Today on Education Counts Michiana, highlights from some of the best local initiatives and best practices in education, Education Counts Michiana is underwritten by Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, investing in education and economic development for centuries, supporting the past, current and future development of the Michiana region.

Community Foundation of Elkhart County, Inspire Good.

Kosciusko County Community Foundation, where donor dreams shine, the Decco Foundation, Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, Legrange County Community Foundation, NIPSCO, the Beim Foundation.

Ivy Tech South Bend/Elkhart, our communities, your college.

Kem Krest, customer focused, solutions driven.

United Way of Elkhart County, United Way of St. Joseph County, Marshall County Community Foundation in partnership with Early Childhood Alliance and Ready to Grow St. Joe Early Childhood Coalition.

Thank you.

Welcome to Education CountsMichiana I'm your host, James Summers.

Education Counts looks for programs and initiatives that are impacting how we teach, how we learn and how we embrace education.

This program explores ideas in all education sectors; preschool through lifelong learning, K-12, post-high school, and job advancement training with the philosophy that we should never stop seeking knowledge.

This week, we highlight some of the best practices in education; Dial-A-Story in LaPorte, a new STEAM lab in Middlebury, the ONE campaign in Mishawaka, Summer Mental Health for teens in Warsaw, Spark business accelerator and Project Lead The Way in Berrien Springs.

Dinosaur Discovery; kids love to learn about dinosaurs.

A new augmented reality experience through the Mishawaka Parks and Recreation Department will let little learners see dinosaurs in the Princess City.

Brent Fox produced this segment.

Imagine walking through the park when suddenly through your phone's camera, you see a T-rex standing in front of you.

That's what happens as part of the Mishawaka Parks and Recreation Department's dinosaur discovery.

It's an augmented reality.

It's a new technology for us to have on a river walk.

It allows you to engage with our river walk in a whole new way.

We have selected for this month and next month a dinosaur to appear here at Battell Park, but also at Buetter Park.

You can have the insect experiment--or experience.

So what's cool about it is you have technology, but also you have an educational component.

So as you slide through and make the different animals appear, you can then learn about that animal or that insect.

Being able to get an up-close look at these extinct animals is easy to do.

We have signage that's already on the river walk.

You walk up to the sign with your phone, you scan the QR code, it will prompt you to download the app.

And then from there you can place the dinosaur of the insect wherever you would like, and then you can engage with it.

You can walk all the way around it.

And then you also can then learn about that animal or insect augmented.

Reality is when you're bringing an item or a thing or an event that shouldn't be where you're in the space you are right now to that space.

So in the example you'll see right now in the parks, we're bringing a dinosaur in.

A dinosaur should not be in this space, but now you're actually able to see the dinosaur Just like the real dinosaurs, this experience is only here for a short time, but there will be even more augmented reality experiences coming to the parks in the future.

After July, we are going to switch the themes.

We'll have a new theme here at Battell Park and a new theme at Buetter Park.

What we really want to look towards in the future is creating our own augmented reality and we've started this process.

Ben Modlin has an engineering and design class at the high school, Mishawaka High School, and we have taken some of those students to Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame, and they have taught us how to scan augmented items and make them into augmented reality.

And so what we really hope to do is to bring the rich history of Mishawaka to life through augmented reality and have that in our park.

So not only are we doing the cool things like the dinosaurs, tornadoes and other items, we want to actually bring back the rich history of Mishawaka and let others Experience that while in the park.

See the full version of these stories at WNIT.org.

Nothing beats hearing a story read out loud.

The LaPorte County Public Libraries Dial-a-Story program provides age appropriate stories for children, teens and even adults.

We take a look and a listen and how these stories are brought to life.

Senior producer Brenda Boyer produced this story Proud and silent, letting his scale's shimmer.

One day, a little bluefish followed.

What I love about Dial-a-Story is the accessibility of it all.

Dial-a-Story allows anybody, even if you don't live in LaPorte, the opportunity to access this resource and listen to a great story.

And we offer many different types and genres of stories.

We offer fun jokes, fun riddles.

We offer the opportunity for community members to suggest titles or suggest jokes.

We offer classics.

So you might hear some stories that were published many hundreds of years ago that you forgot about or you've never heard before.

So it's just a fun way to increase exposure to books and increased exposure to reading and learning skills for kiddos and adults.

Our Dial-A-Story program is such where you get to call in and choose from a menu of options and you get to choose a children's story or an adult story, a riddle or a poem, and you get to hear a human voice.

And it was really something that we--that came out of the pandemic, that we brought back.

And it was just a joy to be able to offer something to the community.

