FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                          April 27, 2005 

NORTHWESTERN PROVIDES ‘HOPE’ FOR AREA SCHOOL CHILDREN

            Every Monday afternoon since Jan. 18, a handful of students at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva have become younger.

            About 40 third through eighth grade students from Waynoka and Freedom have been on campus taking part in a program called Project HOPE or “Helping Others Pursue Excellence.”

            This program, which has been dubbed “Discovery Day,” is funded through a five-year, $1 million grant written by Camille Holt, who writes grants for schools in Freedom, Waynoka, Buffalo and Timberlake through the Cimarron Valley Partnership. Holt also is the project’s director.

Debra Rankin from Freedom and Mandy Winingham of Waynoka are the site coordinators for their respective schools.

            The federal grant comes from the 21^st Century Community Learning Center, which is a component of the “No Child Left Behind Act.”

            This Department of Education program awards grants to help provide quality expanded learning opportunities outside of regular school hours in a safe and sound educational environment.

Northwestern is one of three major partners in providing this environment for the students from Waynoka and Freedom. Also providing opportunities and learning experiences are individuals from the Northwest Technology Center and the Woods County OSU Extension Office.

            Holt said that Northwestern is a strong partner as it can provide these students with so many opportunities not available to them in their small communities.

            “We appreciate Northwestern being a partner in this project,” she said. “Its success wouldn’t be what it is without the support of Dr. (Paul) Beran [university president], Dr. (Steve) Lohmann [vice president for academic affairs], the faculty and students.”

            At Northwestern, the students have been meeting with university professors and their students for five weeks each in the areas of science, math and theatre.

            The students began their program in science where science professors Venkata Moorthy, Steve Thomson and Steve Maier led the way. Students were able to tour Northwestern’s Museum of Natural History and grew cultures in the lab.

            Maier said the SPS Club helped students with a demonstration of waves and energy, and in another session, the students learned about the solar system by becoming planets and comets in orbit around a beach ball that represented the sun.

            The students then moved on to learn about math for five weeks. Dr. Martha Evans, associate professor of education, organized the five math lessons with the help of Dena Walker. Evans said her Intermediate Math Methods students also helped.

Evans said that she taught her students the lesson, and they turned around and taught the lesson to a small group of students in the program.

One of the activities Evans organized for the students included creating a metric notepad. Each child had to measure in millimeters and centimeters to create a notepad cover for a sticky notes pad.

            Evans said that three of the activities were created according to age groups. Grades 3-5, made origami animals for bookmarks, tangram puzzles for their initials, and determined how many pennies would be needed to fill a shoe box for a lesson in measurement.

            Grades 6-8 learned how to construct a box, created pentomino puzzles, and determined how many ping pong balls would be needed to fill a room.

            “This was a wonderful experience for me,” Evans said.

            The students are finishing up this semester with activities in theatre. Kimberly Weast, assistant professor of theatre, said her theatre students have been teaching the young people about flat building, set painting techniques, the application of stage makeup, improvisation and character development.

             “This experience at Northwestern has been wonderful,” Holt said. “Our kids have really enjoyed it. The professors and student-mentors have worked well with our students. Our students are so excited. The lessons are fun, and the students learn, too. They are getting so much out of this.”

            Holt also said she appreciates the Northwestern professors’ and students’ volunteerism.

In fact, Evans is planning on working with kindergarten through second grade students from Freedom and Waynoka during the summer in Alva as part of this project. Evans said that she is hoping to have the students work with her Foundations of Mathematics.

“This would give my students an opportunity to work with the younger students,” she said. “During the year, it is too late to bring them over after school, so we have been trying to correlate times for this summer.”

Evans said that although she hasn’t planned all of the activities for the class, using pattern blocks will definitely be one of them.

"Project HOPE has been a wonderful opportunity for the students of Freedom and Waynoka schools,” Rankin said. “It has allowed the students to participate in a number of learning experiences outside of the classroom. We are very fortunate to have Northwestern faculty and students sharing their expertise and experiences with our students. The Project HOPE students have had a great time."

            The spring portion of the program wraps up May 9 at Northwestern, but look for students to continue learning with the bulk of new projects slated on campus in the fall.

-NW-

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