Milford Exempted Village School District
Eagle eNews
www.milfordschools.org
December 2014
In This Issue
Board to Vote on Full-Day Kindergarten
Seipelt Another National Honor
OTR Aglow with Mulberry Artwork
New Taipei City Exchange
Athletic/Activities Achievers
Writers Receive High Marks
Future Teachers Share Talents
Kids Winter Drama Workshop

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December
4End of 2nd Quarter
18Board of Education meeting
MJHS
7 p.m.
19NO SCHOOL 
Inservice Day for Teachers
22-Jan. 2Holiday Break

January
5School Resumes

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Board to Decide on Full-Day Kindergarten

The Milford EVSD Board of Education will be making a decision on offering full-day kindergarten in 2015-16 based on the recommendations of the Kindergarten Study Committee. The Board meets on Thursday, December 18, at 7 p.m. in the Milford Junior High School cafeteria.


 
At the November Board of Education meeting, the district's Kindergarten Study Committee composed of teachers and administrators presented an overview of their study of the benefits, challenges and recommendations to offer a full-day kindergarten program in the district.

 

The committee proposed to the Board to offer one full-day kindergarten classroom at each elementary. The program will be tuition based because the district does not receive additional funding for full-day kindergarten. There will be spots for up to 24 students and six of these spots will be saved for students on free and reduced lunch. It was proposed that a lottery be held if demand exceeds the openings.

 

The Board asked that the committee come back in December with specific timelines and details on the lottery and affordable tuition options that will allow the program to be accessible to a range of income levels. 

Seipelt Receives Another National Honor!

Seipelt students at their National Blue Ribbon School celebration in November.

 

Seipelt Elementary has had a banner school year. In September, the school was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School. Next, the Ohio Department of Education named Seipelt a High Performing School of Honor. Now, the National Title I Association announced that Seipelt has been named a National Title I Distinguished School by the Ohio Department of Education. Seipelt is one of up to 100  schools throughout the country that is being nationally recognized for exceptional student achievement in 2014.


 
"This is just another much deserved acknowledgement of the hard work from our staff everyday and their dedication and commitment to the children of Seipelt!" said Seipelt Principal, Sarah Greb. 


 
The National Title I Distinguished Schools Program publicly recognizes qualifying Title I schools for the outstanding academic achievements of schools across the country making significant improvements for their students. 


 
Milford Superintendent, Dr. Robert Farrell added, "Congratulations to Seipelt for this new national award they have just received. There were only two schools in Ohio named for this award.  We are so proud of the Seipelt staff and their entire school community."

 OTR Aglow with Mulberry Artwork

Mulberry Elementary has been given a great opportunity to be a part of OTR aglow, a program to light up the store fronts of the businesses in Over The Rhine. Mulberry has been paired up with Venice on Vine, at 1301 Vine Street. Art teacher, Ashley Scribner, and some of her students have created Christmas trees, wreaths, and stars out of 100% reused items such as water bottles, cardboard, bottle caps, pop cans and light bulbs. They installed their creations on Friday, December 5. 


"The display will be up at Venice on Vine for 7 days and we would love for people to go see it and vote for our display," Scribner said.

 

To learn more, go to www.otraglow.com.

 New Taipai City Exchange Program

This fall, Milford was home to four exchange students from New Taipei City, Taiwan.The students, who lived with three of our families, spent three weeks in November immersing themselves in American culture and education. There were a total of 30 exchange students that came to Cincinnati. At the end of the program, Milford High School hosted a farewell dinner reception for the New Taipei City exchange students. Since leaving the U.S., the exchange students that came to Milford High School still keep in touch with our students through text messages and Facebook.

"The government officials from New Taipei City thanked Milford High School for supporting the exchange student program. The exchange students thought highly of our school," said Yu-Ming Cheng, Mandarin Chinese Teacher at Milford Junior and Senior High Schools.

