February 10, 2025 • 25 mins
Welcome to The Hive: Bee in the Know-Stories About Medina City Schools. In this episode, we will hear about elective opportunities for all students at Medina High School from the perspective of the building principal, Dr. Elisa Tedona, students, and the teachers who teach the various courses.
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(00:00):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the third episode of The Hive,
(00:19):
the in the know stories about Medina City Schools.
I'm Amy Busby, Director of Community Relations from
Medina City Schools and your host for today's discussion.
This podcast is a space where we'll dive into stories,
successes, and challenges that make Medina City Schools
a special place to learn and grow.
We'll bring you new episodes at least once a month packed with
(00:40):
updates, celebrations, and conversations that matter to
our students, staff, and community.
These episodes will live live on
our Medina City Schools YouTube channel and
other outlets where you get your podcasts.
And today, our discussion is going to be about elective
opportunities at Medina High School that are available to
(01:03):
all students.
Today, I have a really giant group with me today.
So I'm going to make this really easy and we're just going to
go around the room real quick and say your name,
maybe what year you are in school and or what you teach.
I'm Audrey Johnson. I'm a senior.
(01:24):
I'm Cooper Joseph Saphsic and I'm a senior.
I'm Alisa Tedona. I'm the high school principal.
I'm Melissa Carragiosas and I am the cooking teacher.
I'm Cameron Anderson and I'm a senior.
I'm Tiffany Nicol and I'm the debate coach.
I'm Abby Wall and I'm a senior.
I'm Laura Stoffinger and I teach the CEO internship course.
And I'm Kelly Kreiner. I teach senior gas.
(01:46):
Okay, like I said, we have a big group today.
So first thing that I want to kind of talk about and maybe
Dr. Tedona can shed a little light on this is the importance of electives.
So maybe you can start by telling us why electives are essential part of the
high school experience.
Yeah, so we use our electives as an opportunity for students to
(02:10):
explore any of the passions or interests that they may have
for life really beyond high school, whether it's enlistment, employment,
enrollment, whatever avenue they so choose.
So much so that we've had for the fourth year now an elective fair, which
allows students to kind of explore classes before they
commit to taking them and giving them opportunities to take courses that,
(02:32):
in my opinion, other high schools in our area do not offer, which
makes Medina High School a unique opportunity for our kids to
see some of the things they like or even some of the things that they don't
like before they make the plunge in college or out in
society with work to kind of explore that here.
So we believe that electives here are super important.
(02:54):
Yeah, and I'm not only does it allow students to determine exactly what
electives they might want to take, but it also might determine a career
path for them as well. So I'm glad you talked about the elective fair.
I don't know if you have any other information you want to share about that.
Yeah, so I would say we've made such an adjustment over the last four years
(03:18):
in giving students a really big voice in the classes that they take.
So you'll see an increase in even some of our course offerings to
more so reflect the interests of our students. And if they, if we have a high
number of students to ask for a class such as cooking to,
we do everything in our ability to offer that course.
And then we have serious conversations about courses that
(03:41):
students aren't as interested about if on whether or not we should
offer it. So the elective fair is the opportunity for teachers to sell their
courses and for kids to see if that's something that they're interested in.
And then after that they go and select their courses
and then we look at numbers to determine what courses we're offering and what
courses we're not offering. So it really is very student driven, which
(04:03):
is a little different than how some other places do it. And I think that speaks
to the mentality of every student every day that our district kind of really pushes.
Right. And that also really helps when it comes time to scheduling and making
courses available, like you said, for students that
they have interest in those things. And it's not just
(04:25):
things that administrators are putting on a schedule.
Agreed. Yeah. So just trying to get another perspective.
Maybe one of the teachers, if you want to talk about maybe what your elective is
and kind of the benefits and the experience that you want to bring to
your students. So I'll talk piggybacking kind of off of
(04:51):
mixing the electives with real life experience. And I teach the CEO program,
which is Career Explorations Opportunities. And it really allows students to kind of
bridge the gap between what they're learning in high school and what it's
actually like out in the real world. What students do is they fill out like a
little application and it gives us our top three choices of what they're
(05:13):
interested in. We try to tell students to think about
something that you don't know a lot about, but you may want to learn more.
Because that can really open a lot of doors for you in terms of what you want
to explore after high school. We do our best to match the student up
with the first program, but sometimes students change as they go through.
And with that we work with businesses in the Medina County area.
