performed with the Cincinnati Brass Band and has presented concerts at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J.
Tickets to performance of Elijah are $5 and will be available at the door.
Throughout this school year, five girls at Hopewell Junior School let their hair grow so they could eventually donate it to program that makes wigs for women with cancer.
Students Kellis Stahl, Sarah Harris, Shelby Gray, Sarah Strack, and Kayla Hull each donated eight inches of their hair last month to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, a program coordinated by health teacher Karen Cottrell.
As part of the program, each student wrote an essay explaining why she had chosen to donate her hair.
“What would happen if I woke up one day without any hair? Unfortunately, I know boys and girls go through this when they have cancer treatments,” Strack wrote in her essay. “My hair can always grow back, but those victims of cancer might not live long enough to see the day that their hair grows back.
“Hair can do a lot for people. It could give those victims a reason to smile. It could possibly save somebody’s life, by keeping them stronger.”
Jenny Haynes, a second grade teacher at Woodland Elementary, and Tim Shaffer, assistant principal at Lakota West High School, received the awards and were selected from nominations received from peers, parents and students in the community.
To help share each educator’s story, the Community Foundation produced videos that included interviews from parents and fellow Lakota staff members.
The magazine evaluated more than 21,000 public high schools across the nation; 242 Ohio schools made the rankings.
