Congratulations to this week's Educator of the Week, Mrs. Stephanie Spencer!
As we wrap up the spring sports season, we will communicate the weekly schedule, day by day. Tonight, varsity baseball will host Anna at our home field at 5 PM. Go Tigers!
Due to the possibility of inclement weather, the senior lunch with family has been postponed until Wednesday, May 17th! We hope you will still join us for lunch outside, games, music, and fun with your seniors. Thank you!
Congratulations to Hattie Jacobs who placed 22nd at the State Track Meet running the 200m hurdles in 31.32! Great season, Hattie!!
Congratulations to our Middle School Tiger Track and Field 4x800 team who just placed 7th out of 24 teams at the State Track Meet! Their time was 8.59.72 setting a new school record by beating their own previous relay record! Runners include Adly Knox, Brayan Gullett, Zeke Longshore, and Asher Cole. Great job, guys! Stay tuned as we cheer on Hattie Jacobs who runs later this afternoon.
On Tuesday, May 16th, our West Liberty Subway will host 'CF Subway Day' to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. For many years, Greg and Crystal Johnson have actively pursued ways to support the Foundation on behalf of Addy and Ava's Angels.
For more information, visit http://fightcf.cff.org/goto/AddyAvaAngels.
Now you can support the Foundation's search for a cure simply by having lunch, dinner, or both at Subway!
West Liberty-Salem elementary celebrated out highest honored fourth and fifth graders during the Breakfast of Champions Award Ceremony on Friday morning. Students are invited to attend if they are in the fourth of fifth grade and cumulatively received all A's and only one B or B. on grade cards all year. Students and their families were served a special breakfast that included donuts, milk, juice and coffee. Mr. Hollar offered the opening remarks congratulating students for their accomplishments and letting them know just how proud he is of the effort it takes to be there. Each Breakfast of Champions Ceremony offers guests the opportunity to hear from the graduating class Valedictorian. This year, Brittany Neer was that guest speaker.
She shared how she set goals for herself in high school and realized that getting good grades and being active at school and in her community was how she wanted to make her mark during her four short years of high school. The ceremony concluded with a drawing for 1 of 20 boxes full of delicious treats from Maries Candies. The following students were recognized at the 2022-23 Breakfast of Champions:
Nate Adams, Raurie Adams, Caizen Anders, Danni Andrews, Natalie Arthur, Jacob Bahan, Liam Baldwin, Michael Beard, Mallory Bishop, Henry Bolton, Addison Brannon, Ava Brookman, Wyatt Brooks, Braxton Catron, Shiloh Cole, Josh Collins, Kipton Crowder, Kolbie Crowder, Calvin de Roziere, Nathan Deitrick, Raegan Evans, Foster Fairchild, Rylee Falloon, Layne Ferryman, Jacob Gilley, Elayna Hoover, Sophia Jackson, Bella Johnson, Foster King, Emma Krois, Penny Kromer,
Eve Lamb, Zeke Lauck, Tyler Leas, Greyson Leichty, Kennedy Logwood, Robison Lucas, Chafer Matthews, Iris Meister, Amelia Miller, Katie Moxley, Wyatt Phelps, Lucas Piacentino, Ava Prater, Avery Randall, Jackson Reichardt, Zoey Richardson, Sam Ridgway, Jude Roberts, Izzie Semaan, Gabriel Shoemaker, Rosie Sokolow, Leah Stalling, Chloe Staten, Harrison Sutherin, Raider Tester, Hannah Thoman, Lilly Thomas, Noah Tomlin, Callie Trimble, Dawson Turner, Quyn Vermillion, Mason Wallace, Connor Watson, Lakota Webb, Gabriel Wilson, Miles Wright, Cale Wygal, Lilly Yeater, Jett Ziegler
Reminder! The cornhole tournament scheduled for today is cancelled.
