Pupils to focus on science

Pupils will present a school assembly and clean up a school courtyard.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- SEEDS Science Club members, parents and teachers at East Palestine Elementary will focus on science during National Youth Service Day events Friday and Saturday.
Jean Metzger, teacher of gifted and talented pupils and adviser to the gifted pupils of East Palestine Schools, said SEEDS members are creating an outdoor science lab at the school and hoping at the same time to generate excitement about science study among their peers.
Project SEEDS -- Students Educating, Exploring and Discovering Science -- is an effort of East Palestine third-, fourth-and fifth-grade gifted pupils. The gifted pupils came up with the idea for the outdoor science lab. They started SEEDS Science Club and are encouraging their peers to join.
Metzger said the SEEDS Science Club will lead efforts to promote science in two events related to National Youth Service Day.
Friday, SEEDS members, teachers and parents will present an assembly to all elementary pupils at 1:45 p.m. in the school gym.
The assembly will include an original skit written by pupils, based on the PBS animated science program, "The Magic School Bus." In it, a teacher and her pupils will travel back in time to learn how to become excited about science.
Students from the Columbiana County Career and Technical Center horticulture program are assisting SEEDS members in the design of the outdoor science lab and will participate in the assembly. A fifth-grade music class will sing a garden song.
After the assembly there will be a groundbreaking ceremony at the science lab site.
Saturday's events
Saturday, SEEDS members, parents and teachers will be at the site of the science lab from 9 a.m. to noon. They will be cleaning up the site, building raised flower beds and creating a mosaic table. The pupils will create a mosaic design on a plain table top. The table will then be used as a work area for the science lab projects.
Metzger said the gifted pupils received a $1,000 grant from State Farm Youth Service America to help fund the science lab. A requirement of the grant award is that activities related to the science lab must occur on National Youth Service Day.
Youth Service Day is a project of Youth Service America. YSA officials said about 4 million young people from age 5 to 25 will be working on projects across the country today through Saturday.
According to the organization's Web site, www.ysa.org/nysd, YSA is a resource center that partners with thousands of organizations committed to increasing the quality and quantity of volunteer opportunities for young people in America, age 5-25, to serve locally, nationally and globally. Founded in 1986, YSA has the mission to strengthen the effectiveness, sustainability and scale of the youth service and service-learning fields.
tullis@vindy.com