Once a Demon Always a Demon

On May 27, Westlake held its 123rd commencement ceremony. Two hundred sixty-one students crossed the stage and received their diplomas. Congratulations Class of 2023.

Congratulations Demon Marching Band

Westlake High School Marching Band, "The Pride of Westlake," directed by Hilary Patriok,was nominated in the Best Band in the Land category. They were chosen as one of 5 honorees (out of almost 300 nominees) by a panel of judges consisting of staff members from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

The winner of each category will be announced during a red-carpet Academy Awards style show on June 8, 2023, at the Agora Theater in the 2023 High School Standout Awards ceremony.” Here is a link to a description of the event. The Plain Dealer will publish the winners on Sunday, June 11.

State Competition Results

Symphonic Band

Symphonic Band received a Superior Rating in Class AA

Concert Band

Concert Band received an Excellent Rating in Class C.

Chorale

Chorale received a Superior Rating in Class AA

Woman's Ensemble

Woman's Ensemble received an Excellent Rating.

The 67th Annual Music a la Mode

After much preparation, the time honored tradition of featuring all the music and vocal groups (grades 5-12) took place on Saturday, May 7 and was a wonderful success. Mr. Fudale posted, "All groups sounded great throughout the day and it was awesome to see the students and community coming together through music." They closed out the day with the moving performance and premiere of the commissioned piece by Ryan Nowlin, "Truth, Fidelity, and Honor" in memoriam of Tom F. Hill.

To read more about Music a la Mode and Mr. Hill, you can find The Villager article written by Mary Beth Price Schneidler here.

Thank you to all who participated and attended. We hope you enjoyed the day. This event is the largest fundraiser for the Music Boosters. We would like to acknowledge and thank Joe Fudale, Hilary Patriok, Kelly Zunic, Jennifer Butler, Joni Patton, and Mike Allan for all their hard work and commitment to the programs and performances.

Senior Citizen Dinner

Thanks to the sponsorship of Nelson Vein & Surgical Services, the district hosted a strong turnout of nearly 80 senior citizens from the community for dinner and entertainment on May 11.

Students from NHS, Key Club and Company D served and assisted our guests. The Jazz Ensemble and Company D performed. They even inspired some dancing.

Many thanks to the WHS Kitchen Staff for preparing the meal and the Custodial Team for preparing the facility.

Amy is pictured on the left. Dee is pictured on the right.

Congratulations Dee and Amy and thank you to the many WCSD staff members who are committed to our mission of excellence.

Excellence Awards

We had a number of strong candidates for the Excellence Awards this Spring. Candidates are nominated by their peers for providing outstanding service.

Dee Faragher is the recipient of the Excellence in Classified Service Award. Dee is the dispatcher in the Transportation Department. She is an integral part of the department and, as shared in the nomination, “is always willing to go the extra mile (ha ha) when it deals with student needs.” This is an underappreciated role that Dee has consistently done well for years. We are excited to honor her with this award.

Amy Klenz is the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award. She is an English Teacher at WHS. Amy is an innovative and adaptive educator who thrives working with students ranging from Advanced Placement to the struggling learner. One person who nominated Amy said this: “Even my wife, who is an English teacher outside of the district, has said on numerous occasions that she’d, “like to be Amy Klenz when she grows up.”

WES Grade 4 MAKE Event

Fourth grade teacher, Angie Gerhan, and Principal, Greg Plantner accompanied a group of students to WHS Technology & Engineering department to participate in the annual MAKE event.

Adam Purdy's KNOW YOUR HOME students and Scott Kutz's TechMates Club members hosted and mentored the 4th graders in the hands-on activity of building birdhouses. They enjoyed sawing, sanding, drilling, and hammering.

The main purpose was to expose the younger learners to S.T.E. M. and teach them what goes into creating something beginning with design and building and ending with a functional product.

International Charity Event

International students are hosting an event to raise awareness about how wars around the world impact our community.

All proceeds will benefit the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

Fine Arts Ceremony at WHS

The annual Fine Arts ceremony was held on May 10 to recognize dedicated, talented artists and display their work.

The following students won Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention in the Scholastic Art and Writing Contest. It is the nation's longest running and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens.