(05:34):
So if you have any businesses or are willing and interested to speak to us
more about that, please reach out to Amy directly and she can pass along my
information. But we, the students go in and they
spend about 40 hours over an eight week period. So it averages to about five
hours a week. And in that they are able to immerse
themselves in the experience, again above and beyond what just the classroom
(05:58):
part teaches you. In addition to that, half of the semester is spent in the
class where we bring outside speakers in to teach them how to build a resume,
to give them interviewing skills, learn how to dress professionally,
and exude professionalism out in the real world.
As well as evaluating different job offers, the onboarding process,
(06:20):
deciding about which job is right for them and which path they should go down.
At the end of that and at the end of their internship, they come back in.
We update their LinkedIn page, we help them update their resume, and then we go
through an exit interview with them to just to let them give us some feedback
on what they like, what they don't like. And I can honestly say there's not much
(06:41):
negative feedback that comes from that at all. The students really do love
the experience and learn a lot about it. I do have a student here that
participated in this internship and she'll just talk a little bit about what
she did and the overall experience that she came from that.
So when I first started in the CEO program, I really thought that I wanted to go
(07:02):
into forensics doing medical research or working in a coroner's office.
But through this program, I was able to actually go to a recovery center in
Medina which focused on substance use disorder and alcoholism recovery.
And I worked in their PR and marketing area to kind of help get the word out
about their mission and what they wanted to do. And that really helped me get a
(07:25):
feel for how I now want to actually go into psychology and research into how
addiction plays into people's lives. And I'm really thankful for the CEO
program because it gave me an opportunity to try something that I
originally didn't think I'd be interested in. But now it's actually what I
want to pursue for my career. So I'm really appreciative to the program for that.
And those, that's one of the really big benefits of the CEO program because
(07:48):
I don't know about you, but when I was going on 18 years old, I had zero idea
what I wanted to do in life. So that's a really great way for
students to develop skills but also help them determine
what they want to do during the course of their career.
And that that will change also, but at least you'll have an idea.
(08:09):
Another elective that is popular among students is our family and consumer
science course, also known as cooking. So Melissa Carozilgis,
I probably diced up your name, but I was pretty close. I was a close, okay.
Maybe you can talk a little bit about your course.
(08:32):
And I know that recently you guys did cupcake wars, so I'm sure people would
want to hear about that as well. We did do our cupcake wars. So
cooking is self-explanatory, I think, right? So I feel
not as prepared as Miss Duff and Jay was to explain my course.
(08:54):
Cooking is cooking. We learn to cook, but it's so much more than that because
I think the students are coming together and they're doing stuff that they don't
do in other classes. They have to work together as such a team,
and not only do they work together as such a team, but they're coming because
everybody eats. So we're all eating at home
(09:15):
and everybody's household runs differently. So you bring these four
students together who yesterday might not have known each other,
and now they're thrown together in a group and they have to figure out how to
work together and do things maybe differently than they do
at home. And they have to come up with their own, sometimes they like to call
them their little foods family, and they have to do teamwork and they have to do
(09:38):
time management and not only just your basic rigor of the classroom learning
about measurements and equipment and all of the
safety and sanitation and all the things that you have to do to cook, but
they have to work together. So it's fun to see their relationships
develop and it's fun to see the competitiveness between the
(10:00):
groups. And so by the end of the semester, after we've
learned all of the things, we do a competition and cupcake wars just
like the tv show and sometimes it gets that competitive.
And Cooper can speak to that. Cooper got some. Oh, Cam got competitive too, yes.
(10:21):
And so we take everything we learn for the whole semester and they
they take it on their own and they can create the cupcake flavor they want and
the frosting they want and they come up with their design and their
the display to hold it and they make the signs and they make everything and it's
(10:42):
a big 12-day project and at the end the whole staff gets involved. So I think
the staff enjoys it because we come together and I the kids love to show
off what they've been doing and they're very proud of what they've
created with their little hands-on project. So we all get to eat cupcakes
and everybody gets to eat cupcakes and everybody wins, right? I don't know if you
(11:06):
guys want to chime in and maybe share a little bit about your
experience and and how the cooking classes has benefited you.
Yeah, so when I took cooking I was lucky enough to have a couple of my friends
in there but like Mrs. K was saying, I got to meet a bunch of new
people I wouldn't necessarily involve myself with or think I would be friends
(11:28):
with them so I'm very grateful for that opportunity to meet new people
and with me I already have like a hobby in cooking or I kind of liked it
already but going into the class it taught me so much more than I knew
and really I really developed like my skills in cooking
but I just had it was such a fun class to take. Miss K is awesome.
(11:49):
You know I built a lot of friendships in there like I said and then with cupcake
wars I'm already really competitive so it was it was a lot of fun to be able
to compete in a different way like that other than sports
so I had fun and we won which made it a fun time.
