IN Pine-Richland Fall 2016 | Page 26

FULL STEAM AHEAD By Jennifer Brozak W hen Sarah Ezolt first moved to Pittsburgh with her family from Boston, she was surprised to learn there wasn’t a local creative problem-solving program for her young son, who was interested in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, or STEAM, activities. So, she started one. Ezolt, 37, is a parent volunteer for two Pine-Richland Odyssey of the Mind teams: a Primary Division team at Wexford Elementary School, and a Division 1 team at Eden Hall Upper Elementary School. Odyssey of the Mind is an international competition program for children in kindergarten through college. The program teaches children how to think creatively to solve problems while having fun with their peers. It is run entirely by parent volunteers. “My oldest son was little when we moved here, so we started looking for programs for him, similar to the Destination Imagination programs that existed in Boston. We were shocked to learn that one didn’t already exist in our community,” says Ezolt, who lives in Wexford with her husband, Phil, and three boys, who are now 10, 7 and 3. She soon learned that the Odyssey of the Mind program was popular in Pittsburgh, so she approached her son’s principal about Wexford’s Sarah Ezolt brings enrichment to Pine-Richland through Odyssey of the Mind and STEAM Studio. 24 724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE | Pine-Richland Sarah Ezolt