The Burket Educational Center, an alternative school in the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation, honored 17 students in its graduating class for the 2016-2017 school year.

A ceremony was held May 18 in the gymnasium to honor each graduating student for their hard work and the dedication it took to earn their diploma.

The alternative school was created in the fall of 2003 to meet the needs of Tippecanoe Valley High School students that were not successful in a traditional classroom setting. Average class sizes at Burket range from 22 to 28 students and graduating classes usually have 16 to 24 students.

“One of the goals at Burket is to help students find their path to graduation and beyond to the next part of their life,” said Jon Hutton, assistant principal at Tippecanoe Valley High School.

Burket Educational Center students are there for a variety of reasons that kept them from attending high school on a regular basis. Some of those reasons may include being behind in credits, having difficulty learning in a traditional classroom setting, needing specific tutoring in a difficult subject, disciplinary problems, pregnancy and health issues.

“Because of these issues, many of our students struggle to succeed at the high school, or have issues that prevented them from continuing to go to school there,” said Micah Lukens, an instructor who has been at Burket since its inception.

The graduation ceremony was also a time to recognize a milestone in the school’s history – surpassing 300 graduates. Additional programs were added to the Burket Educational Center this year including small-instruction mathematics classes and a new series featuring guest speakers that would come in and talk to students about post-graduation topics such as renting an apartment or buying a car.

14 students held jobs while attending school at Burket and 13 of the 17 graduates plan on attending college or furthering their education in some way. 14 of them also earned Core 40 diplomas and one earned a technical honors diploma.

“This is a group that I would say definitely holds a lot of promise for the future,” said Lukens.

The entire staff at Burket was also recognized at the ceremony. Lukens, who just earned a master’s degree, was presented with an outstanding teacher award.

“We’re very proud of him. He’s still striving to be better and to grow. He is one of the reasons we have a lot of success here,” said Hutton.

Click here to watch the full ceremony courtesy of RTCtv4.

Pictured front row left to right: Devin Robinson, Angie Denton, Brent Hyde, Timothy Mollette, Jenny Wadkins, Josie Forney, Patricia Rudolph, Dale Wallace. Back row left to right: Braxton Mollett, Abby Poe, Dewey Gayheart, Katherine Heckman, Staff Member Angela Woodward, Instructor Micah Lukens, TVHS Assistant Principal Jon Hutton. Not pictured: Angel Howe, Riley Reichard, Christian Nine, Alexis Shelpman, Amanda Shepherd

Written by Kristen Ekhoff, mathematics teacher, Tippecanoe Valley High School

Tippecanoe Valley High School has implemented several new programs within the past two years, which serve students in a wide variety of abilities and interests. This article will highlight High Ability Programming, Student Resource Time, Viking Success, the Basic Skills class, and the Graduation Coach program.

Within the past five years, Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation began analysis of student identification for high ability program options. Through this rigorous revamping process, students in Kindergarten through 12^th grade are now more accurately identified as high ability in areas of Language Arts and Mathematics. As a result, programming options and opportunities have been expanding and changing at all levels.  At the high school, we have been continually modifying and fine-tuning the courses offered to students. In an effort to provide students with a variety of course options in their areas of interest and talent, we offer several classes that are taught at a collegiate-level of learning while still attending high school, which students may choose to take for credit through a local college or university. In most cases, the teacher of these courses is required to be specially trained by the university through which the credit is offered. This year, we added another semester of Advanced College Placement English; students can now earn six Indiana University credits (two specific courses) in one year at Tippecanoe Valley High School. Next year, Political Science will be available for dual credit.  A thorough list of these courses is available on the high school webpage in the guidance department’s provided document: “Course Description Guide”.

In the past two years, we have adjusted the daily schedule to include a period for most students called “Viking Success.” Viking Success is a daily period of time built into the middle of each day, which we added two years ago, that gives students and teachers more time to meet, build relationships, and discuss academics. During this time, students are grouped by grade level, or other commonality, such as high ability identification. Viking Success time has provided multiple opportunities to have conversations with students about how their classes are going, dealing with struggles, and celebrating successes. During scheduling, important conversations have been able to take place with students about being purposeful in what course selections they make and what career path they might choose. Teachers of each grade level also formed Professional Learning Communities.  Teachers meet at least once a week to discuss specific students, how we can better meet specific student needs, and how to help them grow and develop both academically and as individuals.

We also recently developed and implemented a program called Student Resource Time. This allowed students one period of time per week to meet with teachers, review grades, and receive assistance. With the creation of Viking Success, SRT has been able to now become a time when students who are behind in their work or need assistance can be assigned to an accountability classroom, for which we have one per grade-level.  For students who do not fall into this category, we offer several enrichment options that run for at least 6 weeks. Fashion, cosmetology, woodworking, gaming, exercise, art, media, and sports are just some of the fields that have been explored during this time. This gives many students the opportunity to pursue learning and expand interests in a field that they may not have room for in their traditional schedule. It also provides students the chance to try something new in an area of potential interest.

