hudson monthly february issue

INSIDE VISIT THE GABLES OF HUDSONPAGE 12

OLYMPICMEMORIES

JOYCUNNINGHAMJudge for the U.S.Figure Skating Association

FEBRUARY 2014 • $2.00

2 HUDSON MONTHLY FebrUarY 2014

February 2014 HuDSON MONTHLy 3

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR4

6 HuDsOn VOIcEs

skaTIng THROugH LIFE

HOME swEET HOME

HELLO wORLD

7

BY PeggY SextonHudsonite Joy Cunningham has helped make figure skating what it is today. She has judged all-time

favorites like Scott Hamilton and Rudy galindo. Find out what she is judging next.

BY StePHanie FellenSteinWhen the gables of Hudson opened in october 2013, it offered a new option for those looking to

maintain their independence in a safe, friendly, exciting environment.

BY Heidi auguStinMegan McKinley was looking for a college program that would take her out of her comfort zone. She

recently finished her first semester in Costa Rica. Find out where she is going next.

Hudsonite Joy Cun-ningHam witH Her figure skating part-ner william wall of nortHfield.

HudSon MontHlY /aManda WoolF

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Vol. 15, issue 6February 2014

1050 w. main st., kent, oH 44240

www.recordpub.comphone

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EDITORstephanie fellenstein

ext. 4185

PHOTOgRaPHERsrobert J. lucaslisa scalfaro

HuDsOn HuB-TIMEsEDITOR

andrew adamext. 4175

cOnTRIBuTIng wRITERs

Heidi augustinpeggy sexton

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Hudson monthly is published 12 times a year by record publishing Co., david e. dix—publisher, ron waite—general manager, p.o. Box 5199, kent, oH 44240. it is included once per month with the carrier-delivered Hudson Hub-times. mail subscriptions are available for $36 per year. no portion of this publication may be re-produced without written permission of the record publishing Co., l.l.C. © Copyright 2014 by the record publishing Co., l.l.C.


My New Year’s reso-lution this year is to be healthier and happier.

The resolution was for my whole family. They were not thrilled. We were going to eat better, play outside, do stuff for others — all part of our journey to “happiness.”

On New Year’s Day, I dusted off my cross country skies and headed out to the lo-cal park. It was perfect skiing weather with six good inches of fresh snow. Unfortunately the brutal cold a week later kept us trapped inside for days.

As for the eating healthier part of the resolution, I was de-termined to find some meals that my super picky 10-year-old would eat. I decided to let the kids plan some of our menus. My older daughter was up first and picked stuffed peppers. With a strong Hungarian background, I ate lots of stuffed stuff growing up and stuffed peppers were never one of my favorites. But, if the kid was excited about trying them, I was all for it. We spent the afternoon slicing, sautéing, stuffing and baking.

I still don’t like stuffed peppers. But my pepper-loving daugh-ter considered the meal a success.

Next up was the picky eater. She decided to make potato pancakes. They were delicious until she realized onions went into the concoction and then no amount of syrup or apple sauce could disguise the onion-y taste.

I read an interesting article in Outside magazine about 13 scientifically proven methods for living happier. It talked about things like getting up early, getting dirty, living each day like it was a Saturday, listening to music, eating more chocolate (I’m definitely on board with that one) and eating happy meals. And by “happy meals,” they weren’t talking about a handful of chicken nuggets and a prize. Apparently the happiest foods — the foods that produce the highest level of the those feel-good endorphins in your body — are elk, spinach, turkey, egg whites, black beans, walnuts and split peas.

I can’t wait to hear what my picky eater has to say about that.

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Congratulations to your reporter, Heidi Augustin, on a balanced report last month looking back on the merger of Hudson Township and the City of Hudson Village some 20 years ago. Three things struck me as I read the article and I thought I might share them with you and your readers.

First, the city (former village) did not “de-clare its independence” from the township in 1837, as reported by Ms. Augustin. Instead, it became — and remained even through merger — an incorporated municipality within the boundaries of the 25 square miles of Hudson Township. Residents of the for-mer village paid township taxes and retained the right to vote for township officials. The Township Trustees were responsible for providing many servic-es to village residents, e.g., EMS, fire protection, parks and recre-ation, maintenance of the Clock Tower and the Green, etc.

