Students in preschool, kindergarten and second and fourth grades at Mentone Elementary are preparing for their annual spring music program.
Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 13 with the program beginning at 7:00 in the gym. The preschool will lead the program with a sing-a-long with Poppy, a troll from the movie Trolls.
The program is open to the public. There is no charge to attend.
A Tippecanoe Valley High School senior will continue his academic and baseball career at Danville Area Community College in Illinois.
Alec Craig was TRC All-Conference in baseball the past two years. He plans to major in business.
Seated with Alec are parents Jay and Shelly Craig and sisters Emma on left and Lydia to the right. In the back row from left to right are TVHS Athletic Director Duane Burkhart, TVHS Baseball coach Justin Branock, TVHS Assistant Athletic Director Scott Smith and Principal Dr. Michael Bendicsen.
Freshman All A Honor Roll 3rd 9 Weeks:
Quintin Allen
Amy Baca
Shelby Baker
Alyssa Bell
Colt Demske
Amber Evans
Faith Kamp
Aleesa Marshall
Jace Potter
Luke Prater
Mercedes Roszak
Tanner Trippiedi
Kirstyn Yoder
Freshman A & B Honor Roll 1st 9 Weeks:
Allison Atwell
Allison Betten
Cade Brouyette
Caleigh Byrer
Jaydin Conley
Emma Craig
Bryce Fisher
Nathaniel Heckman
Mason Jackson
Valeria Jimenez
Bethany Johnson
Jakob Jones
Paulina Jurado
Jadyn Kolesiak
Zachary Landis
Kaitlyn Lewis
Olivia Livengood
Tahya Lybarger
Brette Manns
Austyn McCord
Maya McCord
Alexis Michael
Allison Miller
Emily Murphy
Roni Newsome
Jalen Potter
Misael Ramirez
Jorge Rosas-Jimenez
Delaney Sandbakken
Aleesya Shelpman
Tucker Shull
Mason Stephen
Alivia Taylor
Jaxon Torpy
Dortha Tucker
Shakira Vail
Jillian Walls
Daulton Webb
Jessy Weitzel
Makenzie Woodcox
Sophomore All A Honor Roll 1st 9 Weeks:
Sophia Bussard
Hannah Durkes
Olivia Ellenwood
Billy Gillman
Sydney Howard
Hannah Jansma
Marlea Myers
Sarah Myers
Emily Peterson
Rachael Randall
Shayleigh Shriver
Sarah Tucker
Dylan Wood
Kamile Yocum
Sophomore A & B Honor Roll 1st 9 Weeks:
Damian Banghart
Laura Campos
Shae Clingerman
Alexus Cooper
Jasmine Davis
Madison Francis
Alexandra Gomez
Brooke Gothan
Annabell Gutierrez Eberly
Tiphanie Hodge
Elijah Holder
Jonathan Humes
Hannah Lewallen
Haley Lewis
Bryce Madeford
Sierra Marshall
Kylee Masterson
Brianna McBrier
Wesley Melanson
Noah Miller
Isaac Norris
Makenzie Oldham
Cameron Parker
Justin Peconga
Hanna Prater
Kinzie Prater
Kelly Randall
Grace Revere
Jose Rivera
Alex Salas Morrison
Kaitlin Shepherd
April Slone
Olivia Smith
Lauren Sponseller
Maria Vargas
Anna Walters
Lucas Walters
Junior All A Honor Roll 1st 9 Weeks:
Hannah Ames
Brenna Baney
Alyssa Brito
Chase Brower
Alejandra DeLaRosa
Macy Engstrand
Hannah Gibons
Trent Houchin
Jalyssa House
Hunter Hyden
Kelsey Justice
Gary Klinger
Jacob McDonald
Addy Miller
McKenzie Murphy
Susan Nickerson
Asia O’Connor
Cheyene Oldfather
Angelica Ortega
Amy Ortiz
Dakota Parker
Gretchen Runyon
Makayla Sandbakken
Olivia Trippiedi
Carissa Ziemek
Junior A & B Honor Roll 1st 9 Weeks:
Cora Alber
Daisy Arroyo
Olivia Bell
Cody Craig
Bryce Cudney
Grace Grosch
Drew Hartman
Seth Hoffman
William Johnston
Jordan Krotke
Gracie Manns
Adam Myers
Michael Paseka
Bradly Shepard
Kaleigh Shumaker
Lea Stouder
Camden Tucker
Jack Utter
Jade VanMeter
Brittany Wilhite
Eric Wright
Senior All A Honor Roll 1st 9 Weeks:
Victoria Biddle
Meredith Brouyette
Hannah Brower
Madison Conliff
Alexia Durkes
Amanda Heltzel
Guadalupe Hernandez
Alexander Kromkowski
Ponesupuk Mahamat
Jared Mikel
Andrea Moquete
Laira Myers
Braydon Ott
Kaitlyn Prater
Angela Ramirez
Sierra Rudd
Anne Secrest
Christopher Secrist
Aerin Shewman
Kaitlin Shoemaker
Yarley Smalley
Dylan Sponseller
Morgan Thomas
Adrian Velazquez
Cole Walters
Dylan Warner
Riley Weitzel
Christopher Wilhite
Senior A & B Honor Roll 1st 9 Weeks:
Joseph Alspaugh
Caitlyn Atwell
America Baca
Samuel Bell
Abigail Betten
Courtney Combs
Alec Craig
Hannah Dunn
Hunter Early
Mael Ferrier
Ethan Freant
Lindsay Gamble
Alvaro Gutierrez
Brianna Haney
Cheyenne Holmes
Audrey Jackson
Jeremy Julian
Santha Keckler
Baylee Kolesiak
Keegan Larimer
Adam Lowe
Thane Madeford
Dylan Manwaring
Monika Marshall
Sierra Mast
Blake McBrier
Lucas Mills
Nikita Nelson
Kennedy Niedbalski
Noah Prater
Diana Ramirez Fosas
Elizabeth Salazar
Sydney Schaeffer
Melissa Schmidt
Noah Smith-Fletcher
Motoko Tsuzuki
Avander Wimsatt
Keith Wright
