Mr. Menhorn, who teaches 5th grade science and math at Herbert Mills STEAM Elementary school has a needlepoint tissue box on his desk, which is a STEM project from his former student, Emily Hurt. Throughout his teaching career, the tissue box has traveled with Mr. Menhorn from building to building and state.
"Emily has kept in touch with me after I taught her at STEM Middle at Baldwin Road, and it has been a great experience watching her apply STEM learning in college and now in the real world," Mr. Menhorn said.
That STEM learning allowed Emily to study media communications and apply those learnings to her jobs after graduation. So far, her work has taken her to China and France to cover sporting events through broadcasting. To capture the action and emotion, high-tech cameras and equipment were used, including high-resolution cameras, GPS tracking, drones and even smartphones to get up close and personal with athletes.
"Our goal was to bring the audience as close to the action and emotion as possible," said Emily. "The tech that was used- from a camera that went over the pools to drones and GPS trackers to showcase sailing allowed us to show moments from an event that an athlete has trained their entire life for."
Emily has also been able to do some broadcasting work with The Ohio State University football team. Emily graduated from Reynoldsburg High School in 2020. Next on her travel itinerary? Emily is headed to Spain to teach English.
Emily's love of STEM started at Herbert Mills- do you recognize Mr. Cracraft in this picture!?
Emily credits her teachers and the RCS STEM pipeline for allowing her to apply her learning to real-world skills.