The Eagle Eye
Oak Hill United School Corporation - January 2021
From the Superintendent's Desk
Dear Oak Hill Families,
Happy New Year and welcome to 2021. Despite all the obstacles that 2020 presented us, I am extremely proud of our students, staff, and community for pulling together during these unprecedented times. I can’t wait for the time when I no longer need to remind everyone to follow CDC guidelines, practice social distancing, and stay home if you are sick or showing signs of Covid symptoms.
The new year also brings changes to the Oak Hill United School Corporation School Board. I would like to thank Mr. David Bettegnies and Dr. Mara Catey-Williams for their service to the Oak Hill United School Corporation and welcome Mr. Aaron Pickering and Mr. Mike McDivitt as new Oak Hill United School Corporation board members. Also, congratulations to Mrs. Teresa Shafer for being reelected to a second term. Additionally, congratulations to our new officers, School Board President Mr. Steve Fagan, Vice President Mr. Scott Deaton, Secretary Teresa Shafer, Assistant Secretary Mr. Dana Biggs and Indiana School Board Association School Liaison Mr. Scott Dubois.
We are currently working on many new and exciting things including a Kindergarten-8th grade ELA curriculum, tutoring initiative, and educational grants. We will continue to offer a virtual option to meet the needs of our families. As we begin preparing for the 2021-22 school year please be on the lookout for our community surveys so that we can better understand your needs and evaluate how we are serving you. Finally, if you are interested in participating on the Superintendent Advisory Council please contact your building principal or the administration office.
I hope that 2021 brings all of you joy, happiness, and some sense of return to normalcy. We are very excited to have our students back in school for the beginning of second semester. I could not be more impressed with what I have seen from our students, staff, and community. I am confident that we will be stronger and continue to improve on the tradition of excellence for which Oak Hill United School Corporation is known.
Sincerely,
Dr. Chad C. Cripe
Oak Hill Welcomes McDivitt and Pickering to the School Board
I started my career in education at Oak Hill when I was offered a position to teach social studies in 1990. I worked at Oak Hill for a total of 27 years most recently as the high school principal from 2007-2018. Currently, I serve as the principal at White's Jr/Sr High School for the MSD of Wabash County school district on the campus of White's Residential and Family Services.
I married my wife, Lori in 1993 and we have raised our seven children (Matthew, Class of 2013; Sarah, 2014: Hannah 2015; Adam 2017; Elizabeth 2019; Ruth, 2021; Joy 2022) in the Oak Hill district. The Oak Hill community has been a blessing to our family and it is my honor to serve our schools in this new capacity. I have been blessed to work with many great public educators during my tenure at Oak Hill and it is my intent to honor the legacy of these public servants with integrity and honor.
Mike McDivitt
My family and I live in Sweetser, My wife, Kelli, currently teachers 5th grade language arts at Swayzee Elementary. My son, Noah, is currently in 5th grade. My wife and I are both members of the Sweetser Lions Club and I am also an assistant Scout Master for my son's Boy Scout Troop. As a family, we enjoy geocaching and vacationing to Disney. I am very excited to serve the Oak Hill Community and look forward to this new adventure.
Aaron Pickering
Converse Elementary Welcomes Brandi Lenfesty as Building Secretary
Snow Day!
Sweetser Elementary Welcomes New Faces
Leann Poehler has served with the Oak Hill United School District since 2017 and joins the Sweetser team as our School Secretary.
Gerritt Taylor joins the Sweetser team as an Instructional Assistant.
We are thankful to have both of these amazing people on our team!
Sweetser Elementary will be re-launching our Second Step Superstars program in which staff will have the opportunity to recognize students who put into action positive social/emotional skills. Students will be recognized when they are caught…
Using a skill for learning (listening, focusing attention, asking assertively for help)
Showing empathy (understanding how some else feels/showing care and concern)
Managing strong emotions (calming down with learned tools/managing a learning challenge)
Being a good friend (Inviting someone to play/making amends/playing fairly)
Solving problems in safe and respectful ways
Students “caught being superstars” will receive a certificate that will hang on our Superstars bulletin board, have their picture taken and shared on social media as our superstars of the day and be recognized over the announcements.
Sweetser Elementary would also like to celebrate our custodial staff!
Larry Crouch and John Powell have just done such an amazing job with all of the new Covid Protocols. They work tirelessly each and everyday to ensure that our buildings are safe and clean. They both have such a great heart for the students and staff in our building and we want to thank them for all of their extra effort and hard work this year.
Team Swayzee Student Council is Ready to Serve
At Swayzee Elementary, students have the opportunity to run for Student Council in 6th grade. In December, all interested students were able to create a campaign by making a digital poster and recording a speech for the election. Students voted for representatives from their respective homerooms. This year’s Swayzee Student Council members are: (back row) Maia Johnson, Pathie Speicher, Madizen Williams, Morgan Cates, Quinn Brunner, Josiah Sattley, Nicholas Newhard, (front row) Emily Howell, Dylan Shafer, Rocky Johnson, Jaxin Magers, Shaylan Johnson, Lilly Edwards, and Chloe Toy. Not pictured - Isabella Kenyon. At our first meeting, students had many great ideas to implement for the remainder of the school year. Some of these ideas include: using dress up days as a fundraiser, having an opinion box for students to share their thoughts to the Student Council, creating a Swayzee newsletter, holding a donation drive and more! When asked why she wanted to be elected to the Student Council, Quinn Brunner stated, “I want to help all students have a voice.” Rocky Johnson commented, “We can help students at Swayzee by finding out what their needs are,” when asked what he hoped to accomplish as a Student Council member. The Student Council is co-sponsored by Kellie Boucher and Katie Warnock.
