Real Estate Services
440-522-5677
COMMUNITY GUIDE
$1.25
LORAIN COUNTY
AMHERST NEWS-TIMES • OBERLIN NEWS-TRIBUNE • WELLINGTON ENTERPRISE Thursday, May 27, 2021
Submit items to news@lcnewspapers.com
Tassels turn at Cavs’ arena
Volume 8, Issue 21
Wouldn’t TRADE it for the world
Photos by Jason Hawk | Community Guide
Photos by Jason Hawk | Amherst News-Times
Kendall Twining waves as she walks onto the center floor Saturday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, where Marion L. Steele High School seniors became the first to hold a commencement ceremony.
Senior speaker Jenna Schifano talks about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the end of her high school career at the Lorain County JVS senior recognition ceremony on Friday.
JVS seniors say goodbye All 301 graduates are ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ after strange final year JASON HAWK EDITOR
JASON HAWK EDITOR
CLEVELAND — Eliza Stojkov was voted "Most Likely to Succeed." But as she looked out Saturday morning over the 301 graduates of the Marion L. Steele High School Class of 2021, she said each and every one of them can lay claim to the title. "No matter how big or how small each accomplishment may seem, be proud of what you've done," the Amherst valedictorian told fellow seniors assembled on the floor of Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in downtown Cleveland.
LORAIN — Pajamas are the proof, in Jenna Schifano's mind, of just how strangely the Class of 2021's high school career ended. Some days during the past year, Lorain County JVS students would roll out of bed and, still in their sleepwear, log in to begin the academic day, she said. "We have experienced a senior year fully in pandemic mode, from the lockdown at the end of our junior year to the hybrid learning of this year," Schifano told the 413 graduating members of the vocational school Friday. A health sciences student who plans to attend Baldwin Wallace University en route to a career as a physician assistant, she was the senior speaker at the JVS senior recognition ceremony at Black River Landing. In a speech to classmates, Schifano said students not only overcame the barriers caused by COVID, but learned from them. She spelled out the biggest lessons of the year using
The class goes down in history as the first to hold commencement at the facility, according to Amherst Superintendent Steven Sayers. In years past — with the exception of the Class of 2020, which was robbed STEELE PAGE A4
U.S. Postal Service Use Only
Classifieds, legals, display advertising, and subscriptions Deadline: 1 p.m. each Monday Phone: 440-329-7000 Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday News staff Jason Hawk news@lcnewspapers.com Phone: 440-329-7122 Submit news to news@lcnewspapers.com Deadline: 10 a.m. Tuesday Send obituaries to obits@chroniclet.com
Valedictorian Eliza Stojkov is pictured dressed in yellow, while Senior Class President Samuel Barrett can be seen delivering remarks on the big screen.
Memorial Day parade predictions weren't easy for local organizers JASON HAWK EDITOR
Memorial Day parades don't just come together. They can take months to plan. As COVID-19 vaccines started rolling out in January and February, Gerri Rice was among those waiting to learn whether marching veterans down the street might be possible by the tail end of May. "Like last year, we knew there was
Copyright 2021 Lorain County Printing & Publishing Company
going to be something different. It's a matter of coming up with the best different you can," said Rice, who for years has been in charge of Amherst's Memorial Day parade. All across Lorain County, veterans groups, government officials and organizers were in the same bind. They waited and they consulted with public health experts, hoping vaccination rates would surge in time for the annual tribute to fallen service members. Some, like Elyria Mayor Frank
Whitfield, decided early on that observances couldn't be canceled altogether — the city's cemeteries are the resting place of too many military men and women. He sat down far in advance to make contingency plans for every restriction that might still be on the books by Memorial Day weekend. "It was never an issue of if. If when more about how," Whitfield said. "... This is the right day to do the right MEMORIAL DAY PAGE A3
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Send legal notices to jyoder@chroniclet.com Submit advertising to chama@chroniclet.com
JVS SENIORS PAGE A5
Amherst
Oberlin
Wellington
Young asks to drive again after deadly 2015 crash • B1
Will Council vote to make city more food truck friendly? • B1
Two principals leaving after taking new positions • B1
OBITUARIES A2 • KID SCOOP A6 • CLASSIFIEDS B3 • SPORTS B4-B5