Over the course of four days, Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical School (EFCTS) students from the Teaching Professions satellite program engaged in various competitions at its annual Educators Rising National Conference, held virtually this year. On Sunday, June 27, 2021, Educators Rising announced the results of its events, which featured three first-place finishes, seven top-5 finishes and nine top-10 placements.
A total of five Eastland-Fairfield students won their respective events in three different categories. National championship performances included (homeschool in parenthesis):
Children's Literature, Pre-K
Cami Weldon ‘21 (Gahanna-Lincoln) and Anneke (pronounced: “aw-neh-kah”) Keesing ‘21 (Gahanna-Lincoln)
The Children's Literature (Pre-K) competition asked participants to write, illustrate and present an original work on any topic within a set of guidelines. Teams and individuals were scored based on content, writing and illustration quality, depth of presentation, and in various areas of their delivery skills. This category offered the largest pool of competitors that featured up to the top five submissions from competing states.
In their book, “To Be a True Hero”, Weldon and Keesing recognize comic book superheroes known in popular culture but respond with qualities that make everyday people truly heroic, such as bravery, honesty and integrity. After placing first in the state but not being able to compete at the national competition in 2020 due to COVID restrictions, winning top honors at this year’s Nationals held special favor with each team member.
Pictured: Anneke Keesing '21 (photo credit: Robyn Hilderbrand)