Sep 08, 2020

St. Sebastian School Receives Governor Thomas Edison Award for Third Year

For the THIRD year in a row, St. Sebastian Parish School and 9 members from its teaching staff were awarded The Governor’s Thomas Edison Awards for Excellence in STEM Education and Student Research for their accomplishments during the 2020-2021 school year. Only 45 schools in the State of Ohio achieved this distinction with the selection being done by The Ohio Academy of Science. Teachers at the school receiving individual recognition were Maggi Blischak, Robert Dedinsky, Christina Friedl, Debra Landis, Anthony Rohr, Megan Ritchie,  Jennifer Slegus, Jennifer Smee and Sally Weakland.

The criteria for receiving this award was extensive and involved student involvement in many activities in and outside the parish school such as Science Olympiad, visits to museums, structured youth STEM activities as well as students qualifying for district science days. The Ohio Academy of Science defines STEM education as the incorporation of scientific inquiry and technological design through student-focused, project-based curricula to develop skills of communication, teamwork/collaboration, creativity/innovation, critical thinking and problem solving. The parish school received its first STEM designation from the State of Ohio in the spring of 2017 and opened its Innovation Lab to support STEM projects at the school in August 2017.