CHCA Eagles Eye 2018 by Debbie Shear

The Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy Magazine

2018 Edition

2018 Eagle’s Eye Volume 22

Editor: Jennifer Murphy Assistant Editor: Tammy Rosenfeldt

Promise Statement Centered in the shared love of Christ, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy is the college-preparatory, preschool through grade 12 independent school that inspires and challenges students to discover, hone, and steward their one-of-a-kind gifts as they come to know themselves as distinct and unconditionally loved creations of God. CHCA’s vibrant, multi-denominational family of learners creates a sheltering—but not sheltered— environment where, supporting each other and guided by expert Christian teachers, students wrestle with increasingly complex, timeless, essential questions in order to strengthen their minds and their faith. Beginning with the end in mind, CHCA graduates young adults fully prepared to succeed in college and beyond; to engage effectively and lovingly with different cultures, viewpoints, and ideas; and to achieve significant impact

Photographers: Veronica Guerrero Dan Ledbetter Julie Lockett Tammy Rosenfeldt Contributors: Chanse Ashman ‘19 Pamela Bailey Adam Baum Randy Brunk Julie Carnes Stephen Carter Will Ellis ‘15 Kaylie Glenn ‘19 Dan Grantham Tim Hilderbrand Karen Hordinski Susan Jung Amy Lutts Cammie Montgomery Teri Parker Cade Reinberger ‘22 Sarah (Eslick) Robinson ‘09 Tammy Rosenfeldt Kevin Savage, PhD Mona Summers Diane Taylor Emma Treadway ‘18 Anne Venters Mara Wright Eagle’s Eye Magazine Eagle’s Eye is published annually by Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy Please send address changes to Diane.Taylor@chca-oh.org or 513.247.0900 Visit us on the web at chca-oh.org

and influence with discerning wisdom, courageous curiosity, and resilient Christian faith— where others pull back, they lean into life.

Follow CHCA on Facebook @cincinnatihillschristianacademy Follow CHCA on Twitter @GoCHCA Follow CHCA on Instagram @GoCHCA

Table of Contents Dynamically Engaged

The Beauty of Intercession 3 Building Life-Long Leaders 7 Aquaponics and Stem Education 9

Refreshingly Insightful

So We Heard You Wrote a Book... 11 Chemistry Teacher of the Year 12 Food for Thought 13

Resiliently Faithful

CHCA Students Build Hope 14 Campus Highlights 15

Boldly Determined

A Special Story about a Special Family 17 Senior Sports 2017-2018 20 2017-18 College Signings 21 Highlights from 2017-18 Season 22

Exuberantly Creative

Nothing Short of Amazing 23 CHCA Celebrates 20th Annual School Arts Festival ArtBeat 25 Dancing our Way to the Top 26 An Award Winning Year 27 Drawn - A Lasting Invitation 28 A Sacred Tradition 29 Strength in Numbers 30

Boundlessly Hopeful

Class of 2018 31 Commencement Overview 32 A Bit About Our Val and Sal 33 Graduation Reflections 34 Class of 2018 Recognitions 35

Inspiringly Benevelent

Making Musical Memories 37 Share the Love 38

Fully Prepared

Cultivating Community Through Connection 39 Alumni Notes 40

Randy Brunk, Head of School

From the Head of School

I had the opportunity to attend and present at an educational innovation conference this past summer in Aspen, Colorado. Yes, the draw of this beautiful mountain town had an impact on my acceptance of the invitation, but even more, the topic drew me in. I had four days to sit with education leaders from around the country who are deeply interested in student engagement by discussing the newest innovative approaches. The headline speaker was John Couch, the founder of Apple Education. In the very beginning, John joined Steve Jobs when there were just two-and-a-half employees — the two of them and a part time assistant. At some point during those early founding years, John left Apple to pursue other interests, including the headship of Santé Fe Christian School. But eventually, he was lured back to Apple by Steve Jobs to create an education division at Apple. Over his many years in that role, it is clear that John did a fabulous job, seeing now that it was a big part of what launched Apple into the massive universe into which it now exists. John recently left Apple to found a new venture that is focused solely on innovative approaches to overhauling the way we do education in America. He has launched a new book titled, “Rewiring Education”, and has one in the works that will feature specific examples of how schools are engaging students at a whole new level. Back to Aspen. After John completed his talk, he took a seat in the back of the room and settled in. Problem is, I was the next speaker. Not only was he a tough act to follow, but here I am telling John Couch how to do innovation in schools. That felt a bit like a child giving parenting advice to his parents. But undaunted, I shared our approach to innovation here at CHCA. The good news is that John approached me after the talk and handed me his business card letting me know that he wanted to come to Cincinnati to see our school. He told me about his second book and mentioned that CHCA is doing many of the things he hopes all schools will be doing soon. He wants to highlight some of those things in that second book. While I am happy to brag a bit about our school, I am even more thrilled to know that John believes strongly that companies like Apple are committed to supporting this new level of engagement in our schools. How incredibly thrilling to think engaged learning is not simply a “phase” we are going through; instead, we are going through a paradigm shift in education, and all the momentum is in the direction we are already heading. The resources and industry innovations we need to continue to flow in this direction are going to take us to places about which we have yet to dream.

At its essence, this new innovation in education is about student engagement in a community of learning. Students thrive when they are encouraged, even required, to have a hand in crafting at least a portion of their own learning. When a student has some significant level of ownership of that environment, they have a tendency to: • express a deeper engagement in content • be more creative • be realistic about their own strengths and weakness, leading to respect for and collaboration with others • think more deeply, leading to a much richer sense of understanding • be willing to risk, fail, and try again • emotionally connect with peers, leading to a sense of being well known • want to come to school and engage with learning and so much more But let’s not forget that this same principle applies to how we ALL should approach engagement within the CHCA community. For years, I have noticed that those who seem to derive the most satisfaction from the CHCA community are those who roll up their sleeves and pick a place to engage more deeply. Yes, we are all very busy and time is a most precious commodity, but raising our level of engagement here seems to open our eyes to the breadth and width of exciting things happening within this community. We believe this level of engagement is vital to each of us as students, staff, and parents. Our recent Constituent Survey revealed a very high correlation between a family’s level of engagement and their overall satisfaction with the school. The Kensington Group, who administered the survey, highlighted this outcome most of all. They encouraged us to work diligently to more deeply engage our students, staff, and parents in order to allow each constituent to express an increasing joy in being a part of this amazing community. The correlations were just too important to leave to chance. So, please enjoy this edition of the Eagle’s Eye, which highlights various ways engagement comes to life within CHCA. For those of you who still have children attending CHCA, I hope one these stories will encourage you to dip your toes into the water of engagement, if you have not done so already. If you have, consider inviting someone you know who seems to be reluctant to step in - and a little nudge from you may be all they need. For our alumni families, please consider sharing your story of engagement with CHCA. Each year, we see the alumni section of this magazine substantially growing. You are on the other side of engagement and have seen firsthand how the CHCA experience here uniquely prepared your child(ren) for a life of impact and influence — many even returning to CHCA to teach, coach, volunteer, send their children, and more. We are a uniquely blessed community, and being engaged makes all the difference.

Randy Brunk, CHCA Head of School

DYNAMICALLY ENGAGED

The Beauty of Intercession STORY BY STEPHEN CARTER

“There is the beauty in the relationship building that happens organically through these experiences...” “And now,” Gisli said, turning to face the group, ice axe in hand, “We drink.” In several swift motions, our guide made a hole in the surface of the glacial ice and exposed running water. Using his ice axe as a bridge across the hole, Gisli lowered himself into plank position, placed his mouth to the running water, and drank deeply. “Not bad,” he said, smiling and facing the group with water dripping off of his chin. “Who’s next?” One by one the twentysix of us lowered ourselves and drank from the glacier melt, consuming water that had been frozen for thousands of years. The break afforded us the chance to take in the view, now at the halfway point of our hike. We dug our crampons into the ice and looked over the wide vista at the jagged peaks of ice crusted with volcanic ash. We peered over the edge of a widening crevasse at the rushing water heading toward the newly created glacier lagoon nestled in between mountainous peaks. The moment seemed distanced from reality. Just one week before I had been sitting in my classroom in the English hallway of the high school at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy grading senior research papers. Just eight months before I had been working with my colleague, Kevin Salkil, to pitch the idea for a group to go to Iceland for intercession. And just eleven years ago I had been interviewing for a teaching position at the school that would afford me some of the greatest opportunities of my life. One of the vastly numerous reasons that CHCA is a unique and wonderful school is its implementation of the intercession program. Each year students are able to choose from a wide selection of courses that take them out of the classroom and into a variety of new experiences, from local explorations and service, to national opportunities, to international travel. Teachers are encouraged to allow their interests to lead in developing new, exciting opportunities for the students. At the head of this entire program is Dr. Dean Nicholas, the principal of the Upper School, who believes that teacher passion is the key to success in intercession experiences. Ask any teacher at the high school, and they will readily agree. Ask about the Society of Trailblazers May term and be prepared to hear all about the sport of fly-fishing. Ask about the Appalachian Trail group’s experience and be prepared to hear all about the white-water rafting trip. Ask about the mission trip to Guatemala and hear how the students were able to help a homeless man afford an official ID so he could get a job and support his family. Ask about the painting of a mural in Price Hill and listen to the students describe the experience of coming together to create something they never could have alone. Ask someone who went to Stewart Elementary as part of Serve Cincinnati Schools and was overcome by the impact made in the lives of those less

fortunate. Ask a student on the Building Bloc trip what he learned and be prepared to hear about the joys of swinging a sledgehammer and trimming bushes. Ask anyone on the Europe trip about the beauty of Dublin and be prepared to see plenty of pictures. Ask for fishing tips from students who braved Cayo Costa and hear about their survival techniques. Ask anyone who has ever had the opportunity to lead, to participate, or to help with an intercession at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy about the innate value of these out-ofclassroom experiences—the value of realizing that not all learning takes place inside the school. Sometimes, it happens in unexpected places. “You know,” Gisli said, walking over to take in the view with the rest of the group, “this glacier is melting at an incredibly fast pace. A few years ago it started at the parking lot.” He gestured to our vehicles parked almost a mile from the glacier’s start. “Odds are this glacier will no longer be here when your children are your age.” Our group was silenced, both by the awe of this natural wonder and by the sadness of its inevitable loss.

4 3

DYNAMICALLY ENGAGED

The Beauty of Intercession (continued)

This was not the only time we were silenced into awe during our ten day trip around the country of Iceland. We experienced similar emotions while spelunking thirty-five meters below the ground in Vatnshellir—a lava tube formed from a volcanic eruption 8,000 years ago. When we reached the furthest depth of the cave, our guide instructed that all flashlights be turned off. No matter how prepared we may have been for the dark, we were not prepared for the ensuing all-encompassing negation of light, for the surreal experience of not being able to see even the shadow of one’s own hand when placed directly in front of one’s face. We silently succumbed to a range of emotions from paralyzing terror to surprising comfort. “Darkness visible,” someone uttered, quoting John Milton’s paradoxical vision of hell in Paradise Lost. We were further awed as we ended a hike over a mountain and through thirty-mile-an-hour winds to take shelter in the cave which provided shelter to the original Viking settlers of Iceland. From the cave we could peer out over the vast black sand beaches to the rock formations at the tip of Vik, the southernmost point of Iceland. It is said that three trolls were turned to stone at the sight of the sun while trying to pull a boat ashore. Perhaps it was the allure of the cave, or the exhaustion from the hike, but the story of the trolls is not hard to believe when standing in the midst of Iceland’s beauty. This feeling of awe never got old despite encountering it on a daily basis, whether it be by visiting a pool whose waters are heated directly from the core of the earth, or by driving through a countryside dotted with lava fields, grazing sheep, and snow-capped mountains, or by eating bread that had been cooked under a pile of sand heated by a geothermal spring. Even expecting the awe-filled moments did not diminish them. Such was the case when we boarded the refurbished wooden fishing boat to sail out into the ocean off the coast of Dalvik in the northern part of Iceland. After a mere twenty minutes, our guide came over the loudspeaker with an excited voice and instructed us to look at 2 o’clock. We crowded to the edge of the boat and saw, breathless in wonder, four surfacing humpback whales no more than a stone’s throw away. The majestic creatures, oblivious to the hurried clicks of iphone cameras, fed slowly and at great leisure, pausing only briefly to blow a stream of water straight into the air. “This is truly amazing,” our guide said, her words thick with an Icelandic accent. “To see so many. So close. You are very lucky.” Lucky. It sure felt that way, standing on a boat in the chilly waters just north of the Arctic Circle. It sure felt that way surrounded by smiling high school students braving the cold, braving the wind, and braving the rocking boat to step out of their comfort zone in order to embrace a new adventure.

But perhaps we are lucky because we realized that although Iceland was truly beautiful, it is not the only source of beauty intercession affords us with. There is the beauty in the relationship building that happens organically through these experiences, whether it be between sophomores and seniors who have not spoken prior to the trip, or between faculty members and students who stay up late playing cards.

There is the beauty in giving oneself over to the service of another, whether it be by helping to build a home or helping to teach a class or helping to plant a garden. There is the beauty in a group of students standing at the top of a mountain cheering incessantly as each person in their group ascends the summit. There is the beauty in casting a fly into a softly flowing river at the break of day. There is the beauty in watching rapids break against the side of a raft, or the beauty in helping someone in financial need. There is the beauty in coming together to create a work of art, or the beauty in working in a first grade classroom. There is the beauty in working with one’s hands, the beauty in exploring a culture both foreign and new, and the beauty in communing with the natural world. There is the realization that beauty is everywhere and often it is necessary to leave the walls of the classroom to find it. “Everyone, look! The tail!” I turn just in time to see the enormous tail of the whale rise above the surface of water before fanning out and gliding below. “Wow,” a student says, turning to me. “Isn’t it beautiful?” I smile and say “Yes, yes it is,” because life is, indeed, beautiful, and therefore, for the mere fact of living it, we are all the lucky ones.

5 6

DYNAMICALLY ENGAGED

Building Life-Long Leaders BY CAMMIE MONTGOMERY

In the early 2000s, CHCA Armleder began taking shape as a college preparatory Christian school in the heart of downtown Cincinnati and at A.B. Combs Elementary in Raleigh, North Carolina, Principal Muriel Summers was challenged by her superintendent to reinvent their leadership magnet school. At the time, their school was failing and not attracting a large population of students. Principal Summers went to her stakeholders who shared their desires to see students grow to their fullest potential – not just increase their test scores. She collaborated with Franklin Covey to design, develop, and implement a leadership model for her school, which drew from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Because of this new approach, A.B. Combs experienced a complete turnaround ultimately being named the #1 Magnet School in the U.S., twice. Since its official launch in 2009, the Leader in Me process has reached over 3,000 public, private, charter, and magnet schools across 50 countries, changing the paradigm of how schools teach and view their students. Students are now seen as each having a hidden genius that can be unlocked and nourished by teaching healthy habits of the mind. The Leader In Me sees that every child can be a leader and take charge of their learning. A key component to this process is teaching the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which are enduring principles of personal and interpersonal effectiveness. These habits are:

1 Be Proactive: You’re in Charge 2 Begin with the End in Mind: Have a Plan 3 Put First Things First: Work First, Then Play 4 Think Win-Win: Everyone Can Win 5 Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood:

Listen Before You Talk

6 Synergize: Together is Better 7 Sharpen the Saw: Balance Feels Best By learning and practicing these habits of the mind, students learn a variety of skills which prepare them for success in their academics and in their personal endeavors. These skills include goal setting, critical thinking, listening and speaking, self-directed learning, presentation-making, and the ability to work in groups.

