Horticulture competition

Horticulture competition

CANFIELD — Seven Mahoning County Career and Technical Center students advanced to the state competition at the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute this month.

The horticulture students scored well in regional competition at the Trumbull County Career and Technical Center to advance to the state level.

They are: Stephanie Bennett of Sebring, Carrie Fournier of Sebring, Brittany Johnson of Campbell, Clinton Justice of West Branch, Chad Kislingbury of Boardman, Chance Metz of Austintown and Kahdeedra Thompkins of Campbell.

Student to perform

LIBERTY — Brett Baker has been selected to perform with a national performing organization known as The Sound of America Honor Band and Chorus.

Baker, son of Rick and Lisa Baker, plays trumpet in the Liberty Symphonic and Marching bands and the Henry H. Stambaugh Youth Concert Band. He is a member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society, the National Honor Society and the 2009 Class of Youth Leadership Mahoning Valley.

He has recently performed as a member of the Ohio University Honors Band, the Ohio Band Directors Honors Band and the Ohio Music Education Association Honors Band. He recently received a superior rating of “1” in the OMEA Solo and Ensemble Competition.

He will join other select student musicians representing nearly every state when the Sound of America begins its 2009 European Concert Tour in July.

Baker is open to accepting donations and will be holding fundraisers to help pay for the trip.

Mini relay for life

LISBON — A mini relay for life was at Robert Bycroft School during Developmental Disabilities Awareness month. Students and staff collected $1,807 for the American Cancer Society.

Psych Dept. receives grant

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. — Westminster College’s Department of Psychology has received a $125,000 grant from the National Science Foundation Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement program.

The funds will be used for the department’s “Integrating a Psychology Curriculum through the Incremental Building of Computer Skills” project. Computer hardware and software and physiological recording equipment will be purchased, and stipends will be provided to psychology faculty to integrate the equipment into several courses.

The grant will provide new software in a general experimental lab, hardware and software for upgrading the social psychology lab, hardware and software for a new laboratory in cognitive neuroscience and equipment for the development of exercises in an abnormal psychology course and a behavioral neuroscience course.

Thiel awarded grants

GREENVILLE, Pa. — Thiel College has been awarded $188,000 in grants from the Marion G. Resch Foundation of Youngstown for the 2009-10 academic year.

The funding will support two programs, the Marion G. Resch Science Scholarship and the Resch EXCEL Early Intervention program, which is a partnership between Thiel and the Youngstown city schools.

The Resch Scholarship provides scholarships for 20 current Thiel College science majors as well as awards for seven incoming first-year students from Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in eastern Ohio who intend to study in a science program at Thiel.

The EXCEL (Excellent Choices in Education and Lifestyle) Early Intervention Program is a series of mentoring and learning activities created for inner-city youths who show academic promise and exemplary behavior. The students are provided with support and encouragement to succeed in school and at home. They visit Thiel each summer for a week-long educational camp.

Feed The Children

GROVE CITY, Pa. — Shelters, food pantries and other organizations in Mercer and Lawrence counties benefited from the Feed The Children Region 5 Homeless Children’s Initiative, administered through Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV, which provides educational services to public schools in Mercer, Lawrence and Butler counties.

Student helpers from the counties assisted in unloading 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies, books and food donated by the international relief organization.

The contribution represented more than $100,000 worth of supplies targeted for the area’s homeless students and families. Picking up supplies from Lawrence County were Crisis Shelter, Head Start and the City Rescue Mission.

Picking up supplies from Mercer County were AWARE Shelter, ARC House, Grace Community Food Pantry, Head Start, Laura Walker Project, Prince of Peace Center and Good Shepherd Center.