The Black History Month programs at all three Westerville high schools this year share a common inspiration: the widespread protests over the death of George Floyd and the racial unrest that followed.

The students behind the programs at Westerville Central, Westerville North and Westerville South high schools have taken different approaches to respond to the conversations from the summer. 

Three Westerville middle school students have moved on in the MathCounts competition, advancing to the Chapter Invitational at 7 p.m. on Feb. 25.

Mason Wu, a seventh-grader at Blendon Middle School; Peyton Householder, an eighth-grader at Blendon; and Nathan Bell, an eighth-grader at Walnut Springs, were part of the MathCounts teams at both schools that competed in the virtual Regional Chapter Competition Feb. 6. The competition was sponsored by the Franklin County Chapter of the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE).

Kelley Moff, a teacher at Annehurst Elementary; Reshon Gordon, a teacher at Walnut Springs Middle School; and Laura Tomlin, a teacher at Longfellow Elementary, have been named Westerville Education Foundation’s February Teachers of the Month.

As part of Black History Month, Walnut Springs Middle School hosted the first of two virtual school-wide presentations with Dr. Hasan Jeffries, an associate professor at Ohio State University’s Department of History, on Feb. 18.

Westerville students in grades K-8 are invited to participate in the Westerville City Schools’ 15th annual LEGO competition, which is virtual this year. The competition is open to elementary and middle school students from Westerville City Schools and St. Paul School. Competitors can build anything they want, as long as they design it themselves; No pre-packaged LEGO sets are permitted to be built.

Westerville students currently in grades 4-11 can join an international education experience during the Summer of 2022. One option for those in grades 4-7 is a marine conservation service-learning opportunity in the Dominican Republic while another for grades 7-11 features an exploration into the history, cultures, geology and ecology of South Africa. The experience also includes a safari.