Second, Ms. Augustin referred to my “white paper” analyz-ing the aftermath of merger, but the biggest disappointments of merger that I cited in that document did not survive final edit-ing of her report. Specifically, those disappointments included the fact that the promised efficiencies that supposedly were to come with eliminating overlapping local government services never ma-terialized and that the rosy projections for tremendous cost sav-ings instead have morphed into a payroll featuring twice as many local government employees now as we had 20 years ago being paid five times as much! This is precisely what our political ac-tion committee — No Merger Now — predicted in 1993 when we studied the dubious conclusions reached by the Merger Com-mission in its proposal for merging the two forms of local govern-ment.

Third, I cannot disagree with Mayor Currin more about what he claims to have been the ‘main goal’ of merger.

Curbing residential growth was not, as the Mayor claimed, the “main goal” of the merger ... and neither was “a desire to estab-

lish a plan for economic development.” As a Township Trustee at the time of merg-er, I can assure you that we already had tak-en steps the year before merger to establish greater controls through the public’s approv-al of my recommendation that we reorga-nize the township under certain “home rule” powers found in Chapter 504 of the Ohio Revised Code.

With that approval in place, my colleagues and I on the Hudson Township Board of Trustees then began exercising those powers to reign in the rampant residential growth the township had experienced in the ’80s a full year or more before the Merger Com-mission’s report was submitted to the voters

for approval.Instead, aside from achieving greater efficiencies in providing

local government services (and therefore reducing pressure on raising taxes to meet expenses), the most important goals of merg-er were: (1) Requiring our own more demanding design stan-dards for road construction, infrastructure improvements, and buildings instead of having to rely on county officials who were not as interested in the impact their decisions were having on those of us who called Hudson home and (2) eliminating any possibility that a neighboring municipality might try to annex part or all of the unincorporated 20-1/2 square miles of Hudson Township.

With county-only oversight, developers got away with meet-ing less rigorous standards that only put off higher maintenance costs for the rest of us eventually to absorb. So on that single is-sue, merger has been a success ... but the overall net cost to taxpay-ers of the former unincorporated 20-1/2 square miles of the town-ship, in my judgment, has been much higher than the members of the Merger Commission promised when they sold their version of “One Hudson” to the voters.

And, that, is the “rest of the story.”

The mergerLooking at the 20th anniversary from another perspective

by S. DaviD Worhatch


The golden years mean different things to different people. For Joy Cun-ningham, long-time resident of Hudson, they mean continued service to a sport she cares deeply about and that still gives her great enjoyment even as she approaches her 86th birthday.

Cunningham holds a national ap-pointment to judge singles, pairs and dance events at the highest level of the

sport for the U.S. Figure Skating Associ-ation (USFSA). She worked her way up through the judging ranks beginning in 1967 and reached the pinnacle of her career when she judged some events at the 1987, 1989 and 1996 U.S. Fig-ure Skating Championships. She also

judged the U.S. Precision Champion-ships, now known as the Synchronized Championships, several times, as well as several U.S. Collegiate Champion-ships and the 2004 U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships.

Retirement is not a word she’s fa-miliar with. Local skating clubs still call her frequently to judge competitions and test sessions. She will be a judge

ABOVEHudsonite Joy

Cunningham stands by some of her medals and trophies from her

figure skating days.

by Peggy SextonPhotos by Amanda Woolf


Joy Cunningham, with her dog Tammy, doesn’t skate anymore but still judges skating competitions around Ohio.

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pionships in March as she has been for the last 50 years.

She’s also a fan of the sport and will be watching the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Rus-sia, along with the rest of the world. Televi-sion ratings for Olympic figure skating have historically been high even as the sport has had its share of ups and downs in the last couple of decades. Memories will be made. After so many years in the sport, Cunning-ham’s got a treasure trove of her own.