He did win, we got to throw that in there. Of course be proud, be loud, right?
(12:11):
I think I really liked cooking because obviously I really liked Miss K but I
really like the things that I learned in there
like I learned obviously what Cooper said like a lot about friendship and
teamwork and the competitive side but I also learned like stuff I wouldn't
even think to learn like how to hold a knife correctly or how to like stop like
a certain type of fire and then also I really just enjoyed like my
relationship with Miss K. She's one of my favorite teachers at the high school
(12:35):
at the high school and I think cooking like kind of what she said like
brings a lot of people close together and like having her as my cooking teacher
is like self-explanatory it brings her closer but yeah it was super fun I kind
of got out of my comfort zone like with people I didn't really know before
and now I consider a friend so it was a really great course and I would take it
again.
(12:58):
And there there is cooking too now right? There is now there will be a cooking
too next year. There we go.
Yes yes please. Teachers can take it now.
You have to take cooking one first. There is a prerequisite right?
I've seen some of you in the kitchen.
(13:19):
So we're going to switch gears a little bit and talk about our speech and
debate team and and Miss Nichols sees one of the coaches or one of the
advisors and our high school speech and debate team does provide an
opportunity for students to learn several skills one of them being
comfortable in your own skin and talking in public so that's
(13:41):
not always something that everybody's comfortable with and and sometimes it's a
gift. Right right so maybe you can talk a
little bit about what happens. Yeah so the honors program at
Medina High School is a rigorous and nationally recognized course.
It challenges students to develop critical thinking research and public
(14:03):
speaking skills and our students engage in structural
argumentation across various types of debate formats. We have public forum, we
have congress, we're starting LD next year so the kids have an
opportunity to try some different things but we compete at the local state and
national levels. We've been going to Princeton the
(14:23):
last few years which is amazing. Abby that I brought with us today
actually won a really wonderful award. What was it Abby?
The best presiding officer award. And how many students were there?
Like a hundred something. Yeah so it's just amazing so our kids are
incredible. So but beyond the competitions the program fosters
(14:45):
leadership and mentorship and our experienced debaters are able to come
down and help our novice debaters so that's really cool too. So we're getting
ready for our state tournaments and our national tournaments and all of our
kids are prepping so our classroom is just bubbling over right now.
Nice. Abby you want to? Sure so basically I have I have been a part of the
(15:09):
speech and debate family for like four years even though I've only been on the
team for three years. I took the intro to speech and intro to debate class my
freshman year and even if you don't plan on joining
either of the teams I recommend taking them because they really help me get
comfortable with just how to write an essay, how to talk to people, how to
communicate and they just really kind of help feel my passion for
(15:30):
speaking. And then debate for me the biggest part
that keeps me coming back every year is the people involved.
Miss Nickel can attest to this. I have friends from probably I think every
school in Ohio and I get to hang out with them most
weekends or we'll go meet up and it's just cool to meet people from all
across the state who have the same passions as you and debate really just
(15:52):
brings you closer with a lot of people and one of the best parts about having
like a coach like Miss Nickel is that she encourages you to not only
continue in your event but to try new things and to continue pushing yourself
and debate has really just opened up a lot of doors for me that I don't think
would be there if I hadn't joined this program.
Awesome. Yeah it's uh our speech and debate team has been
(16:18):
we've really we've been doing great we have nine students who are going to
states so we're really proud of them and we're
working hard and we actually have a bunch of our congress kids who are
trying speech events at our next competition to just get out of the box
and and learn some new things and I'm hoping a lot of them
(16:39):
actually make it to states because it's gonna be it's gonna be fun.
I'm actually getting an award this year so I'm excited.
So do you want to tell a one award? Yeah yeah it's called um
well it's it's an award it's got the Linda Miller award and it's given to one
coach in Ohio for their exceptional commitment to the program so
(17:00):
I know I'm like over the moon so and I think I have to give a speech and I
I told the kids I'm like oh no I'm gonna have to give the speech in front of
everybody and they're like we can help. We can help.
So um so that's an awesome experience for
(17:20):
all those students um and like I said you know just to be able to
get up and speak in public and oh it's amazing.
I have a meltdown. Yeah.
And like the research skills that these students have to
like be a part of like I had the opportunity to watch class today in Miss
Nichols room and just seeing how they're able
(17:44):
to really look at different content areas I mean they probably are very well
versed in government and laws we have a lot of attorneys
future attorneys I should say in our debate program
so the just cross-curricular opportunities that they have in our
debate program is like second to none and I've seen it in
different states and different districts so the work that Miss Nichols
(18:06):
has done with her kids to prepare them to what they are able to compete against
is it's really cool to see in the amount of growth that it's had is
impressive. Right and just even the spaces in which you've been able to
compete Princeton as an example is a huge opportunity.
