Reality check for area students

By Rusty Nixon
Director of Development and Alumni Affairs

PLYMOUTH - Area eighth graders got a hard dose of truth at Plymouth's Lincoln Jr. High.

The program known as "The Reality Store" sent Plymouth and Argos eighth grade students through a brief exercise designed to give them a taste of the economic realities of adulthood. In addition it seems to have given most a new perspective on certain people in their lives.

"It definitely gives me a new appreciation of my parents," said Tabby Masterson, a Lincoln student, as she made her way through the maze of adult budgetary responsibilities.

Each student was given an occupation, a salary, and family data and then sent to different stops to work through their ordinary budget.

"Most of the kids didn't even know what IRS meant," said Lori Day, one of the organizers of the event at Lincoln. "The first stop was to go pay your taxes and that was a huge shock to most of them."

After paying their taxes, students proceeded to different stations manned by volunteers and local business people. Stops to pay your college loan, pay for your housing, car, insurance, furniture, credit cards - an entire labyrinth of responsibilities and luxuries that make up the everyday economic decisions of an adult.

"We teach Consumer Economics in the eighth grade and a Life and Careers course for freshman so this fits in with our programs perfectly," said Judy Delp, Guidance Director at Argos Schools. "One thing that I'm going to be sure and do a follow up on is the credit cards. I think that's something that people need to have control of in their lives."

"I can't believe how many ways there are to lose your money," said Dalton Rogers as he made his way through the tables of choices. Rogers also had another rude awakening on entering the room.

"I got a ticket for a tail light infraction and I hadn't even bought a car yet."

Cole Reinholt - who's given career was a Marine Biologist with a wife and two kids for the exercise - found sticker price shock on another item.

"Groceries," he said. "I can't believe how expensive groceries are."

"They don't want to buy generics," said Cody Shonkwiler of Martin's Supermarket who along with Lori Fisher of Martin's manned the grocery stop. "Nobody seems to want to buy generics. They're buying all the name brands and they're more expensive."

Even though they were unwilling to sacrifice on food, the students surprisingly seemed willing to cut corners on another item.

"We're making all kinds of sales today," laughed Manny Caban of Oliver Ford who were there to provide "transportation" for the new consumers. While students were offered several options for their car purchase - including a brand new Mustang GT and a top of the line SUV, another choice was the most popular purchase.

"We're selling a lot of Fiesta's today. I think they're taking a look at their budget. I think this is a great experience for kids."

The Reality Store has been a staple at the high school in Plymouth. This was the first year for the program to be held at the junior high.

In changing times Plymouth schools remain the education destination

Lincoln Jr. High began One to One computing this year

By Rusty Nixon
Director of Development and Alumni Affairs
Plymouth Schools

PLYMOUTH – Years ago Bob Dylan told the world “The times they are a changin'...” and 30 years later, they continue to change.

The good news is that the Plymouth School Corporation continues to adapt to those changes to give area students the tools they need to meet the challenges of our changing times.

“We can't keep teaching people like we were still in the industrial age,” said Plymouth Superintendent Dan Tyree. “We are no longer competing with other schools in Indiana to put our kids in those seats at prestigious colleges, we're competing with China and India for those spots. We have to do whatever we can do give the advantage to our kids.”

Relationships with college's like IVY Tech and Purdue are allowing students at Plymouth schools to gain credit towards their college degrees before they ever leave high school.

Plymouth schools have been working hard to give Plymouth students a big advantage when it comes to technology. Project Lead the Way will prepare students to be innovative leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Through an engaging, hands-on curriculum, Project Lead the Way encourages the development of problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and creative and innovative reasoning.

“We did a survey of our graduates and found that we were not offering courses that were meeting the needs of those seeking an engineering degree,” said Jim Condon, Principal at Plymouth High School. “We started this as a pre-engineering program and this year offered an introductory course. The plan is to add three further courses to the program over the next three years.”

The programs give Plymouth schools students a brighter future by providing them with a foundation and proven path to college and career success in science, technology and mathematics related fields. Education in those core subjects are at the heart of today’s high-tech, high-skill global economy.

