School notes: Edison, Sandusky, Huron, Norwalk, Benton-Carroll-Salem

EDISON • Fifth-grade students from Edison Middle School earned first place at the Erie County academic challenge competition. On Oct. 11, Elsy Traut, Lillian Schueler, Grant Schnittker, Sam Ruggles, Brayden Baehr and Miles Nickles were awarded first place. The team has made it to the next round of the competition. The students will compete in a tri-county competition on Dec. 5. SANDUSKY • Sandusky's superintendent helped in the kitchen. Daniel Rambler, Sandusky's superintendent, helps serve students in the intermediate school and learns about the roles within food services. HURON • Woodlands Elementary contest winners toured the Huron fire station. Amelia Dornemann, Connor Kerstetter, Kate Didion, and Hannah Albrethsen won the Fire Prevention Week poster contest in the elementary building. The students were picked up in a firetruck and taken to Pied Piper for lunch. Firefighter Ruggles and Fire Captain Nash then took the students on a tour of the fire station. • Mrs. Sweet's 5th grade class participated in STEM activities. Mrs. Sweet turned her 5th grade science class into "Area 137". The lesson focused on dichotomy with an alien theme. One activity was to decipher aliens based on physical traits. NORWALK Teachers collaborated on "Make It, Move It" theme activities. Mrs. Heyman, Mrs. Doughty, and Mrs. Hazelwood work with Mr. Jackson, Mrs. Goodsite and Mr. Whaley to partake in activities focused on their their theme for the month, "Make It, Move It". Mr. Jackson's industrial education classes built cars for students and demonstrated racing down a ramp. The Robotics Club advisor, Mrs. Goodsite, helped students make rockets and balloon races. The NERD Nation Robotics team along with Mr. Whaley worked with students to build cars. Students were able to race the cars and use some of the robots. The students were able to take part in these activities thanks to the Schlink Foundation. MARGARETTA Fourth and fifth-grade students in Mr. Hoffman's class compete in a typing contest every month. The students have one minute to see who can type the best in the class. This month's fourth-grade winners were Marin Hula and Drew Killingsworth. This month's fifth-grade winners were Ben Myers and Jordan Alley. A Margaretta school received two donations from VFW Post 2529 Sandusky. VFW Post 2529 Sandusky gave $1,500 to the Margaretta Elementary School. This donation will go towards the school's PBIS, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. The VFW Post 2529 Sandusky also donated to the elementary school's Soctober event. Soctober is a fundraising event to collect socks and dollars for Project Share. This was a $500 donation. BENTON-CARROLL-SALEM • Benton-Carroll-Salem received a grant to expand its STEM program. The school received $5,000 from Battelle through the Ohio STEM Learning Network Grant Program. Benton-Carroll-Salem will use the grant for its "eSports and Content Creation" project created by Mr. Adam Painter, an Oak Harbor High School teacher. Painter was the one who applied for and received the grant for the school. This project focuses on content creation, podcasting, vlogging, video creation and eSports competitions with professional equipment. Oak Harbor High School plans to purchase five computers, microphones, cameras and lighting with the help of this grant. "The highest level of technology my students interacted with was a ChromeBook, and I found that unacceptable," Painter said. "I want to expose them to more high-end technology to prepare them with the skills needed for careers in technology and life after graduation." The result of this project is a new class offered at Benton-Carroll-Salem, "Esports Management." Sophomore through senior students were offered this class which will teach them social-emotional learning, making and editing digital photos and videos and content creation. "Every student should have access to the kind of quality STEM education that drives opportunity for families and leads to new jobs in their local communities," said Kelly Gaier Evans, Director of the Ohio STEM Learning Network. "This program connects champions of STEM in local communities to a broad and deep network of STEM schools, STEM resources, and peer educators." The Ohio STEM Learning Network has a mission to help the State of Ohio inspire and train the next generation to become leaders and innovators. The Ohio Department of Education works with Battelle through a public-private partnership to operate this network. Battelle works to solve matters using science and technology. The organization contacts research and development, designs and manufactures products and delivers critical services for both government and commercial customers.