Windermere Elementary School plans a 5K race for Saturday, May 10, 2008, to benefit the Homeless Families Foundation. Last year's event yielded more than $2000 for the foundation.

The Windermere Wish Run begins at 9:00 a.m. in front of the school, located at 4101 Windermere Road. A one-mile Fun Run at 10:00 a.m. follows the 5K event.

For information or to register, email Pam Dobies or phone her at 487-5060, Ext. 306. You can also register on-line at premierraces.com or at the school on race day beginning at 8:00 a.m.

This event combines physical fitness and service learning, both of which are emphasized at Windermere. Runners and walkers of all levels of ability are welcome!

See the information brochure here

Sneakers, sleeping bags and cancer education? It must be the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life, an 18-hour event to celebrate survivorship and raise funds for cancer research, education, advocacy and services.

Relay For Life will be held at the Upper Arlington High School Football Stadium on Friday, May 16th at 6 pm until noon on Saturday May 17th.

Those interested in learning more about forming a team, becoming a sponsor, or simply donating to the cause should visit our website.

Our next Team Captains meeting is being held on Tuesday, April 22nd from 6:00 PM to 6:45 PM at the Upper Arlington Public Library. Anyone interested in learning more about Relay is encouraged to come!
      

On May 21, 2008, the UAHS Symphonic Band will present the world premiere of a work composed in honor of long time band director Mr. John Blevins. Mr. Blevins began teaching at the high school in 1980 and will retire at the end of this school year after 35 years of teaching.

The work is being composed by Dr. Matthew Saunders, UAHS class of 1994 and a former student of Mr. Blevins and current faculty member at Oklahoma Panhandle State University. Dr. Saunders will conduct the Symphonic Band at the Spring Band Concert. In addition to the world premiere, John Blevins will conduct the Symphonic Band one last time.

Mr. Blevins was Director of Bands at the high school from 1980-1999. and was head marching band director until 1992. He also coached the UAHS girls' golf team from 1993-2003. Mr. Blevins currently teach in seven schools, including four elementary schools, where he starts fifth graders on wind and percussion instruments. He also helps with the sixth grade bands at Jones and Hastings and he also teaches class guitar at the high school.

All alumni (especially Mr. Blevins' past students) are invited to help celebrate the career and retirement of JB on May 21, 2008 beginning at 7:30 in the High School Auditorium.

See the UAHS Band Web site here >>>

Email Mr. Blevins >>>
  

Don't tell the Upper Arlington High School Class of 1988 that you can't go home again. A significant number of that class shuns author Thomas Wolfe's theory and instead embraces the philosophy of Dorothy, the Kansan who visited Oz but decided there's no place like home.

Of 590 graduates, the Upper Arlington Alumni Association knows where 403 live, said Joanie Dugger, the association's executive director. Forty percent either checked out Oz but returned or never left the ZIP codes representing their hometown, Grandview Heights and northwestern Columbus. Sixty-three percent live in central Ohio.

It's the highest rate of returning graduates among several central Ohio alumni ssociations that keep track.

Read entire article >>>
  

Are you searching for a job? The Bearalums.com Job Board allows you, as an alum, to post your qualifications for other alums to see, in hopes that you might find a fit with a company associated with another UAHS grad.

Does your company have a job opening? Please let us know, so that our alums who are qualified might learn about it.

Here are samples from our current Job Board ... if you would like to post anything on this board, please let us know!
  

Planning is underway for the UA Class of 1978's 30 Year Reunion! Mark your calendars for Saturday, July 5th, 2008, 6 pm to 12 am at the Columbus Zoo's Water's Edge Event Park. McGuffey Lane and Agent 99 will be the featured entertainment for the evening. Cost is $50 per person ($75 at the door) and includes dinner, 2 drink tickets and entertainment.

Everyone is welcome including all Alumni! Visit UAClassOf78Reunion.com in the near future for more information and to register your attendance for the reunion.

More importantly.....Donations and Sponsors are needed! While the committee will not turn down donations of any kind, they would like to offer a Golden Bear "Official Sponsor" Membership f or a $500 donation or a Bear-cub "Official Sponsor" Membership for a $250 donation. Please email Jeff Worrel if you are interested in donating or becoming an Official Sponsor.

In addition, volunteers are needed to work on the Reunion and to help with the 4th of July Parade Float. Please email Jeff Worrel if you are willing to donate some time and enjoy the fun!

