Students were in a competition from the New Jersey School Boards Association, others were in the Meet of Champions for cross country.
It was a night of presentations at last week’s Evesham Township School District Board of Education meeting, as the board honored dozens of students for recent accomplishments in and out of the classroom.
In a repeat from last year, the board honored a number of gifted and talented students in grades six through eight at DeMasi Middle School for once again participating in the “STEAM Tank” Competition hosted by the New Jersey School Boards Association at its convention in Atlantic City in October.
Following the popular television show “Shark Tank,” where aspiring entrepreneurs seek investments from potential investors, district officials say two teams of DeMasi students went before a panel of judges to introduce their own STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) proposals, which students had designed to solve a problem in the world around them.
During the event, students gave judges a multimedia presentation that highlighted their product, the development of the product and any potential marketing for the product.
According to gifted and talented teacher Mia Gallagher, one group produced a spray to combat the overabundance of methane gas in the air produced by cattle that can harm the environment, and the other team created a bracelet to be worn by individuals that uses magnets to help them realize if lead had entered their body through their drinking water.
“Our students did a fantastic job this year competing in the STEAM Tank Competition, which is modeled after the concept of ‘Shark Tank,’ and we had two fantastic, kid-powered ideas,” Gallagher said.
Students honored included Mohit Ambe, Ashna Jain, Janis Lee, Zachary Little, Payton Ogen, Myron Paes, Nicholas Passanante, Jonathan Sanie, Brandon Strohl, Anjani Wagh and Maya Zarcone.
In addition to the STEAM Tank students, the board also honored a number of students from DeMasi Middle School who recently participated in the League Championship and the Meet of Champions for local cross country teams.
Honored students include Gavin Boland, Jaya Bowers, Francesca Corona, Patrick Ditmars, Nicole Edelman, Matteo Evola, Silas Matteson, Joseph Natoli, Jr, Rocco Natoli, Kelsey Niglio, Emma Parkinson, Olivia Parkinson, Allison Rathman, Luke Reistle, Ava Ronning, Kaelyn Sheehan and Barbara Quinn.
In other news:
Superintendent John Scavelli Jr. reported on American Education Week, which was celebrated in all the district’s schools from Nov. 13 through Nov. 17.
Scavelli described a “nice turnout” when speaking of the number of parents who were able to spend sometime in their child’s classroom observing their education.
“We thank each parent and guardian for supporting their child’s education, their teacher and their schools,” Scavelli said.
Board president JoAnne Harmon also thanked the district’s educators and administrators for their work during American Education Week in opening their schools to parents and guardians.
“This is my favorite day as being a parent because you get to see kids in a different element than you normally see them as they’re interacting with their teachers and learn. It’s fascinating,” Harmon said.
The final meeting of the ETSD BOE for 2017 is scheduled for Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. at the board’s normal meeting location of DeMasi Middle School.