Though initially secular, these habits pair so incredibly well with core Christian beliefs that allow CHCA students to grow as spiritual leaders as well. The school’s goals to Learn, Lead, and Serve are the guidepost which allow for a shared vision and a focused direction to embed student leadership. Armleder began its journey with Leader In Me as early as 2012 when two administrators attended a Leader in Me symposium in Dublin, OH. The purpose of the symposium was to generate buzz for Leader in Me. Educators were given an overview of the Leader in Me process and belief system and visited schools to see this process in action. Filled with ideas, excitement, and a changed paradigm, the administrators returned to Armleder ready to challenge the staff to rethink leadership. Over the next four years, every staff member attended a symposium witnessing elementary aged students giving tours of their buildings, showcasing their data notebooks which contained their personal and academic goals, and hearing testimonies on how the Leader In Me has prepared them to be more successful. Every staff member at Armleder also participated in a summer book study on The Leader In Me: How Schools Around the World are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time. Slowly, a new language filled the halls of Armleder. All students began to hear teachers teach and then challenge them to “be proactive” and take charge of their actions. When a disagreement occurred between students, the teacher reminded them to “seek first to understand, then to be understood” so that the students could hear each other and resolve their conflict. The habits became a part of the education of the students. A new sense of greatness was being fostered in every classroom as Armleder identified and celebrated leadership and potential in the students. As a result, students began speaking up and taking charge of their experiences at Armleder, recognizing that they had a voice and that the staff was listening. Likewise, the staff grew more open to student suggestions. A card committee formed when students saw a need, desired to fill it, and an administrator was willing to walk beside them in developing it. The news team evolved as staff members changed their paradigm and saw the potential for students to take ownership in every role. Field day became more engaging as students received

more of a voice in the activities offered and an opportunity to lead the games. With each step towards this shift in the culture of the school, it became clear that the Leader In Me process held great potential within Armleder. In the fall of 2016, Armleder participated in “Rethinking Leadership” a Leader in Me training that served as the precursor to the implementation of the Leader In Me process. The Armleder staff and members of the Armleder Committee also attended a “Leadership Day” at Longbranch Elementary school, a Leader In Me school in Kentucky. During this school visit, the attendees gained a first-hand look at the transformation a school undergoes through the Leader in Me process. Filled with excitement and ideas, the staff unanimously agreed to adopt the process for Armleder to begin implementation. A presentation was given to the Armleder Committee members and parents with the first year of training and implementation beginning in the fall of 2017. The main goal of year one training for Leader in Me is to shift the paradigm of the staff members, empowering them to live out the 7 habits. Prior to the school year, the staff spent three days in trainings, learning about the 7 habits, casting vision for the school year, and setting goals for the implementation in each grade level. The staff studied each habit, learning how to apply it to their lives and brainstorming how it could enhance the classroom. Instead of trying to establish too many new initiatives, the staff chose to focus on the strongest areas of leadership. These areas included the ambassador program, girls in pearls/guys in ties, the news team, and the card committee. Using those opportunities as inspiration, Armleder began its year focused on leadership. Each morning, in every classroom, conversations were held discussing the habits. Students engaged in discussions on how “thinking win-win” would improve group work, and how “beginning with the end in mind” would guide them in accomplishing their dreams. Teachers began increasing the amount of student voice and choice in their daily activities. For programs, instead of adults speaking, students stepped up and took on more roles. All over the school, students were challenged to take ownership and lead courageously. Every student received their own “habits” workbook and were guided through weekly lessons that deepened their understanding of the habits. Behind it all, the staff discussed how to continue the implementation and change the culture of the school to a culture of leadership. A lighthouse team was formed, made up of administrators and teachers from all grade levels. Meeting monthly, the team planned events such as a leadership day, where guests came to Armleder, toured the school, and saw students demonstrating leadership in their area of genius. This particular event was paired with a Leader In Me symposium occurring in Cincinnati! It was unheard of for a first year school to host a leadership day! However, Armleder recognized their strengths and giftings, and highlighted it all! The team also established action teams who were comprised of the rest of the staff. There were three actions established, all working towards the school mission of establishing a culture of leadership. The leadership environment action team met with the goal of establishing a more unified look of promoting leadership throughout the school. Their short team goal, completed at the end of the school year, was a tree painted by Grade 6 students on the primary upper elementary floor. Trees such as this will be decorated with leaves throughout the year highlighting individual student leadership moments. It is a visual representation of leadership in progress!

Since it’s official launch in 2009, the Leader in Me process has reached over 3,000 public, private, charter and magnet schools across 50 countries changing the paradigm of how schools teach and view their students. on leadership and what opportunities they wanted to see in the building. Students were asked to write down their talents and abilities and create a way that their gifts could benefit the school. Long term, the team desires to streamline leadership opportunities throughout the school. The leadership events action team met with the short term goal of planning Armleder’s first town hall. They partnered with the National Junior Honor Society to plan an event that celebrated leadership. Students wrote the script, designed the activities, and led the entire event. Excitement filled the air as students heard their names read in front of the entire school identifying how they demonstrated leadership. It was the perfect end to the school year. Everyone had a sense of pride seeing how the Leader In Me was beginning to transform Armleder. CHCA’s Armleder Committee, the parent advisor council of the school, also accepted the challenge of engaged leadership through a partnership with The Motz Group. The Playground Project was a demonstration of their synergizing. Under the leadership of CHCA alumni and Board members, Armleder raised a record-breaking $65,000 in one week to match a gift from The Motz Group for a resurfaced playground and soccer field. The second implementation year of Leader In Me is focusing on aligning academics. Armleder will align its goals and measure what matters. Armleder will implement new assessment tools required by the state of Ohio in preschool through Grade 6, due to the school’s Ed Choice and Step Up to Quality participation. English Language Arts has renewed its work with The Shurley Method to develop students’ understanding of language rules for great writers and orators. You can expect to hear more about how students are learning, leading, and serving in the heart of the city. Projects and events this year include the rooftop garden project and the ribbon cutting for the “The Leaders Playground”. As student leadership grows and develops, Armleder looks forward to continued engagement with 135 talented leaders filled with hopes and dreams.

The shared leadership action team met with the goal of increasing the opportunities students had to lead and be a part of the school. A survey was created for students to write down their thoughts

DYNAMICALLY ENGAGED >>

Aquaponics and Stem Education at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy BY KEVIN SAVAGE, PH. D.

Aquaponics at CHCA had humble beginnings – it began as a three-week module in an agriculture unit of an environmental science elective course. Under the guidance of two commercial aquaponic growers, the first small aquaponics system was constructed in a CHCA classroom in November 2011, using a repurposed aquarium and recycled 2-liter bottles. Students of CHCA’s Upper School Science Teachers, Dr. Kevin Savage and Mr. Gary Delanoy, completed construction of the system. During the following academic year, aquaponics became a significant component of the Environmental Science I & II course sequence. Over the next three years, as many as six different aquaponics systems were operating at any given time, and included a student-built media bed, deep-water culture, nutrient film, and vertical tower systems. In the spring of 2016, it was announced that as a part of CHCA’s Light The Way capital campaign, and through the generosity of CHCA families and friends, a new greenhouse with attached classroom and laboratory facilities would be constructed on the MSL Upper School campus. Construction of the greenhouse structure began in October 2016, and the classroom and laboratory were ready for the first day of classes in August 2017. The greenhouse itself was completed in January 2018. Since then, the aquaponics classes, student and faculty research, and a production growing system have begun to fill the 4,000 square foot greenhouse. Since the beginning, lesson plans were modified from activities provided by other educators, found online, or were created by Savage and Delanoy. Their lesson plans and activities have covered several scientific disciplines: biology, botany, chemistry, and even physics.

During the 2015-2016 academic year, Savage and Delanoy began teaching aquaponics using an Engineering Design Process (EDP) approach. This iterative or cyclical approach to problem solving allows students to utilize and build on their scientific method skills, while solving practical problems associated with designing and building small-scale aquaponics systems in a classroom or greenhouse setting. Teaching with this approach requires that the students develop mastery of basic science concepts associated with aquaponics, the technology integrated into even the smallest of systems, and the engineering principles (and required math skills) needed to complete a successful design under given constraints. In short, the engineering design process approach provides the opportunity to include STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) education as the

basis for a hands-on course, such as Introduction to Aquaponics. Since the 2016-2017 academic year, Savage and Delanoy have relied heavily on the “Small-Scale Aquaponic Food Production” UN-FAO technical manual as their primary “textbook” for their students. They have developed STEM-focused lecture, assessment, and lab-type activities using the content of this document. Lesson plans are reviewed and modified each year, and work is ongoing to correlate these lesson plans and activities with curriculum standards. Not only are these classes beneficial for education, but they are also helping families in the community right now. CHCA Aquaponics has been partnering with the Jubilee Project, which is working to help supply fresh produce to the Westwood community in Cincinnati. This community is classified by some as a “food desert”, meaning “… parts of the country lacking in fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas … largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food providers …” (USDA). At the household level, many experience “food insecurity”, or “… household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food…” During the winter when outdoor gardens are not accessible, CHCA Greenhouse will be able to provide food for many of these families. CHCA students are also being offered the opportunity to collaborate with scientists from NASA’s Ames Research Center, as well as the teacher and students from at least one other school. Although there is no defined timeline, it is a project that is expected to last as long as two to three years. NASA’s interest is to collaborate with teachers and students under the “Citizen Science” program, to perform research on the microbial ecology of food production systems that may be useful for human exploration. Savage initially met Dr. Brad Bebout of NASA while attending the 2016 Aquaponics Association conference in Austin, TX. Many discussions and mutual efforts have continued since then.

Supporting NASA, CHCA students will be operating an aquaponics system (including fish, plants, and microbes), but the focus will initially be on microbes associated with the roots of the plants. The first task will be to identify the microbes (e.g. bacteria, fungi, etc.) associated with the roots; follow-up work will attempt to gain an understanding of the role and function of the microbes in the growth and health of the plant. It is a hope to be able to compare the findings with those of the NASA research scientists, as well as the data from the other school partnering with this project. Because CHCA students typically have only one to two years to work on this and will be researching while having full course loads and extracurricular activities, the anticipation is for students to work cooperatively and build upon the efforts of other students. CHCA is optimistic that the results of the students will be presentable and ready to publish in the future. CHCA is currently focused on pursuing external grant opportunities with the NASA researchers to provide funding for their research. This will be a top priority for this school year. Sydney Sauer, a CHCA senior who has been heavily involved with Aquaponics, says this about her experience: “When Mr. Delanoy first asked me if I was interested in aquaponics research for NASA, I thought he was kidding. Or at least, that NASA was some obscure aquaponics acronym. But as I would come to find out, here at CHCA our aquaponics program is doing big things, and students really do get to be a part of them. In a nutshell, I am working on a project to figure out what microbial life looks like around plant roots and how to optimize that for best growing results. My time working with Dr. Savage so far has been a whirlwind of new ideas—some of the key papers we are using for our experimental design weren’t even published when I first started researching— and incredible experiences. I even got to sit in on a conference call with two representatives from NASA! I am so lucky to get this opportunity and grateful for all the donors who made the greenhouse possible. It has expanded our possibilities far beyond what any other high school could accomplish.”

REFRESHINGLY INSIGHTFUL

So We Heard You Wrote A Book… Q&A with Mr. Robeson

We sat down with CHCA Social Studies teacher, Mr. West Robeson, to learn more about his recent endeavor, published in December 2017...

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born and raised in Cincinnati. I graduated from Cincinnati Christian Schools, where I attended K-12. I then attended the University of Cincinnati where I studied media technology, animation, and secondary education social studies. I am currently working on my masters in American Military History. I’ve been married for 10 years to Anne – my high school sweetheart – and have one son, Crosley, who attends CHCA.

How long have you been working for CHCA? This will be my fourth year at CHCA.

What drew you to CHCA?

The culture. I wanted to be in an environment where I could really challenge students. If I could do it in a Christian setting – then, I thought, I’d be lucky. When I heard there was an opening at CHCA, I was thrilled. CHCA was actually the first school I observed as a student in the education program at UC. In the back of my head I thought, “this would be a great place to teach.”

Is this your first book? Yes

What inspired you to write this book?

I have been studying literature and collecting paraphernalia from the Second World War for over a decade and a half. My passion has led me to Europe four times, once leading a tour for students and parents. But it was actually through

collecting that started me down the path of writing. I purchased a large collection of personal documents which included some dilapidated after action reports for the 781st Tank Battalion. As I read and transcribed about 100 pages to make a digital, searchable transcript, I became enamored with armor. This took me down a wormhole of inquiry and I soon found myself in the archives at Fort Knox, the location of the Army’s Armor School from its establishment to 2010. Really, it was just a little personal project until a professor encouraged me to do something more with it.

Can you share what the book is about?

The easy answer is, “it’s about American tank development.” The long answer? The first part of the book examines the underlying factors that determined American armor doctrine up through the Second World War. So it examines British and French influence during World War One, inter-war infighting between the infantry and the cavalry schools of thought over mechanized units, congressional legislation, peacetime defense budgets, lack of facilities and equipment and overall unpreparedness. The book then goes on to examine the experience of independent tank battalions, which were attached to infantry divisions during the war. Throughout the study, the text investigates many of the apparent shortcomings of American machines and thought, which were constantly reacting to battlefield experience. It’s a story of an army adjusting to the ever-changing battlefield and struggling to adapt.

Can you take us through the process of writing it and getting it published? It was laborious. Researching and writing the manuscript took about four years. The publishing process took almost three years. My objective was to try and bridge the gap between existing popular and academic history. Therefore I wanted a scholarly press to publish my work. The publishing process started with an informal proposal to Texas A&M University. A week or so later, having gained their interest, I submitted a formal multipage proposal. Weeks later, the press requested hard copies of two chapters. About half a year later, I got the green light to submit the entire manuscript. This was followed by almost a year of dead air, which published professors assured me was normal. Finally, TAMU requested two hard copies of the manuscript for peer review. This took almost another year. We finally got the reviews back and they were good. Meaning the overall message to the university was “Publish, but fix some things.” The reviews were the best part of the process. I felt my work vindicated by their criticism. Their notes ranged from “Check spelling” to “Suggest author elaborate on discussion concerning BRL memorandum Report No. 798.” Before I could even make such amendments to the manuscript, I had to write a formal response to the reviews. This would be presented to a committee consisting of press, faculty, and professors. The panel meets only twice a year, so I had to wait about four months. The committee was happy with my response. I returned to the manuscript, made corrections, elaborated here and there, cut this out, restructured that chapter… Finally, after a second round of reviews, we were good to go. I never wanted to look at the manuscript again. The hardest part was the intermittent waiting periods. It was like dropping off a pet in the middle of nowhere and hoping he shows up again – with any luck, alive.

What has been the most rewarding part of writing this book

Probably my boat I bought with my royalties. I named her Buttoned Up and she is currently moored in Destin, Florida. Really, the most rewarding part of the book was the peer reviews. Knowing that professionals and academics were scrutinizing my work was a great feeling. Seeing the book on display at a conference in Louisville was also especially rewarding.

If you had one bit of advice for someone writing a book, what would it be?

My advice for anyone writing, fiction or nonfiction, is to embrace the criticism. Listen to your English teachers and implement their instruction. Go to conferences and listen to what editors and publishers have to say. For non-fiction writers, start a system early. I mean, make sure you leave an escape route through your piles of documents, books, and assorted papers that have accumulated on the floor. When you start to lose your mind, get out fast and come back the next day.

Do you have plans for additional publications?

Currently I have a few projects that are just lonely .doc files on my computer. One is a non-fiction piece that is a dialogue on theology and morality set in World War II.

How can we get a copy of your book now?

It’s available now online from all major booksellers.

Gansle Awarded CINTAS Chemistry Teacher of the Year Upper School Science Teacher, Mr. Paul Gansle, was on a path to a promising career in Pharma but felt a passion to teach and a desire to make others love chemistry as much as he did, and so his career path changed directions. Because of these traits, Gansle has become an outstanding teacher who is diligent and hard working. He teaches honors and AP chemistry and in 2016, he created an Organic Chemistry curriculum at the high school level that provides his students with what they need to succeed in a college level Organic Chemistry course. Gansle’s classroom and methods are very student centered. His lessons prepare his students for the critical thinking and problem solving that are necessary beyond the classroom and in the real world. CHCA Upper School Principal, Dean Nicholas, says, “Paul is devoted to his students and always has a smile and a positive attitude. He is the unique teacher who can push and challenge students at every level of the curricula, yet one never hears a student complain about him or his class. Students know concretely that he is their champion and committed to their success.” Making sure his students succeed is key to Gansle’s success as a teacher. Through an app, students can text him when they have questions or problems they cannot solve. Gansle gives up Saturdays and evenings to host problem solving sessions with his students in preparation for the AP exam. Additionally, he organizes visits to local industries, so his students can learn about careers in chemistry and build their network. Gansle also keeps in touch with students who have graduated, often rendering advice on courses to take and career choices. All these attributes are why Paul Gansle was honored as CINTAS Chemistry Teacher of the Year. Congratulations!

