Youth and Schools

Click on the Links Below For Individual Building Pages for Youth and Schools' News and Pictures.
Each Page Provides an Opportunity to Link Directly to the Official Parkway School District Web Site.

Parkway Local SD	Parkway High School
Parkway Middle School	Parkway Intermediate School
Parkway Elementary	Parkway Pre-School
Vantage Career Center	Wright State University - Lake Campus

2010 Parkway Graduate Competes and Excels at National and Local Events
From July 4-8, Alissa Belna of Rockford attended the FCCLA National Leadership Conference in Chicago, IL. She was the national qualifier in the STAR Event Entrepreneurship (see picture left) . There are over 20 STAR Events in which students may participate. They begin competing at the Regional level and then if they qualify they compete at the state level, " . . . and then if you have the highest score out of everyone in your state you are named the national qualifier," said Alissa. The Entrepreneurship STAR Event challenges the students to create their own business from beginning to end from planning the employee salaries, budget, laws and codes, to even the breakdown of services and prices. Called Extraordinary Events Alissa'a company was named and the company’s purpose was to plan events. "I chose this because I’d like to go into the event planning field and it helped me learn what I’ll need to know. I received a gold medal with a 96%. (by the way FCCLA celebrated its 65^th birthday too!)"

	Alissa & Mrs. Farago t OSF the FCCLA State Adviser @ the FCCLA Booth @ the Ohio State Fair.
	Alissa, with Junior Fair Board Adviser Jaye Lin Waddle, and Jordan Rohaley, the 2010 Ohio State Fair Junior Fair Board Vice President who represented Farm Bureau.

Alissa was also at the Ohio State Fair serving on the Ohio State Fair Junior Fair Board. She represented FCCLA and expressed her pride at being the first representative on the board for FCCLA in over 20 years. Each member has a two year term. This year there were 19 from all over Ohio representing FFA, 4H, Farm Bureau, Grange, FCCLA, Technology Education, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Campfire USA. Alissa was elected as the Vice President for the board for 2011. Picture at left is the board with Alissa front row second from right.

Class Wins 500 Books to Donate to Local Charities of their Choice
Through ClassroomsCare

Rockford, Ohio - Mrs. Traci Robbins’ second grade class learned about the power of giving this year, and now they can share their love of reading with their favorite local community organizations!

Mrs. Robbins and her second grade class at Parkway Elementary School have won the “Care Where You Are” Sweepstakes, a national sweepstakes sponsored by Scholastic Book Clubs, and have donated their prize – 500 books from Scholastic – to the Rockford, Mendon and Willshire Public Libraries as well as Our Home Family Resource Center of Mercer County. The prizewinners were participants in Scholastic Book Clubs’ ClassroomsCare program – a philanthropic literacy initiative that encourages reading by asking classrooms across the country to read 100 books, and in turn, Scholastic Book Clubs will donate up to one million books to kids in need. The class was one of 200 classrooms out of 12,000 entries to win.

ClassroomsCare is an annual challenge to the one million classrooms that use Scholastic Book Clubs. Participating classes read 100 books, triggering a donation of books from Scholastic Book Clubs to ClassroomsCare’s charity partners. The books are then donated throughout the year to kids in preschool to middle school who in many cases would not otherwise have books of their own.

Mrs. Robbins’ class had a small reception in their classroom for the recipients of the donated books. Representative of the three libraries and Our Home were invited. Essays about the experience were written and shared by the students.

Congratulations to Grace Linn- Regional Bee Competitor!
On Saturday March 20th students from Allen, Auglaize, Hardin, Mercer, Putnam and Shelby counties competed in the Regional Spelling Bee which was held at James Rhodes State College in Lima. Parkway Middle School 7th grade student Grace Linn was one of 32 contestants who competed in the bee. She placed third overall after stumbling on the word "jacamar" (a tropical bird) in round 22.

Pictured is Grace with her third place trophy and a certificate entitling her to a free one year subscription to the Encyclopedia Britannica online. Congratulations Grace!!

Linn Local Bee Winner
The Mercer County spelling bee was held on Monday evening February 1st in the James F. Dicke Hall at Wright State University-Lake Campus. Twenty-one students in grades 4-8 representing Coldwater, St. Henry, Fort Recovery, Marion Local and Parkway schools competed in the bee. After 13 rounds and 202 words, Parkway Middle School seventh grade student Grace Linn was declared the champion. Grace is the daughter of Randy and Paula Linn of Rockford. Finishing in second place was Olivia Hemmelgarn, an eighth grade student from Marion Local and finishing in third place was Chase Hemmelgarn, an eighth grade student from St. Henry. Grace, Olivia and Chase will compete at the regional spelling bee on Saturday, March 20th at Rhodes State College in Lima.

Pictured from left to right are: Dr. Jeffrey Tuneberg, Olivia Hemmelgarn, Grace Linn, Chase Hemmelgarn and Dr. Ken Rosengarten

Mendon Cub Scouts Hold Banquet
Mendon Cub Scout Pack 231 held their annual Blue and Gold Banquet in March. A carry-in dinner was enjoyed by all. Parents, grandparents, and friends were treated to some very funny skits performed by the scouts. Nathan Boroff called the scouts to order, while Collin Grieshop and Evan Boroff served as flag bearers. Each scout received the badges that he had earned throughout the past year. Great job scouts, keep up the good work. Pictured left to right back row: Collin Grieshop, Cody Gaham, Blake Dudgeon, Evan Boroff, Nathan Boroff. Front row: Kane Dudgeon, Kaden Boroff, and Brody Dorsten.

Local Girl Scouts Donate to Angel Tree Project

On December 5, 2009, the Rockford Girl Scout Troop #20677 members presented stockings to Kathy Taylor, who is in charge of the Rockford Angel Tree Project. The stockings went to needy children in the area. Pictured are scouts, left to right: Olivia, Jamison, Leah, Rachel, Claire, Kathy Taylor, and troop leader Michele Breese. Mary Eichler, assistant troop leader was not present for the picture.

Annual Pine Wood Derby Race Features Action and Talented Car-Designers

Mendon Cub Scout Pack 231 held their annual Pine Wood Derby on Saturday, March 27, 2010. The boys did a great job of designing and painting their race cars.

Collin Grieshop took the trophy for best paint job while Chandler Krogman took the prize for best design.

After many heated races, Blake Dudgeon was awarded the first place trophy; his car was undefeated!

Congratulations to all the racers!

Pack 231 would also like to thank P & G Mini Mart for allowing us to hold a bake sale in front of their store. The boys were able to raise $150.00 to help pay for day camp this summer. Thanks to everyone who made the wonderful treats and to those who purchased items at our sale!