Mason City school wins award

MASON CITY – In early January, the Mason City Community School District received notification that Lincoln Intermediate was selected as one of three finalists for the STEM Excellence Awards. The FETC STEM Advisory Board evaluated over a hundred applications from across the nation and were “impressed by the innovation and educational impact of your STEM program!” Finalists were invited to attend the 35th Annual National FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference) in Orlando, Florida. Each finalist was requested to present at FETC 2015 in the STEM Classroom Theater highlighting their STEM program.

At the awards presentation on Thursday, January 22, Lincoln Intermediate was named National STEM Excellence Award Middle School Division Winner.
The FETC STEM Excellence Awards were created to recognize excellence and innovation in the field of STEM education at the primary, middle and high school levels, with nominees and winners selected from each level. STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. STEM Excellence Awards are evaluated based on the use of Interdisciplinary Curriculum, Collaboration, Design, Problem Solving and the STEM Experiences offered by each school.

Principal Tom Novotney and teachers Ashley Flatebo, Kathleen Nutt, Nancy Wiltsie and Kassandra Drey, accepted the award on behalf of the district and Lincoln Intermediate as well as presented at the conference. Other members of the 6th grade team involved with the STEM initiative at Lincoln are Kristian Einsweiler (School Administration Manager), Heather Jo Bailey, Chris Bell, Lauren Bell, Sara Bucknam, Laura Cesar, Teresa Heesch, Sherilyn Hoekstra, Jill Geissler, Todd Godfrey, Jim Lee, Kim Rasmussen, Ernest Reineke, Troy Rood, Jim Ruger, Jennifer Schlitter, Melissa TeKippe and Brooke Wiemann.