REFRESHINGLY INSIGHTFUL

at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy

Food for Thought This coming April, CHCA will host its first Food Symposium centered on the theme, “Path to Sustainability.” Over the course of two days, nine sessions, and over thirty speakers, the symposium will, with the help of well-known individuals in the food industry, explore a range of discussion topics, feature hands-on cooking demonstrations from regional chefs, sport an expo comprised of local groups and businesses, host a food truck rally, and more. We sat down to learn more from one of the Symposium’s creators, Upper School teacher, Mr. Stephen Carter. Q: So where did the idea for this symposium originate?

Q: Tell us about one of your speakers.

Q: What do you mean by “this conversation”?

Q: What would you say to someone who wanted to know why this event is being held at CHCA?

A: Well first and foremost, we love food. I mean, who doesn’t? Food brings people together and connects them in a multitude of ways. We’ve both encountered questions from students about food and its related topics, and this made us realize the importance of bringing this conversation to an even larger community. A: There are so many dialogues going on about food right now as people are wanting to know where their food comes from, or who was involved in bringing it to the market. We are fascinated by the growth of farmer’s markets and the recent surge of farm-to-table movements. Our whole theme is about bringing up topics of conversation and continuing them, both during the event and after.

Q: Speaking of your theme, why did you choose “path to sustainability”?

A: Our current food production methods are incredibly unhealthy and unsustainable in the long run. The industrialized system has gotten so large and out of control that consumers no longer have a say in how animals are raised or how crops are grown. It’s crazy to think that we live in a society where close to 60% of our farmland is used to grow corn and soy for the purpose of livestock. We need to be discussing this and considering how it will affect not only our future but also the future of all life on this planet.

Q: So is this just going to be one giant lecture on the health of the planet?

A: Ha—that would be way too boring. No, this is going to be a fun-filled, life-changing event with great speakers, awesome food, and cool exhibits.

A: We are especially excited to have Joel Salatin deliver the second day’s keynote talk. Joel is a third-generation farmer who reached national attention through a role in the film Food, INC. and has written eight books including Folks, This Ain’t Normal. He is a staunch defender of family farms and local food and will be a huge hit at the symposium.

A: CHCA is perfect for this event—we are already deeply invested in the conversation in many of our classrooms from environmental science and American history to sophomore English and Christian thought. The school has a student-run coffee bar focused on sourcing coffee in an ethical manner and limiting its carbon footprint, a state-of-the-art greenhouse that features a nationally recognized aquaponics program, and a bountiful vegetable garden situated between the EBL and Founders’ campuses, which produces hundreds of pounds of produce annually for a local food pantry. We have great spaces to share thoughts and converse, and we are ideally located. Besides, the food and beverage scene is exploding in the northwest side of Cincinnati. All in all, this is a great opportunity for CHCA to be a thought leader on these important topics.

Q: Well I’m certainly already excited about this. Where would you advise people go for more information?

A: We have a web site chca-oh.org/foodsymposium, where tickets are currently on sale. We also have social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep people updated on the event. Otherwise, mark your calendars for April 4-5, 2019, and join in on the conversation.

RESILIENTLY FAITHFUL

CHCA Students Build Hope In the Form of a House CHCA’s SOS exists to build up student leaders who provide service opportunities for all students, so they may learn about the world through the eyes of Christ, develop relationships with people, and further the Kingdom of God. Affordable housing is the number one issue for people experiencing homelessness. The search for safe and quality housing is a tremendous stress to low-income working families right here in Cincinnati.

CHCA’s Student Organized Service (SOS) Director Karen Hordinski shared of the experience, “We were incredibly excited to help end the cycle of poverty and provide a home for a low-income working family in Cincinnati!”

This fact is one which compelled over 200 CHCA students, faculty, staff, and parents (led by 23 student leaders) to partner with Help Build Hope to build the walls of a new house, using only a hammer and nails, in CHCA’s school parking lot last spring. The home was then loaded onto a flatbed by students and transported to Walnut Hills, finished, and sold to a family in urban Cincinnati through the nonprofit, Discover Jubilee.

This event was all made possible by CHCA’s Teacher Innovation Fund, an initiative that empowers teachers to inspire innovation and engagement among students. Teachers are moving from the role of mostly delivering content to facilitators of engagement, creativity, collaboration, problem solving, and enlightenment. At CHCA, teachers are embracing this shift and the Teacher Innovation Fund is serving as an accelerator.

Throughout this process, the student leadership team planned for food, social media, music, and leading teams of 5-8 of their peers to build the walls. Classrooms were also engaged by discussing affordable housing, poverty issues, and prayer.

CHCA’s SOS exists to build up student leaders who provide service opportunities for all high school students, so they may learn about the world through the eyes of Christ, develop relationships with people, and further the Kingdom of God. 14

2017-2018 Campus Highlights

Follow CHCA

@CincinnatiHillsChristianAcademy

@GoCHCA

BOLDLY DETERMINED

A Special Story about a Special Family BY ADAM BAUM

Before the start of the 2017 high school baseball season, CHCA head coach Tony Schulz sent me a note about his team. That was the first time I was introduced to Griffan Smith. Schulz said Smith was a great pitcher and an even better person with a great story. I put Griffan on my list of names to follow throughout the season. With a couple of weeks left in the regular season I made my way out to CHCA to speak to Griffan during a study hall period. We spoke about baseball, life, faith, and family. Much of our conversation centered around his dad’s ongoing battle with cancer. Over the next couple weeks, I reached out to Griffan’s mom, Joyce, in hopes of also interviewing the rest of the family. One evening, not long after the postseason began, I received a text from Joyce that read: “Griffan promised his dad in the hospital that he would throw him a perfect game and he did.” I remember the goosebumps that came with reading that text. I knew this was a special story about a special family. A story that had to be written…

Published June 4, 2017 in The Cincinnati Enquirer:

There is a gift given only by faith. All that’s asked in return is belief. Griffan Smith knows of faith. He understands faith because life has demanded that he understand it. Smith, a 6-foot-3 senior left-handed pitcher, helped lift Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy High School’s baseball team to the state semifinals. Their run ultimately ended in a 2-1 eight-inning loss June 1 to the No. 1 team in the state, but he uplifted much more than his team. Griffan gave his father, Alan, who’s currently in a longstanding fight with cancer, an immeasurable gift. The day before the playoffs started, Alan, diagnosed about 15 years ago with metastatic melanoma, was admitted to the hospital. “Turns out, I was pretty sick, sicker than I thought I was,” said Alan, who spent five days in the ICU. “I thought it was just a dehydration issue but it was much broader than that. Multiple organs were involved that were beginning to shut down in sequence.

“Some of the data (doctors) gathered, they were telling Joyce and I, ‘You shouldn’t be coherent at this point in time’ because my glucose level in my blood dove down below 30 and my ammonia level was high and both of those are life threatening. Things started happening really, really fast at that point in time. They still are puzzled as to what exactly happened. I’ve got congestive heart failure, a weak kidney performance, a weak liver performance. I had a liter and a half of fluid taken out of my right lung and somehow the good Lord above brought me through that.” Griffan was scheduled to start the next night in a sectional tournament game May 10. “I got a text Tuesday night from my mom (Joyce), she said come down and see him cause he’s going into the ICU,” said Griffan. “I was at the hospital until like 2 a.m. (the day of the game). My mom said I might not be able to go to school, so if that was the case, I wouldn’t have been able to play.” Griffan went home to sleep, but before he did — before he woke up that morning to a text saying his dad was feeling okay, and he could go to school and play that night — Griffan spoke briefly with his father.

“I talked to him and he was doing really good when I talked to him,” Griffan said. “I told him I was gonna throw him a perfect game.” The next time he spoke to his dad, Griffan told him, “I kept my promise. I threw a perfect game for ya.” He struck out 11 of the 15 Riverview East batters he faced in a fiveinning win.

Faith’s fastball

“I told him, ‘I did that for you,’” Griffan said. “Playing for someone other than yourself, you get that fire in you — that was the spark.” When Griffan told his dad the news, he said, “He seemed like he was a little out of it, under some medication so he texted me (the next day) and said he was very proud of me. He said he’s gonna keep battling and hopefully, he can come out and see the next game.” CHCA head baseball coach Tony Schulz, made aware of the situation, had to make a decision. “He was scheduled to start the game and then his dad goes in the hospital the night before, late,” said Schulz. “He’s texting me that night, giving me updates, and the last thing I wanted on his mind was the next day’s game — focus on your family. Next morning, I get a text from his mom and his mom said that he got a good night’s sleep and his dad was doing a little better, then she says he definitely wants to pitch still. He wants to throw a perfect game for his dad. And I’m like, ‘Oh man, you gotta be kidding me.’ “At that time, I’m still not sure if I want to start him…it’s an emotional night and a tournament game. I wasn’t sure. I get to the locker room and I see him in there and as soon as I was

able to look into his eyes, I knew he was starting.” Schulz continued, “The funny thing is our pitching coach, who’s down with him in the bullpen and calling pitches for the game, the second batter of the game — cause Griffan looked pretty good — coach turns to me and goes, ‘He’s gonna throw a perfect game today.’ And I hadn’t said anything about what his mom told me or shared anything about that. He was just so laser focused. It was pretty special. Knowing what I knew from the night before and what he’d been through…it was pretty emotional for him.” Two of Griffan’s three older brothers (Ryan, 20, and Jordan, 22) were at the game and tackled him, too, like older brothers do. Joyce said when she asked her husband if he was upset that he missed the perfect game, or Griffan’s complete-game shutout in a 1-0 district championship win May 20, Alan, with a calm certainty, told his wife, “There will be more games.” He was right.

An unforgettable run

Since he was just a boy, Griffan’s watched his dad fight cancer. Surgery and tests. Hospitalizations and scares. Remissions and recurrences. So far, life’s been a lesson in heartache, but instead of retreating or complaining, Griffan has persevered in spite of pain and uncertainty. Alan said the melanoma, “Appeared on my shoulder; we took care of it. We thought there would be no further repercussions, and one of the spots turned out to be a little bit deeper than the others and there was a spread found later on. So…it was discovered and then there was a period of remission and it came back.” Joyce said, “I’ve told Alan this, the words ‘grit’ and ‘tenacity’ keep coming back to me. You learn some of that through adversity and Griffan’s been the youngest of four boys and so he’s had to watch Alan be sick and live with that more than the others because one has moved out and the other two are at college. Of course, they all love their dad dearly, but Griffan’s really had to live with it. “This (playoff) run, I see a different kid. I think he’s had to dig deep and ...my goodness, you’re taking an adverse situation and you are totally just dialed in. It’s really cool.” Griffan didn’t just throw a perfect game for his dad; he helped manufacture a postseason run that allowed a father to watch his son play baseball again. Fathers will always want to watch their sons play baseball, and sons will always want to make their fathers proud. Alan, who returned home from the hospital May 19, watched Griffan throw the final two games of his high school career. He saw his son mow down Fredericktown in another complete-game performance in a regional semifinal win on May 25. “Tonight was beautiful,” Alan said after the

regional semifinal. “They couldn’t touch him.” Joyce saw her son dig deep, knowing his dad was there watching. “Don’t forget about faith,” she said. “I know it’s what’s carrying him through. He’s very mature in his faith as an 18-year-old. Again, what do you do when you face adversity? You lean on the Lord. That’s where he’s had to go.” The four games Griffan pitched following his dad’s hospitalization, he went 3-1 with 38 strikeouts, a perfect game, and he only allowed two earned runs in 26 innings. Griffan’s handled success and adversity the same way: with strength and humility. “It definitely puts it into perspective,” said Griffan. “All the little things you worry about when you think about something like your dad going through cancer and you realize, ‘Wow, all the other stuff I’m worried about seems irrelevant.’ Him having cancer...I’ve always felt pretty positive about it and being a Christian, I trust the plan that God has for him and my family. “So where some people would pray like, ‘God, why are you doing this to my family? Why are you doing this to me?’ For me, it wasn’t like that at all. It was more like this is life, maybe it’s part of the world we live in. It really hasn’t made me sad or depressed...I’ve stayed up.” This month, Alan and Joyce will celebrate 29 years of marriage. They met as students at Ohio State University. All three of Griffan’s older brothers — Ian, Jordan and Ryan — either graduated or currently attend Ohio State. Griffan will be a Buckeye, too, and he hopes to try and walk-on the baseball team. Speaking about his youngest son and the gift of getting to watch him play, there’s pride in Alan’s voice, and occasionally, emotion takes over. “You know, I think he thinks about me in the back of his mind,” Alan said. “He doesn’t always verbalize it. It’s in the back of his mind what I’ve been through and what I continue to go through. “I’m very proud of him.” After this story was published, I kept in touch with Griffan and his mom. I thought often about Griffan and his future, what would come of it, what it would look like. I remember hearing from Joyce that summer that Griffan would get a shot on Ohio State’s baseball team. I didn’t know if it would work out. I hoped it would. That summer text turned out to be the first in a series of texts about her son. The next informed me that Griffan made the spring roster, then the travel roster, then Griffan’s first appearance in a game, and I knew there was another story, one about how drastically life changed in one short year… Published June 13, 2018 in The Cincinnati Enquirer:

Uncertainty is an unavoidable part of life.

A SPECIAL STORY ABOUT A SPECIAL FAMILY (CONTINUED)

>> when they go into conference play. “So they gave me a chance the first weekend. I threw two shutdown innings and from there, that was kind of the first step and they continued to build their trust and it progressed and progressed and by the end of the year I had 25 appearances and 32 innings and they put me in some tough situations.” One of those situations came in an NCAA Regional game against South Carolina. Beals said Griffan’s journey is “not unheard of, but definitely rare.” “It’s one thing to make the team and be on the team,” said Beals. “It’s another thing to be on the team servicing a role and being a guy that pitches on weekends – every weekend he got the ball at some point, I think. Credit to the young man for the work he put in and the desire he has. He’s just a great kid, hardworking kid. He soaked up every single thing that we gave him.

This time last year, Griffan Smith’s future was uncertain at best. About to graduate from Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, Smith had thrown a gem in an extra-inning loss in a Division III state semifinal, and from there, without any college offers or real interest, his path was undetermined. What Smith had, though, was a dream and a prayer. In the span of a year, that prayer paid off for Smith, who just finished his freshman season as a relief pitcher for Ohio State University. “It absolutely blows my mind,” said Griffan. “It’s hard to believe that that’s where I was a year ago and this is where I am now. “It just goes to show when you trust in God and you trust in His plan, He can do amazing things. It’s amazing to me that I’m here but it’s not like I’m surprised about what God is capable of because I totally put this in His hands. “Last year in the spring, I remember praying: ‘God, this is my dream to play at Ohio State but if You have other plans for me, let Your will be done in my life.’ “This is the plan he had for me and I feel like I’m here for a reason. Looking back on it I’m so thankful and blessed, it still blows my mind.” When CHCA’s season ended last year, Smith said, “I started summer ball and I’m talking to Sinclair Community College. I’m talking to their coach and I told him my goal, in the end, is to play baseball at Ohio State and he’s trying to help me out.” That led to a call from Ohio State baseball coach Greg Beals. “So I get a call from Beals. I think it was early July and he was asking me, ‘What are your plans for next year?’ and I told him, ‘I don’t know what my plans are, I don’t really have

any schools interested in me, but I want to walk-on at Ohio State and play baseball for you guys,’” said Griffan, who mentioned to Beals that he was considering playing at Sinclair for a year. “He said, ‘Sinclair has a great program but I would love for you to come up to Ohio State and be a part of our team for the fall,’ and he was like, ‘I can’t offer you a spot on the spring roster,’ because they have guys on scholarship, ‘so I can’t promise you a spot but I can get you on here for the fall and you can compete for a spot, you can fight for a spot,’” to which Griffan responded, “‘Absolutely.’ I was planning on going there in the fall and going to walk-on tryouts and now I get a call from Beals halfway through the summer and he says no need to walk-on, I’ll just give you a spot for the fall. “He told me that one of Ohio State’s assistant coaches saw me pitch in the state semifinals and they saw my story in the paper and that’s how they got to know me.” Beals said he learned about Smith when The Enquirer featured him last June. “So I had heard his story before I’d seen him pitch,” said Beals. “Here I’m reading this story thinking, ‘Here’s a high character kid, here’s a left-hander of decent size, decent arm that sounds like my type of guy just from a character and personality standpoint.’” It’s one thing to get a shot, but what Smith did with that shot is another thing entirely. Griffan played well enough in the fall to earn a spot on the spring roster. It also helped, he said, that another pitcher on scholarship was drafted and ended up signing a professional contract. “That’s how it started,” said Griffan. “When springtime came, the first half of the season is non-conference games so it’s not as important and that’s where they get a feel for where their guys are at and who they can trust

“That’s the thing you enjoy about coaching … the information goes to all, some really take it. Griffan Smith took it.” Beals’ belief in Griffan stemmed from his character and his willingness to compete and put himself out there. “I do my job,” said Beals. “I read and I learn. There’s an article about baseball, I’m gonna read this article. This is a great story, this is a great kid, this is the type of person you want to take a shot on. It’s always rewarding as a coach when your players have the opportunity to realize their dream and realize their potential. “As a coach, you live through your players. It’s really fun to see a kid that just really took advantage of every opportunity that he got. “In our world today, adults like to talk about opportunity or how I didn’t get chances or as many as I would have liked – who knows how many opportunities you’re gonna get. “Griffan Smith got an opportunity and he grabbed it and has maximized it to this point and I’m looking forward to seeing what he continues to do with it.” When The Enquirer first featured Griffan, it wasn’t simply a story about him. It was about his family and his dad’s ongoing battle with cancer, a battle Alan Smith is still fighting today. “He hasn’t done any chemotherapy for seven or eight months now and he’s been healthy that entire time,” said Griffan. “He’s been gaining back his strength. Recently, a few things popped up on the PET scan – there’s a few things they have to deal with but the fact of what he’s gone through and now it’s been seven months and he hasn’t been on any chemotherapy, he’s doing really good.” Something tells me this won’t be the last story written about Griffan Smith.

