Lorain County Community Guide - June 8, 2023

An unseasonably dry end of spring has Lorain County farmers worried about their crops and weather experts warning a drought could be possible this summer.

The National Weather Service Cleveland announced June 1 that northern Ohio has been placed in the “abnormally dry” category by the NWS drought monitor.

“We are getting into a situation where we have not been getting enough rain over the last couple of weeks,” NWS meteorologist Rick Garuckas said. “It takes into account the soil moisture that is available for crops to grow on, and that soil moisture is starting to become a little bit lower than normal. It means we aren’t in a drought yet, but we are heading in that direction.”

The last measurable rain that northern Ohio received was on May 20, nearly two weeks ago.

Though the region is not yet in a drought according to the NWS classification, it may as well be to some local farmers.

“It is especially dry right now,” Pittsfield resident and farmer Mark McConnell said. “Normally our biggest problem is getting the soil dry enough to plant, and right now there’s pretty much no moisture in the upper layers of the soil where we plant the seeds. So this, well in our world, you can call it a drought right now.”

McConnell, who is also a member of the Pittsfield Township Board of Trustees, operates Hickory Grove Farms with his two brothers.

The McConnells plant primarily corn and soybeans in the spring. McConnell said the dry conditions have him worried the soybeans, which are planted later than the corn, won’t take root properly.

“Very very seldom do we have conditions where the soil is so dry that it won’t germinate the crop, but that is the case right now,” he said. “Maybe one in 10, maybe a little more, seasons are this dry. This is extremely dry for our area this time

Second Harvest: Increased hardship for most clients

Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio has seen a 50 percent increase in the need for emergency food assistance this year, in comparison to the same period in 2019, the agency reported.

In a news release, Second Harvest said it wanted to know what was driving the need and who was most affected. It then partnered with the Ohio Association of Foodbanks to survey emergency food distribution clients to help guide efforts to serve the community, according to the news release.

“Data is essential for everything we do,” Second Harvest President and CEO Julie Chase-Morefield said. “We don’t want to think we know what needs to be done. We want numbers, facts and community feedback to support our efforts. That is why this study is so important.”

The findings from this study showed real-life implications were detrimental to many families. The majority of Ohio food bank clients had to choose between buying food or paying for essential household expenses like housing, medicine and utilities.

Second Harvest and other regional food banks across the state are advocating in Columbus and Washington, D.C., to increase hunger relief efforts in the Ohio biennial budget and the federal farm bill.

“Our shelves are empty, and food is much harder to

of year.” Corn and soybeans are two of the most commonly planted crops in the late spring and early summer in the region.

Thomas Becker, an agriculture and natural resources educator with the Ohio State

University Lorain County Extension, said that the issue for most farmers in Lorain County this time of year is usually too much moisture, rather than not enough. Typically Lorain County receives about

Officials hear proposed timeline for new Lorain County Jail

The Lorain County Board of Commissioners heard a proposed timeline for a new Lorain County Jail courtesy of two consulting firms it hired over the past two years.

Further discussion surrounding the plan is expected Friday after all three commissioners are briefed and the proposed timeline gets some editing, county officials said Tuesday.

County Administrator Jeff Armbruster told the board on Tuesday that Hills Corrections Consulting, which commissioners hired on May 19, provided documents on a proposed new timeline for hiring architects, engineers and construction managers.

The board hired Hills to

study the jail two years ago, in June 2021, but its report was shelved, Commissioner David Moore said May 19. Commissioners Michelle Hung and Matt Lundy hired CGL Companies of Miami in August 2022 to do an assessment of the jail for just under $90,000.

Armbruster said both Hills and CGL agree that a whole new jail is the “best choice” for Lorain County, and Hills gave the county a timeline on the process going forward.

Armbruster said he has already spoken with commissioners Moore and Jeff Riddell and is meeting with Hung on Thursday. He said it could take two to four years to get the project out to bid “and find funding for it” in the meantime.

He said the county could possibly have “a much

nicer place to have our employees work, as well as unfortunately those people that are incarcerated, they will have a much better place to stay than what they have right now.”

The existing jail, built in 1977, is a 24-hour, sevenday-per-week facility with aging utilities including heating and cooling units and plumbing problems. Its most recent addition was in 1998 when more than 200 inmate beds were added.

Still unknown is how the county would pay for a new jail with an estimated cost in the tens of millions:

As low as $50 million to $60 million, by very early estimates last year, or as high as $178 million, according to comments Moore made to the AvonAvon Lake Republican Club in April.

Hung and Lundy voted

in December to set aside $20 million for the future renovation or replacement of the jail. Moore voted against the measure, saying he wanted to have more conversations about it and predicting that there would be a vote in early 2023 to rescind the savings plan.

According to a timeline Armbruster provided at the meeting, the following is a proposed timeline for the next steps in replacing the jail:

● June 16: Architect/ engineer and construction manager requests for qualifications, or RFQs, finalized and issued.

● July 17: Response to RFQs due back to the county.

● July 28: County Selection Committee recommends and Board of Commissioners selects an

DAVE O’BRIEN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

Michael Alex Kozie

Michael Alex Kozie, 53, and a resident of University Heights, passed away Sunday, May 28, 2023, at his home after a brief battle with heart disease. Arrangements by Hempel Funeral Home.

Joan Junglas

Joan Junglas, 84, of Amherst, passed away Thursday, June 1, 2023, at Mercy Regional Medical Center following a brief illness.

Hempel Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

Sandra L. Danicki

Sandra L. Danicki, 55, a lifetime resident of Amherst, passed away Friday, June 2, 2023 at Mercy New Life Hospice Residence Center, following a brief illness. Hempel Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

Our condolences go out to families that have suffered the loss of a loved one.To place an obituary or death notice in the Community Guide, call (440) 329-7000.

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architect/engineering firm and a construction management firm.

● Aug. 21: Selected architect/engineering firm generates renderings and information about the new jail.

● Sept. 5: Selected construction management firm provides estimated cost and budget information about new jail.

Deputy County Administrator Karen Perkins said the proposed schedule “gives us a timeline to actually go out for qualification statements for architects and construction managers.”

Moore said he was “not too keen on the time schedule” and said he would like to have a larger discussion at the board’s meeting on Friday.

Perkins said she would come back to the board for a formal resolution after adjusting the proposed schedule “a tad bit.”

The Chronicle-Telegram has requested a copy of the Hills report.

In other business, the board awarded a contract worth $5.1 million to Fechko Excavating of Medina for phase one of the Sandstone Parkway project in Lorain County.

Four bids were received

Lorain County spelling bee champ grateful for experience

KEVIN MARTIN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

LORAIN — Lorain County spelling bee champion Bridget Smith’s run at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C., ended May 30 in the second round.

Representing the Educational Service Center (ESC) of Lorain County, Bridget, 13, is a seventh grade student at Durling Middle School in Lorain. She kicked off her competition in round one by correctly spelling equatoguinean, of or relating to the country of Equatorial Guinea, a country in West Africa.

Bridget advanced to the second round of competition along with 172 other spellers after 59 were eliminated in the first round. For the second round spellers were asked to correctly define words with Smith stumbling on the word ‘fracas’ defined as a loud brawl or fight.

Bridget’s mother, Cheryl Grizzell, said her daughter has taken in the moment.

“She is just happy to be here and is having a great time and has met a lot of kids from everywhere,” Grizzell said. Bridget will be participating in the full week’s worth of events in Washington which includes a final dinner reception on Friday evening, and in the meantime is enjoying visiting the nation’s capital.

Bridget Smith, second from right, competes in the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 30.

Chronicle-Telegram and was among 15 spellers from Ohio.

on May 11, and Fechko was the “most responsive,” according to the board’s agenda. The work involves building approximately 3,700 linear feet of new county highway, storm sewers, waterlines, sanitary sewers and a pump station.

The work is to be completed by Dec. 31 and will be paid with tax increment financing, or TIF, funding established earlier this year. A TIF exempts the value of private property improvements from taxes, and property owners make payments in lieu to fund infrastructure.

In March, the board unanimously approved TIF agreements with developer Amherst Consolidated Properties for the 264-acre development south of the Ohio Turnpike, between state Route 58 and Oberlin Road and north of Route 113. Commissioners voted to create two TIF districts within Amherst Township in February.

The county already has installed sewers in the area and a connector road is being built to link Oberlin Road and Route 58, which commissioners said would open the area to future development.

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Bridget was selected to represent Lorain County, finishing first of 32 other competitors at Avon Middle School in March in the competition sponsored by the Educational Service Center of Lorain County and The

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come by,” ChaseMorefield said. “But we have to continue to serve our neighbors and create pathways with other organizations to come up with solutions to help with the difficult decisions our community is facing.”

The survey was taken from anonymous answers given by more than 2,000 emergency food distribution clients who visited Ohio food banks between April 14 and May 7.

According to the survey, more than 8 in 10 Ohio food bank clients are seeking help with emergency food because of higher food costs.

