SYRACUSE – The Wawasee Community School Corp. board hired former student Susan Mishler to be principal at Wawasee Middle School Tuesday. Mishler will return to the corporation after teaching and directing athletics at Whitko High School, Warsaw Community High School and NorthWood High. She received her Indiana’s principal’s license in 2004. Board members also heard that students in the district area have some opportunities for learning and fun this summer. Members heard information about robotics classes and an Early Career Opportunities summer camp that will not only entertain vacationing students, but also keep their minds and bodies active. Ryan Edgar, middle school math teacher, will conduct robotics camps for the third straight year. He explained this activity came about with his own son wanting something other than sports camps during the summer, so a few years ago he spread the word and taught around 10 kids over a one-week period. That grew to include around 15-20 kindergartners to third graders as well as some older students. This year he expects students from kindergarten through high school age during the five weeks of weeklong camps. Edgar demonstrated how the Lego-constructed robots work. Last year his team competed in a challenge course at Grace College and placed third in the competition segment. Other areas, such as research and presentation, will be targeted this year. So far most of the campers have been boys, but because he is seeing interest rise among girls he is considering an all-girls week. His participants come mostly from the Wawasee schools, but there are children from out of the area, even out of state, who are at the lakes during summer months and want to participate, as well as a few who are home schooled. Students should be getting flyers with sign-up information. Edgar thanked the board for money he’s received through the Wawasee Education Fund that has allowed his program to grow. His goal, besides teaching and entertaining students, is to lay the groundwork for robotics classes in the school system. The ECO summer camp will address more physical needs of students while also getting in some teaching. WHS student services coordinator Kim Nguyen explained the basics of the program. First, he said, the objective is to reach at-risk students, mostly middle school age but also early high school, and expose them to activities that might catch their interest. The program will run from June 7 to July 22 and offers one career tech and one physical education credit. It will be modeled after the television show “Survivor,” and focus on physical challenges, team building and life skills. Teams will wear color-coded shirts and participate in adventure PE activities like kayaking and wakeboarding, but additionally they will be exposed to such courses as building trades, auto mechanics and culinary arts. There will be no books and no homework, he added, “just fun.” High school students Randy Ricci, Austin DeValk and Ryan Schlipf told the board about their recent competition of high mileage vehicles in Houston, Texas. The team explained how their cars are built, how they are driven and how they can run 900 miles on a gallon of gas. Board member Mary Lou Dixon asked why couldn’t we have cars like that. The team went as previous winners of the competition but “once we got to Houston we had nothing but troubles,” stated Schlipf. Although the students had a lot of problems with this year’s car, they came in third. Cosmetology state winners Taylor Brooks and Brook Truman were also on hand to describe their program and what lies ahead. Coach Angie Higginbotham said the girls will head off next to national competition in Kansas City. In other business the board adopted a change in its fraternization policy that will allow the superintendent to take action if deemed necessary in cases of personnel dating or other relationships with other employees. The policy was adopted in a 4 to 1 vote with Dixon voting nay.
