Fourth of July fireworks
2008 Cityfolk Festival
Spotted at the Cityfolk Festival
Centerville announces Education Hall of Fame honorees
Thursday, April 17, 2008
CENTERVILLE — As part of Centerville's Education Foundation's 24th annual Hall of Fame induction, Rolland Young and Barb Westendorf will be honored as outstanding teachers. Outstanding alumnus is Jim Neidhard and Neeraj "Raj" Chimanji is outstanding student.
"The Hall of Fame was originally implemented to honor the teachers, students, alumni and community leaders who have contributed to our local public school system and community," Centerville Education Foundation's Dana Bales said.
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Nominations from the community are sought each winter. Seventy-six inductees have been honored since the Hall of Fame was established. Inductees' photographs hang in the Central Unit at Centerville High School.
• Rolland Young, one of this year's two outstanding teacher inductees, has taught mathematics at Centerville High for nearly four decades. Young has served for 22 years as the high school's golf coach. Among the legions of students he's mentored is Centerville High mathematics teacher and 2008 Centerville Teacher of the Year Lori Lonsert. Lonsert, Class of 1975, attributes her interest in mathematics to Young.
• Barb Westendorf, the second outstanding teacher inductee, has been with the Centerville City Schools district for 32 years and currently works as a gifted intervention specialist at Cline Elementary. In 1999, Westendorf was among a dozen Miami Valley teachers who received the Alliance for Education's Excellence in Teaching Award.
• Outstanding alumnus is Class of 1974 graduate Jim Neidhard. Neidhard who began his career with the Washington Twp. Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter/EMT now serves as deputy chief. Neidhard, a graduate of Ohio State University, is currently enrolled in a master's degree program in public administration at Wright State University.
• Neeraj "Raj" Chimanji, the son of Satya and Meena Chimanji, was selected as outstanding student from the Class of 2008. Chimanji is class president, a National Merit Finalist and captain of the high school's nationally recognized Science Olympiad team. Chimanji who plans on a career in medicine co-founded the Future Doctors of America-Centerville Chapter to help high school students considering a career in medicine learn more about the field.
Tickets for the Hall of Fame dinner on April 22 which begins at 6 p.m. at the Gallery at Yankee Trace, 10,000 Yankee St. are $35. Contact Margaret Barclay at (937) 885-7898 for more information.