Since the end of pandemic-era SNAP benefits, more than three out of every four Ohio food bank clients that participate in SNAP have exhausted their household’s SNAP benefit within the first two weeks of each month or less. Just 5 percent of SNAP participants

In her official Scripps National Spelling Bee biography, Bridget listed math as her favorite subject, admires tennis player Serena Williams as her favorite athlete and enjoys Sour Patch Kids as her candy of choice.

She said she enjoys spending time with her friends and going to summer theater. In her free time, she enjoys swimming, riding her bike, playing the trumpet in band and has recently

said their benefits lasted the full month.

More than 65 percent of households with adults have cut the size of meals or skipped meals because there wasn’t enough money for food in the last 12 months. That includes more than 36 percent that did so almost every month over the last year.

When Ohio food bank clients were asked about whether they had to choose between paying for food or other household expenses in the last 2-3 months, the study found:

● 68 percent had to choose between food and transportation/gas

● 66 percent had to choose between food and utilities

● 55 percent had to choose between food or medicine/health care and

● 50 percent had to choose between food and housing.

STAFF REPORT

joined the Lorain County 4-H Band for the summer. Smith also enjoys writing poetry and plays and is also interested in cooking and is a true crime fan. She is a member of the Junior Honor Society and the 2023 Scripps is her third year competing in spelling bees, beginning with the 2022 ESC spelling bee as a sixth grader and the 2019 ESC elementary bee as a third grader. This year was her first trip to Washington.

Elyria-based RIDGID is celebrating its 100th anniversary with RIDGID Wrenched 100 IPA, a limited-edition anniversary beer in collaboration with Unplugged Brewing Company, according to a news release.

The brew, the company says, pays tribute to the expert tradespeople who work hard and know how to unplug. Unplugged is an Elyria-based craft brewery and worked closely with the RIDGID team to create the bold and steady brew — just like the brand that inspired it.

“Our goal was to say thank you to the trade professionals who over the past 100 years have put their trust in our tools every day on job sites around the world,” said

Becky Brotherton, director of brand and marketing for RIDGID. “Having a small, hardworking brewery in our own backyard allowed us to create something that was truly special.”

The specialty craft beer is available for purchase in select Northeast Ohio stores and online for direct-to-home shipping in 41 states through December.

Unplugged said it was proud to help RIDGID celebrate its centennial anniversary.

“RIDGID is an iconic name, recognized around the world, and we’re proud to help them celebrate this milestone anniversary,” said Carlos Lopez, owner of Unplugged Brewery. “As a small business owner, it’s been an honor to create this brew for a company that celebrates its customers in this special way.”

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Durling Middle School seventh-grader

RIDGID celebrates with local 100th anniversary beer

LMHA residents work to beautify properties

AMHERST — Several

Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority properties are looking a little more colorful.

Dan Henderson and other residents at Albright Terrace spent June 3 planting flowers and vegetables around the building — from in front of the main entrance sign to along walkways and for individual residents to take care of.

It was Henderson’s sixth year planting at whatever LMHA property he’d lived at, and in those six years, the buildings he’d lived at had been recognized by the agency for five in a row with the Green Thumb award.

“Dan is remarkable in his commitment to beautifying the sites,” LMHA CEO Judith Carlin said. “Where he lived before, and at Albright, wherever Dan is, his green thumb shows itself because he has done some amazing things.”

LMHA provides flowers, vegetables and other plans to residents at its properties — from multifamily highrises like Kennedy Plaza or Albright Terrace to its scattered sites throughout the county.

For Henderson, the plants are something to do when he gets up at 4:30 a.m., he said with a smile, and it helps get everyone out of their apartments and involved with each other.

“That’s the most important thing is get out of the house,” he said.

Walking around the property, he pointed out where the lettuce, tomatoes, herbs and plats of flowers will go over the next week, with the help of fellow residents laying down bags of potting soil, planting and watering each item.

He said you can never tell how much buy-in you’ll get from fellow residents, but said the offer for flowers and other plants is there each year.

This year, he was strategic in planting lettuce and other items in raised beds

or easier-to-fence-off areas to keep rabbits out — joking that last year their neighborhood critters got fat on the dozens of plants they took out.

Albright Terrace and other participating properties will be judged in August on their green thumbs, part of a friendly competition among LMHA sites.

Henderson hopes to take home the award for a sixth year in a row.

Southside Gardens

On June 2, staff from LMHA planted flowers around the office buildings at Southside Gardens.

Carlin and COO Gale Sayers-Proby said Friday morning was a chance for staff to get out to LMHA properties and beautify the spaces.

It goes hand in hand with the $500,000 Choice Neighborhood Planning Grant the agency received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development late last year.

The grant, alongside $300,000 in additional funding, is targeting Southside Gardens to create a plan to redevelop the complex and its surrounding community and to get residents involved in the process.

As part of that, Southside Gardens will be piloting a resident resource center in one of its former apartments, where staff were

hard at work Friday planting flowers around the front steps and handicappedaccessible ramp.

That resource center will include five new programs offered through community partnerships:

● Lorain County Public Health will host chill-andchat drop-ins with mothers from August through January. The program focuses on maternal support for pregnant women or new mothers.

● Goodwill Industries will host college and career readiness skills classes, including helping with computer literacy.

● The Childcare Resource Center will offer a Parent Cafe program.

● Passages will offer resources for men to become better parents to their children, partners with their children’s mothers and providers for their families.

● Lorain County Workforce Development will provide workforce services.

Carlin said the most important thing about the Choice Neighborhood Planning Grant is the plans are driven by the community and LMHA residents. She said the money isn’t for building the new LMHA property, but for planning it — but there is an implementation component that is part of the pilot at Southside Gardens.

If the Resource Center is successful, Sayers-Proby hopes to see it implemented at other multifamily sites.

CARISSA WOYTACH THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

JEFF BARNES | The Community Guide

Albright Terrace resident Maryann Nevedale prepares to plant flowers around the complex in Amherst on June 3.

Residents at Albright Terrace planted flowers and vegetables throughout the apartnemtn complex on June 3 as part of the Green Thumbs competition among LMHA properties.

Driver charged in Barra Restaurant crash

AMHERST — An 18-year-old Lorain man has been charged with a misdemeanor traffic violation after the 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV he was driving struck Barra Restaurant on May 27 morning.

In surveillance footage released by the Amherst Police Department, the vehicle driven by Connor Cordy is seen traveling at a high speed toward the building before striking it and coming to a rest.

Bricks and other debris can be seen falling off the building, resulting in a cloud of dust obscuring the view of the vehicle in the 19-second clip.

The crash occurred Saturday at 4:21 a.m. at the restaurant, 105 Park Ave. Cordy was charged with failure to control, a minor misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $150.

Police have not said how fast the vehicle was traveling prior to colliding with the building. The surveillance footage taken from across the street shows the car’s wheels briefly leaving the ground before the car strikes the restaurant.

Both Cordy and 16-year-old passenger Savannah Lee suffered minor injuries in the crash and were transported to Mercy Health Hospital in Lorain, according to Amherst police.

Police did not have any updates on the pair’s conditions on May 31.

Vermilion Municipal Court records indicate Cordy also was issued a speeding ticket at 1:45 a.m. Jan. 16 by Vermilion police. He was going 99 mph in a 70 mph zone, and paid a $285 fine, according to court records.

The restaurant located at the “5 Points” intersection of South Main Street, North Main Street, Park Avenue, Cleveland Avenue and Milan Avenue was left with a gaping hole in the front after brick and timbers spilled onto the sidewalk.

A message posted to the restaurant’s Facebook page announced the restaurant would be closed until further notice. Concrete barriers, orange safety cones and fencing have been placed around the site.

Looking Back to the Renaissance Era

OBERLIN Before Oberlin Elementary School fifth graders closed the chapter on their final year at the elementary school, they took a brief trip back to the Renaissance Era where they researched the influential people during that time. OES’s Gifted Reading Class learned about Petrarch, Cervantes, Michelangelo, John Dowland, Shakespeare, Machiavelli, Raphael, Isabella d’Esta, Galileo, Donatello, DaVinci, Brunelleschi and Castiglione, said Gifted Intervention Specialist Bryan Policz.

“Students researched influential people from the Renaissance Era as part of their CKLA reading curriculum we use through Amplify,” Policz said. “Students then created museum exhibits that they then displayed throughout the school and presented to fellow classmates and students.”

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Black Legacy Connection focuses on Elyria’s roots

OBERLIN — Members of Elyria’s Black Legacy Connection visited nearby Oberlin on Saturday. Elyria Black Legacy Connection founder Ethan West presented a brief history of the organization to members of the Oberlin African-American Geneology and History Group at the Oberlin Public Library.

West’s group started out as a project that began in the midst of the pandemic, with West researching his own family’s history.

His father grew up in Haywood County, Tennessee — the home of the Bullocks family and Tina Turner — until the family moved to Elyria, West said.

