We're Finished!!!

This YEAR

With tomorrow being reserved for walk-a-thon, today marks the unofficial end of the course, and the end of debates. It's been rewarding for me personally watching all of these students grow over this past year. Hopefully, they can now claim to be more geographically literate and more knowledgeable about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than they were a year ago. They can also say that they know more about conflicts and genocides than most people, not to mention what challenges are facing China as it grapples with issues like economic development and censorship. Another claim they can make is that they can successfully articulate and defend their position on any topic. Learning how to learn is something I hope they have taken away from this course, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of students to teach. Thank you for such a wonderful year!

Team 2 consulting with one another during the break between the cross examinations and rebuttal. Fatima's look of concern was unsubstantiated, they won!

Of course I have to thank all of the partners who helped Ms. Reid and I judge these debates this year. The list is impressive and includes the following individuals:

• Vonya Lewis - Professor, Sinclair Community College
• Dr. Noeleen McIlvenna - Associate Professor, Wright State University
• Dr. Brian Boyd - Associate Professor, Wright State University
• Bill Lautar - Member, Kettering City Council
• Tony Klepacz - Member, Kettering City Council
• Dr. Robert P. Dillaplain - President, Xenia School Board
• Jordan Adams - Engineer - AFRL
• Deb Smyth - School Psychologist, Dayton Regional STEM School
• Jordan Slone - Director of IT, Dayton Regional STEM School
• Robin Fisher - Superintendent/CAO, Dayton Regional STEM School
• Dr. Romena Holbert - Assistant Professor, Wright State University
• Dr. David Wirth - MTSI Defense Contractor
• Suzanne Sumner - Attorney, Taft, Stettinius & Hollister
• Dr. Charlotte Harris - CEHS Dean, Wright State University
• Julie Tollefson - Grad student, Wright State University (International and Comparative Politics Program)
• Emily Miller - Teacher, Franklin High School
• Jim McFarland - Assistant Principal, Franklin High School
• Dr. Scott Peterson - Assistant Professor, Wright State University
• Caleb Mitchener - Social Studies Teacher

The judges were very impressed and wanted me to share this with the students. Dr. Luehrmann in particular wanted me to share her comments: "I can't tell you how impressed I was with the students yesterday: they were prepared, professional, and very interesting!  It was a joy to be there as a judge; please do count me in again next year." This is very high praise and I couldn't be prouder of all of them.

If you have any questions about the final grades your son or daughter has received, please email me at arch.grieve@wright.edu.

 

Next Week

I hope you have a great STEMmersion course! If you want to keep up with the biking STEMmersion's trips (and maybe get a few ideas of places to ride around Dayton), you can follow us on http://stemonwheels.blogspot.com!

Have a great summer and I look forward to seeing you all next year for Economics! My class blog for that course is http://economicsaccordingtogrieve.blogspot.com!

~Mr. Grieve