OHJH Welcomes New Guidance Counselor, Esther Shigley
Hello! My name is Esther Shigley. I was born in Chicago, moved to Sierra Leone, West Africa when I was 11, then returned to the states for college. While growing up, I enjoyed playing the piano and cello, singing in the choir, reading, playing volleyball, basketball and running track.
I graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Math Education and from Northeastern University in Oklahoma with a Masters in School Counseling. I have been married to my best friend, Eddy, for 32 years. We have 7 children ranging in age from 18-27 years old. I was blessed to work as a stay-at-home mom until my youngest was school age; and enjoyed homeschooling my children for several of those years. I enjoy spending time with family and friends - exercising, camping, hiking, playing games, reading, laughing and watching movies together.
I began my public school career in Oklahoma as a math teacher and then transitioned into school counseling. Upon returning to Indiana, I worked as an adjunct professor for the math and education departments at Indiana Wesleyan University until accepting the position as school counselor for Oak Hill Junior High. My goal is to come alongside Oak Hill students to help them make the most of their educational experience by encouraging their academic achievement, providing support for social and emotional challenges and offering career guidance. I am blessed to be a part of this Oak Hill Community and am excited to be an Eagle.
8th Grade Health Classes Win County Competition
Congratulations to Kendrick Vester and his 8th grade Health classes for winning the Grant County National Rural Health Day "Washing your hands" competition!
All the schools in Grant County were invited to compete in this video making contest. Participants were instructed to create a video no longer than 90 seconds and were voted on by the community through the Marion General Hospital Facebook page.
The prize for winning the contest is a pizza party provided by MGH for the entire school!
The following students were involved in the making in this video:
Maloree Woodard
Micah Carmichael
Camyn Trusty
Hailee Clems
Eli Taylor
Braeleigh Evans
Savanna Schamber
Eily Hawk
Cloey Meade
Blake Hochstedler
Izzac Koonce
Oak Hill High School Updates
All Juniors will be taking ISTEP during the month of February. Parents and students please be on the lookout for information pertaining to days and times.
New National Honor Society members were inducted on December 9, 2020. It is such an honor to be a member of the National Honor Society and we are excited to see the good things you will all do in the future!! Congratulations!
OHHS NHS students were able to find sponsors, collect donations, and work with Guardians of the Children to fulfill the needs of three children just in time for this past Christmas. Students enjoyed shopping for the toys and clothes that were on the lists for each of the children. More importantly students felt rewarded by being able to help others. The OHHS NHS would like to thank everyone that was able to sponsor them this past year. WIthout the donations we wouldn't have been able to make even a small difference in our community.
New National Honor Society members
NHS Induction Ceremony
NHS members Treniti Thurman and Mia Edwards ringing bells for the Salvation Army
Rollins Earns State Title and Advances to National Competition
Evan Rollins, an Oak Hill MRCC Cybersecurity and IT Academy student in the Marion Regional Career Center Cybersecurity and Information Technology Academy, will represent Indiana at a national competition where the best students with Microsoft Office Specialist knowledge will square off. Evan won the state championship on the Microsoft Office Specialist PowerPoint Exam. He will compete June 21 through 23 in the U.S. National Championship at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista in Orlando, Fla.
Evan is a student in Travis Hueston’s Cyber Security and Information Technology course at MRCC. He scored higher than more than 350,000 students from all over the U.S. who entered a passing score on an eligible exam in the qualifying round. First-place winners in the U.S. National Championship win $3,000 along with a trophy and an all-expenses-paid trip to compete in the World Championship against students from 50 different countries. This is the fifth year of MRCC’s participation in Microsoft’s Imagine Academy, a nationwide program that allows schools to offer fundamental technology skills training and rigorous technical courses for students interested in pursuing an information technology career after graduation.
Congratulations Evan, and good luck!
6th Grade Basketball Oak Hill Invitational Champions
Grant 4 Wrestling Champions
Girls Swimming Jay County Invitational Champions
Oak Hill Athletes Commit to Area Programs
Ashtin McDivitt
Tegan Phillips
Kate Hornocker
Tristen Hayes
Lori Miller
Pot of Gold Foundation Event
Haven’t heard of us? We are a non profit organization that is going to offer love, support and encouragement to the Oak Hill administration, school board, bus drivers, all faculty and of course the students.
How? We will do so by offering a student scholarship chosen by the foundation board through selection of applications, we will also offer teacher grant(s) for any teacher at any grade level who applies. Our encouragement team will continue to love and support the faculty on a monthly basis.
We look forward to you and your family checking us out, by going to OHPOGFoundation.com. Keep your eyes and ears open and look for us out in the community, you will be seeing and hearing about the things we are and will be doing.
JOIN US AT OHUSC!
Two School Nurses (Full Time)
HS Biology Teacher (Part Time)
Long-term HS Substitute Teacher
Instructional Aide at Converse Elementary
Substitute Bus Drivers
Substitute Teachers
Upcoming Events
School Board Meeting: February 8 at 6:30PM
SCHOOL WILL BE IN SESSION: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15 (Make-up snow day)