She remembers judging test sessions at the rink in Bowling Green, Ohio, many years

ago and watching a young boy named Scott Hamilton advance through the ranks. She also remembers Rudy Galindo at the 1996 Nationals in San Jose, Calif., receiving low marks in the short program even after ex-ecuting a flawless triple-triple combina-tion. “I wasn’t judging his event, but when he went out for the long program, I took

notes. I thought, ‘If this judging panel screws it up this time, I’m going to go over there and give them you know what,’” she recounts. For-tunately, the judges got it

right. Galindo won the gold medal.Cunningham was also present on the eve

of one of the sport’s most infamous events. She wasn’t judging the ladies event but was back stage when Nancy Kerrigan came off the ice after her short program at the U.S. Nationals in Detroit in 1994. “She was mut-tering to herself about her performance. She was upset that she hadn’t skated better,” ex-plains Joy. “I asked her, ‘What’s the prob-lem? Why are you carrying on like this? You’ll do better in the long program.’” As it turned out, Kerrigan didn’t get a chance to do bet-ter as the next day she was hit in the knee by an assailant and forced to withdraw from the competition. Tonya Harding would go on to win the gold medal.

Michelle Kwan, Michael Weiss and Tim-othy Goebel are some of her favorite skat-ers, while Kristi Yamaguchi’s short program at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, which she skated to Strauss’ “Blue Danube,” is her all-time favorite performance — one she still watches on a video cassette tape in her Atterbury Boulevard home.

There are also tangible memories in the photos and the medals neatly displayed on a small bookcase in her hallway and a clos-et full of handmade skating dresses from her own competitive days that she wonders why she’s never gotten rid of.

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An early love of the sportCunningham grew up on the northwest

side of Chicago, a city in love with skating in the 1920s with more than 600 outdoor rinks in the metropolitan area. After seeing the skating sensation and three-time Olympic gold medalist Sonja Henie perform in a lav-ish ice show at the Chicago Stadium in the 1930s, Cunningham says she was “bitten by the skating bug.” She convinced her father she needed a pair of skates.

“He told me I could have all the pennies in his pocket every day when he came home from work,” she says. “It took a while, but eventually I had the $5 needed to buy skates from the Sears Roebuck catalog.”

She skated outside on flooded ball fields and inside at the old Chicago Arena. Lessons began when she was about 13. Her first coach, Bill Swallender, of the Chicago Fig-ure Skating Club, would later die in a plane crash that killed the entire 18-member U.S. Figure Skating team and several coaches en route to the World Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1961.

A skating career of her ownIt wasn’t until after college, marriage and

children, that Cunningham returned to skat-ing. Once her kids were in school, she start-ed taking lessons at a rink in Northfield. Her teacher, William “Bill” Wall, liked the way she

skated and asked her to be his partner in adult dance competitions. They competed together for eight years, winning many of the events they entered.

Though they were together four times a week for two-hour practice sessions, she says they argued only occasionally, respect-ing each other’s opinions. Cunningham’s husband, James, also shared her love of the sport and competed with Bill’s wife, Celia.

“Better not to skate with your spouse,” says Cunningham, with a laugh. “That way you can come home and still be friends.”

After hanging up their skates to compe-tition, Joy and Bill became immersed in the world of judging. While a competitive skating career isn’t necessary for someone to be-come a judge, it certainly helps.

“We had achieved so much skating-wise that we knew what we were looking at when watching other skaters,” explains Cunning-ham.

The process of becoming a judge involves studying the technical aspects of the sport, trial judging and taking written exams. There are also continuing education requirements that must be met every four years to remain eligible to judge.

For those who love the sport, there is a big reward in having the best seat in the house at competitions. On the other hand, it is a significant time commitment consid-

ering that judging at all levels is a volunteer position.

“Judges are not paid for their service. And only at the national level are they reimbursed for travel, meals and hotel. The higher up you get, the more perks there are in terms of travel and exposure,” says Juliet Newcom-er, director of technical services at the USF-SA headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo. “But at the lower level where there is no re-imbursement, you’re doing it simply because you love the sport.”

Newcomer knew the Cunninghams when she was a skater at the Detroit Skating Club in the 1990s. “I used to help her husband who was the volunteer music coordinator for many competitions there,” Juliet says. “Joy and James have given so much to the sport. They deserve any recognition they get.”

Accolades come from coaches as well. Glyn Watts, a coach of national renown in Strongsville, used to work with Carol Heiss Jenkins at Winterhurst Arena in Lakewood in the ’80s and ’90s, back in what he calls the “heyday of skating in Cleveland.”