Senior Sports 2017-2018

BOLDLY DETERMINED

SUBMITTED BY: CHCA ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT

Nicholas Agricola 2017 Fall Football 2018 Spring Baseball Mason Bernhardt 2017 Fall Football 2017-2018 Winter Boys Basketball 2018 Spring Baseball Abigail Blink 2017-2018 Winter Girls Basketball 2018 Softball Danielle Blumenfeld 2017 Fall Girls Soccer 2018 Spring Girls Lacrosse Peyton Carmichael 2017 Fall Football Kristopher Carnes 2017 Fall Football Jackson Cates 2017 Fall Football Mary Chamblin 2018 Spring Girls Lacrosse Jayda Coleman 2018 Spring Girls Track & Field Julianna Collado 2017 Fall Volleyball Chloe Cooper 2017 Fall Girls Soccer Sydney Day 2017 Fall Girls Tennis 2017-2018 Winter Girls Swimming/ Diving Joy Dehner 2017-2018 Winter Girls Basketball 2018 Spring Softball Michael Del Greco 2018 Spring Boys Tennis Tessa Doan 2017 Fall Girls Soccer 2017-2018 Winter Girls Basketball Amanda Donahue 2017 Fall Girls Soccer Susan Easterday 2017 Fall Cheerleading 2018 Spring Girls Lacrosse

Griffin Hughes 2018 Spring Baseball

Benjamin Niemeyer 2017 Fall Football

William Stiles 2017 Fall Boys Soccer

Jason Humphrey 2017 Fall Boys Cross Country

Hunter Nobbs 2017 Fall Football 2018 Spring Lacrosse

Christopher Strasser 2017 Fall Boys Soccer

Ryan Hunt 2017 Fall Boys Cross Country 2017-2018 Winter Boys Swimming/ Diving 2018 Spring Boys Lacrosse Lauren Hurry 2017 Fall Girls Cross Country Gabrielle James 2017 Fall Cheerleading Marren Jenkins 2017 Fall Girls Cross Country Matthew Kadnar 2017 Fall Boys Golf 2017-2018 Winter Boys Basketball Laura Karrer 2017 Fall Girls Cross Country Colin Keenan 2018 Spring Boys Tennis Katherine Kuroff 2017 Fall Girls Soccer Caroline Kushon 2017 Fall Cheerleading 2018 Spring Girls Lacrosse Jamie Lee 2018 Spring Boys Lacrosse Thomas Levin 2017-2018 Winter Boys Basketball Karissa Lewis 2017 Fall Girls Golf Trevor McCracken 2017 Fall Boys Soccer Jason McSwain 2017 Fall Boys Soccer Madison Medosch 2017 Fall Girls Soccer Matthew Medosch 2018 Spring Boys Lacrosse Nathaniel Merten 2018 Spring Boys Lacrosse

Andres Farfan 2018 Spring Boys Lacrosse

Austin Moser 2017 Fall Boys Soccer

Isaac Gardner 2017 Fall Boys Soccer

Kyler Mueller 2017 Fall Football

Marcela Gonzalez 2017 Fall Cheerleading

Ryan Mueller 2018 Spring Baseball

Noah Harrison 2017 Fall Football 2018 Spring Boys Lacrosse

Michael Nelson 2017 Fall Football 2017-2018 Winter Boys Basketball

Emma Norris 2017 Fall Girls Soccer Camryn Olson 2017-2018 Winter Girls Basketball 2018 Spring Softball Cayse Osborne 2017 Fall Football 2018 Spring Baseball Emma Pereira 2017 Fall Volleyball 2018 Spring Girls Lacrosse Zane Pessell 2017 Fall Boys Soccer Jack Phillips 2017 Fall Boys Soccer 2018 Spring Boys Lacrosse Ethan Putt 2017 Fall Boys Soccer Tyler Robinson 2017 Fall Football 2018 Spring Baseball Quinton Ross 2018 Spring Boys Tennis Bruno Schardong 2017 Fall Boys Cross Country Gabrielle Schmidt 2017 Fall Volleyball Sydni Schramm 2017 Fall Girls Cross Country 2017-2018 Winter Girls Swimming/ Diving Liam Sheehy 2017 Fall Boys Soccer

Rachel Suh 2018 Spring Softball William Terrell 2017 Fall Boys Soccer Braden Tinnin 2018 Spring Baseball Emma Treadway 2017 Fall Girls Golf Noelle Van Den Heuvel 2017 Fall Girls Tennis 2018 Spring Girls Lacrosse Anna Van Jura 2017 Fall Girls Tennis 2017-2018 Winter Girls Swimming/Diving Daniel Vanatsky 2017 Fall Football Ryan Wichmann 2017 Fall Football 2018 Spring Boys Lacrosse Jennifer Wood 2017-2018 Winter Girls Swimming/Diving Darian Woods 2017 Fall Football Erica Wuennemann 2017 Fall Volleyball Austin Young 2017 Fall Football 2018 Spring Boys Lacrosse Keegan Zimmerman 2017 Fall Football

Blake Sheffer 2017 Fall Football 2018 Spring Baseball Courtney Shields 2017-2018 Winter Girls Basketball Caroline Southerland 2017 Fall Volleyball Tanner Southerland 2017-2018 Winter Boys Basketball Cole Springer 2017 Fall Boys Soccer Hunter Stemple 2017 Fall Boys Soccer 2017-2018 Winter Boys Basketball

BOLDLY DETERMINED

>> 2017-18 College Signings

Soccer

Football

Baseball

Softball

Baseball

Football

Baseball

Lacrosse

Football

Golf

Football

Baseball

Basketball

Baseball

Amanda Donahue, Baldwin-Wallace

Camryn Olson, Hillsdale College

Griffin Hughes, Queens College

Mason Bernhardt, Ohio University

Ryan Mueller, 21 Manchester University

AustinYoung, Wilmington College

Cayse Osborne, University of Montevallo

Hunter Nobbs, Capital University

Matthew Kadnar, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tanner Southerland, College of Wooster

Blake Sheffer, Auburn University

Danny Vanatsky, The Ohio State University

Kyler Mueller, Ashland University

Peyton Breese, Valparaiso University

Tyler Robinson, Wilmington College

Highlights from Our Outstanding 2017-2018 Season

BOLDLY DETERMINED

SUBMITTED BY: CHCA ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT

Baseball

MVC League Champions Tony Schulz-MVC Coach of the Year, Ohio All Star Coach of the Year Clayton Brock-MVC 1st Team, All City 2nd Team, Ohio All Star 2nd Team Cayse Osborne-MVC 1st Team, All City 1st Team, All Ohio 2nd Team, Ohio All Star 1st Team Lucas Rotello-MVC 1st Team, All City 1st Team, All Ohio 2nd Team, Ohio All Star 1st Team Blake Sheffer-MVC 1st Team Team, All City 1st Team, All Ohio Honorable Mention, Ohio All Star 1st Team Max Ripperger-MVC 2nd Team, All City 2nd Team, Ohio All Star 2nd Team Mason Bernhardt-MVC Honorable Mention Ryan Mueller-MVC Honorable Mention

Basketball-Boys

Cole Fisher-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star Honorable Mention Mason Bernhardt-MVC 2nd Team Jack Kolar-MVC Honorable Mention Tanner Southerland-MVC Honorable Mention

Basketball-Girls

Grade 7 MVC Champions Grade 8 MVC Champions Bella Answini-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All Star Honorable Mention Malorie Wilson-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All Star Honorable Mention Skylar Beavers-MVC Honorable Mention Camryn Olson-MVC Honorable Mention

Cross Country-Boys

Josh Medlin-Ohio All-Star Honorable Mention

Cross Country-Girls

Kate McDonough-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star 1st Team Maria Pancioli-MVC 2nd Team

Football

Scarlet Division MVC Champions Mark Mueller-MVC Coach of the Year Mason Bernhardt-MVC Athlete of the Year, MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star 1st Team

Danny Vanatsky-MVC Athlete of the Year, MVC 1st Team, Ohio AllStar 1st Team Alex Barnard-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star 1st Team Kris Carnes-MVC 1st Team, Noah Harrison-MVC 1st Team Julian Herman-MVC 1st Team Kyler Mueller-MVC 1st Team Ryan Wichmann-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star 1st Team Austin Young-MVC 1st Team Peyton Breese-MVC 2nd Team Cayse Osborne-MVC 2nd Team Tyler Robinson-MVC 2nd Team Darian Woods-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All-Stars 2nd Team Cole Fisher-MVC Honorable Mention Keegan Zimmerman-MVC Honorable Mention

Golf-Boys

Jack Lindgren-MVC 1st Team Team, Ohio All-Star 1st Team Jack Sonne-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star 1st Team Matthew Kadnar-MVC 2nd Team

Lacrosse-Boys

Mark Lynch-MVC Coach of the Year Brady Hunt-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All Star 1st Team Jack Wilkowski-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All Star 2nd Team Ryan Hunt-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All Star Honorable Mention Matt Medosch-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All Star Honorable Mention Ryan Wichmann-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All Star Honorable Mention Hunter Nobbs-MVC Honorable Mention Keegan Zimmerman-MVC Honorable Mention

Lacrosse-Girls

Noelle Van Den Heuvel-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All Star Honorable Mention Anabelle Brock-MVC 2nd Team Anna Kushon-MVC 2nd Team Alayna Petersen-MVC 2nd Team Mary Chamberlin-MVC Honorable Mention Susan Easterday-MVC Honorable Mention

Soccer-Boys

Liam Sheehy-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star 2nd Team

Will Stiles-MVC 1st Team, Ohio AllStar 2nd Team Chanse Ashman-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All-Star Honorable Mention Hunter Stemple-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All-Star Honorable Mention Aaron Frank-MVC Honorable Mention Jason McSwain-MVC Honorable Mention

Soccer-Girls

Laney Huber-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star 1st Team Shannon Riley-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star 1st Team Amanda Donahue-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All-Star Honorable Mention Mary Moffitt-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All-Star Honorable Mention Tessa Doan-MVC Honorable Mention Elizabeth Dodson-MVC Honorable Mention

Softball

Camryn Olson-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All Star 1st Team Emma Shank-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All Star 2nd Team Lauren Myers-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All Star Honorable Mention Corinne Vanderwoude-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All Star Honorable Mention Anna McSwain-MVC Honorable Mention Maria Pancioli-MVC Honorable Mention

Swimming-Boys

Ryan Hunt-MVC 1st Team 50 yard Freestyle, MVC 2nd Team 100 yard Freestyle

Sidhu Thunga-MVC Honorable Mention Singles

Tennis-Girls

Noelle Van Den Heuvel, Anna Van Jura-MVC 1st Team Doubles Kennedy Puryear-MVC 2nd Team Singles Anna Abunku, Sydney Day-MVC 2nd Team Samantha Nowiski-MVC Honorable Mention Singles Leanna Yuan-MVC Honorable Mention Singles

Track & Field-Boys

Julian Herman-Ohio All Star 1st Team 200 Meters

Track & Field-Girls

Clara Russell-MVC 1st Team Pole Vault, Ohio All Star 1st Team Pole Vault Kate McDonough-Ohio All Star 2nd Team 1600 Meters Catherine Frazier-Ohio All Star Honorable Mention High Jump

Volleyball

MVC League Champions Lisa Schaad-MVC Coach of the Year, Ohio All-Star Coach of the Year Julianna Collado-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star 1st Team Rylie Wichmann-MVC 1st Team, Ohio All-Star 1st Team Katelyn Grimes-MVC 2nd Team, Ohio All Star Honorable Mention Gabby Schmidt-MVC 2nd Team Erin McDaniel-MVC Honorable Mention Caroline Southerland-MVC Honorable Mention

Swimming-Girls

Anna Van Jura-MVC 1st Team 100 yard Breaststroke, MVC 2nd Team 200 yard Freestyle, Ohio All-Star 2nd Team Elizabeth Schaefer, Julia Stotz, Anna Van Jura, Grace Vanderwoude-MVC 2nd Team 200 yard Medley Relay, MVC 2nd Team 200 yard Freestyle Relay

Tennis-Boys

Luke Springer-MVC 2nd Team Singles Patrick Wells-MVC 2nd Team Singles Colin Keenan-MVC Honorable Mention Singles

EXUBERANTLY CREATIVE

Nothing Short of Amazing: The CHCA Story behind “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” The Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy Theater Department was proud to present Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, March 9th-11th in CHCA’s Lindner Theatre. Directed by Susan Jung, the show was truly a community-wide production. From the talented cast (consisting of students in grades 4-12) and equally talented orchestra, to the phenomenal crew and tech team, to the outstanding parental involvement, it truly took a village to put on this production. Over 130 students were involved in the cast, student production team, and orchestra! Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is no ordinary show. It is a musical of Biblical proportions! With creative and contemporary storytelling, this CHCA production was an immersive experience, following Joseph’s journey from beloved son to slave to Pharaoh’s right hand man. (Yes, it is all there in the Book of Genesis…) The show featured nonstop musical numbers that ranged from country-western to Calypso, the audiences had never seen - or heard - the Old Testament quite like this! Beginning the show with the astounding talent of the three Narrators (Abby Cates, Sarah Koopman, and Claire Wilkins) let the audience know they were in for a treat. All three actors brought their own personalities to the party, while working together to tell the fast-paced story of Joseph. Senior Josh Braden brought depth to the character of Joseph, while staying on the quick-witted beat with his entertaining brothers. While exceptional talent was featured on the stage each minute of the show, particularly unique opportunities were available for some of the upper school students behind the scenes as well. After using early concept drawings by CHCA senior Maya Yates, junior Grace Vanderwoude, an AP art student who had designed the set for CHCA’s recent production of “The Crucible”, learned Photoshop in a matter of days to create all the set projections for this production. Guided by CHCA Technical Director Jim Jung, Trevor Cebulskie ‘19 and Connor Espenshade ‘22 worked with professional-level programs such as After Effects and QLab to create, import, and run all of the projections. Whether on or off the stage, all students learned skills that were necessary to work in professional settings, going beyond the high school, or even the college, levels. The show’s director Susan Jung shared, “For the Saturday night performance, the theater department hosted two theatre professionals, Jackie Demaline (former theatre critic for Cincinnati Enquirer) and Ed Cohen (Theatre director/ teacher at a variety of Cincinnati colleges and professional theatres) to watch and critique the show. They were nothing but complimentary of the students and the work they had done.” Jackie Demaline commented, “Seeing such an exceptional level of focus by an army of players is really unusual… so impressive! …the production was endlessly creative and resourceful.”

