SKIMMER CAR CONTEST WINNER HONORS COUSIN WITH DONATION - The 2023 winner of the skimmer car competition for Akron Middle School's 8th Grade Creative Design & Engineering Class is Paityn Babiarz.  Her skimmer car traveled 127.5 feet!  Paityn is donating the $100 prize money to the University of Pittsburgh Medication Center Child Life Department in honor of her cousin, Elise Farrell, who sadly, lost her life due to a heart condition.  Elise would have been an eighth grader, too. "Really, all of the kids were hoping that Paityn would win for their friend," commented Mrs. O'Malley, CDE teacher.  "The kids took time to research meaningful charities and there were many that were worthy."  The $100 donation has been provided annually by Akron's new mayor, Mr. Brian Perry, and his wife Jayne. 

6th grade students from Mrs. Guyton's and Mrs. Hooper's classes used their knowledge of ratios and proportions to adjust a recipe to make cloud dough, a play-doh-like substance.  Students were given a recipe for one batch of cloud dough that makes 4 (non-edible) portions. They needed to determine how many batches were required for 82 students (the approximate number of current 6th graders) and convert the recipe.  Once the math segment of the activity was done, the students then had to create the recipe:  1 cup of hair conditioner to 2 cups of corn starch. The problem? Their teachers only had 1/4 and 1/3 measuring cups! Subsequently, the students had to determine how many 1/4 cups are in the one cup of hair conditioner and how many 1/3 cups are in 2 cups of corn starch.  Each group made their own batch of cloud dough and were able to take it home!