This past June, four Milford High School students were part of a 45-member Cincinnati delegation of 31 students and 14 chaperones who visited New Taipei City. Milford students, Emily Chen, Hero Seto, Stephanie Myers, and Christopher Laycock spent two weeks in Taiwan attending school and visiting the northwest and south central areas of Taiwan

"Because of this student exchange program I've seen and experienced so many things around New Taipei City and Taiwan that I've never been able to experience before. Seeing the city lights and tall buildings not through pictures but in real life was more mesmerizing than anything," said Milford sophomore Emily (Tian) Chen, who was part of the Cincinnati delegation.

"The exchange helps both sides see the differences between the cultures and education systems. Students from Taiwan noticed the incredible freedom our students have to choose classes that they are interested in and to express their opinions. They also noticed how social and outgoing our students are in America," shared Cheng.

It is the third year that Cheng has taught Milford's Mandarin Chinese program. She currently has 18 students at Milford Junior High School and 60 students at Milford High School in Chinese I, II, and III.

"We have a tremendous Chinese program thanks to the expertise of Mrs. Cheng and we appreciate her efforts in facilitating this exchange program. It is such a fantastic experience for our students to see and experience other cultures," commented Dr. Farrell, Milford Superintendent.

Activities & Athletic Achievers

Congratulations to the Milford High School marching band and Director Brian Brown on a fantastic season. In its final competition on November 14, Milford High School Marching Band performed in the preliminary round of the Bands of America Grand National Championships in Indianapolis and qualified for the semi-finals along with the other top bands in the nation!


 

Best wishes to our student athletes who will be continuing their education and sports careers in college. 


At the national signing day this fall, seniors Cameron Roth signed to play baseball at Ohio Dominican University and Megan Creager signed to play golf at Youngstown State University.


  


 

Congratulations to the Milford Competition Cheer Squad who took 2nd place in the varsity non-mount division at the 3rd Annual Cincinnati CHEER FOR A CURE Championship held December 6, at Lakota West High School. Proceeds from the event go to cancer research facilities both locally and nationally.

MHS Writers Receive High Marks in National Contest

A team of students representing Milford High School won big honors in this year's WordWright Challenge, a national competition for high schoolers requiring close reading and analysis of many different kinds of prose and poetry. Participating with 600 school teams from across the country, the Milford team placed 9th in the nation in the year's first meet held in October! Students will compete in three more meets this year.

The Milford students, supervised by English Teacher and Department Chair teacher Betsy Woods, who won high individual honors are pictured: Ian Smith-Frenkiel, Phoebe Parker, Amelia Pittman, Jennifer Brewer. Not pictured-Andy Hall.

Future Teachers Share Time and Talents

High school students who plan to become teachers are gaining first-hand experience. The Milford's Teaching Professions Academy (TPA) program has started a Whiz Kids tutoring program at Mulberry Elementary this school year. The TPA students have partnered with Eastside Christian Church and City Gospel Mission to help provide support  and resources.

 

According to TPA teacher and program coordinator, Jenn Norsworthy, her students not only put in two hours of actual tutoring, but preparation time as well. Senior, Brandi Norman, prepares tutoring materials for each of the 15 students and their tutors every week, as well as analyzing the reading fluency data. Brandi volunteers at least five hours per week preparing for each week's Whiz Kids session.

 

"We have 15 regular tutors and two substitute tutors," said Jennifer Norsworthy, TPA teacher. "To prepare for this program, the tutors went through three hours of training on the reading curriculum and many students had an additional three hours of training on the impact poverty has on education."

 

The Mulberry students that are being tutored range from grade levels first through third grades. The Whiz Kids program is designed to increase reading ability in students behind at a young age to counteract the negative impacts poor reading ability can have in later years academically.

 

Mulberry Principal, Brian Zawodny said, "While this is a great opportunity for some of our high school students, our students at Mulberry are the real winners.  We are very thankful that we could bring this program to Mulberry.

Drama Department Hosting Workshop
Milford High School Drama is hosting a Winter Kids Drama Workshop on January 10, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for 6th through 8th grade students interested in theatrical arts. Featuring the music from the Broadway musical Hairspray, members of 
MHS Drama will lead students through workshops in acting and improvisation, singing, dancing, as well as, a behind the scenes tech overview. At the end of the day, students will perform what they learned for their families and friends!

To register, click on the link below. Deadline: Friday, December 12.

Winter Workshop Flyer/Registration