Lafayette Meadows students showcase art, Spell Bowl, math and science fair winners

Students and coaches from Lafayette Meadows Elementary presented artwork and described after-school enrichment programs and recent competition results to the MSD Southwest Allen County Schools Board of Trustees.

The presentations highlighted the school’s enrichment offerings (more than 25 clubs offered three times a year), the first Spell Bowl team at Lafayette Meadows, the school’s first math-bowl participation, and multiple science-fair projects that advanced to regional competition. The showcase gave the board a look at student work and extracurricular learning outside regular classroom instruction.

Spell Bowl coaches Lisonbee Knappenberger and Andrea Harmeyer said the team practiced from a list of about 750 words even though the competition featured 56 words; students Tatum Moss and Hazel Miller described the experience and noted the school was the only entrant in its division, which produced a first-place division ribbon and a fourth-place overall finish. Math-bowl coaches Stephanie Frazier and Andy Landrigan said roughly 20 fourth- and fifth-grade students participated in practices before school and worked on standards up to seventh-grade concepts; student Caleb Kendall said his favorite part was meeting new people and experiencing new problems in competition.

On the science-fair stage, fifth-graders Andrew Funk and Eli Shear described a project titled “This is Removing Ink,” which tested 13 household materials plus two controls on painted drywall squares marked with Sharpie. The students said they applied each material, let it soak 30 seconds, scrubbed 15 seconds, and repeated the test; they reported sunscreen removed Sharpie most effectively and said their project advanced to regionals at Purdue University, where they placed second among fifth-grade entries. Fourth-grader Benjamin Shell said he advanced from regionals and competed at state after placing first in his division at regionals.

The board and speakers praised students’ confidence and the work of teachers and volunteer coaches. Presenters and students emphasized how extracurricular programs—spelling, math bowl, science fair and art—provide opportunities for teamwork, practice and public presentation. No formal board action was taken on these presentations; they were part of the communications and student-recognition portion of the meeting.