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Austintown Elementary School launches successful Crayons to College program
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Neighbors | Submitted.Austintown Elementary School first-grade student Ava Adya (left) and second-grader Nathan Becker displayed their certificates for winning the attribute behavior during the Crayons to College program.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Austintown Elementary School counselors Kelley Mills (left) and Penny Callahan (right) posed with the Dollar Dog during the launch of the Crayons to College program.
By TIM CLEVELAND
Students at Austintown Elementary School have been participating in a program since Oct. 15 called Crayons to College that gives the 1,100 students in grades kindergarten through second the chance to learn new skills that will benefit them in later grades.
Each week has the students working on an attribute that correlates to each letter of the alphabet. Each morning, Principal Tom Lenton discusses the attribute for the week. Teachers in each classroom select one student from their room who best exemplifies that week’s attribute. Once each of the 47 classrooms submit their nominees, AES counselors Penny Callahan and Kelley Mills randomly draw the names of one boy and one girl. Each winner receives a certificate and is entered into a drawing to receive a $10 College Savings Plan certificate, which is sponsored by Seven Seventeen Credit Union’s Austintown branch. Seven Seventeen’s mascot, the Dollar Dog, made an appearance at the program’s launch in October.
The program will run through May 22.
“A comprehensive school counseling program focuses on three major areas of student needs; personal-social, academic and career,” Callahan said. “When evaluating our program Kelley Mills [the other elementary counselor] and I realized that there was more work to be done in the area of careers in the elementary building. The difficult thing was how to present it to kindergarten through second grade students in a way that they would understand and would be engaging.
“Over the summer I read an article in the American School Counselors Association’s publication on a school in Utah who developed the Crayons to College program. On a whim, we contacted Seven Seventeen to see how feasible a program like this might be. They were just as excited as we were about the idea, so we put everything together right then and there at our initial meeting.”
Some of the attributes so far have been attitude [won by kindergartner Carter Precurato and second-grader Delaney O’Hara], behavior [first-grader Ava Adya and second-grader Nathan Becker] and college [first-graders Cierra Shiley and James Higgs].
Mills said the program has been a complete success thus far.
“I feel like this program truly is a success,” she said. “Our students and teachers continue to be excited about it. Our students are working really hard to exhibit the weekly attributes and the teachers are finding fun ways to incorporate them into their daily classroom activities. I especially love that this gives all of our students the opportunity to be recognized, not just the straight A student or typical well behaved student. Crayons to College allows us to find even some of our most difficult students working hard to improve themselves and it is so exciting to see them recognized for it.
“Penny and I are constantly discussing what we can do to continue to improve Crayons to College within our building and teach our kids about the importance of college and their future careers because we want this pilot year to be a success.”
Callahan said the program has also had a positive impact on the students.
“Our vision is for all students to achieve success and happiness in all endeavors including personal relationships and future educational and career choices,” she said. “The elementary level is the best place to begin building students’ foundation for future career successes. This is the time to get them excited about the possibilities and to teach them how that is dependent on current academic and behavior choices. This program is designed to teach elementary students a variety of positive attributes that will help them be ready to enter the job market or prepared to enter college and be successful throughout their lives.”