“Joy was like the fairy godmother to a lot of exceptional skaters in the area then. She would always make herself available when coaches requested input,” Watts says. “As coaches, we’re so thankful for judges and the encouragement and advice they give our skaters.”


Continuing to judgeWhile no longer judging at national

competitions, Cunningham hasn’t slowed down much. In the last two months alone, skating clubs in Kent, Strongsville, Cha-grin Falls and Shaker Heights requested her judging services for test sessions for their skaters.

Though certainly not as prestigious as judging at the national level, these test sessions mean a great deal to young skaters and to their coaches.

Testing allows the skaters to show they’ve achieved a certain level of pro-ficiency and advance to the next level.

Alone on the ice, with judges looking on, these sessions are not casual affairs.

“I’ve had cataracts removed so my eyesight is as sharp as ever,” Cunning-ham says, laughing. “They can’t get away with anything.”

She concedes the sport’s new scor-ing system has made things “fairer” for the skater but took a while for her to get used to.

“The public can’t understand the new system and that has definitely affected the sport,” she says.

Cunningham’s skating partner Bill died in 2008; husband James died in 2012.

They had been married for 64 years. It’s been 20 years since Cunningham

last skated. She has suffered the conse-quences of a sport that puts a great deal of stress on the joints.

“My right hip went first. The cartilage was worn out, so I had hip replacement surgery,” she says. She’s had double knee replacement also and now uses a cane to steady her walk.

“No regrets,” she says. “I’ve had too much fun to regret anything. It’s such a beautiful sport and not just for the young. It’s been part of my life for as long as I can remember.” v

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The Gables of Hudson offers a sweet alternative to living at home


After 15 months of construction, the 85,000-square-foot building, plus the parking lot, take up seven of the nine acres of the campus. The final two acres are pre-served wetlands.

Executive Director Sandy Warner ex-plains the concept behind the Gables the best.

“It is a licensed assisted living center through the Ohio Department of Health,” she says. “We offer a hotel-like atmosphere with services and medical oversight.”

But the most important part — on top of the services, state-of-art facility and House-Beautiful interior design — are the people, says owner Mike Wojno.

“The identifiable difference is the peo-ple,” he says. “They make it a positive, up-lifting atmosphere.”

A heated, covered walkway leads visitors through the front doors where they are im-mediately greeted at the front desk. The room then opens into a wide, sunlit living room, filled with comfortable chairs that are situated around a fireplace.

The fireplaces were a must when design-ing the new facility, Warner says. When polled about what they would like more of, residents at the sister facility — The Gables at KentRidge — said they want-ed more fireplaces, she adds. The develop-ers listened and the Gables of Hudson now has five fireplaces throughout the building.

Nourishing the mind, abody and soulThe Gables of Hudson offers three lev-

els of care — assistance with personal hy-giene/dress, assistance with toileting needs and assistance with mobility. Warner says they also have medication administration by licensed nurses.

Nurses are on duty 24 hours a day and the Gables of Hudson offers a full therapy staff, she adds.

Residents get three meals a day and with Executive Chef John McAninch, on site, all meals are created fresh each day.

The day begins with a continental buf-fet breakfast from 7 to 10:30 a.m. Resi-dents can choose from two hot items, fresh fruit, bagels, pastries, yogurt, oatmeal and a number of other choices. Lunch and din-ner include homemade soup, main en-trees, plus a cafeteria menu if residents are not interested in the entrees.

“He spoils them. He really does,” War-ner says of McAninich.

The Gables of Hudson offers 112 suites, ranging in size from 330 square feet to 660 square feet. Of those suites, 36 are locat-ed in the VIP section, a protected unit for those who need a heightened level of care and supervision.

The suites are arranged throughout the building’s three main corridors — Washing-ton Court, Lincoln Lane and Jefferson Square — each with a portrait of its namesake.

by Stephanie Fellenstein Photos special to Hudson Monthly

For months, drivers along Darrow Road watched the Ga-bles of Hudson rise up and take shape on the site of the for-mer Waters Restaurant. When the doors opened Oct. 12, 2013, the staff, new residents and their families embraced their new home away from home.


