[0:00] You have any questions for me before I introduce our first group. Any questions? Thank you. So I'm going to call up our physical project group. We have Ms. Abby Patel, Ms. Elaine Rickard, Ms. Party Patel and Mr. Bobby Patel, who will be coming up to share with you their physical project. So please folks if you can make your way forward to the podium and we'll do your best.

[0:38] My name is Lillian Ricker and I was in a parking hotel, Bobby Chotel in Abbey, Kitsam.

[0:44] And we are the civics' serenity squad and we are from the St. Paul School and we are

[0:50] the civics' club.

[0:57] I'm going to talk to you about the meaning of the box.

[1:01] The flat one is the USA flat ever.

[1:04] It represents freedom.

[1:06] the round one is the meaning of Salem. The last one is nature and spring.

[1:25] The

[1:26] reason we chose this project and a little bit about the project is so we

[1:30] originally went and we wanted to paint the wooden benches that they have at

[1:37] the park and as you read through your brochures that I handed out to you you can

[1:43] see that there's a little bit about, you can see before pictures and after pictures on

[1:47] the back page here, and on the front there's a picture of all of us in the help that

[1:52] we got standing by our finished results. And so we originally with wanting to stay in

[1:57] these benches, we sent an email out to the City Council and asked if we could do this.

[2:05] And since the benches were previously stained, they said that that was a good idea, but

[2:10] they didn't know how the paint would hold up or work with the stain being previously

[2:15] on there. And then so with that we sent a follow-up email a few weeks later saying okay thank

[2:22] you for this. Could we just do some landscaping and help make the sign around it look better

[2:32] and more like welcoming. And then when we got the response back to that we went ahead and

[2:39] we began that and then with going along with that we were also originally going to paint

[2:47] this small metal grill with like anti-rust paint and make that just better too but because

[2:56] of the weather being all rainy and wet and us having a time crunch we decided that we

[3:04] not do that and that we wouldn't be able to just do to the weather and our time

[3:09] grounds with that. And so because of that and with that that was not able to be

[3:15] done but we were still able to take the sign and make that look inviting

[3:19] and beautiful. And if you open up your pamphlet we have our steps and stuff that

[3:26] we took and that we used. Like the first step was we painted the big rocks. It

[3:33] our last civics club meeting we took that to paint the rocks and get the rocks

[3:40] already and beautiful to be taken out there and then on the day of our actual

[3:47] project is when we started with picking up sticks picking up trash and then we

[3:55] went in we did a little bit of landscaping around the sign and then added the

[4:00] rest of the white rocks and that is um

[4:09] thank you for your time oh

[4:24] do you have any

[4:25] questions so I just forgot like say okay does anyone have any questions so what

[4:32] did you learn about your project learned

[4:38] that then

[4:41] like not something that was

[4:43] like really big in the community can do something and it doesn't have to be like

[4:49] big. And was it fun? Yes. So thank you. And I just want to say I looked at the

[4:56] before and after picture. You really did a nice job. Thank you so much because

[5:01] you look at the before and after and boy did you improve that. Thank you so

[5:05] much. Really? Very nice. It's much much more inviting and pretty. Thank you.

[5:14] Yes thank

[5:15] Thank you to Group One, the physical project.

[5:17] My daughter is three, loves the green park,

[5:20] as it's become known in our house,

[5:22] Mullins Park, so it looks great.

[5:24] Thank you.

[5:25] You're welcome.

[5:38] Ladies and gentlemen, at this time,

[5:40] I'd like to call in our digital project group,

[5:43] and that is Audit Patel, David Prasco,

[5:46] Lacey Lindesmith, and Rosemary Delamagior.

[5:51] Thank you.

[5:51] Please come on up to the front.

[5:53] Where did your project group go?

[5:58] Hello, my name is Audit Patel,

[6:00] And I'm here with the St. Paul School Civics Club, the technology group.

[6:06] And our goal is enhancing civic engagement through technology.

[6:18] Our project started in March of 2026 and we want to help people get involved

[6:23] in their community using online tools.

[6:26] Some important dates in our timeline is that our first meeting was on March 17th.