Yeah and last year we went to Iowa for Nationals and we're hoping to go there
again this year so yeah. Awesome well another
(18:30):
opportunity that our seniors have is the Senior Capstone
and Mrs. Kreiner is going to talk a little bit
about what that program is and what it entails
and some of the benefits and what the outcomes are for the students.
So our Senior Capstone class is called Portrait Project
(18:54):
we're in our second year. We've heard several students say like
getting out of your comfort zone and exploring your passions and interests
and I think that our electives in our school district and our high school
we try really hard to hear what our kids are asking for
and to respond to that so the Capstone class is set up very similar to CEO
(19:18):
to help students explore passions interests that maybe they didn't even know
they had. I'm going to help them get through some
things like personal branding and how do I put myself out there when I'm
interviewing for colleges for career for the military.
It is a class that they choose a project they work with the team
they interact with the community they have to
(19:42):
really think about how to make a passion project work
which can be really frustrating but I think they get a lot out of that.
One really neat thing about our elective fair is we had students we have
students at our tables and one of my students was talking to a
junior student that was considering the class and he said
it's an English credit but you use it's not like an English class you've taken
(20:05):
before you have to write emails you have to make
phone calls to community members but you have to use your English skills so
you have to you know use speaking and listening you have to be a communicator
you collaborate within the classroom outside of the classroom
and sometimes that's difficult and we try to support them
(20:26):
it's a nice time while you're a senior to get to explore
those different ways of communicating and collaborating
and problem-solving before you're out on your own
and it's big on time management which can be
difficult it's difficult for all of us to to have long and short term goals
(20:46):
so we do all those things in the classroom and we try to respond to what
students ask for and what they need and I've been really lucky to be able to
work with the class and the various community members and
even though it's frustrating it's when you push through the frustrations that
we really see that growth that we all hope for.
(21:07):
No that's awesome and you know like many of the other electives it's just an
opportunity for our students to grow and and really think about
what they want to do once they leave the walls of the high school.
Just know that there are some new electives coming up
so I don't know if you want to share any of that.
(21:31):
So we have two new electives that we are offering for the
25-26 school year cooking to by the lovely Mrs. K by popular demand from our
students and then AP research which is the second
sequence to AP seminar which this is our second
year this year so typically AP seminar is like a sophomore class it
(21:55):
counts as their ELI 10 course and then AP research would be the next
course in that sequence so we're really excited for that.
I kind of explain it as research one research two it's
you're kind of building on the skills that you learned in AP seminar
and we've doubled the number of sections of that class in the matter of one
year so we're excited for what will be happening with AP research
(22:19):
but I think it'll be a good a good course I don't know if there's anything
you want to add to that Ms. Nicholl. Got it all?
All right if I think you got it. Cover it all cover it all.
You know it's just again just the opportunities for our students
is amazing and you know I think back to my own high school years and certainly
(22:40):
did not have half of what is available to
students today so. Can I ask a question to our students that
are here? Yep. So how now that you guys are you
know seniors upper-classmen if we have some
underclassmen or future high schoolers listening
what would you recommend for how they should select what courses they take at
(23:03):
the high school? One thing I would say is that you should
take an elective that interests you and not what your peers are doing.
Definitely I see a big influence here is people take classes that they know their
friends are taking just to have the opportunity to take a
class with a friend but I would say with the diverse and like wide group of
(23:24):
electives that we have offered at the high school you should take what
interests you so you can explore that. You have such a great opportunity here to
find what interests you and what you want to do like
further in your life and outside of high school past college like what you
really want to focus in on so take the opportunity that you have now to
explore that and find what really interests you and what you're really
(23:46):
going to enjoy further on past high school. That's awesome advice for sir.
All right any other comments experiences?
Going along with what Cameron said I think the biggest thing is that
don't be scared to try something new because I know for myself that
(24:08):
in the past I've obviously regretted not doing certain activities because I was
too nervous to try them but like through speech and debate or
hope squad huddle any of the activities that Medina like
allows us to be involved in try it out see if you like it.
Worst thing is that maybe you don't like it and you find something else to try
because why not at least try it once because it could be your passion for
(24:28):
the rest of your life who knows so I'd say try everything at least once and
don't be afraid to try some things new. Yeah like they say you don't know what
you don't know. Awesome well thank you all for
joining me today and sharing excellent information about the elective
opportunities available to students at the high school.
I hope our listeners have found this information valuable
(24:50):
and to our listeners thank you for joining us today on this discussion.
