MALL OPENS CONTEST FOR KIDS: The Eastwood Mall is having Imagination Creation, a contest for children 6 to 14 years old to draw their own designs for one-story playhouses.

A panel of judges will select the 10 best designs and local contractors will turn those drawings into real playhouses. The playhouses will be on display inside the mall from June through mid-August. Designs will be judged in two groups, ages 6 to 9 and 10 to 14. The 10 winning designers will receive mall gift cards. At the end of the display period, the playhouses will be auctioned, with the proceeds benefiting Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley.

The contest runs through April 30.

Age-eligible children are to draw, color and illustrate a picture of a house on at least an 8.5-by-11 inch sheet of paper. The entry should include the name, address, parent / guardian phone number and age of child on the back of the submitted drawing. Children may submit their drawings at the Eastwood Mall Customer Service Center or mail them to the Eastwood Mall Marketing Office, 5555 Youngstown Warren Road, Niles, OH 44446.

On May 1, a panel of three judges will choose eight drawings as first-place winners. Each age group also will have a second-place and third-place winner. In addition, all drawings will be featured and displayed at the Eastwood Mall. A table containing the entries will be available for the public to vote on a “People’s Choice” winner for both age groups.

GIRLS ATTEND STEM EVENT: More than 200 area high school sophomores and juniors attended Kent State University at Trumbull’s STEM Trumbull County conference March 17, when they met and heard from women in science, technology, engineering and math careers, while learning about education programs that support those paths.

According to Dr. Valerie Cubon-Bell, Kent State Trumbull’s STEM TC director and professor of chemistry, more than 30 speakers volunteered for this year’s all-day conference.

“The conference is a long-standing tradition that offers high school students in Trumbull and surrounding counties the opportunity to explore exciting career pathways in STEM fields while also interacting with local, successful women in high-impact STEM professions,” Cubon-Bell said.

The keynote speaker was Peggy Shadduck, vice president for regional campuses and dean of the College of Applied and Technical Studies. Jennifer Clark, who manages Intel-Ohio’s production department, also spoke.

YSU TEAM PLACES IN COMPETITION: A team of six students from the Youngstown State University Civil and Construction Engineering Technology program placed second in the 2023 Ohio Contractors Association Estimating Competition.

The students competed in a two-day competition against 11 other Ohio universities. Finishing behind only the team from Case Western Reserve University, the second-place finish is the best ever for a YSU team.

YSU’s team was made up of students Ryan Bedlion, Aryonna Bowser, T.J. Danley, Mason Kotanchek, Sidney Laughner and Isaac Smith and was led by associate professor Joseph Sanson

Teams are given a construction project for which they are to create an estimate and have most of the day to work on their estimate. Once the bids are submitted, the judges open and evaluate the bids to see which bids are responsive and the results are read to the teams. The team closest to the estimate provided by the actual contractor for the project is given a choice of what time they will present their estimate to the judges the next day. Each team is given points in several categories, the main category being the presentation.

For the presentation, each team is given 15 minutes to present to the judges and 15 minutes for the judges to ask the team members questions.

PALO WINS AWARDS: PALO Creative, an advertising and digital media agency in Youngstown, earned four 2023 ADDY Silver awards from the American Advertising Federation’s Akron chapter.

The awards were for the following client projects: Online / Interactive, Social Media for “Bruce Aerospace SpektraLite”; Film, Video and Sound, Online Film, Video & Sound for “Garden Kettle Teaser Video”; Cross Platform, Integrated Campaigns for “Schneller Lucent Campaign”; and Cross Platform, Integrated Campaigns for “Garden Kettle Brand.”

The American Advertising Awards is the advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition. The Akron ADDY competition featured work submitted by advertising agencies through northeast Ohio, including the Youngstown, Canton and Akron areas.

VALLEY NATIVE PUT IN HOF: Tom Green, a shareholder for northeast Ohio labor and employment law firm Kastner Westman & Wilkins, LLC, has been named among the 2023 inductees to the Cleveland State University College of Law Hall of Fame.

Green, who graduated from CSU Law magna cum laude in 2002, grew up in McDonald and earned his bachelor’s degree from Youngstown State University in 1993.

In his law practice, Green represents a range of clients in comprehensive workplace law matters from locally owned small businesses to large, multistate employers. He’s also an Ohio State Bar Association certified specialist in labor and employment law.

People on the move

WOMAN JOINS CASSIDY: Cassidy Advertising & Consulting, LLC, an advertising agency in Canfield, has hired copywriter Becky Bernet. She is responsible for writing content for search engine optimization, press releases, social media, Google ads, blogs, websites, print advertisements and email blasts for clients.

Bernet graduated from The Ohio State University in 2022 with a degree in Agricultural Communications with a minor in Agricultural Production. After graduation, she moved back to Columbiana County.

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