[6:31] We met with our mentors on April 17th.

[6:35] We interviewed counselors and directors on May 1st

[6:38] and we presented to the City Council today, May 19th.

[6:43] And our main goal is to bring the government

[6:45] and Salem community closer together.

[6:48] We plan to build a website with interviews

[6:50] and profiles of government officials.

[6:52] The website will also have background information

[6:55] on how Salem government works and is easy to access.

[7:03] Our project will help people in Salem

[7:05] get to know more about their government through digital tools.

[7:08] We want to make it easy for all ages to participate in their community and know what's going

[7:13] on.

[7:14] We hope to help younger people get involved with their government.

[7:18] We also want to teach students how to get involved into their community.

[7:22] Now I'm going to pass it on to my other.

[7:28] Hi, my name is Lacey Linnes-Meth.

[7:31] We chose this solution for many reasons, but our main reason is because we wanted students

[7:37] Since our age and citizens from Salem and surrounding districts to get more involved

[7:42] in their community through technology.

[7:45] We wanted to make sure all ages were able to use this website.

[8:05] Future plans.

[8:07] We want to work with our Salem City Halls department and add a link to our website.

[8:12] This will help more people find our project.

[8:15] Our long-term goal is to help people get involved in their communities and citizens over the country.

[8:21] We would use the codes to help people find and connect with their government representatives.

[8:28] Thank you for my colleagues for explaining what we wanted to do with this project.

[8:33] Now I'm going to do a demo of our actual product.

[8:47] You might not be able to see it up there, but what should pop up when you click the link is a webpage

[8:55] without the top should be, okay, there we go.

[8:58] So at the top is our St. Paul School of Suits Club logo and then the name of our website

[9:03] and no year of government.

[9:05] So we are using this website to teach people about their local government through real

[9:09] conversations and community stories.

[9:12] It will start with their sections where we have interviews of a mayor, interviews of Salem

[9:17] City Council, specifically President Evan Newman and Ward 1 representative Sarah Bair.

[9:22] Then we have our interview of our public service and safety director, Joe Capicello.

[9:28] We have an interview of Fire Chief, Scott Mason, an interview of the Police Chief, John

[9:35] T. Penisot Jr., and an interview of the Sam City Street Department Foreman.

[9:42] When someone clicks on to watch the interview on the website, you should be able to see a slight

[9:49] a small bio on what the person's position actually does, and then there's an interview with one of my four colleagues interviewing them and asking them some questions about their position in personal life in Salem.

[10:03] At the bottom there's also a history section about how Salem was founded, the notable facts about the city and Salem's rule in the Underground Railroad.

[10:16] then very last we have a section on how people can get involved in Salem and be

[10:23] civically engaged as a citizen and at the bottom we have credit to my four

[10:28] colleagues here. It should be in the order of Lacey and Linda Smith, Rosemary

[10:33] Dela, Majority, Audit Patel, and David Prasco.

[10:39] That is all thank you for your time

[10:41] and now we are able to answer any questions that the council has. Any questions?

[10:47] I

[10:50] just want to say, Councilman Weir and I were the mentors for the digital group and

[10:59] it was a pleasure working with these kids.

[11:02] They came up with this project, it was the goal of helping the community.

[11:08] They imagined the project.

[11:11] They decided who they wanted to interview, they interviewed the mayor and various council

[11:16] members.

[11:16] and other city officials. They wrote all their own questions. It's wonderful and are you going to

[11:25] get this put on the Salem City link to your site on the Salem City website so kids and also

[11:35] adults can look at this? If possible we would very much like to. Yeah I think that we're going to try

[11:41] and make that effort.

[11:43] But it was a pleasure working with you all.

[11:45] You all did a wonderful job.

[11:47] Thank you.

[11:48] Thank you.

[11:54] I would like to know, would you be open

[11:56] if we could make it happen to put your project

[11:59] on our cable station?

[12:01] Totally.

[12:02] OK.

[12:03] We'll work on that.

[12:05] Thank you.

[12:07] It's a great idea, Mayor.