Fifth graders let the curtain close on their elementary music career with what was certainly a grand finale! They entertained the crowd with Hits of the Decade, The Musical. They sang hits from the 40's through present day. The Musical was directed by Bethany Smucker, who ended the show with a sweet slide show featuring photos from the year to the soundtrack of Count on Me by Bruno Mars. Every student, and should be proud of their hard work that wowed everyone who attended. Great job, fifth grade and Mrs. Smucker!
Emily Krempansky shared about rocks with Mrs. Alycia Smith's class today!
On Monday, May 15th, 5th graders will sell lemonade at their own lemonade stands during recesses as a culminating activity for a project in Math class. They are collecting donations off $.25 per cup of lemonade to donate to the Barely Used Pets Rescue in Urbana. Today, they are working on lemonade stand preparations!
Sixth graders in Mrs. Symmat's science class are studying Kinetic Energy. This week their lab exercise was to test kinetic energy, potential energy, and thermal energy as they move along on three wheeled balance car scooters. They measured their speed and noticed how adjusting the friction, gravity, and mass altered their results. We think they had a little fun, too!
The West Liberty-Salem girls track and field team won it's eleventh consecutive Ohio Heritage Conference title Thursday evening at Triad high school Thursday evening.
North Division Team Scores: 1st WLS 180, 2nd Fairbanks 155, 3rd Triad 88, 4th Mechanicsburg 68, 5th Northeastern 29, 6th West Jefferson 1
WLS Placers: (DAY 2)
First Place: Kenzie Bahan Shot Put (32'6.5") PR, Mallory Bostick 400 Meter Dash (1:01.98) PR, Ashley Yoder 3200 Meter Run (11:58.95), 4x200 Meter Relay-Tori Douthwaite, Gwen McCullough, Claire Longshore, Mallory Bostick (1:50.94), 4x100 Relay-Tori Douthwaite, Gwen McCullough, Lena Kauffman, Chloe Griffith (52.50)
Second Place: Chloe Griffith 100 Meter Dash (13.02), Gwen McCullough 800 Meter Run (2:30.52) PR, Mallory Bostick 200 Meter Dash (27.39) PR, Gwen McCullough 800 Meter Run (2:30.52) PR
Third Place: Claire Longshore 100 Meter Hurdles (16.54) PR, Tori Douthwaite 100 Meter Dash (13.42) PR, Breece Gullett 1600 Meter Run (5:28.94) PR, Ashley Yoder 400 Meter Dash (1:03.62) PR, Sophia Hardwick 300 Meter Hurdles (48.90) and Long Jump (14'4.5") PR, Taylor Kennedy 3200 Meter Run (13:10.81) 4x400 Relay-Ashley Yoder, Teagan Boyd, Breece Gullett, Mallory Bostick (4:19.38)
Fourth Place: Sophia Hardwick 100 Meter Hurdles (16.94), Claire Longshore 300 Meter Hurdles (49.89) PR, Chloe Griffith 200 Meter Dash (28.42)
Fifth Place: Breece Gullett 800 Meter Run (2:34.07)
Sixth Place: Chloe Griffith Long Jump (13'7"), Malia Miller 1600 Meter Run (5:39.89)
"I'm so proud of the effort our women gave throughout the meet," said WLS Head Coach Ann Vogel. "We had a big day on prelim night and never let off the pedal from there. Kenzie Bahan winning shot put on her last throw for a career PR was huge and set the tone for the rest of the meet. Fairbanks is such a strong team and gave us all we could handle, but in the end our depth put us on top. It goes to show you, track and field is a team sport, and that's been our focus all year. We're a young team and a lot of people counted us out, but this team is feisty and not afraid to chase their dreams."
WLS will compete in the DIII Southwest District Meet at Graham High School with prelims on Tuesday and finals on Saturday.
Photo Credit: John Coffman
Gwen McCullough handing off to Claire Longshore in the 4x200 Meter Relay
Ashley Yoder winner of the 3200 Meter Run
Happy International Nurse's Day to our Nurse Practitioner Mrs. Douthwaite and Nurse Mrs. Wing, who keep our students healthy and learning all year! We are so thankful for the services they provide as school nurses and in the School-Based Health Center!