The hallways are wide and airy, with wainscotting and wallpaper to match. Each corridor opens into a spacious sitting area or library and there are seating nooks along the way if someone wants to stop and chat or rest for a minute.

The smallest suite houses a bedroom and tiny kitchenette in one room with a huge bathroom which Warner explains allows wheelchairs and walkers plenty of room to maneuver about.

The medium-sized suite includes a small living room, bedroom, same large-sized bathroom and a walk-in closet.

The two-bedroom suite is the largest, and also includes a living room, bathroom and walk-in closet.

Current residents range in age from 64

to 103 and include couples — one mar-ried 70 years. Most, 80 percent, Wojno says, come from a 10-mile radius.

Geri Ingersol moved to the Gables of Hudson around Oct. 2. The former Stow resident said she was the third resident to move in.

With family close by in Cuyahoga Falls and Silver Lake, Ingersol says the Gables of Hudson has been the perfect fit.

“It’s just like living in a resort,” she says. “It’s such a beautiful place. The food is de-licious and they make everything from scratch.”

She adds there is “something going on at all times” and she participates in as much as she can. She was heading to a chair exer-cise program next.

Ingersol says she would definitely rec-ommend the Gables of Hudson to oth-er people.

“I’ve already recommended it to two or three people.”

Taking care of the soulResidents who move to the Gables of

Hudson should plan on a full schedule. From exercise programs, yoga and tai chi to church services, entertainers and crafts, residents have plenty to choose from.

“We purchased vans and are able to do field trips too,” Warner says, adding they already visited Mountaineer Casino and plan to take on the KentRidge facility in a chair volleyball tournament soon.

From left, The Gables of Hudson from route 91, an outdoor courtyard and putting green and the main dining room.

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Family friendlyFamily members and friends are wel-

come to visit at any time, Warner says.The Gables hosted a candlelight resident

and family Christmas dinner in December and one resident hosted family members for Thanksgiving. Besides the main dining room, there are several private dining areas or nooks to host smaller groups.

There is even a children’s playground in an outdoor courtyard for visitors. And Lincoln Lane, which leads toward the nurses station and the library, opens out on a courtyard and the Jack-Nicklaus-de-signed putting green.

Residents are invited to join in on triv-

ia, bingo and the Silver Sneakers exercise program. And throughout December they watched movies like “Christmas Vaca-tion,” “The Santa Clause,” and “It’s a won-derful life.”

One of Warner’s favorite parts of the new building is the Sports Bar. Huge flat screens hang around the room usually broadcasting the latest sporting event. The room also features an ice cream bar.

Looking aheadThe Gables of Hudson is already rac-

ing toward full capacity.Wojno envisions five total facilities, similar to the Gables of Hudson, in Northeast Ohio.

“Each one will cater to the local flavor,” he says. “It’s all part of being in a commu-

nity.” With that in mind, Warner is already planning several Hudson-related excur-sions to events like the summer music fes-tival on the Green and a viewing party for the July 4 fireworks.

Wojno says he wanted to make sure the facility was large enough to matter, but small enough to care.

“The day Sandy and I can’t recite resi-dents’ names, or the names of family and staff members, means we need to re-eval-uate,” he says.

They call their success “joyful discon-tent.” “We are very joyful with what we have,” Wojno says.

“But we will never be satisfied,” War-ner adds. “There are always ways to get better.”v

The Gables offers many activities like making apple dumplings, left, cocoa jars, middle, and doing service projects, right.

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For most kids, high school graduation usu-ally triggers the de-sire to cast off the ties that have bound them to home and family and to set off for new horizons. Hori-zons that, for many Hudson graduates, usually remain with-in Ohio’s borders or the Midwest and include sharing a dorm room and a communal bathroom, learn-ing the greek alphabet, and discov-ering what else there is to do after going to class for only about fifteen hours a week.

For Megan McKinley, her ‘edge of the world’ is still to be discov-ered. Leave the Midwest? By the end of college, this 2013 Hudson High school graduate will have left the United States behind to cross the borders of numerous countries and continents and more than a few cultures. Expanded horizons? More like exploded horizons.

If the adages are true, the ones about travel being the best teach-er, then in a matter of a few years, McKinley will be very educated in-deed.

