MARTINS FERRY — The Martins Ferry Board of Education honored some high-achieving students Tuesday by presenting Riders Awards.

First up was the seventh grade volleyball team that finished its season with 18 wins and zero losses.

“This is something that we really enjoy doing, and that’s the chance to get to recognize our student athletes, our young people when they achieve goals such as you ladies have,” Superintendent Jim Fogle said. “To do anything in competition and be undefeated is remarkable. … We’re very proud of you.”

Fogle said the team won 36 consecutive sets and never went into a third set in a match.

“That’s quite remarkable,” he said. “We’re looking forward to bigger and better things in the future. … Just keep working hard and stay together. Be good teammates.”

Also honored was Francis Toohey, a senior who won honors in cross country sports.

“Francis had a great senior year. He started off by winning the Belmont County championships. He also won the Ohio Valley Cross Country League Championship,” Fogle said. “He went on to place at the district and regional, then qualified for Division 2 State Championship (this past weekend, at Obetz, Ohio). … It’s been a great career.”

Also, Lisa Kleevic, the school’s site coordinator for the school district’s 21st Century Grant, reported on the students’ academic progress.

“The grant is a federal grant made for reading and math enrichment to improve the scores of our students in our area. It’s a federal grant and we are in its third year. It’s a five-year-grant,” she said. “This is our crucial year. We’ve got to make our numbers look really good so we can get the grant again.”

Kleevic said the COVID-19 pandemic complicated matters.

“Last year we had 11 students. Of course it was a crazy year,” she said. “We can’t really compare that to anything else. This year, we have 22 students in the classroom. We have certified teachers, certified staff. We have an intervention specialist that worked with the kids, and we are looking for a math tutor to help with eighth grade math. We’re real excited.”

The district was provided $200,000 for the first three years, $150,000 for the fourth year and will receive $100,000 for the last year. The funds cover field trips, supplies, teachers’ salaries, and software and computer technology.

She said they have begun using the Study Island system to measure student improvement. Last year they purchased 32 Chromebooks for middle school students.

“We’ve allotted approximately between $3,000 and $5,000 for technology this year with the grant, for whatever’s needed with the afterschool program, and also that the school can use. We are looking at some interactive SMART Boards that are on wheels,” she said.

A SMART Board is an interactive flat panel display.

Kleevic said her role is to collect data from the schools regarding the growth of student achievement.

“That’s how the grant basically is run,” she said.

The program also provides meals and youth development clubs.

“It helps so many of the kids. Their scores from last year – even though it was a crazy year … we see an improvement,” she said.

She said she will deliver another update in March.