Joseph cast member, Doug Hansford ‘19 also had this to share about the experience, “Many people were amazed to see the orchestra out of the pit and on stage, but perhaps few realized the challenges posed by being on four platforms on multiple levels and on two different sides of the stage. Music Director, Dr. Dan Grantham began rehearsing the Orchestra and Steel Drum Band in January. Once the musicians moved to the stage platforms, he conducted the group from the stage while navigating the cast and dancers. Eventually, he moved to the platforms to play keyboard and trumpet. The assignment of starting the pieces was then given to an extraordinarily talented drummer, Colin Keenan ‘18. There were monitors so that every orchestra member could hear the drums keeping the group together. In addition, all the section leaders had ‘in ears’, a device placed in the ear to provide audio, purchased for the orchestra by CHCA’s Friends of Fine Arts. CHCA ’17 alum, Carter Jackson pre-recorded an audible beat designed to keep tempo known as a “click track” so that the lighting and other visuals were in sync. Additionally, Keenan used a “talk back” mic in rehearsals, allowing him to communicate with those using “in ears” and with Jackson, who was running sound. It was a new experience for the group. The senior leadership of Colin Keenan on drums, Laura Karrer on viola, and Abigail Macy on violin helped their sections and the overall group stay together while navigating the musical score.” Susan Jung continued, “A favorite quote from the theatre professionals who came to critique was that the students’ ‘energy and focus’ was remarkable and that it was obvious that they had been ‘infused with the joy of storytelling’. Nothing could have made me prouder in that moment. Storytelling is what Jesus did to reach the hearts of people for God, and it is what we strive to do in our department. Every aspect of our storytelling is intentional and important to us, and when the last cord hit and the audience experienced over 100 of our students bringing Joseph’s story to life, I knew that we were glimpsing the true character and very nature of our Creator who gave us the skills, abilities, gifts, and opportunities to do His good work.”

CHCA received the following awards from The Theatre League for the production: Superior Rating In Production â&#x20AC;&#x153;Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoatâ&#x20AC;? Excellence In Music Performance Orchestra Excellence In Performance Josh Braden Excellence In Performance Brothers Ensemble Excellence In Stage Management Grace Vanderwoude and Student Production Team Congratulations again to all for an outstanding performance!

EXUBERANTLY CREATIVE

CHCA Celebrates 20th Annual School Arts Festival Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy hosted its 20th Annual ArtBeat Fine Arts Festival Saturday, April 14th. Unlike any arts festival in our city, this one-of-a-kind event included four stage venues, nearly 600 students performing (including 201 students who auditioned and were selected to perform), a juried art competition, over 1,000 pieces of student artwork displayed, interactive hands-on art stations, and much more family-friendly fun. ArtBeat also welcomed 13 demonstrating professional artists (including two CHCA Upper School art students and two CHCA alumni) ranging from watercolor to pottery to mixed media. Event goers also enjoyed food from top local venues. We look forward to the next 20 years of celebrating the arts at CHCA!

ArtBeat Juried Art Awards

Dancing our way to the top!

2018 CHCA Graduates Continuing Their Pursuits in The Arts

Jack Bolander, University Of Cincinnati - CCM, E-Media Abigail Macy, Carnegie Mellon University, Violin Performance Zane Pessel, Miami University, Interior Design Maya Yates, Kent State University, Visual Communications Design Helen Zhang, University Of Cincinnati - DAAP, Industrial Design

Other Notable Fine Arts Happenings

• Melody Makers and the Armleder Celebration Choir sang the National Anthem at a Reds game • Melody Makers sang the National Anthem at a Xavier University Women’s Basketball game • Pep Band performed at a Cleveland Cavaliers / Golden State Warriors game in Cleveland • Mini Dance Team performed at a Indianapolis Pacers / Cleveland Cavaliers game in Indianapolis • Dance Academy had a stand-out year of competitive dance performances.

Our CHCA Dance Academy had a great year in 2017-2018, with lots of growth, exciting and team bonding competitions and performances, and new experiences. The competition season opened with AmeriDance in Columbus, where the Youth Jazz ensemble won the highest score all around for their number, B.E.A.T. 2nd grader and first time soloist Emalyn Ickes also won first place in the mini division! At the next competition there was a clean sweep as all of our school dance teams took 1st, with the Tiny Team winning an additional first overall award in their age division. 7th grader Lexi Achterberg won her first of two 1st place awards for the season, and later would be awarded a scholarship to Fusion Dance Camp in Chicago for the 2nd year in a row. Throughout the rest of the season, B.E.A.T. took 1st in 3 of our 4 competitions, our Lyrical team received an invitation to the “NYC Dance Experience”, and our other ensemble, duet and trio placed 1st at some point and otherwise had very high scores. Caroline Blair and Sarah Koopman also had 1st place wins for their solos. However, the award we are most proud of is the “Studio Professionalism” award that was presented to the team with good sportsmanship, team spirit, and attitude. Our dancers have received this award for 2 years in a row and at separate competitions – our dance faculty is very proud of the character represented in this award. Other than the competitions, our dancers had the opportunity to participate in the Miami Valley Dance Teachers Association Workshop, where they had the opportunity to take master classes with professional dancers and teachers from all around the country. Our Mini Team had the opportunity to perform at the Indiana Pacer’s/Cleveland Cavalier’s NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, which was an amazing experience! Finally, we launched a new outreach program under the direction of junior Teresa Hoyer. Participating dancers reached out and performed for the elderly at a couple of nursing homes, and also performed at a school in Winton Terrace, building friendships with several of the girls there. Thank you to all the parents for your support and for raising wonderful daughters! We’re looking forward to a great year in 2018-2019!

EXUBERANTLY CREATIVE

An Award-Winning Year The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. The Alliance is an organization whose mission is to identify students with exceptional artistic and literary talent and present their remarkable work to the world through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Through the Awards, students receive opportunities for recognition, exhibition, publication, and scholarships. Students across America submitted nearly 350,000 original works this year in 29 different categories of art and writing. Congratulations to our art students who received recognition this year.

Overture Awards

The Overture Awards is a program that recognizes, encourages and rewards excellence in the arts among Greater Cincinnati students in grades 9-12. Its mission is to encourage arts education as an integral part of a student’s academic experience and to create an environment that encourages training in, and appreciation of, the arts. The Overture Awards Competition is the area’s largest solo arts competition and offers awards in six artistic disciplines: creative writing, dance, instrumental music, theatre, visual art, and vocal music. The following students were recognized this past year:

Regional Competition:

Creative Writing: Sophie Esposito, Kaylie Glenn Dance: Alicia Slouffman Instrumental Music: Abigail Macy Theatre: Abby Cates, Samuel Hoyer, Sarah Koopman, Claire Wilkins Visual Arts: Gabe Schmidt, Helen (Chuming) Zhang Vocal Music: Matthew Pacheco

Semi-Finals Competition:

Dance: Alicia Slouffman Theatre: Abby Cates, Samuel Hoyer Visual Arts: Helen (Chuming) Zhang

EXUBERANTLY CREATIVE

Drawn – A Lasting Invitation BY TIM HILDEBRAND

I believe in divine appointments. God has a purpose and a plan for each of us. If He knows every hair on our head, why would He not know every second of our days? Nine years ago He knew that Mona Summers would cross paths with Veronique Hammons, owner of Gallery Veronique in Harper’s. He blessed Mona with the idea to have a gallery show hosting my Advanced Placement students and their artwork. This idea sparked a chain of events that culminated into the first annual Drawn AP art gallery show that took place in 2009. Little did our community, or the AP students for that matter, know what they were in for. The title Drawn was chosen for several reasons. Not only does Christ invite us to draw near to Him daily, but Drawn was also picked to invite our community to not only see what we do in the visual arts department, but also who does it, and to have face-toface conversations with the artists and instructor behind the show. Not only does communication take place here, but education does as well. The art students answer questions about their pieces ranging anywhere from what technique they used to what media they used to the meaning of the peace and the thinking behind

them. Then lastly of course, it’s an art show, so naturally, Drawn makes sense! In preparing for the shows, students learn through experience what is involved in not only getting their pieces ready, but also how to professionally show and hang their work, write artist statements, plan and prepare refreshments, while glorifying God through and in all of these things. Nine years later, God’s hand continues to be over the students and their instructor. Last year a new venue , a 100-year-old building called The Flats Gallery in the Price Hill District of Cincinnati, was generously offered to us to host our show. With change comes the “unknown”. Will our fans travel half an hour to see our work? Isn’t that a “bad area” of town? What will happen if…? And so on and so forth. Trusting God, we cast our bread upon the waters.… to an overwhelming response! The CHCA community showed up in droves! Proof that it is not about the venue and it is not about the art, it’s about how our community shows the love of Christ to each other.

EXUBERANTLY CREATIVE

A Sacred Tradition: 15 Years of Sacred Music

BY DAN GRANTHAM

When I moved from Springfield, Missouri to attend graduate school, I was amazed at the unusual number of beautiful and historic churches scattered throughout Cincinnati. Many of these churches are over one hundred years old and can be found in almost every neighborhood in the Queen City. For several hundred years, European churches were designed to be the community’s most magnificent building. They were located in the center of town, within walking distance, and the tallest building symbolic of the community’s faith. The architecture and décor of the building was a worshipful act in itself, inspiring parishioners and portraying Christ’s redemptive story through the paintings, banners, and sculptures. Most of Cincinnati’s historic churches were built after this European model. When you walk into these sacred spaces, you quickly notice the unusual acoustics within the building. Not having modern amplification, the churches were intentionally designed to augment the choir, musicians, and clergy. In addition to the Mass and Services, the churches were also used as concert halls. Most Western Sacred Music was written for and performed in Europe’s cathedrals and churches. The beautiful architecture

and acoustics greatly enhanced the musical masterworks written by notable composers such as Handel, Bach, and Mozart. As artists, several of the CHCA faculty have performed in area churches and experienced Sacred Masterpieces in the historic churches. It was my desire to have the CHCA musicians, art students, and community have the same experience. In 2003, we started the annual CHCA Sacred Music Series performing at Knox Presbyterian Church in Hyde Park. We have since been worshiping in numerous cathedrals and churches throughout Cincinnati. The concerts feature our students performing Sacred Music as well Sacred Readings by our faculty and staff. It is always fun for us faculty to view our students walking into the space that immediately inspires and encourages reverence. They are in awe when they first hear the purity of their sound echoed throughout the church. It truly is a unique spiritual experience for our students and privilege for our school to be welcomed into many of Cincinnati’s historic and beautiful churches. If you haven’t attended a Sacred Music Concert,

Strength in Numbers On a typical day, you might find CHCA student Cade Reinberger ’21 writing for the Upper School’s newspaper, preparing for a varsity academic team match, or prepping for competition season on CHCA’s robotics team. You also may find him studying for a math competition, researching The Calculus of Variations, diving into combinatorics of discrete dynamical systems, and wrestling with Algorithmic Game Theory. Say what? Cade has competed and done well representing CHCA in several math competitions these past few years. One of the most talented mathematicians to come through CHCA, many may not know this about him because he’s wonderfully humble. One of Cade’s math teachers, Mrs. Teri Parker, shares, “Cade is a young man who is uniquely gifted and loves to explore mathematics in every dimension. He has a childlike joy when engaged in the discovery process. He maintains a humble attitude and draws others into his world to share his love of mathematics.”

Some unprecedented highlights of Cade’s math career while here at CHCA: This past year at the Ohio High School Mathematics Invitational Olympiad (OHMIO), universally considered the highest level determining competition in Ohio, Cade finished 27th overall, and 6th in the state among sophomores. Additionally, in the difficult and separate cyphering round, he finished 8th overall in the state, and 2nd amongst sophomores. He also qualified for this competition as a Freshman, which is somewhat of a rarity. Cade participated in the first round of the United States of America Mathematical Talent Search, a competition wherein competitors are provided with five exceptionally hard problems and are given a full month to try and solve them. Cade scored higher than any other high school student in Ohio and tied for 12th nationally amongst sophomores in the competition, placing him high on the National leaderboard for the competition. Last year, Cade was accepted into the selective Camp Euclid, a research program for high school mathematicians. It was a very intense program. Every day for 6 weeks, they worked almost exclusively on serious mathematical research (~80 hours/week on average) under the tutelage of University of Georgia topologist David Gay. This past summer, Cade was accepted into two of the most prestigious summer mathematics programs in America: The Program in Mathematics for young scientists (PROMYS) and Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics. This past year, for the second time, Cade was on the Ohio all-state math team for the American regions mathematics league. This is often called the World Series of Mathematics for its intensity, and Cade was the highest scorer on the all Ohio state second team in the individual round, and the team did quite well at the competition. Cade also participates in the prestigious, and difficult to qualify for, Worldwide Online Olympiad Training Program for mathematics, an online program providing mathematical preparation with rigor otherwise unmatched for high school students.

We recommend you keep an eye on Cade. He is sure to go far and we’re excited to see where his talent will take him!

Class of 2018

I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Psalm 16:8 (Class Verse)

BOUNDLESSLY HOPEFUL

CHCA Celebrates the Accomplishments of the Class of 2018, by the Numbers: We earned $11,000,000* in Merit Scholarships We served 24,000 hours 8 of us completed a formal research, capstone, or independent study 10,000+ beverages were sold at The Leaning Eagle Coffee Bar & The Blend 15 of us will be competing in Athletics at the College Level 70% of us completed 312 AP classes 100% of us completed 7 semesters of Christian Studies 63% of us participated in Fine Arts 68% of us received college merit scholarships We will attend 52 universities in 20 states across the U.S. and Asia We competed on 30 Championship Athletic Teams 11% of us received National Merit recognition (2 of us were finalists!!!) We visited 13 countries during Intersession 12 of us attended CHCA as International students 3 Years in a row we competed in the Robotics World Championships 31

100% of us Chose MORE at CHCA!

BOUNDLESSLY HOPEFUL

Salutatorian Valedictorian

Commencement Speaker Dr. Philip Ryken

Salutatorian

Commencement Overview CHCA’s Class of 2018 Graduation Day was one that celebrated the lasting friendships and the impact that CHCA had on the lives of graduates, as well as challenged graduates to find their purpose and joy in staying connected to God throughout their life’s journey. Head of School Randy Brunk kicked the ceremonies off by encouraging graduates to make a vow – to strive to reach human flourishing by regularly connecting with God. He emphasized that joy and meaning in life will be found through that regular connection. He left the audience with Isaiah 34, an encouragement to remain steadfast. Dr. Philip Ryken, President of Wheaton College and renowned author, gave this year’s Commencement Address. He deeply challenged the Class of 2019 to go out and serve the world for Christ. He pointed out that “To whom much has been given, much has been required.” (Luke 12:48) and he encouraged graduates to think about what it would look like to “give their lives to Christ for service.” He continued, “Jesus is worth it. His plan for you is wise…” Valedictorian Sebastián Rodriguez took his classmates on a journey through time, teeing off his address as a 30 years older version of himself. A “48-year old”. His challenge was to push past the “what ifs”, and to go out and seize the person you want to become. “The next thirty years are yours, and yours to use in the most fantastical way!” Salutatorian Susan Easterday encompassed the experiences had by fellow students, and the importance of community and friendships as they move on to college. Here is an excerpt of her speech: …there are many memories from this school that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives…no matter which funny stories or things we learned in class that we choose to remember, there is one thing we are sure to never forget: the relationships we have made here. That, above all other things, is what I believe to be the most important thing CHCA has given us, because our peers and teachers have shaped us into the people we are today. The people we choose to surround ourselves with have a profound effect on what we think, how we act, what we say, and almost everything

we do, and CHCA has a unique environment where everyone here is rooting for you to be your absolute best. We have teachers who do more than just teach facts: they give us advice, put in extra work to guarantee our success, and genuinely care about us, even when we fail. We have Jules, our student body president who organized a Black History Month chapel to educate us and start the conversation on topics that people often feel uncomfortable talking about. We have students who care enough about fostering spiritual growth in each other that they started a YoungLife group here. We have a strong community dedicated to moving each other forward, and we have learned many lessons from each other, but sadly, we must soon part ways. We will find a new community of people in college, but I am thankful that CHCA has provided us with an example of what we should look for. Jim Rohn famously said, “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” …Who we are spending the most time with can affect our thoughts and actions, and so it is important that we be intentional in developing our new friendships in college. …I hope each of us will find people with the same qualities that we admire in each other and strive to be like here at CHCA. Someone kind and strong in his or her faith like Candace Pfister. Someone dedicated and hardworking like Ryan Wichmann. Someone smart and confident like Lauren Rogus. Someone who can make you laugh like Jack Phillips. Because if we find friends that contain the qualities we ourselves seek to achieve, we will soon become closer to the version of ourselves we hope to be. As Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Class of 2018, we have been sharpened by each other at CHCA. As we go into a new community, I pray that this will be the standard that we hold our new friendships to in college and in life.

BOUNDLESSLY HOPEFUL

A Bit About Our Val & Sal… Susan Grace Easterday Class of 2018 Salutatorian

Attending The University of Virginia

Sebastián Ignacio Rodríguez Class of 2018 Valedictorian

Attending The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“CHCA has given me extraordinary opportunities allowing me to create my own learning path and to push my limits, encouraging me to pursue new interests, and enabling me to discover how I wanted to use my talents to give back to the world. I would not be where I am today without the incredible faculty, teachers and students here.”