When McKinley started looking at colleges, she already had a ver-itable backpack of college credit, having taken classes at Kent State University. Through a program at Hudson High School, students can

take college classes that count to-ward both a high school diploma and full college credit. This two-for-one deal suited her independent nature while preparing her to enter whatever college she chose as at least a second semester freshman.

At first McKinley was looking at The Ohio State University, The Uni-versity of Wisconsin and The Uni-versity of Washington as possible places to pursue a degree in the field of human rights and social jus-tice. Until, that is, the day she re-ceived a brochure in the mail from

by Heidi AugustinPhotos special to Hudson Monthly

The world is a book and those who do not travelread only one page.

— St. Augustin

WORLDHello


Long Island University advertising their LIU Global Curriculum. The photographs of students gathered on beaches or standing on a mountain surveying the countryside below; in front of ancient tem-ples and climbing the Great Wall of Chi-na were a whole lot more exciting than the usual college fare offered in other bro-chures. The bachelor’s degree in global studies offered by this program also fit in nicely with McKinley’s goals.

“If there were ever a perfect student for this program, it would be Megan,” says her father Scott McKinley. “She’s been an adventurer from a young age.” Her par-ents were completely behind her desire to undertake this course of study; to learn while practically living out of a suitcase. Her father observes that, “the world is get-ting smaller and there will be great oppor-tunities for people who have a diversity of experiences, cultures, and languages. People who can relate.”

According to the college brochure, stu-dents are able to study in eight coun-tries on four continents. After a first-year program in Costa Rica, participants can choose from centers and programs in Asia, Africa, and Australia. They can study comparative religion in India and Thai-land, Chinese language and culture in Hangzhou China, ecological diversity and natural history in New South Wales, Aus-tralia, and Zulu and African Studies in

South Africa. They then return to New York for a final capstone semester that includes an internship in New York City. Even with all that globe trotting, the col-lege promises to keep students “on track toward graduation ... and enable them to make a seamless transition from college student to successful professional.”

McKinley began her first semester at-tending college classes in a converted convent in Costa Rica with 21 of her fellow classmates. Four hours a day were devot-ed to learning Spanish in addition to reg-ular college English classes and a class about the local history. The group is pre-dominantly women consisting of 18 fe-males and three males. McKinley noted that this ratio of women to men is not un-usual for the program. About the disparate ratio, “maybe guys just don’t like to be out-side their comfort zone,” she comments with an ironic chuckle.

Students of the program are housed with local families which is a convenient way to further immerse them in the cul-ture and language. McKinley’s host family consisted of a mother and father and five ‘brothers’ ranging in age from 12 to 27. She was able to hone her Spanish lan-guage skills in the bustling family environ-ment, while learning about how local peo-ple live. “I got really close to my host mom because there weren’t any other girls in the family.”

“There wasn’t much of a culture shock to begin with,” says McKinley about the town of Heredia, Costa Rica. “There are many of the same stores and chain res-taurants and it was easy to get around on buses and on foot.” The next part of the trip was altogether different.

After the first six-week period, McKin-ley and her classmates traveled into Ni-caragua to study the U.S./Nicaragua re-lationship. “I had already been on mission trips to Ecuador and the Dominican Re-public so I had seen that kind of pover-ty before, but Nicaragua was really hard.” The week-long trip was spent interviewing residents as well as representatives of dif-ferent organizations such as Witness for Peace and Fabretto which are groups de-voted to helping impoverished children. McKinley says that she learned that the entrenched poverty of the region was a di-rect result of the Contra War of the 1980s.

Returning to Costa Rica, the group then ventured on to a pineapple plantation in Sarapiqui to study many aspects of hu-man affects upon the environment. The Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui region is an ecologically delicate part of Costa Rica that contains large tracts of natural rainfor-est and is home to hundreds of species of birds. It is also a popular eco-tourism des-tination that appeals to adventurers who come to ride the class three and four white water. According to McKinley, parts of the

Left on Page 18, Megan McKinley embraces life in Costa rica. above left, she gets to know some of the natives. right, LIu Global students do service projects as part of the curriculum.


FROM

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E 19 area had been clear cut to make way for pine-

apple and banana plantations and places for the plantation workers to live. She said there are local efforts underway to try to reforest parts of the region. The location provided ample op-portunity to study the unique tensions between the need for environmental protection and re-gional human and economic concerns.

