Westlake Student Kyle Yu Excels at National Geographic Bee

Lee Burneson Middle School student places in the top 15, is featured in video at National Geographic website

Kyle Yu, a seventh-grader at Westlake's Lee Burneson Middle School, placed in the top 15 at Monday's National Geographic Bee semifinals, the Sun News reports. Yu beat out about 100 kids at the state level to represent Ohio in the national competition. The top ten students will compete Wednesday, May 22 for the crown.  This is the 25th anniversary of the Bee. Geographic Bees were held in schools throughout the country. School-level winners took a qualifying test and the top 100 scores were named semifinalists and eligible to compete at the state Bee. As the state winner, Kyle received $100, the “Complete National Geographic” on DVD, and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent Ohio in the national finals at the National Geographic Society …

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Readers Sound off on $1 Million in School Cuts

Have an opinion on the proposed cuts? Add them in comments.

Tegel Earns Robert F. Lucas Award

Recognized for outstanding leadership

Westlake High School's Hanna Tegel earned the Robert F. Lucas Award at the Key Club Ohio District Convention held April 12-14 in Columbus. The award recognizes outstanding leaders that have gone above and beyond the call of duty. The Key Club is the high school branch of Kiwanis International. Tegel, a senior, was appointed as a Lieutenant Governor of Key Club in April 2012, overseeing nine schools in Division 14 – Bay Village, Fairview Park, Lakewood, North Olmsted, North Ridgeville, Olmsted Falls, Rocky River, St. Joseph Academy and Westlake high schools. She was required to fullfill 11 requirement for the award, including holding a divisional training for the club officers that explained the officer responsibilities, how to improve …

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Busing, Teachers on the Cutting Block After Proposed $1 Million in Cuts

Elementary school positions, consumer science program will be eliminated.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dan Keenan laid out a tentative plan for $1 million in cuts following the school levy loss last Tuesday. “We’re doing this because we can’t count on money coming in in January; we’re at the end of the levy cycle,” Keenan said. With no new money coming in, the district, at current expenditures, would be $2.9 million in the red by the 2014-15 school year. The cuts, announced at the May 13 school board meeting, will go into effect for the 2013-14 school year. Cuts include: Keenan said other cuts and reductions are probable. “This follows the $4.2 million in cuts we made in 2010,” Keenan said. At that time, operations were heavily cut. Now, the district is reversing the cuts to 85 percent personnel and 15 percent …

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Superintendent: Before Another Levy, We Need to Listen

Board will decide if they should make additional cuts or try for another levy.

Fresh off an apparent levy failure last Tuesday, Westlake Superintendent Dr. Dan Keenan said before the board decides whether to try again to pass a levy in November, district leaders need to listen and reflect on the community’s thoughts. “We won’t put one on in August; that deadline has passed,” Keenan said. “Before we do anything we need to get input and figure out what we need to learn from this vote.” Westlake residents voted 3096 to 3049 against the 5.9-mill continuing levy on May 7.  As of Election Day, there were still 44 provisional votes outstanding that had to be counted. That may trigger an automatic recount. “We need to survey the community and understand what we need to do differently,” Keenan said. “It is ‘how we operate’ or…

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Westlake is Talking About the School Levy Failure, Are You?

More than 35 comments were posted supporting and opposing the levy. It's not to late to weigh in.

Westlake Student Wins National Merit Scholarship

A local student won $2,500 in scholarships.

A Westlake High School student has been announced as National Merit Scholarship winners. Aakash Shah was one of 2,500 winners chosen from a pool of 15,000 across the nation. Shah plans to study bioengineering in college. National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.

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Four WHS Latin Students Heading to National Latin Convention

Students heading to the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.

Four Westlake High School students – Michelle Adamczyk, Alex Lathem, Eleni Packis and Rebecca Steffen – will travel to the campus of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas this summer to participate in the 2013 National Junior Classical League Convention. Westlake High School made the announcement May 6. Over the course of a week in July, the four will participate with about 1,000 other students from across the country in academic contests, such as Latin and Greek recitation, sight reading and oratory, as well as attend colloquia presented by various UNLV professors. The National Junior Classical League is an organization of junior and senior high school students sponsored by the American Classical League. It is the largest classical …

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Westlake Student Finalist in Essay Contest

One local students earned scholarship money in the Maltz Museum Stop the Hate Essay Contest.