Education

BETTSVILLE — The Bettsville Local School District is to accept open enrollment applications during the month of May for children who wish to enroll in the district next year. The board of education permits students from any Ohio district to apply and enroll free of any tuition obligation, provided they meet open enrollment procedures.

Applications are to be accepted through May 31. Parents are to be notified of acceptance by June 15. Students currently attending Bettsville through open enrollment must submit a new application each year.

Applications are available in the main office or can be mailed upon request. Call (419) 986-5166.



SYCAMORE — Mohawk FFA attended the sub-district speaking contest at Van Buren High School. Contestants included Robert Gilliland, Alex Colich, Ellen Gilliland, Dustin Griffin, Anna Gilliland and Susan Daniel.

Participating in the creed contest were Robert Gilliland and Colich, who tied for 10th. In the beginning prepared contest, Ellen Gilliland placed second and moved on to the district level, where she placed fourth overall.

Griffin competed in the extemporaneous contest and placed sixth. While Daniel and Anna Gilliland participated in the prepared contest, placing third and fourth, respectively.



SYCAMORE — The Mohawk FFA chapter attended the District FFA Tractor Trouble Shooting Contest at Spencerville Feb. 22. The team of Greg Reinhart and Ira Kuenzli had to identify problems in five tractors and complete a written test. The team placed fourth overall. James Koehler also tried out for the team.



FINDLAY — SummerStock at the University of Findlay accepts young actors and actresses to spend a week during the summer backstage for SummerStock. Applications are being accepted for the third annual SummerStock Youth Conservatory to be June 23-27.

During the week-long conservatory, students are to be directly involved in the production of “A Year with Frog and Toad.” The program is open to students who have completed first grade through eighth grade. The cost is $65 and the program is open to the first 60 applicants. For more information, call (419) 434-4531.



On March 12, the junior Medical Technology Class at Sentinel Career Center visited the Cherry Street Mission in Toledo. Students were able to tour the facilities, visit the education center and health clinic, and volunteer at the dining facilities. The experience helped them gain a better perspective of the homeless population and drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and understand the importance of volunteering to help those in need.



FREMONT—About 500 students from high schools and career centers throughout northwest Ohio competed in the SkillsUSA regional contests at Terra Community College.

SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives all working together to ensure America has a skilled work force while helping each student excel.

Formerly known as Vocational Industrial Clubs of America, the organization serves students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, including those in the health field.

The top contestants in each category are to progress to the 2008 SkillsUSA Ohio State Leadership and Skills Conference and SkillsOhio Championships April 25-26 at the Ohio Exposition Center in Columbus.

Students from Vanguard-Sentinel Career Centers participated at Terra.



Two senior Automotive Technology students from Sentinel Career Center competed as a team and placed fourth in the 16th annual Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association Automotive Technology Competition on Feb. 24 at the Cleveland IX Center. Ethan Brickner, Hopewell-Loudon High School and Nathan Stover, Seneca East High School each received a 155-piece tool set and new uniforms for their efforts.

The competition consisted of a written test to qualify for the hands-on competition in which five teams qualified out of 30. Stover had the highest score on the written exam. This is the third consecutive year in which Sentinel students placed fourth in the competition. Sentinel’s Automotive Technology instructor, Jody Keegan, accompanied the students.



A delegation of 37 students and eight staff members represented Sentinel Career Center at the Northwest Ohio Regional SkillsUSA competition and conference at Terra Community College and Vanguard Career Center on Feb. 15. Fourteen students won first, second or third place in their competition and are to advance to the Ohio SkillsUSA competition, April 25-26, in Columbus.

Seven students placed first in their competition and are to receive a $500 Terra scholarship. They include Tim Bouillon, senior Collision Repair, New Riegel High School, Collision Repair; Phillip Kimmet, senior Electrical Trades, New Riegel, Industrial Motor Control; Kristin Kingseed, senior Medical Technology, Mohawk High School, Nurse Aide; Jason Perkins, senior Collision Repair, Columbian High School, Job Skills Demo A; Kiele Reamer, senior Medical Technology, Columbian, Medical Math; Kyle Smathers, senior, CCNT, Calvert High School, Computer Maintenance; and Kacy Taylor, senior Medical Technology, Columbian, Job Skills Demo- Open.

Second place winners included Bill Hoffert, senior Collision Repair, Mohawk, Automotive Refinishing; Tony Peiffer, senior CAD, St. Wendelin High School, Architectural Drafting; and Chad Romanko, senior Electrical Trades, Mohawk, Extemporaneous Speech.

Third place winners included Jessica Gitcheff, senior Collision Repair, Columbian, Job Interview; Brian Persinger, senior Precision Machining, Columbian, CNC Turning; Greg Reinhart, junior Precision Machining, Mohawk, CNC Milling and Nathan Stover, senior Automotive Technology, Seneca East High School, Automotive Service Tech.

Sentinel Career Center is to send a delegation of about 50 students to the Ohio SkillsUSA State Competition and Conference. Students who place first in their category at the state competition are to advance to the nationals.



