Today, on Education Counts Michiana Pre-K in Pulaski County ETHOS Innovation Center, Owl's Club in Elkhart Innovation Rally at Notre Dame 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 Dekko Foundation, Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County Crossroads United Way.

Serving Elkhart, LaGrange and Noble Counties.

United Way of Saint Joseph County.

Marshall County Community Foundation.

Ready to Grow.

Saint Joe Early Childhood Coalition.

And a Gift by Elmer and Dolores Tepe.

Thank you.

Welcome to Education Counts Michiana.

I'm your host, Sam Centellas.

Education Counts highlights 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.

Find additional resources at WNIT.org and on the Education Counts Facebook page.

First up, meeting needs of pre-K children.

Pulaski County features a number of quality child care options for families.

Yet many pre-K children are not receiving the education and services that can prepare them for school Community leaders and childcare providers across Pulaski County are working together to create solutions to issues at the pre-K level.

Segment produced by Nathan Krebs.

There was a cold lady who swallowed some snow.

My favorite part about childcare is the kids I love playing with the children and learning from them as well as they learn from us.

I love seeing the kids come in, happy to be here and not want to leave because they're happy.

And that's what I love, is seeing the kids happy.

So Marsha's Family Child Care provides activities such as math, science, STEM activities.

We, we love our science experiments.

Music time.

We do movement and exercise.

A lot of skills are involved, like fine motor skills and learning to cut with scissors, hold pencils correctly.

We also learn our manners and how to get along with others and a community environment.

Oh my gosh.

Kids are like such sponges from age 0 to 3.

That is a key time in child development.

And so you want to have quality care in place to make sure that those kids are developing their gross and fine motor skills.

Starting to develop language.

I mean, that that is prime learning time for those kids and sets them up so well for what they need to do in school.

Anyone that has done any research knows how important childcare is.

Preschool education.

All you have to do is talk to kindergarten teachers and to the, to the person.

They'll say, You can tell we're the difference between a child that has gone through a preschool education program and those that have not.

They're already coming with an unlevel playing field.

And then as they go through, it broadens.

In most cases, it broadens.

They have statistics where they show that those children that are behind don't catch up and then they have problems in the legal system.

Unemployment, you name it.

With a sound education, especially early on, you've got your best chance of success.

We are actually in a child care desert, which means that we have many children who are in need of services but do not have access to quality child care.

We have some excellent programs in in some of our level three service providers.

But we have more kids than we have seats available.

Right now, I have 66 children on my waiting lists for child care.

And it's very important that, like maybe someone else steps up and helps with, you know that.

But people need to be educated.

The Pulaski County Quality Child Care Coalition formed this fall to address our child care needs in the community.

We had several providers that closed within six months and pretty much left many of our parents without options.

So the Quality Child Care Coalition formed to figure out long term plans for the county to make sure that many of our families have access to affordable, quality child care.

And I keep harping on the quality portion because I'm talking about early childhood learning.

In addition to just meeting the needs of having somebody watch your child well while parents work.

Well, we are in our infant stages.

We've had, I think, three meetings.

And with the help of the Community Foundation, we are looking to secure a grant that we can have a consultant that will help direct us.

I mean, there's no playbook in terms of this is we're in uncharted territory.

We know we need quality, affordable child care.

The sustainability and affordability is going to be a huge issue and it really needs to be a tri-share model.

And that's kind of a buzzword or jargon.

So forgive me, tri-share means that the cost of quality child care is shared between parent government and businesses.

So we're exploring what that means and what that might look like in our county to figure out a solution that will work for everyone and that we can and have for a long time, for many years to come.

And I think that's part of the coalition is educating people on what, you know, maybe what you can do in your community to help with the child care, you know, problem that there's just not enough seats.

Learn more about the initiative at WNIT.org Success in STEM ETHOS STEM and Innovation Center launched a national science curriculum called Grade Level Certified.

The K-5 initiative provides innovative lab kits to teachers in classrooms to expose students to grade level science standards.

The Learn, Play, Connect concept meets curriculum standards, and the student engagement promotes knowledge retention.

Kristen Franklin Videographer Greg Banks Editor.

