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SCHOLASTIC SHUFFLE
Youngstown Community School
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Businessman Ed Muranksy, a staunch supporter of Youngstown Community School , handed out about 50 iPods to kids who successfully passed all of their state proficiency tests last school year.
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ACHIEVEMENT GIFT: Andre McCoy (left) and A’zha Cross, fourth graders at Youngstown Community School, peek inside their gift bags at the iPods they received as a gift for passing all of their Ohio Achievement tests as third graders last year. A total of 77 students earned the gifts from businessman Edward Muransky who is a member of the school’s governing authority.
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PROUD OWNER: Morgan Jones, a fifth grader at Youngstown Community School, proudly displays the iPod Shuffle she was given for successfully passing all reading, math and writing state proficiency tests last school year. More than 40 percent of the school’s 187 students in grades three through six last year earned the reward given by school benefactor Edward Muransky.
Passing state tests is music to their ears.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Students at Youngstown Community School who passed all of their required Ohio Achievement Tests last school year got more than the satisfaction of a job well done.
The 77 students also received free iPods for their academic success, courtesy of Edward Muransky, chairman and founder of Muransky Companies of Boardman, a member of the charter school’s governing authority and a school benefactor.
Muransky was at the Essex Street school Tuesday to personally hand iPods to 50 students. An additional 17 students who “graduated” from sixth grade last spring and 10 others who are no longer enrolled at Youngstown Community School will get their iPods later.
Muransky said he and his family intend to keep giving achievement gifts to the school’s students annually, letting them vote on the gift of their choice. He offered them some advice, telling them that now they have succeeded, they must work even harder next year to stay at the top of their academic game.
“You have to make that commitment. It just doesn’t happen,” he said.
He said that next year he wants to be able to give a gift to every student, which would require everyone in grades three through six to pass all of their achievement tests.
“That would be the greatest day in my life,” he told the students and more than 60 parents, grandparents and other family members who attended the awards ceremony.
The students got to vote on what type of gift they would like to receive, and the iPod Shuffle, a compact portable media player that allows users to download, store and play music, was the overwhelming choice, said Sister Mary Dunn, school superintendent/principal.
“This is such a wonderful occasion,” she said, adding that the children truly earned their gifts.
The 77 who passed all of their tests represent 41 percent of the 187 students who took the exams last school year, she said.
The school, which opened in 1998 as one of the first charter schools in Ohio, has a total enrollment of about 325 in K-6.
Jordan Rawl, now a sixth-grader who took the tests last year, stepped forward to represent the student body in thanking Muransky for his generosity.
”Thank you for supporting the kids at Youngstown Christian School,” he said, adding a special thanks for the iPods. “We appreciate your kindness,” he told Muransky.
When asked, Rawl said he was excited to get the gift and hasn’t decided whose music he will load into the device.
“I’m still debating,” he said.
Other students offered the names of current musical artists when Muransky asked them what type of music they would put into their iPods.
He suggested some Motown groups.
The school presented Muransky with a gift of its own that will grow from year to year.
Sister Jerome Corcoran, executive director, handed him a photo album that will be updated annually with group photos of students who succeed on all their achievement tests.
Muransky said he and his family have tried to be involved in children’s charities, and he is pleased with what Youngstown Community School is accomplishing.
Rewarding the children for their academic achievement “is the right thing to do,” he said.
gwin@vindy.com