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LAUREN FLYNN

Lakewood High School social studies teacher Lauren Flynn is not a fan of the spotlight. She prefers to work quietly as a teacher nurturing relationships with students and staff built on the competencies of our Vision of a Lakewood Educator. They are competencies that Lauren has displayed throughout her 22 years with the District, not only through her teaching but also through her work over the years with Peer Mediation, Facing Our History group and her proactivity when it comes to raising awareness surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion.

Early in her career, Lauren created the popular LHS elective, Pop Culture, specifically to raise awareness about representation in the media and initiate discussions around race in an engaging way with students. The discussions continue more than a decade later.

Lauren’s nominator, Principal Joy Morgan, praises Lauren for her straightforward communication and willingness as department facilitator to have tough conversations.

“Lauren consistently communicates with me and her department to provide feedback and direction when needed.  She is approachable and is willing to have difficult conversations for the benefit of her students and colleagues,” Joy says. “I can rely on her to give me helpful feedback to move LHS in the right direction.”

Growth mindset is another strong suit for Lauren, who strives to remain flexible and adaptable in order to keep up with her students. “We need to be willing to change with our students,” she says. 

Lauren’s time as department facilitator these past two years has also offered her a chance to flex her growth mindset skills as she stepped out of her comfort zone to take on the role. Her boss has taken notice:  “Lauren is a model for her department in terms of taking on new challenges and persevering through change,” Joy says, adding “Lauren is a leader at LHS and tries to create an environment that is welcoming for teachers and students.”

 

STEPHANIE OLIVERI

Grant Elementary cafeteria lead Stephanie Oliveri thought she was going to be a teacher when she started college, but learned it wasn’t for her. However, her desire to work with children still burned bright and she is grateful to have found a job where she is able to be a small part of students’ day - for some, it may be the best part of their day!

“If I can help bring them something positive when they are having a bad day, I like to do that,” says Stephanie.

Stephanie, who joined the District in 2018 as a cashier at Emerson, often finds herself calling on her Vision of a Lakewood Educator competencies in order to provide the best dining experience for Grant students as she is able. With the green light from her boss, nutrition services supervisor Jacob Green, Stephanie has tapped into her creativity to try out new recipes in her effort to keep the menu exciting for students. 

Her boss appreciates this willingness on Stephanie’s part to stretch her skills. “Stephanie is always very willing to try new things and seeks to provide her students with new and healthy foods,” Jacob says. 

Although the tinkering and changing of menus can cause more work initially, Stephanie feels the payoff is worth it. “It makes me so excited to see the kids excited about coming into the cafeteria” when they know there is a food item on the menu they like or want to try,” she says.

Stephanie also keeps the Vision’s global awareness competency in the forefront of her mind as has goals of eventually bringing food recycling and sustainable trays to her cafeteria. It’s one of the many ways that Stephanie is striving to make a difference for her school community.

 

 

Members of the Philanthropy Club with advisers Jason Weiner and Alison Gliozzi (center).

 

Weiner teamed with Lakewood High teacher Alison Gliozi to guide a small group of game sophomores and juniors who wanted to learn about philanthropy and all its facets. The students worked with their advisers through a months-long philanthropic decision making process that resulted in purposeful and mission-aligned grants awarded via the Healthy Lakewood Foundation to Colors+ ($1,200), Gigi’s Playhouse ($1,300) and Lakewood Young Filmmakers Academy ($1,500).

Club member Stevie Williams said they were “happy to be able to support organizations doing work that they thought was important.”

Gigi’s Playhouse site director Lizz Maxwell said she was thrilled with Gigi’s grant: “We are incredibly honored to receive important funding from Lakewood High School’s Philanthropy Club! I was highly impressed by their diligence and professionalism and appreciate their intent to learn more while seeking out the needs of their community, Gigi’s site director Lizz Maxwell said.

According to Weiner, the students explored what they care about (and why), what kind of impact they wanted to have with the funds available to them. Through the process, they gained an understanding about work being done in the nonprofit sector, and made difficult- but informed - decisions when it came time to award grants. Two of the students are digging even deeper and now serving as student representatives on the board of the Lakewood Rangers Education Foundation, of which Weiner is also a board member. 

“I couldn’t be more proud of these students, who knew almost nothing about nonprofits and philanthropy when we got started last spring,” Weiner said. Weiner hopes that philanthropy and community engagement will now be a part of their lives in the future.

Gliozzi wished to thank Healthy Lakewood Foundation for giving the students an opportunity to explore the world of philanthropy. “It has been eye opening as to how amazing Lakewood is and how supportive its residences are,” she said 

As far as Healthy Lakewood goes, the foundation executive director Kate Ingersoll said she was eager to learn more about “what endeavors students would prioritize when given the opportunity to engage with philanthropy, learn about the social determinants of health, and respond to the needs of our community.” Ingersoll said the foundation hopes to expand this type of engagement with students moving forward.

Why I Love Lakewood
By: Owen Ross

I love Lakewood for many reasons. Some of those reasons are all the events, the awesome pizza shops and the beautiful parks. Everywhere I go in Lakewood everyone is so nice, it is a community of kindness. I love living here and I feel it is the best city ever.

The first reason I love Lakewood is all the events during the year. Some of my favorites are the Lakewood Arts Festival, Lakewood Summer Meltdown and Light Up Lakewood. Lakewood Arts Festival is fun for me because my mom sells her art there and I like going to see her and all the other beautiful artwork for sale by so many talented people. Lakewood Summer Meltdown is fun because there are sprinklers to play in and lots of good music. I like seeing all my friends there and sometimes I even meet new friends. Finally, I love Light Up Lakewood because there is a parade, beautiful lights, and I get to see fireworks.

The second reason I love Lakewood is all the restaurants, especially the pizza places. I love eating all kinds of pizza and Lakewood has some of the best pizza places in Cleveland, like Angelo’s, Harlow’s, Booms, and Tomari’s. Those are some of my favorites and I love going to them with my family. Everyone that works there is always so nice and the pizza is always delicious. When I grow up I want to open a pizza shop in Lakewood.

Next, I love Lakewood for the parks. Lakewood has so many parks for playing and hiking. I love going down sit on the solstice steps to look at the lake and walking down the path to see the Cleveland skyline. I spend a lot of time in the summer at the Lakewood pool with my friends, the new water slides are my favorite. There are also so many different playgrounds in the parks that I can go to a different one every day of the week. How cool is that?!

Finally I love Lakewood for all the kind and helpful people. Everyone you meet in shops, in your neighborhood or even walking down the street is always so friendly and I love how diverse our city is. The people make Lakewood so special and that is a big reason I love Lakewood.

In conclusion, Lakewood is the best city full of awesome events, great pizza shops, great parks and, of course, great people. I love it here in Lakewood and I hope to live here for a long time.