The Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation will offer a variety of items for sale to the public via online auction starting Thursday, May 4, and concluding Sunday, May 14.  The items to be sold are primarily the result of phases #2 and #3 of the Akron Elementary School renovation and construction project scheduled to conclude in December 2017.

Interested individuals may bid on pieces of outdoor play equipment from Akron’s Head Start playground and the playground at the Burket Educational Center.  Also to be auctioned are items from the 1987 wing (Art Room tables, Media Center wood tables and chairs, steel student hall lockers, classroom steel shelving, water fountains, and heavy duty tables and storage cabinets from the Staff Workroom.

Items to be sold from the kindergarten wing include classroom sink & storage units and folding vinyl doors. Commercial items from the kitchen/cafeteria include a three-door freezer, food warmer, serving area with electric warmers, milk coolers, food preparation tables of various sizes (butcher block and stainless steel), convection ovens, six-burner gas stove and oven, steamer, 2-door refrigerators, food grinder, meat slicer, and assorted carts.

Gym items to be auctioned include the wood gym floor (approximately 80’x120’), steel retractable bleachers (seat 700), scoreboards  with a control panel, clear glass basketball backboards and goals, wall padding, ceiling mounted acoustic panels, a sliding net curtain & track, a gym divider curtain, volleyball posts & nets, volleyball post protectors, and a garage door & hardware.  Locker room items include a chalkboard, steel restroom partitions, shower heads and stainless steel containment, and assorted steel partitions, sinks, toilets, urinals, and mirrors.

A dust collection system, wood working tables with attached vices, a drill press, a portable speaker system, a sound system with two speakers and an amplifier, and over 20 folding tables from the custodial storage area will be sold via the online auction.

Items to be sold from the Akron Elementary School Office include the main office counter and storage, storage from the office workroom, the intercom system, the wall-mounted staff mailboxes, four-drawer lateral filing cabinets, upholstered office chairs, and a Nurse’s Office bed and locking two-door medicine storage cabinet on wheels.

Items from the 1949 wing include classroom doors, wood classroom lockers & storage closets (6 rooms), black chalkboards, steel shelving, and aluminum classroom windows (6 classrooms and 4 smaller areas).

Miscellaneous items to be sold via online auction include bulletin boards, chalkboards, several two-door vertical steel storage cabinets, wood doors from classrooms and other areas, steel entrance and interior doors, and wood shelving.  Restroom partitions, sinks, urinals, toilets, and mirrors from all restroom areas will be included in the online auction.

To participate in the online auction visit the Asset Auctions Online website at www.assetauctionsonline.com or Auction Zip at www.auctionzip.com.  Questions about the online auction may be directed to Director of Asset Liquidation Auctions John Winkel at [email protected] or (317) 284-1420.

Anyone that would like to view the items in person prior to or during the online auction may arrange to do so by contacting Akron Elementary School Principal Chrissy Mills at [email protected] or (574) 598-2367, ext. 2325.  Viewing will be scheduled to occur during the non-school hours of 4:00-5:00 p.m.

Winning bidders may pick up their items starting Monday, May 15, through Friday, May 26.  The purchaser will be responsible for the removal of the items purchased.  Items not removed by May 26^th will be removed by the contractor and set aside.  The Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation will not be responsible for the condition of items removed by the purchaser or the contractor.

During the pick-up window of May 15-26, an additional point of contact will be Tippecanoe Valley Maintenance Director Todd Glenn at [email protected] or (574) 265-1308.

Please note that items from the 1987 wing’s west and north classrooms and the west student hall lockers will be sold in this auction, but will not be removed and available for pick-up until Monday, October 2.

Students at Akron Elementary had a successful campaign for two weeks in March to raise money for the Riley Children’s Foundation.

“Our goal was to collect $2,000, which we exceeded by $589.55,” said Ryan Adams, Akron Elementary student council advisor.

