The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Students collaborate for Bellbrook center

Honor students are part of a fundraising team.

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

Staff report 10:42 AM Wednesday, December 14, 2011

SUGARCREEK TWP., Greene County — The Bellbrook Middle School chapter of National Junior Honor Society, led by adviser Sandy Bolton, knows all about teamwork.

The honor students are part of a fundraising team helping the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Family Resource Center.

The group sells hand-crafted Buckeye necklaces and key chains along with BMS Golden Eagles’ key chains and bracelets through their NJHS Buckeye Necklaces and Other Spirit-wear Market at the school.

When eighth-grader Brady Tincher, NJHS president, contacted intensive needs teacher Kirsten Johnson about sharing in a community project, she saw the possibilities.

“Two years ago I incorporated a workshop into my classroom to make work meaningful to the students, producing products to contribute to the community and working on projects for the community,” Johnson said. Her intensive needs class, a part of the Greene County Educational Service Center, has involved the 16-to-22-year-old high school students in various community projects from stapling Market Day and Book Fair fliers for the Parent Teacher Organization to collating books for Stephen Bell Elementary School classes. “My students transition to workshops after they graduate, and I am trying to bridge that gap for them,” she said.

One of this year’s workshop projects has been making Buckeye necklaces and key chains with the assistance of students from the Greene County Educational Service Center Academy, now housed in the same facility as the intensive needs class in Bellbrook. The area, which previously housed the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Schools central office, is now the home of both Greene County ESC programs that serve high school students from throughout the county.

Mel Campbell, the academy director, and Johnson have been collaborating on various peer tutoring and life skills activities that benefit students of both programs. The production of Buckeye necklaces is one example of the academy students modeling tasks and appropriate social interaction for the intensive needs class students.

“I enjoy selling the necklaces and spirit-wear and donating to charity,” said honor society member Savannah Shenk.

“It’s more fun than work,” said Gabi Zapata.

“It’s a great chance for the students at the academy and in Ms. Johnson’s class to get deserved recognition,” Tincher said. “We owe a special thanks to Ms. Johnson and her kids and the academy for helping us (NJHS) help the community.”

“It’s easy to see why adviser Sandy Bolton believes these students are such great kids,” said Bellbrook-Sugarcreek school board member Kathy Kingston, who submitted this report. “She supervises all 39 of them during Eagle period at the middle school.”

Share this article