GOOD-BYE DR. K!

When former Battelle CEO Carl Kohrt retired at the end of December, he had several retirement parties in the community and at Battelle. At Metro, we wanted to honor him in our own way since we consider him to be one of the “forefathers” of our school – along with retired OSU President Karen Holbrook. We had dedicated the Inquiry Studio (chemistry and biology lab) to her upon retirement and decided to dedicate the engineering and physics lab to Dr. Kohrt – or “Dr. K” as he is affectionately known by Metro students.

We held our party on the last day of classes before winter break and Battelle’s VP of Philanthropy and Education Rich Rosen brought him over with the ruse that he could enjoy a holiday celebration with the kids. As he came through the doors, almost 300 students were silently seated on the floor and erupted with a resounding “SURPRISE!” complete with hand-made signs bearing messages such as Good Luck!, Enjoy!, Happy Retirement!, and We love you, Dr. K! The look on his face was priceless and he was definitely surprised. We invited his wife Lynne to join him as we presented the plaque that dedicated the lab to him.

Several students spoke at the event and described how grateful they are for a school like Metro and the opportunities they have had as a result of his efforts to bring about educational change. Dr. Kohrt gave an impromptu talk about his passion for education and his faith in the future of students like ours.

When the formal part of the event ended, Mrs. Raymond announced “early dismissal” in honor of Dr. Kohrt, but a line of students formed to wish him well and speak with him in person. The line lasted well over a half hour as Dr. K made time for each student who wanted to express their admiration.

We’re definitely going to miss Carl, but we also look forward to getting to know Battelle’s new CEO, Jeff Wadsworth, who also is a great supporter of Battelle’s educational mission.