Valley Board Recognizes Student Achievements, Community Philanthropy
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Robotics students, from left, Elijah Music-Smith, Hunter Shepherd and Aiden Kimble study one of their robots during a presentation to the school board Monday, Oct. 8.
MENTONE — The makeshift boardroom in Mentone Elementary School used for the regular meeting of the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation’s board of trustees was filled to capacity on Monday, Oct. 8 as the board heard several presentations of activities going on throughout the district.
During Spotlight on the Valley, a regular feature each month at the board meetings, the five-member panel honored members of the Tippecanoe Valley High School’s FFA, as well as members of the school’s unified flag football team, which is now headed to the state finals. Other programs in the school corporation received recognition during a portion of the meeting set aside for the acceptance of grants and donations.
FFA
Students Sarah Tucker, Branden Dugan, Rolonda Riechard and Chloe Hostetler were recognized for placing second in an area contest for livestock skills.
Two teams advanced to the state contest in the soil category. Those students included Amber Evans, Hailey Backus, Brandt Alber, Sydney Petersen, Cheney Canada, Makenzie Woodcox, Sarah Kelley and Nicole Ziemek. The FFA program is coordinated by Michael Jones.
“We were first place in the 4-H division and second place in the FFA division, so we have one (team) of each representing us in the state contest,” said Jones.
Unified Football
Tippecanoe Valley’s Unified Flag Football Team was heralded for winning regionals and receiving a bid to the state finals.
“We’ve had a lot of success,” said Coach Jeff Shriver. “We’ve had a lot of fun. We had Unified Track last spring and we said ‘hey, what about Unified Football?’ The IHSAA has really embraced this and we were fortunate enough to have some great athletes this year.”
The team consists of Hailey Hale, Cheyenne Barngrover, Arianna Wright, Andrew Thompson, Connor Frentzel, Tanner Trippiedi, Cade Brouyette, Tyler Nine and Nathaniel Heckman. The team advanced to the state finals by defeating Griffith in the regional competition Oct. 6.
Your Life Speaks
Lori Tilden-Geiger, TVSC’s director of marketing, public relations and grant writing, secured several grants for the school corporation, including a $1,200 allocation from the Northern Indiana Community Foundation of Fulton County to fund an appearance by motivational speaker Nathan Harmon from the lecture series Your Life Speaks. Harmon discussed such pertinent topics as bullying, peer pressure and overcoming adversity.
“He spoke to them one-on-one and you could have heard a pin drop,” said Tilden-Geiger, who told the board that Harmon addressed both the high school and the middle school in separate lectures.
Valley Safe
Tilden-Geiger also told the board that the Good To Go oil company presented the school corporation with $4,750 to fully fund the student-inspired initiative Valley Safe, which will provide emergency kits for each of the school corporation’s classrooms.
Robotic Kits/Books On CD
Teacher Cathy Olson talked to the board about two Donors Choose grants that were received by the school corporation for STEM robotics kits and books on CD. She said the robotics kits help to foster critical thinking skills and problem-solving, while the books on CD help to smooth out the reading level playing field among middle school students.
Sweet & Sassy Golf Classic
The school board accepted a donation of $26,600 as a result of the Third Annual Sweet & Sassy Golf Classic, held in honor of 1982 Valley grad, teacher, counselor and football coach Scott Bibler. Bibler’s widow, Stephanie Bibler, presented the check to School Board President Adam Heckaman.
“This year, we decided ‘what can we do with that chunk of money?’ said Bibler. “The community has been unbelievable and we were blessed on that one day to make a nice amount of money.”
The committee responsible for allocating the funds decided to divide the funding in each building into funds earmarked for students and teachers. The student funds will be monitored by principals and school counselors and used for students in need. The teacher funds will be used for grants to help teachers, coaches and staff in the performance of their duties.
“We are honored to be able to hand you guys a check today for $26,600 and know that we are (fortunate) in this community for all the support.”