Home Based Arts receives $7,000 grant

Joyce Reid Kasprzak, executive director of the Children’s Historical Publishing Division of Home Based Arts is pleased to announce that the organization has received a grant of $7,000 from the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District.

This grant was awarded through the Special Projects Grant Program and will support Children’s Historical Publishing’s latest learning activity book, Dayton Dances and Sings. After development, the grant also covers printing and distributing the book to local area Schools.

Grants are awarded through a competitive process. This grant indicates that Home Based Arts provides the highest level of quality in its programs, community outreach and administration. Over 350,000 learning activity books have been distributed to classrooms in the Montgomery County area. This grant is only one component of supporting dollars contributed to enrich the lives and education of our area’s underserved population of grades 3 – 5 children. Books supported by this grant will be incorporated into the curriculum in 2009.

Public support enables Home Based Arts to develop the only area children’s book designed to involve kids with the local cultural resources and programs available to area youth. Other titles including Paul Laurence Dunbar, Awesome American’s: Charles Kettering, Dayton Inventors and Inventions editions I and II, Miami Valley People, Places and Things are integrated into grade school     classrooms throughout the area.   All books are supported with  a teacher’s curriculum guide, and incorporate activities that  cause children to personalize     their learning.

Camp Invention  returning this summer

This past summer, the Dayton-community welcomed a terrific educational opportunity, the Camp Invention program, into Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Holy Angels School, and E.D. Smith Elementary.

At Camp Invention, children in first through sixth grades were exposed to hands-on, inquiry-based curriculum that I am sure will prepare them for a lifetime of learning through problem-solving, inquisition, and inventiveness.

The program focuses on science, math, technology, and the arts, but it does so much more. It challenges children to think creatively about problems and challenges, to be leaders and entrepreneurs.

The Camp Invention program is run of Invent Now Kids Inc.(INK), a subsidiary of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation. INK’s mission is to create and foster curiosity in science and channel that curiosity into creative problem solving through open-ended discovery.

Whether learning and playing inside or out, the lessons taught during the Camp Invention program will impact these participants for years to come.

As Senior Regional Coordinator of Camp Invention, I look forward to bringing the Camp Invention program back to the children of the community next year as we implement brand new curriculum, and along with it, another great learning opportunity.

As we hear more about the tough economic times, I cannot think of a better investment than that of children; they will be the future leaders and inventors of this world, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to foster that passion.
Thank you to the community, local families and especially the children who attended the Camp Invention program. I look forward to working with you again very soon.

Michelle Millikan
Senior Regional Coordinator
Camp Invention
(317) 575-1026

Seeking 2009 Distinguished Alumni nominations

After a successful inaugural ceremony, the Oakwood High School Alumni Board is again seeking nominations for the Oakwood High School Distinguished Alumni Award.  The deadline for submission of nomination forms and letters of support is Monday, Jan. 5, 2009.  

Nomination forms are available on the Alumni webpage at www.oakwood.k12.oh.us.  You may email your nominations to alumni@oakwood.k12.oh.us. Your nomination forms or letters of support may also be mailed to or dropped off at 20 Rubicon Road, Dayton, OH  45409

The 2009 OHS Distinguished Alumni Award ceremony will be held on May 15, 2009.

If you have any questions on criteria, forms, supporting materials or other award-related inquiries, please contact OHS Alumni Director Rande Rinn Chapman ’74 at 937-298-8711 or e-mail her at alumni@oakwood.k12.oh.us.

Andrews Hall of Honor nominations
being accepted

The Oakwood City School District is now accepting written nominations for the Sam Andrews Educational Hall of Honor. Nominations must be submitted to the Superintendent, Dr. Mary Jo Scalzo, and mailed or delivered to the Board Office, 20 Rubicon Road, Dayton, OH 45409, by April 17, 2009.  

The nominee should be retired from school employment or voluntary school-related service for three years or more.

The nomination should include how the honoree has made “a distinguished and significant contribution toward the beneficial growth and education of the students in this community which shall serve to commemorate the high ideals that characterized the life and career of Sam Andrews.”

Please include adequate background information on the nominee so that he/she may receive optimum consideration by the selection committee. Once nominated, a person remains eligible during the year of nomination and for two additional years.

A nomination form and information on the background of the award is available by calling Sandy Maresh at the Board of Education at 297-5332, email at maresh.sandy@oakwood.k12.oh.us, or via the district home page at www.oakwood.k12.us. However, submissions may be made without using the form. The nominations will include a three-step process:

Nominations for the 2009 Sam Andrews Educational Hall of Honor
must be submitted by April 17, 2009.

Names of the nominees will be published in the papers in April. Supporting letters for these nominees should be submitted to the school district by May 22, 2009.

Prior nominees include:

Year three nomination – Dolores Barnes, Smith Elementary School Teacher (1951-1955), Oakwood Junior High School Tutor (1976-1980), Harman Elementary School Tutor/Teacher (1980-1988) and Lester Steinlage, Oakwood High School Math Teacher (1972-1995). Letters of support for both Dolores Barnes and Lester Steinlage are currently being accepted.  

Nominees will be selected in June and the induction ceremony will be held in September 2009.

Interact Club seeking students

The OHS Interact Club is off to a great start! Interact is a new community and international service club for high school students sponsored by the Oakwood Rotary International.  This club approved the founding of our chapter this past spring and has continued to show support by generously donating club t-shirts.

If you are interested in joining Interact, look for signs posted around the school and attend our first meeting. If you have questions, feel free to ask any member or Mr. Mitch Miller, Rotary faculty adviser for more information. 

Hosts for neighborhood meetings

The Oakwood Board of Education is committed to staying in touch with our citizens. As part of that goal, the school district holds two neighborhood meetings per month.

The main purpose of the meeting is to engage in conversation about our schools with our community members. Neighborhood meetings are a unique chance for residents to meet in a comfortable setting with Dr. Mary Jo Scalzo, Superintendent of the Oakwood Schools, and board members. Dr. Scalzo usually asks one question for community input, but the focus of the rest of the meeting is an open discussion about our schools. We are looking for Oakwood citizens to host neighborhood meetings in their homes. There is minimal work involved.

Your task is to invite your friends and neighbors to attend the meeting and put out a plate of cookies. We do the rest! The available meeting dates and times follow. If you are interested in one of these dates, please contact Sandy Maresh at the Oakwood Board of Education Office (937) 297-5332.

Neighborhood Meeting dates for 2008-09:

1/8 at 7 p.m.
1/27 at 7 p.m.
2/3 at 7 p.m.
2/27 at 9:30 a.m.
3/24 at 7 p.m.
4/21 at 7 p.m.
4/27 at 7 p.m.
5/4 at 7 p.m.

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