The Colonial Hills Civic Association

By Suzy Davis, Colonial Hills Resident and I Am Boundless Executive Director

As a resident of Colonial Hills and the executive director of I Am Boundless, a provider of supports and services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, I am excited to share news about the recent merger between I Am Boundless and Step By Step Academy.

In May, I Am Boundless officially merged with Step by Step Academy, a non-profit provider of outpatient behavioral health services and center-based educational services for children with autism. As part of the merger, I Am Boundless will now oversee the usage and maintenance of the Step By Step Academy campus just north of Colonial Hills.

I Am Boundless, formerly Franklin County Residential Services, merged with Step By Step Academy to broaden our mission of serving the community and to preserve the longstanding purpose and spirit of the property, which is providing valuable mental and behavioral health services and programs.

As we begin to make plans for Step By Step Academy and the campus, we wanted to let you know that all of us at I Am Boundless are committed to getting to know our community, being good neighbors and remaining transparent about our plans. On that note, here’s information that might answer some of the questions you might have about our plans for the property.

• We plan to maintain the park-like setting of the campus and to keep the back gate at Indianola Avenue closed to traffic, which we know has been a concern for many residents.

• Our current plan is for the campus to be used by social service and nonprofit organizations, which includes moving the I Am Boundless corporate headquarters to the campus so that our leadership team can be very involved in what happens there daily.

• There are three buildings on the campus that have not been maintained for decades. We share the community’s concern about the safety and appearance of these buildings and have received approval from the Worthington Architectural Review Board (ARB) to demolish two of them. We will be re-evaluating the third building in collaboration with the ARB.

• We will likely restore two other historical buildings on the campus — the former icehouse and an original home of Dr. Harding II, which are in better condition and do not present a safety hazard. We will continue to work closely with the ARB on the restoration projects, as well as with the City Planning Office and Worthington Police and Fire departments, which have all been very supportive of our plans.

• We are in the process of making improvements to enhance the beauty and safety of the campus, including removing dead trees, filling potholes and renovating some of the buildings. It’s a big project and we kindly ask for your patience as we establish a master plan.

We are so grateful to be a part of the Worthington community. We love having our neighbors walk their dogs, ride their bikes and enjoy the peacefulness of the campus. We will continue to keep you posted about our plans as they develop through the Colonial Hills Civic Association. If you have questions, concerns or would like a tour of our campus, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Thank you for your support!

Suzy Davis
Executive Director, Boundless
sdavis@iamboundless.org
614.844.3800 Ext. 225

Kendra Smith
Director, Behavioral Health Services
ksmith@iamboundless.org
614.436.7837

Nathan Henninger, PhD.
Director of Step by Step Clinical and Educational Programs
nhenninger@stepbystepacademy.org
614.436.7837 Ext. 2267

Attention all High School students who are residents of Colonial Hills! The CHCA offers an educational scholarship each year to graduating high school Seniors. Awards can be applied to any post-high school education: college, vocational, technical, business institute, etc.

Application forms are available here in MS Word or PDF. Applications are due April 2, 2018 (or postmarked by March 28, if sent by mail). Please see the application for additional details.

Good luck to all graduating Seniors! And families with Juniors or Sophomores might take a look and start planning now to apply your graduating year.

It’s awards show season! This year presented a very difficult decision for our secret judges, from Clintonville, who had a very long list of notable favorites for these coveted awards! With so very many creative, lovely, bright and sparkling contenders, they wanted to honorably mention:

• 71 Southington, where they were impressed with three levels of lights
• 389 Colonial, with the love sign, so appropriate for the season
• 5630 Indianola, the judges were charmed by the traditional use of red and green
• 448 Loveman, with the “white Christmas” theme of all white lights and a splash of blue on the garage
• 385 Park, which had a lovely front door
• 124 Park, who should get an award for the most athletic star placement, look up everyone!
• 436 S. Selby, with its sad and sweet Charlie Brown Xmas tree
• 363 Loveman, for its very artistic and fun candy cane tree.