John Young
A 1976 graduate of Tippecanoe Valley High School was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Indianapolis on March 22.
Ron Newlin received the Indiana Pacers 2017 Silver Medal Award for serving as executive director of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame from 1987 to 1995. The award is given each year to a person who has made some contribution to the game other than as a coach or player.
Armed with four years’ experience developing exhibits at the Indiana State Museum, Newlin, at age 28, became heavily involved in the process to relocate, design, build and open the new Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame museum in New Castle.
Part of his role was to oversee a $1.7 million statewide capital campaign to help fund construction of the museum, as well as grow the organization’s membership and donor base. Newlin was also instrumental in launching the Indiana Basketball History quarterly magazine.
Newlin and his family moved to Indiana his sophomore year. He found success in baseball and cross country, but ironically, didn’t make the cut when he tried out for the basketball team.
“High school sports, for me, weren’t about exceling. They were about learning self-confidence and redefining myself as something other than a nerd,” he joked.
Although he wasn’t on the court, Newlin got to tag along with the basketball team as a manager and statistician. He recalls Akron winning the 1974 sectional his first real exposure to the excitement of a state tournament, a story he would often share as museum director.
“I tell it because everybody who played basketball in Indiana has a story like that,” said Newlin. “That’s what the Hall of Fame tries to do is give everybody who loves basketball a place to find something meaningful to them.”
Newlin and the 13 other inductees will be part of a main display at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame over the next year. Inductees can be nominated by anyone year round, but have to be out of high school for at least 25 years.
Picture: 1976 TVHS graduate Ron Newlin (left), receives a plaque from former Indiana Pacers player Darnell Hillman (right) at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame men’s banquet held March 22 in Indianapolis.
Four school and community projects were awarded a total of $4,000 in funding at a Valley Hometown Fund grantmaking event held on March 21.
The Valley Hometown Fund was created by Tippecanoe Valley graduates with the mission of connecting alumni with their schools and hometowns in support of education and community development.
The fund is designed to collect donations and make grants for projects that specifically benefit the students and residents of the Tippecanoe Valley area.
“The whole idea behind this was not for there to be one more thing for the people who live in this community to be paying for, but instead, to give people like me who grew up in this community, love it and don’t live here anymore, one central way to give back,” said Ron Newlin, a 1976 Tippecanoe Valley High School (TVHS) graduate who now lives in Indianapolis.
A request for grant applications was sent out in early January with a March 1 deadline to apply. Groups or organizations charitable in nature were encouraged to apply for a grant.
The Valley Hometown Fund Advisory Board then selected four of the organizations that applied to present their request for funding at the grantmaking event.
After the presentations, alumni in attendance were divided into four groups to decide how much money would be granted to each organization. Each group of alumni had $900 to divide between the projects. $100 in funding was guaranteed to each organization that presented.
Graduates of Tippecanoe Valley High School, or any of the high schools that preceded it – Akron, Beaver Dam, Burket, Mentone, or Talma were invited to be involved in the grantmaking process.
“We hope to make similar grant funding available every year and encourage people to consider applying again next year. This year we simply had more grant applications than funds available for granting,” said Superintendent Brett Boggs.
The Valley Hometown Fund Advisory Board hopes to make the grantmaking event an annual tradition. In previous years, the fund has granted money for events such as Prill School Pioneer Day and the TVHS Special Needs Prom.
