LEETONIA, Ohio (WKBN) – WKBN is honoring local educators with our Creative Classroom contest.

Our first winner comes from Leetonia Junior Senior High School.

Mrs. Marsha Coffee won $500 for her idea to creatively advance education in the classroom. Coffee talked about her idea and how she plans to use the money.

“So my high school students are going to be making — along with maybe seventh-grade students — are going to be making a tie fleece blanket that they generally always do in the classroom. But this one is going to be then donated out into the community… well, into the Mahoning County community,” she said.

Coffee said the money will be used to buy supplies for the project.

“So nothing comes out of the student’s pocket. Nothing comes out of Leetonia Local Schools, but it all goes back to the community,” she said.

Coffee has taught family and consumer science courses for the past 17 years. When she began teaching in the Cleveland area, her classes made blankets for MetroHealth.

“So those children were ICU babies that may not have lived… or have lived. So this was the last thing that those families had for those babies,” she said.

This similar project will keep the project local by sending blankets to the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley.

There is a learning aspect as well. Coffee said it teaches students how to work together, as well as math and measurements.

“If you make the wrong cut, you can’t put it back together,” she said.

As part of the Creative Classroom Contest, WKBN selected four local educators to win $500. The money can be used for their specific classroom projects.