Calhoun speaks to students at OHS.

Mark Calhoun has been a busy man since graduating from Olentangy High School in 2008.

In addition to earning his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Calhoun has begun his graduate studies in biomedical engineering at The Ohio State University, where he is developing neural biomimetic polymeric materials. He also worked on a project that changed one young boy’s life.

Calhoun returned to Olentangy High School (OHS) this week to speak to students about his accomplishments, what its like to study engineering and what it takes to be successful in college and in life.

The discussion centered on Calhoun’s work designing and building a prosthetic for an 8-year-old boy born with a short right forearm with only two fingers. The condition left the boy unable to perform things that a typical 8-year-old takes for granted, such as riding a bike or swinging a baseball bat.

Calhoun and another engineering student worked with the boy to design a prosthetic that could bend at the elbow, rotate at the wrist and open and close a hand-like mechanism. Calhoun created the arm using a 3-D printer and his engineering know-how.

In addition to his father and his own curious nature, Calhoun credited his success and interest in engineering to his time at Olentangy, where he was able to take a number of AP courses and learn from teachers like Elaine Humes.

Hoping to give back to Olentangy, Calhoun recently contacted Humes to ask if he could speak to students in her precalculus class about his experiences. The conversation resulted in Calhoun’s visit this week.

“We’re very proud of what he has accomplished,” Humes said.

But building apps isn’t your average 14-year-old’s hobby.

“I went back to my seat and my jaw just dropped,” Mitchell said of his reaction to physical science teacher David Porterfield’s request to create a classroom app. “I jumped at the opportunity.”

The unusual project came about after Porterfield overheard Mitchell, a soft-spoken but gifted student, talking about an app he had previously created for an online video game show. Porterfield thought having Mitchell develop an app for class would be a great way to extend his learning, he said.

Another student in the class, Dominic F., listened to the conversation and immediately asked Porterfield if he could do the same. Unlike Mitchell, Dominic had never created an app before, but as a self-described techie “obsessed with Apple products,” he was familiar with using them.

After providing the two students with the curriculum information, Porterfield stepped back and gave Mitchell and Dominic complete control of the development process. “I simply gave them some basic parameters in terms of the curriculum and set them loose,” he said. “They were doing this on their own and they did all the work.”

The two spent the next three months writing code; Mitchell worked to develop “Physics to Go” an app that would act as a portable physics study guide. Dominic set out to create “Motion and Forces,” an e-book application that would help its users “experience physics in a more personal way.”

There were some bumps in the road. Apple conducts a review of every app it receives to restrict what is sold through its app store. Mitchell and Dominic’s original submissions were rejected during the review process. But the boys persevered and worked to submit updated versions.

“We Skyped a lot to talk about our frustration after that, but it definitely helped make for a better product in the end,” Dominic said. “We tweaked so many things, and every time we do an update now we take a closer look to make sure there are no flaws or grammatical errors.”

The second effort proved successful and both apps are now being used regularly in Porterfield’s classes.

Each app includes definitions for physics terms, pictures and video demonstrations intended to make physics more accessible and appealing to today’s tech-savvy youth. The young programmers added another level of interactivity by including a review game that tests the users’ knowledge of what they just learned.

“We felt like we kinda had to have the game. I mean, who wants to sit down with an app that you just read,” Mitchell said. Porterfield has been amazed with the results and plans to continue to embrace his students’ interest in technology.

“What they have accomplished is far better than I could have imagined,” he said. “They have taken my curriculum and made it something the students can use and take with them.”

The students are also developing skills that are in demand in the real world, a key point that isn’t lost on Mitchell and Dominic. “We’re grateful that Mr. Porterfield gave us this opportunity,” Mitchell said, adding that having a teacher who lets students use a smartphone as part the learning process isn’t exactly the norm.

“If it helps other kids get better grades it justifies everything we did,” he said.

Establishing an innovative learning environment was key to the project’s success and is something that Olentangy Local Schools promotes, said Chris Deis, the district’s supervisor of instructional technology.

“Creating innovative learning environments increases engagement by blending what the students know and use — their mobile devices in this case— with the content we teach,” Deis said.

The district has encouraged this by, among other things, creating a district-wide wireless network and making use of mobile web tools. This helps spread and encourage learning outside the classroom, he said.

“Olentangy is a great place to learn because of its innovative teachers and Mr. Porterfield just helped raise the bar.”

Now in its fifth year, the OLMS Civil War Museum is a hands-on history lesson that requires students to complete a report and visual representation on various Civil War topics. Reports on display at this year’s museum ranged from medical care, naval warfare to key political figures of the time.

Not to be outdone by WRES, several other schools in the district are participating in the American Heart Association’s Jump Rope for Heart campaign. Students at Scioto Ridge Elementary School (SRES) raised more than $16,000 for the cause. The five students who raised the most were rewarded for their efforts with the chance to turn SRES physical education teacher Kristyn Richardson into an ice cream sundae.

Located in the school’s courtyard, the greenhouse was built entirely by volunteers, including parents and teachers, and paid for through grants, donations and fundraising events. It will now be used for hands-on science activities and community-based projects supporting the district’s wellness policy. Similar greenhouse projects are now underway at Olentangy Hyatts Middle School and Tyler Run Elementary School.

OOHS student Spencer M. with the ceramic mugs he created to serve as awards for the OCC Art Show.