“Our hope is to grow this fund in the future so it can become an endowment fund,” said Brian Johnson, director of development for the Fulton County Community Foundation.
All donations made to the Valley Hometown Fund are tax deductible and are made securely through the Northern Indiana Community Foundation.
This year’s recipients of Valley Hometown Fund grants were:
Picture back row left to right: Chris Rassi, Scott Backus, Tony Christman, Dawn Ziemek. Front row left to right: Karissa Cody, Beth Landis, June Yazel, Kelly Bradley
MAKE A DONATION:
To make a donation to the Valley Hometown Fund, visit the Northern Indiana Community Foundation website or make a check payable to:
Northern Indiana Community Foundation
715 Main Street P.O. Box 807
Rochester, IN 46975
*Be sure to put “Valley Hometown Fund” in the notes section.
FOLLOW VALLEY HOMETOWN FUND:
For updates, follow the Valley Hometown Fund on Facebook.
A team of Tippecanoe Valley High School students once again ate their way to the top spot in Penguin Point’s 38th Annual Big Wally Eating Contest.
The contest was held March 21 at the Penguin Point restaurant on Detroit Street in Warsaw. A team of three TVHS students competed, eating a total of 19 Big Wally sandwiches. Junior Michael Paseka ate eight sandwiches, senior Jerrid Edmonson ate six and senior Noah Prater ate five.
The team of three that eats the most sandwiches in 15 minutes wins. Three area high schools participated this year. This is the third consecutive win for Tippecanoe Valley and the fourth win within the past five years.
“We let upperclassmen try out for the team. The last few years, our cafeteria staff has made cheeseburgers that we use for the tryouts. The contestants get to eat a certain number of cheeseburgers on the cafeteria stage during the lunches and the fastest three make the team,” said TVHS instructor Darren Parker.
Only three of the four schools that were supposed to participate showed up this year. With the extra spot open, high school students in the crowd were asked to form a team at the last minute. Two girls from TVHS stepped up to participate.
“They held their own even though they had just both eaten supper,” said Parker. The winning team received a $400 check donated to its school’s prom fund.
Picture from left to right: Abby Betten, Michael Paseka, Jerrid Edmonson, Noah Prater and Hannah Dunn.
3rd Grade
Isaiah Ault
Dalton Baldridge
Anna Bradley
Cyan Bradly
Hailey Borsa
Nash Bouse
Dalynne Bussard
Tatum Carlin
Kinsey Davis
Branden Drummond
Jake England
Arianna Francis
Jasmine Fuller
Emmalie Grossman
Karley Hallstrom
Jamal Hamilton
Harvey Hayes
Noah Henson
Payton Hobbs
Alejandro
Jimenez
Sadie Keirpaul
Will Kelley
Camarah Kimble
Kyra Kiser
Wyett Knight
Payton Kohler
Gavin Leininger
Jaicey Long
Cadence May
Cassandra McVay
Karina Meade
William Mellott
Grady Moriarty
Abril Murillo-Sosa
Nyomi Ortiz
Autumn Parker
Landon Patrick
Sopia Pearson
Lindsay Petersen
Camdin Phipps
Lyric Plew
Makayla Smith
Aaron Stump
Carol Swanson
Abbigail Taylor
Eric Threlkel
Lola Vick
Morgan Yates
4th Grade
All A’s
Colton Crabb
Chloe Haussmann
Remington Rickel
Madison Thompson
All A’s & B’s
Blaine Baney
James Bartley
Evan Bolinger
Lily Bradley
Brooklyn Cooper
Mackaylie Costello
Lydia Craig
Kacie Davis
Brock Derf
Kade Francis
Marisol Gonzalez
Riley Hale
Nekiana Hamilton
Braylee Hughes
Reed Jones
Rayne Kensinger
Renea Kline
Amber Kluesener
Hugo Lopez
Emma McKenzie
Matthew Owens
Taylor Owens
Emma Patrick
Kinsey Sanders
Blain Sheetz
Noah Spangle
Brooklynn Swindell
Austin Wallace
Isaac Whetstone
Ayden Yaprak
Ethan Young
5th Grade
All A’s
Lorna Apt
Devin Boggs
Kynan Cords
Cody Eastgate
Sidney Nelson
Macy Petersen
Makynna Rentschler
Evan Richards
Jessa Schroeder
Kiera Smythe
Adriana Vargas-Hernandez
All A’s & B’s
Dalton Alber
Damion Brown
Tiffany Bullington
Bryauna Clodfelter
Carson Craft
Jorge DeLaRosa
Nate Engstrand
Abby Goble
Olivia Jones
Wade Jones
Aiden Kohler
Trent Marshall
Shelby Olivarez
Madison Poe
Carissa Stoneburner
Hailey Swope
Erin VanMeter
Braedon Wallace
Mentone Elementary presented a check in the amount of $1,400 to the Kosciusko County Riley Kids Fund on March 17 during WRSW Riley Radio Days.