Sebastián arrived at CHCA in 7th grade driven by a quest for knowledge. During his time at CHCA, he has constantly sought new and creative learning opportunities, pursuing multiple independent studies and frequently learning course material on his own. He is a National AP Scholar, having taken 14 AP exams of which he independently studied 9. Since his freshman year, Sebastián has been heavily involved with the CHCA robotics team “the Beak Squad”, functioning as the team’s lead programmer and mentoring students in the middle school program. He has helped the team earn an invitation to the world championships all four years, win the state championship, and earn multiple programming awards at the regional and championship level. Sebastián also performed with the Electric Jazz Orchestra and Pep Band, traveling with them to Cleveland, Missouri, Wisconsin and Kenya. Outside of school, he enjoys learning about everything from differential geometry to Polynesian geography, reading, watching movies, meditating, and traveling the world. Sebastián would like to thank all his friends and family who have helped him over the years with their knowledge, wisdom and opportunities. He is excited to be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall, where he plans to study computer science, and looks forward to making full use of the opportunities there as he seeks to use his talents to help build a better world.

“CHCA has given me opportunities to challenge myself: my intellect through difficult classes, my leadership through Student Council and Student Organized Service, my faith through chapel and class discussions, and my comprehension of the world through my independent study on the Israel-Palestine conflict. CHCA helped me discover who I am and what I care about and gave me opportunities to make something meaningful out of it.” Susan has modeled CHCA’s “learn, lead, and serve” motto since the day she arrived to kindergarten. Academically, she has achieved honors such as being named a CHCA Distinguished Cum Laude Scholar, National Merit Finalist, AP Scholar with Distinction, as well as receiving five CHCA Academic Excellence Awards. She went on Intersession trips serving and sightseeing in Chicago and Costa Rica, visiting historical sites in Great Britain and France, and skiing in Utah, a trip that she herself proposed. She has also served as a leader in her community through being a Peer Advisor, Ambassador, and Vice President of Student Council, where she was a part of a committee that worked to successfully get the CHCA dress code modified. Susan was also selected by the American Legion to attend Buckeye Girls State in the summer of 2017 where she was elected Municipal Judge within the mock government. Starting freshman year, she was a member of the Cheerleading team for three years and a Varsity starter on the Lacrosse team for four years. Susan has also been a servant in her community through Student Organized Service, or SOS, in which she served as a Board of Directors Member her senior year. Through SOS, Susan led a service group for the Ronald McDonald House Cincinnati and was a regular volunteer with the Meadowbrook Care Center group. Outside of SOS, Susan also volunteered with children at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. And while earning three hundred service hours and taking ten AP classes, Susan maintained a part-time retail job and even worked two jobs during her sports’ off-seasons. Next year, Susan will be attending the University of Virginia with plans to study business and political science.

Graduation Reflections

BY EMMA TREADWAY ‘18

Diaspeiro, CHCA’s take on a baccalaureate, is centered on reflection—contemplating on our time here as a class and how we will take what we learned into the larger world. As both a member and an outlier of that beloved “CHCA bubble,” I thought it important to focus on the mindset we should have emerging from that safe zone and growing into our roles as partisans of the world. The beautiful diversity of experience and belief on our planet can be jarring to a college freshman; maintaining and embodying empathy and open-mindedness is key to that transition, I believe. With speeches from both students and faculty and with each student sharing their college destination, Diaspeiro wrapped up our childhood and dispersed us as adults, nascent scholars and future reactionaries. I’m going to begin by mentioning a cliché that I know we have all heard of: the CHCA bubble. And for those of you who don’t know this well-worn term, the “CHCA bubble” is that safe and somewhat sheltered environment we have here in our close-knit community. We have our differences, but for the most part, here we are all the same. Most of us come from Christian, upper-middle class backgrounds. Here, those identities are the majority. And even if we don’t necessarily identify with these groups, these are the prevailing opinions and people that we feel most comfortable with. In some ways, I personally fit the mold of the typical CHCA kid—but in another way, I am very much on the fringe. In regards to socioeconomic class, I come from a low-income community. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it did make me feel markedly different. My lifestyle—what I ate and wore and where I lived and even my political ideology—was different from my classmates. And yet, in the five years I’ve spent here, my greatest friends have been at CHCA. Now, I’m going to digress for a moment. We’ve all been on Facebook, and we’ve all seen the—for lack of better words—political trash— one-sided and inflammatory propaganda. And these posts are more than just frustrating—they are subconsciously defining the way we see other people. When we see a person make one of these posts, that person comes to represent that single thought or emotion. Your persona and the persona of others loses a dimension on social media. Sometimes, we forget that, on the other side of that post, is a real person. A person who is complex, nuanced, and has many of the same needs and wants as you do. And this rule applies to so much beyond the realm of Facebook. Coming from a background where I have personal relationships with low-income people, especially those struggling with addiction or disability or even crime, I understand them. I can empathize with them. But, with the people I have met at CHCA, I can recognize that same humanity in an entirely different socioeconomic class. Yet, under blanket statements and stereotypes, both people groups have been stripped of their multi-dimensionality. They have become flat characters, represented by one thought or idea that makes us perceive them as completely different from ourselves. And not just between different households in the US. What I’m about to say sounds obvious, but I truly think that we subconsciously—and I’m guilty of this myself—rebel against this notion…this notion that all of us are people. People of different faiths or of no faith at all. People who adamantly support Israel and people who adamantly support Palestine. People who are Republicans, people who are Democrats. And to really put that into perspective, think: President Trump is a person, President Obama is a person, all of our world leaders are people, fallible and subject to that same human condition that we are. We become so disconnected from the people we know only through

social media or the news, that we fail to realize the many struggles they face as well. We are all people, we are all products of different environments, we all have dreams and hopes. Now how does this all fit in to how we, as the class of 2018, go out into the world? It’s all about the mindset. We are going out into a world quite different than our “CHCA bubble.” All over the US and beyond, each one of you will encounter perspectives and beliefs that are foreign to you. We will be tested, and we will be uncomfortable, but we can grow. As new college students, we think we know what we believe and what we stand on, but that’s not always true. It’s crucial for all of us, no matter where we go, to maintain not only an open mindset, but to embody empathy and compassion when we deal with new people and new beliefs. Underneath a mountain of labels and superficial prejudice there is humanity at the core of each of us and each person we will meet. If we remember that, we will undoubtedly be happier and better people. And one more note. In English this year, Mr. Carter asked us: what does it mean to “make a difference?” How do you know at the end of your life “I changed something; I made an impact”? Many of us feel, going out into the world for the first time, that we have to change the world ostentatiously to make an impact. We have to completely fix some grand problem or see our name in the history book. We believe that we must find the ultimate answer to something, and that is exactly what sets us up to fail. Because, after the prime of our lives, the majority of us who believe that will sit back and think, “I failed.” Their expectations were too high. I’m going to say right now—the pressure is off. To me, a real and significant impact is much easier than that. It’s all about the love we show to other people in our day-to-day interactions. I’m stealing from Griffin Hughes with this, but if you can make one person smile, that’s an impact. Genuine kindness and understanding is transformative, and it is so, so crucial to pushing humanity to a better place. Instead of asking, “what am I going to do with my life?” ask “what can I do today to leave the world or a person’s life a little better than before I entered it?” And with that, good luck to all of you, and I am so incredibly proud to be a part of CHCA’s phenomenal Class of 2018. Of special note…Dr. Nick gave his Diaspeiro address to the class of 2018 revolving around several rocks of “remembrance”—pillars of what we have learned so far and what we continue to learn in our journey as scholars and members of the world community. To show an appreciation for the resonance of that message, each student handed him a rock inscribed with his or her name after walking the stage during graduation.

Emma is attending Princeton University as an intended Classics major, and she is currently a member of the Freshman Scholars Institute there.

BOUNDLESSLY HOPEFUL

200 Service Hours

400 Service Hours 300 Service Hours

500 Service Hours

600 Service Hours

Presidential Service Awards Bronze

Class of 2018 Recognitions

Dick Snyder Award 35

Neyer Foundation Christian Leadership & Mayerson Service Leadership

Presidential Service Awards Gold

Class of 2018 Recognitions 200 Service Hours:Â Joshua Braden, Jayda Coleman, Julianna Collado, Sydney Day, Michael Del Greco, Amanda Donahue, Sophia Fette, Marcela Gonzalez, Griffin Hughes, Ryan Hunt, Stephen Jester, Laura Karrer, Jacob Koopman, Emma Norris, Camryn Olson, Cayse Osborne, Rachel Roberts, Sydni Schramm, Blake Sheffer, Matthew Smith, Caroline Southerland, Noelle Van Den Heuvel, Sihan Wang, Ryan Wichmann

SOS Leadership Award: Kristopher Carnes,

Tessa Doan, Susan Easterday

Mayerson Service Leadership Award: Tessa Doan

Neyer Foundation Christian Leadership Award: Tessa Doan

300 Service Hours: Daqian Bian, Danielle Blumenfeld, Kristopher Carnes, Susan Easterday, Jason Humphrey, Karissa Lewis, Jiaen Li, Candace Pfister, Jennifer Wood, Maya Yates

(not pictured)

400 Service Hours: Chloe Cooper, Joy Dehner, Colin

Abigail Blink, Tessa Doan

Keenan, Katherine Kuroff, Jack Paquette, Erica Wuennemann

500 Service Hours: Rachel Suh, William Terrell 600 Service Hours: Tessa Doan, Bruno Schardong 1,400+ Service Hours: Abigail Blink

SOS Quantum Leap Award: Jack Paquette Presidential Service Award Gold: Presidential Service Award Bronze:

Kristopher Carnes, Joy Dehner, Susan Easterday, Colin Keenan, Bruno Schardong, Rachel Suh

Dick Snyder Award: Kristopher Carnes, Tessa Doan, Ryan Hunt

INSPIRINGLY BENEVOLENT

Making Musical Memories BY CHANSE ASHMAN ‘19 AND KAYLIE GLENN ‘19

It started when two students began organizing their orchestra friends to play music for patients in memory care units at nursing homes last summer. Kaylie Glenn and Chanse Ashman, Class of 2019, saw an outstanding opportunity when they noticed how the patients responded to the students playing music. They decided they wanted to further understand dementia and how dementia patients react to music. They began trying different songs and different instruments, and were deeply moved by the responses they saw. Kaylie and Chanse wanted to know even more. Soon they signed themselves up to attend a conference with world renowned experts on dementia at Xavier University and began personally meeting with people who are experts in the field, including Dr. Rhonna Shatz, Medical Director of the Memory Disorders Center at UC Hospital. With hearts deeply moved by their experiences, Chanse and Kaylie also developed a passion to record and share the life stories of the patients they were meeting. Before the disease wipes every memory away, Kaylie & Chanse saw an opportunity to bless the families of the dementia patients. Thus, the two began returning more frequently to the nursing homes, with permission of the families, to record the stories of the patients in order to preserve the memories that they, themselves, will forget. Both Chanse and Kaylie had developed a passion for the elderly community prior to the establishment of their service group. Kaylie began playing her violin for nursing homes as early as age eight and did so for several years, discovering love for this community in the process. 37

Chanse, on the other hand, chose to play at a nursing home his freshman year after missing an orchestra concert, and unexpectedly discovered a passion for the community as well. What both quickly came to realize throughout their unique experience was the overwhelming impact music could make on the residents. With a blooming friendship, Chanse and Kaylie soon found this passion within each other. After multiple conversations, they decided the best step to take would be forming a Student Organized Service (SOS) group that could play music at nursing homes and bring joy to the residents. Both Kaylie and Chanse had seen glimpses of how impactful music can be, particularly for those with dementia, and they wanted to share that with others too. With this in mind, they reached out to a nearby memory care facility in an effort to directly work with the disease. Gathering a group of classmates together, they established Musical Memories—a group that would go beyond anything they could imagine. Their first trip to the nursing home was everything they thought it would be. Being able to play for the residents and see them light up, even singing to their music or humming along, was truly inspiring, and they could see the impact. The next visit, however, the residents stared blankly, unable to remember the faces of the group, much less any of their names. At this moment, Kaylie and Chanse decided they had to do something more. Contacting various nursing homes, they felt called to share the stories of these residents for the world to see how valuable these neglected, even forgotten, people are.

“Share the Love” Charleigh Wright was one of many students who recently brought her ‘Operation Impact’ project to life. CHCA’s ‘Operation Impact’ is an annual initiative during which Upper Elementary students pursue their passions in order to make an impact. Charleigh spent her afternoons that week using both her passions for art, and for her little brother Micah, to raise awareness for the very rare SmithMagenis Syndrome (which affects her little brother). She contacted friends at the Smith Magenis Syndrome Research Foundation and asked several questions in order to gain further understanding about the syndrome and what is being done to treat it. She turned her learnings into a power point presentation to help educate her classmates and others about the Syndrome. Additionally, Charleigh probed further about the kinds of research currently being done and how it might help her brother. With that learning, she wanted to do something to further help with that research. She quickly went to work designing a t-shirt to sell in order to raise both funding and awareness. She designed the shirt, had proofs made while selling them, and then had them screen printed for those who ordered them. The inspiration for the shirt? Micah tells everyone, every day, to “Share the Love”! $5.00 of every t shirt sold is donated to the Smith Magenis Research Foundation.

From there, Kaylie and Chanse’s passion took full force, and the Dementia Project was created. Through a combination of stories from the dementia patients themselves, interviews with family members, information brought to them by doctors and seminars, and the continuance of our music group, Kaylie and Chanse hope to make a difference in the world of dementia, shining a light for all to see. This upcoming year, the dynamic duo hopes to provide a platform for many schools to take part in this experience, as they will be speaking to 63 other schools this fall at a service conference at the University of Cincinnati. Having also connected with the Alzheimer’s Association of America as well as having developed a website for their group, Kaylie and Chanse have big plans for the future and are excited to see what lies ahead. Kaylie & Chanse shared their story at the SOS End of Year Breakfast Celebration. There was hardly a dry eye in the audience as Kaylie passionately explained the work that they have been deeply invested in doing. The website the two have created captures their work that continues to grow, thedementiaproject.org CHCA’s Upper School Outreach Coordinator Karen Hordinski shares, “We’re excited to see how their work will grow and continues to impact lives!” 38

FULLY PREPARED

CHCA Alumni: Cultivating Community Through Connection BY SARAH ROBINSON ‘09

Adam Cool ‘01 and Adam Atallah ‘07

What a year 2018 has been! The Alumni Board has zeroed-in on what we have deemed most important to Alumni: Connection. In the age of social media, it has become clear that everyone just wants to be seen, to be heard, and to be valued. Since we truly value our fellow Alumni, we wanted to take this past year to make that very clear. We began the year with our annual Homecoming festivities (October, 2017) where many alumni attended with their families and took part in dinner, cornhole, crafts for the kids, and of course, football! The new events we chose to add to the calendar this year were Alumni Happy Hours, hosted by our Business Connections Committee. The first one took place at Listermann Brewing Company downtown on March 1st, where we connected with about 20-25 alumni professionals throughout the evening. We are thrilled to be able to offer more of those events in the upcoming year! The Second Annual Alumni Showcase also took place May 10th, and brought back all the nostalgia with drum-off rivals—Robbie Wilson ‘04 versus Rob Bedinghaus ‘04—and it was a major hit! Worship was led with a powerful set by Erin Conn ‘97, Zach Bohannon ‘02, Carter Jackson ‘17, and Robbie Wilson ‘04, and students were challenged to pursue their “Faith Fueled Purpose” by Alumni guest speaker Brad Stinson ‘99. (Even after being fresh off of travel from Nashville

to speak at our event, Brad stuck around for chapel at the lower grades, and Q&A sessions with some of the Upper School Christian Studies classes, leaving a strong impression on many students.) We closed the showcase with a compilation video made up of many alumni from all over the globe inspiring students by sharing their career paths, and why they are passionate about what they do! It was a small but intentional part these alumni were able to play, from right where they are, directly into the lives of students searching for their purpose and where God might be leading them in their future. If you want to get involved or leave a lasting legacy by partnering with the Alumni Board to inspire current students, please reach out and contact us! If you want to find a way to get plugged into a strong and lasting community and connect with other Alumni you can follow

Alumni Board Members David Blessing ‘97 Zach Bohannon ‘02 Eric Loftus ‘04 Robbie Wilson ‘04 Grant Cooper ‘05 Kate Kersey ‘05 Christina (Karam) Painter ‘07 Kurt Kersey ‘08 Sarah (Eslick) Robinson ‘09 Billy Kissel ‘10 Andrew Perkins ‘10

Back Row (L to R): Carter Jackson ‘17, Sara (Eslick) Robinson ‘09, Robbie Wilson ‘04, Dr. Billy Pohl ‘01, Mariel Beausejour ‘11, Zach Bohannan ‘02, Rob Bedinghaus ‘04 Front Row (L to R): Kya (Bowden) Cannon ‘04, Bradley Stinson ‘99, Erin (Metzger) Conn ‘97, Rebecca Richart ‘15, Savannah Mary ‘15

ALUMNI NOTES >> Recognizing submissions from July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2018

Q&A:

The Alumni Board Connection Who are we?

