IPFW officials announced a public art project Wednesday they hope will make Allen County a more vibrant community.Marcus Mandley knew his reading level wasn’t where it should be.
But he wanted to get better. He had to get better because he wanted to help his classmates.
Win and they end up – well, in the newspaper.
Marcus and the students in Katie Harris’ Read 180 class at Heritage Junior-Senior High School won a competition against four other Read 180 classes across East Allen County Schools.
The students in Harris’ class doubled their reading improvement from the first quarter and the class averaged 90 points.
That’s almost a complete grade improvement to all their reading levels.
The competition was set up to motivate students to improve on their Scholastic Reading Inventory scores in the second quarter. The class that averaged the highest improvement from the first quarter would win, and the winning class got a reward from a wish list the students submitted.
It’s fitting that Harris’ students decided they wanted people to read about their achievement.
“Everybody would love it to be in the newspaper,” Marcus said.
Eighth-grader Steven Montgomery III said Harris makes him want to work harder.
“That’s our plan – we want to get better,” Montgomery said. “I like it a lot. It’s helped me a lot – I’ve jumped from a third-grade to a seventh-grade reading level.”
Events
•Pine Hill Country Day School will conduct a 2012 Information Open House for kindergarten and first grade from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. today at Pine Hill Country Day School, 2726 Lynn Ave. For questions call 482-1743 or 483-2959 or email: pinehill countryday@gmail.com.
Recognitions
•Kathrynn Justice, Claire Rorick, Ethan Brown, Leah Schroeder, Noah Meiser, Megan Baker, Claire K. Rorick, Hudson Fairchild, Augustus Serrani, Joseph Wyatt, Maria Lill, Brandon Javins and Dana Baldus have been chosen as Henry-Keefer Scholarship winners to attend Bishop Luers High School.
Registrations
•The University of Saint Francis will host the state’s only American Mathematics Competition 10/12 on Feb. 7 in the Pope John Paul II Center. For additional practice materials, go to: amc.maa.org. To register for the competition, contact Carolyn Exner at 399-8067.
•Area fifth-graders are invited to test their academic skills from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Feb. 11, during the 5th Grade Scholar Challenge at 5601 Covington Road. As many as five $3,000 scholarships toward Canterbury Middle School tuition will be awarded. In addition to scholarship awards, need-based financial aid is available to participants who qualify. Register for the challenge at www.canterburyschool.org/challenge or call 407-3553.
•The University of Saint Francis will host the first regional Youth Leadership and Ministry Conference on Feb. 17 and 18. For more information or to register, visit sf.edu/leadership. Early registrants will receive a discounted rate.