McKinley took on the role of newsletter edi-tor to augment the $17,000 academic scholar-ship she was awarded. In the first newsletter she compiled student writings about their ex-periences and impressions of living with host families, their service learning projects, and one heartbreaking account of the realities of being a poor Nicaraguan woman. There is a heavy emphasis on writing in the program and it is evident from the newsletters that the students have much to communicate about the person-al transformations they are experiencing while abroad. Photos of students engaged in many aspects of the program with the countryside of this Central American nation as backdrop il-lustrate that the students are learning as much from their surroundings and experiences as they are from their professors.

The semester wound up with a week-long service learning project. Students were divided into five groups and went out into areas of Cos-ta Rica to complete different projects at each

site. Some went to an organic farm, others to a biodynamic farm and an orphanage. One group helped local women create an ‘Etsy’ account to sell their crafts and handiwork online. McKin-ley was part of a group that worked with indig-enous people at the location of a history muse-um. One of their tasks was to build a foundation for huge spheres that were made back in the 1600s by the local residents. The spheres were being returned to the area by the government and needed a strong foundation to hold them in place. She enjoyed talking to the local people about how they live while helping them com-plete a difficult project. The theme of the trip was expressed by a classmate in one newslet-ter, “be slow to judge and quick to help.”

What about safety? Traveling to third world countries can be tricky but McKinley said that students were well prepped by LIU on the risks they faced, as well as steps that they could take to ensure a high level of safety. “LIU did a great job of keeping us connected and in-formed,” said her step-mother, Jennifer McKin-ley. “Through the technology of Facebook and FaceTime, we could literally SEE her every day if we wanted to, which helped.”

In January, instead of returning to Costa Rica with her classmates, McKinley will skip ahead to the east. Those credits earned while still in high school boosted McKinley into sophomore

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status with the ability to start the coursework in comparative religion and culture. She will travel throughout India and Turkey with another group of students, living in dorms, hotels and monas-teries while immersing herself in the teachings, practices and institutional forms of major world religions practiced in those regions. “It is going to be intense,” she says with great enthusiasm.

Her parents take a philosophical attitude to being so far from their daughter for such long periods of time. “I definitely worry about her be-cause she’s so far away,” says her mother Bev McKinley. “But I can’t hold her back. It is her calling.”

She remembered that when Megan was very little she would hide behind the back of her leg. “Now she is going all over the world.”

Through her experiences and the knowl-edge she is gaining during these years as a stu-dent of the world, McKinley has become ener-gized and determined. “I want to do something that goes beyond helping people one by one, on a day-to-day basis. I want to take what I am learning and do something that produces last-ing change.”

She sums up her feeling about everything she has learned so far by saying that “It is a small world. I am excited for the world.”v


Seton Catholic School of Hudson will host an Open House from 2 to 4 p.m. Meet faculty, visit the classrooms and tour the building. Seton offers kindergarten (full day) through 8th grade. There is one campus schedule for all students (8:20 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.) Also offered is an ex-tended day program (6:50 to 7:50 a.m. and 3:15 to 6 p.m.) Admissions informa-tion will be available. For more information, call Pat Fritz at 330-342-4200 ext. 226, email [email protected] or visit www.se-toncatholicschool.org.

Gail Ghetia Bellamy will dis-cuss her new book, “Cleve-land Summertime Memo-ries” at 7 p.m. at the Hudson Library and Historical Society. After the presentation, Bel-lamy will answer audience questions and sign copies of her book. The book will be available for purchase courtesy of The Learned Owl Book Shop.The program is open to the public and registration is not required. For more informa-tion, call 330-653-6658 ext. 1010 or visit hudsonlibrary.org.

Ring in the Year of the Horse with a special performance by The Cleveland Chinese Music Ensemble at the Hud-son Library and Historical Society’s rotunda at 2 p.m. They will present “Spring in the East,” a program of mu-sic from China and Taiwan. Special guest Sandra Em-meline, also will perform with the group.

