Ovid-Elsie Area Schools provides our students with the skills they need to succeed in the real world. This feature helps show how we do that, in addition to being able to keep in touch with some of our past graduates. Today’s feature is Caleb Miller. Caleb is an O-EHS graduate, class of 2005.
How O-E Shaped My Life-Caleb Miller, Class of 2005
As I walked across the stage I thought, “Wow – I can’t believe I pulled this off.” It was May 2008 and I was graduating from Northwood University in Midland, MI. It had been a long and strenuous journey, but it was completely worth it. Looking back on this adventure, it was evident that this would have never been possible without a strong and solid foundation that started from my first day of school-ever.
I was born into an average family in Mid-Michigan – specifically Elsie. This small cow town didn’t quite appear to have the luster and bustle of nearby Owosso or St .Johns, but it did have something special. This something special was the community – and that was worth it. From my early days of Kindergarten it was clear that the faculty was truly dedicated to their students, and wanted them to succeed. At that stage, everything went very well for me, and I was off to grade-school. My experience through the elementary school system was a great experience that prepared me well for transition in to the middle school program. The faculty in the middle school worked very hard to instill a strong work ethic and motivation to be the best. With this dedication, they aided me in making a smooth transition to the high school. It was here where I was able to really find my direction in both academics and life.
The high school staff was unbelievably dedicated to their students, helping them in any way possible. It was always the staff who went the extra mile to ensure that a student thoroughly understood what they were working on and how it would pertain to ‘life after O-E’ as we use to call it. The instructors were able to provide this type of attention due to the smaller class sizes. It was great – graduating in a class where you pretty much know everyone, and getting personalized attention from each and every teacher if you needed their help. It is so very hard to describe – and would take quite some time – the way that each instructor helped and guided me into the individual that I am today. But, what I can say is that they were very instrumental in promoting strong ethics, morals, values, and academic perseverance. This led me to work diligently to become involved with my class and graduate in the upper quartile of our graduating class. With this strong knowledge base and academic platform, I received competitive offers from several universities.
Since O-E offered ‘Dual-Enrollment’ in some of their business classes, I was able to graduate from Northwood University with a Bachelors of Business Administration majoring in Banking, Finance, Marketing, and Management – with a minor in Language Arts, Economics, and International Business – within 3 years of my graduation from high school. In this process, I was the salutatorian of my Associates class and was awarded the ‘Northwood University Banking and Finance’ award. None of this would have been possible without the strong foundation that the Ovid-Elsie school system had instilled in me from the very beginning. It was a complete combination of the small town atmosphere with a phenomenal educational system.
Upon graduation from Northwood I was recruited by Cabela’s Inc of Sidney, Nebraska and relocated there with my wife Jaclyn.
Should you know of anyone who would make a good feature for this column, please send contact information to: Bonnie Ott, Ovid-Elsie High School, 8989 Colony Road, Elsie, MI 48831, or e-mail it to bonnieo@oe.edzone.net. We look forward to hearing from our Ovid-Elsie Alumni!
