Written by Chad Cripe, principal at Tippecanoe Valley High School

As one of the newest members of the Tippecanoe Valley School Community, it is my pleasure and honor to write this article.  It has been a terrific start to the school year, and I am looking forward to ending the first semester strong.  At Tippecanoe Valley our mission is a commitment to student success through character, leadership and literacy.

I have been blessed with many outstanding mentors in my life, and as a former basketball coach, I turn to UCLA’s legendary Coach John Wooden and his teachings whenever I can.  Coach Wooden said, “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, as your character is who you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”  At Tippecanoe Valley High School, I have witnessed numerous examples of leadership from our staff and students.  While there have been too many examples of character and leadership to list, I thought I would share the amazing things that are being done in our Peers class led by Mr. Kris Walker.  These students are mentors for elementary and middle school students, conduct community service projects, and recently attended a training for Youth Mental Health First Aid in which they received recognition for their outstanding character and leadership.

At Tippecanoe Valley High School, we are also committed to student success through literacy.  This year we have developed and implemented a new Return to Instruction (RTI) program for any student that is lacking the skills necessary to be successful in the classroom and on the ISTEP+ exam.  We have built into the class schedule three days for extra Math support and three days of extra English support.  This has been a collaborative effort by all the teachers to help out and give our students the extra support they need.  I am extremely proud of all the teachers, especially the non-content area teachers that have taken a risk and stepped outside their normal areas to help ALL students learn.  I am very excited to see our scores come back this summer so that we can celebrate the success of everyone’s hard work.

Finally, in addition to further support our mission to promote student success, I am excited to announce that we are working hard to bring new dual credit and Advanced Placement courses to TVHS.  Our students will have more opportunities than they have ever had before, and our goal is to create a pathway in which a student can graduate from TVHS with enough college credits to begin their academics at any Indiana university as a sophomore.  Also, we will continue to work with the Warsaw Area Career Center to provide certifications in trades and other dual credit opportunities.  We will continue to focus on ensuring that every student has the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century.  I am extremely proud to be a Viking and even prouder of our staff and students!  Go Vikings!!

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.