Brecksville Patch's Whiz Kids of the Week: The 2nd- and 3rd-Grade Gifted Classes at Highland Drive Elementary School

Names:

Julie Lant’s 2^nd-grade gifted class: Melanie Clark, Nicoleta Durlesteanu, Niklas Firestone, Elyse Hensley, Luke Kirin, Carly Kubek, Helen Lee, Adam Lozar, Shahil Merchant, Stephanie Mossop, Adrianna Nicholas, Christian Olszewski, Nathan Priest, Evan Shaw, Molly Sullivan, Marina Tarassenko, Ethan VanRumppe, Abigail Williamson, Ryan Smith

Jane Jagielo’s 3^rd-grade gifted class: Mackenzie Cone, Jack Craciun, Ryan Devine, Kristen Dolansky, Nikki Flors, John Galik, Justin Iler, Adam Jones, Jasper Jones, Lasyasri Kambhampati, Sara Louttit, Shannon Lyden, Mary Mitchell, Jacob Peters, James Petkunas, Colin Savage, Kyle Stadler, Ian Stewart, Alyssa Strongosky, Lana Traum, Tiffany Wang, Camille Zonfa

School:

Accomplishment: These classes raised more than $750 for Cleveland students and local seniors. 

Key to Awesomeness: Highland Elementary teachers, Jane Jagielo and Julie Lant, helped the students in their 2^nd- and 3^rd-grade classes raise money to create holiday boxes for students at Wade Park K-8 School in Cleveland. The teachers said the kids sold about 1,000 “Smencils”—pencils with distinctive scents like grape—to their schoolmates and solicited donations from family and friends. Once the money was collected, the students put together boxes filled with winter items like hats and gloves and holiday toys for the students at Wade Park. With the leftover money, they also donated to the Yuletide Hunger program, the Shop with a Cop program and made candy candles for local senior citizens.