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Mad River Middle School Teachers Win Grants

Posted on: Friday, 29 July 2005, 00:00 CDT

Two teams of teachers in the Mad River School District were awarded Hewlett Packard Technology Teaching grants valued at $35,000 each. The teams won two of 174 grants awarded by Hewlett Packard throughout the United States.

The Mad River Middle School team of teachers Vickki Reese, Adam Cicora, Amanda Leverson, Lauren Sommers and Amy Bergman wrote a grant proposal for an interdisciplinary program that has students using forensic science to solve a schoolwide mystery. The program, CSI Mad River: The Case of the Puzzling Prints, has students using a multimedia approach to solving a mystery.

The Stebbins High School freshman teacher team of Ron Humphrey, Kathy Jackson, Liz Wolfe, Joyce Coney-Lacy and Stephanie Kirkland submitted a grant proposal, titled Can You Hear Me Now?, to help students learn what makes an effective cell phone system operate.

"One of the people in our group saw it online," said Humphrey, who teaches ninth-grade science. "The grant required that we have a team of five working together to bring units utilizing technology into the classroom. It was just something to incorporate science and math together. We thought our idea was good and that we had a pretty good shot at getting the grant."

The teachers will prepare during the summer by using grant money to take pertinent professional development classes.

"It's project-based learning with the cell phone as the central idea," said Humphrey, who expected to take a class in photo editing this summer.

"We'll be looking at electromagnetic waves, or just waves in general, for science and coverage area density and a whole bunch of math concepts for the math portion. The math teacher presents the math side simultaneously with the science teacher teaching the science side, so it's cooperative teaching of different material around the same subject."

The grant provides each team recipient with an HP Tablet PC, a digital projector, digital camera, a stipend and professional development to provide the teachers with additional training.

Each team shares an HP Officejet all-in-one printer, copier, scanner and FAX.

Herb group to offer Shaker program

The Friends of Carriage Hill Farm herb group are sponsoring a presentation on Shaker herbs from 10 a.m. to noon Aug. 6 at the Carriage Hill Farm visitor center, lower-level rear entrance, 7800 Shull Road, Huber Heights.

Herbalist Pat Hocfbaum of Springfield will give a presentation about herbs.

"She's a member who has done research on the Shakers," said Terry Hergenrather, who is chairs the group with Maudie Lawson and Elaine Henderson.

"I've always been interested in the Shaker people, so learning about the herbs sounds interesting. She'll talk about the herbs they grew and used. She's really very creative."

For information, call 879-0461.

Seniors honored for blanket effort

Members of the Huber Heights Senior Center were recognized for their efforts in gathering and donating record numbers of coats, blankets, gloves, scarves and ski masks for the Blanket Buddy Project. The project provided warm clothing to homeless people served at St. Paul's Church in Dayton.

"It was a thank you to the senior center members for their donations from October to February," said Angie Ryan, coordinator of the Blanket Buddy Project. "I encouraged them to bring things in and they responded. People are always so generous."

Becasue of the snow and cold weather last winter, there was an increased need for warm clothing.

"I got a lot of coats from the Tuesday and Friday senior exercise class," said Ryan, who credits the class with providing a record number of donations this year.

"They were very active by giving coats, gloves and scarves. I thank them for being so supportive."

More than 50 coats were donated to St. Paul's Church by the senior center. Any items not distributed by the church are donated to St. Vincent DePaul.

Students in the news

- Vandalia residents Suzette Heitkamp, Gina Iddings, George Lebeau and Lori Alexander of Huber Heights have been inducted into the Academic Honor Society at Urbana University, Urbana.

- Andrew P. Dixon, a student at Shawnee High School in Springfield, was presented with a $2,500 National Merit scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship Corp. Dixon plans to study medicine.

- Springfield residents John Mbagwu, Amelia Rapp and Holly Rapp were each presented with a $1,000 renewable Legacy Scholarship from the Wright State University Alumni Association. The Legacy Scholarships are presented to relatives of WSU Alumni Association members.

If you or a friend or relative recently achieved an honor, or your club or organization has an activity that would make interesting reading, call Sandra Baer at 432-9054, or e-mail her at jjbaer@aol.com or send a typewritten notice to: Neighbors, Dayton Daily News, 45 S. Ludlow St., Dayton, OH 45402. We want to hear from you.

Source: Dayton Daily News

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