Michelle Kepic (Avon Lake) receives her scholarship awards from JVS Board Members.

The Lorain County JVS held its Senior Recognition Ceremony at the Palace Theater on May 27th, honoring 435 graduates who received career-technical certification in a variety of career areas.

JVS students from the class of 2010 were awarded over $544,000 in scholarships, many of them being earned for the students' performance at career-technical skill events. Although too numerous to mention every scholarship awarded, the following list highlights students who have received scholarships from the JVS Educational Foundation, the JVS Teachers' Association, the JVS Board of Education, LifeShare Community Blood Services and Medical Mutual.

David Kohut, PMT Program completer, is congratulated by Supt. Nolan

The Lorain County JVS Adult Career Center honored the completers of their full-time career development and GED programs in a recent ceremony at the JVS. Students completed programs that ranged in length from 140-1,500 hours. The students are listed below by program.

Auto Technology
Luis O. Allende (Oberlin), Eric L. Clemens (Elyria), Jesus Gonzalez (Lorain), Danielle Gura (Oberlin), Rachel Hine (Elyria), Scott Kobylski (Elyria), Jon Kumler (Bay Villlage), Paul Mackiewicz (Elyria), Eric B. McLaughlin (Elyria), Joshua T. McRae (Elyria), Theodore G. Megaridis (Grafton), Larry Mencke (Elyria), James A. Roberts (Elyria), Richard A. Tobicash (Sheffield Lake), Jeremy L. Winiasz (Cleveland)

Melissa Liller, Andrew Box, Principal Jill Petitti, Nic Hand, Trooper Jeff Kaess

Lorain County JVS Principal, Jill Petitti, has a passion for keeping her students safe on the roadways-and she's taken extraordinary measures, even enlisting the help of the State Highway Patrol, to get the job done.

After two traffic fatalities in 2008 involving high school students in Lorain County, Petitti asked Lieutenant Glenn Peterson of the Elyria State Highway Patrol Post to contact her personally whenever a JVS student received a traffic violation.

L-R: Adam Spears, Jordan Hyster, and Cody Wilson. Not pictured is Halston Davis.

You might say that four graduates got a charge out of their career-technical training at the Lorain County JVS.

Adam Spears, Cody Wilson, Halston Davis and Jordan Hyster learned about motors, transformers, lighting systems and many other different types of electrical equipment used in industrial and residential settings through the JVS Industrial Electricity Program which they completed in 2008.

And their nuts and "volts" education continued at Lorain County Community College, where they graduated this May with honors and earned Associate of Applied Science Degrees through First Energy's Power System Institute (PSI), a two-year program dedicated to training a new generation of experienced line workers and substation electricians.

Chelsea Welch with JVS instructor Diane McClain.

Cooperating teachers for the Lorain County JVS Teacher Education Exploration (TEE) Program purchase graduate credits each year which earn scholarship dollars at the University of Cincinnati for a TEE student under their professional guidance.

This year's award went to Chelsea Welch from Brookside High School. Welch earned an $8,000 scholarship to the University of Cincinnati where she will major in Early Childhood Education.

L-R: Dustin Ventura, Courtney Emery, Tyler Northeim and Joe Rewak.

Students from the Lorain County JVS recently competed in the State SkillsUSA Competition held in Columbus.

Joseph Rewak, from Amherst, placed 3rd in the Sheet Metal event. Tyler Northeim, from Firelands, placed 3rd in the Carpentry competition. Courtney Emery, from Midview, placed 3rd in the Photography event and Dustin Ventura, also from Midview, placed 2nd in the Residential Wiring competition.

SkillsUSA is Career-Technical Student Organization serving students in Industrial/Engineering Systems and Health Careers Training Programs.

From left: Cody Carroll, Cory Trent, James Tansey, Christopher Kuhn, Jordan Higgens, Courtney Echstenkamper

Two Lorain County JVS students ranked among the top students in the nation at the recent SkillUSA competition in Kansas City, Missouri. SkillsUSA is a national organization that serves high school and college career-technical students enrolled in trade, industrial, technical and health-related programs. Over 5,600 students from around the United States attended the event.

Pictured (L-R): Sharon Perkins, Jami Wright, and Instructor Mike Walsh, all from Elyria

Students from the Lorain County JVS Satellite Career-Based Intervention Programs put their design skills to work by building balsa wood bridges as a class project.

Students in the Culinary Academy donated $600.00 raised through fundraising activities throughout the year to the Oberlin School Farm Collaborative. The collaborative provides outdoor instruction and laboratory facilities for students and staff of Oberlin City Schools, Lorain County Academy and Lorain County Boys and Girls Club. Through real life experience with sustainable agriculture, students will produce food that can be used to supply their school lunch programs and provide healthy locally grown snacks for the partner organizations. Additionally, some of the produce may be donated to community organizations, and to sold to the general public.