BOURBON – Triton School Board heard Monday about the high school diploma requirements.
Triton Junior-Senior High School counselor Sarrah Arvesen said the state has not finalized all the diploma requirements that go into effect next year for the class of 2029. The school corporation may have to pivot some things, but she said she’s confident in what they have set in place.
There’s going to be three different types of diplomas: the base, honors seal and honors plus diplomas. The base diploma is a mix of the general studies and Core 40 diploma Triton currently has. The honors seal diploma is more like the honors path Triton has. The state then added the honors plus diploma, which Arvesen said is very rigorous.
“One of the nice things about the new diploma is that it fits students better in what they want to do in the future,” Arvesen said.
The honors seal and honors plus diplomas are split up into enrollment, employment and enlistment seals. Arvesen said just because a student gets an employment honors seal doesn’t mean that student can’t go to college. Students can also graduate with multiple seals. However, there is a requirement a student does need at least an honors seal diploma in order to graduate early.
Starting next year, the requirements for a base diploma is to have 42 credits.
The requirements for the enrollment honors seal includes completing all courses with a C- or higher and have a GPA of at least a 3.0. Students also have to have six dual credit classes and a score of 1250 on the SAT or 26 on the ACT.
For the employment honors seal diploma, students have to complete 150 hours of work-based learning and have no more than three unexcused absences in a school year.
For the enlistment honors seal diploma, requirements include achieving a score of 31 on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and complete three components of the Career Exploration Program or a career exploration tool approved by the Indiana Department of Education. Students also can have no more than three unexcused absences in a school year.
For the honors plus enrollment diploma, students need 100 hours of work-based learning. Students who have the honors plus employment diploma need 650 hours of work-based learning, and students who have the honors plus enlistment diploma need 100 hours of public service, a leadership role in extracurriculars and completion of two seasons of a team-based sport or activity.
With the new diploma changes, Arvesen said Triton School Corporation isn’t going to change a lot of the classes it currently requires for students in order to graduate.
“But what we are going to do to is really try to set them up for that junior and senior year to really hit those personalized elective credits to really to start to get them to think about their future, maybe try new things. If they figure out what they don’t want to do, that’s just as important as figuring out what they might like to do,” she said.
In other business, the board:
• Approved the junior-senior high school student handbook and the athletic handbook.
• Approved the appointment of Jordan Fuller to the Bourbon Library Board.
• Approved the resignations of Kerry Kennedy as the junior-senior high school business teacher and Gwenda Guard Elementary as a fourth-grade elementary school teacher.
• High school graduation is 2 p.m. June 1.