But in the end, hard decisions had to be made, so……Drum roll please……And the winners are:

• MOST LIT: 426 N. Selby! Year after year, an amazing beacon of light and herculean effort! This is the house to beat, folks!
• MOST ARTISTIC: 244 Colonial! So many creative ideas and a mix of décor: lights, lanterns, wooden deer, Xmas tree with gifts.
• BEST RETRO: 452 Colonial! Fabulous lights (2nd Place Most Lit) and a sweet seating spot with classic Adirondack chairs clinched it
• BEST FRONT DOOR – 3rd Place: 143 Lakeridge! So, not officially the door, but the singing, flashing Pine tree at the entrance of the drive had to be recognized. The judges also loved the lights outlining the house, it looks like gingerbread.
• BEST FRONT DOOR – 2nd Place: 563 Meadoway! The judges appreciated the candy cane columns and deer that moved!
• BEST FRONT DOOR – 1st Place: 272 Colonial! Snow man and Polar bears, yep, the judges are North High grads, so this spoke to their hearts.
• BEST OVERALL – 3rd Place: 334 Kenbrook! Layers of lovely holiday beauty – and on two sides, no less!
• BEST OVERALL – 2nd Place: 435 Park! “Tasteful and simply lovely!”, said our judges. Are the branches of the tree sparkling too? The tree looks like it came out of a Dr. Suess book.
• BEST OVERALL – 1st Place: 287 Loveman Avenue! Our judges were charmed by the “Island of Misfit Toys” theme and bigger than life characters.

Thanks to resident Kathi Godber for coordinating the judges for this event, and to The CyMack Group real estate for sponsoring.

Be sure to take your evening walks to enjoy these winners and all of the charming lights in our special, sparkling neighborhood.

Congratulations to everyone who particiated in the 2017 38th Annual Race Through The Hills! Click the links for overall results or results by age group.

We’re looking forward to another great Colonial Hills 4th of July Extravaganza! We have a full morning of events scheduled:

• 7:30 – 8:15am: pickup race packets (bibs, shirts). Pre-register now!
• 8:30am Sharp!: start of the 38th annual “Run Through the Hills”!
• 10:00am Kiddie parade: Independence Day theme decorated bikes, trikes, scooters, floats, people, dogs, etc. are welcome to circle around the park to music and a friendly costume judging competition
• 10:30am – 1:30pm: Bounce houses, midway games, food from Kenny’s Meat Wagon and Kona Ice, face painters and more

Every great event requires great volunteers, and we need you to sign up to help. Jenny Kendall is heading the Extravaganza again this year, and we are now ready for people to sign-up to volunteer. Go to our SignupGenius page to volunteer for a shift or two. Several positions are also available for children 12 years or older. Thanks!

The weather is warming up and it’s time to register and start training for the 38th annual Run Through the Hills 5k! Once again, the 5k run will take place on July 4, 2017, starting and finishing at Selby Park in verdant Colonial Hills.

Race registration is OPEN, so register now!

Pre-registration is open now through July 1. Check-in starts on the day of the race at 7:30am, with the race starting promptly at 8:30am. Pre-registration cost is $20 for adults, $15 for children/students 19 and under (pre-registration ends July 2). Day-of registration is $20 for all. Registration includes an athletic shirt (for 1st 150 registrants), race bib with embedded chip for timing, awards, refreshments, and a great time running through the hilly tree-lined streets of Colonial Hills neighborhood (race map here). Click here to register online. Mail-in registration is also available, click here to download the form to print, complete, and mail-in with your check. NOTE: if you are registering multiple people, please register and pay for each person separately so that we can capture details for each runner (name, age, gender).

Following the 5k run, Colonial Hills Independence Day Extravaganza will continue, with bounce-houses, midway games, music, and food 10am-1pm.

More info to come – looking forward to a great event again this year!