He said he had the honor and privilege to know his great-grandmother, who

was born in 1899 and died in 2000. Her life and legacy served to connect him to a past many only learned about in school. His research expanded, as he’d always been curious about not only his own lineage but also the history of Elyria’s Black community.

He started a project to find the stories for each Black resident listed on Elyria’s census from 1820 to 1920 — from the first individual, only listed as “Ned,” through to Civil War veteran Clinton Kramer.

It was a general curiosity he’d held since elementary school, he said, seeing the history of Black Americans missing from his textbooks.

So while out of work during the COVID-19 shutdown, he began researching. He found the Black Elyrians who settled in the

burgeoning neighborhood where the BASF chemical plant now sits — then the “Root Neighborhood” for the tree-named streets in the area. Some, like Vincent Hardy and family, hosted educator and author Booker T. Washington. Others saw their lineage live on through the city’s first Black Park Rangers, elected officials, police and firefighters.

And West cataloged them all. Soon, other volunteers joined his efforts. West formally founded the Elyria Black Legacy Connection in 2022 in an effort to document the unique stories of the city’s Black community.

They shared many of those on Facebook, highlighting a person or event every day in February 2022.

And in December those same volunteers took a group of Elyria High

School students to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit. Now, the group is preparing for its second annual Juneteenth celebration at Ely Square. From noon to 5 p.m. June 17, West and other volunteers will highlight the historical significance of the holiday, and staff an outdoor museum.

There will also be entertainment, kids activities, food trucks and vendors. A commemorative parade will line up at 11:30 a.m. at East Avenue and Depot Street, and later that evening there will be a commemorative Smart Set softball game at 7 p.m. at South Park Rec.

For more information on the group or its Juneteenth celebration, visit Elyria Black Legacy Connection on Facebook or elyriablack legacy@gmail.com.

four inches of rain in May, but this year it received between two-and-ahalf and three inches.

Becker said 45 percent of Ohio’s topsoil is considered “short or very short” of moisture, citing models from Ohio State Univer-

sity atmospheric scientist Aaron Wilson.

“Much of the topsoil conditions are at a point where normal plant growth and development may be curtailed,” Becker said in an email.

Because the concern in

Lorain County is more often flooding, rather than drought, most farmers in the area have infrastructure designed to drain their fields of excess water, not irrigate them when they are drying up.

“In parts of the world where they have more drought-prone soil they have irrigation, but irrigation is generally not economically feasible here,” McConnell said.

“Because we’re usually worried about draining the soil. But it’s drier than dry right now.”

Lorain County Farm

Bureau President Robert Beekman said that for him, like many farmers in the area, irrigation just isn’t an option.

“Irrigation just really isn’t possible for us here,” Beekman said. “One because we really just aren’t set up for it and two, it just economically doesn’t make much sense. This area, it’s just not normally something you need.”

McConnell said he and many other farmers have gone ahead with planting despite the lack of moisture, and are hopeful that rain will come soon

enough to get the crop back on track.

“Since planting is well underway at this point, about the most they can do is pray for rain,” Becker said. “If you want a good example of what a gambler looks like, look at a farmer. Weather is one of those factors that farmers really have to consider when making decisions, and that’s part of the gamble.”

According to the National Weather Service, over the next 10 days it still seems that there is no rain on the horizon.

The current dry spell is due to a high-pressure system that has “parked itself” over the Great Lakes region, Garuckas said. There are signs the high-pressure system will weaken next weekend, but Garuckas said the air that will flow into the region probably will still be dry.

“Over the Mississippi area in Iowa and Missouri they even have some moderate to severe drought conditions out there,” he said. “A lot of our moisture comes from the west, so since they are so dry out to the west of us, that means it’s likely we’re gonna stay

drier than normal over the next couple of weeks and we may even see this turn into at least a moderate drought if we don’t see some rain.”

The only comparable years in recent memory were 2016, which saw a similar system dry out the Great Lakes and cause a moderate drought, and 2012, when a more severe drought struck much of the Midwest and eastern U.S. Beekman also recalled 2012, saying it was the last time he remembers harvesting hay in May.

Hay needs to be harvested before the weather gets too hot and dry, usually sometime in July, or else it will dry out and lose any nutritional value it has.

“We’ve taken in about 300 acres of hay, we have about 200 left to go and I expect to be done by June 6,” Beekman said. “That’s really unheard of, that’s unreal for us. Usually, we aren’t harvesting hay until late in July or into August, but we had to do it now.”

The rains of May and June usually chase farmers like Beekman and McConnell out of their fields for a few days during this

season, but the dry weather has kept them working.

“It’s not just that we need the break, but the crops need it, the land needs it,” Beekman said.

Unfortunately for Lorain County’s farmers, it seems, at least for the near future, the dry conditions are here to stay.

“Anybody that has any sort of interest that needs rain like gardening or farming, just pay attention to the forecast and see when the next chances of rain are gonna be,” Garuckas said. “I wish I had better news for people that it was going to rain, but it looks like at least the next 10 days are going to remain dry.”

Lorain County farmers will be watching the weather closely this week, as their early summer crops could hang in the balance.

“Obviously we always watch the weather reports and there’s no precipitation in sight,” McConnell said. “Many farmers are done planting, we’re almost done planting, and we’ll just have to leave the rest of the season up to Mother Nature.”

JEFF BARNES | The Community Guide Construction workers clean up the wreckage of Barra in Amherst on the afternoon of May 27 after a car drove through the front of the building early that morning.

CARISSA WOYTACH THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

Kendal resident finishes 100-mile bike ride for OCS

OBERLIN — After 12 hours and 102 miles on her bike, Charlotte McGowan was ready for a shower, a beer and her bed.

The 72-year-old Kendal at Oberlin resident completed her goal to bike 100 miles to raise funds for Oberlin Community Services’ renovations to its Cooper Community Resource Center on Saturday — tacking on the 2 extra miles at the end to beat her previous personal record.

Tired and sweaty, she raised her bike above her head outside the awning at Kendal, having raised more than $2,100 for the organization and with more donations expected to come in since her ride was done.

“I had lots of help, people along the way to ride with me,” she said. “And I think that if I had to do it all by myself, it would’ve been much harder. Having that support is great.”

McGowan said she took several breaks throughout the day — many at the George Abram Memorial

Pavilion — and finished her ride on the Lorain County Metro Parks bike trail, using the trees as a shield from the wind and sun.

McGowan began longdistance cycling in 2002,

when her aunt invited her to traverse the Katy trail, a 237-mile trail stretching most of Missouri.

In the two decades since, McGowan estimated she’s done about 25 different trail tours and is a member

of the Silver Wheels Bike Club — with many of her fellow cyclists joining her throughout her 100-mile trek on Saturday.

Oberlin Community Services Executive Director Margie Flood said her

Poetry anthology highlights growing up in Oberlin

ness of Oberlin as integral pieces of their experiences within the city.

organization was grateful to McGowan’s commitment and energy.

“I am so inspired by her enthusiasm, her energy and her commitment to OCS and especially this project,” Flood said.

JEFF BARNES | The Community Guide

Charlotte McGowan lifts her bike in celebration after finishing her 12 hour, 100-mile journey on to raise money for Oberlin Community Services on June 3.

The funds McGowan raised will go toward the nonprofit’s capital campaign.

Alongside McGowan’s fundraiser, Oberlin Schools and several local businesses hosted a change drive, which raised $574 for the capital campaign.

Oberlin Community Services purchased the former National Association of College Stores’ building in 2022 through a $1 million donation from fellow Kendal at Oberlin residents Fran and Roger Cooper — giving the building its new namesake.

OCS is expected to finish renovations to the warehouse and food pantry area of the building in late summer, and further renovations to the second floor this fall.

Zoning Board OKs variance for new Oberlin College dorm

left,” Porter said.

OBERLIN – Oberlinraised Sojourner Hughes Davidson, owner of poetryediting business Tending Verses, LLC, is working to self-publish their first book, “From The Yellow House and On.” The book, which discusses Davidson’s experiences growing up and attending high school in Oberlin, is set to launch at Ben Franklin & MindFair Books from 1-3 p.m. Sept. 16.

Readers from Oberlin may find some themes, motifs, and references to be familiar, Davidson said.

“Oberlinians will recognize the town they love and sometimes hate,” according to a May 23 press release about the book. “The town of drunk college kids, Illumination, and beautiful trees. This swampy town is haven and hell.”

The second poem in the 48-poem anthology, titled “The Wellington Rescue,” creates a timeline of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of former slave John Price, ranging from 1856 to 1859. The This historical context, according to Davidson, is presented to serve as an ironic backdrop against the ensuing poems.

“I started out the book with sort of putting it against the background of Oberlin being this liberal

haven that is supposed to be really racially- and genderwelcoming,” Davidson said. “But later, on we find out that things aren’t perfect in this town.”

