Congratulations to our six National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. Only 1 percent of the 1.4 million juniors who entered the 2008 Merit Scholarship competition make it to the semifinalist level. These students entered the 2008 competition by taking the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test. Now they have a chance to become a finalist and eventually have an opportunity to win a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship. Our six semifinalists are Russell Ault, Spencer Carran, Mindy Cimini, Ranjit Ganguly, Cathalee Soergel and Garrett Walt. Also, senior Sara Vinson was named a Commended Student in the National Merit Scholarship program, by placing among the top 5 percent of students who took the PSAT qualifying test.

It’s news like this that reminds us what great students we have at Fairfield Senior High.  We have more National Merit semifinalists than we have had in the past several years, and over the past five years our average ACT scores have also increased. This shows that we are continuing to focus on the needs of our students and community. Even with a growing population of over 2,500 students, we are still able to maintain excellence and help FHS students exceed their goals and ours.

This would not be possible in the largest high school in the state if we didn’t have models and programs in place not only for the academic but also for the social and emotional needs of our students. One program that we are very proud of is the Ohio Integrated Systems Model (OISM). It’s focused on using data to design programs and systems that increase positive behavior in our students. This year, if you walk the halls of our school or visit a classroom, you will see “P.R.R.ide” posters on the wall. This stands for: Problem Solving, Respect and Responsibility. During the first week of school, teachers and support staff worked with students to develop classroom expectations centered on these concepts. Teachers and support staff wrote these expectations on their “P.R.R.ide” poster and posted them in their classrooms, office areas and hallways. Students are constantly reminded – in a positive way – what is expected of them. We have already seen very encouraging results and will continue to collect data. 

Through OISM we have also developed an Intervention Assistance Team model. Using this, a teacher working with a student who is at risk academically, emotionally or socially will be able to work with a team made up of other teachers and counselors, in addition to the student and his or her parents, to talk about interventions that may be put into place. This will proactively help our students so that they have every opportunity to reach their full potential. 

Through our continued efforts to work together and focus on the needs of our students, I know we will continue to have an excellent school filled with happy, caring, motivated and high-achieving students. 

Thank you for your support. Go Indians!

Paul Waller
Principal
Fairfield Senior High School

Published in the Fairfield Echo, Sept. 28, 2007