The student council sponsored a coin drive from Feb. 13 – 17 to raise money by filling a large jug with pennies. Check and cash donations were also accepted. This year’s goal was to raise $1,000.
Half of the money raised will to the Kosciusko County Riley Kids Fund, while the other half will go to Riley Hospital for Children. Right after the check presentation, Mentone Elementary staff member Lacey Jones and Mentone Elementary parent Kacey Shock talked live on the air about their personal experiences with Riley. Both have kids who have received treatment from Riley.
You can watch part of the interview on the Mentone Elementary School Facebook page.
Picture from back row left to right: WRSW Radio Personality Rita Price, Mentone Elementary Student Council Sponsor Rebecca Hartzler, and KC Riley Kids Fund Co-Founders Alan Alderfer and Mike Bergen. Front row left to right: Mentone Elementary teacher Lacey Jones and her son Kade, and Mentone parent Kasey Shock holding her daughter Rylan.
Written By Meagan Wilks, Director of Special Services
When Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation (TVSC) says in our mission statement that we “do 
whatever it takes to equip all students to be outstanding today, tomorrow and beyond”, we truly mean ALL students. Many students in our school corporation have unique social, emotional, and learning needs, which may require extra support and resources. In order to accomplish our mission of equipping all students, Tippecanoe Valley has implemented special programs and opportunities that address these unique student needs.
One program that provides services to unique learners is our Little Vikings Preschool. This preschool program provides special education services for students three to five years of age with developmental disabilities. Children can qualify to participate in this preschool through an educational evaluation. If parents have concerns about delays in development, they can request an educational evaluation. The assessment team will then evaluate the student and determine if the child meets the eligibility requirements of a disability. Little Vikings Preschool provides an excellent educational experience for students. The students enjoy a rich curriculum full of literature, play, social/emotional, and motor development. While following the preschool foundation standards, there is also a focus to meet the individual educational goals set for each student.
At Tippecanoe Valley we also recognize that many students have unique social and emotional needs that must be supported in order for them to be successful at school and in life. We find that these needs are growing with more and more students needing the support of our school counselors and mental health therapist. Because of this, TVSC recently applied and received a $30,000 dollar grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. to plan and implement a comprehensive counseling program in the district. This grant has allowed counselors to participate in a variety of training opportunities to help with the social and emotional needs of our students. With the implementation of a more cohesive and comprehensive counseling plan, we know that all students will benefit.
The Functional Skills Program at Tippecanoe Valley High School provides a unique learning experience. During the school day, students in the Functional Skills Program participate in Community Employment Opportunities where they travel to businesses in the community and learn job skills in the natural environment. We have partnered with many different business in the Tippecanoe Valley area including, Bourbon Street Pizza, Hoffman’s Body Shop, Viking Foods, Clay’s Flooring and Interiors, Teel’s Restaurant, Java Jack’s, Little Vikings Preschool, Gagnon Motors, and the Fulton County Animal Center to provide real life work experience for students. Research says that many students are not prepared for the workforce after high school. At TVSC we strive to provide our students with the skills necessary to enter the workforce with knowledge to find and maintain successful employment after high school.
In order for some students to be successful and meet the requirements to graduate from high school they may need a unique learning environment as an alternative to the traditional classroom. Burket Educational Center, our Alternative Education Program, provides this opportunity. At Burket, high school students are able to work at their own pace to master classes and earn credits through an online program called APEX. To date, Burket Educational Center has had 296 students graduate who might not have in the traditional high school setting. Every year a special graduation ceremony is held in the historical Burket Gymnasium to celebrate students’ success of graduation.
Through the implementation of these program and opportunities at TVSC, we see the success of students who have a variety of unique learning needs. TVSC is truly committed to the continued success of ALL students.
Valley Insight is a recurring monthly article written by administrators on a variety of topics related to education and the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation. Articles will be posted to the district’s website and also shared with the local media.
A Tippecanoe Valley High School senior is choosing Indiana University South Bend to further his education.
Jeremy Julian will continue his academic and golf career at IUSB. Julian plans to major in business. He recently sat down with his parents and school administrators for an official signing.
Picture: Seated with Jeremy are parents Michael and Darcy Julian. In the back row from left to right are: TVHS Athletic Director Duane Burkhart, TVHS Golf coach Darren Parker, IU Golf coach Justin Akers, TVHS Assistant Athletic Director Scott Smith, and Principal Dr. Michael Bendicsen.
Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation, 8343 S State Rd 19, Akron, IN / Main: 574-598-2759