Randy Nemeth

“The Ophir Ravine: A River Through Time” is Nemeth’s innovative program idea designed to provide a cross-curricular program for fourth-grade students to learn how to plan, engineer, design, and construct a scale model river on the hillside behind their classroom. As a progressive project, year after year scale model structures will be added along the scale model of the Ophir Ravine to create a ‘living timeline’ by each fourth-grade class. The first class will start building a scale model of a native California Indian village along the ravine, followed by one of California’s 21 missions. Additionally, irrigation systems and a miniature hydroelectric mill will be included. The program will allow students to gain knowledge of California’s history as well as help them learn the importance of planning additional structures. Throughout the program, students will use their problem solving skills as they engineer each new part of the monument from concept to reality. Nemeth, who lives in Roseville, hopes his program will excite students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curriculum while allowing them to leave a lasting contribution to the school yard for future generations to enjoy.