Life briefs: Ohio Bird Sanctuary, college news, Galion Performing Arts, museum talk
Ohio Bird Sanctuary welcomes new executive director
Julie Schwartz is the new executive director of the Ohio Bird Sanctuary following many years of planning by the board founder Gail Laux.
Schwartz has been involved with the Sanctuary since 2016 as a naturalist and as a past board member. She holds bachelor degrees in biology and education from the University of Toledo and masters in educational leadership from The Ohio State University. Schwartz started her career as a biology teacher and then assistant principal in Ashland City Schools.
Following her passion for connecting young people with nature, she joined the staff at the Ohio Bird Sanctuary as a teaching naturalist and youth programming coordinator from 2016-2018. For the last five years, Schwartz has served as the Head of School at Discovery School in Mansfield.
Laux says her main role for the next few years will be to oversee the completion of the Capital Campaign projects and build the Annual Fund to sustain operations.
College news and notes
● Heather Renee Dillon, Lexington, graduated with a Master of Science in Education in Reading from the University of Central Arkansas.
● Western Governors University Ohio is offering $5,000 scholarships to help teacher paraprofessionals upskill and become licensed teachers. The scholarship is needs-based and qualifications are not restricted to academic achievement. For more information, visit wgu.edu.
Galion HS Performing Arts to present 'Emma'
GALION — The Galion High School Performing Arts Department will present the musical "Emma" at Galion Community Theatre at 7 p.m. March 31 and April 1 and 2 p.m. April 2.
"Emma" was originally scheduled to be presented in 2020, but was delayed due to COVID. The musical is based on the Jane Austin novel of the same name.
The cast includes: Ruth Ebner as Emma Woodhouse; Gail Sparks as Harriet Smith; Ben Rinehart as Rinehart; Logan Estep as Frankie Churchill; Lily Ebner as Jane Fairfax; Zach Penwell as Philip Elton; Spencer Gibbs as Martin; Allyssa Woodmansee as Ashley; Julia Connor as Miss Bates; Lincoln Pierce as Mr. Weston; Jae Rhodes as Miss Taylor; Luke Tinnermeier as Mr. Woodhouse; Ashley Soba, Claudia Volz, and Brooklyn Penwell as Welcome Committee Singers; Maria Wegesin, Lila Pierce, Shaylyn Hipsher, Kylie Wegesin, Ellie Rinehart, Landin Bateman, and Asher Welch as Highbury Prep Students.
Tickets will be available at the door.
Medieval crusades focus of Loudonville Museum talk
LOUDONVILLE — The Cleo Redd Fisher Museum in Loudonville continues its Speaker Series with a look at the Crusades that defined the middle ages and their modern legacies. The program is slated for 7 p.m. Monday.
Alex Novikoff will explore the crusading origins of a theology of violence — how and why it developed and how the Muslim world responded. He will explain what a crusade was and was not. Novikoff will then look at how the ideology of crusading has continued to resonate down the halls of history, from Colonialism, to Al-Qaeda, to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Novikoff teaches medieval history at Kenyon College and history and comparative religion at Franklin University Switzerland. He is the author of "The Medieval Culture of Disputation: Pedagogy, Practice, and Performance," the editor of "The Twelfth-Century Renaissance: A Reader," as well as the author of numerous articles on medieval intellectual history and interfaith relations. A recipient of the Berlin Prize from the American Academy in Berlin and an elected fellow of the UK’s Royal Historical Society, he lectures widely across North America, Europe and the Middle East. More recently, he was a featured in the CNN documentary "Jerusalem: City of Faith and Fury."
The program is free and open to the public. The event will be held in the lecture hall of the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum, 203 E. Main St., Loudonville. Doors open at 6:30. For more information, visit crfmuseum.com or call 419-994-4050.
Titanic Memorial Dinner to be held in April
FINDLAY — The Jones Mansion in Findlay will be holding a Titanic-themed dinner on April 15 in remembrance of those who lost their lives on the RMS Titanic 111 years ago on that date. The event is being held to raise funds for the continued restoration of the 1867 Jones Mansion which has its connection to the Titanic.
The dinner will feature meals served by costumed serving staff, music that was played on the voyage, and seven handpicked courses taken from the menus of all three of Titanic’s classes. All participants will receive the name and history of a passenger who was aboard the Titanic. Following dinner, each guest will discover the fate of their passenger and a moment of silence will be observed.
Tickets are $100 each and may be purchased only by calling Jane at the White Star Line (Jones Mansion) at 419-722-7037.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ohio Bird Sanctuary's new executive director, Galion musical and more