OLD FORT—Students of the Quarter at Old Fort High School for the second nine weeks are senior Stacey Stallard, the daughter of Jim and Wendy Stallard of Tiffin; junior Chelsea Bass, the daughter of Christopher and Esther Bass of Fremont; sophomore Scott West, the son of George and Kelly West of Tiffin; freshman Mason Gaietto, the son of Michelle Gaietto and Tim Gaietto of Tiffin; eighth-grader Olivia Burke, the daughter of Richard and Tami Burke of Tiffin; and seventh-grader Taylor Nye, the daughter of Sandy Nye and Von Nye of Tiffin.



Sentinel Career Center’s Students of the Month for February are Andrew Goshe, Byron Mack and Kyle Smathers. Selection was based on performance in their career programs, citizenship and involvement in youth group activities. These students represented Sentinel and their career programs at the weekly meetings of the Tiffin Rotary and Tiffin Kiwanis organizations. All three young men are seniors at Calvert High School.

Goshe, Agricultural Science and Technology, is a Rotary Student of the Month. He is the son of Eugene and Barb Goshe of Tiffin.

Mack, Computer Communications/Network Technician, is a Rotary Student of the Month. He is the son of Joe and Kim Mack of rural Sycamore.

Smathers, Kiwanis Student of the Month, is in the Computer Communications/Network Technician program. He is the son of Tom Smathers and Denise Smathers of Tiffin.



FOSTORIA – The Fostoria Community Hospital Foundation administers three scholarship funds which promote health care professions among Fostoria area students. Application forms for health-related scholarships for the 2008-09 academic year now are vailable.

The J.L. Murphy Memorial Fund, J.A. Murray Memorial Scholarship Fund and G.H.W. Bruggemann Memorial Scholarship Fund awards scholarships in amounts from $500 to $1,500. The funds were established by former Fostoria physicians and their families in support of health care career education. The eligibility requirements for each fund’s scholarship are specific to the establishing donor’s request and listed on the application. Past recipients may reapply in subsequent years.

In 2007, seven local students received a total of $7,500 in scholarships from the FCHF administered funds.

Scholarship applications are available online at www.promedica.org, Fostoria Community Hospital page, Ways to Give section; and at the hospital switchboard. Completed applications will be accepted April 1 – 30 and reviewed throughout the month. The scholarship award winners are to be announced in May, with monetary disbursements provided after Aug. 1.

For more information, please contact Evelyn Marker, executive director, FCHF, at (419) 436-6678.



FINDLAY — Students considering a career in law enforcement can pursue such an opportunity by enrolling in the Basic Peace Officer Academy Training Program at the Owens Community College Findlay-area campus.

“Owens Community College’s collaboration with the Ohio Peace Officers Training Commission provides educational training for thousands of future law enforcement officials throughout Ohio,” said Gary Brinker, Owens coordinator of Public Service Training Programs. “Students who successfully complete the college’s Basic Peace Officer Academy Training Program become eligible for certification as an Ohio peace officer.”

During the seven-month program, Owens police academy students are to take courses in patrol operations, firearms, defensive tactics, criminal investigation, constitutional law and physical conditioning using police equipment. Participants are to receive expert instruction from local police officers, sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers, as well as state and federal agents. In addition, coursework earned by police academy graduates are to applied toward an associate’s degree at Owens in law enforcement.

Upon completion of the program, each student is to receive a certificate from Owens’ Workforce and Community Services. Applications for academy classes should be completed and returned to the College by June 9. Police Academy Program classes begin in August. For more information, or to obtain an application packet, call (567) 429-3609 or 1-800-GO-OWENS, ext. 3609.



DAYTON—Local students named to the dean’s list at the University of Dayton are Jonathon Reinhart and Kandra Roberts, Fostoria; Lisa Acton and Nathan Frankart, McCutchenville; Julia Faeth and Kimber Lucius, New Riegel and Sarah Gase, Tiffin.



FREMONT — Thirty-five Terra Community College students were inducted during ceremonies March 16 into the Alpha Mu Epsilon chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, a national two-year college honorary.

Local honorees were Jessica Coffman, Kiri Dicken, Tracy Hoover and Jonathan Stinchcomb, Tiffin; Teresa Gaulke and Lorie Richardson, Republic; Cory Jolly, Clyde and Jaclyn Miller, Green Springs.



FOSTORIA — The Mazza Museum of International Art from Picture Books is to host five recent American Library Association award winners at its Mazza Summer Institute, July 14-18.

The speakers are to be Brian Selznick, Kadir Nelson, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Yuyi Morales and Brian Floca. The institute is a weeklong conference that can be taken for enjoyment or college credit.

For more details, visit www.findlay.edu, keyword Mazza, or (419) 434-5521.



FREMONT — Croghan Colonial Bank has pledged $100,000 to Terra Community College’s major gifts campaign, Investment in the Future.

Croghan employs about 170 people who live and work in the area.

