BELOIT—A city with a rich history of innovation nurtured its newest inventors on Saturday.

Creative students and adults created prototypes ranging from remote-controlled reindeer to snowball catapults as part of the Make48 invent-a-thon held at The Lincoln Academy (TLA) Friday through Sunday.

Make48 is hosting maker competitions in eight U.S. cities this year. It selected Beloit as one of its event locations thanks to a Beloit College connection.

BELOIT—The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released results of the Wisconsin Students Assessment System exam that was given to The Lincoln Academy students during the 2021-22 school year.

A total of 137 students took the Forward Exam and 53 freshmen students took the ACT Aspire, according to a Lincoln Academy news release.

The Forward Exam proficiency rates for Lincoln Academy students included 19% for math, 25% for English language arts, 24% for science and 46% for social studies. ACT Aspire proficiency rates were 23% for math, 47% for English language arts and 32% for science.

BELOIT—Beloit College is seeking creative minds to invent and innovate to better the community.

A 48-hour invention competition will take place at The Lincoln Academy starting on Nov. 4.

The event is titled Make48 and takes place across eight different cities, where teams will compete by solving a problem through invention.

The teams are all given challenge criteria at the beginning of the competition, then they are to build their prototypes within that criteria.

BELOIT- A Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) program will be coming to The Lincoln Academy in January of 2023.

On Monday, The Lincoln Academy was approved for a NJROTC program by Naval Service Training Command.

“This is our school’s first JROTC program and first program involved with the armed forces,” said Kristi Y. Cole, Chief Education Officer for The Lincoln Academy.

“We started planning for this and applied for the program during our planning year, a year prior to TLA opening,” Cole recalled. “We felt a partnership with the Navy would be a perfect fit for The Lincoln Academy as we have Fairbanks Morse as one of our partners who works closely with the Navy. Plus, we are on a wonderful body of water, the Rock River, and we would be the first NJROTC program in the state of Wisconsin.”

Vito Gabriele was wading through Lenigan Creek near Beloit Memorial High School on Saturday, plucking all sorts of trash and debris from the waters.

“We’ve found bicycle tires, glass, plastic shopping bags and even an entire bicycle,” he said as he hauled a kayak full of trash to shore.

Gabriele was cleaning the creek as part of his Eagle Scout project. The 15-year-old student at The Lincoln Academy had plenty of help from friends and family. His mother, Anji Gabriele, and his uncle Kevin Sopczak, were there to lend a hand, as well as other Eagle Scouts, Brice Henthorn, Hunter Zittlow  and Matthew Locke. His scout leader Ryan McKillips also was present.

The Lincoln Academy in Beloit is reporting schoolwide student growth in math and reading metrics.

The Lincoln Academy Governance Board and administration teams reviewed the results of second semester Measures of Academic Program testing and noted the growth, according to a school release.

The test measures reading and math growth, the school says. The Lincoln Academy reported that the second semester saw a 146% growth rate in math and 116% in reading, with a 100% growth rate equal to one year of growth, according to the release. The progress measured in testing is compared to projected growth students are expected to achieve during the academic year.

BELOIT—Into the Outdoors, an Emmy-winning education network visited The Lincoln Academy on Friday to spend time with scholars in grades 2 and 6 while taping an upcoming episode about the effect of human impact, specifically plastic pollution, on wildlife and the environment.

Part science lesson and part adventure, Into the Outdoors uncovers the stories behind sensible solutions to creating a better planet while the kid hosts have some fun along the way.

BELOIT—Grade 9 scholars at The Lincoln Academy who were named to the third quarter honor roll are:

3.4—3.74 GPA

Timotay Althaus, Grayson Arn, Taylor Bennett, Yomaira Corcino De Los Santos, Kemoria Haley, Camryn Harding, Oscar Hernandez, Layla Murry, Criz Oropeza, Hannah Pankhurst and Rafael Ramos.

3.75—4.0 GPA

Theo Felger, Britney Froehlich, Vito Gabriele, Evelyn Hayward, Emma Hersey, James Hodge, Ciata Jester, Katie McKearn, Madelyn McKillips, Emma Najdowskik, Madeline Schulz and Lillian Stadelman.

BELOIT—Students from Beloit’s four area high schools will be exhibiting artwork as part of the Beloit Art Center 13th Annual High Schools Art Exhibit, which will run through the month of April.

A First Friday Gallery Reception will be held from 5—7 p.m. on April 1. The event is free and open to the public.

Students, their parents, teachers, and administrators, as well as the public are encouraged to attend to see the collective talent of young artists in Beloit. The participating schools are Beloit Turner, Beloit Memorial, Rock County Christian, and The Lincoln Academy.

The American Federation of Children - Wisconsin recently visited The Lincoln Academy, and has shared this amazing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrf4AanEzNI

In building a new charter school, The Lincoln Academy focused on designing a simple-to-manage network that supports collaborative learning spaces.

The Lincoln Academy recently highlighted its career education offerings, introducing students to many career options.

February was Career and Technical Education month in Wisconsin, so it seemed an opportune time for the school to put the spotlight on its career education offerings.

“At The Lincoln Academy, CTE is a central pillar of our educational framework and the work starts well before high school,” said CEO Kristi Cole. “Using real world applications is revealing itself to be a powerful tool in inspiring curiosity and engaging scholars. It’s exciting to see the level of interest and how it impacts learning.”