While Davidson hopes that some Oberlin-based readers might find aspects of the book affirming or cathartic, the audience is not restricted to those with experiences with the City. Davidson describes the intended audience as: “Anyone who’s ever been lonely, anyone who’s been looking for a home and who’s found it hard to find.”

As for what they want Oberlin readers to take away from the book, Davidson ultimately wants

them to find healing.

“There are certain issues in Oberlin with teachers I that I grew up with — I think that people who read the book who had those experiences might be able to heal from experiences that they had with a few teachers in high school,” Davidson said. “A lot of it is based around growing up female-presenting and how that affected me being an adolescent and how that created a hostile environment for me and not just in high school, but growing up within my family.”

Throughout the book, Davison often references their home — the titular yellow house, illustrated on the cover — and the swampi-

“Topics of abuse, love, disability, race, gender, and sexuality are meditated upon from the adult child’s perspective,” according to the book description. “The poet connects these topics by interweaving themes of love, longing, and acceptance. Ultimately, ‘From The Yellow House And On’ is about moving forward after trauma, accepting what’s broken, and appreciating the tender moments.”

As for why they wrote the book, Davidson said “I think probably people think their lives are more boring than they are and think that they have a smaller impact on people than they do — things that you think are small, things that you don’t even think about, impact people. And they’ll remember them even if you don’t, and they’ll become a part of your story. And these things I’m writing about, they’re part of my story and they’re how I remember things, even if they’re not how other people remembered them. I don’t really mention people’s names but people who were affected by those people and the people who did the things will know who they are.”

Readers can anticipate a late-summer release and can receive updates on the book via Davidson’s Instagram account (@tendingverses).

OBERLIN – A new Oberlin College dormitory took a step forward June 5.

On Monday the Oberlin Zoning Board of Appeals approved an application for a height variance for the proposed dormitory submitted by Oberlin College Director of Capital Improvements and Deputy Chief Facilities Officer Joe Comar.

The proposed 121,000 square-foot dormitory would be located at 150 Woodland St. and would house 401 students.

The developers planned for the dormitory to be four stories tall and 45feet wide, which required a variance as buildings in an R-2 zoning district cannot surpass two-and-a-half stories and 35-feet wide.

Comar said if the plans were to meet the existing regulations the proposed dormitory would inevitably cast the neighboring house in shadow, according to City of Oberlin Director of Planning and Development Carrie Porter.

“And what Joe (Comar) was speaking about is that technically they could have built the two-and-ahalf story, 35-foot door, 120feet away from the north lot line, which is where the one house is

Comar presented solar studies which rendered graphics for both solstices and equinoxes to illustrate the degree to which the neighboring house would be shaded were the College to be granted the height variance.

After a brief discussion, the Board unanimously approved the application for the height variance.

The initial application for the height variance was filed on March 3 of this year. Monday’s meeting served to appeal a decision made in April against the variance.

Also unanimously approved at Monday’s meeting was an application for a side yard setback variance for a residential property located at 240 Elm St. submitted by Matthew Adelman. Adelman and Heather Adelman, former City Council president and current sustainability manager for the College, advocated for the variance in anticipation of construction of a home addition.

The code required that the Adelmans’ property met the requirement of a 12-foot setback.

“5’ set back vs. 12’ set back in order to build a one car garage,” the application read. “We are requesting a variance for set back because our lot is not large enough to accommodate code set back requirements.”

hartblacktop@yahoo.com

1-800-619-7808

ALEXA STEVENS CORRESPONDENT

Boys and Girls Clubs

free summer meals

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio ll participate in the summer food service program, providing food to children at sites throughout Lorain, Erie and Huron counties June 12 to Aug. 11.

Children up to 18-years-old. Individuals 19-through-21-years-old with mental or physical disabilities currently enrolled in an educational program can also receive summer meals.

McCormick Middle School in Wellington, along with several schools in Lorain and Elyria are feeding sites.

Amherst Public Library

6/5 - Reading is Sweet!

Summer Reading 2023

Begins!

6/5 - Baby Playdate

6/5 - Ice Cream Social: Reading is Sweet!

6/5 - Birds at the Feeder

6/7 - Summer Craft

Days Begin!

6/8 - SEATED

RHYTHM™ ‘Dancercise’

6/12 - Storytime in the Park

6/12 - Watercolor Pencils and More

6/15 and 6/19 - Adult

Craft - Clay Pot Candy

Dish

6/20 - Canine Reading

Buddies

● The Amherst Public Library Board of Trustees will hold a regular meeting at the library on Monday, June 12, 2023 at 5:45 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

South Amherst Alumni

Banquet

The South Amherst alumni banquet is July 15 at the New Russia Township Hall. The class of 1973 will be honored. Invitations have been sent out and must be returned by July 1. t. If you haven’t received one, please call Jerry Bozicevich at 440773-5546.

Any senior who’s parents or grandparents have graduated from South Amherst is eligible to apply for a $500.00 scholarship. Please call Jerry for an application. Donations for the scholarship fund are always welcome.

For more information, call Raynelle Bozicevich (440) 242-1283, raynelle187@oh.rr.com or Jerry Bozicevich (440) 773-5546.

Herrick Memorial Library

Summer Reading Program: June 1 to July 31. Partcipants can win prizes in their age category. Regustration starts June 1 and the more books read or listened to, the higher chances of winning prizes.

Open Tech Help: 1:30-3 p.m. June 14 Read to Putter the therapy dog: 3:15-4:30 p.m. Thursdays

C.S. Lewis and Friends

C.S. Lewis & Friends Book Group will meet at the Amherst Library at 7 p.m. June 13. We will begin discussing Lewis’s book, “The Great Divorce.” It is a short book

THEME: TV DADS

BULLETIN BOARD

The Lorain County Community Guide Bulletin Board is for local nonprofit and not-for-profit events. Items are published on a space-available basis and will be edited for style, length, and clarity. Send your items to news@lcnewspapers.com

so please try to read at least half of it for the gathering. Contact Marcia Geary at 440-988-9803 or mgeary@gearylawllc.com with any questions you may have about the group. All are welcome!

Amherst Historical Society

● The Amherst Historical Society extended its deadline for trade, vocational school and certification scholarship applications. There are two $1,500 scholarships available. The new deadline to apply is 4 p.m. June 23 to the Amherst Historical Society office, 113 South Lake St., Amherst. Applications must include a two-pages or less, double-spaced personal statement, including information on eligiblility and/ or need. The full application can be downloaded at amhersthistoricalsociety.

org.

● The Historical Society’s night with the Crushers is at 6:05 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $13, with a portion of sales benefiting the Amherst Historical Society. For more information, or help purchasing tickets, contact Tanner Carlson at (440) 934-8233 or tcarlson@lakeeriecrushers. com

● The Taste of History

Military Living History event is 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 17 at The Sandstone Village, 763 Milan Ave. The event will have samples of military food and rations, displays, kids’ activities and more.

Oberlin Heritage Center

● The Oberlin Heritage Center will offer its ‘Freedom’s Friends: Abolition and the Underground Railroad’ history walk in June.

Prior to the Civil War, as many as 3,000 African Americans passed through or lived in Oberlin after escaping from slavery. The town was said to be second only to Canada as an asylum for freedom seekers. Guests on this history walk are guided by a docent from OHC who discusses the historic decisions that shaped Oberlin’s growth as a station on the Underground Railroad and the individuals and events that marked Oberlin as one of the most active stations.

Tours are 11 a.m. Saturdays, June 10, 17 and 24. The group meets on the front steps of First Church at the corner of routes 8 and 511.

Registration is recommended. Participants can register online at oberlinheritagecenter.org or by calling (440) 774-1700.

History Walk Fees: $6/

adult Children/students/members: Free

● The Heritage Center’s summer camp registration is now open.

Architecture Camp is 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 7-11. It is for children ages 8 to 13.

Members (including children and grandchildren of members) $110

Non-members $125

Atronomy and antiquity camp is 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 14-18. It is for children ages 10-15.

Members (including children and grandchildren of members) $110

Non-members $125

For more information, please email our Museum Education and Tour Manager at tourinfo@oberlinheritage.org or register online at oberlinheritagecenter.org

● An exploration of historical flutes is 7 p.m. today. Oberlin Conservatory Prof. Michael Lynn will present an introduction to the development of the flute, using his personal collection of instruments. Flutes will range from 1760 to 1900 and are all in playable condition.

The program will be in the parlor of the Community Music School of the Oberlin Conservatory at the historic Burrell-King House, 315 E. College St. The program is free but advance registration is required due to limited seating. Please register online at oberlinheritagecenter. org, email Liz Schultz at director@oberlinheritage. org, or call 440-774-1700.

Chalk Walk

The Oberlin Chalk Walk returns for its 16th year from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 24. ocal and regional artists will create imaginative chalk drawings throughout downtown Oberlin. Volunteers will be on hand to provide free materials and visitors of all ages can add their own artwork to the sidewalk gallery.

