Tough choice for some seniors Graduation for Streetsboro, track meet conflict

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By Miles Jung-Kilbreath

Record-Courier staff writer

Streetsboro High School valedictorian Katlin Twigger has made the hard decision to attend graduation instead of competing at the regional preliminary track meet on May 29, according to her mother Petrina Twigger.

The two events may conflict for graduating seniors on the team. The regional track meet in Ravenna starts at 4 p.m., and will last until allevents are finished.

"We are at the mercy of the facility," Superintendent Tom Giovangnoli said Thursday at the Streetsboro Board of Education.

Giovangnoli said for an athlete to compete in the regional track meet, they would have to first qualify at the Portage Trail Conference meet on May 15 and 17 and the district preliminaries on May 22 and 24, so their would be a chance that Katlin would not qualify for the regional meet even if she did participate.

"It is still an unfortunate situation," Giovangnoli said.

Twigger said her daughter, who is a member the 400-meter relay team, is "disappointed" that she cannot compete any of the track tournaments because she "doesn't have a choice" in missing the ceremony as she is both one of the five valedictorians in the 2007-08 senior class and is also the senior class president.

Twigger said she know of at least one other senior struggling with the decision to miss graduation for the track meet.

District curriculum director Agatha Van Brocklin said it is a "problem" that with the district ends its school year at the end of May, when many spring sports have their tournaments. She said the only option to avoid a conflict with sport tournaments would be to have graduation in mid-June, which would be a few weeks after the end of the student's school year.

Board member Cynthia Pennock-Hanish said the district would "do their best" to try and avoid a similar situation in the future.