MORROW COUNTY — The Morrow County Retired Teachers Association held an evening dinner meeting June 6 at Trinity United Methodist Church at which they hosted county classroom teacher who had received MCRTA Teacher Grants during the 2021-22 school year.
President Pat Maxwell welcomed those attending and gave a preview of upcoming events. Past-president Bonnie Hildebrand introduced the grant recipients, each of which reported on how they had used their grant funds.
Mount Gilead elementary art teacher, Robin Conrad, stated that because her students had faced so much disruption in their lives during the pandemic, she planned art activities in which they could exert control. She purchased materials for them to create key chains using “shrink art” to spell out their names and attach decorations.
Jill Adams and Laura Wayne, do-teachers of a Northmor fourth grade intervention class purchased food items for cooking and hands-on art activities, spaghetti and marshmallows were used in multiple ways. Northmor kindergarten teacher, Lorri Richards shared photos of her successful project of hatching quail eggs for which she had purchased an incubator. Twelve tiny quail hatched and all survived.
Katie Scohy, kindergarten teacher at Cardington, purchased supplies for her class study of the life cycle of butterflies. Cardington first grade teacher Melissa Deems stretched her grant to purchase 91 leveled readers for her students to take home overnight, plus six “read aloud” books.
This was the second year that MCRTA has awarded $100 grants to applicants from all the county schools. Receiving grants but unable to attend the dinner were Highland teachers Brett Behnfeldt and Jennifer Reid, both of whom purchased high-interest informational books to enhance their eighth-grade language arts program.
Tom Lewis and Gerry Hartman, who teach a senior transition class at Mount Gilead, used their grant to purchase needed items to plan, prepare and serve a complete meal.
The evening closed with the auction of a freshly baked black raspberry pie baked by Pat Rinehart which was purchased by Lorri Richards. Proceeds from the pie auction, along with future auctions and donations will fund Teacher Grants for the 2022-23 school year.
