Board of School Trustees honors 20 at Nov. 28 meeting
HCCSC has a set of core values that represents the beliefs of the corporation as a whole. Previously, those who have exhibited behavior that follows these values have been verbally recognized during Board of School Trustees meetings, but Superintendent John Trout thought that this was not enough to recognize such achievements.
Trout decided to put forth a process in which administrators from each school may nominate students or staff to be recognized by the school board for demonstrating core values. After their nomination, they may be recognized more officially by being present at a school board meeting.
During the most recent school board meeting on Nov. 28, many were invited to be recognized for their accomplishments. The students and staff that were receiving the recognition were grouped and called forward by Executive Secretary Cindy Gray and thanked and congratulated by Superintendent John Trout. Director of Secondary Education Chuck Brimbury then gave a brief summary of their achievement.
After being verbally recognized, different members of the Board of School Trustees gave the individuals an official certificate in honor of their core value and Director of Elementary Education Jay Peters took a picture with the individuals to remember the moment.
Four groups and one individual were recognized at this school board meeting: Five Crestview and Riverview middle school band students, Huntington North High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), HNHS Future Farmers of America livestock judging team, John Humphrey and five HNHS girls volleyball seniors.
There are six middle school band students who were selected to participate in the Indiana Bandmasters Association (IBA) All-Region Honor Band. The IBA is an organization created in 1955 with goals to better Indiana bands. They hold honor bands where they select exceptional middle school and high school students through an application process.
The six students who were selected participated in a two-day festival on Nov. 11-12 at Marion High School. The students played with other exceptional players and were also directed by conductors and teachers with great expertise.
The six students consisted of five eighth grade Crestview Middle School students: tenor saxophonist Collin Eidson, clarinetist Kairi Daniels, trumpeter Cecilia Mullins, alto saxophonist Hannah Skiles and flutist Serayna Whitney. The lone seventh grade Riverview Middle School student was saxophonist Gennavieve Blocker. Unfortunately, Eidson was unable to receive his recognition in person but was sent a certificate and congratulatory letter home.
HNHS JROTC students Kaleb Dollarhite, Landen Lescoe, Trevor Walker and teacher Bobby Blair received a proclamation to declare Nov. 1, 2022, as “Extra Mile Day” from Huntington Mayor Richard Strick. They were recognized with the core value of Shared Leadership.
Declaring Nov. 1 as Extra Mile Day in Huntington means that the day was to push citizens of Huntington to go “the extra mile” in their service, volunteerism and everyday life. While encouraging its citizens to go the extra mile, the proclamation also celebrates citizens who go “the extra mile” every day.
“NOW, THEREFORE, I, Richard Strick, Mayor of the City of Huntington, do hereby proclaim November 1, 2022, to be Extra Mile Day in Huntington, Indiana,” the proclamation wrote. “I urge each individual in the community to take time on this day to not only ‘go the extra mile’ in his or her own life, but to also acknowledge all those who are inspirational in their efforts and commitment to make their organizations, families, community, country and world a better place.”
The HNHS FFA livestock judging team was recognized for finding success in the 2022 season. FFA is a youth group that focuses on leadership, career success and personal growth within the field of agriculture. As a group, they have a multitude of competition teams to represent examples of agricultural futures, including the livestock judging team.
In the livestock judging competitions, there are two teams in each group called reasons and questions. These groups will judge livestock in different ways. Reasons teams will give their reasons as to why they placed the animals where they did and the questions team will be asked questions about the animals they judged. Some examples are what color the animals were, special markings they may have had and how balanced they were.
The top livestock judging reasons team placed third in their state competition, with Aaron Amick placing first individually. At their national contest in Kansas City, Missouri, the team placed third overall and Aaron Amick placed third individually. The questions team placed fourth at their state competition, with Caden Moore placing seventh individually.
The HNHS FFA livestock judging team consisted of Amick, Brite, Buckland, Austin Amick, Phoebe Landrum and Allie Raab. Brite and Raab attended the recent school board meeting to receive their recognition, while Buckland and Landrum accepted their recognition at the Nov. 14 meeting. The Amick brothers were unable to receive their recognition in person at either meeting, but were sent a congratulatory letter and certificate for their efforts.
HCCSC Apple Engineer John Humphrey was awarded the Hoosier Education Computer Coordinators (HECC) KerriOn Award at the HECC Indianapolis Conference on Nov. 11, 2022. The award recognizes those who have provided excellent service, support and selfless contribution to their peers. The award is named after Kerri Rombach, who was a long-time member of the HECC community.
It is clear to the school board and to HCCSC as a whole that Humphrey exhibits these behaviors daily. He goes above and beyond to help not only HCCSC’s students and staff but other technology departments as well via his contributions on the HECC ListServ. Humphrey is passionate about technology and has not only served on the HECC Board for several years but has awarded this same award to others in the past.
Recently finishing their final season as HNHS volleyball seniors, Avery Bonewitz, Audrie Bowman, Emma Holzinger, Ainsley Kiefer and Madi Ptak received Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association Academic All-State recognition.
This honor is conducted to recognize high school volleyball players who excel in their academic careers as well as continuing their career in volleyball.
Students who received a weighted grade point average (WGPA) of 3.5-3.74 received a silver award and students who earned a WGPA of 3.75 and higher received a gold award. Bonewitz, Bowman, Holzinger and Ptak earned gold awards recognizing their achievements and Keifer recognized with silver. There were over 900 honorees in the state and on average they held an impressive 3.96 GPA on a 4-point scale.