West Liberty-Salem celebrated Senior Awards Night on May 9, 2023. They spent the evening honoring every senior and awarding more than $50,000 in local scholarships.
Principal Greg Johnson introduced Brittany Neer, Valedictorian, and Christian Davis, Salutatorian.
The Class of 2023 Top 10 was released and includes, in order:
Brittany Neer
Christian Davis
Elyssa Cheetham
Isabelle Wilson
Trinity Floyd
Allie Bolton
Maggie Davis
Arianna Chapman
Logan Phillips
Adam Stapleton
Pictures include Wright State University Army ROTC Rep, Edward Wittig, and LTC Jason Douthwaite and COL Jen Douthwaite, present the ROTC Scholarship to Tina Douthwaite. Tina’s total scholarship winnings for both, the Army ROTC Scholarship and Wright State University was $110,580.
Meghan Vogel presents the $2,500 Meghan Vogel Sponsorship sponsored by Wright Construction and given to Wylie Harbour.
Photo of all scholarship recipients including:
Allie Bolton
Arianna Chapman
Kayla Cole
Christian Davis
Maggie Davis
Tina Douthwaite
William Dowden
Trinity Floyd
Maddox Havens
Wylie Harbour
Owen Harrison
Christian Herron
Gabbi Hudson
Aubrey Laing
Lexy Lee
Emma Kauffman
Andrew Kimball
Chandler McCafferty
Phillip Marr
Brittany Neer
Logan Phillips
James Powell
Whitney Ridenbaugh
Rylie Schultz
Makenna Smith
Micah Smith
Adam Stapleton
Jonny Stoner
Shae Stoner
Isabelle Wilson
DJ Yoder
Valedictorian Brittany Neer and Salutatorian Christian Davis
Photo of Christian Herron who received the OHSAA Courageous Student Award
Read the full story and list of scholarship recipients here https://www.wlstigers.org/article/1112229
West Liberty-Salem students Ivy Cline, Abbigayle Long, Makenna Smith and Carter Titus are among students from all over Logan County who are making an impact on their peers by improving the mental health of Logan County youth. At the initial Student United meeting, students set goals to not only address issues of substance misuse, hunger, and personal hygiene, but to also make a financial impact that provides solutions. When Carter Titus, a junior, was asked about the impact Student United had on him he shared, “United Way shows others the problems people face that you couldn’t even imagine. It helps create change and goodness in the world by encouraging people to help those in need.”
After much self-determination and hard work, the Student United Way committee awarded $29,050 in Youth Allocations grants to 15 local applicants this week.
West Liberty-Salem Schools received $1400 to invite Scott Frank, a speaker with the Digital Empowerment Project to talk with students and families about internet safety and the impact that social and digital media has on mental health.
United Way shares the full story here: https://www.uwlogan.org/student-united-way-awards-15-grants-support-logan-county-youth?fbclid=IwAR1JQyafcVieqjEm5dG_WCFN4Ov6wosP4gyBfFQrKPJq0hsgKSG4tuKGE0o
The West Liberty-Salem Chapter of the National Honor Society names their 2023-2024 officer team after they were sworn in earlier this week. The following students will assume the roles of officers:
President: Madeline Cole
Vice - President – Lillian Weaver
Secretary – Mallory Bostick
Treasurer – Lily Smith
Historian – Ashley Yoder
Parliamentarian – Addison McAuley
Senior Representative – Carter Titus
Congratulations, new National Honor Society officers!
Mrs. Carrie Smith's Environmental Science, Biology, and Zoology students hosted animal tours for elementary students today. Elementary students were introduced to class pets including a bunny, rats, snakes, ferrets, and hissing cockroaches. They learned that the bunny really loves carrots, and the ferrets are both sleepy and playful.
The Science wing is also home to several species of fish, turtles, and frogs. Students were eager to learn about their habitats and watch them swim, jump and "sun" themselves on their log. Thank you, Mrs. Smith and her students, for a fun and educational tour!
Mrs. Symmat's sixth grade science students took advantage of the beautiful weather and practiced graphing outside!