Two other programs recently created to assist students as they grow and develop are the Basic Skills class and the Graduation Coach program. Basic Skills is a class that can be incorporated into a student’s schedule for one period.  In this class, students are taught organizational skills and responsibility. Teachers also work with students on test taking strategies during this time to prepare for standardized tests, like the ISTEP+.

For students struggling academically, Tippecanoe Valley has joined with other area schools to offer a Graduation Coach program. Tippecanoe Valley High School has two teachers designated as graduation coaches. These teachers have specific students assigned to them during Viking Success, with a main goal of achieving high school graduation. Responsibility is a main learning goal in the Graduation Coach program. Students regularly and frequently meet with their graduation coach to analyze their transcript and focus on specific courses still needed to achieve a diploma.

We recognize that students come to the high school from various backgrounds. Everyone at TVHS desires to help all students develop their individual talents and interests during their high school career. We share a common goal to meet students where they are, and ultimately help them grow into successful young men and women.

Pictured: Kristen Ekhoff

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.

Three Tippecanoe Valley High School (TVHS) seniors were awarded scholarships at the TVHS Work Based Learning program banquet held on May 11 at the Akron Community Center.

Recipients of the scholarships are Laira Myers, Keegan Larimer and Noah Prater. Work Based Learning Coordinator and Classroom Instructor Aaron Engbrecht, along with Work Based Learning Coordinator Darren Parker, determine scholarship recipients based on a variety of factors such as grade point average, class rank and financial need, but they focus more closely on the number of business classes taken during high school and a student’s intent to pursue a business-related major in college.

A total of 24 students were honored for their participation in this year’s Work Based Learning Program. There were 23 community organizations that hosted a student during the 2016-2017 school year. Students enrolled in this program must meet a variety of requirements:

• The job placement must be career driven.
• The student must have completed (4) course credits within the job’s career pathway.
• The career field must require some sort of additional training or education following high school.
• The student must be in good academic standing.

Tippecanoe Valley’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses fall under the umbrella of the Warsaw Area Career Center (WACC).  Tippecanoe Valley provides the WACC with completion data and other information, while the WACC provides supervision and funding for various types of equipment in return.

CTE students were significantly more likely than their non-CTE counterparts to report developing problem-solving, project completion, research, math, college application, work-related, communication, time management and critical-thinking skills during high school, according to the National Research Center for CTE. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has identified employer demand for many of these skills.

Prater plans to attend Ivy Tech and then either IU-Kokomo or Purdue to study Information Technology. Larimer plans to attend Indiana University and study Finance. Myers plans to attend Purdue this fall and study Ag Economics.

Pictured left to right are Aaron Engbrecht, Laira Myers, Keegan Larimer, Noah Prater and Darren Parker. 

The Tippecanoe Valley High School (TVHS) Building Trades program will hold an open house on Sunday, May 21, at a home in Mentone that students have been working to remodel throughout the school year.

The community is invited to attend the open house from 1 to 4 p.m. The home, owned by Chris and Travena Pettit, is located on Jefferson Street at the east end of the Mentone Youth League complex.

With help from JH Construction, students transformed the Pettit’s single-story home into a two-story home featuring three bedrooms and four bathrooms. They first had to remove and rebuild the existing portion of the home from the outside, which meant removing old metal and wood siding that exposed rotten and termite-damaged wood.

“We started off rebuilding the outside walls from the foundation up to not only replace damaged lumber, but to also try and re-plumb the walls,” said instructor Wes Backus.

Students added 708 square feet to the existing 1,172 square feet of living space on the first floor. They also added a 659-square-foot garage. The second story is 2,636 square feet, bringing the total living space to 4,516 square feet. The total square footage of the house, including the garage, is 5,175 square feet.

“The students have done such a great job this year and should be more than proud for what they have accomplished. They have had the opportunity of seeing both the remodel aspects and new construction side of working on and building the home,” said Backus.

Students involved in the TVHS Building Trades program can earn up to 18 college credits by participating in Building Trades during their junior and senior years. College credits are offered at no cost through Ivy Tech in Fort Wayne. Students must maintain a C or better grade in the class to earn college credits.

The Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy’s Class of 2016-2017 was honored on May 3.

A graduation ceremony was held at Vitale Events in Warsaw. 32 students from the high schools that serve Kosciusko County – Lakeland Christian, Tippecanoe Valley, Triton, Warsaw, Wawasee, and Whitko – were members of this year’s class.

Two Project Proud presentations were made, one featuring Tippecanoe Valley High School’s McKenzie Murphy, Susan Nickerson, and Olivia Trippiedi and their project, “Covered with Love”.

Photo from left to right: Tippecanoe Valley High School juniors Susan Nickerson, Madison O’Connell, Olivia Trippiedi, McKenzie Murphy, Jacob McDonald, and Camden Tucker.