Life briefs: Pioneer honors alumna, Foundation finance director, school exchange and more

Pioneer Career & Technology Center announces distinguished alumni award

SHELBY — Pioneer Career & Technology Center presented Rebecca Knipp with the honorary Pioneer Distinguished Alumni Award. The recipient must be nominated and meet the criteria of the selection process. The award was established for an alumni member who served as a role model, did well at Pioneer and continues to live, work and serve school districts or continue to promote career technical education.

Knipp is a 2011 Pioneer graduate from Lexington who completed the early childhood education program. She previously worked in Crestline Schools as a preschool teacher, also serving as the district librarian for two years. She currently is employed by the Avenue Church and Lifewise Academy.

While at Pioneer, Knipp served as FCCLA president, student council treasurer, Strategic Planning Committee member and SkillsUSA Voting Delegate. She earned the Director’s Attitude Award, the Award of Merit, the Citizenship Award in both her junior and senior years and was a Byron Carmean nominee. She achieved all of this while maintaining a 3.85 GPA.

Knipp continues to make contributions to Pioneer as a longtime member of the Early Childhood Education Business Advisory Committee, an evaluator for Senior Projects, a Strategic Planning Committee member, a CDA Evaluator and a guest speaker in the Early Childhood Education classroom.

Richland County Foundation welcomes a new director of finance

Rachel Weber, CPA, has been named the director of finance at the Richland County Foundation.

Weber most recently was the CFO and practice manager for Women’s Care Inc. in Mansfield. Before that she was a corporate accountant at Shearer’s Foods, director of finance at Wenco Wendy’s Franchises in Ashland and a senior accounting manager at Kleshinski, Morrison and Morris CPAs in Mansfield.

Weber earned an accounting degree from North Central State College in Mansfield.

Weber replaces Robert Barrett who will retire at the end of this year after working at the Foundation since 2013.

Local students participate in school exchange

GALION — Select student-athletes from Galion High School (GHS) shadowed Shelby High School student-athletes for the day Nov. 9. In turn, Shelby High School student-athletes visited GHS earlier in the week.

Schools in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference (MOAC) established a student-athlete exchange program in an effort to promote good sportsmanship, the sharing of ideas and student leadership. Each year, the MOAC schools select a partner district with whom they “exchange” student-athletes. The district then selects eight underclassmen who demonstrate leadership potential to visit their partner school for a day.

“This is a great opportunity for our student-athletes to further develop their social skills, better understand one another, and, hopefully, form some new friendships,” said Galion Superintendent Jennifer Allerding.

This year, Galion selected five juniors and three sophomores to participate in the exchange — Wyatt Estep, Cameron Eckert, Miranda Stone, Gabe Ivy, Ce Ce Campbell, Braxton Prosser, Maddie Wegesin and Max Albert. Programs represented include volleyball, basketball, softball, swimming, track, cheerleading, cross country, marching band, baseball, wrestling, soccer and football.

GOAL Digital Academy making strides in special education

GOAL Digital Academy's special education department has grown to 16 staff serving students in the past year. Students being served in the special education department represent 27% of the GOAL student population. With that growth, GOAL has implemented several procedures and routines to improve intervention services.

Nan Stanish, director of special education at GOAL Digital Academy, said students have increased participation in intervention services through the addition of academic assist classes, developed by GOAL intervention specialist Hope Losh.

Through a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) process, students have been provided additional assistance including tutoring, organization and coping skills. The number of students who are coming into the learning lab to get assistance has increased, and that allows the students to build meaningful relationships with their intervention specialists while working in the lab setting.

Mansfield student finalist in Grove City College Elevator Pitch Competition

GROVE CITY, PA — Mary Golias of Mansfield is one of the finalists for the Elevator Pitch Competition at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. She was among 156 students from 30 majors registered for the opportunity to "pitch" their ideas for a new commercial or social enterprise to judges in a two-stage contest.

Fifteen finalists from eight majors were selected for the final round. Golias is one of six finalists in the Social Enterprise division. Her proposal is titled "Art on Wheels" serving low-income communities with art education and spiritual support.

Pitches from the finalists were heard Nov. 7 by three judges. The winners will be announced soon.

Tickets on sale for AU’s Madrigal Feaste taking place Dec. 1-4

ASHLAND — Tickets are on sale for the Madrigal Feaste at Ashland University. The 46th annual event will be held Dec. 1-4 at Redwood Hall with doors opening at 6 p.m. each night and the royal procession beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The Feaste, presented by the department of music at AU, consists of a four-course meal culminating in flaming bread pudding and musical and theatrical entertainment before, during and after the meal.

The AU Chamber Singers are dressed in reproductions of costumes from the time period and perform traditional Christmas carols, ceremonial music and madrigals. Additionally, a court jester provides comic relief.

Tickets must be purchased in advance of the Madrigal Feaste and sales will end Nov. 28. In-person purchases can be made at the AU campus store, while tickets also can be purchased at ashland.universitytickets.com.

For more information, contact Ron Blackley at 419-289-5114 or rblackle@ashland.edu.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Pioneer CTC presents alumni award and more education news