During the month of May, North Royalton Board of Education and Superintendent Greg Gurka presented four businesses with the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) Business Honor Roll Award. These businesses are Fuerst Automotive, My Pizzetta, Weible & Associates, and Serpentini Chevrolet.
“School-business partnerships greatly benefit all involved. Local businesses play a crucial role in supporting their communities’ schools,” said Denise Baba, 2017 OSBA President.
Fuerst Automotive/Bob and Sheri Stout – As a North Royalton resident and business owner in Broadview Heights, Bob and Sheri Stout of Fuerst Automotive know the value of a quality school system. At their place of business, 8116 Broadview Road, they always proudly allow signs to show their support of the schools. Bob participates in North Royalton High School’s senior exit interviews. He also has participated in North Royalton Middle School’s Career Day. Fuerst Automotive has been a website advertiser on the district website for many years as well.
Several years ago, when Bob was president of The Rotary Club of North Royalton/Broadview Heights, he began the student-led Interact club. This year, for the very first time, Fuerst Automotive is giving away a $500 scholarship to a deserving student based on need. Bob also is currently working with the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center on a project he recently started, called “Wheels to Prosper,” which began in California. Fuerst Automotive is the first to have the program in Ohio. They will sell a refurbished car for $1 to a deserving person in need. The car is currently undergoing complete mechanical repairs and a new body and paint job by the Auto Tech and Auto Body students, including students from North Royalton. They are not only gaining education, but will see for themselves what it means to help people in need by using their skills.
My Pizzetta – Bob and Sharon Rybak, Owners of My Pizzetta have made numerous donations of pizzas and sandwich trays to a variety of school organizations and committees. More than $1200 in free pizza coupons also have been distributed to each of the elementary schools for their Positive Behavior Support program. My Pizzetta is an active member of the Business Advisory Committee and have participated as interviewers in the Senior Exit interviews. Bob Rybak has given presentations to more than 10 elementary classes as part of their career education program and also participated all day as an interviewer in the North Royalton Middle School “Real Money, Real World” program. My Pizzetta promotes the district’s initiatives and student accomplishments on its Facebook page. My Pizzetta also supports the “No Bullying” program by displaying the No Bullying poster on the exterior wall of its building.
Weible & Associates – Charlie and Jennie Weible, owners of Weible & Associates, first became involved with the North Royalton City Schools when their youngest son was a freshman at the high school in 2007. Within months, Charlie was heading to New Orleans as a chaperone for the band at the BCS National Championship Bowl game. It was one of Charlie’s bucket list items to go to a college play-off bowl game, and to be there while the North Royalton band played at halftime of the OSU vs LSU game was a dream come true. The husband/wife team also was busy that year helping out with the Indoor Drumline.
Charlie was asked to be the Band Booster Vice President the next year, and then the President for the two years after that. This was a joint effort in many ways, between Charlie and Jennie, as they managed these responsibilities in addition to owning their own accounting business. During this time, Jennie also chaired the committees for booster membership and spirit wear, chaperones, competition hoodies and pins, and the reverse raffle, which was a huge undertaking, and one of the band booster’s biggest fund raisers. During these years, they traveled with the band everywhere for every event.
While donating their time with the Band Boosters, the North Royalton Stadium Foundation was founded and Charlie became the Assistant Treasurer and has held this position ever since. Charlie didn’t even think twice about joining, after spending countless hours in the stadium and sitting in the stands, they understood how desperately a new facility was needed.
When Charlie and Jennie heard about the Master Teacher program, they knew they wanted to help honor the time and effort the teachers put into achieving this accomplishment, so they offered to be the corporate sponsor for the awards given to the teachers being honored by the school system.
Through the years, Charlie and Jennie have also been involved with the district’s Business School Partnership Program, helping with senior exit interviews and teacher interviews, and they also have offered to help with any educational financial and/or math programs that may need assistance.
“We have thoroughly enjoyed our time helping out with the North Royalton Schools. We have made friendships and memories we will always treasure. We hope to continue helping out as long as we can,” said Charlie and Jennie Weible.
Bob Serpentini / Serpentini Chevrolet – Bob Serpentini and Serpentini Chevrolet has donated a car to the North Royalton City Schools since the 2008-09 school year. Through a car raffle, more than $322,000 has been raised for the North Royalton Stadium Foundation and other teams and groups. In addition, Serpentini Chevrolet is a major sponsor of the district’s stadium. They donated $100,000 to the stadium, that is now host to many more school-related events and is now used almost 300 days each year.