As a reminder to UA alumni, please make sure your contact information is up-to-date on Bearalums.com and Classmates.com. We encourage everyone to support Bearalums.com as a Life Member or annual Golden Bear Member as well. Also, anyone having contributions to help make Class of '78's new website more complete in the form of information, past reunion pictures, etc., please email Susan Warner. You may also contact other Reunion Committee members through our new website.

We look forward to having a fun (Ok....wild and crazy) memorable evening and a historic 30th reunion!

Go Bears!
  

The Upper Arlington Baseball Boosters Club, Inc. is a non-profit corporation formed to raise funds for the Upper Arlington High School Baseball Program. While the High School Athletic Department provides funds for the Baseball Program, the money does not go very far in meeting the financial needs of the Program. As a result, additional revenue must be solicited.

Instead of assessing additional fees to every player as is done in other sports at UA, the Baseball Program has relied on fundraising events to provide the additional income needed. The purpose of the The Upper Arlington Baseball Boosters Club, Inc. is to organize and run these fundraising events. The primary event will continue to be the annual Sub Sale, which takes place in January of each year. This huge undertaking has a proven track record as an effective fundraiser for the Baseball Program. Additional revenues are generated through Concession Sales, Baseball Apparel Sales, Advertising and Special Projects. Annual dues are collected to help defray the operational costs of the Boosters Club. Club members will receive schedules, team results and invitations to Booster activities.

Please print the Baseball Boosters Club Membership Form here >>>
  

From kulr8.com - February 10, 2008: Some local doctors have been trading their stethoscopes and tongue depressors for guitars and drumsticks. At first glance the Mid-Life Chryslers appear to be a regular band. That is until you overhear a fan say the keyboardist delivered his baby.

That keyboardist is Obstetrician and founding member Doug Ezell. "I play piano organ and fiddle, and mandolin and autoharp and harmonica and bass that's all," he said. But does he practice as many different forms of medicine? "No, no, no, just one type," he said.

See the entire article >>>

THANK YOU to all our alums who support the Upper Arlington Alumni Association with their membership dues. We appreciate your interest in the organization and your contribution to the maintenance of our Web site, Bearalums.com. Your membership dues are the reason our site is FREE and AD-FREE!

Many of you have elected to become Life Members or Golden Bear Members, and we thank you for your generosity. Annual membership dues are $15, and as one alum recently pointed out, in just seventeen years of paying annual dues, a person has paid the equivalent of a Life Membership!

Making the one-time payment for the Life or Golden Bear Membership ensures that long after those seventeen years have passed, you will continue to receive every issue of Traditions and you'll be a member forever, without the necessity of paying additional dues!

We now offer Paypal to make paying your membership dues easier, faster, and very safe. See details!

Read more about the various levels of membership and please consider becoming a Life or Golden Bear Member like your fellow alums who have already chosen these levels. THANK YOU for your loyalty!!
  

WOLVES AT THE DOOR is the first novel written by Thomas A. Chown, UAHS class of 1961. Chown and his wife, the former Barbara Bain, 1961 Bishop Watterson HS, both graduated from THE Ohio State University in 1965, then moved to Venice, Florida in 1973. After raising their two children there, they retired to Dunnellon, Florida in 2003, where Tom embarked on a writing career. WOLVES AT THE DOOR is a fictional story of the real life wanderings of Tom's ancestors as they homesteaded across the Great American Plains in the 19th Century. It is the first in what will be a three book saga, bringing the family from participation in the Civil War's Battle of Westport ( 1864 ), frontier living and town building through the turn of the century, coal mining adventures and an epic move "back east" in the early 20th Century, and eventually in the third book, life in 1950's Upper Arlington.

You can purchase the book on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com. It can also be requested at your local bookstore.
  

Which, of the 31 Zechariahs, Is Which?

To readers of the Word of God,

Why has no one ever thought to do this before? Of the 3,237 characters identified in the Bible, nearly half of them share their name with at least one other Bible character. For example, there are two Samuels, three Ezras, five Johns, six Marys, 13 Josephs, 20 Meshullams, and, would you believe, 31 Zechariahs! Most often, it is easy to tell them apart, but, when it is not, it may be a real problem to tell these same-named characters one from another. It took almost three years, but I have added subscript numbers to the names of all 1,443 of these same-named individuals so that you can instantly know, for example, that "the other Mary" mentioned in Matthew 28:1 is Mary(3), the mother of James. But then you may ask, which James is this? As a Minister or as a Bible School teacher or student, how often do you have or face such questions as, "Which James is this?" With this handbook at hand, you will know immediately 1) that there are four different persons named James in the Bible and 2) that this particular James is James(2), the Apostle James, also known as "James the Less."

