GRANTS PRESENTED — Joanna Call, a teacher at Buckeye Local High School, accepts a Best Practice Grant from Ron Sismondo, director of curriculum at the Jefferson County Educational Service Center. Stephanie Crust and Jennifer Aubrey also were grant recipients. -- Contributed

RAYLAND — Teachers at Buckeye Local School District are presenting more opportunities for their students in STEM and the arts thanks to help from Jefferson County Educational Service Center’s Best Practice Grants.

On Nov. 24, Ron Sismondo, director of curriculum, visited the board of education and presented three grants of $700 each.

Stephanie Crust at Buckeye North, West and South Elementary is launching STEAM Masters for the 21 students in her gifted education and art education classes. Third through fifth graders will research inventors and artists and put ideas into action. Crust will have her students design kinetic sculptures and Rube Goldberg devices, complex machines that use chain reactions to perform a task.

“Seeing how much students love to build and create inspired me to design a project that combined invention, engineering, and art, where students could think like inventors, collaborate like engineers, and create like artists,” she said.

“I hope my students gain confidence as creative thinkers and problem-solvers, students who take risks, learn from mistakes, and share their ideas. I want them to see themselves as inventors, designers, and collaborators who can use their thinking in real-world situations.”

Crust is a prior Best Practice Grant recipient and understands the good those grants can do.

“I am grateful to the ESC for the funding and support.”

At Buckeye Local High School, Joanna Call will be fostering skills in coding and electronics relevant to STEM fields for 100 students in technology. She is purchasing a set of All-in-one Arduino Starter Kits, including microcontrollers, sensors and support materials to integrate hands-on electronics and coding. Her students will be building smart devices, environmental monitors and interactive prototypes.

“We’re diving into Arduino Starter Kits to give students a fun, hands-on way to explore coding and electronics. The idea came from wanting them to see how technology can solve real problems in creative ways. I’m excited to watch their confidence grow as they bring their own ideas to life,” she said.

“I am also excited about the prospect of this project. The foundational skills in electronics, programming and problem-solving are important skills for today’s computing world,” she added,

She added that the kits are reusable for sustainability.

“I’m hoping to get a lot of use out of them. There’s always the option of expanding more kits in the future as needed.”

She added her kids will jump at the new opportunity.

“When I shared with the students they showed some interest. Seeing the hands-on application will be a fun experience, I’m hoping!”

Meanwhile at Buckeye Local Junior High, Jennifer Aubrey is kicking off an art exploration club for her middle school students to foster creative expression and gain exposure to different artistic disciplines.

Aubrey has received the grant before. When she taught in the elementary school the Best Practice Grant helped with the purchase of math manipulative kits for third graders.

She said the art exploration club will be filling a need.

“At our junior high level at Buckeye Local we do not have an art program. We have an art teacher who rotates among the elementary schools, and we have an art teacher at the high school, but middle school and junior high, no,” she said.

“A lot of our students really love that outlet and crave something really positive like that during their school day.”

Each month, she will present her studnets with project ideas. They may focus on an artist and find inspiration from their lives. Students have worked on a poster contest for the J.B. Green Team and completed designs for the yearbook cover.

“I also have some students who just want a time and a place to kind of explore their own art interests.”

She added there are students who enjoy anime illustrations and another who wants to learn more about origami, the art of folding paper to make different shapes. There will be many opportunities.

They may also participate when the high school also holds their art show in spring.

“I would love to have students be able to show something in that display if they would like.”

Aubrey plans to contact the Stifel Fine Arts Center in Oglebay to see about entering art in their spring art show.

So far, 52 members have signed up. The club is offered during the day and after school.

Aubrey will use the startup money to buy supplies, and students will pay small membership fees to keep the club sustainable. She is also seeking other donations to replenish supplies yearly.