Author: Tanner Atha

Congratulations to these Embrace, Empower & Inspire Award winners, Angela Davoll (Band Teacher at Weaver Middle School) and Mark Huston (Custodian).

“Mrs. Davoll is an amazing and caring educator. She makes ALL students feel welcome and loved in her class. She recently had the insight and bravery to help her students prepare an entire band performance focused on her student’s understanding of and experience with mental health. She masterfully facilitated a chance for her students to express their feelings and emotions through powerful words and music. Mrs. Davoll’s commitment to teaching the whole child is unrelenting and most likely life-saving.”

Mark entered our building to help fill a temporary leave. Our building just expanded, some of the teachers were just finding out where they would be located and there was Mark. He came in not just “filling in” a routine but helping us all find our new routine. Anytime we have a question or a need, Mark is there to help! One day our wagon lost a wheel on the way out to recess and I asked if it could be fixed sometime tomorrow. Nope, it was fixed before we returned from recess waiting for us. He knew we needed it for a little one with mobility issues and my class was at the end of the hall so a long walk for her little legs. This is only one example of so many and not just from myself and the classroom team, this goes for the whole school. He goes out of his way to help and allow us to teach our students. His attitude and smile are so contagious as he greets our little ones walking down the hall and encourages them with a variety of tasks. I hope he knows how much he made such a difference in the staff and the students here at the preschool while he “filled in.” Thank you, Mark!

These staff members go above and beyond the expectations of the Hilliard Way and truly make a difference in our district. If you know a staff member that goes above and beyond their way to make a difference, you can nominate them for next month’s award by clicking HERE!

Crossing 5th graders are once again creating things for Darby’s Children’s Show. This year, the show Miss Nelson is Missing required the actors to imagine events happening in their minds. The 5th graders created stop-motion animation to be played overhead on a screen to depict just that. Mrs. Sherrill, a 4th-grade teacher at Crossing and the Theater Director at Darby High School, comes up with unique ways to get her elementary students the opportunity to partake in a collaboration with the high school.

Check out the process of the students creating their stop-motion animation below:

Last fall, in partnership with Battelle for Kids, Hilliard City Schools kicked off a strategic planning process. On Jan. 24, our Strategic Design Team, comprised of staff, students, families and community members, wrapped up the first phase of this project, which involved developing a set of common goals and key characteristics we hope our students will develop in their time with us. This is known as our Portrait of a Learner and will serve as our North Star in the years to come.

As we enter the next phase of our visioning process, district staff, including teachers and administrators, will mine qualitative and quantitative data such as student achievement data, attendance data, policies and report cards.. This information will be used to create an action plan that will bring our Portrait of a Learner to life in our classrooms in the form of a new strategic plan.

We look forward to sharing this new strategic plan with you later this year to help ensure every student is Ready For Tomorrow.

Alumni Spotlight – Jason Kane

Among the ranks of Hilliard alum is Emmy-award-winning journalist and producer Jason Kane. A 2003 graduate of Davidson High School, he credits several of his high school teachers and courses for his success. Working for “The Wildcat,” Davidson’s news magazine, was his first journalism “job,” and he’s been hooked ever since. 

“Donnette Calhoon helped me believe I could make it as a journalist. Her enthusiasm about the profession and its potential to change the world inspired me to pursue this career. She’s a true saint in my life and continues to be a dear mentor and friend,” he said. 

After attending Ohio University during his freshman year of college, he transferred to George Washington University in Washington, D.C. where he earned a degree in journalism. Throughout college, he gained experience through internships with the Religion News Service and NPR. 

The reading of “Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa” by Mark Mathabane in one of his high school English classes is another example of how his secondary school experiences shaped his future. He said the book – which he called “an inspired choice” by an English department then led in part by Robin Brenneman and Diana Vance – opened his eyes to the inequalities of the world. He had such a visceral reaction to the story that he vowed to one day visit. He made good on this promise by studying abroad in Cape Town. 

“The experience changed my life in more ways than I could imagine,” he said. 

What he learned in Africa is directly tied to his work. Upon his return, he spent a year with AmeriCorps working on a campaign that brought HIV education to D.C.’s public schools. He next spent 12 years with PBS NewsHour, where he worked as a healthcare producer, reporting on topics such as the Affordable Care Act and efforts to end the HIV epidemic throughout the world. It was this work that earned him his first Emmy in 2016. He followed this up with an Emmy in 2019 for a series he produced alongside Dr. Anthony Fauci warning that a potentially devastating pandemic was overdue and the world was underprepared. The first case of COVID-19 appeared in the U.S. just six months later. Today, he is a producer for NBC News in New York, working for the TODAY show.

His AP English teacher, Regina Meyer, also left an indelible mark on him. He said she changed his perspective on writing and the power of the language we use. 

Kane said, “Her class and teaching were crucial to developing my voice as a writer.”

English and journalism classes aren’t the only experiences that served him well in high school. He was involved in the theater program, then led by Brenneman and Vance. He played the Wizard in the “Wizard of Oz,” lifting off in a hot air balloon in the closing scene. He said the production value they created was incredible. Theater also led to an opportunity for him to visit Scotland his senior year when the Davidson theater program was selected to perform “Godspell” at the International Fringe Festival. 

“I work with a lot of people who went to expensive boarding schools on the East Coast, yet I can go toe to toe with them thanks to the public education I received in suburban Ohio,” he said. “The education and opportunities I had were just as good as anything they received. It was an honor to learn from these incredible teachers in Hilliard. I can’t sing their praises enough.”

If you have an alumni you would like to see spotlighted, click here to send us an email!

Congratulations to Hilliard Station Sixth Grade Physical Education Teacher Terri Simonetti-Frost, for receiving the National Coaches of The Year Award, selected by the NHFS Coaches Association.

“I truly believe a coach is someone who not only coaches the sport but also teaches them life lessons on leadership, respect, loyalty, hard work, communication and overcoming adversity,” said Terri Simonetti-Frost, head coach of the Thomas Worthington (Ohio) High School girls field hockey team. She’s held the position since 1999 and has led her teams to 360 victories and five Ohio High School Athletic Association state championships. Simonetti-Frost’s other impressive accomplishments include three state runners-up, 13 Final Four appearances, 18 district final appearances, seven Central Ohio League Championships and seven West Division League Championships. She has developed and created numerous athletic and philanthropic organizations including a youth field hockey program called Weed Whackers and the Winter and Summer Buckeye State Field Hockey League.

The first-graders at Washington Elementary teamed up with Kelly Riley, our Innovation & Discovery Specialist, to create a unique literacy/technology project that focused on the book Our Favorite Day of the Year. The first-graders have been studying a variety of holidays and special events that are celebrated throughout the year. In the book students learn about each other’s favorite day of the year. After students share their favorite family traditions and holidays, the children recognize the similarities and differences and how that can bring them together!
Their project was based on each student’s “Favorite Day of the Year.”

Each first-grader chose a favorite day of the year and wrote 3-5 things that make their favorite day special to them. Students made an artifact (built something or labeled or illustrated a piece of paper) that represented each special thing about their favorite day. The first-graders used Tale-Bots to code a path to each of those special things on the Tale-Bot mat.