“Education plays a critical role in our communities,” said Bank President Steve Futrell. “It’s a catalyst of economic development and entrepreneurship and is instrumental in the development of our society.”

Half of the contribution is to be used for instructional equipment and the other half is to be used to establish the Croghan Colonial Bank Scholarship Endowment Fund. This scholarship fund benefits adult students who have demonstrated a need for financial support to pursue post-secondary education.

The Croghan Colonial Bank was founded in 1888 and serves Sandusky, Seneca, Huron, Ottawa and Wood counties with banking center locations in Bellevue, Clyde, Custar, Fremont, Green Springs, Monroeville, Norwalk and Port Clinton.

The goal of Investment in the Future is to raise $2 million. The campaign, the first in a decade at Terra, is designed to provide support in two primary areas:

n State-of-the-art instructional lab equipment for new and existing academic programs.

n Additional assistance to students through need-based scholarship awards.

For more information, contact Sue Babione, executive director of the Terra College Foundation, at (419) 559-2301.



Tiffin University’s next Good Morning World breakfast lecture series is April 3. Nationally renowned political consultant Jerry Austin is to present “Who Would of Thunk It: The First Woman, African American or Oldest U.S. President. How Did We Get Here? What Happens Next?”

Austin earned a Pollie Award from the American Association of Political Consultants. He provides strategic counsel for the firm in major practice areas such as strategic planning and communications, public administration, education, health care, grassroots mobilization, economic development, and issue and candidate elections.

All breakfast lectures take place at Camden Falls Reception Hall at 2460 S. SR 231 in Tiffin. Breakfast is served buffet style at 7:30 a.m., and the speaker is to present at 8 a.m. with conclusion by 8:50 a.m. The cost is $8. For reservations, call (419) 448-3282.



Tiffin University senior Lindsey Jesnek is to become the third TU student in the history of the university’s Arts & Angles lecture/discussion series to present a program when she takes the stage March 27.

Jesnek’s program, “Gwendolyn Brooks and John Greenleaf Whittier: ‘Writing for Equality,’” is 2:45-4 p.m. March 27, in TU’s Chisholm Auditorium. The public is invited to attend, and there is no charge for admission. Time is always set aside for questions during Arts & Angles programs.

“My presentation examines the impressionistic qualities in the poetry of John Greenleaf Whittier and Gwendolyn Brooks, and discuss how John Greenleaf Whittier’s abolitionary efforts in the 19th century offer a glimmer of Brooks’ more extensive demand for racial equality in the twentieth century,” Jesnek commented.

The senior is an English major and helped to found TU’s English Enthusiasts student organization, serving as president of the group during her four years at TU.

Jesnek’s Arts & Angles program follows a paper she presented during the annual conference of the National Association of African American Studies & Affiliates, Feb. 11-16 in Baton Rouge. Her presentation was one of the few undergraduate student papers selected for the conference, which featured professors from colleges and universities across the nation.

Jesnek’s paper resulted from a class taught by former TU professor Peter Ladino, who suggested she submit it to the NAAAS. During the fall of 2007, Ladino contacted Jesnek’s current English professor, Vincent Moore, again urging Jesnek submit an abstract of the paper for consideration. The NAAAS subsequently invited Jesnek to be a panel member at the national conference.

More information about the Arts & Angles seriesis available by calling (419) 448-3426.



Ohio Northern University Department of Technological Studies teams garnered two gold awards and two silver awards at the National Robotics Challenge in Marion. A student from Tiffin was among the winners. Steve Francis, a junior technology major from Mogadore and Brett Kuhn, a senior technology major from Tiffin took home a silver award in the sumo robot competition. Adam Stienecker, assistant professor of technology who served as the teams’ adviser, said, “The students really have something of which to be proud. Last fall they had nothing but a blank sheet of paper and now, from scratch, they have developed four high quality, award-winning systems.”



A group of Tiffin University’s top business students is to take part in the Business Professionals of America 2008 National Leadership Conference, May 7-11 in Reno.

Tiffin chapter members Destiny Larson, Ashley Scott, Samantha Johnson, Casey Zdanko, Aaron Childs, Ryan Webb and Linh Lanh are to join more than 6,000 other conference delegates from across the nation to participate in national-level business skill competitions, workshops, general sessions and the national officer candidate campaigns and elections. The BPA conference’s theme is “Find Your Fit.”

“The conference is the culmination of a school year’s worth of business work force education and training that members of the local BPA chapter at Tiffin University have received,” said TU freshman Ashley Scott, chapter president.

Perry Haan, dean of the School of Business at TU, serves as the chapter’s advisor.

“The BPA acts as a cohesive agent in the nationwide networking of education and business and industry,” Scott added. “Also, the BPA is contributing to the preparation of a world-class work force through advancement of leadership, citizenship, academic and technological skills.”

During the recent state competition at Wright State University, two TU BPA team members were elected to be state officers in the post secondary division. Scott was named vice president, and Larson was elected secretary.