Coshocton County Chamber of Commerce honors two projects with Community Improvement Awards

COSHOCTON − Bettering the community in vastly different ways is the focus of the two winners of the Coshocton County Chamber of Commerce's Community Improvement Awards for the second quarter of 2024.

Honorees were the renovations to the Honey House on Main Street and the senior projects program at River View High School.

Honey House

Restoration of the Honey House at 422 and 424 Main St., formerly home to Sue's Hallmark, was completed earlier this year. Liz Argyle of Newark bought the property in 2020 and her partner on the project is Heather Vaile.

The 11,000-square-foot building, which dates back to the late 1800s, has two retail spaces on the ground floor with two one-bedroom and three two-bedroom apartments on the second and third floors. Dippity Dog Discount Store opened in May and Argyle is hopeful of filling the other storefront soon.

Last year, the project received $59,990 from the Paul Bruhn Historic Preservation Grant Program for wooden window restoration. In 2022, Coshocton City Council approved tax exemptions for new improvements made through the Ohio Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) program. The project was estimated at $900,000.

Argyle had done similar projects in Newark and said she looked around at several cities to see where to go next. Coshocton was the perfect fit.

"I felt so welcomed here, not just by the people, but by the city and all the organizations here," Argyle said. "There's great growth in Coshocton. It's on a huge upswing, the trajectory is great and we wanted to be part of that."

Senior projects at River View

The senior projects program at River View started in 2016. Students work with community mentors in about any hobby or career field, according to senior project adviser Cindy Hemming. The idea is to increase their self-awareness, self-management, relationship skills, responsibility and decision-making skills, while improving themselves, school or community.

Senior projects this year have allowed exchange students to feel like they belong at River View by sharing their culture with others. Maliya Williams did three projects that were staging a homecoming dance for special needs students, managing the Instagram account of Resource Officer Justin Landerman and working as an athletic director coordinator alongside Athletic Director Katie Wesney. While Miss Ohio hopeful Aliah Williamson is using her senior project of connecting with military veterans as her community service initiative for the scholarship program.

Other projects have included a clothing drive, upgrades to the school auditorium, sending greeting cards to Windsorwood Place and Akron Children's Hospital, work with Blue Star Mothers, volunteering at Moving Mountains Ranch and more.

Requirements are to put in at least 30 hours, do a panel presentation and participate in the senior gallery. The senior gallery walk featuring displays and students talking about their projects will be at 6 p.m. May 16, at River View High School.

Evan Fischer, chamber vice president who is also on the school board, said if students were compensated at just minimum wage for work done in the community it would represent more than $30,000 in just seven months.

Superintendent Chuck Rinkes said at the time the projects started, they viewed River View as an isolated cylinder in the community. The senior projects has allowed for much greater connection and networking in Coshocton County.

"We feel like our kids are really engrained in what we do. Projects help them, help the community and, many times, help the school," Rinkes said.

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @llhayhurst.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Efforts to improve Coshocton County honored by chamber of commerce