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First Bell - On Education:
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Pet telethon re-airs
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Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
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Zips favored on road against MAC West leader
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
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Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
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Five local gridders to play in Big33
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Law, Love and Chocolate
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
OFCCP Report
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
School at inventors hall is formula to excellence, backers say at ceremony
By John Higgins
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Three King Elementary School students, dressed in white lab coats and plastic safety glasses, emptied test tubes of soil from their home school and turned shovels at the official groundbreaking Tuesday for a new $14.5 million math and science middle school in Akron.
Erin Taylor and BreAysia Moorer, both 10, and Jake Bilich, 9, could be among the first students at the new school adjacent to the National Inventors Hall of Fame on South Broadway. It's expected to open in the fall of 2009.
''I love math and science. They're my two best subjects and they're my favorite subjects,'' said Jake, who is in the third grade and sees himself as becoming a math professor or professional baseball player. ''I like hands-on activities. That's what the school is going to have a lot of and I love technology.''
BreAysia, a fifth-grader, also is looking forward to the
new school. She wants to be an inventor and especially likes solving tricky math puzzles.
Erin, who is in fourth grade, prefers science. ''I like learning about animals because when I'm older, I want to be a vet,'' she said.
The middle school will serve fifth-graders through eighth-graders of all abilities, including special education students.
It will be built on the north side of the Inventors Hall of Fame between the museum's familiar sail structure and the Morley Health Center. A portion of the museum, now closed for construction, will be renovated for the school.
The official name — the National Inventors Hall of Fame School . . . Center for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Learning — reflects the collaboration of Akron schools, the city, the hall of fame, the University of Akron, the Greater Akron Chamber and Akron Tomorrow.
''You will not find any place on the planet that can duplicate what we will do here at this particular facility,'' said Akron school Superintendent Sylvester Small.
University of Akron president Luis Proenza described the groundbreaking as different because of the unique partnership that made it possible.
''The partnership that is shaping this important educational facility is at the same time also addressing some critical national needs,'' Proenza said. ''And we are doing this in a dynamic and innovative way, by reaching out to middle school students and using the latest tools and techniques in helping them become the next generation of much-needed technical professionals and inventors.''
Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic said he had long hoped for such a school at the hall of fame.
''This whole process of incorporating young people, students, into the idea that they themselves can be inventors in their own way, that they themselves could be creative, is what in my opinion was the important element, the important part of this great facility,'' Plusquellic said.
The school became possible financially when Akron voters approved adding a quarter percentage point to the city income tax in 2003 to help leverage state money for school construction.
Akron is about halfway through the resulting $800 million project that will shut down, renovate or replace every school in the district.
''With each groundbreaking, we are changing the landscape of our district, both visually and academically,'' said board of education President Linda Omobien, ''and we are also changing the landscape of our neighborhoods.''
William Considine, president of Akron Children's Hospital, is leading an effort to raise $15 million in private donations to pay for professional staff development, special student projects, programs such as an inventor-in-residence and investments in high-end technology.
''We really have a chance, folks,'' Considine said, ''to set something in place here that can serve as a model for communities around the country, around the world and, most importantly though, help our children here at home.''
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John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com.
Three King Elementary School students, dressed in white lab coats and plastic safety glasses, emptied test tubes of soil from their home school and turned shovels at the official groundbreaking Tuesday for a new $14.5 million math and science middle school in Akron.
Get the full article here.
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