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Students from the Wawasee High School class of 1997 scored above the national average on their SATs.
Ruth Angle, WHS guidance director, told the school board Tuesday that this is the second time in 10 years for this accomplishment. One hundred thirty students (54 percent) took the test.
The class of 1997 scored 518 in verbal and 515 in math for a total of 1033. The national average was 505 verbal, 511 math, 1016 total.
Average Indiana score for 1997 was 494 verbal, 497 math, 991 total.
The highest score on the SATs is 1600.
Angle said the scores have been converted to recentered scores; recentering began in 1995.
She said when the 1941 SAT was given, 10,000 students took the test; now there are 2 million test-takers. The sheer number of people taking the test skews the average, she said, so 1941 averages are recentered so the scores fall closer to the midpoint range of 500.
Other accomplishments within the corporation were also recognized at the meeting.
Mary Hurley, Wawasee athletic director, received the Pro Patria Award from the Indiana Commission for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. The statewide award was presented Tuesday at the Indiana Ballroom in Indianapolis.
Kellie Dodds, who works in the athletic office, nominated Hurley for the award,
Dodds, a master sergeant in the United States Army Reserve, was called to active service last year at Fort Benning, Ga., in support of the Bosnia mission. Since she had been with the school system only three months, she prepared to resign her position.
But Hurley wouldn't accept her resignation. Instead, she hired a temporary employee to fill Dodds' position until she returned. Dodds was also allowed time off to fulfill personal obligations before she left.
Pro Patria is a Latin expression meaning "for the nation." The award is given to an employer who demonstrates support of national defense by adopting policies that make it easier for employees to participate in the National Guard and Reserve. Only one award is given annually in each state.
Several students were recognized at the meeting for statewide honors in FFA judging competitions.
Matt Grady, Brian Warren, Rob Schlipf and Kyle Wurtzel finished first in the state in the soils judging team competition. Wurtzel also garnered first-place individual honors in the contest.
Mary Sholtey, Cheryl Grady and Katy Schlipf finished second in the state in the team horticulture judging.
The soils judging team has been invited to national competition in the spring. These students have also received invitations to judge at the collegiate level.
The students are led by Randy Warren, ag teacher at the high school.
In other business:
• The board accepted a donation of $5,000 from Rabb Kinetico Water Systems of Warsaw to be used for a scoreboard at Wawasee Middle School. Tom Dickerson, middle school athletic director, presented a plaque to Rabb sales manager Mark Malane in appreciation of the donation.
• The bus contract was awarded to Midwest Transit, who had the low bid of $237,080 for five buses.
• Substitute teacher pay was approved at 45 percent of a beginning teacher's salary, with no benefits.
The board will meet Dec. 2 for a work session that will give overviews of each option in the facilities study.
