SCHOOLS Board honors girls basketball team's season

The superintendent announced plans for a pre-kindergarten camp this summer.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Rayen School's girls basketball team was among several groups in the city school district to recently win academic and performance awards.
All 15 members of the 2004-05 Division II district championship team, their coach and a few others were handed certificates at Thursday's school board meeting commemorating their 19-5 record as well as their ability to reach the regional.
Earlier this month, the Rayen Tigers beat Struthers, Liberty and Salem in district games to advance to the regional, where they lost to Medina.
Honored was senior Tanisha Holland, who was named Associated Press Player of the Year and first-team All-Ohio. She became the school's all-time leading scorer, with 1,885 points during her four years on the team.
Coach Holly Seimetz also was recognized by school officials after being named Coach of the Year for the Northeast Ohio district. Seimetz played on the Youngstown State University women's basketball team and was inducted into YSU's Hall of Fame in 1993.
Others honored
Recognition also went to Amber Phelps and Cornelius Hubbard, both Chaney High School juniors and state speech winners. Phelps recently won the Ohio Forensic League Tournament in the category of poetry/prose; Hubbard took second-place honors at state for dramatic interpretation. Phelps will compete in the national tournament this June in Philadelphia.
Jeremy Aponte, a senior at Choffin Career & amp; Technical Center, was awarded for his artwork, which will appear soon on several billboards in the area. He was one of seven students in Columbiana, Trumbull and Mahoning counties whose work was selected for such a display.
Amber Long, also of Choffin, was recognized for designing the logo on Capturing Kids' Hearts buttons administrators and other school officials wear daily. The buttons are worn by those who completed the Flippen Training Series, a program set up to enhance leadership qualities. Among the program's tenets are encouraging personal growth, learning mediation and conflict-resolution skills and working together as teams.
Pre-kindergarten camp
Superintendent Wendy Webb announced the formation of a Jump State program set to begin in June. The purpose of the three-week camp is to ensure pupils "have what they need for success in kindergarten," which will pave the way for later success, Webb noted. Among the skills the program will teach are writing first names correctly, knowing birthdays, naming colors, identifying various body parts and managing clothing.
For more information, call Betty Greene, district superintendent of kindergarten, social studies and foreign languages, at (330) 744-6977.
Webb praised the students for their accomplishments and stressed the importance of school officials, students and parents continuing to work together to "turn things around" in the district. She added that teachers and students will eventually have the opportunity to participate in the Flippen series.
"It's not about lowering standards anymore," she said, referring to bringing about additional positive changes in the schools. "If you're not willing to change, you're unfit to lead. We're focusing not [just] on problems, but what will move us forward."