Back row, left to right: Abby Bowers, Kennedy Kohler, Mallory Bowers, Emily McGriff, Devan Chandler, Coach Siebrase Front row: Cheney Canada, Thatcher Keesee, Mateo Salazar

A team of eight students at Tippecanoe Valley Middle School recently competed in the Indiana Academic Spell Bowl State Finals at Purdue University on November 12, placing fourth in the class three division of the competition.

The team placed first in their class at the regional qualifications held on November 1. Tippecanoe Valley Middle School and nine other schools throughout Indiana competed in the regional qualification,which was hosted by TVMS.

“We had a score of 45 and we got the top position. We’re all really excited,” said spell coach Susanne Siebrase.

A perfect score is 72 for junior division teams. Students were broken up into classes one, two, three, and four. The class a team falls in is based on last year’s enrollment. TVMS is in class three.

TVMS competed against six other teams in the state competition at Purdue University. The students studied a list of 1,600 words for about 30 minutes a day to prepare.

“We practice really hard. The strategy that I use is that I focus on words that are difficult that they might not have heard before,” said Siebrase.

This was the third trip to the state finals in the last four years for TVMS. The last time the TVMS team went to state was two years ago.

SCHOOL NEWS RELEASE                                                                  June 14, 2016

Tippecanoe Valley Middle School (TVMS) will begin a non-traditional one-to-one technology initiative starting in August of the upcoming 2016-17 school year. Students will be assigned a 2016 Dell Education Series Laptop with Windows 10 operating system. The technology initiative will be non-traditional because the laptops will remain at school. Students will check their device out at the beginning of the day and keep it with them until the end of the day when they will check the device back in to a mobile charging cart. Devices will not go home. This allows the school to keep costs low by not charging an additional fee for insurance. This also allows for better monitoring of use of the devices through the school’s Internet filtering system. The devices are covered by an accidental damage warranty while at school. Students and their parents/guardians are responsible for costs of intentional damage/misuse (as per written contract). All student work will be conducted on a web-based academic management system called Chalkable. Students can access school files at home from any device that connects to the Internet.

The technology fee assessed for use of the devices will be $60 annually billed through textbook rental. Overall textbook rental will see only a $30-$40 increase due to cuts in other areas to keep rental prices reasonable while still providing students with the tools necessary to have access to a 21^st Century education. Overall textbook rental fees will run $150-$170 per student depending on the individual’s class schedule. This fee is comparable to or less than the textbook rental fees charged by area schools with one-to-one programs already in place. Textbook rental fees, one-to-one acceptable use contracts, and registration codes will all be mailed to the parents/guardians of TVMS students in mid-July. TVMS will be using ony two traditional textbooks (math and social studies) during the upcoming school year. Both content areas will have a substantial online component as well.

Questions about the new non-traditional one-to-one technology initiative at TVMS may be directed to Principal Scott Backus at [email protected] or 574-598-2200, ext. 2203.