Danville High School

Danville High School students gained a different learning experience this week as the school held its yearly intercession. “Our goal is to develop a student's ability to take more responsibility for their learning,” according to the Danville High School website. That is done during intercession week by giving students “voice and choice in their learning.” For some students, intercession offered the opportunity to glimpse into the world of law enforcement, as they were able to partake in a modified citizens academy through Danville Police Department.

Danville High School Forensics team won the 25-county Bluegrass Region Speech Tournament of the Kentucky High School Speech League Saturday - the team's fourth straight regional win.  DHS won by a large margin, nearly doubling the team score of second place Lexington Dunbar. Henry Clay, Lafayette and East Jessamine rounded out the top five teams.  Senior Sarabeth Marlowe and sophomore Laurel Payne, dual regional champions in events last year, added to their tallies at the 2013 meet.

It is the kind of job that might have turned Clay Clevenger's head toward any school in Kentucky. And it is home. In other words, it is the ideal job for Clevenger, a 1996 Danville graduate who was introduced today as the new football coach at his alma mater. “Not a lot of people have the opportunity to go home, but when home is a program that's in the top five in all-time wins in the state, won 10 state championships, one of the top five programs in the state of Kentucky, that just adds icing to it,” Clevenger said.

He was an all-state lineman on state championship teams at Danville, an all-American offensive lineman at Carson-Newman and has been a successful high school head coach at Henderson County. Yet there was more than that about Clay Clevenger that convinced Danville school Superintendent  Carmen Coleman he was the right person to be the new Danville High School football coach. “I didn't actually get to meet and talk with him until Saturday, but I was very impressed immediately with the things he said about the work ethic he expects from his players,” Coleman said this morning when confirming Clevenger had been hired after giving him a chance to break the news to his players at Henderson.

 Danville High School won the District 46 Governor's Cup competition, held Monday and Tuesday. This marks the 16th consecutive year that the DHS Academic Team has won the event. Rockcastle County High School finished second. Lincoln County, Garrard County and Boyle County also competed. Each year, the Kentucky Association for Academic Competition sponsors the Governor's Cup Competition for high-, middle- and elementary-school students. Schools compete in individual and team events at the district, regional and state levels.

Still not 100 percent sure where he would decide to attend college, Danville lineman Michael Jones went with his gut. The  senior said he was torn on which school to play college football for until about 20 minutes before his scheduled signing ceremony Wednesday at Danville High School. But the school that was there all along won out, and Jones signed his letter of intent with Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. “I was still kind of juggling the decision until about 20 minutes ago. I went with my gut decision and on my official visit, I loved Wofford,” said Jones, who was recruited as an offensive tackle.

The Arts Commission of Danville/Boyle County has named Barbara Reynierson the 2012 Arts Citizen.  Reynierson is a retired art instructor who taught in both the Danville and Boyle County schools. She also taught in Louisville and Lexington public schools. C.T. Whitehouse, a former student of Reynierson's and a successful artist, recalled his former teacher's influence on his interest in art. “When I graduated in 1970 from Danville High School, my keenest interest was art. A year earlier, I had no conscious interest in it at all.  In fact I dropped a rather boring-to-me calculus class and took an art class just to goof off a bit in my senior year.

The Heart of Danville Main Street program started off the New Year with a new executive director. Bethany Rogers, a Danville native and the daughter of Buck and Jan Rogers, stepped into her new role Jan. 3. Brenda Willoughby, interim director, will remain in that position until the end of this month. Local officials, including Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership Director Jody Lassiter and Boyle County Judge-Executive Harold McKinney, both expressed excitement about Rogers' new role.

Vaughn Little wasn't particularly interested in whether Sam Harp wanted a going-away party or not. The Danville assistant coach said his soon-to-be-former boss deserves one, and he wanted to throw one that would be open to as many people as possible. Harp, the longtime Danville coach and athletics director who is leaving to become the coach at Lebanon (Tenn.), will be honored Jan. 10 at what Little is calling “a thank-you reception.” “We want to really show him how much we appreciate his effort,” Little said Wednesday.