Oberlin Chalk Walk is a collaborative event organized by Allen Memorial Art Museum, Firelands Association for the Visual Arts (FAVA), Oberlin Business Partnership (OBP), Oberlin Heritage Center, and Oberlin Public Library.

To learn more about the artists, and to see pictures from previous years’ events, please visit: www.facebook.com/oberlinchalkwalk.

Oberlin Farmers Market

The market season will run on Saturdays, May 20 through to Oct. 14, starting at 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

The market specializes in seasonal fresh farm produce, fruit, farm raised meats, natural sweeteners, an assortment of baked goods, such as pies, breads, cookies, flowers, plants, jams, sauces, crafts and more. The market is located in the parking lot of Oberlin Public Library and Oberlin City Hall across from the post office at 69-85 South Main Street, Oberlin, OH 44074.

Westwood Cemetery

Stone cleaning at Westwood will be 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. the first Saturday of the month, May through October.

Cleaning techniques are easy and supplies are provided. Please bring any small gardening tools, gloves, and/or brooms to help remove debris. Please note that all participants will complete a volunteer form which will be provided once you arrive. Cleaning sessions depend on the weather; check our Facebook page for updates. Everyone is welcome. Location is Westwood Cemetery, 455 Morgan St, Oberlin.

Genesis House

Lorain County Safe Harbor’s Love Shouldn’t Hurt 5K and challenge virtual run/walk is June 11-25. Participants can raise awareness for domestic violence issues in Lorain County and honor the lives lost through this virtual event.

There is a traditional virtual 5k, as well as six-person teams and an individual, 56-mile challenge. The 56 mile challenge represents one mile for each person in Lorain County lost to domestic violence since 1989.

Registration is due May 22 via www.eventbrite. com/e/love-shouldnt-hurt5k-challenge-tickets-551791923497.

The six person team challenge is $240 per team; the individual 56mile challenge is $45 per person and the individual 5k is $40 per person.

7. Credit card rate, acr.

8. Putin’s country house, e.g.

9. Samoan money

10. Deed hearing

11. Egghead

12. Up to the present time

15. a.k.a. melon tree

20. Organ swelling

22. What organza and forgiveness have in common

24. Calm and peaceful

25. *Mr. Addams “The Addams Family”

26. Outhouse

27. Propelled like Argo

29. *Mr. Winslow in “Family Matters”

31. Give the cold shoulder 32. Twofold 33. *Mr. Johnson in “Black-ish”

Xi’an

34. Glittery stone

36. Like certain Ranger

38. Seaside bird

42. Old hat

45. Scatterbrained, in U.K.

49. Top seed

51. Nickname for dad (2 words)

54. Speak like Cicero

56. ____ Buchanan of “The Great Gatsby”

57. China’s Great one

58. Often goes with “willing”

59. Rumpelstiltskin’s weaver

60. Upper hand

61. Not top-shelf

62. Popular symbol of extinction

63. *Mr. Pritchett in “Modern Family”

65. *Mr. Conner in “Roseanne”

67. Skin cyst SOLUTION

B Class of 2023

Keystone graduates told to be courageous, to embrace change

CARLISLE TWP. — In their final acts as high school students, members of the Keystone High School Class of 2023 crossed the stage at First Baptist Church of Elyria to receive their diplomas on May 26.

Midview graduates gifted advice

EATON TWP. — The Midview Class of 2023 was left with several words of wisdom before walking across Ross Field May 26 for the school’s 68th commencement ceremony.

Board of Education Vice President Janet Winslow remembered several of this year’s graduating Middies standing before her in kindergarten, their small faces full of wonder and adventure. Thirteen years later, some of those same emotions were splashed across the faces seated before her at commencement Friday night.

“These students have gone from us coordinating their every move … to now being in total control of their schedules and designing their futures,” she said. “I couldn’t be more proud.”

While the pandemic may have thrown off the class of 2023 during its freshman year, it didn’t stop them from attending classes, participating in activities and crossing the stage Friday evening, she said.

She offered three pieces of wisdom with the soon-tobe alumni: “Surround yourself with others that bring you up and make you a better version of yourself. Choose kindness and assume positive intentions (in others)” and “always be willing to learn new things and change.”

MIDVIEW PAGE B4

The class heard from four speakers, including three of their own classmates, who encouraged them to look to the future as they stepped out of the doors of the church into careers, college, gap years, or the Armed Forces.

In his remarks to the graduating seniors, Keystone Schools Superintendent Dan White spoke of the virtue of courage, which empowers people to “accomplish ordinary and extraordinary things.”

He encouraged the class to balance courage with wisdom and foresight, quoting Mark Twain and also briefly telling the story of Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry and his victory over the British fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.

“Courage,” White said, “is a force propelling us toward greatness. ... Embrace courage with wisdom ... forge ahead with determination and resilience.”

Salutatorian Gabriele Perine said change is not just a concept, but “something you can do,” a skill that you can practice all your life.

It’s easy to settle and be stubborn, but we invent and reinvent ourselves every day, she told her fellow graduates.

To change, Perine said, is to be free. Learn how to be wrong, she told her classmates, because there is “no prize for getting it right the first time.”

Valedictorian Elaina Magel credited her father for teaching her empathy,

said she got her ambition from her mother, and credited her brother Charles — valedictorian of the Keystone High School Class of 2022 — with giving her “drive.”

“I’m at this podium because of that push,” she said. All the graduates, she said, owed something to those sitting in the pews just as “we’ve all had people who impacted us.”

“Our past is not behind us, it’s in these pews,” Magel said. “Our future is out there beyond those doors.”

Even as the future looms, “someone in this crowd will always be there to support and protect you,” Class President Jacob Linden said.

Linden, who is headed the U.S. Naval Academy later this year, encouraged his fellow seniors to be selfless and honorable, generous and kind.

After thanking his parents, Linden told his siblings: “Now it’s your turn to surpass me.”

“Focus on how great your story will be,” he said.

Listed among the 120 graduates in Friday’s program was Christopher Ryan Ashley, a member of the Class of 2023 who died in October 2018.

An honorary diploma was presented to his family, followed by a moment of silence in his memory, at Friday’s commencement.

Firelands grads ready to ‘soar’ from new high school

HENRIETTA TWP. —

Firelands’ Class of 2023 is the first class to graduate from the new high school, Class President Colin Adams said.

Thanks to the support of the Firelands community, those graduating seniors have had opportunities to learn, grow and prepare for their futures, he said, including a new broadcasting class, maker spaces, performing art spaces an agricultural program for middle schoolers and a better gymnasium for studentathletes.

But Friday’s ceremony wasn’t just about listing the new school’s amenities. It was a celebration of the past 13 years in the district — from their time just across the parking lot as kindergartners to being under the football stadium lights that evening.

“It’s been a long journey up to this point, but it seemed so short in the end,” Adams said. “We’ve seen each other grow up, mature — well, at least most of us. We’ve seen each other through the worst of times and the best of times. … But now, we gather for one of the last times.”

When the graduating Falcons look back on their time at Firelands High School, they may think about the good times, and how they won’t happen again, he said. But there

will be good times in their next chapters, too.

“Just remember, it doesn’t end here,” he said.

Looking at the Class of 2023 in white and red robes, Principal Cathy Keener reminded the graduates — they made it.

“When I watched these young men and women walk into Firelands High School for the first time, I, like all of you, could not have imagined the road they would travel and the adversities they would face along the way that would lead us to today,” she said.

The last few months of high school can be difficult for seniors, she said — many are so focused on their college or job applications, social media or career searches, they become disengaged from the goings on around them.

“This is your moment — enjoy it,” she said. “Do not be so focused on getting your diploma and moving on that you miss these precious moments.”

Valedictorian Isabella Simmons similarly reminded her fellow Falcons to pause.

“No matter the path of life each of us has chosen, we walk out of this stadium sharing at least one thing in common: We all succeeded, despite the obstacles,” Simmons said.

The COVID-19 shutdown may seem a million miles away, but it altered their young lives forever, she said.

She remembered track

DAVE O’BRIEN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

THOMAS FETCENKO | The Community Guide

Keystone’s graduate and valedictorian Elaina Magel spoke to the class of 2023 at graduation on Friday, May 26.

CARISSA WOYTACH THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

THOMAS FETCENKO | The Community Guide Midview graduate Ronald Hamm walks out in the processional line following the Middies’ graduation ceremony on Friday, May 26.

Elyria celebrates class of 2023

KEVIN MARTIN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

ELYRIA — New beginnings and lasting legacies were celebrated as Elyria High School’s Class of 2023 marked its 175th graduating class.

The class of more than 400 walked across the field at Ely Stadium marking the end of their high school careers and the start of their next chapters.

Senior class speaker Maggie Pridemore reflected on the wisdom the class of 2023 has gained in attending high school through the uncertainty of the global COVID-19 pandemic that turned in-person learning upside down.

