Photo by Kim Promenschenkel
Linnette Vagedes and Barbara Tinnerman-Cecil display a sample of the composite collages that will make up the Decade Wall in Milton-Union's new school building.

By JOYELL NEVINS
Record Herald Editor
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WEST MILTON -The new Milton-Union school building is heading towards completion - and a group of residents and alumni want to ensure the past is remembered.

At Monday’s board of education meeting, the board accepted more than $26,000 in donations towards the Milton-Union Picture Project - also known as the “Memory Wall” or the “Decade Wall.”

Taken from Newton and Arcanum’s “Decade Wall,” the Memory Wall will be in the hallway right beside the high school gym and feature class composites and photo displays by decades starting from 1910 all the way to the present. A special committee has taken this project on and have been collecting groups, teams, clubs, teachers, events, buildings and candid photos for placement on the wall.

“When you walk in the front doors of Newton, and you walk past all of these collages, it’s just beautiful,” said Barbara Tinnerman Cecil, class of 1960 and member of the Milton-Union Picture Committee.

“We hope ours will be beautiful, too,” she said.

Aside from the individual class composites collages, there will also be a special sports activities collage. That whole wall will include sports, dances, proms, coaches, and team photos.

“We know we won’t be able to get every tennis team photo from the past (100) years, but we want anything we can find to represent these teams,” Cecil said.

The display will be done in conjunction with Forty Nine Degrees Company.

At Monday’s meeting, the following contributions were accepted for the picture project:
• $4,000 from Waibel Energy Systems
• $750 from West Milton Rotary
• $10,000 by the Parent-Teacher Organization
• $1,500 by the Milton-Union Alumni Association
• $9,803.14 from past senior classes

Pictures are still being accepted. The committee is seeking class composites from 1910-1917, 1919, 1921, 1922, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1941, 1947, 1949, and 1953.

They also are looking for special pictures of athletic events, senior trips, teachers, bus drivers, cooks, cheerleaders, fans in the stands, etc. to include with the composite pictures. For more information or to share photos, call Barbara Tinnerman Cecil at (937) 698-6559 or email Linette Vagedes at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Natural gas switch

Also on Monday, Milton-Union Exempted Village Schools is joining other schools in the Ohio School Consortium’s Southwestern Ohio Educational Purchasing Council (EPC) in switching their natural gas supplier from EnergyUSA to Constellation NewEnergy - meaning they will save about 40 percent in utilitiy cost, according to Treasurer Chuck Klein.

The EPC, a group that allows districts to make large purchases as a group, generally at a lower rate, set up the current EnergyUSA contract to go through June 2014. Klein stated that the EPC, representing 250 school districts, was able to negotiate out of that contract for 50 cents on the dollar. In Milton-Union’s case, that is approximately a $35,000 payoff, Klein said.

“Based on today’s price and last year’s usage, our cost would decrease by 40 percent and that includes paying off EnergyUSA,” he said.

With Constellation, Milton-Union will have a three-year requirement with two option years. That contract will start in July.