A “Heartfelt Happening” will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. at Lager and Vine Gastro Pub, 30 W. Streetsboro St. in Hudson. Sponsored by the Howard Hanna Hudson of-fice, the event benefits the Children’s Free Care Fund which helps young patients in Akron Children’s Hospital, University Hospital’s Rainbow Babies and Children and the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital.The gala evening includes wine, beer, hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle. Tickets are $35 per per-son and can be purchased by contacting Gail Royster at 330-608-4647 or at [email protected].

The Learned Owl’s history book club will meet at 2 p.m. at 204 N. Main St. The topic will be John Brown and all who are interested in read-ing and discussing history are invited. No reservation is needed. Read any book on the topic and join the discus-sion. The group also will dis-cuss the date and topic for the next meeting. For more information, call the Learned Owl Book Shop at 330-653-2252.

The Woman’s Club of Hudson will host Margaret Fissinger from the Akron Art Museum at 1 p.m. at the Hudson Li-brary and Historical Society. She will speak on the many galleries and exhibitions in the museum’s collection which includes more than 5,000 works. The public is in-vited to attend the meeting.

EDITOR’S PICK

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22 26Visit the Cuyahoga Valley National Park for cross-coun-try skiing and snowshoeing this winter. The Winter Sports Center, located in the Kend-all Lake Shelter, offers winter equipment rental and in-struction. The center is open Saturdays and Sundays through Feb. 22 when there is at least four inches of snow. The center also is open Feb. 17 for President’s Day from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call 330-657-2752 for current snowfall depth.Snowshoe rentals are $5 for a full day. Ski rentals are $15 for a full day and $7.50 for three hours. The Kendall Lake Shel-ter is located on Truxell/Kendall Park Road, two miles west of Akron Cleveland Road, Peninsula 44264.

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WORSHIP

Wednesday Family Night 6:30 PMHope Preschool Program

Sunday Worship Celebration 9:30 & 11:00 a.m.

Jeff Schofield, Lead Pastor

330-655-51703033 Middleton Rd. • Hudson

www.hopecma.com

Mass Schedule•Saturday:9:00am SaturdayVigil:5:30pm•Sunday:8:00,9:30,11:30am &5:30pm(LIFETEEN)

•Weekdays: Mon.,Tues.,Wed. 7:30&9:00am Thurs.:6:30&9:00am Fri.:9:00am

St. Mary Catholic Church3 4 0 N . M a i n S t . , H u d s o n , O H 4 4 2 3 6

330.653.8118 | www.stmaryhudson.cc

HOLY TRINITYANGLICAN CHURCH

Rev. Dr. Joe Boysel, Rector

Worship withHoly Eucharist and

Sunday School 10amNursery Provided

330.342.0429 55 Atterbury Blvd.www.HudsonAngelican.com

With Us!

Come

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRISTSCIENTISTP.O. Box 653

7200 Valley View RoadSun. Service & Sun. School 10:30 A.M.

Wed. Testimony Meeting 7:30 P.M.Reading Room in Hudson

Evaporator Works #7Tues., Wed., Thur., Fri. & Sat. 10-1

Sunday 11:45 - 12:30

330-653-6965

9:00 a.m. Sunday School

10:15 a.m. Worship

Northfield PresbyterianChurch

7755 S. Boyden Rd.330-467-4137

Dr. Arthur J. Helin, PastorCHILD CARE AVAILABLE

“Visitors Expected”7855 Stow Rd., Hudson, Ohio

330-653-5980Sunday Services: 8:45AM Formal Liturgy

9:45AM Sunday School11:00AM Contemporary Worship

Pastor Michael C. Conklinwww.rejoicelc.org

A Congregation of the E.L.C.A.

HUDSON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, EPCA Christ Centered Church

201 W. Streetsboro St., Hudson 330-650-1626

Sunday Worship Services:8:30am & 10:30am

Saturday Worship Service 6pmSunday School - all ages: 9:30am

Rev. Rob Sparr www.hudsonpc.org

HUDSON UNITEDMETHODIST CHURCH

2600 Hudson-Aurora Rd., Hudson330-650-2650

www.hudsonumc.comRev. Hoyte Wilhelm

Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors.

Worship:Sunday 9:00 am

Sunday School 10:15 am

Sunday School 9:15Sunday Service 10:30

hudson monthly february issue

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