Category: Education

  • April 10 – JA In A Day

    April 10 – JA In A Day

    You can make a difference in a child’s life! Grab your favorite Rotarian and join us for JA in a Day.

    • Where: IPS, Joyce Kilmer Academy #69
    • When: Thursday, April 10 from 9am to 3pm

    JA In A Day

    Junior Achievement is dedicated to educating students about work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. JA programs help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action, and help strengthen their communities. In central Indiana, we provide in school education program to grades K-12 as well as our experiential capstone programs such as JA BizTown® and Finance Park® Virtual, which enforces the idea that kids learn by “doing.”

  • Christel House Academy Science Fair 2014

    Christel House Academy Science Fair 2014

    Members of the Rotary Club of Indianapolis helped judge the Christel House Academy Science Fair on Thursday, February 6, 2014. These are just a handful of the 150 students from grades four through six judged – everyone had a great time! Participants were: Hugh Wolf and Nathan Connor (Education Committee), Laura Sniadecki, Greg Cookerly, Marsha and David Spring, Tye Stebbins, Alan Leighton, Steve Smith and Greg Albright.

    If you are interested in helping out next time (we need more volunteers!), please contact Nathan Conner at 317-753-6884.

  • Rotary Conducts 4-Way Test at Christel House

    Rotary Conducts 4-Way Test at Christel House

    On September 5th, the Rotary Education Committee and 12 Rotarians volunteered to assist  Christel House Academy with the 4-Way Test for the first time!

    The 4-Way Test Middle School Program is an amazing opportunity which allows Rotarians to interact with students in the 7th grade giving them ideas/techniques and tactics for great decision making throughout their lives! And all it costs you is a couple hours of your time.

    These activities are vital to the students growth and foundation and we promise the experience is rewarding, eye-opening and fun!

    Watch a video about the 4-Way Test.

    Rotarian Michael Salemi is pictured with a group of students as they discuss this ethical way of making decisions.

    A huge thank you to everyone who helped at this event. I heard nothing but glowing comments from everyone. Please know that this kind of work is such a tremendous investment in our students. It was tremendous to have had so many Rotarians help. And, a special thank you to Dene Nidiffer for leading the charge! Rotarian, Carey Dahncke

  • Rotarians Judge Science Fair

    Rotarians Judge Science Fair

    In June, Rotarians judged a Science Fair at IPS Christian Park Elementary School 82. All grades participated in their first ever science fair. Students were thoroughly engaged, entertaining and genuinely excited about the fair and the experiments they produced. Some projects were completed individually while other were done as group projects. Our judging focus was to ensure that students understood the ideas behind what a hypothesis is and why it was important. This school’s students were delightful and engaged. See all the photos.

  • Spelling Bee Champion: Again!

    Regina Solomito, last years winner, again won the Regional Bee on March 20th, 2012. The Rotary Club of Indianapolis sponsors a portion of the winner’s trip to Washington DC for the Scripps National Bee.

    Regional Bee Results:

    • First Place: Regina Solomito, 8th grade, Kolbe Academy Homeschool. Winning word “materialize”
    • Second Place: Cy Orentlichter, 5th grade, Hasten Hebrew Academy, went out in round 24 on word “rambla”
    • Third Place: Mihir Patel, 7th grade, Chapel Hill 7th and 8th Grade Academy, went out in 16th round on word “lenitive”

    Regina will go on compete at the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee May 27-June 4th in Washington D.C. Be sure to watch and cheer for her!

    Photo: Left to Right (Back Row) Nathan Connor, Laura Sniadecki, Paul Del Re, Eric berman (WIBC) (Front Row) Cy Orientlichter (2nd Place), Mihir Patel (3rd Place), Regina Solomito (First Place)

  • Rotarians and Rotaract Conduct 2nd 4-Way Test Program

    BY: Scott Armstrong
    On November 12, 2010 fourteen Rotarians joined four members of the Rotaract Club at the second Rotary 4-Way Test program of the 2010-11 school year. IPS School #2 downtown was the location, and the entire 7th-grade class were the participants for the latest edition of the Education Committee’s signature event. (Students from IPS #2 and Howe Academy would be joining us for lunch at the Holiday Program on December 14, 2010.) Rotarians were able to spend two eye-opening hours with today’s young men and women and came away raving about the experience. Every student that took part was rated by the Rotarian at their table as “excellent” in terms of participation and enthusiasm. More than half of the Rotarian participants were not Education Committee members, and many people participated for the very first time. Watch for two more opportunities to participate coming up after the first of the year, and don’t be afraid to jump right in, once you do it once, you will want to do it time and again.