Please help us congratulation the final Seniors of the Month for the Class of 2023. Congratulations Phillip Marr and Aubrey Laing!
NAME: Phillip Marr
SCHOOL: West Liberty-Salem
PARENTS: Peter and Lori Marr
School Activities and Awards:
My school activities from this year consist of Marching, Pep, Jazz, and Concert Band, along with Varsity Choir and Show Choir. I’ve received certificates, pins, and varsity letters for participating in Varsity Choir, Marching and Concert band for three years of high school.
If I were principal for a day:
If I were principal for a day, I would probably make Principal Johnson take my place in all of my classes simply because I think it would be funny.
Favorite school memory:
My favorite school memory may, in fact, have to be at band camp this year. For the night of our senior prank, seniors had all agreed to meet outside of the dorm building by a huge bell at 2:30 AM to get started. Knowing that I would struggle to wake up with out waking any of the other boys (to make this more interesting, I was the only senior guy) I would have to stay up. Now, in order to keep from being bored while I waited, I stayed up with other kids watching the movie Ted until it was time to sneak out. When that time came, I told the the only other person still up that I was going to hang up my pool towel (which had my shoes hidden within it) in the bathroom. Once I was in there, I snuck out of the dorm room through another door in the bathroom and never came back. Once I got out of the room, I had a staring contest with a racoon who stared into my soul when we made eye contact from opposite sides of the outer doors. Luckily, I was able to sneak around it and make my way outside to the bell. Once 2:30 hit, I had been sitting outside by my lonesome. No one else showed up. THE OTHER SENIORS DIDN’T GET UP IN TIME AND LEFT ME ALONE IN THE DARKNESS UNTIL 3:00 AM! So, what did I do? I recorded a video of a bat that I saw and started blogging on my phone about how I was going to do the whole prank by myself. Eventually, they finally woke up, and we all finished the prank together by around 5-6 AM, and getting up at 8:00 – 8:30, leaving me to march in the morning with about 2 hours of sleep. It’s funny how well one’s brain works on that little amount of sleep…BECAUSE IT DOESN’T.
People who have been an inspiration to me include:
People who have been an inspiration to my life would be my best friends; both from school, and not.
Because: They are two people that have a different outlook on life than anyone else I know, and this allows them to always act comedic and goofy in ways that I enjoy, and it never gets old. I wish that, I too, could be like them.
Lately, I have been reading:
Lately, I have been reading Heart of Darkness; though not so much reading as listening to it, because I’m not a good reader.
My advice to parents:
My advice to parents would be: Don’t ever feel like you can’t tell your kids no for anything or any reason. I learned important lessons while growing up because my because my parents would tell me no.
My biggest regret:
My biggest regrets are usually not exploiting every possibility I see to achieve or obtain something that I really want, such as joining Show Choir during my underclassmen years. If only I had put more effort into my auditions, I may have made it in. Once I made it in my junior and senior years, I realized that I truly should have just tried a little harder.
Next year I will be:
Next year I will be hopefully growing more in God, working, and saving towards my first car.
AND....
NAME: Aubrey Laing
SCHOOL: West Liberty-Salem
PARENTS: Harlan and Andrea Laing
School Activities and Awards:
I am the reporter in FFA, I am on iPad committee, and I also video for the high school girls basketball team.
If I were principal for a day:
If I were a principle for the day a I would let everyone probably have a free for all and all hangout and get to know each other better, and I would let the high schoolers go back and spend time with the elementary teachers.
Favorite school memory:
My favorite school memory is going to all of the football games with friends.
People who have been an inspiration to me include: My family
Because: They have always been there for me when I needed them the most, and they have taught me to be the person I am today.
Lately, I have been reading:
I have been reading A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.
My advice to parents:
To show your kids that you don’t always have to be perfect, and we learn from our mistakes. Always treat others with respect and open arms.
My biggest regret:
My biggest regret would have to be not getting involved in other school activities and getting to know the younger classmen.
Next year I will be:
Next year I will be attending Clark State for Occupational Therapy.
