Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Graduation came a few years early for approximately 19 area middle school students Wednesday.
The students were participants in R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co.'s first middle school project.
The six-week program was from April 9 to May 17, concluding with the awards program Wednesday. All students participating are eighth-graders at Whitko, Lakeview, Milford, Edgewood or Wawasee middle schools.
As part of the program, Donelley partnered with the middle schools to expose the students to real world skills that can transfer to a high school extracurricular activity, a community endeavor and/or an awareness of employment opportunities with Donnelley.
The students were initially selected by art, computer literacy and industrial arts teachers at the middle schools. Counselors and principals then made the final referrals. During the six-week program, students spent one night per week for two hours at R.R. Donnelley.
Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins was the guest speaker at the "graduation" ceremonies and was introduced by Warsaw-Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce President Joy McCarthy-Sessing.
Wiggins told the participating students, their parents and the Donnelley volunteers that the reason he was at the ceremony was to see what they had been up to during the past six weeks and to congratulate them.
"We're thrilled to death Donnelley took this initiative," said Wiggins, "... and made Warsaw a better place to live."
Several other people also spoke at the ceremony.
One of the middle school project coordinators for Donnelley, J.R. Brito, said part of the purpose of the program was to instill in the students the "effectiveness of teams." He said it was enjoyable for him to see the students from different school corporations come together and succeed. He thanked the students for their encouragement and enthusiasm in the program.
As part of the ceremony, the projects the students worked on were presented and the participating students were given certificates and plaques.
The catalog page design groups were introduced to desktop publishing software during their six weeks and created their own catalog pages. Members of the two catalog page design groups included Kyle Jackson, Shane Kierstead, Christopher Mahnken, Daniel Wilson, Ling Zhou, Maddy Heine, Heather Vance, Mandie McDonald and Nathan Werstler.
There were also two Web page design groups. The Web groups learned about the history of the World Wide Web, how the Web works and how to get their own Web sites started. Participants in the Web groups included Dustin Baker, J.R. Cates, Ali Krauter, Matt Zorn, Ethan Drent, Stephanie Rhoades, Steve Rivera and Dayn Savant.
Ginni Gibbs and Keegan McHose were the industrial technology students involved in the Hands On Training Lab group. They were taken through the bindery classes Donnelley apprentices take. They learned about hand tools, measuring instruments, chains and sprockets, gears and cams and timing.
For allowing the students in the various schools to participate, school principals at the ceremony were presented with plaques, too.
The program would not have been possible, however, without the Donnelley employees who volunteered their time.
Human resources manager Ann Lash Branson recognized them for their time and efforts, after she herself was recognized for her work in the program.
"This has been a real fun program to watch," Branson said. She said it was great to have employees who give time and give of themselves for such a program.
She said, "It says a lot about our employees who say they want to give back to our community and the future of our community."
Donnelley employees recognized for their volunteerism included J.R. Brito, Joyce Gross, Hal Harting, Trina Hoy, Doug Cripe, Mike Harrell, David Hite, Darvin Lafferty, Val McCleary, Mark Swinger, Michael Wall, Judy Walters, Douglas Heine and Pat Outlaw.
