Ramon Battles and John Hurst Memorial Scholarship

Mr. Battles and Mr. Hurst impacted many of us until their retirement.  This scholarship is to honor their contribution to not just the education but the lives of CFHS students.  

About Mr. Battles

Ramon Battles taught Biology at Chagrin Falls High School for over 20 years before his retirement in 1989. His classes brought students outdoors to study wildlife via “eco plots”, nature hikes, and creek walks where he would encourage “shore birds” to get their feet wet as they collected stream samples to study. A highlight for his seniors was the annual 3-day immersive trip to Cook Forest State Park in Pennsylvania or Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio.

Mr. Battles planted his first blue spruces, scotch pines, and white pines on his 35-acre farm in the late 1970s. Over the years, area families would make it an annual tradition to visit Tower-N-Pines farm to cut their own Christmas tree. He was active in the Ohio Christmas Tree Growers Association, who added him to their Board of Directors, and eventually, their Hall of Fame in 2015.

Throughout his life, Mr. Battles delighted in nature walks, gardening, birding, and tree and flower identification. After retirement, Ramon & Jane enjoyed spending time on Jekyll Island, Georgia and birding at Magee Marsh in Maumee Bay, Ohio. Friends, family, and former students will remember him as a genuinely kind person with a perpetual smile and a sharp wit who was always willing to lend a hand.  Former students will also remember him as a giant  positive influence in our lives.

About Mr. Hurst

John graduated from CFHS in 1952 and Hiram College in 1956, and he earned a Master of Arts Degree in education from Kent State University. In the late 1950's, John served for two years in the Army and was stationed at the Army Chemical Center in Maryland. He spent three summers in Montana under a National Science Foundation Grant studying Mayflies and Fungi at Flathead Lake. John was a Biology Teacher for 38 years, primarily at Chagrin Falls High School where he also served as Track and Cross Country coach. From 1963 to 1971, he led the Boy's Cross Country team to 7 of 9 conference titles and the 1970 State Runner Up, and in 1971 he coached the team to the first State Championship in Chagrin Falls High School history. In 1995, he was inducted into the Chagrin Falls High School Alumni Hall of Fame. In his retirement, he was a substitute teacher, a track official, worked on committees to pass local school levies, served on the Hiram College Friends of the Library Board and was an Election Poll Worker. John was an avid gardener his whole life and in his later life spent hours pouring through seed catalogs, ordering new and unusual vegetable and flower varieties, and eventually selling plants from his front yard. Known throughout the Chagrin Falls community as 'Coach,' he will be remembered for his colorful lectures, enthusiastic approach to education and his insistence that every student feel included. 

Scholarship Information

This scholarship is presented to a student planning to major in the sciences, agriculture, or education.  Applicants must include a statement of what major they are choosing, why they are choosing that major and what they hope to accomplish with their degree.  All students that are pursuing an education, agriculture, science related degree are encouraged to apply.