Beginning March 13 through March 24, students took part in several activities to raise money. The school held special days in which staff and students could donate money to wear hats or sunglasses, or use electronic devices for a certain amount of time in class.

A large portion of the fundraising total came from a penny drive. Students brought in money to vote on the teacher they wanted to see get hit in the face with a pie at the end of the campaign. Pennies were counted as one vote, but other coins and bills took votes away to make it more competitive.

Students threw pies in the faces of teachers and the principal during a convocation on March 29. The whole school also got to celebrate with a pajama day and a movie for meeting the fundraising goal.

Picture: Akron Elementary kindergartner Derek Craft shoves a pie into the face of Principal Chrissy Mills

Elementary school students throughout the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation are gearing up for their annual spring music programs.

Akron Elementary’s spring program is planned for Monday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m. in the school gymnasium. Doors will open at 6:30.

The Akron program will feature first, third and fifth grade students singing songs, dancing and playing instruments. The theme this year is “Here We Grow,” which relates to spring growth, the new school construction and students’ personal growth in school.

Limited parking is available because of the new school construction. Shuttle service will be provided for people willing to park at the Akron Community Center. This will be the last program held in the current Akron Elementary gym, as it will be demolished this summer.

Students in preschool, kindergarten and second and fourth grades at Mentone Elementary are also 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.

Both music programs are open to the public. There is no charge to attend.

Students from Akron and Mentone elementary schools placed high in a recent statewide math competition held February 23 at the Honeywell Center in Wabash.

The competition was broken down into five divisions; blue, green, orange, red and yellow.  Each division was based on grade level and school enrollment.

Mentone Elementary took two teams to the competition, one in the yellow division made up of fourth grade students and the other in the red division comprised of fifth grade students. Akron Elementary took one team in the red division made up of both fourth and fifth grade students.

Akron Elementary took first place in the red division with a score of 21 out of a possible 32. The Mentone Elementary yellow division team took third place in the competition, while the red division team took second place behind Akron.

In overall standings, Akron placed 11th and Mentone placed 17th out of 126 schools statewide.

The teams began practicing in January for two to three evenings a week. An invitational was held in early February to help students prepare for the main competition.

Picture back row left to right: Gabe Ruiz, Dewey Gillman, Anahi Ramirez Brito,  Porter Rich, Landon Durkes, Eli Love, Gio Arriaga, Levi Sampsel, Kaylynn Miller and Erika Henderson.Front row left to right: Austin Hann, Elise Smith, Marcus Smith and Genevieve Heller. Not pictured: Avery Wagoner

The Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation has been awarded two grants to help with Project Lead The Way (PLTW) activities and robotics teams throughout its two elementary schools.

PLTW is a nonprofit organization that provides a transformative learning experience for K-12 students and teachers across the country. Specialized curriculum lets students resolve real-world challenges in computer science, engineering, and biomedical science fields.

“It changes their entire way of thinking. It’s all hands-on critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration from kindergarten all the way through fifth grade,” said instructor Mirannda Figert, who splits her time between Akron and Mentone elementary schools teaching PLTW curriculum.

The district has been awarded $1,095 from the Kosciusko REMC Operation RoundUp Fund to purchase three additional VEX Robotic kits. The kits are made up of modular robotic parts that allow students to design and create several different types of robots.

The additional kits will allow for a smaller kit-per-student ratio. Students have had to double up in their groups because there were only 11 kits for third through fifth grades. PLTW recommends a one-to-four ratio.

Every student at Akron and Mentone elementary schools will experience PLTW. Different grade levels learn and experience different things such as app coding, engineering and computer science modules, to simple and compound machines.

The district also received $250 from Zimmer-Biomet for the robotics team at Akron Elementary. The money will go towards any registration expenses for the team and to purchase a game field students can practice with before they go to tournaments.

The Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation was previously awarded grant money to fund PLTW curriculum across its two elementary schools for one year.