Danville High School

Jordan Gay always envisioned himself kicking a ball for a long time. It's just that it was a soccer ball, not a football, that the Danville native liked to kick around until then Danville High School football coach Sam Harp helped persuade him to also try football. His senior year he put about two-thirds of his kickoffs into the end zone and averaged 33 yards per punt despite using a rugby-style kick that Harp wanted him to do to help with punt coverage. With an assist from then Centre College assistant coach Tom Brown, Gay got a chance to join Murray State's football team as a preferred walk-on kicker.

Editor's note: Taken from the Danville 911 records, the Police Blotter represents a history of the initial calls and the information used by the dispatcher to send officers to investigate complaints. It is not necessarily an indication of what the officer found upon arrival at the scene, or of how police may have dealt with the complaint.   MAY 9 12:01 a.m., possible physical altercation is in progress involving multiple subjects at North Fifth Street residence; about 100 subjects were cleared out of the home.

The search for a 2012-13 Danville High School principal is well underway, though administrators will take applications for the vacant position until Wednesday. So far, 12 people have applied for the position, said Danville Independent Schools Superintendent Carmen Coleman. Members of the Danville High school-based council interviewed four of those candidates and expect to conduct more interviews very soon. On Thursday, Coleman and the school-based council will meet and review any new applications received.

Police are investigating the theft of a vehicle and several other items from facilities over the weekend at Danville High School. Police Chief Tony Gray said school employees showing up for work early Monday found a 2001 Dodge Durango truck had been stolen from a building behind the practice football field. The truck is “Admiral blue” and had a Danville Independent Schools license plate on the front and an official government tag on the back. In addition to the truck, some radios from school buses in the nearby bus garage behind the high school were taken, Gray said.

Members of the Danville High School forensics team won seven awards at the 58th Annual Barkley Forum Jan. 25-27 at Emory University in Atlanta.   Senior Jack Graham placed in the final round for the second year, winning fifth in Dramatic Interpretation. Additionally, senior Tyler Whitehouse advanced to the semifinals (top 12) in Humorous Interpretation.  Five DHS entries advanced to the quarterfinals, or top 100, in their events: Graham and Whitehouse in Duo Interpretation; the Duo Interpretation team of Cloe Anderson and Kolton Winfield; Sam Nelson in Oratory; Dylan Mullins in Oratory; and Sarabeth Marlowe in Prose/Poetry.  One hundred forty-nine schools from 28 states and the District of Columbia participated in the contest, competing in six speech and four debate events through four preliminary rounds and three elimination rounds.  The Barkley Forum is one of the most prestigious contests in the country, sponsored annually by Emory University's award-winning debate society.  DHS competes in this contest annually, with three champions and 11 finalists in speech events since 2004. 

Danville High School has hired an assistant principal for the 2012-13 school year, just in time for classes that are slated to start Aug. 14. Wade Stanfield, 42, of Harrodsburg, will be the assistant principal for Danville High. Stanfield last worked as associate principal for Henry Clay High School in Lexington and was principal of Mercer County Senior High School in Harrodsburg from 2004-2007. Aaron Etherington, who recently was named 2012-13 principal for Danville High and whose former position Stanfield fills, said he is excited to welcome the new assistant principal to the Admiral family.

Students and staff at Danville High School were evacuated shortly before lunchtime today after smoke was visible in a first-floor room. Danville Fire Chief Woody Ball said the culprit was overcooked popcorn in a microwave oven that created a slight haze that was visible in the air. "I've been in smokier pool halls," Ball joked, but said school officials did the right thing by clearing out the building. After the air quality was tested and an exhaust fan deployed, students were allowed to return to the building from the shivering cold.

Danville High School presents the timeless tale of “Beauty and the Beast” Thursday through Saturday.  Play-goers will be able to sing along with the all-high-school student cast as they portray all of the favorite characters from the popular story. “Beauty and the Beast” is a “tale as old as time” about an enchanted castle and the blossoming of a magical rose.  Beautiful but odd, Belle learns to love, and the castle's beast learns to be loved.  Treasured songs such as “Be our Guest” and “Something There” will be brought to stage.

