Music to Study By

Take a group of Junction City teachers, some song lyrics and a recording studio and they’ll develop a product that’s inspiring students to study hard for the Ohio Academic Achievement tests.

Second Grade teacher Amy Bethel was inspired when she was at Licking Heights on day. The school was creating incentives to get students excited for state testing and that’s when she thought her school could do this too.

And that’s how the concept of a song and music video was born. A group of teachers developed the lyrics and wrote the music.

"It was scary at first," said 2nd Grade Teacher Kim Harley. "I think after the first couple of lyrics were written it became easier and easier."

2nd Grade Teacher Amy Bethel chimed in, "It became this kind of fun thing and at that time we didn’t realize we were going to a recording studio."

After a few failed attempts of recording the song on their own they enlisted the help of Recording Workshop in Chillicothe and made the trip and laid down the tracks.

"We were kind of like deer in the headlights," explained School Counselor and guitar player Steve Glade. "We were just saying we’re overwhelmed by this. It took some time for us to relax but finally when we got to that point we were able to do some things we didn’t even know we were able to do."

And then the students got involved by starring in the music video.

One student said, "I feel like their special to do that for us."

As fun as putting a music video together was for the teachers and students it’s also helped relax them and get them ready for the OAA testing which can be high pressure.

"Those results do follow them throughout their history," said Principal Janie Haliko. "Those are on their permanent record and it does give an indication as far as their high school OGT tests which they do have to pass."

It also affects the school’s yearly report card. The last five years the school has had an "Effective" rating. They hope this song changes that.

"This could be the year," said Bethel crossing her fingers. "The song could put us over the top. That’s why we did it. We wanted to give the kids an extra little boost so that they know that they can do it."

Some students are even taking preparation classes much like you’d see for the SATs.

"If I get a question wrong I can figure out why I missed it and how I missed it," said one student.

And who doesn’t like to study to a little background music.

The state OAA testing for New Lexington City School’s is the first week in May. The students will see their music video for the first time on Friday.