[12:08] Thank you.

[12:09] Thank you.

[12:10] Digital Group.

[12:22] Thank you very much.

[12:23] Next up, we have our historical project group.

[12:26] And I think a historical project group, you guys can come on in, they have a few props to show you, are his, are historical project group, had Adeline Campbell, and Catherine Lawrence, and Reagan Bales.

[12:39] And so they're going to bring up their, their project to demo to you, and I'm going to hand it over to you ladies.

[12:44] Go ahead and give set up, and then you can adjust the mic as you need to.

[12:46] We

[13:09] are the historical group and we made cardboard cutouts of influential people from Salem, Ohio and some specifically sample school.

[13:20] Good did this to show that even if you are from a small, like Salem, you can be influential in many big ways.

[13:27] Like, for example, my person in Charlottesbury Field was a watercolor painter, and he was

[13:35] born just a few miles out from Salem.

[13:39] And he is still known worldwide as a good painter, and he, even if he was born a long

[13:46] time ago, he still has a giant influence on how we paint and how we see painters today.

[13:51] Okay, all you can see here,

[13:55] there was a button and you will be able to listen to an excerpt

[14:02] of the summary of the life of the person and what they did, how they influenced the

[14:09] world, et cetera.

[14:10] And I will now hand this over to Reagan Bill, who made this person.

[14:17] I made Abby Winnery, she's right here.

[14:20] And she went to go play on her porch when a slave hunter was passing by, and he asked

[14:27] if she had any hidden slaves in her house, and she replied, no, and then she went inside

[14:32] later and said, her told her dad what happened, and he asked her why she lied, because Quakers

[14:40] aren't supposed to lie, and said that they didn't have any slaves in their house, but they

[14:45] and she replied that no one should be called a slave.

[14:49] This is Adeline Kimball.

[14:52] I did the Grim Key Sisters and they grew up in South Carolina

[14:57] and later moved to Salem, Ohio and became Quaker.

[15:00] They helped to abolish slavery and also helped in the beginning of the women's rights suffrage. This proves that even someone from a small city can become somebody famous or really well known.

[15:17] That is all. Thank you.

[15:26] Those are fabulous. Love the talking experts there too. Jim. Yeah, thank you very much. And the point that these kids made is very, very important. Salem has

[15:41] has got some wonderful people in its past that have contributed greatly to, not only the

[15:46] city, but the nation.

[15:51] My advice to you is that you can also, even though you're from

[16:00] a little town, you can also be an influential person too that brings great things. So thank

[16:08] you very much.

[16:12] I have one more comment. I'm sorry. I just have a question. I think that your work

[16:17] is amazing. I'm very impressed by the citizens from Salem that you've selected. I have that personal

[16:23] interest in the Charles Birch Hill. What is your plan to display your interactive cutouts and what is the

[16:31] plan in the future? Will they stay at St. Paul's or might they go elsewhere? We plan to display them

[16:37] and local areas such as the library schools, if possible, it's just as like, anyway, anywhere

[16:47] that you can learn something, we would like to display them.

[16:51] Well, the Birchfield Homestead Society would be very happy to host them over at the Museum

[16:56] on Fourth Street.

[16:57] So, we'll be in touch.

[16:59] Okay.

[16:59] Awesome.

[17:00] Thank you.

[17:13] If I could just add, we have one of our mentors that's actually here with us, Mrs. Gattell,

[17:18] who's already in touch with the library.

[17:20] We've had great engagement from the community already

[17:22] on some places.

[17:23] We can display these.

[17:24] And we are very open to suggestions from the council.

[17:29] And last, but certainly not least,

[17:31] we have a presentation from our creative project group.

[17:33] So if you could come on in, we've got Jean Bar, Jackson

[17:36] Havanaugh, Austin Linusbith, and Chloe Santy,

[17:39] who we're going to present to you.

[17:40] Thank you.

[17:41] Welcome.

[17:43] Hello, and this is our group of the creative project.

[17:47] It can comprise of me, Jackson van Gogh, Austin

[17:52] and Smith passing out papers,

[17:54] Gene Barr and Chloe Santi.