    Participating Rotarians:
    Al Leighton, Susie Harmless, Hugh Baker, Melissa Farmer, Kim Hodges, Walle Mafalosaire, Scott Armstrong, Jim Miller, Sarah Reuter, Ramona Adams, Michael Joyce, Nathan Connor, Steven Stolen, Paul Del Re

    Participating Rotaractors:
    Sunday Ogundele, Megan Carrison, Ashley Black, Wysteria Holt

  • Interact and IPS School #2 Raise $1,775.00 for Haiti Relief

    Interact and IPS School #2 Raise $1,775.00 for Haiti Relief

    The Interact Club at IPS School #2 (Center for Inquiry) at 725 N. New Jersey Street in downtown Indianapolis spearheaded a school-wide collection effort to raise funds for Rotary District 6560 World Community Service Foundation to benefit Haiti. In one week at this school with fewer than 300 students, $1,775.00 was collected. Interact President Josh Brunsting, a CFI eighth grader, presented the check to the Rotary Club of Indianapolis at its weekly meeting on Tuesday, February 9th. Josh was accompanied by Rotarian Scott Armstrong, who meets with the Interact students every other week. Scott stated that he is extremely proud of what the students accomplished in such a short time frame. Josh and all of the Interact Club members spent the week leading up to the collection advertising and advising the individual classes on how best to drum up donations. They then spent the collection week counting funds and spurring their assigned classes to even greater giving.

    The Rotary Foundation of Indianapolis will match donations made by Rotary Club of Indianapolis members and the contributions from the Interact Club. The combined donations total $6,795 for relief to earthquake ravaged Haiti.

  • Education Committee Conducting Many Local Volunteer Activities

    It is an exciting time of year for the Education Committee. Many projects that we work on all year long come to pass over the next couple of months.

    There is a great volunteer opportunity for all Rotarians to participate in one of the 4-Way Test Programs that we put on every year. We will hold the program at near-northside IPS School #84 on March 19th at 1:00 pm. The program lasts roughly two hours and anyone who has participated before will tell you it is a wonderful experience. Please contact Scott Armstrong 946-3448 for more info or to volunteer.
    We are co-sponsoring the Marion County Spelling Bee at IUPUI on March 2nd starting at 6:30 pm. Come out to root on your favorite middle-school spellers.

    February 24th we judged the IPS School #60 Science Fair which we sponsor through a financial gift as well, a great time was had by all.

    March 19th-21st we will have our second annual RYLA Camp for Central District high school students. Volunteers are still needed to transport students to the Lafayette area the morning of the 19th or home from Lafayette midday on the 21st, please contact Scott for more on this as well.

    We are also pleased to announce that starting in July, Fejiro Kalu will take over for Scott Armstrong as Chair of the committee.

  • 4-Way Test and School on Wheels Planned

    Your Education Committee has a very busy year planned. Initiatives include the support of three IPS Elementary School wish lists; a Rotaract Club at IUPUI; Interact Clubs at IPS #2 and Howe Academy; the Marion County Spelling Bee; High School honors day; Eagle and Gold Scout recognition; Altruism awards at Butler, University of Indianapolis and IUPUI; conducting a Rotary Youth Leadership Award camp for the second year in District 6560; and conducting four 4-Way Test Programs at IPS Middle-Schools. The committee meets the fourth Tuesday of every month at 11:00 am (except July and December) in the Scottish Rite Cathedral Ballroom. All are welcome to see what we have going on.

    The 4-Way Test Programs are our signature events and are a place where Rotary members can volunteer on a one-time basis. We visit an IPS middle-school for roughly two hours and work in small groups with 1-2 Rotarians and 3-4 students per table applying the Rotary 4-Way Test to real-life moral dilemmas. It is an enriching experience for Rotarians and the students. Our next scheduled program is at IPS #2 on November 4th from 10:45am-12:30. Please contact Scott Armstrong to volunteer. And, at Howe Academy on October 13th from 8-10:30AM. RSVP to Dene Nidiffer by October 8th. First timers are definitely welcome and will be paired with a “veteran” if they desire.

    We are recruiting volunteers for School on Wheels. This is an organization that provides tutoring to homeless children in Indianapolis. The aim is to use education to stop the cycle of poverty. Volunteers are asked to commit to one hour per week at the same time/place each week. All locations are near downtown Indianapolis, and after work time slots are readily available. You may volunteer for one school semester. A volunteer training session can be scheduled at the Scottish Rite if we get a sufficient number of volunteers. Please contact Scott Armstrong right away if you are interested in more information or in volunteering.