CW Profiles

Read Below:

Interview with Mr. Weidner

By Ethan Boyd

Weidner Interview 1.mp4

Interview with Miss Moore

By Brooklyne Redmon

MissMoore.mp4

Interview with Mr. Wells

By Kalee Grandy

MrWells.mov

Interview with Mr. Ferguson

By Samantha Wolfe

Mr. Ferguson Sept 27.mp4

Interview with new principal, Mrs. Warren

By Kalee Grandy

Amy Warren Sept 20.mp4

Portrait of a Graduate: Kyle Kleinline, '09

By Ryan Steinbrink

Kyle Kleinline’s determination and work ethic helped him become a process engineer after graduating from Canal Winchester High School in 2009.

After graduation in May 2009, Kyle entered college at Butler University in August. Only one month after college he started working.

Throughout his years at Canal Winchester Kyle always liked math and science, so at Butler he picked a major in Engineering.

Most of his current job is problem solving itself, where he analyzes processes at his company then finds the problem to fix. “Education definitely prepared me for what I do now,” said Kyle. There is also more than just education; he also uses his people skills in everyday work.

“Respect is a big part of the job. If you don’t respect one another you won’t work hard together,” said Kyle.

In Kyle’s case, he has to respect and collaborate with people who are not in the same field as him. “Being able to work with people with different backgrounds and views as you is very important,” he added.

He wants to keep this position he has now, and then of course jump at the opportunity if a promotion ever comes up. Getting to this point wasn’t easy for Kyle. He says he had to go above and beyond at his previous job in Chicago. A “recruiter” contacted him about the job he has now and asked him to apply for the position.

Kyle Kleinline has worked hard to get to this point, not only in academics but also having great people skills too.

Portrait of a Graduate: Jerod Conley

By Zach Miles

Portrait of a Graduate is Canal Winchester High School’s mission to empower all students for success even outside academic achievement. A Portrait of a Graduate displays the skills and attributes of a respectful citizen, problem solver, self-aware individual, responsible learner, collaborator, and a communicator.

In high school, Jerod Conley had no idea what he wanted to be. He had a high work ethic and loved working with others but wasn’t sure what to focus on or where he wanted to end up.

During both his junior and senior years of high school, Conley attended the Eastland Career Center where he was learning to become a welder. Throughout his time, he enjoyed making metal designs and learning with other students. However, he ultimately realized that his passion for the career wasn’t truly there and if he stuck with the job he would never have the opportunity to work with many other people.

So, the following summer Conley spent his time searching for the right job and debating whether or not he should go to college. Eventually, he applied to The Home Depot where he believed he had found his calling. At first, Conley was hesitant about being a cashier because he knew that he could do that anywhere. But, he knew that with his high school experience, he was well prepared for the job and would be able to move up in the company through hard work and dedication.

Respect is a very important aspect in any job. At Home Depot, Conley makes sure to respect the customer, even if they have a complaint or are disrespectful to him.

“I make sure I call every customer ''ma'am” or ''sir” to make sure that they know I respect them and always make sure I have a smile on my face. When I am disrespected, I make sure to stay nice and formal,” said Conley.

Nearly every day at work, Conley encounters some type of problem, whether it be an issue with a customer, a machine, or a fellow employee. Instead of panicking at a small problem, he knows to communicate and work with his coworkers to solve the problem.

“One time my coworker did a cash strip, but instead of taking out $300 or more which is what you are supposed to do, they only took out $1 from the register. I had to step in and show them how to fix the problem,” recalled Conley.

After four years with Home Depot, Conley has worked his way up from cashier to head cashier, and has recently been promoted to a department head. He plans to stick out his career with Home Depot and eventually work his way up to assistant store manager. Conley stated that he loves almost everything about his job, but his favorite part is interacting with the people.

“I love talking and learning about repeat customers and how their lives are going. Sometimes people bring their dogs in and we get to give them treats and that always brightens my day.”

Outside of Home Depot, Conley spends his time as an aspiring author, with his first novel in the making. He also enjoys going to the gym, playing basketball with his friends, and spending time with his nieces and nephews.

'16 CW graduate Jerod Conley (left) with an award from Home Depot.

Photo Credit: Jerod Conley

ELL trip to Indian Trail

By Zach Miles

Mrs. DeHays’ English Language Learners (ELL) class recently went on a field trip to Indian Trail Elementary school to practice their reading skills by reading children’s books to the elementary students.

Students in the class have been working all year on improving their English and Mrs. DeHays wanted to put their skills to the test at the elementary school.

“We are always practicing our presentation skills and reading aloud to different groups of people, so I reached out to the librarians here at Indian Trail, Mrs. Tokarz at the high school helped me, and I’m ELL teacher, so we put it together,” said DeHays.

