Education

Purdue is offering an energy camp next month, for students and teachers.

The week-long event will highlight fossil fuels and renewable energy, as well as the increasing national and global demand.

Purdue Energy Center Director Maureen McCann says part of the mission is to raise awareness of the 50% increase in global consumption expected by 2030.

"Thinking about how we make a sustainable energy future that utilizes fossil fuels to their best advantage, helps extend their lifetime, but brings in transitions to sustainable and renewable forms for energy technology is very important.”

Eighty-four percent of Indiana third grade students passed a new state-required reading assessment.

The Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination for grade three (IREAD-3) was first given at the end of March.

In Tippecanoe and surrounding counties, scores range from 100% passage at James Cole Elementary School in the Tippecanoe School Corporation, to 69% passing at Lafayette School Corporation’s Miami Elementary.

Cole Principal Mike Pinto says his school’s scores are the result of months of hard work and says the achievement is one of his proudest as an educator.

Governor Mitch Daniels announced the newest group of Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellows monday.  The 54 new members will soon be included in the ranks of Indiana’s math and science teachers.

The program recruits recent college graduates and career changers with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and math.  The fellows receive money to complete a master’s degree program at one of four Indiana universities: Purdue, IUPUI, the University of Indianapolis and Ball State.  The recipients also commit to teaching in high-need Indiana schools for three years. 

Governor Daniels says more than 100 fellows are now teaching in Hoosier schools.

A school district in White County is looking to save hundreds of thousand of dollars a year by closing one of its buildings.

The Twin Lakes School Corporation is considering shutting down Woodlawn Elementary. Superintendent Tom Fletcher say it will save the district $300,000 annually. The board will vote on the decision next month.

If approved, Woodlawn would likely close before the 2013-2014 school year and its students would be reassigned to the corporation’s three other elementary schools.

Some would go to Meadowlawn and to accommodate the extra students, the district is considering a $2 million expansion project at that facility.

There are currently about 275 students attending Woodlawn.

Leadership Lafayette has rolled out a new curriculum for its Community Leadership Program.

WBAA's Mike Loizzo talks with Curriculum Committee Chair Laura Downey about what's new.

The next Leadership Lafayette class will begin August 24 and will meet monthly through May 2013 on Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Information and applications are available HERE and from the Leadership Lafayette office by telephoning (765) 269-5861 or EMAIL.  Applications are due by June first.

Plans to construct a football field-sized replica of the solar system are underway at Purdue.

The university unveiled a model Friday of how the display will be laid out.

Senior Rachel Fulper has been working on the project for the past four years.

She says the sculpture will be an attraction for students to congregate, share ideas and learn.

The display is called ‘Visiting Our Solar System,’ or VOSS and will be located in Discovery Park.

It’s named after Purdue graduate and astronaut Janet Voss who passed away in February.

Voss made five missions to space, traveling more than 18-million-miles.

The next step is raising $1.5-million for construction, so it can be built by 2014.