This truly unique Bible handbook contains an Index of Bible Characters providing brief biographical information about every one of the 3237 different characters identified in the Scriptures. They are all listed alphabetically with the same-named characters sub-listed by subscript number. As I said above, why has no one ever thought to do this before? This book fills the void obvious in every other one of the many Bible resource books found in Christian bookstores across the country.

Now for the best part: As a totally unexpected dividend of my Bible research, I realized that the subscript numbers I assigned provide tags for each one of the same-named characters and that these tags allow them to be searched for in an electronic Bible. Here is the value in this. Suppose you want to locate all Scriptural mentions of, say, the prophet Jeremiah. In an ordinary electronic Bible, you would use your word processor to search for the word, Jeremiah, and, to be sure, you would find all mentions of the prophet Jeremiah. The problem is, you will also find all mentions of the other 8 Jeremiahs named in the Bible. BUT, with the electronic Bible (KJV) provided as a free download with the purchase of this book, you would search for Jeremiah(6), and would find only those instances where the prophet Jeremiah is mentioned. There is NO OTHER BIBLE HANDBOOK/ELECTRONIC BIBLE IN THE WORLD that provides this capability and, with a little thought, it is applicable to any one of the many different Bible versions available today.

Which, of the 31 Zechariahs, Is Which? should be part of every church library and should be in the hands of ministers, Sunday School teachers, and Bible Class students as well as both casual Bible readers and serious Bible students. This book, including the electronic Bible download, is available at WinePress Publishing/Pleasant Word for just $19.99.

To order this book (including a free download of the searchable KJV Bible),
call toll-free (877)-421-READ (7323) or go to pleasantwordbooks.com

Right here at Bearalums.com, we can help you find employment or fill a position at your company! Please check the Job Board frequently for information about jobs desired by or offered by UAHS alums!

Please visit the JOB BOARD and see if there is anything of interest to you or someone you know!

Denny Dicke, UAHS Class of 1969, has published a book entitled Unleash the Champion, which is designed to help athletes reach their full potential. Those of you who live in the Columbus area can find the book and audio book at Frontrunner on West Lane Avenue. The book can also be ordered through the Web site, UnleashTheChampion.com.

A motivational speaker, businessman, and coach, Denny was an outstanding athlete in numerous sports at Upper Arlington High School, where he was the starting running back on our football team that won two State Championships in the 1960's. He was also captain of the varsity basketball team. In his sophomore year he won the State Championship in the 400 meters, in his senior year he was State Champion in both the 400 and 200 meters, and he became a high school All American by placing third in the nation in the 400 meters. More than 35 years later, he still holds the UAHS record in the 200 and the 400 meters.

Because of his passion for sports and working with young people he found time to coach football, soccer, softball, baseball, basketball and track and field over the last thirty years.

Sally A. Seifert-Cohen, Class of 1960, was selected as Woman of the Year by Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club located in Newport Beach, California. Sally was recognized for her work as Chair of the club's Activities Committee responsible for over 19 events at the club. She co-chaired the committee with her husband Don, and 22 club members. Sally and Don enjoy living in Huntington Beach, California and are very active in many volunteer organizations. They especially enjoy cruising on their boat, Hi Life. Sally is a retired Department Manager for the UCLA Foundation, at the Los Angeles campus of The University of California, and Don retired from the Aerospace Corporation located in El Segundo, California.

Asking Brigid Moriarty, "Does art matter?" is like asking the Pope whether religion does.

Moriarty is closing out a career in teaching that spans 35 years and 17,500 students in 21 Columbus schools. She teaches elementary-school art. "Because it is not on the standardized test, people don't consider it important," she said. "If it is not testable, it is not important. "But it is so much a part of our thoughts and beliefs -- who we are." Read entire article >>>

Brian Klemesrud, Class of 1997, has been busy with his film production company, Galatrax Pictures. His latest film, Static, has been accepted in to the Newport Beach Film Festival, one of the top international film festivals in the US, which will be held from April 19-29.

Brian's current project is a feature-length film called , to be produced by Black Bay Entertainment. See more about Brian and other films he has made.