May 13, 2009 03:52 pm
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ANDOVER — With the school year quickly coming to an end, there are all sorts of celebrations being planned. Seniors at Pymatuning Valley have posted their post high school plans in the hallway, are making plans for open houses and readying themselves for graduation. While the seniors are ready to move on, the underclassmen are anxious for the summer. But before we leave for summer vacation or leave our high school forever, there are several events still to be celebrated during the school year - several awards ceremonies and PRIDE Day.
The awards ceremony held during the school day on Wednesday will be a little different this year. Daytime award honors students who have earned academic letters, who have participated in clubs and organizations and also includes some community awards. This year, because of the volume of students participating in so many clubs and organizations, many of those clubs have decided to honor the members outside of the morning ceremony. At the evening ceremony, to be held 7 p.m. May 21, students are acknowledged for scholarships and awards that carry a monetary prize.
Last year, to celebrate the excellent rating PV received from the state, we held our first Pride Day. It is a day created by the Pride Committee to reward students for hard work and recognizing the achievement of excellence. Last year’s Pride Day was a hit, and it seemed everyone enjoyed it. So this year, Student Council, as well as the Pride Committee, are working and planning for an even bigger day! Our end of the year celebration of our excellence consists of many different activities for students. Such things like a rock wall, inflatable obstacle course, and jousting are going to be available for a “cost.” Throughout the year, the students have been earning PV currency, known as PRIDE Bucks. The PRIDE Bucks are awarded to the students as the students strive to satisfy the three school goals - 95 percent attendance, 3.0 grade point average for every class, and increased school pride and spirit.
Students deposit the money into a “bank,” and on Pride Day, students are given their PVisas! PVisas are used on Pride Day to pay for all of the activities, food and Chinese auction tickets. This year Student Council has gone out of the way to make sure that there will be a lot of prizes to award - the count is more than 200 prizes at this time and includes a Wii game system, DVD players, a GPS, some prizes specifically targeted at soon-to-be graduates and many other prizes! All of the prizes are donated from area businesses, or are purchased from money raised by the student body and through a donation from the Pymatuning Valley Education Association.
The May 22 bash at Pymatuning Valley High School rewards our students and faculty for a great year of maintaining excellence. The celebration holds in line with the philosophy of our late principal, Jeff Meddock, who instilled in all of us a need for pride in our school and ourselves. Meddock was a big advocate of events like Pride Day because of his strong belief in the need for school to be serious business, but also realizing that serious business sometimes involves serious fun. His strong encouragement of our three school goals is what led us to excellence for the second year and hopefully, in his honor, for a third straight year.
This has been one of the hardest years that a student and school could go through, and everyone seems to be looking forward to Pride Day as a way to celebrate this very difficult year. For the seniors, it will be their last Pride Day but we will never lose our sense of pride!
Businesses throughout the community have given donations to help with Pride Day. It is a great way for businesses to get their name involved. We are still accepting donations from local businesses or even people in the community. So if you would like to help out and give back to these great students at Pymatuning Valley High School, contact Amy Moyer at the high school, 440-293-6263.
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