A collective group of CHCA Alumni representing classes spanning over 20 years who volunteer their time and resources in order to increase alumni community engagement.

What do we do?

The board committee leaders meet bi-monthly for meetings to discuss the ideas and progress of each of the four committees (Web Development, Events, Data, Business Relations), who meet casually every 2-3 months.

What is our purpose?

Serving our alumni! These individuals are passionate about their community. They get involved because of their pride in their alma mater, their desire to stay connected, but mostly for their passion for connecting and serving their fellow alumni community in their adult life. Whether that be supporting alumni in their family life, connecting alumni professionals, or offering opportunities to entrepreneurs, it is about serving our alumni.

What we need?

Alumni Engagement! We want to be a resource, a connector, cheerleader, and a source of home. We want to offer endless opportunities. Let us fill the gaps!

What DON’T we want?

To be a source of stress or obligation. We never want to overstay our welcome if you have no desire for connecting.

Aiming High

Will Ellis ‘15 attends Miami University and is seeking both an education degree while continuing his training in music. He hopes one day to be a vocal teacher for high school students. He auditioned and was chosen to study in Austria with AIMS (American Institute of Musical Studies) for a six week intensive from July 2 – August 12. Currently I am a student at Miami University studying Music Education with a focus in Choral/General Music and a minor in Music Theatre. Miami has been such a great school with both excellent programs in education and music. Being at Miami, I have had so many opportunities, including placing in the Ohio National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition two years in a row, being a semi-finalist in Campus Superstar vocal competition, performing a starring role with Miami University Opera in the most recent opera Savitri as well as performing in A Little Night Music (Mr. Erlanson), Schubert’s Mass in G, Sweeney Todd (Tobias), Haydn’s Creation, and Street Scene (Officer Murphy), singing with Miami University Chamber Singers, recording two albums with Soul2Soul A Cappella Group, participating in a Masterclass with Metropolitan Opera singer Stanford Olsen, working as a Summer Teaching Artist with Columbus Childrens’ Theatre, and serving on four student organizational executive boards. And now I’m planning on traveling to Austria! AIMS is the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. I found out about the opportunity through my voice teacher at Miami, Dr. Alison Acord, who is also a voice teacher and lecturer at AIMS. The AIMS audition panel travels around the country auditioning hundreds of students for their Opera and Lieder (German Art Song) Studio programs. I fortunately was accepted to their Lieder Program which is a 6-week program, from July 2-August 12, including taking voice lessons, masterclasses, conversational German classes, audition seminars, a German song competition, and having many performance opportunities all in the beautiful country of Austria. What I’m most excited for is to be singing music in a country that is home to many of the composers who I am studying including Schubert, Haydn, and Mozart and to be improving my art as both a performer and a future educator. As a music education student, looking to teach high school choir, I’m excited for everything I will be learning and the things that I can pass on to my own future students. People can support me by keeping me and all of the students and teachers in the program, in

their thoughts and prayers as we travel abroad. If people would like to donate to help support me they can visit my GoFundMe page https://www. gofundme.com/will-ellis-goes-to-aims-graz or if they would like to donate directly can email me at elliswa@miamioh.edu. I also am looking at setting up a recital to showcase what I’ve worked on at Miami, involving other alumni who are also studying music is college, and am also looking for any performance opportunities people have and would love to discuss that as well! CHCA was and has been such an amazing community for me. The bonds and relationships that I made in high school have gotten even stronger after graduating and having a place where I am able to come back and feel like I never left is such a blessing. This past year, Mrs. Potts let me come back to do some field experience and work with some of the choirs. I came back to open arms and feeling so comfortable in the interesting position of bieng on the other side of the classroom and leading students who were in my shoes. It was so much fun and really solidified my love for music and becoming a music educator. I will never forget my senior year May Term trip to Europe and our trip to Austria where myself, Zach Hoyer, Gabe Hoyer, and Nathaniel Hipsley found an empty church and sang some songs as a quartet. It was a perfect symbol of the friendships I made, my growth in music at CHCA, the opportunities I was given, and the beauty of the church we were in that made it a memory I will always treasure. I knew then that I needed to come back to Austria and now it is an amazing full circle opportunity to travel back to the beautiful country to study what I love. I wouldn’t have this opportunity without my experiences at CHCA. My advice for the graduates is to follow your passion. There are so many things out there telling what you should do, but you are the one who holds the power to follow what you love. Music is a hard industry. If I wanted to be “comfortable” I probably wouldn’t choose it, but the joy it gives me and the passion I have for it is what drives me and has gotten me far. Your passions and identity are unique and don’t change them for anyone. Again, I’m so thankful for CHCA to even give me this opportunity to talk about my experience at Miami and this opportunity at AIMS Graz.

1997 David Snyder

David Snyder and his wife, Jen, live in Landen with their two kids, James (9) and Stella (6). They are deeply invested in the growth of their community through various activities including leadership and support of a newer church plant, Landen Church in the Y. The intimate and missional focus of this church has allowed for deep relationships and growth with many who have never set foot in a church or not done so for many years. This is a great local expression of their family’s calling to serve God and advance His Kingdom. This year alone, David will travel to Kenya, Uganda, Ukraine, Ghana, Zambia, India and Nepal in his role as ED of Sustainable Med, a Christian ministry that is focused on equipping indigenous faith and medical leaders to create sustainable solutions to address the neglected conditions in their community in order to create permanent pathways for the Gospel. God has blessed this ministry tremendously with over 5,000 leaders trained and over 500,000 people impacted and healed over the past three years alone. Yet, the true measure of success is seeing individual children, moms and dads take that next step towards Christ as they see God cares for them now and not just in eternity. This work has been possible through the sacrifice of local leaders in these nations, but also through the local support of so many in the Cincinnati area and beyond, including many from CHCA. In addition to David, Ben Beshear (‘97) Brian Fey (‘96) and Jonathan Snyder (‘98) currently serve or have recently served on the Board of Directors. David and Emmanuel Ndolimana, the African Director of his organization, have also been honored to speak at several CHCA chapel services and individual classrooms over the past few years about their personal testimonies as well as life in third world and developing nations. David shares, “I am excited and blessed by the continued role of CHCA in my life, and I am thrilled to have so many CHCA alumni and some current CHCA families join me in the work God has called us to do as we reach out to our brothers and sisters around the world. This vision for CHCA when it started was to create a network of families and future leaders with sufficient mass and shared mission to truly impact Cincinnati and the world. It is incredible to be a part of that dream coming to life.”

ALUMNI NOTES >> Recognizing submissions from July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2018

1995

1 Micah Dennison, his wife, Kim, and their daughters, Norah and Cara are currently living in West Chester with their puppies Daisy and Greta and cats Samoa and Miles. Life is good! Micah is working at Party City going on 15 years and spends his free time enjoying family. He and Kim are doing their best to raise 2 imaginative, caring, loving young ladies into future world changers. 2 Ben Gann is living just outside of Washington, D.C. in Northern Virginia and working in government affairs. In addition, he is beginning his eighth year as a travel soccer coach and working with an under-12 Girls team for the upcoming year. Over the summer, Benjamin visited Acadia National Park in Maine and took his six year-old son Hudson to Cincinnati for the first time. Amanda Poole Perazzo has had a lifetime of adventures and happiness since graduating 23 years ago from CHCA. Her most favorite accomplishment is becoming a mom to two beautiful children. Brayden is 14 and heading to high school and Maisy is 10 and heading to 5th grade. After graduating from CHCA, Amanda went to Northern Kentucky University and started a career in the hospitality industry running hotels as a General Manager. She decided a few years back to go back to college and do something she is truly passionate about helping people heal. She graduated last December from the Christ College of Nursing and is so excited to live out her life long passion of being a nurse. She still lives in Cincinnati as close as she possibly can to each of her family members. She feels she has been blessed beyond what anyone deserves.

1998

3 Matt Toy and his wife, Melissa and 3 children are living in Franklin, TN. Matt is currently the Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Trevecca Nazarene University.

1999

Rebecca Pierce Grady and her husband, Timothy, live in Westerville, OH with their 3 children - Hannah (8), Harper (7), and Ronan (4). Rebecca is currently a Military MOPS Coach at MOPS International.

2000

4 Allison Khoury Fuhrman and her huband, Chad, live in North Carolina with their 2 children, Barrett (6) and Colten (3). Allison is currently a Sr. Manager of Consumer Solutions at Electrolux.

5 Allison Van Sickle McGee and her husband, Corey, live in Washington where they are the owners of Mercer Island CrossFit. Their family grew to 4 with the birth of their son, Marcus, in March. He joins his sister, Landrey (2). 6 Liz Bronson Rosenau and husband Greg are enjoying life in Cincinnati with their twoyear-old daughter, Audrey. They also recently welcomed their new son, Robbie. Liz works part-time as a communication consultant for TiER1 Performance Solutions, where she tries to remember everything her English teachers taught her in high school.

2001

7 Kara Buczek is currently celebrating her 6th year in Seattle where she found her chosen family when she joined the circus!

2002

8 Clinton Johnson and his wife, Amanda, are currently living in Arlington, OH with their 4 children: Jeremiah (7), Joseph (5), Eliana (3), and Joshua (1).

2003

9 Jeffrey Hager is currently a Science Teacher at the The Buckeye Ranch in the South-Western City Schools. He and his wife, Sara, have 2 cats and live in a house in Columbus with solar panels where they like to grow their own food. They also have 2 beehives in the backyard.

2004

10 Rob Bedinghaus has been a financial advisor with Edward Jones in Lebanon, OH for the past three years after graduating with a PhD from Indiana University in 2015. He and his wife, Kate, celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary on June 29, 2018. They have four sons: Liam (8), Judah (5), Micah (3) and Owen (3) and live in Loveland, OH. They are expecting a girl in September. Rob and Kate are members of Christ Church in Milford, OH, a church plant that started in 2015 and meets at Mulberry Elementary School. 11 Sal Churi has left his role as a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School to launch a new venture capital fund, Trust Ventures, which will fund and support heavily regulated startups and help them remove public policy barriers and create disruptive new products for consumers. Sal recently became engaged to Lauren Oleszkiewicz and an April 2019 wedding is planned.

FULLY PREPARED

1 3

7 9

11 #

ALUMNI NOTES

Recognizing submissions from July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2018

FULLY PREPARED

Laura Terkosky Mahony and her husband, Jeffrey, currently live in South Carolina with their 1 year old son, Mathias. 12 Brittany Wyche married Chris Jacques this past January. Then in February, she accepted an offer from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and started her PhD in Counselor Education program in August. She is excited to take this next step with the support of her husband.

2005

13 Tommy Andrews started his 10th year working on Capitol Hill! Previously, Tommy spent seven years with Speaker of the House John Boehner (OH-08) of Cincinnati and has been with Speaker of the House Paul D. Ryan (WI-01) since he assumed the gavel on October 29, 2015. Tommy is still in the same role on his senior staff as the Speaker’s Director of Member Services. Tommy acknowledges that it is very rare to have the privilege to be asked to serve two Speakers of the United States House of Representatives. 14 T.R. Booth and his wife of six years, Samantha, welcomed their first child, Landon Joseph, on July 6. 15 Amanda Topits Cacaro is living in Madeira with her husband Joe Cacaro and their two kids, son Channing (2) and daughter Lyla (4 months). She is going on 6 years of running her successful bridal boutique, Hyde Park Bridal! Matt Chacksfield moved to Eastgate, OH this past year with his Golden Retriever, Maggie. He is currently the VP of Sales and Marketing at G3/ProCamps, an event management and sports marketing company specializing in youth sports camps and related experiences with professional atheletes such as Kevin Durant, Rob Gronkowski, James Harden, Dak Prescott, Anthony Rizzo, and more. This fall, Matt is planning a trip to Iceland. Grant Cooper and his wife, Meg, are excitedly awaiting the arrival of their first child, a boy, due on Labor Day. Grant recently started a new job at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management as a Portfolio Manager and Meg launched a business this spring called Gather Cincy; a co-working space with childcare in East Walnut Hills. https://gathercincy.com/. Grant also currently serves on the CHCA Alumni Board.

Aubrey Edwards-Luce continues to enjoy serving kids and families in Washington, D.C. as a senior policy attorney at the Children’s Law Center. She and her husband, Danny, recently moved to a neighborhood just outside of the Capitol to start a new church. They prayerfully hope that services will start Easter 2019. They’d love your prayers and support. 16 Lindsay Rudolph Engel and Robert were married surrounded by friends and family in the Bahamas this year. Lindsay stays busy travel nursing and managing her rental properties in Cincinnati, while Robert stays busy managing his company, Engel Wealth Management. They will be moving to Chicago, IL after Lindsay’s current adventure in Milwaukee has concluded. 17 Lauren Davies Jester became part of the Smoothie King franchise in 2013, opened her first store in Indiana in July of 2015, and has plans to open more. Her husband, Josh, is a firefighter/AEMT. They recently had triplets on April 19, 2018. Their names are Josie, Josiah and Jaylon and they join their 4 year old brother, Jase. 18 Matt McKillen After bouncing around a bit after graduating from Miami (Cincinnati to London to DC), Matt and his wife (Katie) have been in Denver for about 1.5 years with their two boys Caleb (2) and Joshua (8 months). Matt is working for a technology company in the area and spends as much free time as possible exploring Denver and the surrounding mountains. They spent 4th of July week on Lake Erie and are looking forward to a future in Denver. Matthew Millett 2018 marks the 42nd Year Anniversary for Matthew and his family’s (Brother Mark Millett class of ’00) interior design business, David A. Millett, Inc. currently located in the design district of Oakley. There Matthew holds the position as Director of Operations overseeing all internal operations of the business. The company is currently renovating a 45,000 sq. ft. building located off the Dana Ave. exit that will host their new showroom, opening fall 2018. May of 2018 Matthew also celebrated his three-year anniversary as Publisher of Sophisticated Living Magazine for Cincinnati. Since taking over the publication, Matthew has increased its distribution and awareness through more in-depth local articles and international luxury lifestyle editorials. Previous issues can be found at slmag.net.

19 Joseph Polzin is currently serving as a Lutheran pastor at two congregations in Grayling and Gaylord, MI. He graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO with a M.Div. in 2016. He and his wife Jennifer have three children, Miles (5), Frederick (4), and Jane (2). They are expecting their fourth child in November of this year. 20 Amanda Scott married a man who cannot tolerate Skyline Chili, but in spite of that, they celebrated their third year of marriage this past July. (Speaking of marriage, this past summer, Amanda celebrated her little, and far more famous, brother, Ben Scott, as he married the girl of his dreams.) After a long and aggravating search, Amanda and her husband bought their first home. It is 101 years old and just the most charming place. Amanda is still waiting to achieve her lifelong dream of getting a dog. In the meantime, she enjoys making her husband laugh, gardening poorly, watching the Great British Bake Off, and waking up in the middle of the night for no reason whatsoever.

2006

Brian Painter and Christina ‘07 are living here in Cincinnati where Brian is currently the Digital Experience Analyst for Crossroads. Christina is owner/personal chef at Stir Crazy Cuisine and is still finding time to serve on the CHCA Alumni Board. They welcomed their son, Alexander, to their family last February who joins his sister Juliana (2).

2007

Chris Colwell, Jr. was promoted and transferred with Amazon to Lexington, KY in May. While he’s still finding his way around, Lexington is great! Annie Nicholson Cortez completed her Master’s Degree in Education with Reading Endorsement at Xavier University. She and her husband, Alex are expecting their first child in August. Annie teaches Kindergarten in Madeira school system. Alex is a Surgery Resident at UC.

