Reaching Heights is an independent citizen organization dedicated to helping every student in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District receive an excellent education, with the engaged support of the entire community. Since 1990, Reaching Heights has funded 375 innovative projects with grants totaling more than $272,000. School Team Grants of up to $1,500 support projects that address specific achievement needs; Community Connections Grants of up to $250 support projects that connect our schools with our community. Grant funds are raised from the Reaching Heights Adult Community Spelling Bee (the 20th Annual Bee will take place February 22, 2011 at Heights High), Thank-A-Teacher donations and individual donors.

Approved School Team Grants include:

• Script to Film, an interdisciplinary project focusing on literacy and technology, utilizes the collaborative talents of the English and Television Production departments at Cleveland Heights High School. This year-long program will examine the intricacies involved with short film script writing. Each student will develop, write and edit a script, which will be produced by members of a video production club. The project, which received a $1,500 grant, will culminate in a film festival at the end of the school year. Jeff Glass is the project manager.

• Science is the focus of Exploring Energy; Parade of Ohms at Monticello Middle School, recipient of a $400 grant. Students will identify, explore and create battery-powered electrical devices. Each device will be constructed to highlight and demonstrate the use of energy pathways using a minimum of 4 working lights and simply constructed cardboard replicas of houses. The projects will demonstrate students’ understanding and exploration of how electrical energy operates within a closed system. Jodi Burke is the project manager.

• The Roxboro Middle School Vocal Music Retreatis aimed at building community while developing skills among members of the school’s vocal music program. Students will learn basic techniques of rehearsing, including vocal warm -ups, body movement, and proper sitting and standing technique. Using the Kodaly method of music education, students will master elements of solfege to aid in learning music according to the Music Educators National Conference National Standards of Music. Mario Clopton is project manager for this $600 grant.

“These grants provide a glimpse of the creative energy among teachers in our district,” said Patrick Mullen, Reaching Heights executive director. “We’re proud to support these projects, and encourage teachers to apply for our second round of grants for this school year by Oct. 30.”

A $250 Community Connection Grant will support for the second district-wide Mind, Body and Soul Wellness Fair produced, promoted and run by Leading Ladies, Inc., a group dedicated to helping girls develop positive and powerful attitudes that will help guide them into becoming resourceful and resilient adults. This fair, to take place in November at Cleveland Heights High School, focuses on healthy life-choices include food, activities and health initiatives. Sabrina Humphries is the project manager.

In Cleveland Heights, eligibility is currently limited to families with a four-year child who will enter kindergarten at Oxford or Boulevard elementary schools in August 2011. 

SPARK Cuyahoga is part of SPARK Ohio. Together we are committed to helping families get children ready for kindergarten.  For more information, please contact Trena Saxon at Family Connections at Taylor Academy, 216-321-0079.

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Part of the camp’s daily routine is work in chamber groups – small ensembles where each musician’s contribution is highly visible.  All 20 chamber groups participated in a recital on Friday to show their progress.   The drumming group and Twisted Metal trumpet quartet greeted concert goers playing in the courtyard before the concert. Four more groups, selected for the polish they demonstrated at the recital the day before, performed on the stage as the first phase of the concert. 

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The energetic Heights Summer Music Camp Choir led by elementary music teacher and camp principal Tamar Gray treated the audience to three songs. The 25 voice ensemble complete with soloists, footwork and hand motions brought hoots of joy and pleasure from the approving audience, once again proving the powerful impact of music.

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The choir is one of three electives that expand musical experiences. The other two options are guitar, and jazz – one group for string players and the other for band instruments. Participants in these groups performed in Friday’s recital.

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Music theory is another important part of the camp day. A variety of hands-on activities from Note Twister to work on chromatic xylophones develop the building blocks of music making: note reading, scales, rhythm , ear training and more. Each musician put these lessons to work as they prepared for the concert.

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Finally the big moment arrived and the orchestra assembled on the stage. Concertmaster Trenton Bulucea, a rising 7th grader and three year camper, tuned the orchestra in advance of conductor, Daniel Heim’s arrival at the podium. Then the music began. The orchestra performed four pieces representing a diverse repertoire including:

Dance of the Tumblers from “The Snow Maiden” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity from ‘The Planets’ by  Gustav Holst
Take Five by Paul Despond
Thunder and Lightning Polka by Johann Stauss

Suddenly it was over.
When done well, music, like basketball or any other enterprise that relies on the combined effort of skilled individuals appears effortless. It isn’t.  The seemingly effortless performance by this young orchestra made up of 80 rising 5th through 9th graders evoked a standing ovation and ended a remarkable week.

