Strength: A Program to Empower Fifth Grade Girls through Mind, Body, and Soul

An Olentangy Education Foundation grant, made possible by the generosity of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center brought STRENGTH to Olentangy Meadows Elementary School this year.

STRENGTH is a before school empowerment program for girls in the fifth grade at OMES. STRENGTH empowers young girls to gain confidence within themselves to make decisions about choices that lead towards happiness, positive self-esteem, and success as the girls enter middle school. Each session combines various discussions and activities to promote positive emotional, mental, and physical development through their minds, bodies, and souls.

Students in STRENGTH performing SuperHero and Warrior Goddess poses and wall sits

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Hexagonal Thinking Strategies

Students in the STRENGTH program used Hexagonal Thinking strategies when thinking about the commonalities felt when others build them up, and when they feel let down

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Sertoma Establishes Reitter Family Memorial Fund

The Olentangy Education Foundation (OEF) is an organization that partners with the Olentangy Local School District to support and fund enhanced educational experiences for students across the whole district. OEF’s initiatives are focused on providing staff grants for innovative programs and learning opportunities for which tax dollars are not available.

Recently, the Tri-Village Sertoma organization established the Reitter Family Memorial Fund through the OEF, to honor the memory of the Reitter Family who were tragically killed in May 2019 by a carbon-monoxide leak in their home. Grants made in memory of the Reitter family will be used to enhance the educational experience of students across Olentangy Schools for years to come.

Tri-Village Sertoma is part of Sertoma International, an organization with service clubs in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The club's mission is to raise funds to donate to non-profit charitable organizations.  Tri-Village Sertoma has raised and donated over $1 million to charitable organizations in their history. They support other non-profits, such as Columbus Speech & Hearing, the James Cancer Research, and the Alzheimers Association.   

The Tri-Village Sertoma 2020 Charity Challenge 5K and 1 mile Funwalk will further support the Reitter Family Memorial Fund through the  Olentangy Education Foundation.  The community is invited to participate on Saturday, August 15 at Highbanks Metropark.   

Tri-Village Sertoma presented OEF with a $10,000 donation to establish

Reitter Family Memorial Fund

STEAM, Coding, and Creativity in the Music Classroom

Thanks to a grant from the Olentangy Education Foundation, an elementary music program was able to purchase technology, which is now being used in the classroom for students to create, code, compose, and share their music.

Fifth graders are using the new iPads to code video game scenes with an app called Tynker. This is part of a video game music project, where they are exploring music from video games.

Third graders are using Specdrums to play a song. These are rings that play different notes, depending on which color you are touching.

Lastly, the robot is a Dash robot with a xylophone accessory. The students have absolutely loved working with him! So far, students have worked with the robot (whom they’ve named Dexter) to make decisions about where he goes for each musical phrase, and have looked inside the app to name the notes in a programmed melody. They will also be using him to compose their own melodies and code.

Olentangy Education Foundation is appreciative of the support of our sponsor, Olentangy United FC, who made this grant possible.