Busy As A Bee

First of all I would like to say a great big welcome back to all the Seniors this year and also welcome to the new Juniors. We are so excited to have such a large class coming in this year along with a large number of Seniors back from last year. I believe as of today (Thursday) we had about 463 total students in our building. That is the most in quite a few years. Mr. Darrell Miller and I have been holding our orientation meetings for the Seniors and on Friday we will be speaking to the Juniors. I believe everyone is starting to find their way around the building and getting to most of their classes on time. As always, I want to thank all of the Juniors for stepping out of your comfort zone and choosing Vantage for your final two years. I also would like to thank all the parents who supported your child when they chose to come here. I promise you that you will not be disappointed. Career Tech is the hottest topic right now and there seems to be a lot more jobs than there are workers. We will do our very best to steer your child into the career of their choice or into a college or university that will help them further their talents.

Well needless to say, the first week has really been hectic around student services as we bring in new students everyday, revise schedules, change program labs for some and try to inform teachers of all the changes to their rosters. Someone mentioned this week that we have been busy as a bee and I had to laugh. I don't know if many of you know this but my wife and I are beekeepers. We have three hives right now, which is about 300,000 bees swarming around. One thing I really realized since we have gotten into this hobby is that bees are really, really busy. Did you know that a honey bee will travel 500 miles in its lifetime. And the worker bee only lives for about six weeks. One honey bee will produce about 1/12 of a teaspoon in its lifetime. The honeybee forager is constantly going back and forth from the flowers to the hive all day long, traveling in a 3 mile diameter. Okay, sorry for all the honeybee facts but I thought maybe our busyness at school would relate to my hobby and let you see how crazy it has been around here.

I don't think the busyness is going to stop either. I received an email from Mrs. Owens (who replaced the retired Mrs. Wilhelm) the other day and she listed all the upcoming events just in the next few weeks. There are several parades coming up so I hope you will look for our Vantage vehicle and staff members and of course our student ambassadors. I believe the Ottoville parade is September 2nd and Kalida parade is September 9th. Picture day for all students and staff is on September 12th and then the big day, Student Appreciation day will be September 14th. Delphos Canal days parade is on the 16th and our big college night here at Vantage is on the 26th from 6:30 until 8:00. Finally on the 28th of September, we have our United Way Day of Caring blood drive and food drive blitz. WOW!

Like I told you, we have an awful lot going on in the month of September. I hope all of you are excited and ready for it. We are certainly going to be as busy as bees but I am sure we will produce a lot of "honey". Thanks and have a great year.