[17:56] The question I was thinking was, with a show of hands,

[17:59] how many of you guys have that one relative that

[18:01] served in the military, that every time you go out

[18:04] to a barbecue with them, tell the same story

[18:09] over and over again.

[18:12] Yeah, and we decided to interview four different veterans

[18:19] and put them in this one pamphlet here to pass out during the single

[18:23] Merrin's flag vacation, which was on May 1st. So I'll just pass this around for you guys to see what's in it.

[18:37] So I'm Jean Barr. I'm another member of the creative group.

[18:42] And the reason we did this is because sometimes veterans aren't recognized for their stories

[18:48] and we wanted to do this so that all veterans were recognized.

[18:52] So we interviewed four different people, Marshall Barr, who was in the Army, and

[18:57] he Prasco, who was in the Army, Dennis Plegge, who was in the Navy, and Trent Tyson,

[19:03] who was in the Coast Guard.

[19:08] I'm Chloe Santi, and the reason we chose this project was

[19:11] because we wanted to educate the sound community about our veterans who could

[19:17] be your neighbor.

[19:24] We're just a group of civics-loving, compassionate individuals,

[19:30] and we would just like to thank you for your time tonight.

[19:34] Thank you for listening to us.

[19:36] Thank you.

[19:37] Any questions from your groups?

[19:42] Any questions from council, comments?

[19:45] Was that the flag ceremony and these pamphlets were a great addition to the days events.

[19:51] Thank you.

[19:53] I'd just like to add that it's most important that we have meaningful conversations between generations

[19:58] and their project certainly was able to do that as well as honoring and capturing a piece of America's history.

[20:04] Thank you so much.

[20:04] Great job.

[20:05] Thank you.

[20:06] Thank you.

[20:24] Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the St. Paul Sibis Club's presentations for this evening.

[20:29] I just really want to thank you for your time.

[20:31] I think one of the very important lessons that we wanted to leave with the students

[20:36] is that we have both agency and responsibility in the way we serve.

[20:40] So this evening, you were so gracious with your time.

[20:43] And it was so important that we were also responsible to come share the impact of the work

[20:49] that we were doing.

[20:51] And these students will be continuing next year, St. Paul will continue to have a civics

[20:55] club and I can't wait to see what great ideas they have to remain engaged and continue

[21:01] to live out agency at any age and civic engagement.

[21:05] So really appreciate your time and your support for our work.

[21:08] Thank you.

[21:09] I

[21:14] know some of these kids may be going home and so before we move on in the agenda I know plenty of folks here will give comments probably in their

[21:24] pleasure of council but I'll take this opportunity to unashamedly speak on behalf of council to say thank you to all the students that took time.

[21:33] Thank you for coming here to present and putting together the efforts that you did.

[21:39] I know there's a lot of things on the docket for this evening and there's a lot of things that will probably make the news tomorrow at WKBN, WFMJ here, but this should make the news.

[21:49] It is the civic leadership of the next generation of towns like Salem that will lead the way into the future of our country and hopefully in another 250 years.

[22:00] I know Morgan had hoped to get a photo, so I'll give one moment here.

[22:05] Yeah, yeah, so if the students would like to join us on stage I started to delay the meeting further

[22:10] But we'd like to get a photo so that you all can be recognized in the Salem news. Thanks

[23:08] Yeah, come on.

[23:10] Switching the way he was.

[23:11] My lap.

[23:12] His lap.

[23:13] I'm sorry.

[23:14] You're coming this way.

[23:14] You're going to go up here.

[23:16] There we go.

[23:17] There we go.

[23:18] No, no, no, no.

[23:20] There we go.

[23:21] Now that is all.

[23:22] All right.

[23:25] All right, everybody.

[23:27] Ready?

[23:29] Three, two, one.

[23:31] Cheese.

[23:32] All

[23:35] right, thanks, guys.

[23:36] Thanks, all right.

[23:37] Oh, if I can get down there.

[23:39] Thanks to all your students, really.

[23:40] That was wonderful.

[23:56] So we do have one additional

Salem (city), OH meeting

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