{"id":84041,"date":"2017-02-03T08:36:19","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T13:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=84041"},"modified":"2017-02-04T09:17:14","modified_gmt":"2017-02-04T14:17:14","slug":"chamber-honors-vwhs-teacher-msvw-with-top-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2017\/02\/03\/chamber-honors-vwhs-teacher-msvw-with-top-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Chamber honors VWHS teacher, MSVW"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

The Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce has expanded its vision in choosing recipients of its Ray Miller Award. While the award has traditionally gone to longtime Chamber members for their work in the Chamber and the community, the award went to local resident Kathy Taylor in 2016 for her work with Blessings in a Backpack and the Crisis Care Line\/House of Transitions.<\/p>\n

\"Main
Main Street Van Wert Program Director Adam Ries and Board member Ty Coil with the Chamber’s Crystal Image Award.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year\u2019s award was presented to local teacher Bob Spath, who is instructor of, and the driving force behind, the Project Lead the Way engineering program, and also coaches Van Wert High School\u2019s successful Robotics Team.<\/p>\n

Other finalists included Ohio City Mayor Carol Miller, Central Insurance Vice President Cindy Hurless, and Community Health Professionals Vice President Linda Boggs.<\/p>\n

Taylor, the 2016 winner and a retired VWHS teacher, made the presentation to Spath, noting his contributions to the city school district.<\/p>\n

\u201cBob has changed the dynamics of Van Wert City Schools and Vantage Career Center with his tireless passion to bring on the engineering program, Project Lead the Way, to our community,\u201d she said, while also noting his contributions to the school robotics education programs and Robotics Team.<\/p>\n

Taylor added, though, that while Spath\u2019s educational contributions are substantial, he also has made an impact on others outside the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cBob\u2019s scope of work has changed the lives of many of his students, but his work outside the classroom has a similar impact on others, including (students of) different ages in different sports, mentoring young men through Bible study, and creating summer internship opportunities for local students at local companies,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

Spath said he fell in love with the Van Wert community while on a visit with his wife, the former Sara Penton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis community, it means the world to me,\u201d Spath said, while adding that he is also pleased with effort to improve education and the community.<\/p>\n

\u201c(VWHS Principal) Bob Priest has a vision for where this school district can go and I\u2019m on board with that,\u201d Spath said. \u201cI want to challenge myself and challenge everyone in this room to get on board. Let\u2019s make this community better than what it already is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Project
Project Lead the Way instructor Bob Spath speaks after winning the Chamber’s Ray Miller Award.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The other top Chamber award, the Crystal Image Award, which honors community leadership by an organization or company, went to downtown development entity Main Street Van Wert.<\/p>\n

Other finalists were The Kenn-Feld Group and National Door & Trim.<\/p>\n

Chamber Board Chairman Jon Stoller made the presentation to MSVW Program Manager Adam Ries and MSVW Board member Ty Coil, noting that the organization has brought more than $1.8 million into the community in the form of downtown development grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese funds assisted in private building rehabilitation, street improvements, and sidewalk enhancements,\u201d Stoller noted.<\/p>\n

In addition to grant money, MSVW has also created a number of activities and events in the downtown area, including the Harvest Moon event, Chocolate Walk, Small Business Saturday, Halloween trick-or-treating, Four Fridays Farm and Art Market, Christmas tree lighting, Hidden Spaces building tours, and the Eats on the Street event.<\/p>\n

Ries thanked his board members, and the community, for their support of Main Street Van Wert.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the community, it\u2019s you, through supporting of businesses, these projects, and even a few crazy new events and activities that we\u2019ve thrown at you,\u201d the MSVW program manager noted.<\/p>\n

Featured speaker Craig Leon, a 2003 VWHS graduate who is now a professional marathoner, challenged Chamber businesses and organizations to be responsible for improving the community.<\/p>\n

Leon said that, while he loves Van Wert, he has noticed negative changes in the community in recent trips home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are parts of this community that need help \u2026 this group needs to lead the charge,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs business community leaders and community leaders here in Van Wert, it\u2019s your responsibility — whether you see it that way or not — to make sure that everyone feels welcome in Van Wert \u2026 that everyone has fair and equal access to quality education \u2026 that they have the ability to make a livable wage and provide for their family,\u201d he added. \u201cThis community is too small to not have everyone working towards the same goals,\u201d Leon told Chamber members. \u201cIf you\u2019re truly committed to a goal, you have to wake up every day with a purpose and a plan. Tonight, I want to challenge everyone in this room to choose action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also Thursday evening, the Chamber recognized businesses and organizations that hit longevity milestones and those that completed \u201cGolden Shovel\u201d projects during the past year.<\/p>\n

Milestone recipients included Avangrid Renewables Blue Creek Wind Farm, Kim Hohman\u2019s DanceWorks, The Good Earth, Vantage Career Center, Kitchens Inc., Hubbard Company, Taylor Auto Sales Inc., Federal-Mogul Corporation, Van Wert County YWCA, CQT Kennedy LLC, Central Insurance Companies, and Purmort Brothers Insurance Agency.<\/p>\n

Golden Shovel Award winners were LifeHouse Church, Pond Seed Company, Schrader Realty, Straley Realty & Auctioneers, Van Wert Fire Equipment, Van Wert Manor, and Wilkinson Printing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor The Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce has expanded its vision in choosing recipients of its Ray Miller Award. While the award has traditionally gone to longtime Chamber members for their work in the Chamber and the community, the award went to local resident Kathy Taylor in 2016 for her work with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 06:41:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}