ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, HAMILTON COUNTY, OH (FOX19) - Kids from the Goddard School in Anderson Township learned about the earth and the environment in a series of activities preceding Saturday evening's Earth Hour.
On Friday more than 100 students were there to turn off the lights (except for emergency lighting) for an hour from 10-11 a.m., part of the national Earth Hour activities.  Throughout the week, kids participate din other learning activities.  They made musical instruments of recyclable materials, and they were visited by Allison Tait, a Cincinnati Parks naturalist from California Woods, who talked about ways to care for the environment and the animals.

MARIEMONT, OH (FOX19) - Jessica Baldwin, the lead after-school teacher at Mariemont Elementary School, recently earned the 2012 Excellence in Education award from Champions a leading provider of before- and after-school extended day learning programs.

Baldwin's award recognizes his/her dedication to the Cincinnati community through her work at the Mariemont Champions program, and her commitment to helping educate students in her care.

CLIFTON, OH (FOX19) - Fresh from a winning performance in the recent Ohio Cookoff competition, a student team from the Midwest Culinary Institute will head to Niagara Falls next month to compete at the 2012 American Culinary Federation’s Northeast Regional Conference.

During the Ohio Cookoff event held last month, the Cincinnati State team garnered a gold medal in the skills competition and a silver medal in the cooking competition, winning an overall national silver medal and the right to represent the state of Ohio at the ACF Regional Conference. There they will compete for the right to represent the Northeast Region for the national title at the ACF national convention, which will be held this July in Orlando.

The team is led by Master Chef John Kinsella and coached by MCI instructors George Zappas, Michael VanFleet, and Laura Horn.