Retiring Bay Village schools' Superintendent Clint Keener to be honored May 17: West Shore Chatter

Bay Village schools will host a reception honoring retiring Superintendent Clint Keener. (Carol Kovach/special to cleveland.com)

BAY VILLAGE, Ohio -- Clint Keener, who is retiring after 14 years as superintendent of the Bay Village City School District, will be honored at a reception from 3:30 to 6:30 p .m. May 17 at Bay Lodge, 492 Bradley Road. In addition to his 14 years with the Bay schools, Keener has had a 41-year career in public education.

Clint Keener is retiring as superintendent of Bay Village schools. Photo provided by Bay Village schools.

The reception is hosted by the Bay Village school board. A number of community leaders, including Bay Village Mayor Paul Koomar, are expected to make brief remarks during the event.

Student musicians will provide entertainment and there will be a photo slideshow highlighting many of the memories from Keener's tenure. Visitors can leave their own memories and sentiments in a special memory book. Refreshments also will be provided.

New leadership: St. Paul Lutheran School in Westlake is welcoming a new principal, Jeremy Louden, and a new director of enrollment and marketing, Rick Haase.

Louden is expected to begin his duties this summer. He was chosen by the St. Paul Lutheran Call Committee and school board members for the position after an extensive search process. St. Paul Lutheran School will celebrate its 160th anniversary next year.

Jeremy Louden is the new principal at St. Paul Lutheran School. Photo provided by St. Paul School.

A 2002 graduate of Lutheran West High School, Louden also attended West Park Lutheran School in Cleveland. He is a graduate of Concordia College in Ann Arbor, Mich., and since 2007 has been a teacher at Lutheran South Academy in Houston, Texas.

Louden is an award-winning basketball coach and band director, and has two master's degrees: one in educational administration and one in coaching and athletics. He also completed the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod School Leadership Development certification.

"After just a few years in the classroom, Mr. Louden's superiors told him he was going to be an administrator someday. He continued teaching, and added two master's degrees in administration, and is now primed to put all this preparation into his leadership of St. Paul Lutheran School," said the Rev. David Buegler, St. Paul's interim principal.

"There is a verse in the Bible that says, 'For such a time as this... ' I am thrilled to quote that verse to speak about our excitement in bringing Jeremy Louden from Texas to Ohio for such a time as this," Buegler added.

Louden and his wife, Elizabeth Louden, a teacher who also hails from Ohio, have two children: Natalie, 6, and Maverick, 3. They are expecting their third child in October.

Haase, the other new school administrator, will be responsible for all marketing, public relations and enrollment management at St. Paul Lutheran, an independent school for children in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

Rick Haase is St. Paul Lutheran School's new enrollment and marketing director. Photo provided by St. Paul School.

Most recently, Haase was director of communications for the city of Parma Heights, working in the office of Mayor Michael Byrne. He also was the vice president and chief marketing officer for the YMCA of Greater Cleveland for nine years, and has more than 25 years' experience working for educational institutions, including Hathaway Brown School, Cuyahoga Community College's Western Campus and the Parma City School District.

A graduate of Baldwin Wallace University, Haase also is a former Sun News columnist, writer and editor.

St. Paul Lutheran School is at 27981 Detroit Road, Westlake. For more information, call 440-835-3051.

Student government elections: Students at Cuyahoga Community College's Westshore Campus in Westlake recently had elections for new student government leaders. Those chosen to serve for the next school year are:

  • Erlando Muhameti of Fairview Park, president
  • Barbie Robertson of Cleveland, vice president
  • Roula Aljoudi of North Olmsted, senator at-large
  • Rebecca Zamarripa of Rocky River, senator at-large.

Dems to meet: Westlake Democratic Club will hear from Zach Space, Democratic candidate for state auditor and former 18th District state representative, at the next meeting, 7 p.m. May 15 at the Western Cuyahoga Lodge FOP Hall No. 25, 26145 Center Ridge Road, Westlake. Parking and entrance are at the rear of the building.

Those attending are welcome to bring a snack to share; beverages will be provided. For more information, contact Vern Long at 440-289-6291 or send him an email message at coachvlong@gmail.com.

Genealogy meeting: Archivist Judith Cetina will present "Cuyahoga County Archives Holdings at the New Location," at the May 16 meeting of the Cuyahoga West Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society at Porter Public Library, 27333 Center Ridge Road, Westlake.

The program begins at 7 p.m. in the Porter Room. Social time is 6:30 to 7. p.m.  All are invited to attend the free programs.

For more information, visit cwcogs.org or email cuyahogawest@gmail.com.

Presidential Scholars semifinalist: Westlake High School is sharing the good news that senior Patrick Lee was named a U.S. Presidential Scholars semifinalist.

Westlake High School senior Patrick Lee is a U.S. Presidential Scholars Semifinalist. Photo provided by Westlake schools. 

He is among 630 students in the nation and 20 from Ohio to advance to the final round for the prestigious award. Students chosen as U.S. Presidential Scholars receive an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., in June and the U.S. Presidential Scholars medallion at a ceremony sponsored by the White House. The federal program has honored more than 7,000 U. S. Presidential Scholars.

Patrick plans to study engineering in college. At WHS, he is involved in cross country, swimming, Marching Band, Jazz Band, Science Olympiad, Academic Challenge and Leadership Challenge. He also is an Eagle Scout and is a National Merit semifinalist.

Westlake has had several students rank highly in the Presidential Scholars program. In 2015, three students were named candidates: Aswin Bikkani, Nicholas Craven and Kartik Dhinakaran, with Aswin named a semifinalist. In 2016, Alex Ikezawa was named a candidate. And in 2017, Justin Krantz was named a candidate. This year, Ryan Karpuszka and Patrick were named candidates, and Patrick moved on to semifinalist status.

Of the nearly 3.5 million graduating high school seniors, more than 5,300 students were identified as candidates in the program and 630 were named semifinalists. Each year, up to 161 students nationwide are named Presidential Scholars, which is one of the nation's highest honors for high school students.

Application for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program is by invitation only. Students must score exceptionally well on either the SAT or ACT and submit candidacy materials, including essays, self-assessments, secondary school reports and transcripts. Candidates are evaluated on their academic achievement, personal characteristics, leadership and service activities, and an analysis of their essay.

About 800 candidates were named semifinalists and their names were forwarded to a commission for further review.

Information, please: Readers are invited to share information about themselves, their families and friends, organizations, church events, etc. from Bay Village, Rocky River and Westlake for the West Shore Chatter column, which I write on a freelance basis. Awards, honors, milestone birthdays or anniversaries and other items are welcome. Submit information at least 10 days before the requested publication date to carolkovach@hotmail.com.

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