We'll see you with more stories updates and conversations next month
until then stay curious and stay connected.
This is the Hive B in the know stories stories about Medina City Schools.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the third episode of The Hive,
(00:19):
the in the know stories about Medina City Schools.
I'm Amy Busby, Director of Community Relations from
Medina City Schools and your host for today's discussion.
This podcast is a space where we'll dive into stories,
successes, and challenges that make Medina City Schools
a special place to learn and grow.
We'll bring you new episodes at least once a month packed with
(00:40):
updates, celebrations, and conversations that matter to
our students, staff, and community.
These episodes will live live on
our Medina City Schools YouTube channel and
other outlets where you get your podcasts.
And today, our discussion is going to be about elective
opportunities at Medina High School that are available to
(01:03):
all students.
Today, I have a really giant group with me today.
So I'm going to make this really easy and we're just going to
go around the room real quick and say your name,
maybe what year you are in school and or what you teach.
I'm Audrey Johnson. I'm a senior.
(01:24):
I'm Cooper Joseph Saphsic and I'm a senior.
I'm Alisa Tedona. I'm the high school principal.
I'm Melissa Carragiosas and I am the cooking teacher.
I'm Cameron Anderson and I'm a senior.
I'm Tiffany Nicol and I'm the debate coach.
I'm Abby Wall and I'm a senior.
I'm Laura Stoffinger and I teach the CEO internship course.
And I'm Kelly Kreiner. I teach senior gas.
(01:46):
Okay, like I said, we have a big group today.
So first thing that I want to kind of talk about and maybe
Dr. Tedona can shed a little light on this is the importance of electives.
So maybe you can start by telling us why electives are essential part of the
high school experience.
Yeah, so we use our electives as an opportunity for students to
(02:10):
explore any of the passions or interests that they may have
for life really beyond high school, whether it's enlistment, employment,
enrollment, whatever avenue they so choose.
So much so that we've had for the fourth year now an elective fair, which
allows students to kind of explore classes before they
commit to taking them and giving them opportunities to take courses that,
(02:32):
in my opinion, other high schools in our area do not offer, which
makes Medina High School a unique opportunity for our kids to
see some of the things they like or even some of the things that they don't
like before they make the plunge in college or out in
society with work to kind of explore that here.
So we believe that electives here are super important.
(02:54):
Yeah, and I'm not only does it allow students to determine exactly what
electives they might want to take, but it also might determine a career
path for them as well. So I'm glad you talked about the elective fair.
I don't know if you have any other information you want to share about that.
Yeah, so I would say we've made such an adjustment over the last four years
(03:18):
in giving students a really big voice in the classes that they take.
So you'll see an increase in even some of our course offerings to
more so reflect the interests of our students. And if they, if we have a high
number of students to ask for a class such as cooking to,
we do everything in our ability to offer that course.
And then we have serious conversations about courses that
(03:41):
students aren't as interested about if on whether or not we should
offer it. So the elective fair is the opportunity for teachers to sell their
courses and for kids to see if that's something that they're interested in.
And then after that they go and select their courses
and then we look at numbers to determine what courses we're offering and what
courses we're not offering. So it really is very student driven, which
(04:03):
is a little different than how some other places do it. And I think that speaks
to the mentality of every student every day that our district kind of really pushes.
Right. And that also really helps when it comes time to scheduling and making
courses available, like you said, for students that
they have interest in those things. And it's not just
(04:25):
things that administrators are putting on a schedule.
Agreed. Yeah. So just trying to get another perspective.
Maybe one of the teachers, if you want to talk about maybe what your elective is
and kind of the benefits and the experience that you want to bring to
your students. So I'll talk piggybacking kind of off of
(04:51):
mixing the electives with real life experience. And I teach the CEO program,
which is Career Explorations Opportunities. And it really allows students to kind of
bridge the gap between what they're learning in high school and what it's
actually like out in the real world. What students do is they fill out like a
little application and it gives us our top three choices of what they're
(05:13):
interested in. We try to tell students to think about
something that you don't know a lot about, but you may want to learn more.
Because that can really open a lot of doors for you in terms of what you want
to explore after high school. We do our best to match the student up
with the first program, but sometimes students change as they go through.
And with that we work with businesses in the Medina County area.
(05:34):
So if you have any businesses or are willing and interested to speak to us
more about that, please reach out to Amy directly and she can pass along my
information. But we, the students go in and they
spend about 40 hours over an eight week period. So it averages to about five
hours a week. And in that they are able to immerse
themselves in the experience, again above and beyond what just the classroom
(05:58):
part teaches you. In addition to that, half of the semester is spent in the
class where we bring outside speakers in to teach them how to build a resume,
to give them interviewing skills, learn how to dress professionally,
and exude professionalism out in the real world.