The audience was virtually silent when author Frank X Walker read from his works Thursday evening. His style was easy, engaging, lively and light. He drew listeners' attention effortlessly and evoked smiles and occasional laughs from the assemblage. Walker was at the Boyle County Public Library for a reception honoring his recent designation as the new Kentucky poet laureate, a title he will hold for the next two years. Walker, a Danville native, is the youngest Kentucky poet laureate to hold the title as well as the first African-American.

Mr. and Mrs. Erich Reimann of Melbourne, Fla., and Mr. and Mrs. James Frisch of West Babylon, N.Y., announce the engagement of their daughter, Jessica Ana Frisch, to Lucas Clayton Lovell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Steve Lovell of Danville. The bride-elect is a 2004 graduate of West Forsyth High School in Winston-Salem, N.C., and attended Forsyth Tech Community College. She works at Travinia Italian Kitchen. The groom-elect is a 2001 graduate of Danville High School and a 2005 graduate of Campbell College.

Editor's note: Taken from the Danville 911 records, the Police Blotter represents a history of the initial calls and the information used by the dispatcher to send officers to investigate complaints. It is not necessarily an indication of what the officer found upon arrival at the scene, or of how police may have dealt with the complaint.   MAY 14   12:18 a.m., one-vehicle accident in Mallard's parking lot; the driver may be intoxicated; arrest made. 12:23 a.m., possible drug transaction is in progress on North Fourth Street.

Jordan Gay always envisioned himself kicking a ball for a long time. It's just that it was a soccer ball, not a football, that the Danville native liked to kick around until then Danville High School football coach Sam Harp helped persuade him to also try football. His senior year he put about two-thirds of his kickoffs into the end zone and averaged 33 yards per punt despite using a rugby-style kick that Harp wanted him to do to help with punt coverage. With an assist from then Centre College assistant coach Tom Brown, Gay got a chance to join Murray State's football team as a preferred walk-on kicker.

Recently, Max Ray, my former classmate and teammate, wrote a letter to the editor stating that he believed Danville High School didn't prepare him well for citing references in his college course writings.   I respect Max and appreciate his perspective, but I wanted to give a different view-point. I do agree there are and will continue to be areas that need improvement, but I want to comment on the positive aspects of my high school education. I have been successful at college due to the foundations Danville High School laid for my educational development.

I arrived at Berea feeling prepared to tackle the hard work of a college education. I felt Danville High School had prepared me for my college journey; my graduating class of 2012 had set the record for highest ACT scores in school history. Instead, my eyes were opened to what skills I did not hold.  I did not have the ability to cite the references used when writing a paper in either MLA (The Modern Language Association), APA (The American Psychological Association), and Chicago formatting.

FRANKFORT - Danville High School's student newspaper, The Log, took home several awards and third place for General Excellence in this year's annual statewide high school journalism contest sponsored by the Kentucky High School Journalism Association.  The contest recognizes high school journalists participating in high school newspapers, yearbooks and broadcast programs. KHSJA was founded 16 years ago by the Kentucky Press Association and has nearly 100 member high schools. Students from 32 Kentucky schools and one from Indiana won awards, which were announced last week.  South Oldham High School won the Grand Champion competition by amassing more awards points than any other participating school.

Roger and Debbie Webb of Danville are pleased to announce the engagement and forthcoming wedding of their daughter Tiffany Marie Webb, to Nathan Perros Fuqua, son of Kathy Fuqua of Danville and Gene and Becky Fuqua of Danville. The bride-elect is a graduate of Boyle County High School and Eastern Kentucky University and is employed as a health unit coordinator at Spartanburg Regional Healthcare Systems. The groom-elect is a graduate of Danville High School and Wofford College and is employed as an assistant football coach at Wofford.

Continuing on the path to innovative education methods, Danville High and Bate Middle schools are offering students the opportunity to take hands-on, engineering-based courses. In 2011, Bate Middle School teacher Caleb Wetmore began teaching engineering-based electives at the request of the administration. Using ideas from Project Lead the Way programs, the class was formed. Wetmore explained how the school's technology teacher, Scott Walker, expressed to him early on that he wanted to teach video game programming at the middle school level, “which is almost unheard of.” There are now four classes of nearly 100 students learning the code-based programming, 30 to 33 percent of whom are female, which is greater than the national average, said Bate Principal Amy Galloway.