“Our class has endured hardships, including the pandemic. At the beginning of our freshmen year, it was something we did not have on our bingo cards. From masks and social distancing to going back to unfamiliar normalcy. Funny enough, the definition of normal has turned into all kinds of new assumptions. And in terms of strength, our class is for sure the strongest. We could have given up, we could have pitied ourselves

and complained every step of the way but we didn’t. We just kept going,” Pridemore said.

Pridemore invoked the words of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who once said, “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”

“By falling down and getting back up again, we learned how to not fear failure,” Pridemore said. “You cannot have success without failure, you cannot have success without courage. And we did not make it here all alone, we got to

have the help of our teachers and the faculty at our school.”

With the support of family and friends, the important people in the lives of the class of 2023 were there to help them along the way and teach lessons, but “without our courage and perseverance, we would not be here at this ceremony today.”

EHS Principal Tim Brown presided over his final commencement ceremony. He retires after 34 years in education, including 26 with Elyria.

Addressing grads directly, he told graduates to re-

member a few lessons that will help them along the way in their next journey with his top 10 list: encouraging students to be kind, humble, present and ready to take risks, and to have the courage to get up after getting knocked down.

Beyond titles and accomplishments, Brown said their impact and inherent value as people will be remembered by how they treat others and themselves.

“You are beautiful, you are talented, and in less than an hour, you will have been awarded your diploma from Elyria High School,” Brown said.

Avon graduates: Remember their time together, embrace change

AVON — While graduating from high school can bring a tremendous sense of freedom, it also brings with it a feeling of loss and uncertainty.

Avon senior class

President Gavin Fligner explored that concept thoroughly during his speech to his fellow Avon High School graduates on Thursday, telling them that though it might be time to grow up, they would always have the memory of their time together.

“We have all gotten used to a life of youthfulness,” he said. “Although exhilarating, it is at the same time temporary. Impermanence is the idea that life continues to move on, whether we would like it to or not.”

Fligner spoke about how fast high school rushed by, with the chaos of COVID-19 ending their freshman year early and making the next two years feel strange.

He said that once senior year came around it felt as though they finally had a moment to breathe, but then suddenly it was all over.

“It feels like I just lost everything, and I let the memories slip through my

fingers,” Fligner said. But he had realized, he told over 350 classmates, that the ending did not have to be a sad event, but rather to embrace the change and remember the joy.

“I realize graduating high school should not bring about feelings of loss,” he said.

“Change is an inevitable aspect of impermanence. I’ve started to realize that life is worth living when we acknowledge (the) limited time we have to spend.”

The second student speaker was Margaret Yug, who earned the right to serve as class speaker by auditioning in front of the Avon High School English department.

Yug likened her time at Avon High School to learning how to drive a car, and described COVID-19 upending their freshman year as a roadblock.

“Our class did not see each other in full for over a year,” she said. “It was like we were sitting in the endless bumper-to-bumper traffic of the Avon High School parking lot. We could see the destination of a normal school year just ahead, but were not quite able to get there.”

But that “traffic” gave them time to learn and to truly appreciate what a

normal year of high school was, she said.

Yug asked her classmates to look out one last time and remember those who helped them through it.

“As we all sit in school traffic for hopefully the last time this evening, I want you all to look into the cars of your fellow graduates and smile at the extraordinary uniquely talented and compassionate drivers we’ve become,” she said.

Superintendent Ben Hodge also touched on the strange and challenging high school experience that the class of 2023 had.

“(It was a) very challenging four years, but as I looked around you and watched you go through your four years in high school, I saw grit, I saw perseverance,” Hodge said.

He told them that the times they had been through had made them stronger students and people, and then turned his attendance from the students before him to those in attendance.

“I see success tonight, and most of all I see support in the stands.” Hodge said. “These folks supported you through the high school years that were very challenging and will support you through your next adventure, where I have no doubt you’ll find success.”

“In closing, to the Class of 2023. The sky’s the limit. Be the person you want to experience the world as. Again, I know you can do it because you are Pioneer Strong, you are Pioneer Proud and in our hearts you will always be an Elyria Pioneer. Continue to be safe because you are a responsible person, continue to stay focused so you are ready for your life’s challenges, and always be respectful of your mom and dad because no one in this world deserves it more.”

Elyria Schools Superintendent Ann Schloss

honored Brown with a final clap-out.

“For as many years as I’ve known Tim, he’s had the same friendly, easygoing way about him that makes people feel welcome. He has been a calm in the storm many times over, especially during the challenge of educating during COVID,” Schloss said.

Both of Brown’s parents began their careers with Elyria Schools and Schloss added that every time he speaks of his students past or present, he beams with pride. “Their successes are his rewards as an educator.”

The first class to come through the global pandemic from start to finish, Schloss honored the resilience of graduates.

“How fitting that you’re sitting here today on your home field, representing your high school — Elyria High School — ready to accept your diploma, wearing the signature color of the Pioneers: Red. You’ve demonstrated amazing spirit and resilience, and you’ve accomplished so much. There’s no question that you’re ready for the next of many “firsts” to come in your life’s journey.”

Avon Lake graduates reminisce on long, short tenure in district

AVON LAKE — The Avon Lake Class of 2023 came together June 2 night to celebrate a culmination of work — despite the oppressive heat.

Class president Adam Jento hoped his fellow Shoremen and Shoregals remembered deodorant when walking onto that football field one last time, and took time to acknowledge the life lessons they’ve learned at Avon Lake High along the way to Friday’s ceremony.

“If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our time at Avon Lake High School, it’s the power of resilience,” he said. “Or, as I like to call it, the ability to fall down a flight of stairs and still walk up another flight, pretending like nothing ever happened — which happens a little more than we would like to admit at (ALHS).”

But that ability to fall and get back up again is what will help carry them forward, he said.

Each graduate’s path is unique, he said, telling his fellow graduates that success is not measured by what one achieves, but how they achieve it.

“My version of success

is measured on how much you impact others. … In my eyes, each and every one of you are already very successful in life,” he said.

Principal Michael May was also well aware of the class’s success, noting many graduates have academic scholarship, character, leadership, a vision for the future and pride in their soon-to-be alma mater.

Each graduate has earned their high school diploma from one of the best high schools in the country, he said, gaining exposure to the arts, academics, clubs and sports in a supportive community along the way.

He reminded them to keep Avon Lake’s competitive excellence with them moving forward and treat others well to continue making a positive change in the world.

Senior speaker Misa Huls may not have spent the past 13 years of her academic career in Avon Lake, but standing in from of her fellow graduates Friday evening was a testament to the Avon Lake community, she said.

Huls moved to Avon Lake during her sophomore year, and despite trying to hate Ohio and her new city, the class of 2023

made it hard, she said.

“Avon Lake was growing on me, and it didn’t take long for me to join you all in battle cries, class chants, and Shoremen and Shoregal pride, including the rivalry between Avon Lake and South, as we say,” she said, referring to neighboring Avon.

She said she felt the infectious camaraderie and pride when the Shoremen beat the Eagles during their junior year.

She reminisced about being caught in a downpour after homecoming that same year, comparing it to something out of “High School Musical.”

“From elementary (school), to Troy (Intermediate), to Learwood (Middle School) and finally to Avon Lake High School, many of you have been in this together for years,” she said. “But whether your stay has been long or short, today we can take pride yet again that we are all in this together, graduating as the class of 2023.”

The class was also joined by its oldest “graduating” senior when retiring Superintendent Bob Scott was presented a diploma as a member of the Class of 2023.

DAVID SANDS | The Community Guide

Elyria graduated more than 400 Pioneers on May 23.

OWEN MACMILLAN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

JEFF BARNES | The Community Guide Mason Henry Fitch stands to be recognized for his military commitment during the Class of 2023 Avon High School Commencement Ceremony on June 1 at Mark Wahlberg Chevrolet Stadium.

CARISSA WOYTACH THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

JEFF BARNES | The Community Guide

"Long story short, I survived" as one of the seniors cap states at the Class of 2023 Avon Lake Commencement Ceremony on June 2 at Avon Lake High School Memorial Stadium.

CARISSA WOYTACH THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

LORAIN — The 93rd graduating class from Clearview Schools has a responsibility to make a positive impact on the world, student speaker Joycelyne Benjamin told those gathered at the Lorain Palace Theatre on Wednesday evening.

The past four years of late-night study sessions and navigating teenage life paid off Wednesday night. And as the class of 2023 looks to the future, Benjamin reminded her classmates of the responsibility and power they had to make a difference.

Quoting Malcolm X, she said, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

Principal Noleen Rothacker said the graduates were embarking on a journey of a lifetime — but it seems like only yesterday they were just nervous freshmen fumbling their way around locker combinations.

Now, they were seniors standing ready to graduate.

When they started at Clearview High, they measured time in class periods, she said. But as they move forward to the military, careers or college classes, they’ll measure their time at CHS in the memories and friendships made.