As well as evaluating different job offers, the onboarding process,
(06:20):
deciding about which job is right for them and which path they should go down.
At the end of that and at the end of their internship, they come back in.
We update their LinkedIn page, we help them update their resume, and then we go
through an exit interview with them to just to let them give us some feedback
on what they like, what they don't like. And I can honestly say there's not much
(06:41):
negative feedback that comes from that at all. The students really do love
the experience and learn a lot about it. I do have a student here that
participated in this internship and she'll just talk a little bit about what
she did and the overall experience that she came from that.
So when I first started in the CEO program, I really thought that I wanted to go
(07:02):
into forensics doing medical research or working in a coroner's office.
But through this program, I was able to actually go to a recovery center in
Medina which focused on substance use disorder and alcoholism recovery.
And I worked in their PR and marketing area to kind of help get the word out
about their mission and what they wanted to do. And that really helped me get a
(07:25):
feel for how I now want to actually go into psychology and research into how
addiction plays into people's lives. And I'm really thankful for the CEO
program because it gave me an opportunity to try something that I
originally didn't think I'd be interested in. But now it's actually what I
want to pursue for my career. So I'm really appreciative to the program for that.
And those, that's one of the really big benefits of the CEO program because
(07:48):
I don't know about you, but when I was going on 18 years old, I had zero idea
what I wanted to do in life. So that's a really great way for
students to develop skills but also help them determine
what they want to do during the course of their career.
And that that will change also, but at least you'll have an idea.
(08:09):
Another elective that is popular among students is our family and consumer
science course, also known as cooking. So Melissa Carozilgis,
I probably diced up your name, but I was pretty close. I was a close, okay.
Maybe you can talk a little bit about your course.
(08:32):
And I know that recently you guys did cupcake wars, so I'm sure people would
want to hear about that as well. We did do our cupcake wars. So
cooking is self-explanatory, I think, right? So I feel
not as prepared as Miss Duff and Jay was to explain my course.
(08:54):
Cooking is cooking. We learn to cook, but it's so much more than that because
I think the students are coming together and they're doing stuff that they don't
do in other classes. They have to work together as such a team,
and not only do they work together as such a team, but they're coming because
everybody eats. So we're all eating at home
(09:15):
and everybody's household runs differently. So you bring these four
students together who yesterday might not have known each other,
and now they're thrown together in a group and they have to figure out how to
work together and do things maybe differently than they do
at home. And they have to come up with their own, sometimes they like to call
them their little foods family, and they have to do teamwork and they have to do
(09:38):
time management and not only just your basic rigor of the classroom learning
about measurements and equipment and all of the
safety and sanitation and all the things that you have to do to cook, but
they have to work together. So it's fun to see their relationships
develop and it's fun to see the competitiveness between the
(10:00):
groups. And so by the end of the semester, after we've
learned all of the things, we do a competition and cupcake wars just
like the tv show and sometimes it gets that competitive.
And Cooper can speak to that. Cooper got some. Oh, Cam got competitive too, yes.
(10:21):
And so we take everything we learn for the whole semester and they
they take it on their own and they can create the cupcake flavor they want and
the frosting they want and they come up with their design and their
the display to hold it and they make the signs and they make everything and it's
(10:42):
a big 12-day project and at the end the whole staff gets involved. So I think
the staff enjoys it because we come together and I the kids love to show
off what they've been doing and they're very proud of what they've
created with their little hands-on project. So we all get to eat cupcakes
and everybody gets to eat cupcakes and everybody wins, right? I don't know if you
(11:06):
guys want to chime in and maybe share a little bit about your
experience and and how the cooking classes has benefited you.
Yeah, so when I took cooking I was lucky enough to have a couple of my friends
in there but like Mrs. K was saying, I got to meet a bunch of new
people I wouldn't necessarily involve myself with or think I would be friends
(11:28):
with them so I'm very grateful for that opportunity to meet new people
and with me I already have like a hobby in cooking or I kind of liked it
already but going into the class it taught me so much more than I knew
and really I really developed like my skills in cooking
but I just had it was such a fun class to take. Miss K is awesome.
(11:49):
You know I built a lot of friendships in there like I said and then with cupcake
wars I'm already really competitive so it was it was a lot of fun to be able
to compete in a different way like that other than sports
so I had fun and we won which made it a fun time.
He did win, we got to throw that in there. Of course be proud, be loud, right?