In fact, being a dog owner was more difficult and Lucy had thought, I can't stand the mess.

I can't stand the digging.

I can't stand the endless bowls of porridge.

If you would like to volunteer to be a story reader.

He would go to our website and there's a get involved button.

And from there you'd fill out just a very short information about yourself and what you would like to volunteer with.

And then one of our volunteer coordinators will contact you for more information from you and then get you started on the process.

Excuse me.

I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm a lost dog is looking for a nice basket and a home with lots of food, a garden to play in, and someone to love me and care for me and take me for walks every day.

What a lucky coincidence.

I just think that Dial-A-Story is for everybody.

I hope that everyone has an opportunity to call in and listen.

And I think it really does bring back a lot of memories from my own childhood.

But it's just a really great, refreshing way to hear a story and not have to--the only effort you have to put forth is just dialing a phone number.

This story is called In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb.

Learn more at WNIT.org.

Building STEAM.

Kids in Middlebury now have a steam lab.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Elkhart County offers kids the chance to get even more hands on education.

In addition to math and science, kids will be able to grow through the arts in a hands on environment.

In addition to their new building, the Middlebury side of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Elkhart County also received another major upgrade.

To support the Boys and Girls Club here in Middlebury, Indiana, we've invested over fifteen thousand dollars in equipment to support the kids.

They include a 3D printer, several chrome books, apple devices, robotics, charging carts and all sorts of things to help support their education in science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

STEAM Lab has been an idea that has been brewing for a long time since the building project was underway.

So the--about a year ago, there was a grant that we received from IGT for the STEM lab and then when Covid hit, everything kind of paused for a little while.

So it got put on the back burner.

And that's why it's just opening up now.

This is our sixth after school advantage program here in Indiana that IGT has supported throughout the state.

We've executed some after school advantage programs all across the state, including in Indianapolis, in Montgomery County, to support veterans, to support kids and other groups that are in need.

While STEAM-based programs focus on science, technology, engineering and math, STEAM based programs involve the addition of an art component.

We understand that not all children enjoy the mathematical, engineering side of things, and for some of them, they haven't wanted to have interest in that.

So adding art into it really helps us be inclusive for more children to give them a diverse option of experiences in the STEAM lab.

And the Boys and Girls Club partnered up with the Middlebury schools to make sure that there was a sense of continuity from school to after school.

This project could have taken place without the partnership with Middlebury community schools.

They are having an invaluable partner for us for many years, so they worked alongside of it with us to make sure that we were using some of the same technology.

So that's why we have purchased from chrome books for the lab.

So the children have some continuity, but also that we were able to add things that the schools were able to purchase, like Lego robots that can enhance the children's learning, too.

There are even plenty of plans in place to make sure the STEAM lab gets used to push a child's imagination and hands on learning even farther.

We're excited to work on a lot of different things.

So one of those is the first Lego League that we have done the years before and haven't been able to do recently.

Now we'll be able to be a part of that, helps them work on technical building skills, problem solving, as well as just a lot of other really fun things like it's mentioned, CNC machine and the cricket that allow them to work on some business and entrepreneurial type programs as well.

Having a STEAM lab with the Boys and Girls Club, like the site in Middlebury, offers more kids the opportunity to take their education to the next level, even if they're not able to do it during regular school hours.

It's important for us to have those really fun hands on activities so that we know we can set kids up for success.

And they're learning along the way.

But they're not realizing they're learning because they're having fun while they're doing it.

See full length stories at WNIT.org.

School City of Mishawaka has launched the ONE mental health campaign.

This program helps create ongoing conversations around mental health, removing the stigma and promoting one thing anyone can do.

When we first got together to talk about mental health in the schools, we kept coming back to, it just takes one smile.

It just takes one conversation, it just takes one act of kindness and one person reaching out for help.

The one kept coming up and we decided that had so many uses that it would really solidify everything that we're going to do with the ONE campaign.

Yes.

You know, I really think the time has been always and now we should have been talking about this for years and years and years.

The pandemic, though, and I'm sure you hear this a lot, really has caused things to be in the spotlight.

And we realize that when we've been isolated and it's so fearful, we don't know what's going to happen.

The mental health, anxiety, depression, those things are heightened and then you don't know where to go.

So through the ONE campaign, we're saying we all can take care of each other.

It takes one person, it takes one act.

And the students at Mishawaka High School that I really was talking about with this, they--they jumped on the opportunity to help other people because they're dealing with stuff and their stuff isn't OK and their lives are still very, very messy.

But when I said we need to help other students, they said, yes, we do and we're willing to help.

So that's why it's just so important.

