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Vermilion High
Defeats Southview
Vermilion High School, the defending champion school on the High School Scholastic Games of Lorain County, won its semifinal contest to win an opportunity to win for a second consecutive year.
The radio quiz program, sponsored by the Educational Service Center of Lorain County with foundation support, is presented for one hour weekly on The Southview team members, Casandra Epps, James Maloy, and team captain Chris Smith, had advanced their school to the semifinal level for the first time when they defeated a skilled academic team from Avon High School on the previous program. On May 19th, Vermilion will face the winner of next week’s semifinal between Lake Ridge Academy and Open Door Christian School, two private institutions with an impressive string of victories in this year’s academic matchups.
Teams prepare under the guidance of faculty advisors, Rebecca Jessen for Vermilion, and David Wood for Southview. The program is broadcast on Monday evenings. Next week’s will begin at 6:00, prior to the Cleveland Indians broadcast, and the Championship will be broadcast May 19th from 6:05 to 7 p.m. The programs are subject to occasional schedule variations due to live sports broadcasts.
Playoff Programs In Coming Weeks:
Monday, May 12, 2008 - 6:00 p.m. - SEMIFINAL #2 - Lake Ridge Academy vs. Open Door Christian School
Monday, May 19, 2008 - 6:05 p.m. - CHAMPIONSHIP
Another important element of the program is a tuition credit program supported by area colleges and universities. Each participating school receives a $500 credit to be given to a deserving student.
Semifinalist schools receive a total of $2500 in such credits, with an additional $1000 in credits to the winner of the championship.
Contributing institutions include Ashland University, Baldwin-Wallace, Case Western Reserve, Heidelberg, John Carroll, Lorain County Community, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, and Tiffin University.
The Scholastic Games’ producer, Jim Mehrling, is in his twenty-fifth year as a high school quizmaster in northern Ohio.
Team members are selected by various means from student bodies of the respective schools. Again this year, most programs are followed by a talk feature, "Dialogues in Education," highlighting school success stories and hosted by award-winning journalist Bob Tayek.
Foundation sponsorship is from the Nordson Corporation Foundation, the program's charter sponsor, the Majic Foundation (a supporting organization of the Community Foundation of Lorain County), the Nord Family Foundation, the Stocker Foundation, and the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. The Elyria-Lorain Holiday Inn is in its thirteenth season providing recording venues, and broadcast time is provided by WEOL-AM for an eighteenth year.
Again the station is presenting the program in the prime "afternoon drive" listening period.
The series has twice won "Achievement in Radio" (A.I.R.) awards from the Greater Cleveland March of Dimes. The producer, Jim Mehrling, began producing high school quiz programs in 1983 with "High School Whiz Quiz," which ran for nine years on WERE-AM in Cleveland. In addition to 15 consecutive years producing Scholastic Games of Lorain County, Mehrling produced two seasons of Cleveland-area programs for WCLV-FM, where he is in his thirteenth year as Production Manager.
5/8/08
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