SYRACUSE - During the Wawasee School Board meeting Tuesday, Jon Everingham went before the board to present Polywood Academy.
Earlier this year, Everingham attended a presentation by OrthoWorx and Purdue University’s IN-MaC.
The presentation brought forth the idea of linking businesses and school corporations together to develop and create hands-on learning opportunities for students. Everingham and Ryan Zimmerman, from Polywood, collaborated on the new Pathway CTE Program.
“When I arrived here and got involved with CTE, I think we had around 120 students throughout the co-op, participating in half-day programming, and this year we have 343 students participating,” Everingham said. “Truly exciting stuff. We have 14 programs across three school districts. Eight of the programs are housed here at Wawasee.”
Everingham became CTE director last year. Vince Beasley introduced Everingham to OrthoWorx and their initiatives. Polywood Academy- Powered by Pathways CTE Cooperative is the 15th program to be offered through CTE. The program was designed to “fill the gaps” between the other available programs.
“It’s a school-business partnership,” Everingham said, “where we feel like there was a gap in our programming. We are constantly examining what opportunities there are for students and making sure we are covering all of our bases.”
The program will teach advanced manufacturing, a career that leads to endless opportunities after high school. Polywood is housing the program in their building. The program will only accept six to eight students during the first year but as the program grows, so will the class size. There is an application process for the program. The program is slated to be available for the 2024-25 school year.
“In year two, the students do an internship. Their capstone experience is a paid internship at Polywood,” Everingham said. “They’re in line to do a paid summer internship. Students are going to love this.”
The teacher of the program will be a Wawasee employee due to licensing and CTE funding. Polywood is donating money to cover that cost.
During the learning report, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Shelly Wilfong updated the board about the Indiana Learns Tutoring Grant. In this current semester, teachers have been able to provide 624 hours of tutoring for students who fell below proficient for math and ELA. Wilfong is working with principals and teachers to expand the program even further.
Superintendent Dr. Steve Troyer alerted the board to some good news: multiple Wawasee School Corporation employees received KEYS grants and multiple donations were made to school clubs and programs.
Autumn Griepentrog, reading interventionist, was granted $500 for take home phonic books. Cheryl Pearson, media center paraprofessional, was granted $500 for seating for a book nook. Cindy Brady, student services coordinator, was granted $672 for Minds in Motion. Kristin Bonner was granted $200 for a new sewing machine. Lou Lefevre was granted $300 for a set of classroom books.
The WHS Super Mileage club received a $250 donation from Ritter Electric; $250 from The Papers, Inc.; $100 from Steffen Realty; $100 from New Market; $250 from Loose Moose Motorsports; $100 from Sands Accounting; $250 from Syracuse Bud’s Body Shop; $1,000 from Milestone Construction; $500 from Mr. Rooter of North Central Indiana; $100 from Ace Hardware of North Webster; $100 from Teghtmeyer Ace Hardware of Syracuse; $100 from Link Accounting; $250 from Wawasee Boat Company; $7,000 from Doug and Jeannine Schrock; $500 from Ousley Seawall Construction; $250 from ERA Crossroads; $250 from Phend & Brown; $100 from Schroeder Insurance Agency and $100 from Sudlow’s Pier Shop. WHS Robotics received a $100 from Alison Cole at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and $500 from KCCF Anonymous. North Webster Elementary School received a $500 donation for student clothing needs from Builders Association of North Central Indiana and the North Webster Lions Club donated $100 per teacher for classroom supplies. WHS Welding received material donations for students to use for welding practice from SEI Corporation and an anonymous donor.
The board recognized two staff member retirements. Deb Bird served Milford Elementary School as a cafeteria staff member for 23 years. James O’Dell served Wawasee High School as a teacher for 30 years. Neither teacher was in attendance, but the board expressed gratitude for their dedication and hard work.
The next regular school board meeting will be 5:30 p.m. Jan. 9 in the Wawasee High School Warrior Room, 1 Warrior Path Building 1, Syracuse.