Gadfly Bites 5/26/23—Closures

1. The Catholic Diocese of Columbus announced this week that 15 area parishes would be closing due to a decline in attendance and a shortage of priests to run them. It is interesting to note that only one school, St. Anthony’s on the northeast side of the city, is included in the closures (and in fact I don’t think any of the other parishes set to be consolidated/eliminated have schools at all). A thin silver lining. As several parishioners (and this city planning student) note, many of these closures were inevitable—even overdue. Columbus’ urban fabric is very different today than it was 50 years ago. Knowing that, however, did not diminish the sadness that arose in me upon seeing a majority of the parishes that shaped my family’s lives for many years on that list. (Columbus Dispatch, 5/25/23)
   
   

2. The two leaders of the Girls Who Code program at Lakewood High School in Hebron—a student and a teacher—recently received National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) awards. Senior Gabrielle Jones won an Ohio Aspirations award, given to excellent students in computer science. She actually started the Girls Who Code program at Lakewood in 2018 and is headed to Muskingum University in the fall. While she’s majoring in music education, one assumes she will keep her hand in the CS world both there and back at Lakewood. (Newark Advocate, 5/26/23) And speaking of girls who rock, here’s the story of Sydney McGlone, who recently graduated from the Pickaway-Ross Career and Technology Center, and how welding changed the trajectory of her life. I’m sure Sydney fully vetted her major options at Ohio State University and is happy with welding engineering, especially since she already knows how to weld like boss. But I was surprised to learn from my nephew that there is very little welding to actually be done in welding engineering courses. Feels like they should advertise that. (Chillicothe Gazette, 5/26/23)

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