I hope this letter finds all Withrow High School Alumni and your families doing well. What a year! Our 2020-2021 academic year was very eventful, to say the least. The global COVID-19 pandemic caused us all to truly pause and be thankful for life and our families – there was definitely no playbook for this nor how to educate students during such a crisis.
Recall, that at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year our Withrow Administration, Faculty, Staff and Students were confronted with three separate models of instruction at different times throughout the year: 1) home remote instruction (August-October and December-March); 2) Blended in-school instruction (A Group: Tuesdays/Wednesdays; B Group: Thursdays/Fridays; and Mondays: all Students in the District home/remote instruction) (October-Late November); and 3) 5 day per week in-building instruction (during 4th Quarter – March-May). As you can imagine, instructing and learning within these models was extremely difficult and challenging for all.
However, our Withrow Faculty and Staff navigated through these obstacles and adapted to change to provide the best instruction possible for our Withrow Students. Our Teaching Faculty had to re-imagine their classroom environment – quickly adjusting their instructional and assessment practices to online learning platforms that provided the best possible virtual instruction. Our Faculty is to be truly commended for all of their hard work, creativity, patience and grace extended to their students throughout the year.
Teaching our students to adapt to change and provide the innovative solutions to the global challenges of the 21st century is the epitome of our Withrow University High School vision and what it means to be a Tiger! Our students have adapted to the academic instructional expectations and challenges that this global COVID-19 pandemic has presented and are poised for breakthrough and greatness. Last spring, our Class of 2021 fulfilled that vision and saw 186 Withrow Tigers walk across the stage, at The University of Cincinnati’s Fifth Third Arena, to receive their High School diploma. What a tremendous accomplishment! Check out our student activities during the last year by clicking HERE.
As we look toward this 2021-2022 academic year and beyond, we will continue to develop our Withrow Students to be life-long learners who are change-agent global leaders – drawing strength from this pandemic to relentlessly pursue their goals and dreams and putting the world on notice that they are coming. Coming with skill, talent and the innovative solutions that the world needs and has not seen – representing Withrow High School with distinction and honor.
It is my hope that each of you and your families will continue to be healthy, safe and strong and continue to support our Withrow Tigers in any way you can. Always remember, Once a Tiger…Always a Tiger!
All the Best,
Jerron T. Gray
Principal