Gold Key: Ailyn Cook

Silver Key: Kenan Alsabony, Helen Willmer, and Sam Wohlever

Honorable Mention: Kenan Alsabony, Tyne Braatz, Ahmad Siddiqui, and Ashley Spreen

In the Governors Region 8 competition, 241 out of 1461 works were chosen to advance to state judging. They include works by Sami Seyhan, Helen Willmer, and Kenan Alsabony.

Kenan Aslabony and Lia Hilde were invited to display they works at the Valley Art Center 2nd Annual Emerging Young Artists Exhibition.

Olivia Poe won Honorable Mention at the Beachwood Arts Council Ileen Kelner Juried High School Art Show.

Kenan Alsabony won first place in the high school division of The Foundry Fine Art Show. The theme was the Power of Water. Alsabony's piece was "Fountain of Joy." It is pictured below.

"Stormy Horizon" by Kenan Alsabony

"Realistic Metallic Objects" by Ailyn Cook

"Elements" by Olivia Poe

Ohio Buddy Pair of the Year

Congratulations to Aidan and Maggie. They were chosen by Best Buddies International for this Chapter Award. The award will be presented to them for their dedication to the mission of creating opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development, and inclusive living for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

2023 NEF Design Drafting Contest

The results of the 2023 NAWIC Education Foundation Design Drafting Contest are in and ... WHS Senior, Nandor Leszko, is the winner. His rendering is pictured below.

WHS Senior, Liam Shields, won second place and WHS Sophomore, Harry Powers, won third place.

The Design Drafting Competition is a competition organized annually by the National Association of Women in Construction. It recognizes students for creative design, successful problem solving, and craftsmanship in preparing architectural drawings.

This year, the project theme was "Community Restorative Justice Center." Students were challenged to design a complex that would serve as a safe and equitable space within the community including local events, police outreach and youth court. This strategy focuses on developing relationships among community members.

Nandor will advance to regional competition representing the Cleveland chapter against 4 surrounding states and 14 NAWIC Chapters.

Science Olympiad

Congratulations to the Westlake Science Olympiad B Division Team (7th, 8th, 9th graders). Led by Coach Laura Lathem, they earned the 6th place trophy at the State Competition where 1400 of the best and brightest students in the state competed in 25 events for 9 hours at OSU. Our Division C Team placed 8th out of 40 teams and earned the title of State Champions in two events. All top 10 finishers are listed below.

Division C (grades 10-12):

· Anatomy & Physiology: Ben Grimes & Yikun Zhou (third place)

· Astronomy: Yahyun Choi & Yikyn Zhou (ninth place)

· Chem Lab: Alicia Ge & Yikun Zhou (sixth place)

· Codebusters: TJ Rintamaki, Alicia Ge & Stephanie Change (ninth place)

· Detector Building: Luke Kelikian & Yehyun Choi (first place-State Champs)

· Disease Detectives: Avery Douglas & Lilyana Gundayao (eighth place)

· Environment Chemistry: Alicia Ge & Lilyana Gundayao (fifth place)

· Experimental Design: Avery Douglas, TJ Rintamaki & Kerry Madden (eighth place)

· Remote Sensing: Harmon Busic & Yehyun Choi (third place)

· Rocks & Minerals: Chris Suffredini & Hellen Willmer (third place)

· Cybersecurity: Connor Tian & Matthew Lomax (third place)

· Robot Tour: Matthew Lomax & Luke Melikian (first place - State Champs)

Division B (grades 7-9):

· Run It Code It: Zach Willmer (third place)

· Bio Process Lab: Nate Grimes & Neel Gupta (tenth place)

· Bridge: Dylan Baesel & Ben Suffredini (tenth place)

· Codebusters: Dylan Baesel, Connor Stives & Natalie Chang (ninth place)

· Crave the Wave: Shaurya Chowdhry & Ben Suffredini (tenth place)

· Crime Busters: Ria Guduguntla & Natalie Chang (seventh place)

· Disease Detectives: Ria Guduguntla Neel Gupta (third place)

· Dynamic Planet: Ria Guduguntla Nihal Gummadala (ninth place)

· Experimental Design: Connor Stive, Nate Grimes, & Ria Guduguntla (sixth place)