Superintendent Jerome Davis said the tight-knit community of Clearview came together to honor the accomplishments of its graduates — alongside their resilience, perseverance and an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

As the class of 2023 leaves the familiar halls of CHS, he reminded them they are not alone.

“May your futures be filled with boundless opportunities … and the knowledge that you have the power to transform the world,” he said.

Elyria Catholic celebrates 74th commencement

ELYRIA — Elyria Catholic High School celebrated its 74th commencement ceremony May 26 as more than 100 members of the class of 2023 walked across the stage at the Coliseum. Urged to dream big, to never be afraid of failure, grads heard from Alan Lerchbacker, a member of the class of 1970 who shared a few lessons he’s learned along the way.

A 26-year veteran of the U.S. Navy as an aquanaut and a CEO for five different companies, Lerchbacker told graduates it was the doors that were shut that truly directed him toward opportunities and success.

FIRELANDS

FROM B1

practice getting cut short that day and her notifications going off like crazy.

No one had any answers, she said, but students’ confusion quickly turned to excitement at the possibility of an early and extended spring break.

“We evidently had no idea of the upcoming obstacles we were about to face,” she said.

Simmons herself was forced to quarantine several times during her sophomore year: Once for testing positive for the virus, and four additional times after having close contact with someone who had COVID-19, she said.

During those repetitive bouts of isolation, she learned the importance of self-discipline, she said, and the confinement left her humbled.

When academics and

athletics were taken away from her during quarantine, she was forced to look inward to find who she was, and what she valued, she said.

“Once you begin to value your personal well-being, a raw variation of everything you have ever desired is unveiled,” she said. “For many of us here, that journey began when we were isolated in quarantine, and it has only evolved as we navigate our way through COVID restrictions and back to what we can call ‘normal.’”

For others, that selfdiscovery will start in the workplace, the military or college.

Wherever it starts, she said she hopes the Class of 2023 realized its dreams, and took the next steps in a journey just

Lerchbacker qualified for the U.S. Olympics track and field team twice in 1976 and 1980 but was unable to compete on both occasions due to U.S. Navy commitments and the 1980 U.S. Olympics boycott. Recalling the devastation after training so hard, he learned a lot in the process and his experiences led him toward the knowledge and experience to lead others both in the military and business.

“The incredible class of 2023 endured COVID and came back and realize lives change in a matter of minutes. We must all make every second of our life count,” Lerchbacker said. Second, don’t worry about the door you choose to go through. If it’s open, then know God left it open for you and you should rush through it and embrace the good with the bad, knowing the journey was given to you by God to prepare you to lead in the future. And lastly, never quit. Know beyond a shadow of a doubt you are being led to the future through the passage you will be allowed to touch the lives of so many others.”

Elyria Catholic President Annie Heidersbach led by example, tossing her originally planned remarks and delivering a fresh set of ideas drafted in the last 24 hours. Reading a passage she wrote in a 1972 high school creative writing class as a senior, Heidersbach reflected on her younger self and the sadness she felt to be leaving high school after such a good experience. Noting graduates probably have a myriad of feelings about their time at Elyria Catholic coming to an end, she encouraged them to take positive risks.

“Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, it’s important to know that we send you off knowing that we want to hear from you, visit often, stay in touch. And whether you’re heading to college, starting a job or taking a gap year, you’re embarking on a journey that will shape your future. And that future means you will need to take risks,” Heidersbach said.

“Just like you saw before your eyes a minute ago, I took the risk of discarding my well-planned and

well-written remarks for an idea that germinated just yesterday for one that I found more exciting. I assert that you need to take positive risks to gain confidence, test your limits and achieve your goals.”

Heidersbach also announced the student section of the new Elyria Catholic stadium bleachers will be named after the class of 2023 after class members raised more than $8,000 in support of the project.

Valedictorian Thomas Moore addressed his class members, reflecting on the knowledge they’ve gained and the opportunities to explore their passions with purpose and dedication.

“As we transition into adulthood, let us embrace the responsibility and freedom to define who we are and who we aspire to become,” Moore said.

High school years have, Moore said, laid the foundation for their collective futures, shaped by the guidance of teachers, the support of families and the bonds of friendship that have sustained them.

“As we step into the wider world, we must remember that our journey does not end here. Our time at Elyria Catholic was just the beginning of a continuous process of self-discovery, learning, and adaptation,” Moore said. “Certainly we will encounter challenges and setbacks along the way, but it is through these experiences that we will grow and evolve.

Much like each time Mr. Juguilion dress-coded us or we found out Ms. Adriano was going to be our sub, we died a little bit inside, but we persevered and became better for it.”

Salutatorian Audrey Menner said she struggled to sum up the experi-

ence of the last four years, reminiscing about the COVID-19 pandemic

“It feels like everything and nothing has happened in the past four years that we’ve been here, and I don’t think there’s a way to put that feeling into words. I think that’s partially because there’s a part of me still stuck in freshman year hearing the announcement that we’d be moving classes online for the next two weeks and celebrating the ‘short’ break,’” Menner said.

“I also don’t really feel like I should be up here, speaking for all of us like I can condense 100 people’s four years into a short speech. I don’t know how to convey how difficult and thrilling and exhausting every day since we stepped into Elyria Catholic has been, but I know that we are all survivors, that we’ve grown up in an era of endless change and managed to adapt to everything that has been thrown at us.”

While a hard four years, Menner said the class of 2023 is part of the generation of change.

“Everything changes after today, and even though that’s a little scary, we are the generation of change. It’s in our blood. I know we’ll survive and adapt and thrive because we already have, over and over and over. So I don’t want to stand up here and celebrate the past four years. They’ve shaped us into who we are, but after today they officially become the past.

“So I want to celebrate the future, the next four, ten, twenty years; I want to celebrate the people we are going to become. So congratulations, class of 2023. we did it, and we are going to do it again. again, and again, and again,” Menner said.

‘Education is the passport to the future’

KEVIN MARTIN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

JEFF BARNES | The Community Guide Mark Dyson tips his cap to Principal Suzanne Lester after receiving his diploma during the Elyria Catholic High School Commencement on May 26 at the Elyria Catholic Coliseum.

THOMAS FETCENKO | The Community Guide Clearview graduate Maame Adwoa Arthur-Mensah, salutatorian, watches the student speakers during Clearview’s graduation ceremony on May 31 at the Palace Theater.

The Class of 2023 toss their caps during the Elyria Catholic High School Commencement on May 26 at the Elyria Catholic Coliseum.

DAVID SANDS | The Community Guide

Class President Colin Adams speaks at Firelands Highs 59th graduation ceremony, June 2, 2023.

Lorain grads celebrated for dedication, tenacity

LORAIN — Lorain High School graduated a stadium full of athletes, musicians, artists and Titans on May 31 at George Daniel Field.

Celestino OquendoRichey — better known as “CVO” — recognized the staff that helped each senior get across the stage that evening, and the friends and family who pushed them along the way.

The young musician, who played the national anthem on the flute at the start of the ceremony, gave a special shout-out to single parents in the audience Tuesday evening.

He, like his older brother, Pablo Oquendo II, Lorain High class of 2021, will be attending Central State University on a presidential scholarship.

He credited his achievements in part to everything his mother has done for him — and the drive she had to keep pushing even when it felt like she was alone.

That dedication pays off, he said.

He implored his fellow graduates, and those gathered in the stands, to strive to become the person they dream of being.

Valedictorian Miguel Wilson congratulated his classmates on facing challenges head-on to reach the milestone Tuesday’s ceremony marked.

MIDVIEW

FROM B1

North Ridgeville schools graduates more than 300

CARISSA WOYTACH THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

CLEVELAND — The North Ridgeville class of 2023 achieved an unexpected milestone: attending every class in every single building in the district, as well as their homes.

They spent time at each of the district’s elementary schools, as well as the decrepit three-story middle school before it was torn down. They were the first to attend the new Academic Center, and thought they were going to see some stability when coming to North Ridgeville High School, class Vice President Samuel Janning said.

And then COVID-19 hit.

The class lost a year of in-person classes, instead spending time studying in their homes and only setting foot in the building one day a week.

But still, Janning said, they kept moving forward, weathering changes in locations and school administrators.

Sitting in the Wolstein Center on May 23, Janning reminded his fellow Rangers to keep in contact with their classmates, whether their travels take them to the military, college or the workforce — and come to a class reunion or the city’s annual Corn Festival.

“And never forget what we’ve gone through together,” he said.

Class President Addison Monter said going into high school students are told to challenge themselves to set themselves up for after graduation.

But for Monter, the classes she took weren’t what prepared her — it was the life lessons she learned from her teachers.

Tuesday started a new chapter and beginning for graduates, she said, and there are millions of opportunities ahead of them.

Lorain is a strong, diverse community, he said, and those making up the International City are willing to help the class of 2023 whenever its members hit an obstacle.

