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Covering Milford, Syracuse & North Webster, Indiana Wednesday, December 13, 2023
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Wawasee school board approves Polywood Academy During the regular December Wawasee Community School Corporation board meeting, Jon Everingham went before the board to present Polywood Academy. Earlier this year, Everingham attended a presentation by Orthoworx and Purdue University’s IN-MaC. The presentation brought the idea of linking businesses and school corporations together to develop and create hands-on learning opportunities for students. Everingham and Ryan Zimmerman of Polywood collaborated on the new Pathway CTE program. “When I arrived here and got involved with CTE, I think we had around 120 students throughout the co-op, participating in half-day programming, and this year we have 343 students participating,” Everingham explained. “Truly exciting stuff; we have 14 programs across three school districts. Eight of the programs are housed here at Wawasee.” Everingham became CTE director last year. Vince Beasley introduced Everingham to Orthoworx and their initiatives. Polywood Academy- Powered by Pathways CTE Cooperative is the 15th program to be offered through CTE. The program was designed to “fill the gaps” between the other available programs. “It’s a school-business partnership,” Everingham explained, “where we feel like there was a gap in our programming. We are constantly examining what opportunities there are for students and making sure we are covering all of our bases.” The program will teach advanced manufacturing, a career that leads to endless opportunities after high school. Polywood is housing the program in their building. The program will only accept six to eight students during the first year, but as the program grows, so will the class size. There is an application process for the program. The program is slated to be available for the 2024-25 school year. “In year two, the students do an internship. Their capstone experience is a paid internship at Polywood,” Everingham said. “They’re in line to do a paid summer internship. Students are going to love this.” The teacher of the program will be a WCSC employee due to licensing and CTE funding. Polywood is donating money to cover that cost. During the learning report, Dr. Shelly Wilfong updated the board about the Indiana Learns Tutoring Grant. In this current semester, teachers have been able to provide 624 hours of
tutoring for students who fell below proficient for math and ELA. Wilfong is working with principals and teachers to expand the program even further. Dr. Steve Troyer, superintendent, alerted the board to some good news: multiple Wawasee School Corporation employees received KEYS grants and multiple donations were made to school clubs and programs. Autumn Griepentrog, reading interventionist, was granted $500 for take home phonic books. Cheryl Pearson, media center paraprofessional, was granted $500 for seating for a book nook. Cindy Brady, student services coordinator, was granted $672 for Minds in Motion. Kristin Bonner was granted $200 for a new sewing machine. Lou Lefevre was granted $300 for a set of classroom books. The WHS Supermileage club received a $250 donation from Ritter Electric; $250 from The Papers, Inc.; $100 from Steffen Realty; $100 from New Market; $250 from Loose Moose Motorsports; $100 from Sands Accounting; $250 from Syracuse Bud’s Body Shop; $1,000 from Milestone Construction; $500 from Mr. Rooter of North Central Indiana; $100 from Ace Hardware of North Webster; $100 from Teghtmeyer Ace Hardware of Syracuse; $100 from Link Accounting; $250 from Wawasee Boat Company; $7,000 from Doug and Jeannine Schrock; $500 from Ousley Seawall Construction; $250 from ERA Crossroads; $250 from Phend & Brown; $100 from Schroeder Insurance Agency and $100 from Sudlow’s Pier Shop. WHS Robotics received a $100 from Alison Cole at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and $500 from KCCF anonymous. North Webster Elementary School received a $500 donation for student clothing needs from Builders Association of North Central Indiana and the North Webster Lions Club donated $100 per teacher for classroom supplies. WHS welding received material donations for students to use for welding practice from SEI Corporation and an anonymous donor. The board recognized two staff member retirements. Deb Bird served Milford Elementary School as a cafeteria staff member for 23 years. James O’Dell served Wawasee High School as a teacher for 30 years. Neither person was in attendance, but the board expressed gratitude for their dedication and hard work. The next regular school board meeting will be 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9, in the Wawasee High School Warrior Room, 1 Warrior Path, Building 1, Syracuse.