(12:11):
I think I really liked cooking because obviously I really liked Miss K but I
really like the things that I learned in there
like I learned obviously what Cooper said like a lot about friendship and
teamwork and the competitive side but I also learned like stuff I wouldn't
even think to learn like how to hold a knife correctly or how to like stop like
a certain type of fire and then also I really just enjoyed like my
relationship with Miss K. She's one of my favorite teachers at the high school
(12:35):
at the high school and I think cooking like kind of what she said like
brings a lot of people close together and like having her as my cooking teacher
is like self-explanatory it brings her closer but yeah it was super fun I kind
of got out of my comfort zone like with people I didn't really know before
and now I consider a friend so it was a really great course and I would take it
again.
(12:58):
And there there is cooking too now right? There is now there will be a cooking
too next year. There we go.
Yes yes please. Teachers can take it now.
You have to take cooking one first. There is a prerequisite right?
I've seen some of you in the kitchen.
(13:19):
So we're going to switch gears a little bit and talk about our speech and
debate team and and Miss Nichols sees one of the coaches or one of the
advisors and our high school speech and debate team does provide an
opportunity for students to learn several skills one of them being
comfortable in your own skin and talking in public so that's
(13:41):
not always something that everybody's comfortable with and and sometimes it's a
gift. Right right so maybe you can talk a
little bit about what happens. Yeah so the honors program at
Medina High School is a rigorous and nationally recognized course.
It challenges students to develop critical thinking research and public
(14:03):
speaking skills and our students engage in structural
argumentation across various types of debate formats. We have public forum, we
have congress, we're starting LD next year so the kids have an
opportunity to try some different things but we compete at the local state and
national levels. We've been going to Princeton the
(14:23):
last few years which is amazing. Abby that I brought with us today
actually won a really wonderful award. What was it Abby?
The best presiding officer award. And how many students were there?
Like a hundred something. Yeah so it's just amazing so our kids are
incredible. So but beyond the competitions the program fosters
(14:45):
leadership and mentorship and our experienced debaters are able to come
down and help our novice debaters so that's really cool too. So we're getting
ready for our state tournaments and our national tournaments and all of our
kids are prepping so our classroom is just bubbling over right now.
Nice. Abby you want to? Sure so basically I have I have been a part of the
(15:09):
speech and debate family for like four years even though I've only been on the
team for three years. I took the intro to speech and intro to debate class my
freshman year and even if you don't plan on joining
either of the teams I recommend taking them because they really help me get
comfortable with just how to write an essay, how to talk to people, how to
communicate and they just really kind of help feel my passion for
(15:30):
speaking. And then debate for me the biggest part
that keeps me coming back every year is the people involved.
Miss Nickel can attest to this. I have friends from probably I think every
school in Ohio and I get to hang out with them most
weekends or we'll go meet up and it's just cool to meet people from all
across the state who have the same passions as you and debate really just
(15:52):
brings you closer with a lot of people and one of the best parts about having
like a coach like Miss Nickel is that she encourages you to not only
continue in your event but to try new things and to continue pushing yourself
and debate has really just opened up a lot of doors for me that I don't think
would be there if I hadn't joined this program.
Awesome. Yeah it's uh our speech and debate team has been
(16:18):
we've really we've been doing great we have nine students who are going to
states so we're really proud of them and we're
working hard and we actually have a bunch of our congress kids who are
trying speech events at our next competition to just get out of the box
and and learn some new things and I'm hoping a lot of them
(16:39):
actually make it to states because it's gonna be it's gonna be fun.
I'm actually getting an award this year so I'm excited.
So do you want to tell a one award? Yeah yeah it's called um
well it's it's an award it's got the Linda Miller award and it's given to one
coach in Ohio for their exceptional commitment to the program so
(17:00):
I know I'm like over the moon so and I think I have to give a speech and I
I told the kids I'm like oh no I'm gonna have to give the speech in front of
everybody and they're like we can help. We can help.
So um so that's an awesome experience for
(17:20):
all those students um and like I said you know just to be able to
get up and speak in public and oh it's amazing.
I have a meltdown. Yeah.
And like the research skills that these students have to
like be a part of like I had the opportunity to watch class today in Miss
Nichols room and just seeing how they're able
(17:44):
to really look at different content areas I mean they probably are very well
versed in government and laws we have a lot of attorneys
future attorneys I should say in our debate program
so the just cross-curricular opportunities that they have in our
debate program is like second to none and I've seen it in
different states and different districts so the work that Miss Nichols
(18:06):
has done with her kids to prepare them to what they are able to compete against
is it's really cool to see in the amount of growth that it's had is
impressive. Right and just even the spaces in which you've been able to
compete Princeton as an example is a huge opportunity.
