WCS Announces First Recipients Of Staff Scholarships
November 20, 2018 at 6:23 p.m.
WCS Announces First Recipients Of Staff Scholarships
By David [email protected]
Four WCS staffers were announced as the first recipients of the WCS School Board Scholarship at the school board meeting Monday night. These are awarded as part of the WCS Leadership Academy that was established to develop future leaders at the school corporation.
Human Resource Director Sheila Howe introduced the 2018 scholarship recipients as David Burden, Joshua Wall, April Fitterling and Bradley Gutwein.
The scholarships were offered to WCS employees for them to pursue their own education further, according to Howe after the board meeting. Each recipient will receive $4,000.
“We had a committee that formed. It was a community committee, so it wasn’t just employees,” she said. The committee that decided who to award the scholarships to included Kosciusko County Community Foundation Executive Director Suzie Light, as well as representatives from the YMCA, Kosciusko Community Hospital and WCS. “So we had five on the committee, we had a rubrics and we had a scoring.”
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She said this group was the 2018 recipients, with another round opening up in the spring for the 2019 scholarships.
Burden, who has taught at WCS for six years, currently as the STEM instructional coach at Madison and Washington elementaries, said he plans to use the scholarship monies to pursue a master’s degree in leadership. He wants to move toward an administration position.
“I’m just very blessed and very honored to be able to receive this,” Burden said. “I just wanted to make sure you all knew what an incredible opportunity it is for me. This is game changer in many ways for my family and for me, to be able to have the opportunity to be able to continue my education.”
He said he has three little children at home so finances are often tight and opportunities like the scholarship don’t come by very often. “So I’m very honored that you see the quality and the opportunity in me to be able to pursue this,” Burden said.
Wall said he’s attending the online Indiana University School for Educational Leadership. “I have dreams in the future to be able to move into some role like that,” he said.
He currently teaches second grade and said he enjoys it very much. “But I, like David, I feel so blessed by this opportunity and I’m so thankful to the board to be able to do this opportunity and continue my education, so thank you so much,” Wall said.
In her fifth year with WCS, Fitterling is the financial operations manager and treasurer.
“Thank you very much for this opportunity,” she said.
Gutwein, technology manager who has been with WCS for just over 10 years, said the opportunity will let him further his self and his education.
“I’m looking into an MBA with an IT focus, just looking to build on skills I’ve been able to acquire, some of the opportunities I’ve had here to continue on serving the best I can. Like everyone said, thank you very much for the opportunity. It definitely doesn’t come around very often. It’s definitely appreciated, so thank you,” he said.
School Board President Heather Reichenbach told them, “I know with confidence that the committee that chose these recipients chose well and you will represent us well. It’s a win-win because you are gaining skills” and bringing those skills back to WCS. “So thank you for the extra time you will have in your studies and we wish you well and know you’ll do great.”
The board then heard about a trip to Hangzhou, China, that Chief Analytics Officer Shelly Wilfong and teachers Burden, Patrick Hazelton, Brock Rhodes and Kandi Eagan recently made.
Wilfong said they taught a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) unit at Tianchang Primary School while there.
Burden said they had to develop a STEAM unit and condense it into one week as they were only there for that amount of time. The driving question behind the unit was, “What is the best way to get silk and tea from Hangzhou to Beijing?”
Hazelton taught the science component, Burden the technology piece, Rhodes the engineering, Eagan the art and Wilfong taught the math portion.
WCS Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert, Reichenbach and Chief Academics Officer Dr. David Robertson, along with Indiana Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jennifer McCormick and the Indiana Department of Education, went to Hangzhou as the other group left. They were the third WCS group to go to China in 2018. Hoffert said they got to see the work that Wilfong and the other four did during their time there.
“We got to meet with their principal and Dr. Robertson got to actually get a special trip over to the school and talk to some of the kids. And, again, they couldn’t stop talking about the influence and the projects. So you made a huge, huge difference and I’m so thankful for your time and your willingness to go over both as ambassadors of Warsaw Community Schools and just as lifelong learners,” Hoffert told them.
Reichenbach and Hoffert discussed their perspective and take-aways from their trip to China.
Hoffert said about 22 Chinese administrators and educators will be coming to join WCS for a day on Dec. 6.
In other business, Hoffert reminded everyone that WCS will have three days off this year for Thanksgiving. This is the first time WCS has ever taken the Wednesday off for the holiday.