Those same people will test graduates’ limits, he said. The speech he gave was from others pushing him, and him allowing himself to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, he said.

Salutatorian Brooklyn

Calez kept her remarks short, noting the challenges her fellow Titans have faced over the past 12 years together — including the COVID-19 pandemic shuttering the school during the latter half of their freshman year. But for all those challenges, they made it, and

Superintendent Bruce Willingham echoed her pride in each of this year’s graduates and offered his own piece of advice.

“I was reminded of a very simple lesson my grandmother taught me: She was a firm believer that anything worth doing is worth doing right,” he said.

While it may seem cliche, it was something that stuck with him into his adult life, he said. From being a friend, a student, a paper delivery person, landscaper, husband and father, it’s something he’s kept close to his heart and hoped this year’s Middies would do the same.

Student speakers Mya DiFranco, Delaney Eakins, Ronald Hamm and Jordan Hatcher reminisced on the past 13 years the class of 2023 had spent together in Midview Schools. From the first day of kindergarten in 2010, to band concerts, learning to write cursive, common core

she was excited to see what the future held.

Quoting Drake, she told the graduates to “Live for today, plan for tomorrow (and) party tonight.”

Senior representative

Karen Gallegos said every day her classmates impress her with their resiliency and determination.

While Lorain may not always be viewed in the best light, that has never deterred the class of 2023.

“We, as a community, have never let opinions get in the way of achieving our goals,” she said.

Instead, they’ve used those negative assumptions as fuel to prove others wrong.

Gallegos said she would not be standing at that podium without her par-

ents, who immigrated from Mexico to give her and her brother everything. She shared some wisdom she’d gained from her family. While graduating high school was not an easy accomplishment, it is not the end of their journey, but the beginning.

“This is your life, your happiness, your time,” she said. “So never let anyone or anything distract you from achieving your dreams.”

High School Principal Melissa Cheers was once where the 361 graduates stood many years ago, she said and shared the excitement felt in the stadium as the class of 2023 walked across the stage.

After 2020 turned their high school experience on its head, it left her in awe of their tenacity to finish what they started, she said.

“Against all odds, each one of you demonstrated the ability to adapt to the toughest of circumstances and tap into your greatness,” she said. “… I cannot wait to see what this will propel you to accomplish next.”

She also acknowledged the 11 students graduating with the Ohio Department of Education biliteracy seal; 18 students graduating with the Ohio Department of Education Honors Diploma and 63 students who earned their associate degree through Early College prior to graduation.

Class Treasurer Jake Boynar said that while the class of 2023 is celebrating a milestone in their lives, the teachers at North Ridgeville Schools are celebrating the best class in district history.

But it was also a somber day, Boynar said, symbolizing the more than 300 graduates going their separate ways — marching into the unknown together.

“If there’s anyone on the planet that can conquer college or anything else, it is us,” Boynar said. “If you ever feel discouraged or fearful your decisions aren’t panning out how they hoped for, you have 320 other people right next to you that are going through the exact same thing.

Our final destination is yet unknown, but I can tell you right now, have faith in yourself.”

High School Principal Joseph Muller said in the weeks ahead, graduates will forget the speeches offered Tuesday evening, but he hoped they would remember some words of wisdom.

Those included giving everyone a smile, speaking health, happiness and prosperity to every person they meet, and to respect themselves and others.

“Now, for the last official time, I challenge you to GBED — get busy, earn degrees,” Muller said.

The class also recognized Orion Zarefoss, 15, who was killed in a car crash in 2019. Orion’s family accepted a diploma on his behalf.

math and everything in between, the class of 2023 made memories to last a lifetime.

Quoting late Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ 2005 Standford Commencement address, the group reminded their fellow graduates: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

High School Principal Brian Siftar was the last to offer his own advice.

“The quest for your purpose is not a straight line,” he said. “It is filled with mystery, signs, obstacles, victories, dead ends, delays and detours. Stay optimistic and faithful in your quest.”

He told them to not rush the future, noting there is a process seeds must go through to become what they’re going to grow into.

And, “be the seed,” he said, suggesting students plant themselves and allow themselves to be used for a greater purpose.

THOMAS FETCENKO | The Community Guide

Midview teacher Jason DiFranco fist-bumps graduate Meghan Hubbard as she walks out in the processional line following the Middies’ graduation ceremony on Friday, May 26.

CARISSA WOYTACH THE COMMUNITY GUIDE

JEFF BARNES | The Community Guide

ABOVE: Talayiah Diane Brooks shows her excitement after receiving her diploma during the Lorain High School Commencement Ceremony on May 30 at George Daniel Field.

BELOW: Celestino “CVO” Oquendo-Richey performs the National Anthem during the Lorain High School Commencement Ceremony.

‘Never forget what we’ve gone through together:’

THOMAS FETCENKO | The Community Guide North Ridgeville High School graduate and president Addison Monter spoke to the 2023 graduating class on Tuesday, May 23 at the Wolstein Center.

Congrats, grads!

THOMAS FETCENKO | The Community Guide Oberlin High School’s JVS student speaker Sean Butler Jr. spoke to the class of 2023 during commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 27.

Wellington graduates Mikayla Standen and Joshua Wright share a laugh as they walked into their graduation ceremony together on Sunday, May 21 at Wellington High School.

Wellington’s senior class vice president Alaina Collins spoke to 2023 graduates on Sunday, May 21 at the high school.

RUSS GIFFORD | The Community Guide Black River Valedictorian Nicholas Newman spoke during commencement on May 27 at Black River High School.

Amherst graduate Miles Gerard waved to family and friends during commencement ceremonies held at the Cleveland State Wolstein Center on Saturday, May 27.

Amherst’s senior class president Evan Draga spoke to the class of 2023 during commencement ceremonies held at the Cleveland State Wolstein Center on Saturday, May 27.

Oberlin High School’s class of 1993 alumna Heidi Freas took a selfie with the class of 2023 on stage at Finney Chapel after giving the commencement address during commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 27.

Where’s my dad?

Match each dad with his child.Dothe mathtosee if you guessed right

ot alldads lookthe same. Not alldadsdothe same things.But somethings about dads are the same the world over.Read about these dads. How aretheylike your dad? How arethey different?

Father ’s Day Around theWorld

Though they differ on the date, many countries throughout theworld setaside a day to honor fathers.Father’sDay is a time-honored tradition—the earliest recordofsuchacelebration was found in theruins of ancient Babylon.

Modern Father’sDay traditions include serving dadbreakfast in bed,making cardsand giving gifts of candy, neckties, shirts or electronic gadgets But evenmore commonisthe tradition of particular activities thatkids and fathersdotogether on this special day.

Standards Link: Number Sense: Compute sums to 30.

Dads Around theWorld

Some dads tell stories. Max and hisdad live in France. His dadtells Maxhis favorite French stories. Look at the pictures fromthe story. Canyou put them in order?

NotJustDads

On Father ’s Day, people show their appreciation to their fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, foster fathers, uncles and other menwho have been like fathers. Write the names of three men you appreciate.

Some dads teach children many things. In China, Soo Lee’sdad teaches her to write. Can you read what she has written?

(Read from top to bottom.)

ILove YouCat Dog Fish

Hooray forDads!

Dadsall around the world lovetheirchildren and helpthem to feel good!

Standards Link: Reading Comprehension: Compare and contrast information on the same topic.

WhatILearned From Dad

Lookthrough the newspaperfor five words thattell something you have learned from your dad. Putthe words in ABC order.

Standards Link: Spelling: Arrange words in alphabetical order

Kevin and his dad want to playcatch, but they can’t seem to find their baseball.

Work your waythrough thismaze to find the baseballfor them.

Dads around theworld read and sing to their children.

Hereare thewords to this well knownsonginfour di erent languages! Canyou trytosing them all?

Twinkle, twinkle littlestar, How Iwonder what you are. Up above the world so high, Like adiamond in the sky, Twinkle, twinkle, littlestar, How Iwonder what you are!

Brilla, brilla, estrellita Quiero verte cintilar En el cielo sobre el mar Un diamante de verdad Brilla, brilla estrellita Quiero verte cintilar

Megan’sdad got a new golf shirt for Father’sDay Which one is it?Her dad likesstripes, but notnarrow ones He doesn’tlike pocketson his shirts. He doesn’tcarefor zig-zag patterns

Kw an

Brille, brille, petite étoile Dis-moi, dis-moi, qui tu es Tout en haut du firmament Tu as l’éclat d’un diamant. Brille, brille, petite étoile, Dis-moi, dis-moi, qui tu es.

Funkel, funkel kleiner stern Ach wie bist du mir so fern, Wunderschön und unbekannt, Wieein strahlend Diamant, Funkel, funkel, kleiner Stern, Ach wie bist du mir so fern.

Standards Link: Reading Comprehension: Read grade-level appropriate text.

Make alist of things youcould do with your dad or another special person one afternoon. Then go do them together!

Charac ters by Charlie