· Fast Facts: Nate Grimes & Neel Gupta (seventh place)

· Forestry: Sanika Jadhav & Rayna Jeter (ninth place)

· Green Generation: Caroline Lomax & Nihal Gummadala (seventh place)

· Meteorology: Shaurya Chowdhry & Emmet McKenna (tenth place)

· Road Scholar: Rayna Jeter & Ben Suffredini (third place)

· Rocks & Minerals: Connor Stives & Ben Suffredini (third place)

· Solar System: Sanika Jadhav & Neel Gupta (ninth place)

· Sounds of Music: Lucas Tian & Ben Suffredini (sixth place)

Boys Tennis Players Advance to OHSAA District Tournament

The boys tennis team won the GLC making them back to back conference champions. Then, they played competitive tennis at sectionals. Both doubles teams advanced to the district tournament which will be held at Springside in Fairlawn on May 18.

Another GLC Championship

Congratulations to the Girls Track and Field Team. They advanced to win the OHSAA Regional Meet for the second year in a row.

Sarah Peer, Sydney Peer, Sarah Colman, Maggie Hennessey, and Macy Brennan will compete at the State Championships in Columbus on June 2-3.

Summer Enrichment Programming

The Westlake City School District is offering a wide variety of enrichment programming during the summer of 2023.

The programs listed provide a mix of free as well as fee-based programming for our students! Click on any program of interest and you will find the dates, times and registration information for that course!

2023 Westlake City Schools Summer Enrichment

HR Director, Bob Maver (left and not retiring) led the celebration. Retirees pictured are Bob Haupt, Pam DeAnna, LaVonne Szafranski, Kathy Nash, and Deb Carroll.

Retirement Commendations

Westlake Schools would like to thank the following retirees for their dedication and service to the district:

Debra Carroll, Pamela DeAnna, Colleen Gray, Robert Haupt, Kathleen Nash, John and Sandy Packis, and LaVonne Szafranski. Also, Diane Kvasnicka, Michael Wooley, and Deborah Yehlik who retired over the summer in 2022.

Retirees were honored with a celebration preceding the May 22 Board of Education meeting.

Cleveland City Championship Rugby

The DIS Rugby Team competed in the in the U-12 Tier 2 Tackle Division. Coming in as the #5 Seed the team competed for the Plate Championship.

They started off beating Medina. Although they were down 10-5 at halftime, the Demons got rolling and took control of the game. They won by a score of 25-10. This win put them in the Plate Championship vs. Rocky River. Much like the 1st game, the Demons started slow, but turned it up at halftime coming from behind again to win 31-15.

It was a great day of Rugby and a satisfying finish to the inaugural. Come check out the Trophy in the main lobby showcase!

WHS Design Team Finishes Runner-Up in International Competition

Winners of the 54^th annual Architectural Foundation of San Francisco (AFSF) high school design competition were recently announced by Alan Sandler, Executive Director, and Ryan Lee, Chair and Vice President of the Board of Directors. Lee is a Senior Associate Architect from the firm of Woods Bagot.

The Westlake High School senior team of Nandor Leszko, Liam Shields, and Sydney Peer finished runner-up overall in the group category. There were 158 entries from 3 states and 7 countries.

This year students were challenged to design a PDR Collective and Park Space sited adjacent to the existing Pier 94 Wetlands along Islais Creek in San Francisco. PDR is an acronym for Production, Distribution and Repair. The PDR Collective will be an opportunity to grow the local business presence and provide space for communal custodians in the form of artists, makers, practitioners and nonprofit organizations. The location of this new space will grant increased public access to waterfront and provide a new gathering space for the community to come together.

Builders Club Beautification

Led by Meg Sherban and Laurie Bowles, some of the LBMS Builders Club members volunteered to help keep Hilliard Boulevard beautiful by planting and maintaining one of the many flower boxes.

The Westlake City School District welcomes the opportunity for non-profit, local organizations to post electronic flyers on the district website, providing the purpose of the organization complements the educational mission of the Westlake City School District. Furthermore, the District recognizes the value in providing information to our families and students about opportunities within our community that promote the intellectual, physical, personal and social development of our students.

Flyer Connection

Westlake City School District | www.wlake.org