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The orchestra’s strong performance was the result of focused and sustained effort.  Each camp day includes about two hours of orchestra rehearsals and a 45 minute sectional rehearsal where each instrument grouping meets to work on its contribution to the orchestra selections.  The conductor guides the musicians through the music and unites the individual musicians into a harmonious whole.  The coaching staff and mentors – 26 strong – work along-side the orchestra members to help them do their best.

The conductor’s high expectations evoke remarkable concentration from the musicians. And over the course of the week through careful direction and good humor, combined with camper effort this painstaking process produced wonderful music. Campers not only master playing the notes but playing them in pitch, in unison, with the right rhythm, at the expected and varied volume and speed. In the end everyone can witness the impact of this growth process and feel proud of their contribution. Then they get to perform it and see the impact on the audience.

The performance was the outward expression of one of the most powerful lessons of making music: sustained effort combined with high expectations and good direction produce excellence! It’s something I discover each year as I hear the orchestra on the first day of camp and the last day. All the campers know it too.

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I look forward to next year when many of these young people and a new group of campers bring their instruments to Wiley Middle School, take their place on the stage, and repeat the powerful process of working in an orchestra to master music they never imagined possible. They discover their own capacity to excel and remind us how important it is to provide these life changing opportunities.

Sign up now, Heights Summer Music Camp 2011 – June 20 to 25, 2011.

By Susie Kaeser, Heights Summer Music Camp Administrator.

On May 6, the Cleveland Heights High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame held its 30th induction ceremony at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights. Chris Brandt, MD, one of the honorees, is a longtime supporter of Reaching Heights and member of our Music Committee. Two inductees, siblings Eric and Lisa Collins, are the offspring of former Reaching Heights trustee Joyce Collins.

Christopher Brandt, MD

The Hall of Fame was created as a way for Heights to honor the accomplishments of its alumni while giving current students solid examples of what they can accomplish in life. With over 50,000 graduates, Heights High School students have an impressive and diverse list of alumni from whom to select for induction. A student committee, The Imagemakers, select inductees from nominations made by the general public. Students do not know the names of the nominees, only their accomplishments.

This year’s inductees include:
• Daniel Abrams, Class of ’48 – Musician & Composer
• Dr. Christopher Brandt, Class of ’76 – Physician & Educator
• Eric J. Collins, Class of ’87 – Broadcaster & Sports Commentator
• Dr. Lisa G. Collins, Class of ’85 – Educator & Author        
• Dr. Rodger Doxsey, Class of ’65 – Astronomer & Author
• David Gunning, Class of ’60 – Attorney & Patron of the Arts
• Lizbeth A. Heyer, Class of ’82 – Housing Advocate & Educator
• Michelle L. Heyer, Class of ’80 – Assistant United States Attorney
• Marian Katz Magid, Class of ’53 – Civil Rights & Community Activist
• David E. Weiss, Class of ’79 – Attorney & Real Estate Executive
 
“It’s not until you hear the inductees speak and listen to their stories that you understand just why the students selected them for the Hall of Fame,” Eric Silverman, President of the Cleveland Heights High School Alumni Foundation and a 1987 Heights High graduate stated. “What is great about this year’s inductees is not only their varied careers and lives, but what struck me was the common theme of what they learned and didn’t learn at Heights,” Eric said. “Many of them spoke about how the pluralism and curriculum at Heights prepared them for their futures.”
 
The evening program began with outstanding performances by the Heights Singers and Heights Barbershoppers, followed by remarks from the inductees. The next morning the new Hall of Famers visited Heights High, touring the building and speaking to classes. More information about this year’s and previous years’ inductees can be found at the Heights High Alumni Foundation website.

Here’s more information from the Heights Community Congress web site:

The theme of this year’s Heights Heritage Home & Garden Tour, “Imagine if . . . ” captures the essence of our community and the spirit of our neighbors and friends.

We invite you to join us in celebrating some of our greatest assets — community, neighborhoods and strong spirit — by becoming a part of the 33rd annual Heights Heritage Home & Garden Tour.

Also, plan to attend our Heights Heritage Home & Garden Tour Preview Party. On September 25, join us for festivities starting with a champagne toast by our Honorary Chair, Ms. Marian Morton, renowned Cleveland Heights author and resident. We will then take a special preview of homes that will be featured on the next day’s tour. Finally, we return for a celebratory reception. The evening promises to be festive, fun and enjoyable.

