The Van Wert County Courthouse

Thursday, Mar. 28, 2024

LifeLinks celebrates first year in VW

Van Wert independent

LifeLinks Community School completed its first successful year of existence with a celebration and presentations on some units of its non-traditional curriculum.

LifeLinks teacher Doug Adams (standing) shows (from the top) Susan Burchfield, Nancy Bowen and Staci Kaufman how to create Andy Warhol-esque artwork. (Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent)

School staff, including new director Shawn Deitemeyer, and students were on hand to welcome guests to a celebration Friday that included a cookout and informational segments detailing how some of its educational components use creative ways to teach students who, for one reason or another, have trouble learning in a traditional classroom.

As the presentations demonstrated, class units at LifeLinks feature pop culture elements, such as Star Trek and Dr. Suess, as well as examples by nontraditional artists such as Andy Warhol, to help students learn science, math and fine arts and life skills. There are also writing components of the school’s curriculum, while students also created videos as part of their class work.

Another unit on the American Dream, which featured a poem by the same name, also used Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and portions of the “Declaration of Independence” to teach social studies lessons.

It’s a curriculum designed to engage students that don’t take to traditional classroom education.

LifeLinks math instructor Patty Lautzenheiser gets assistance in her presentation from student Zachary Smith (Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent)

Teachers making presentations included social studies teacher Kyle Hammons, fine arts-life skills instructor Doug Adams and math teacher Patty Lautzenheiser.

One person notably absent was Kim Nellis, LifeLinks’ first director, who resigned after overseeing the creation of the  new school, to take another position just weeks before school is to end. Deitemeyer, previously Van Wert City Schools’ special education coordinator, has taken the reins of the school and will continue in that role in the coming school year.

Some curriculum changes are likely coming next year, while the school’s board will continue seeking additional financing needed to maintain the program.

While the student population fluctuated somewhat during the school year, reports have noted that between 40 and 50 students typically attended the school in its first year.

POSTED: 05/28/11 at 2:38 am. FILED UNDER: News