More than 200 student artists honored during the Ohio Capital Conference (OCC) Art Show last week walked away with a unique award that also is a piece of art in its own right. The stylish awards — colorful ceramic art mugs— came courtesy of Olentangy Orange High School’s (OOHS) Spencer M.

The OOHS senior spent a good part of the year making the 200-plus ceramic mugs needed for the OCC Wes Blizzard Art Invitational held May 2. The show takes place every spring at the State Teacher Retirement System Building in Columbus and features awards made by a student artist.

Spencer was nominated to create this year’s awards by his art teacher, Susan Strohl, who said she picked Spencer because he had the talent and experience to tackle the project.

“I chose him because he has taken seven ceramics classes, he was old enough to appreciate the task and he had the dedication to see it through. He had to come up with an idea that was easy enough to reproduce 200 times, as well as a glaze scheme,” Strohl said. The only requirement was that the awards had to have “OCC 2013″ on them somewhere.

Olentangy Local School District students honored during the art show were:

• Olentangy High School: Brigid F., Amy H., Halie G., and Hannah A.
• Olentangy Liberty High School: Carter H., Caroline T., Hinako M., and Ellen Z.
• Olentangy Orange High School: Jonah M., Bailey B., Lillian C. and Sherman D.

Ten Olentangy schools will be represented at this year’s Relay For Life of Olentangy, to be held from 6 p.m. May 10 to noon May 11 at Olentangy Liberty High School (OLHS), 3584 Home Road, Powell.

The organizers of this year’s event hope to raise $137,000 for cancer research and treatment. The various Olentangy teams have been collecting donations for several months and will be taking turns walking or running on the OLHS track during the event. The theme for this year’s Relay for Life is “Under the Big Top.” The event will feature a night of food, music, inspirational speakers and a lighting of luminarias at sunset in remembrance of those who have succumbed to cancer.

Third-graders at Wyandot Run Elementary School have been doing their part to help in the fight against cancer. They donated $1,634.24 to the Wyandot Walkers Relay for Life team in honor of a classmate with cancer. The students raised the money as part of an economics project. They took a $100 loan out from the school’s PTO to make products — including slime, stress balls and duct tape wallets — that they then sold. The loan was repaid and the rest donated!

For more information about Relay for Life of Olentangy, visit http://tinyurl.com/bqpt58n

OOHS students Savannah A., Erin E. and Madison S. with their winning art.

Olentangy Orange High School’s (OOHS) art department recently swept U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi’s Congressional Art Competition, with all three top awards going to students from OOHS.

Madison S. took first-place honors as the competition’s winner. Savannah A. received the second-place award and Erin E. was named the third-place winner. Their artwork will now be on display at Tiberi’s office for an entire year and Safer’s work will continue on to a national exhibit in Washington D.C.

The regional art competition was on exhibit at the Orange Branch Library and judging was held April 29. The judges were local art professionals who all hold Master’s of Fine Art degrees. Sponsored by the Congressional Institute, the nationwide high school visual art competition is held to recognize and encourage artistic talent in each congressional district.

The U.S. News and World Report released its “Best High Schools” ranking this week. The report analyzed achievement data from 22,000 public high schools across the nation and 752 from Ohio.

Olentangy Liberty High School (OLHS) is ranked fourth in the state in this year’s report, up from its seventh place ranking in last year’s report. OLHS is 152 in the national ranking with a college-readiness score of 66.3, a math proficiency score of 4.5 and a reading proficiency score of 4.4.

Olentangy High School (OHS) is ranked seventh in the report. That’s up from a 10th place ranking last year. OHS is 221st in the national ranking, with a college-readiness score of 59.2, a math proficiency score of 4.4 and a reading proficiency score of 4.3.

Olentangy Orange High School (OOHS) is ranked eleventh in the state, up from 16 in last year’s report. OOHS is ranked 310th in the national ranking, with a college-readiness score of 53.6, a math proficiency score of 4.4 and a reading proficiency score of 4.2.

U.S. News & World Report determined its college-readiness scores by examining the percentage of seniors who took and passed Advanced Placement (AP) exams. The math and reading proficiency scores reflect student performance on the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT).

The report comes on the heels of the Washington Post’s recently released 2013 list of “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” and Olentangy’s three high schools received the highest scores in central Ohio and ranked within the best in the state on that list, too.

The Washington Post ranks schools based upon Challenge Index scores.  The index is calculated by taking the total number of college-level tests (such as Advanced Placement exams) given at a school and dividing that by the number of graduates for that particular year.

According to the Challenge Index, Olentangy Orange High School (OOHS) ranked first in central Ohio, sixth in the state and 302nd in the nation with a score of 3.529.  Olentangy Liberty High School ranked second in central Ohio, eighth in the state and 337th in the nation with a score of 3.40.  Olentangy High School ranked third in central Ohio, ninth in the state and 345th in the nation with a score of 3.364.

More than 48 countries were represented at the fair via student-prepared booths featuring a variety of pictures and artifacts from the cultures that make up the student population. A number of students wore saris, kimonos and turbans as they traveled from booth to booth learning about other cultures.

Native cuisines prepared by the students were available and entertainment was provided in the form of student-performed cultural dances that took place several times throughout the event.

Sponsored by the OOHS student council, the Multicultural Fair is an important way to recognize, respect and celebrate the diversity within the school, said Madelyne L., the fair’s student coordinator.

“We have so many different cultures represented right here and I think it’s really cool to share that and learn those different perspectives,” she said.