Besides lessons on math and science, Edgewood Middle School is teaching its students how to pursue their dreams. The school spotlight at the Warsaw School Board meeting Monday night was on Edgewood. Principal JoElla Smyth brought teachers and students with her to the meeting to share how the school was moving Warsaw Community Schools’ mission forward of “inspiring and equipping all students to continuously acquire and apply knowledge and skills while pursuing their dreams and enriching the lives of others.” Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Tracy Horrell said 150 to 160 Edgewood students participate in sports and clubs. That’s about 30 to 35 percent of the student body. Sherri Johnson talked a little about the school’s art club as an example of the many clubs the school has. She told the board about the many activities and events the club participates in, and that it’s always looking for community events to showcase students’ abilities. Teacher Veronica Helser said the school has a Dream Council and she is a dream coach at the school. From the Dream Council the school’s first humanitarian club, Edgewood Cares, was created. It does service projects, such as putting together care packages for Haiti. Bullying is a concern at schools all across America, and teacher Whitney Beer spoke about the anti-bullying week Edgewood implemented last year. It recently held the anti-bullying week again. Eighth-grader Hannah Price gave her own personal story about being bullied and how it affected her. She told the board the bullying sent her over the edge and put her in a dark place. She also related a story about how two girls this past summer had hate pages made about them online and it affected their lives. Price said Edgewood is trying to deal with bullying. During anti-bullying week, Beer said, the school had an inspirational quotes day, awarded students for good behavior and had a door decorating contest for students to focus on being good to their peers. Each day of the week, students also had different dress days to show their support for anti-bullying. Students told the board that on Mondays, students wore blue if they were ever bullied. They wore glasses on Tuesday to open their eyes up to bullying. Wednesday was different-colored socks day to show that each student is different. Thursday was red day to show support for anti-bullying. On Friday, students wore band aids for “healing” from bullying. Smyth then talked about the Edgewood Christmas Baskets. Each year her school does a food drive to support Combined Community Services. One year, a student looked at all the food collected and said he wished his family had that in his family’s pantry. That made Smyth realize that hunger was right there among them. So the school came up with the Christmas Baskets to provide food for students and their families who may otherwise go hungry over the Christmas break. The Dream Council began with Edgewood and Lakeview Middle School students meeting to come up with ideas to pursue students’ dreams, teacher Tim Devlin told the board. This year, with some members moving on to the high school, Devlin said the Council is choosing new members from different demographics. It’s gathering data to meet the needs of the student body, and decided to bring in guest speakers to see what jobs and careers are out there. He also indicated they want to bring in more focused clubs and courses for students to get ready for high school. “What’s inspiring to us is everything we’ve done has been student led,” Helser commented. She then told the students present, “We are so proud of you.” Smyth said her school took the mission statement and is living it. It’s changing students, the school and the community. Board member Dan Metzger praised Edgewood for embracing core values. He told Price it took a strong person to share their story like she did to the board.
