Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Programs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Students present Ikigai career project; board highlights staff during Teacher Appreciation Week
Summary
Olentangy Berlin Middle School students and staff presented an "Ikigai" career-exploration project at the May 8 board meeting; the board also read a parent letter praising Oak Creek Elementary staff and recognized longtime food service employee Mary Ellen Buckingham for retirement.
Students and staff from Olentangy Berlin Middle School presented work from the district's Ikigai career-exploration project at the Olentangy Local School District board meeting on May 8. The presentation featured teachers and several middle-school students describing how the project helped them connect interests to possible careers.
"Ikigai's components are really that it is a compound word," said Megan Walker, one of the gifted coordinators who led the presentation. Students described how the exercise helped them think about course selection and future paths. Seventh-grader Anbu said the project broadened his view of the medical field beyond becoming a doctor. "The clinical researcher came, it showed me that there's more than just a doctor in the medical field," Anbu said.
Praising staff during Teacher Appreciation Week: Board member Miss Schreiber read a multi-page letter from a parent who described her daughter's progress at Oak Creek Elementary. The letter, read aloud by Schreiber, traced the student's journey from early childhood placements and a summer 2020 private evaluation to a diagnosis of dyslexia and ADHD and then to steady growth through coordinated classroom instruction and interventions. Schreiber read the parent's description of teachers and intervention specialists by name and credited the school team for raising the student's national percentile reading score from 3 to the low 80s.
Board recognition and retirements: The board also recognized longtime food-service employee Mary Ellen Buckingham, who is retiring after 21 years at Shanahan Middle School. The superintendent read remarks noting Buckingham's long ties to the district and presented a lifetime pass to attend Olentangy events.
Partnerships and next steps: Presenters said the Ikigai work will continue and expand partnerships next year with the Columbus Museum of Art, JPMorgan Chase and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. Detail on implementation: the project included a maker-space activity (students created stickers), a thinking routine (CSI), and a guest visit from Ohio State University clinical research staff to introduce research-related careers.
Ending: Board members repeatedly emphasized that Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week was an opportunity to spotlight the many roles that support student learning, from classroom teachers to bus drivers and mental-health specialists.