ALUMNI NOTES

Recognizing submissions from July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2018 21 Epiphany Davis recently opened an event planning and remote consulting business, Have An Epiphany LLC. “Need help with virtual admin work? Let me help you with marketing, booking travel, expense reports or answering inquiries. And if you’re in the need to plan your wedding, birthdays, or holiday parties look no further!” Epiphany is currently living in Brooklyn, NY. 22 James Havey signed another contract with Maryknoll Lay Missioners to continue serving the people of Cambodia in combatting human trafficking and modern slavery. In Phnom Penh, he is working with a team of Cambodian researchers studying the longitudinal outcomes of non-governmental organizations (NGO) and the Christian Church’s intervention in the lives of trafficking survivors. To find out more about James’ life in mission and his work to secure sustainable livelihoods for survivors of modern slavery please visit: www.mklm.org and www.chabdai.org/butterfly 23 Thomas “Brian” Hunter is currently the Assistant Crop Production Manager at Turner Farm here in Cincinnati. Kara Hendy Love and her husband, Rob, are living in Anderson Township with their chocolate standard poodle, Alfie. Kara just finished her fifth year teaching AP English at Winton Woods High School and tutors privately for the ACT and loves the work that she does and the community she serves. Her husband is a Senior Infrastructure Services Engineer at Anthem. 24 Ted Nicholson most recently joined CHCA students during Intercession (“May Term”) to share his love of fly fishing. Ted works as a fly fishing instructor and guide. He takes groups to the Bahamas, Belize, Michigan, as well as great spots in our area. Ted and his wife, Quinn, live in Hyde Park. Quinn is the manager of Anthropologie in Kenwood. Christina Karam Painter and Brian ‘06 are living here in Cincinnati where Brian is currently the Digital Experience Analyst for Crossroads. Christina is owner/personal chef at Stir Crazy Cuisine and is still finding time to serve on the CHCA Alumni Board. They welcomed their son, Alexander, to their family last February who joins his sister Juliana (2). 25 Kyle Smith received his MBA from Miami University in 2017 and now works for Aprecia Pharmaceuticals in Blue Ash.

2008

Kristin Philip is in her final year of internal medicine residency at Ohio State and is seeking fellowships in pulmonary and critical care. She is also excited to be planning her 2019 summer wedding to her fiance, Cameron Robinson.

2009

26 Travis Geiger Since graduating from UCLA, Travis has been progressing towards his goal of writing and directing for film and television. He has been working in roles throughout the industry with the aim of learning all he can, from the best he can, to make himself a more complete filmmaker. His credits include being assistant to Don Cheadle on his Miles Davis joint, Miles Ahead - assistant to the producer on the largest film ever to be made in China, Universal’s The Great Wall starring Matt Damon - assistant to the producer on Lionsgate’s upcoming Robin Hood starring Jamie Fox. Travis also assisted cinematographer Ed Lachman during the production Carol, which received six Oscar Nominations including Best Cinematography. He also assisted Lachman on Wonderstruck, which was nominated for the Palm d’Or at the Cannes film festival. Recently, Travis lead the visual effects team on the Steven Spielberg production The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Currently, Travis is raising financing for a comedy series he wrote entitled, Valley Slice, about the adventures of pizza delivery drivers in California’s San Fernando Valley. If all goes well he hopes to put his experience to use as he directs season one. 27 Alivia Johnson is working as the Corporate HR & Training Coordinator for Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment. Lindsey (“Sony”) Redder Miller married Jonathan Miller last November and they are currently living in Cincinnati. 25 Sean Smith is a Naval Aviator Lieutenant Junior Grade Officer in the United States Navy stationed in Jacksonville, FL. 28 Julia Youn recently relocated to New York where she is a Senior Associate with PwC.

2010

29 Veronica “Ronnie” Colwell, AuD. was blessed to graduate with her Doctor of Audiology degree in April. She has accepted a field sales rep. position with Starkey Hearing Solutions. Starkey is located in Eden Prairie, MN; but, her tri-state sales territory is locally based out of Cincinnati.

30 Erin Lloyd After CHCA, Erin attended Wittenberg University, graduating in 2014. She then attended Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in Michigan. On May 11, 2018, she became a Medical Doctor! She will be specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R). Her 4 year residency will be at The Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. 31 John Lloyd After CHCA, John attended The University of Cincinnati, where he played baseball (1 yr) and football (4 yrs). While at UC, he was named to the Big East All Academic Team (twice) and to the American Athletic Conference All Academic Team (twice). He also led the AAC in 2014 with a 43.8 yards per punt average and left UC with the third best average in UC football history (behind two current NFL punters). After UC, John was accepted into the Stanley Steemer Management-In-Development program, and spent a year at the Dublin, Ohio headquarters. After the training year, he was assigned a Branch Manager role in Ft. Worth, TX. It is a good fit, as John was born in Dallas and has always considered himself a Texan. Jordan Palmer After graduating from Miami University she went on to complete her MBA with a concentration in HR Management from American InterContinental University. She is currently living in Cincinnati and is the HR Interview Specialist for Macy’s and has a beautiful daughter, JaiLeigh. 32 Andrew Perkins married Maggie Lynn on June 23, 2018. Andrew is currently working at Crossroads and serving on the CHCA Alumni Board. 33 Anne Maria van den Berg-Hadzinsky Since graduating from The Ohio State University, Anne Maria went on to get her Master’s Degree in International Development Management from the London School of Economics. In September 2016, she married Mitch Hadzinsky, who she met at Ohio State through mutual friends. In 2017, they moved to Philadelphia where they live in Old City with Zoey (their dog) and Remi (their cat). Anne Maria recently started working as an Impact Evaluator and Compliance Coordinator at the Women’s Opportunity Resource Center, an organization that provides microloans and financial services to women, refugees, and people of color to help them pave a path out of poverty.

FULLY PREPARED

28 29

27 32

31 33

ALUMNI NOTES

Recognizing submissions from July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2018 35

2011 Amy Mirlisena

35 Amy just accepted an offer from Rocketship Public Schools, a national Public Charter. She has been studying and incorporating project based learning into teaching first grade this past year at her previous school and was scouted to teach Kindergarten STEM for their multicultural inner city school, Rocketship United Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. This project based learning charter school is dedicated to empowering kids who come from nothing and encourages staff, kids, and families to face social justice issues by tying in the content and creating projects that make kids think critically about world problems with a creative and passionate mindset. Amy is excited to use her background in conversational Spanish, Afrocentric education, and Project Based Learning with her â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kinder Rocketeersâ&#x20AC;?.

38 35

FULLY PREPARED

2011

34 Maddie Drees resides in Astoria, NY, where she continues to pursue a performance career. Recently, she’s worked with Plaza Theatrical Productions, a touring company that brings live theatre to young audiences. This past May, Maddie was the Maid of Honor in the wedding of fellow CHCA lifer and best friend, Maggie Ledbetter ’11. 25 Jeremy Smith completed his 5 years of service in the United States Marine Corps as Sergeant. He is currently completing his degree at Miami University.

2012

35 Alexis Caruso After receiving her B.A. in Financial Management from Hillsdale College, Alexis went on to attend Auburn University grad school and graduated this past May with her MBA and Masters in Finance. She is currently at Delta Air Lines in Atlanta as a Financial Analyst. 36 Hannah Grubb graduated from The King’s College in 2016 with a B.A. in Media. This past May she began working for Daily Mail and General Trust as the NY Assistant Editorial Operations Manager. 37 Morgan Prescott Price and Jon Price ‘12 were married this past June and had many alumni surrounding them at the celebration. Morgan is currently the talent acquisition specialist for Messer Construction and Jon works for GE aviation as a mechanical engineer. They plan to make their home in Cincinnati. 38 AnnMarie Kadnar Riley married James Riley ‘13 in the most perfect winter wedding at Bel-Wood Country Club in December 2017! She is currently writing her thesis on the forage quality and carbohydrate content of cool season perennial grasses. This work will provide a more complete picture of the nutrients in pastures to provide better management options for horses that may have metabolic issues. In addition to getting married and trying to finish her masters this summer, she and James also train search and rescue dogs. They currently have two German Shepherds, Bear and Ziva, who work through the Kentucky Search Dog Association. Emily Walton graduated from Miami University in 2016 and continued her education at Georgetown University with a M.A. in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies. She lived in Latvia this past academic year on a Boren Fellowship. She moved back to Washington, D.C. and after graduating this

past May she started interning at the U.S. Russia Business Council through the end of the year.

2013

Wesley Braden currently lives and works in Chicago as an account manager for Google. 39 Kevin DeGroft Last August, Kevin completed OCS as a Submarine Nuclear Officer in the Navy. In January, he moved to Charleston, SC where he went on to complete Naval Nuclear Power School in June. He remains in Charleston for his next training - Nuclear Power Training Unit - which is the hands on training.

2011 Heather Owens

40 James Riley and AnnMarie (Kadnar Riley) ‘12 were married this past December. James is actively working as a firefighter/ EMT for Colerain Township and The City of Forest Park in Ohio. He is one of a few firefighters recently selected to serve on a fire and explosives investigation team for the area. He is also a recent member of the Kentucky Search Dog Association and is training one of his German Shepherds, Ziva, for live human trailing and article search. This ties in with his work in Hamilton County, as he is currently developing a search and rescue dog program for the area.

The United Nations. Imagine walking every morning past the flags that line the walkway, representing the countries of the world that the work of the International Law Commission (ILC) would affect. This is the reality for Heather Owens ‘11. As she awaits results of her bar exam, she is helping to change the world! Here is a synopsis of her three year journey to the doors of the United Nations… After graduating summa cum laude from Northern Kentucky University in 2015, I moved to Miami, Florida to attend Florida International University (FIU) College of Law. FIU has a focus on international law in the classes it provides. This past spring, I enrolled in a seminar class focused on the International Law Commission (ILC), a subsidiary of the United Nations General Assembly. The ILC’s mission is to codify and progressively develop international law, and has been responsible for promulgating new international conventions since its creation in 1947. The ILC consists of 34 members from various nations, elected from a pool of leading scholars in their field of international law, of which my professor, Charles Jalloh, is a member. I was selected in late March to be his research assistant for the meeting of the ILC during May through August and my research began immediately. I lived and studied in Seville from June 2 until July 13, during which I explored the culture of Seville as well as Lisbon, Portugal; Segovia, Spain; and Paris, France. I was taught by both American and Spanish professors, giving me

a truly dynamic understanding of the differences of laws and legal systems between the two countries. I was even fortunate enough to receive a tour of the Constitutional Court of Madrid, the only court in Spain given power to declare laws unconstitutional. After my studies in Spain, I moved to Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the ILC’s meetings and begin my official role. I was given a badge to enter the United Nations and was blessed to attend the daily meetings of the ILC. I also attended receptions held by Chile and Morocco, and had dinner with many members of the ILC. The dinners ranged from local specialty fondue restaurants to restaurants on large riverboats overlooking Lake Geneva, during which I had the opportunity to discuss with the members their personal research interests, home countries, and experience in international law. During my internship, not only did I witness debates among the top international legal scholars, but I saw the final stages of debate on my seminar topic, “Provisional Application of Treaties”, and I’ve helped my commissioner write several speech responses on this topic to be delivered to the body of the ILC. I also provide miscellaneous work on other topics such as finding relevant treaty provisions, searching the charter of the UN and ILC, creating tables of state responses to the ILC’s work and proposed topics. I was introduced to the special rapporteur of my topic to discuss my opinions and research. When I enrolled in the class and selected my topic, I never imagined that I would be on the floor of the debates, nor did I imagine that I would have the fortune of meeting the individual responsible for the research and proposals on which I did my research. Now that I have returned to school, I continue my position as research assistant. Although this internship won’t directly lead to a job, as the experts are elected, I’m hopeful that the experience will help me one day become a legal officer for the United Nations. 48

ALUMNI NOTES

FULLY PREPARED >>

25 Melissa Smith recently graduated from Miami University and is currently working in finance for Worldpay.

2014

Hannah Chait graduated from University of Indiana and is starting the next chapter of life as an Associate Quality Engineer at General Mills. She is currently in Cincinnati. 42 Rachel Finch is officially - Rachel Finch, RN, BSN! She graduated this past May and is headed to UC Health to work in the Burns ICU. This past spring she and alumni Elle Russo ‘14 had the experience of a lifetime spending 12 days trekking to Mt. Everest Base Camp, ascending a total of 18,500 feet. Nicole Gayotin graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology this past May as an optical engineer. She is beginning a 3 year leadership/management program with Belden Inc. Her first year rotation is in Industrial Sales in Carmel, Indiana. 41 Raelyn Klusmeyer graduated December 2017 a semester early and with Honors from Bowling Green State University with BS degree in Human Development & Family Studies. She started grad school at BGSU in January to study School Counseling. Casey Ochs recently graduated from University of Dayton with a Communication Management Major and minor in Psychology. She is now pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Nursing at The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Casey can also be found on the sidelines of the CHCA Lady Eagles varsity soccer games as one of their assistant coaches. Sarah Ottenjohn graduated this past spring from Wake Forest University with a degree in Mathematical Statistics and Spanish. She is currently working as a Wake Forest Fellow with their IT department. 42 Elle Russo and Rachel Finch ‘14 had absolutely one of their best experiences of their lives. They spent 12 days trekking to Everest Base Camp, ascending a total of 18,500 feet. The biggest challenge was adapting to the altitude. Each day they gained around 1,500 feet while hiking to different Himalayan villages. Two days of the trek involved short day hikes while staying overnight in the same village to acclimatize their bodies. They were lucky to have a Sherpa who guided and assisted them the whole way.

2015

Merrie Drees is in her senior year at Kent State. Last year was a busy year with 2 leading roles - Amy in Little Women and Jenny in Allegro. This past summer she was working at Porthouse Theater, an equity company, where she was seen in both Anything Goes and Oklahoma. Caroline Hughes is pursuing an operations management degree with a focus in Supply Chain from University of Cincinnati. This summer she had an internship with Williams-Sonoma working in their distribution centers. 43 Rebecca Richart is in the 4th and final year at the University of Cincinnati, Go Bearcats! She is studying criminal justice and has one more year left in Air Force ROTC before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. This summer she was at Maxwell AFB, Alabama for Field Training, Expeditionary, Survival, and Evasion Training (ESET), and at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and Army Air Assault school at Fort Drum in New York. The past year or so has taken her to Peru, Bolivia, Vietnam, Ireland, and Nicaragua. Her hope is to be classified as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer and have the opportunity to be stationed at any Air Force base in the world.

2016

44 Jessica Boemker is a senior psychology major at Miami University, graduating a year early. She plans to continue on for a masters in marriage and family, and it is her dream to offer couples counseling in an underserved area. She recently completed an internship at Miami with the Oxford Women’s Care Center where she worked alongside the client services coordinator. While there, she worked with the organization to provide advice and material goods to local mothers in need. She is currently writing a senior thesis in Dr. Summerville’s Regret Lab at Miami.

Phil Ochs is in his 2nd year pursuing a B.M. in Commercial Music Production with a minor in Entrepreneurship at the CollegeConservatory of Music at University of Cincinnati.

45 Savannah Weber just finished her sophomore year at the University of South Carolina. She is loving college, her marine science classes, and serving as VP of Standards for her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega. She just accepted an offer to the NOAA Hollings Scholarship program, which includes a paid internship next summer conducting research with NOAA. She is currently completing an Aquatic Veterinary internship at Dolphins Plus in Key Largo, Florida, where she gets to work with Atlantic bottle nose dolphins every day. She plans to pursue a career working with marine mammals and conservation.

2017

Will Braden is in his second year at Wheaton College. He has not declared a major yet but is leaning towards political science with an English minor. Morgan Bradley was named Ohio Valley Conference Female Track and Field Athlete of the year and placed second at the conference outdoor championships. She is in her 2nd year at Austin Peay State University where she is studying Applied Exercise Science. Jessica Gruber successfully completed her freshman year at Wright State and plans to finish her degree in Mass Communication in three years. She made such an impression on her program advisor that she will be taking senior level classes in the fall. After finishing her degree she plans to move to NYC. Rachel Mangiaracina is in her second year at University of Kentucky where she is studying Marketing. Nick Noyen just completed his first year at the United States Air Force Academy. After completing six weeks of basic training, two semesters of classes, year long military training and recognition, he will be starting his sophomore year as a C3C Cadet Staff Sergeant. Liam Wilson is in his second year at Bowling Green University where he is studying Marketing.

25 Mark Smith is in his junior year at the University of Cincinnati Lindner School of Business and is a member of the UC Men’s Soccer Club.

11525 Snider Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45249