Calling attention to Alzheimer's: Cuyahoga Valley Career Center Ohio.

A computer design project drawing attention to Alzheimer s resulted in the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center in Brecksville, Ohio, being named the Ohio state winner in the 2007 National Civic Star Award competition.

Involved in the project are students in Digital Design, a two-year, career technical education program for high school students. The program is located at the career center in Brecksville and serves eight associate school districts in Cuyahoga and Summit counties.

In the project resulting in the Civic Star honor, digital design students are creating an awareness of Alzheimer's disease by using their design and marketing skills. While researching the disease, the students learned that it was discovered by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1906, meaning it had been around 100 years, and there's still no cure. The goal of the project is to draw more attention for research, assistance for patients and support for caregivers.

The students have been achieving their goal through various projects inside and outside the classroom. Some of these projects include designing postage stamps, conducting a painting session with persons who have the disease, painting a mural in an Alzheimer's activities room in an assisted-living home and soliciting gift certificates from restaurants and spas to give to caregivers through a drawing at support group meetings.

At the beginning, each student created a concept for an Alzheimer's postage stamp. The students wrote research papers on the disease and were assigned to interview Alzheimer's caregivers. They used the knowledge gained in creating their stamps, which depicted different aspects of the disease.

The students created a poster using the various designs and sent it to elder-care centers in Brecksville and Parma, Ohio, an Alzheimer's Association in Florida and the U.S.

Postal Service. Students used money from a previous fundraiser to purchase real stamps featuring their designs through Photostamps.com. The students also conducted a painting class at ElderCenter in Brecksville with the Alzheimer's patients. The students indicated they were moved by serving the community this way. They painted a mural at Elmcroft Assisted Living and Alzheimer's Care in Sagamore Hills, basing the murals on photo research they did in cooperation with the town's historical society. The idea was to use the murals to remind patients of earlier, happier times.

Several students have given presentations titled "100 Years, No Cure" on Alzheimer's to increase public awareness and knowledge of the disease. The presentations were made at Cuyahoga Community College's eastern campus in Warren County through the student youth organization SkillsUSA and at the convention center in Kansas City, Mo. The students won awards in Ohio and in a national competition for their presentations. The students have also developed an Internet site as part of the project.

The students experience the rewarding aspect of good citizenship when, for example, they receive thank-you notes from caregivers and experience the enthusiasm they engender at the assisted-living facilities.

For more information, contact Superintendent Roscoe Schlachter at [phone] or by' e-mail at Roscoe. Schlachter.cvcc.kl 2.oh.us. His mailing address is Cuyahoga Valley Career Center, 8001 Brecksville Road, Brecksville, 0H44141.