I know I loved wearing goggles when I was a kid, so we do have safety goggles if you want to wear them.

But again, if you don't want to, that's okay.

There's nothing dangerous is going to happen.

ETHOS was founded in 2001 by a Bayer scientist, Patsy Baylor, and she had a passion and love for science and particularly children and hands on science.

And so she ended up partnering with school districts and national science brands to serve as their curriculum fulfillment experts.

So really, what ETHOS does a school district or the foundation is School districts purchase national science curriculums, and then each year they contract with ETHOS to refurbish those consumables.

That's how it started.

We also provide community outreach programing, as you were able to experience today with the field trips and hands on learning.

Oh, I think you'll be all right, scientists.

So the adults are going to do this primarily now, but I'm showing you so that when you go home, you'll know what to do.

In our field trip that we're offering here, we were learning about rockets and what would cause a Alka-Seltzer rocket to go straight up into the air.

So we talked about chemical reactions.

The students took a water and a tablet, and we put it in a container.

We took it outside, shook it up, and then stand back to watch a reaction.

To put the tablet inside.

We're going to put the lid on, shake it really hard, flip it over and let's back up and watch.

And what's really cool about this is that the all the rockets don't go off at the same time.

So we had some that went off like right away and then some that took about 30 seconds, but then some of them actually didn't even go.

So that was a great way to share that.

You know, sometimes in science, things don't happen right away.

And I learned a really cool word today.

It was called a Fabulous Fail, which says sometimes in science, things don't go the way that they planned.

But you know what?

It's still fabulous.

It's still great.

And I think that's such important an idea to teach students that, you know, you had a plan, you did the science.

It didn't go away.

It didn't mean that you did something bad.

It's just that's how science is.

So that's why we go back and redo our trials to gain more information.

The mission of ETHOS is to serve the community as STEM experts and leaders in innovation and education.

Once COVID hit, kids weren't in school, so hands on learning wasn't happening.

And so we had to find a way to connect with kids in a way that was not usual for what we did.

So we made up a program called Lab in a Bag.

The idea was, instead of kids coming into this building or going to their schools and learning in a kinesthetic way, we would go to them.

It was five simple hands on lab activities with everything included, and we followed a learn, play, connect model, very simple and easy.

We knew that kids learning learn best when it's hands on, and they also learn and retain information when it's connected to something.

And there's one we did in the summer of 2022 called Creative Circuits, and it teaches kids four different electric circuits.

It's a huge hit.

It was part of our ETHOS in a bag program, and it was really the lab lesson that launched us into our new national curriculum that we've launched this year that has really taken off Oh, scientists!

So students each get a student data notebook and on the front cover it says Scientist name.

Because we know that scientists collect data, each student gets their very own copy.

It is in full color, and we have some color coordinated borders to help students and teachers differentiate between the pages.

So when students see a yellow border, they know that's a data sheet.

They are going to be collecting some data from one of the experiments they're doing in the classroom when they see a green border.

That's what we call a graphic instruction guide or a gig sheet for short.

And that shows students step by step picture instructions with some words to help them associate what they're learning and the number of steps.

For decades, teachers would get their teachers edition We would go through training and you would have to read 50 to 80 pages for a unit in order to get some background information on the unit.

It was a lot of time, it was a lot of work and a lot of teachers were having to do that outside of their school hours in order to get it done.

The kids were not as engaged in the learning.

At the end of it, they might learn how to do one circuit.

If you're learning about circuits.

What we did is we created a program as we simplified the directions and the instructions for the teachers, and with our EIB program, they do four circuits.

It's all hands on.

It's simplified.

Kids ages five through seventh grade can use the same lab lessons they can do at any group setting or in a one on one setting, and they're getting a lot more out of it because they're having the experiences of doing it, using their hands and being immersed in it instead of reading it in a book.

It's easy for the teacher to pop up a video and they teach their lesson because the materials are packed by lesson.

So then the teacher doesn't have any prep time.

They can just basically start their lesson on the spot.

They don't need a lot of prep unless the teacher wants to kind of run down to the lesson.

Therefore, the student is always engaged with the hands on portion.

And then we're going to start our new experiment.