Yeah and last year we went to Iowa for Nationals and we're hoping to go there
again this year so yeah. Awesome well another
(18:30):
opportunity that our seniors have is the Senior Capstone
and Mrs. Kreiner is going to talk a little bit
about what that program is and what it entails
and some of the benefits and what the outcomes are for the students.
So our Senior Capstone class is called Portrait Project
(18:54):
we're in our second year. We've heard several students say like
getting out of your comfort zone and exploring your passions and interests
and I think that our electives in our school district and our high school
we try really hard to hear what our kids are asking for
and to respond to that so the Capstone class is set up very similar to CEO
(19:18):
to help students explore passions interests that maybe they didn't even know
they had. I'm going to help them get through some
things like personal branding and how do I put myself out there when I'm
interviewing for colleges for career for the military.
It is a class that they choose a project they work with the team
they interact with the community they have to
(19:42):
really think about how to make a passion project work
which can be really frustrating but I think they get a lot out of that.
One really neat thing about our elective fair is we had students we have
students at our tables and one of my students was talking to a
junior student that was considering the class and he said
it's an English credit but you use it's not like an English class you've taken
(20:05):
before you have to write emails you have to make
phone calls to community members but you have to use your English skills so
you have to you know use speaking and listening you have to be a communicator
you collaborate within the classroom outside of the classroom
and sometimes that's difficult and we try to support them
(20:26):
it's a nice time while you're a senior to get to explore
those different ways of communicating and collaborating
and problem-solving before you're out on your own
and it's big on time management which can be
difficult it's difficult for all of us to to have long and short term goals
(20:46):
so we do all those things in the classroom and we try to respond to what
students ask for and what they need and I've been really lucky to be able to
work with the class and the various community members and
even though it's frustrating it's when you push through the frustrations that
we really see that growth that we all hope for.
(21:07):
No that's awesome and you know like many of the other electives it's just an
opportunity for our students to grow and and really think about
what they want to do once they leave the walls of the high school.
Just know that there are some new electives coming up
so I don't know if you want to share any of that.
(21:31):
So we have two new electives that we are offering for the
25-26 school year cooking to by the lovely Mrs. K by popular demand from our
students and then AP research which is the second
sequence to AP seminar which this is our second
year this year so typically AP seminar is like a sophomore class it
(21:55):
counts as their ELI 10 course and then AP research would be the next
course in that sequence so we're really excited for that.
I kind of explain it as research one research two it's
you're kind of building on the skills that you learned in AP seminar
and we've doubled the number of sections of that class in the matter of one
year so we're excited for what will be happening with AP research
(22:19):
but I think it'll be a good a good course I don't know if there's anything
you want to add to that Ms. Nicholl. Got it all?
All right if I think you got it. Cover it all cover it all.
You know it's just again just the opportunities for our students
is amazing and you know I think back to my own high school years and certainly
(22:40):
did not have half of what is available to
students today so. Can I ask a question to our students that
are here? Yep. So how now that you guys are you
know seniors upper-classmen if we have some
underclassmen or future high schoolers listening
what would you recommend for how they should select what courses they take at
(23:03):
the high school? One thing I would say is that you should
take an elective that interests you and not what your peers are doing.
Definitely I see a big influence here is people take classes that they know their
friends are taking just to have the opportunity to take a
class with a friend but I would say with the diverse and like wide group of
(23:24):
electives that we have offered at the high school you should take what
interests you so you can explore that. You have such a great opportunity here to
find what interests you and what you want to do like
further in your life and outside of high school past college like what you
really want to focus in on so take the opportunity that you have now to
explore that and find what really interests you and what you're really
(23:46):
going to enjoy further on past high school. That's awesome advice for sir.
All right any other comments experiences?
Going along with what Cameron said I think the biggest thing is that
don't be scared to try something new because I know for myself that
(24:08):
in the past I've obviously regretted not doing certain activities because I was
too nervous to try them but like through speech and debate or
hope squad huddle any of the activities that Medina like
allows us to be involved in try it out see if you like it.
Worst thing is that maybe you don't like it and you find something else to try
because why not at least try it once because it could be your passion for
(24:28):
the rest of your life who knows so I'd say try everything at least once and
don't be afraid to try some things new. Yeah like they say you don't know what
you don't know. Awesome well thank you all for
joining me today and sharing excellent information about the elective
opportunities available to students at the high school.
I hope our listeners have found this information valuable
(24:50):
and to our listeners thank you for joining us today on this discussion.
We'll see you with more stories updates and conversations next month
until then stay curious and stay connected.
This is the Hive B in the know stories stories about Medina City Schools.
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