The Lima City Schools will once again recognize “Celebrate Public Schools: Experience the Spartan Pride” Week, including with its District Wide Open House with even more activities than in past years.

The Open House will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 28, at Lima Senior High School.

While held at the high school, every school and program will be represented. Below are just a few of the evening’s highlights.

*Free Meal by Spartan Inn culinary students

*Tour the Building

*Visit Career Tech labs and academic classrooms

*Student music groups performing in the gym

*Student art exhibit in the auditorium

*Visit our Kids Zone with games, activities, face painting and information on preschool and kindergarten

*Meet our School Resource Officers and K-9s

*Blood pressure checks by our patient care students

*Welding demonstration

*Take and Go Building Project in construction lab

*Plant a succulent and take it home in Ag lab

*Make a Spartan Button in Graphics

*Fun activities in the library

*Tech activities

*Register for next school year

*Makerspace and STEM activities

*Classroom displays and projects

*Win prizes – over 75 to give away, plus grand prizes upon completion of punch card. Grand prizes include TV, Nintendo Switch, headphones and more.

New this year are meetings for middle and high school students and parents on graduation requirements. The meetings will begin at 5:15 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. in the Lecture Hall.

Following the open house, Lima Senior’s Masterworks Choir will perform at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. This is the group’s sendoff concert before leaving for New York City, where they will take in the sites, see two Broadway shows and perform at the Cathedral of St. John Devine.

Thanks to the following partners who donated prizes and other items for the open house: Alter Ego Comics, ArtSpace/Lima, Armor Fire Protection, Beer Barrel, Black Lace Hair Salon, Buckeye Floor and Ceiling, Cenovus Lima Refinery, Cotterman and Company, Crosshairs Lima, Dominion Energy, Fresh N Faded, Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce, Lima Young Professionals, Ley Insurance, Lima Senior Athletics, Lima Senior Career Tech, Lima Senior DECA, Lima Senior Spartan Inn, Lima Sporting Goods, The Met, Rightway Food Services, Sara’s Sweets, Smith Boughan, Sullivan Insurance, Vibe Coffeehouse and Café, Westgate Entertainment, West Ohio Food Bank.

Special thanks to Cotterman and Company for donating $1,000 worth of gift cards.

Lima Senior High School Sophomore Nevaeh Fletcher will be part of this year’s Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition.

Her glass necklace art piece called “Forget-Me-Not” will be on display in Columbus later next month. Fletcher’s piece is believed to be the first from Lima Senior to make it to the final state exhibition.

In its fifty-third year, the selection of student work for the exhibition begins on the regional level. With more than 8,000 regional entries, just over 1,000 are selected to be entered to be judged at the state level. Fewer than 350 earned the Governor’s Award of Excellence and will have work in the exhibition.

Fletcher’s piece will be on display in the James A. Rhodes State Office Tower in Columbus from April 23 to May 18. There will be an awards ceremony April 23 at the Riffe Center, Capitol Theater.

Lima Senior High School student Bailey Hoover has qualified for the Educators Rising National Competition after the state contest this week.

Hoover, a sophomore in the school’s Early Childhood Education Program, is the first Lima Senior student in the program to ever advance to Nationals.

Educators Rising is a career and technical student organization with intra-curricular learning opportunities integrated into existing education and training programs. Additional information can be found at https://educatorsrising.org/.

The National Competition begins June 28 in Orlando, Florida.

Also, Lima Senior’s chapter display made top 10 in the State of Ohio. Freshmen Di’Naja Bratton and Shaelynn Holbrook led that effort.

Lima Senior’s Early Childhood Education instructor is Tina Hamilton-Shoemaker.

Lima Senior High School will have a record number 26 students competing at the International Competition next month in Orlando, Fla.

The students qualified after this past weekend’s state contest. Below are the results.

Charlese Ferris, Emma Schick and Kaitlyn Thompson – Business Solutions Project 1^stplace

Logan Davenport, Alexis Raska and Braylin Upshaw – Career Development Project 2^ndplace

Dre’Anna Gilbert, Kylon Petty and Qua’Jane Tobias – Financial Literacy Project 1^stplace

Ti’ana Spivey and Tatum Twining – Sales Project 4^thplace

Logan Baker, Addison Delph and James Evans – School Based Enterprise: Spartan Spirit Shop – Gold

Emma Hipsher and Ziany Pagan-Rosario – School Based Enterprise: Spartan Higher Grounds – Gold

Aliyana Coppler and Chase Hipsher – Integrated Marketing Campaign Product 1^stplace

Keegan Halliday and Matilda Nelson – Integrated Marketing Campaign Service 3^rdplace

Arian’a Custer, Nicholas Fosnaugh and Victoria Holbrook-Phillips – Integrated Marketing Campaign Event 4^thplace

Dalton Chiles – Business Finance 5^thplace

Madeline Emerick – Business Services Marketing 6^thplace

In Addition, Noelle Warnement won a State Executive Officer position.