One, two, three, four, five.

We go to count the cups of water What's the state that our water can be?

Solid.

So far it's been really smooth.

ETHOS provides us with all the materials, which takes a lot off my plate and I can be more in the moment with the students in their exploration rather than worrying about getting materials around.

Just keep these awesome hands on learning experiences coming.

We like the fact that they're nice and short.

Like we can do these in 15-20 minutes, which makes them really easy to put in the day.

Well, I learn the way that they think and the mindset of, you know, why they think something happens the way it is.

I always love watching their reactions.

And there may be things that you know, they think is really cool that at first I didn't like.

I wonder why that's cool.

So I would say, Hey, scientists, you know what's going on?

Why do you think that happened?

And just the way that they take information and put it together is amazing.

I mean, that's that's what I love about education.

And kids I feel are sometimes our best teachers.

Oh, the future of ETHOS is huge.

Not only is our we were recently awarded $1,000,000 grant from the Lilly Foundation, which was a huge honor.

And the premise of that money is to scale both our ETHOS in a bag program, which our community outreach as well as our GLC national science curriculum, which has taken off.

So in a few just a few short months, we are reaching well over 10,000 students in our curriculum alone.

I would definitely like to say thank you.

I've been through several science curriculums since I've started teaching, and this is the first one that I feel like is really meeting my standards and it's meeting the needs of the students.

They're engaged, they want to do these lessons, and they're easy for both students and myself to carry through.

And this is really what we need and I hope more schools adopt this.

Learn more at WNIT.org Active aging.

The Owls Club in Elkhart provides a variety of classes and activities to community members over the age of 55.

Activities range from pickleball to euchre and classes cover health insurance and media literacy, among other subjects.

The mission of Owls Club is to provide spaces where participants can socialize, make friends and embrace lifelong learning.

Nathan Krebs produced this segment.

Owls Club is an active aging center.

So OWLS stands for Older, Wiser, Life Loving Seniors.

And we work with people in our community aged 55 and above.

We invite everybody inside Elkhart and outside.

We have people all the way in Middlebury, Michigan, Osceola, South Bend, etc.

So we welcome everybody to come and enjoy our club.

We are free for our members to come in and really just enjoy life.

Life does not have to end when you retire, it can just begin.

We're offering approximately 30 different types of classes every month for our members to come in and enjoy, get out of the house and just enjoy life.

But also it gives our members the opportunity to teach if they would like and engage in other volunteer opportunities.

And it can be opportunities to engage in fitness such as pickleball or pilates or cardio drumming or lifelong learning classes such as our Constitution class.

It could be an art class.

It could be simply sitting down with someone else and having a cup of coffee and a conversation that runs the gamut.

I realized that after being in education for so many years, I had really lacked the time to do education for myself.

And I'm interested in so many things.

The lunch and learn sessions.

You come, you have a really good free lunch, but you also have sessions on Medicare, Medicaid, how to keep your emotional mental health better, all sorts of things.

There's one on the Constitution that I want to come to when my schedule allows and even crafting.

Personally, I take other classes It's nice to learn new things and I don't have to write a term paper.

I don't have to take a test.

I just get to learn new things.

It helps keep our brain strong and who doesn't love to grow and learn.

So we like to keep those opportunities available for others.

But we also understand it's important that not every topic will hit every interest.

And so we do try to broaden that variety so that different types of lifelong learners can learn different things.

I know if I tried to do some of these things online that it'd be really easy to say, Oh, the computer's not working today, or I'm just too busy or I'm too tired to log on, but this gets you out of the house, it gets you with people.

And the only way to keep your brain growing and lively is to be engaged.

I'm primarily involved in euchre club, which is not high tech competition, Very friendly.

I've had people say, Oh, I'm coming back here to play because this is fun, this is nice.

We rotate players so you get to meet probably 15 different people during a day of euchre.

They've just we've made new friends and people do come back because they like the way we're doing it and it's fun.

We were founded by seven members of our community who are in the Owls age range, who recognize that there is a national loneliness epidemic here in the United States.

And they thought to themselves, how can they combat that in their small little way?

Hence how Owls came together.