WARRIOR PRIDE — The Kosciusko County Community Foundation presented the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship to two Wawasee High School seniors during a ceremony at the school Tuesday morning. Pictured from left are WHS Principal Geoff Walmer,
Text and Photos By KEITH KNEPP Staff Writer The hard work of two Wawasee High School seniors paid off handsomely Tuesday morning, Dec. 12. Grant Krull and Allison Clark were surprised during their first-period honors English class by their parents, school administration leaders, and representatives from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation with the word they were each a recipient of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship. The scholarship is a four-year, full-tuition award, which will allow Krull and Clark to attend an Indiana college or university of their choice. Additionally, it covers fees and an allocation for books and equipment for four years of undergraduate study. Krull, the son of of Shawn and Lissa Krull, Milford, plans to major in mechatronics engineering technology at Purdue University in West Lafayette. He has been an active community member as a volunteer with Camp Mack, a 10-year member of 4-H, Swaggers Youth Group, Wawasee FFA and Kosciusko Junior Leaders. He has been a member of various WHS extracurricular activities, including the Supermileage Team, Iron Pride Vex Robotics, Thespian Troupe, Academic Super Bowl, National Honor Society, cheer squad, unified flag football and track teams and the swim team. “”It’s really nice to not have
THE ANNOUNCEMENT — Kosciusko County Community Foundation CEO Stephanie Overbey, far left, presented the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship to Wawasee High School seniors Grant Krull and Allison Clark during a surprise announcement during the students’ English class Tuesday morning. to think about the possible debt that I could have gotten in to,” said Krull. “I knew I had a higher chance (to receive the scholarship) because of the number of extracurriculars I’ve been involved in and community service with different organizations.” “He’s worked really hard since he was a little kid,” said Lissa Krull of her son. “He doesn’t like to stay inactive. He’s always doing something. He’ll come home and say, ‘mom, I’m going to try this.’ He really has followed his own heart and his own path. It’s amazing. It’s really overwhelming to know that (his) college is paid for.” Clark, the daughter of Alan and Diana Clark, Syracuse, plans to major in biology and will grad-
CHECKING IN AT MILFORD — Santa participated in the fourth annual Milford Christmas parade. This parade, which features only emergency vehicles went up and down north/south streets throughout town Saturday night, Dec. 9, so Santa could double check his naughty and nice list. He’s shown here in the Milford S.W.A.T. Humvee on his way to the Milford Fire Station to meet with children of all ages. Driving the Humvee is Milford officer Matthew Carter. Photo by Lauren Zeugner
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recipient Allison Clark, recipient Grant Krull, KCCF CEO Stephanie Overbey, and Wawasee Community School Corporation Superintendent Dr. Steven Troyer.
Krull, Clark named Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship recipients
Inside
By MARISSA SWEATLAND Staff Writer
uate with honors in May. Currently, her plan is to attend Purdue University, Indianapolis, but that might change with the benefits of this scholarship. She has been involved in various community service initiatives, including the North Webster Church of God, Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy and Warsaw Adult Education. Additionally, she was a member of the Wawasee tennis team, book club, robotics team, Academic Super Bowl, National Honor Society, Key Club, Environmental Club and FFA. “I’m shocked,” said Clark. “It’s really cool that I won’t have to deal with paying for college. I knew I had some sort of a chance, but I didn’t ever think that I’d ever get it. It’s a little bit of a shock.”
“I think it’s wonderful,” said Alan Clark. “It proves that hard work and being a good person pays off. It opens a lot of doors for her. Places she might not have gone before in Indiana, just because of the cost. She’s applied to a lot of places. It opens up a lot of some other schools that she probably wouldn’t have gone to.” “It’s humbling because our county has so many bright students,” said WHS Principal Geoff Walmer. “There are so many other deserving students, from Wawasee, from Warsaw, Whitko, Tippy Valley, but to know that this year two of them happen to be Warriors, it’s pretty special.” Walmer noted that in his five years as principal at WHS, the Continued on page 2
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