Real World, Real Money @ Fairmount

By Meghan Schauer, Principal

The 9th graders at Fairmount Learning Center had a unique opportunity where they learned to budget money and expenses. The program, “Real World, Real Money,” is led by Holly Bandy from The Ohio State University. Throughout three lessons in the classroom, students chose a career, discussed federal and state deductions, insurance types, daily expenses, needs versus wants, and determined their monthly “net income.”

During the 4th lesson, students visited a variety of booths with their

“simulation spending worksheet.”

The goal of each station was to help students make a financial decision based on their “net monthly income.” The student’s goal was to make smart financial decisions and to not go into debt!

We had a lot of great volunteers throughout the district to help make this possible. Thank you to all of the volunteers for taking the time to visit Fairmount and work with our students at a station. This was a wonderful learning experience for our students.

What’s Up Youtz!

Students host new podcast showcasing all the happenings at Youtz

By Carolyn Lindesmith and Aaron Hartzler, Tech Integration Specialists

The new year brought a new project for a small group of fifth and sixth grade students at Youtz Elementary School. They’ve started their very own student podcast, “What’s up Youtz!, A podcast for kids by kids.” Since they’re Bulldogs, the students have dubbed themselves “Pupcasters!”

After several meetings covering the initial phases of planning and preparation, sixth grade students have excitedly begun the recording process. Their very first guest was Jolinda Seiple, Director of School Improvement for grades 4-8. With middle school on the horizon, the sixth graders were curious about the process for school choice and Mrs. Seiple was gracious enough to join student podcaster Elisa Ramos Alvarado to answer questions. While the sixth graders have their first recording under their belt, the fifth grade is eager to interview their first guest, Monica Black, Youtz’s Dean of Students, to discuss the activities being planned for their next student “A Club” activity. The “A” stands for Attend, Achieve, Aspire! The requirements to be in the A Club are that a student needs to be present 95% of the month and ON TIME 100% of those days.

Both groups determined the goal of their podcast would be to inform and entertain. The students are driving the content of their respective podcasts by brainstorming ideas that they and their friends are interested in covering. The student “pupcasters” also consider topics that would inform their listeners of current events outside of school, and hope to feature interviews from local experts! To add some humor, they’ll be including a “joke of the day” segment from a teacher at Youtz and have even created their own music to be featured throughout the episodes.

The podcasting students at Youtz are led by building Technology Resource Teacher, Billi Fete, and supported by district Technology Integration Specialists, Carolyn Lindesmith and Aaron Hartzler as part of a larger project with Ohio State University’s Creative Educator

Academy. The podcasting kit, consisting of two Samson microphones and an M-Audio recording interface, was provided by the district technology department. Coupled with a MacBook computer and the GarageBand App, this is a powerful setup to help students reach their audience. While they still need to “wrap-up” recording their segments and editing the first episode, the students are excited to share “What’s up Youtz!” with their classmates! We can’t wait to hear what they have to say!