Over dinner one day at COVID, they talked about this idea and pulled their resources and started the work.

Well, research shows that a lot of seniors become isolated as their friends move away or die, and so there's a huge need for connection with people.

And this provides it or provides one of the means for it.

I see the need everywhere, and I know our United Methodist superintendent from up in this area was so excited when she saw this and she said it needs to be in every city in Fort Wayne and in Goshen and in Bloomington.

Everyone needs a community, whether it's your church community, your Owls Club community, your book club.

We all need human interaction and we certainly all need friends.

And when you come to the club and you make those friendships, we hope that will bring more excitement to your life and fill that, but also to bring you in the door and be excited to come here and attend activities with your friends Find out more at WNIT.org Entrepreneurship and Networking.

The Innovation Rally at Notre Dame's Idea Center embraces the spirit of entrepreneurship through community.

The program provides opportunities for local entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to community members.

In addition, networking is encouraged, which helps create professional and personal connections.

Produced by Nathan Krebs.

So I thought I'd just share my path being a little unusual for entrepreneurs.

And so it really started as a recognition that our community has a huge number of amazing entrepreneurs, and we didn't really have a place for them to convene to get to know each other, people who were building great things.

Oftentimes it can be a lonely road.

They they get so excited about their idea.

They spend most of their time building a thing and they don't realize that there is great support available to them, both from their colleagues, from people in the community and from the university.

So our rallies and a lot of the events that we hold are really focused around making a space where people can get to know each other and find out how to get help.

We found through the research it's really important to have these random collisions of investors founders, supporters, everybody working together to try to ignite economic transformation in our region through entrepreneurship.

So it's really just a chance to get our founders on stage to be able to present to different investors.

It gives our alumni a chance to provide career advice for our students.

It gives our faculty and community members an opportunity to see what's what's in store for the next generation of startups in our region.

In 40 years, there's not been a change to the DUI investigative process That is, until now, Night Rider is a high accuracy, Highly defensible... One of the things we love to highlight are the new startups that are coming out so we get the privilege of working with dozens and dozens of startups, and a number of them come from the university, from all sorts of cool faculty technologies.

Some of them are from our students, and a number of them now are also coming wonderfully from our community.

So just today we highlighted a local entrepreneur who's building an amazing technology that's allowing for law enforcement to improve the process of figuring out if someone is is driving intoxicated and is taking that technology and the safety that it brings to the road, not just to the local community, but is actually building it into a large angel and venture backed business that can go national.

So right here in South Bend, Indiana, we're making roads safer over the whole world.

And we get to share that story here at the rally by giving them a space to to share that.

In terms of speakers today, we have Audrey Backman, who shared her journey from engineer here at Notre Dame all the way through working at a bio meds company, a large organization, and then finally heading into the startup world.

So it's it's really important, I think, for students to be able to see what potential career paths they could have within the startup and entrepreneurship and innovation world.

People are just hungry and clamoring to have these interactions and to help each other out.

That's what the community is for, right?

We're supposed to be supporting each other, all working together to have a common goal, helping our region to become a force for good in this world.

The entrepreneur, brings the fire in the belly, the person starting the company, sitting around their kitchen table, working at nine, ten, 11:00 at night.

They're the hero.

Our purpose is to help them succeed.

We bring all sorts of resources to bear.

We bring mentorship, we bring access to the different resources of the university.

We help to introduce them to investors.

And our goal really is to say, at the end of the day, someone who has a great idea and the only thing holding them back from that great idea being a great company was access to resources.

We were able to serve them well by allowing them to find those resources and find the success that they're capable of.

Check out WNIT.org for more information on all these stories.

Thank you for joining us on Education Counts Michiana.

Engage with us on our website, Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Do you know of an initiative in education that's making a difference?

Share it with us.

The success of every student matters.

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 Dekko Foundation, Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County Crossroads United Way.

Serving Elkhart, LaGrange and Noble Counties.

United Way of Saint Joseph County.

Marshall County Community Foundation.

Ready to Grow.

Saint Joe Early Childhood Coalition.

And a Gift by Elmer and Dolores Tepe.

Thank you.

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

Thank you.