Stark Parks Wins Educational Award

Stark Parks
has received its third Pinnacle Award
in as many years from the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration
(CILC) in Indianapolis, IN. Forty (40) educational organizations across the
United States and beyond earned the coveted award that recognizes top-ranking K-12 standards-based
interactive videoconferencing programs.

Teachers
and other participants serve as the judges for the award. The evaluations
assess seven areas: two related to the effectiveness of the presenter and five
related to educational content.

Stark Parks’ programming is
broadcast from its Distance Learning Lab in the Exploration Gateway at Sippo
Lake Park. Last year the park district presented 79 programs via videoconference,
reaching 2,517 students from as near as Plain Local Schools and as far away as
California, Texas, and Florida. Videoconference programs teach students about protecting
natural resources and wildlife. Topics include animals of Ohio, wildlife rehabilitation,
endangered species, wildlife classification, and the Ohio & Erie Canal and
often include live wildlife.

Only four other
Ohio organizations received a 2011-2012 CILC
Pinnacle Award. They included the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Ohio Historical Society, and
the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.