Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Tippecanoe Valley High School student Megan Workman is proud of her 9.5 grade point average and the fact she's in the top 35 percent of her senior class.
That's not bad for someone whose elementary and middle school report cards were dominated with the letters "D" and "F."
"Mom had a habit of grounding me before she even went to parent-teacher conferences," Workman, 17, said. "At the first parent-teacher conference at Valley, she was sure the teachers were talking about the wrong kid."
The wrong kid receives A's and B's now, with an occasional C added to the mix.
That's not bad for someone with a part-time job, averaging 20 to 25 hours a week, manager of the boys basketball teams, club member and budding violinist.
Megan's family, her mother and stepfather, Brenda and David Alderfer, and brother, Michael, 12, moved to Kosciusko County from the Van Wert, Ohio, area in the summer of 2000.
Prior to enrolling at TVHS, the former Buckeye skipped classes routinely, smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol when she could get it.
"I was looking at things the wrong way," she said about those decisions. "I didn't realize my mom was doing the best she could for me.
"I should have been held back in the fourth and sixth grades," she said, presenting dismal report cards and SAT scores.
"The teachers told my mom I wasn't applying myself."
Then, during freshman orientation, she read a card advising incoming students to make wise decisions and not to take things so personally. She recalled her grandfather's advice: "You have to look to see the wings on angels," he said.
"There wasn't any one thing that made me change. Getting good grades is easier than sitting in detention for bad grades. The teachers seemed to like me and it all evolved from that.
"I figure there are other kids out there who don't care, who are going down the same path.
"Maybe they'll read this or hear about it and they won't waste their high school years."
Megan plans to graduate in December and work a full-time job to save money for college.