And we need to go and talk about this and help students, help people in our community right now.

It doesn't matter who you are or where you've been before, anyone can struggle, and if we reflect on that and think about the difference that just one person or one kind word could have made on that day, then we've realized why it's so important to reach out to the other people in our lives.

Sometimes you need that one person to listen to you.

You need one person to tell you that they love you or just, you know, show that they care.

One smile.

Even with our mask, you can still see someone smiling at you every day, every time I see a smile.

I think that is one bit of my day that is better.

Or just like even talking to the person could make them feel better.

Like I actually took like, let them know that they're not alone.

Just one person being there willing to listen to someone's problems so that can save a person's life.

Truly.

I didn't want to talk about my feelings and sometimes I still don't.

It's just you have to get them out, you can't keep them buried in your whole life because it just hurts you.

If you are really struggling, you should seek help and you shouldn't be afraid to do that.

It is important that it starts in the schools.

We already have the resources.

We have our students with us, they're a captive audience.

But also there's a lot of work that intentionality goes into being in schools to show kids that they're surrounded by caring adults and people who have their wellness and their well-being at the forefront.

And so it's a natural starting point when we think about student wellness and their mental wellness and then taking that one step further and bringing families into that picture and having families understand the role that schools can play in even supporting them, and then finally taking it to the community and understanding that connectivity between the work that we do in the schools, the work that we do with families and all of those things happening in the community, how we can all collectively be a part of something greater than this mission of One.

For resources on all these stories, check out WNIT.org.

Summer break.

As the days go longer and hotter, it can be easy to forget that the importance of mental health does not go away.

We take a look at the services young people in Warsaw can use to keep them in the right state of mind.

The summer months bring longer days and hotter weather, but the issue of mental health never takes a break.

It's always such an important issue because we know it impacts a great proportion of our kids, sometimes throughout their childhood.

Sometimes it emerges through adolescence and lasts into adulthood, and sometimes it's a little bit sporadic.

But again, it's really important that we talk about it because it does affect a good number of our kids and and we need to make sure that we're addressing them appropriately.

It's especially important for parents to recognize the early warning signs.

We don't want to blame the child, right?

You don't want to say anything that makes it feel like the kid's doing something wrong.

However they're responding, we want to acknowledge and validate and then help move them to a place that may be more engaging or if they need that clinical care, we want to make sure that we refer them to them.

So knowing the signs, knowing what that means, what's just normal, particularly in adolescence, where there's the onset of many mental health issues, being a little maybe abrasive or touchy is also developmentally normal.

But if it goes on for too long, if it's not just a phase or if it's not just a period of frustration, parents need to be paying attention.

So it's important to know those signs.

Everyone knows their kid best.

And so make sure you're you're looking for any of those substantive changes.

The question becomes, who can young people turn to if they have questions about mental health issues.

We hope that there's a caring adult with them.

Right, whether that's a family member or a teacher.

And most often that's how young people access help for their mental illness.

And so often that is a teacher, a pediatrician.

Sometimes it's at their faith community.

Someone will notice and be able to refer them.

Sometimes, you know, you want to, again, make sure that we're destigmatizing any mental health issues and normalizing it for the students.

And then also we want to make sure that we're connecting them with a professional who can address these issues.

It's not something that us amateurs should--should really try to attempt.

For people in Warsaw, Indiana, the Bowen center offers many different types of services.

We have health services.

We have coach services That is, services with--where the person would go to the house and work with the kids.

They teach them some skills about how to handle the depression how to engage.

For extended versions of all of these stories, check out the WNIT website.

Business Education.

The Spark business accelerator at St Mary's College is a 13 week program empowering women.

The program teaches students how to launch, scale and maintain a small company while building community.

So the Spark program has graduated two hundred and sixty women and there are 90 businesses that are currently in operation.

We've calculated that SPARK businesses contribute about seven million dollars to the local economy annually, which is great and about well, actually not about, half of our participants are women of color.

And so our--our program really reflects the community.

And, you know, we're really proud of the diversity, not just race and ethnicity, but age, industry type, education, socioeconomic background.

We've had sisters do the program together with two different businesses, a mom and daughter do the program together.

So, the cohorts, they're a great reflection of the community.

And yeah, there's just incredible diversity represented in them.

I kind of had like, you know, the hobby is what you would call it, because I knew how to sew and I knew how to do other things.

I knew how to take pictures, I knew crafts.

And I always did things for people, family and friends.

So it was more like a hobby.

But I never really thought that I could be my--the CEO of my company.

What people get out of the program, I mean, it's a it's a phenomenal business training program.

