Live Graduation Webcast

ECOT holds largest graduation ceremony in its history

ECOT held its 8th annual graduation ceremony at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 31 at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus.

The event was the statewide online charter school’s largest graduation ever, with more than 1,200 students eligible to participate – both in person and from their homes via a unique live event webcast (www.ecotohio.org).

ECOT is Ohio’s largest charter school and the state’s first and largest online school. Since ECOT’s first ceremony at the Statehouse Atrium in 2000, ECOT has outgrown four venues for its graduation ceremonies.

ECOT graduations are unique:

--Students work with their teachers online from their homes, so many students met each other and their teachers for the first time at graduation.

--Graduates travel from every corner of the state to attend the ceremony. If they cannot make the trip to Columbus, families were able to participate by viewing the live webcast of the event from their computers.

The Honorable Gary Cates, the State Senator representing the 4th Senate District, addressed the graduates as this year’s commencement speaker.















Six of the graduates received scholarships or awards during the ceremony:

-- Amanda Merritt of Columbus received the Founder’s Scholarship in honor of ECOT Founder William Lager of Altair Learning Management of Columbus.

-- Aisha Stern of Chauncey received the Ohio Academic Scholarship for academic achievement from the Ohio Board of Regents.

-- Dana Jalanbo of Dayton received the Sponsor’s Scholarship in honor of ECOT’s chartering authority.

-- Yevgenia Bailey of Cuyahoga Falls received the Coann Michael Memorial Scholarship for perseverance in the face of adversity.

-- Brenna Christiansen of Toledo received the Patricia Felts Social Services Scholarship to attend college to pursue an education in the field of social services.

--Nicholas Hodge of Columbus received a special Art Award for being the class’s outstanding art student.

Valedictorian Mark Curto of Columbus led the Pledge of Allegiance to start the ceremony. Seniors Angela Fiscus of Wooster, Aspen Landers of Columbus, Cody Woolever of Thurman, and Tasha Wright of West Chester led their classmates in the traditional turning of the tassel.

ECOT educates over 9,000 statewide students in grades K-12. ECOT’s headquarters is in Columbus, Ohio.

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