Burket Educational Center had the graduation ceremony for its 2024 class on Thursday, May 16, in the Burket historic gym. Shown are graduates with Burket staff. In the front row from left are Rachel Roberts, Brady Roberts, Barrett Heller, Haley Erklin, Sierra Albert, Riley Holden and paraprofessional Nicki Lewis. In the middle row are paraprofessional Byron Tinkey, Tippecanoe Valley High School Assistant Principal and Burket Program Director Dayna Kolanowski, Madison Creamer Bennett, Juston Heiman, Tiffany Bullington, Dustine Crump, DeAngelo Gonzalez and Stormy Meade. In the back row are Essie Ward, Mariah Martinez, Burket teacher Micah Lukens, Jacob Kats, Kaydin Manges, Dylan King and Denzil King. Not pictured are Axel Amador Flores, Keeda Bowland, Jesse Brown, Brandon Esckelson, Melanie Losher, Sarah-Ann Marshall, Lillian Messer, Braxton Noll and Jonathan Steininger. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

BURKET — Burket Educational Center has marked its 450th graduate since its 2003 opening.

That milestone for Tippecanoe Valley School Corp.’s alternative high school was reached with the 2024 class, whose graduation ceremony was on Thursday, May 16, in the historic Burket gym.

Twenty-seven students are part of the current class. They include: Sierra Albert; Axel Amador Flores; Madison Creamer Bennett; Keeda Bowland; Jesse Brown; Tiffany Bullington; Dustine Crump; Haley Erklin; Brandon Esckelson; DeAngelo Gonzalez; Juston Heiman; Barrett Heller; Riley Holden; Jacob Kats; Denzil King; Dylan King; Melanie Losher; Kaydin Magnes; Sarah-Ann Marshall; Mariah Martinez; Stormy Meade; Lillian Messer; Braxton Noll; Brady Roberts; Rachel Roberts; Jonathan Steininger; and Estella Ward.

Tippecanoe Valley High School Assistant Principal Dayna Kolanowski, who serves as Burket program director, welcomed attendees to the ceremony.

“The students you see here today to be honored have worked hard to get where they are,” she said. “They’ve had to overcome many personal obstacles and challenges to make the passage from youth to adulthood, whether the students were in tough situations because they were victims of circumstances outside of their control or the product of poor decision making is their own.”

“When it comes to earning a diploma, these students showed great grit and focused on that moment of significance, a moment that will have a great effect on the rest of their lives,” Kolanowski continued.

Burket teacher Micah Lukens also spoke before each graduate was recognized.

He noted that 77% of the 2024 class are getting their Indiana Core 40 diplomas.

“This group has collectively completed 444 courses on Apex Learning, mastered over 2,500 units of study and 16,000 assessments and spent over 483,000 minutes on their coursework,” said Lukens.

“This group is one that truly holds a lot of potential and promise for future success, and many have futures already planned out,” he said.

Lukens pointed out that kernels of corn were on tables where people were seated, explaining at the end of the ceremony what they meant.

“This kernel has very little food value in and of itself, but what it does have though is potential,” he said. “A single seed of corn when planted into soil, fertilized, given ample rain and sunlight and properly cultivated can produce great results.”

He held up an ear of corn.

“This ear of corn is 18 kernels around and 38 kernels long,” said Lukens. “A single seed that you saw earlier produced this, 684-fold of what it had started as. That single seed represented only a tiny fraction of what you see here before you.”

“Thank you to all of you who are part of these graduates’ lives, as you are the good soil, the fertilizer, the ample rain and sunlight and the cultivators who helped make this day possible,” he said.

Lukens called the graduates “a phenomenal class” after the ceremony was over.

“We had a lot of great leaders and students with a lot of goals for the future, and it just was so much fun to have this group,” he said.

Kolanowski added the class was “focused.”

“I’m just very proud of them for reaching this goal that they’ve set, and they’ve accomplished it, and now they can go out and do great things with it,” she said.