President Beth Benko of the Port Clinton Board of Education honors Award recipients Aaron DiBucci, Captain Award; Eric, Theresa and Benjamin Schramm, First Mate Award; Joy Roth, Ottawa County Community Foundation Crew Award. At right are board vice-president Michele Mueller and Supt. Patrick Adkins.

The Flagship Awards are part of Port Clinton City School District’s recognition program to honor parents, community members, staff and students that help the district fulfill its motto of “Proudly Charting a Course for Success.”

The Port Clinton Board of Education recognized the following individuals with Flagship Awards.

Eric and Theresa Schramm, First Mates: Second grade teachers Jennifer Keeton and Amy Quillen at Bataan Primary had an idea for a language arts unit on poems centered around pizza poems and everything pizza.

The idea to put the pizza poems on local pizzas for the community to see seemed like a tall order, but local Crosswinds Cameo Pizza owners Eric and Theresa Schramm, along with manager Amber made it all happen.

Last spring, Cameo put “pizza poems” written by second grade students on all pick up and delivery orders. Customers could post their favorite poems on social media. On a busy Friday night, the addition of the poems was another step in the preparation process for their staff.

Bataan Primary students and their families were proud to see their poems in the community, said school officials.

Joy Roth, Ottawa County Community Foundation Crew Award: The Port Clinton School District is fortunate to have outstanding community partners. Joy Roth, representing the Ottawa County Community Foundation, is one those exceptional partners. Roth has secured funding for fifth grade students to travel to The Ohio State University Stone Lab on an education field trip each year.

Port Clinton educators report that it is one of the most educational field trips offered for students and it would not have been possible without Roth’s effort and the foundation support. Other foundation projects include the an eighth grade book project and scholarships.

Aaron DiBucci, Captain: Aaron DiBucci joined the Port Clinton School District in 2017 and jumped right in to oversee a huge renovation project at high school. A huge renovation project needed to be completed during the summer the past two years when students and teachers were not in the the classroom.

In addition to the renovation project, DiBucci and his staff needed to complete summer maintenance work on the other district buildings. The summer of 2019 included handling hundreds of visiting bicyclists for Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (GOBA) and Bike to the Bay. GOBA was a huge event to manage on the high school and middle school campus along with the high school renovation. Visitors enjoyed all the amenities of the high school and middle school campus even though the hallways and cafeteria of the high school were a construction zone.

Recently, DiBucci saved the da for high school students by driving to the high school on a Saturday night to adjust lighting for the homecoming dance. Through Aaron’s supervision, the high school has a brand new look for students and staff, creating another point of pride for the district and community.