But what I think sets Spark apart is the infusion of personal development and leadership development that happens through the course of the program.

And then the other the other significant piece is you get a sisterhood out of SPARK.

And being an entrepreneur can be really lonely.

And Spark is a place where you don't have to, like, figure out everything out on your own.

After I learned the ABCs of how to create a business plan with SPARK, I started creating relationships with other women.

And I was like, if their ideas got turned into real successful businesses, then I have a shot at this.

So it was encouraging to be surrounded by other women that have that positive energy, that want to better themselves, want to better their families.

Spark taught me how to be a leader and how to be a boss, but most importantly, how to believe in myself, to know that I can do this.

And they broke everything down.

The curriculum was so amazing.

Everything was broken down in such a way that I could understand it.

And that made me feel good.

It made me feel empowered.

That's one of the characteristics that we look for, is does this--does this applicant are they interested in being part of a supportive cohort?

And do they have the qualities and like show the-- do they have a history of giving back?

Because we want our SPARK graduates to be there for one another and whatever they learn, turn around and help the next woman coming up.

And I think we've done a really good job.

So over ten years with the--there's just a beautiful network that's been established, of--of graduates who help one another and really consider themselves part of the Spark sisterhood.

And I know I see they're--the kind of the impact of their work throughout the community, not only in their businesses, but in nonprofits that they launch and, you know, leaders in other capacities.

I think the SPARK program put a backbone in my back and helped me to stand up straight and to know who I am, because I think of when we're rooted and know who we are, then it just it makes it so much easier when we face things everyday we face things.

But if we're walking around like this, it's like it's so hard to get to the next level, but it has helped me to be confident and courageous.

Want to find out more about other programs in education?

Check out WNIT.org.

Project Lead the Way is a program in Berrien Springs guiding students to a career pathway.

This hands on program exposes students to career options in science, technology and other fields.

The mission of Project Lead the way is to get students familiar with three different pathways; computer science, engineering and biomedical sciences.

We have the opportunity with this program to have an area for a certain group of kids that sometimes will be left out.

There's a lot of times that the sciences people think are these upper level.

You have to be a really intelligent person.

You know, you've got to have great grades.

And sometimes when you're younger, just being exposed to that, you start to realize that, hey, I may be good at this and then you develop those skills.

So having that opportunity to expose students who normally wouldn't be exposed or might shy away from that because they're concerned that they're not smart enough or they don't have the grades, it gets them involved in a way that they start to discover they do have the skills to do that and they go down a path that maybe they wouldn't have.

So I think it's just a great option for a group of students that might not otherwise take that option.

All of the curriculum is already provided for us and our teachers, the training is provided and our teachers, the high school teachers spend two weeks in the summer learning every single activity and every single project that their students will do.

And our middle school teachers spend a week in training.

So Project Lead the Way is really prepared, not just our students, but also our teachers to be successful facilitators in this program.

A lot of the curriculum that was.

In the classroom setting, was teacher lab and PLTW really does a nice job in the Student Center and they work in collaboration, in groups and they move through a curriculum, the teacher being more of a facilitator as opposed to the quote unquote instructor.

But across the nation, you're starting to see a transition where the classroom is becoming more student centered and less teacher centered and students are kind of driving the way while the teacher is kind of driving--driving the crazy train per se.

But research does show that that is the most effective way to educate our students these days.

I think one of the biggest things we have about PLTW is it offers options for our students.

And I think the critical option for students is the opportunity to experience some real world connections.

As a parent, myself and a community member, I think it's really vital and important that we give those choices to the kids and that they're allowed to investigate those choices here at the high school and also the middle school while it's still free.

And they're in kind of a safe environment with teachers that can help them and support them with that.

And so then they can be very knowledgeable in what field they want to then go on and spend years in college to invest in their future.

Check out WNIT.org for more resources on these and other stories.

Thank you for joining us on Education Counts Michiana.

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The success of every student matters.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Education Counts Michiana is underwritten by Pokagon Band of Potawatomi investing in education and economic development for centuries, supporting the past, current and future development of the Michiana region.

Community Foundation of Elkhart County, Inspire Good.

Kosciusko County Community Foundation, where donor dreams shine.

The Decco Foundation, Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, Legrange County Community Foundation, NIPSCO, the Beim Foundation.

Ivy Tech South Bend/Elkhart.

Our communities, your college.

Kem Krest.

Customer focused, solutions driven.

United Way of Elkhart County, United Way of St. Joseph County, Marshall County Community Foundation in partnership with Early Childhood Alliance and Ready to Grow St. Joe Early Childhood Coalition.

Thank you.