Great times at this year’s Easter egg hunt! Thanks to Rachael Dorothy and Kathi Godber for all the hard work to make the event a success. We also thank our Egg Hunt 2017 sponsors: Meacham Real Estate and Equitable Mortgage Co.

Happy Spring! (click “Continue reading” link to see pictures from the event, courtesy of Barb Schwartz!)

Continue reading ‘Egg Hunt 2017’ »

We’ve gotten a little behind with the website of late, so here are a few updates from Q4 2016:

1. New CHCA officers: at the November 2016 meeting, officers were elected. Congratulations and welcome to new CHCA President Ken Paul, and Co-Secretaries John Cecil & Edward Doty! Also, a hearty thank-you to our outgoing officers: Doug Knight (president) and Kelly Jaeger (secretary) – thanks for all your service! If you want to contact the officers for any reason, please see the Contact page.
2. 2016 Holiday Lighting Contest Winners – Thanks to all who took the time and care to decorate – the neighborhood looked great! Here are the winners as determined by this year’s mystery judges:
   • Best Overall – First Place: “Dr. Seuss Does Christmas” 435 Park Boulevard
   • Best Overall – Second Place: “Slam Dunk Santa” 71 Southington
   • Best Overall – Third Place: “Hidden Christmas/Nativity Wonderland” 5531 Indianola Avenue
   • Most Artistic: “Great Balls of Xmas!” 546 Colonial Avenue
   • Best Retro: “Memories of 1960s Cartoon with Rudolph and the ABS*” 287 Loveman Avenue
   • Best Front Door – First Place: “Stairway to Heaven” 244 Colonial
   • Best Front Door – Second Place: “ A-Dorable Double Doorway” 334 Kenbrook
   • Best Front Door – Third Place: “The Reason for the Season” 568 Meadoway
   • Most Lit Up – “HO HO HO WoW!!! Where are my Sunglasses?” 426 N. Selby

   Start making your decorating plans now for 2017!

3. Trustees: we could use a couple of new Trustees to help with CHCA deliveries to a set of 15-20 homes. Responsibilities are basically to deliver the CHCA Courier about 4x per year, conduct the membership drive in the spring, and distribute the luminaria in December. This can be a great way to help the neighborhood; it would also count for CH service hours for any high school students who might eventually apply for a CHCA scholarship! Please contact President Ken Paul (kennethcpaul@yahoo.com).

Here’s to a great start to 2017!

Happy (Gregorian) New Year!

Applications are now available for the CHCA 2017 Educational Scholarship! All graduating high school seniors who will be pursuing any educational program after high school are eligible (e.g. college, vocational, technical, business institutes, etc).

Applications are available here (MS Word) and here (PDF), or using the links on the right-hand side of the colonialhills.us page. Due date is April 28 (postmarked Apr 21 if mailed); see application for additional details.

In addition to information about academic and extracurricular activities, it is necessary for an applicant to attend at least one CHCA monthly meeting and have neighborhood service hours. See calendar at right for more details on upcoming CHCA meetings and events.

HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS: this is a great opportunity to earn / win some money to help pay for the next steps in your education! There is still time to get neighborhood service hours by attending meetings, helping with planning for upcoming events, and distributing Couriers for those districts with no current Trustee.

Juniors & Sophomores, take a look at the application and start working on the requirements now for when it’s your turn!

Good luck!

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the CHCA 2016 Run Through the Hills 5k! With over 200 runners this year, we had a great event. Special congratulations to our overall winners: Jonathan Allen (16:32.9) and Claire Steigerwald (19:41.3); well done!

Complete results are posted here.

Pictures from the race and rest of the Independence Day celebration coming soon!

NOTE: results updated (7/7/2016) to reflect changes to the 60-99 Men’s and Women’s places due to a bib mixup that was self-reported by the participants and corrected. Anita Snively is our new women’s 60-99 champion! Results for all other age groups were unaffected.