Click here to go to HCC’s website for updates, ticket sales locations and more information. Thank you for supporting Heights Community Congress.

The Cleveland Heights Historical Society has an excellent searchable database  of all homes featured on the Heritage Tour since its inception in 1977.

Thanks to our great campers, their families, Music Director Daniel Heim and the entire faculty, Camp Administrator Susie Kaeser and her tireless team, and to our sponsors, particularly The Mollusca Fund, Roxboro Orchestra & Band Organization, and First Unitarian Church of Cleveland.

An article in the June 23, 2010, issue of Education Week about the report begins:

At a time when reformers and philanthropists have largely turned their back on the “small schools” movement, a major study of New York City high schools has found that students are more academically successful in smaller, more personal high schools that they choose for themselves than they are in larger, more traditional schools.

The report …. focuses on the 1.1-million-student school system’s effort from 2002 to 2008 to shut down 20 large, failing high schools and replace them with 200 smaller schools where students might be more likely to receive the attention they need. Researchers found that students who ended up in the small schools were more likely than peers in other kinds of city high schools to be on track by 9th grade to graduate in four years, to stay on track for three more years, and graduate from high school on time.

“This is the first convincing evidence that the ‘small schools’ model can be effective at improving student outcomes,” said Brian Jacob, a professor of education policy and economics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “It’s incredibly important.” Mr. Jacob advised the researchers on an early version of the study.

The report’s executive summary reports three key findings:

• In roughly six years, it is possible to create a large system of small public high schools that markedly improve graduation prospects for many of the disadvantaged students who choose to attend these schools.

• In the schools being evaluated, positive effects on students’ progress toward high school graduation become apparent as early as the ninth grade and are sustained during the next two years; by the end of four years of high school, these effects culminate in higher rates of graduation.

• These positive effects are experienced by a broad range of students who differ in terms of their demographic characteristics, economic circumstances, and academic preparation. It is particularly noteworthy that the benefits of small schools extend to male high school students of color, whose educational prospects have been historically difficult to improve.

Full text of the report is available here.

UPDATE: Here are complete results from this year’s Forest Hill 5K ThunderRun Walk/Run, held July 17 at Forest Hill Park.

Thanks to all who ran, walked, volunteered and contributed to a great event Saturday morning at Forest Hill Park.

Forest Hill  was John D. Rockefeller’s estate before he left Cleveland for elsewhere. I hear he did well. Forest Hill is now a park, and this Saturday,  July 17 at 9AM, you can challenge its hills and paths by taking part in the Forest Hill ThunderRun 5K Run/Walk.

Trophies will be awarded to the overall male and female winners, male and female masters winners, and male and female age group winners. All proceeds from the race will support Reaching Heights’s work on behalf of excellent public education in our community. Register online here or simply show up on Saturday morning

John Davison Rockefeller

As for John, who also did quite a bit of good, you can pay him a visit at Lake View Cemetary (Section 10, Lot 49). It’s right down the street.

For more information about the race, visit thunderrun.org.

2010 5K ThunderRun Course Map

Community Connection Grant
Year: 2009- 2010
Amount: $250
Project Manager: Denise C. Lackey
School: Roxboro Middle School

Community Connection Grant
Year: 2009- 2010
Amount: $250
Project Manager: Janett Korb
School: Fairfax Elementary, Legacy School at Cleveland Heights High School

Proposal:

Providing students an opportunity to teach younger students builds self confidence and reinforces their own understanding of a new concept. In the spring, biology will be focusing on ecology. A great way for my students to show that they understand about ecology would be to have them teach younger students what they have learned. I would like to take my students, one afternoon for a walk to Fairfax Elementary school.

While there, each student will work with a small group of younger students sharing with them what they have learned about ecology. Each one of my high school students will go to Fairfax that afternoon with an age appropriate science related book that they have hand picked to read to their student group. The books will be donated to the Fairfax classroom.

I would like each of my students in my ninth grade biology class to research and purchase an age appropriate children’s book that focuses on ecology. The grant will provide each student with a $12.00 budget in order to purchase one book per student for a total of twenty four books, which will be donated to Fairfax Elementary. They must justify their choice and summarize how it relates to ecology. They must be prepared to go to Fairfax with a mini-ecology lesson prepared. They will use their time at Fairfax to read, discuss, and teach.