Once they arrived at the school, the students broke off into different sections of the library, each with a different children’s book in hand. They began to look over their books one more time before the elementary kids flooded in, excited and eager to hear their stories. The kids were directed in groups of four to each one of the students and they began to read.

The kids sat and watched attentively while the students read their books. Some kids raised their hands and asked questions throughout the book, and some waited until the end. When the book was finished, the kids gave a high five or a hug to their student before lining up at the door with the rest of their class.

One high school student said that “My favorite part was the conversation, the kids asking questions about the story and answering them.”

After they read, most of the students admitted they were nervous at first, but they all were very prepared and it got easier once they started reading.

“We have been reading to each other. Mrs. Tokarz came in and read to us one day, I showed a couple videos online of people reading aloud to children, I read aloud to the kids, and then they read to each other several times,” said DeHays.

Overall, the students really enjoyed reading to the elementary school kids and did a great job practicing their reading and English skills.

Mrs. DeHays was very happy with the project and stated “I love it. I want to do it again. I think it went really well.”

English Language Learners reading a story to the Indian Trail Students.

A Canal Winchester ELL student interacts with elementary school students.

Book Buffet at CWHS Library Learning Commons

By Jason Schmitz

Banned books were being served in 3 minute intervals during Mrs Tokarz’s book tasting on Friday, September 26th.

The books were taken from a list of the top 100 banned books from around the world. Reasons these books were banned include religion, swearing and tackling controversial issues. While it may be easy to see why some of the books from this selection were banned, (for example “13 Reasons Why,” which is about teen suicide) books like these have value today.

“I think reading about things makes you more aware of stuff,” said English teacher Mrs. Lichtle, “I’m a more accepting person because I read books like these.”

Some of the books are very popular and can be found in many libraries all around the world today, but were banned for outdated reasons. An example of this is the Harry Potter series being banned for religious reasons.

Canal Winchester High School students came down during a period of their English class to do the book tasting. Before the meal began Mrs Tokarz spoke of the new things happening to the Library Learning Center (LLC).

By looking at things such as the book cover, summaries, font size, and line spacing, the students were given an idea of what the books were about and why they may be banned even if some of them were less obvious.

“I was not able to tell why they were banned,” said student Crewe Edens, ”But some of the books were about people’s lives and things like that so I could see how something kind of inappropriate could happen during that time.”

During the book tasting, popcorn and drinks were passed out and relaxing music was played to make the experience more enjoyable.

The goal of the activity was to have the students choose one book from the selection to use for a project. The collection of books was taken from the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Canal Winchester High School and Middle School Library, and Mrs. Tokarz and Mrs. Lichte’s personal collections. After the book tasting the teachers are going to find a way to get the books to the students.

Mrs. Tokarz was very impressed with how the students did the book tasting and will look to continue to lead new events and activities for the Canal Winchester LLC.

CWHS media center undergoing massive construction project

By Zach Miles

The high school library is going through drastic changes this year led by library specialist Mrs. Lydia Tokarz.

Tokarz has been teaching for 17 years, 12 of which were as a gifted intervention specialist and her two most recent as the media specialist at Winchester Trail. This is her first year at the high school. Her transition to the high school library has been exciting for her, and she has really enjoyed working with the students.

“I love the students here, I love that they’re independent thinkers, and I love talking with them and learning from them and working together,” said Tokarz.

The library is undergoing transitions from a traditional library into a library learning commons, where students will have a flexible space to study and collaborate with each other.

“Our goal really is to be the learning and literacy hub of the school, we want to see collaboration going on here, critical thinking, communication, creation, the four C’s, so I think that’s huge,” she said.

The library is also getting rid of many of its nonfiction and reference books in favor of bolstering the fiction section.

Tokarz stated that “Mrs. [Gina] Clarke and I are going to work on weeding the collection. We don’t need a reference section anymore because we all have pocket computers, and we can get to any information we need by pulling out our device.”

In the learning commons, Tokarz wants to see different learning zones such as a study zone, a book café where students can check out, peruse, recommend and read books, and a collaboration space for students to work together. But most of all, Tokarz wants the space to be student centered.

“I think it’s important that our students want to come here, that’s really important to me. That our students like coming here, that it’s a space where they feel comfortable and they know the purpose of the space, how to access information and technology and use the space independently.”

The transformation from traditional library to learning commons has already started, with the new center being built behind the current office space.

“The drywall is up, it looks beautiful. There are huge picture windows, and I was so excited this summer to meet with the library designer and choose flexible seating. I think that is an important part of our space,” she said.

Some of the layout and design of the learning commons is still being determined, and Tokarz would like some feedback about what students want in their new library learning commons.

“I’m getting ready to send out a survey to all students in our school to hear from them. Student feedback is most important to me.”

Be sure to follow Mrs. Tokarz’s library website or on Twitter @MrsTsLLC for updates and information about the library.