The board’s December public work session and regular monthly meeting will be combined and is scheduled for 4 p.m. Dec. 17.
Four WCS staffers were announced as the first recipients of the WCS School Board Scholarship at the school board meeting Monday night. These are awarded as part of the WCS Leadership Academy that was established to develop future leaders at the school corporation.
Human Resource Director Sheila Howe introduced the 2018 scholarship recipients as David Burden, Joshua Wall, April Fitterling and Bradley Gutwein.
The scholarships were offered to WCS employees for them to pursue their own education further, according to Howe after the board meeting. Each recipient will receive $4,000.
“We had a committee that formed. It was a community committee, so it wasn’t just employees,” she said. The committee that decided who to award the scholarships to included Kosciusko County Community Foundation Executive Director Suzie Light, as well as representatives from the YMCA, Kosciusko Community Hospital and WCS. “So we had five on the committee, we had a rubrics and we had a scoring.”
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She said this group was the 2018 recipients, with another round opening up in the spring for the 2019 scholarships.
Burden, who has taught at WCS for six years, currently as the STEM instructional coach at Madison and Washington elementaries, said he plans to use the scholarship monies to pursue a master’s degree in leadership. He wants to move toward an administration position.
“I’m just very blessed and very honored to be able to receive this,” Burden said. “I just wanted to make sure you all knew what an incredible opportunity it is for me. This is game changer in many ways for my family and for me, to be able to have the opportunity to be able to continue my education.”
He said he has three little children at home so finances are often tight and opportunities like the scholarship don’t come by very often. “So I’m very honored that you see the quality and the opportunity in me to be able to pursue this,” Burden said.
Wall said he’s attending the online Indiana University School for Educational Leadership. “I have dreams in the future to be able to move into some role like that,” he said.
He currently teaches second grade and said he enjoys it very much. “But I, like David, I feel so blessed by this opportunity and I’m so thankful to the board to be able to do this opportunity and continue my education, so thank you so much,” Wall said.
In her fifth year with WCS, Fitterling is the financial operations manager and treasurer.
“Thank you very much for this opportunity,” she said.
Gutwein, technology manager who has been with WCS for just over 10 years, said the opportunity will let him further his self and his education.
“I’m looking into an MBA with an IT focus, just looking to build on skills I’ve been able to acquire, some of the opportunities I’ve had here to continue on serving the best I can. Like everyone said, thank you very much for the opportunity. It definitely doesn’t come around very often. It’s definitely appreciated, so thank you,” he said.
School Board President Heather Reichenbach told them, “I know with confidence that the committee that chose these recipients chose well and you will represent us well. It’s a win-win because you are gaining skills” and bringing those skills back to WCS. “So thank you for the extra time you will have in your studies and we wish you well and know you’ll do great.”
The board then heard about a trip to Hangzhou, China, that Chief Analytics Officer Shelly Wilfong and teachers Burden, Patrick Hazelton, Brock Rhodes and Kandi Eagan recently made.
Wilfong said they taught a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) unit at Tianchang Primary School while there.
Burden said they had to develop a STEAM unit and condense it into one week as they were only there for that amount of time. The driving question behind the unit was, “What is the best way to get silk and tea from Hangzhou to Beijing?”
Hazelton taught the science component, Burden the technology piece, Rhodes the engineering, Eagan the art and Wilfong taught the math portion.
WCS Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert, Reichenbach and Chief Academics Officer Dr. David Robertson, along with Indiana Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jennifer McCormick and the Indiana Department of Education, went to Hangzhou as the other group left. They were the third WCS group to go to China in 2018. Hoffert said they got to see the work that Wilfong and the other four did during their time there.
“We got to meet with their principal and Dr. Robertson got to actually get a special trip over to the school and talk to some of the kids. And, again, they couldn’t stop talking about the influence and the projects. So you made a huge, huge difference and I’m so thankful for your time and your willingness to go over both as ambassadors of Warsaw Community Schools and just as lifelong learners,” Hoffert told them.
Reichenbach and Hoffert discussed their perspective and take-aways from their trip to China.
Hoffert said about 22 Chinese administrators and educators will be coming to join WCS for a day on Dec. 6.
In other business, Hoffert reminded everyone that WCS will have three days off this year for Thanksgiving. This is the first time WCS has ever taken the Wednesday off for the holiday.
The board’s December public work session and regular monthly meeting will be combined and is scheduled for 4 p.m. Dec. 17.
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