Contributed READY TO SPEAK — Indian Creek High School officials including, from left, natural resources instructor Crystal Fluharty, career-tech education head Dave Moffat and district Technology Director George Bein will present on Streams to Screens at the Ohio Educational Technology Conference Tuesday in Columbus.

WINTERSVILLE — Educators at Indian Creek High School will highlight hellbenders and high-tech happenings at the annual Ohio Educational Technology Conference in Columbus.

High school science teacher Crystal Fluharty, who heads the natural resources pathway, will join school career-technical education head David Moffat during the event on Tuesday through Thursday at the Columbus Convention Center. About 4,000 to 5,000 teachers, administrators and technology officials from primary to higher education attend the annual conference to foster innovation, ensure access, and encourage collaboration in implementing educational technology.

Fluharty and Moffat will speak on Streams to Screens Tuesday and outline the ongoing hellbender pilot project, which also has a connection to keep member partners updated. Moffat will then discuss his year-old Creek Squad program where students provide information technology services throughout the school district.

ICHS is the only public high school in Ohio to be part of the pilot program in partnership with state organizations, universities and zoos to save the endangered salamander from extinction.

Among the groups involved are the Columbus and Toledo zoos as well as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Penta Career Center, the Wilds, Purdue University and state watershed and soil and water coordinators. Since 2023, the school has housed male hellbender Chief as its ambassador and tended to 15 juvenile salamanders with the goal of one day releasing the latter back into the wild to rejuvenate the population.

The hellbender dates back hundreds of years in Jefferson County, including the Cross Creek region within the school district, but time and environmental changes decreased the population. Chief was acquired nearly three years ago while a biosecure area was formed to originally house 20 juveniles on the lower level of the school building. However, five of the youngsters presumably perished from stress or saprolegnia, a disease found in freshwater aquaculture, but the 15 remaining hellbenders are thriving and awaiting eventual release.

“We will discuss how we use technology in our conservation program, the background of the hellbender project, and what the students do,” Fluharty noted, saying pupils enter information onto the Microsoft SharePoint system which essentially acts as a website that is viewed by the member partners. “The students put in all of the data into the program and they can put in their research and articles. We also have Chief’s data to track his health and the juvenile hellbender data, plus the biosecure room data and our presentations at a hellbender partnership meeting this spring, some wildlife symposium information, and work-based learning.”

Also included on the SharePoint site are photos and a Skylight calendar which tracks animal care, diets, and other necessities, while Fluharty said the calendar connects to phones to stay apprised of what’s happening. This marks her second trip to the conference but her first time to take the stage.

“It’s exciting and it’s a great experience,” she commented.

Moffat will then explain how the technology is used to communicate with other partners about the hellbender program.

“The students are collecting data and using Microsoft tools to communicate to colleges and zoos. We use SharePoint and students send the data to share with the Wilds, Toledo Zoo and Purdue University, so they use these tools to communicate about a major project.”

Meanwhile, he and district Technology Director George Bein will outline the ICHS Creek Squad program where 24 students in grades 10-12 troubleshoot and remedy tech problems within the school buildings.

“We’ll be talking about the positive outcomes with the students through attendance as well as curriculum, software we use, and technology,” Moffat added.

“I help the kids when they have a problem and help with troubleshooting,” Bein said of his involvement.

Moffat’s holds more of an oversight role while the tech leaders take it upon themselves to work at the schools, plus they earn 250 work-based hours, which is required for graduation. Students Issac Thornton, Ethan Dyrdek, Brandon Graham, Markus Beisel, Nathan Pemberton and Cheyenne Hurlock are among those who aid at ICHS and travel to Indian Creek Middle School and Hills and Cross Creek Elementary schools to make repairs and troubleshoot issues.

Seniors travel to assigned school buildings each day while juniors go once a week to undertake Chromebook repairs, IT support and other tasks which could be completed by an entry-level personnel. Additionally, they earn certifications and some are currently seeking CompTIA, Microsoft I, and related accreditation to gain an advantage in the workforce. Moffat said the presentation will include a synopsis of their work and the growing interest in pursuing higher education, with one student even procuring some scholarship funding for post-secondary studies. He, district CTE Coordinator Dan Hartman and Superintendent T.C. Chappelear wrote an Ohio Career-Tech Education grant and received $150,000 to help develop the Creek Squad as well as acquire two FANUC robotic arms to prepare students for the ever-growing technological field.