A look inside the construction that is occurring. This image shows the room that will be the new media center.

A bird's-eye view of the CWHS construction project

By Allena Klamorick

Canal Winchester sophomore, Carson Reeb flew his drone over the summer to collect a bird’s-eye view of the new construction project at the high school.

People can see the construction from the street, but Reeb’s footage offers the public a different glance at the ongoing work being done to the high school.

He consulted with the superintendent, Mr. Jim Sotlar, and high school English/ journalism teacher, Mr. Justin Natalie to construct a plan on how they could show the different stages through the construction to keep people of the community in the loop.

Prior to the summer filming, Reeb completed a project for Mr. Natalie’s 9th grade English class entitled, “3 Things About Me”.

One of Reeb’s three things included flying his drones.

“Flying is one thing I really enjoy doing,” Reeb stated, as he explained the best thing about this project.

Initially, Sotlar and Natalie were in a meeting together, when Sotlar mentioned to Natalie he needed someone to film the progression of the construction over the summer.

With Natalie knowing Carson’s love for flying drones, he suggested his name. Sotlar thought it was a great idea to get a student involved.

With Carson’s interest in flying drones, an idea sparked the minds of the administration to go hands-on with new technology. Stolar enjoyed incorporating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) for this project.

Carson was given the summer to film and create small clips to post onto the school website.

Reeb explained the intricate steps to complete the one full video clip. First, he had to go to the high school to film.

"I found days with perfect weather conditions; not too sunny, a little cloudy, but blue skies, and no rain.”

Then, he had to take his film and upload it on to his phone. From there, Reeb took the videos and shortened them into minute clips. Lastly, he sent them to Mr. Sotlar to be uploaded to the website.

By using new technology, STEM brought about the 4 C’s (Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking).

It took a large amount of communication between all three men included in this project. They needed to communicate, when they would be filming, when they wanted the film done by and where on the building they would need to film.

Sotlar, Natalie, and Reeb all worked together by setting up times to come film, film the footage, and get the video clips to one another to put on the website.

Creatively, Reeb filmed footage by getting different angles on the aerial view of the high school. He took the footage, chopped it into little clips, and finally, he pieced them together to make a video.

Finally, Reeb thought outside of the box by using his resources to take videos from different heights and angles to make the video clips more interesting.

Overall, this project was a success and the videos on the website provided a good source of information for community members to keep up on the construction at the high school.

Brock Walk brings out the "Best" in everyone

By Drew Adams, Allison Kuck

For half a decade, May has meant a lot in Canal Winchester. Winter is finally over, summer is around the corner, and thousands of food bags have been dropped off to community members.

It all started when current CWHS junior, Brooklyn Best, was in sixth grade 4-H.

Every May over the past half decade, thousands of bags have been distributed to doorsteps in Canal Winchester, waiting to collect food items for CW Human Services. The tradition has become well-known, but its beginning was just a small wish to make a difference.

Five years ago, Brooklyn Best was a sixth grader at Canal Winchester Middle School who participated in 4-H. For one of her projects, she was looking for a way to give back to the community. She decided to enlist the help of her mother, who is a sixth grade teacher at the middle school.

Together, they created what is known as the “Brock Walk.” With the help of her friends Sam Peters, Sam Zungri, Lexi Henkel, and Alayna Cowan, they began distributing bags to homes around the community. Their plan was to have people around the community put food items into the bag, then collect the bags the next day and give all contents to Canal Winchester Human Services for the food pantry.

The idea was a success, and the project has only grown. Brooklyn has stepped away from the helm, but each year, the sixth grade students of CW have carried on the spirit of giving back to those in need.

“The sixth graders get so excited [to participate],” said Brooklyn. “That’s my favorite part.”

Now that Brooklyn is a junior at the high school, her mom keeps the Brock Walk going by taking the sixth grade class on a two-day field trip to help distribute and pick up bags. The range of the project has even extended to Bloom Carroll, where more families in need receive goods.

Appreciation for Brooklyn’s project does not go unsaid. Community members who donate frequently leave notes or talk to the kids picking up the food-filled bags. Brooklyn said that the kind words always encourage her.

None of this would be possible, however, without the help of the BrockStrong Foundation. They help to fund the project, while sending volunteers including Brock’s family members Terry, Kristi, and Tucker Johnson.

“They are great people to work with,” said Brooklyn. “[They] are so willing to help with whatever we need.”

In return, they decided to name this project the “Brock Walk,” in honor of Brock Johnson, who passed away in 2015 after battling an auto-immune disease from birth. Brooklyn began this project in the same year.

Now that Brooklyn is in high school, instead of leading the Brock Walk, she’s become a volunteer herself. She volunteers every year for the project she began, and she’s excited to help out again this May.

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