“We had two sections with 25 students in each this year,” said Condon. “The program is more rigorous than the normal course in industrial technology and it's been nothing but exciting and successful. We're very pleased with the first year.”

Plymouth schools will extend their one to one computing program to grades 7 through 12 starting next year. Each student at Lincoln Junior High and Plymouth High School will be issued their own MacBook computer for the school year.

“The program was fostered by Lincoln Jr. High's program and they've been invaluable as a resource of letting us know things that we may want to do and not want to do,” said Condon. “Instruction and schools are going to change drastically. It has to, because this is the way kids learn now. They deserve access to that kind of technology. We've left behind the era where we let kids have complete access to all the technology they want outside the school doors and take it away from them when they come in. There are too many ways to use those tools to teach them.”

Plans are in the works to extend the program to Riverside Elementary the following year. Students will also soon have the “tech school” alternative approach available to them in their own school.

In essence Plymouth High School will soon become several schools in one, offering many different paths to success, designed for the needs of all students to be successful in the vastly changing world of today.

“There are two achievement gaps in schools today,” said Tyree. “There is the gap that exists between our minority and poverty level students and others and I feel we've done a good job of working to close that gap, but there is also a gap between our best students and the rest of the world's best students and that's something that will be harder to close but we are working on that.”

Plymouth schools continue to be recognized for their achievements statewide. Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett has frequently referred to Plymouth Schools as “...an island of excellence...”

Teamwork with administrators and teachers means success

“I feel that is a real tribute to all the hard work of the faculty and staff here,” said Tyree. “They take great pride in what they do and work very hard to provide the very best for our students.”

Webster Elementary in Plymouth was recently named a “Four Star School” the state's top designation for achievement. According to the Indiana Department of Education, out of 1,808 public schools, only 188 schools met the criteria to be named a Four Star School.

The other three elementary schools in the Plymouth system fared well on the tests, but narrowly missed the Four Star rating. Jefferson Elementary, Menominee Elementary and Washington Elementary had scores well above the Four Star percentage mark in grade 4. Menominee was only 2.5 percent under the cutoff in Grade 3 and both Jefferson and Washington were approximately 13 percent under the point for the top rating.

With a devotion to cutting edge curriculum, creating partnerships with parents and the community and continuing to create and upgrade programs to insure student success Plymouth schools will continue to offer students the best education and brightest future in spite of turbulent times.

Special Letter to the class of 1976

Hey all of you fellow 76er's!

All I can say is.....35 YEARS!!! That's a long time.....But, it really doesn't seem that long, does it? Or, maybe it does! Anyway, it is time to get together again and remember all those "formative years" that we spent growing up together. Granted, we have all gone on our own paths, but we all share something special....growing up in Plymouth, Indiana in the 60's and 70's. We learned a lot from sharing those experiences together. Almost like brothers and sisters in some respects, we "loved" and maybe even "fought like cats and dogs" at times, but we taught each other a lot about the life we have gone on to live. That's what growing up is all about!

After meeting last night get the ball rolling on this event, Rick Vermillion, Dave Morrow, Julie (Schroeder) Weidner, Greg Renz and I decided that we are READY TO HAVE SOME FUN!!! We had a blast talking about all of you last night. Were your ears ringing? Just thumbing through the yearbook, we were cracking up at those "attractive" 70's hairstyles and clothing! We were trying to come up with a really special venue for this year's reunion.....a real "party to remember!" This year we decided to have the party at a downtown Plymouth location called Opie's Deli/The Office/The Alley. It's a historically restored building downtown that encompasses a deli, bar, and outside urban-like setting perfect for a summer's night of grilling and acoustic guitar. It DEFINITELY won't be your stuffy banquet room reunion!

That said....YOU are the people that will help us make this a truly successful event. This is the email list from the 30th Class Reunion. Some of these emails are probably outdated, but it was a starting point. All of you that receive this email, please respond with as many email addresses of all the classmates that you keep in touch with that are not on this list, or updated emails that we already have that are no longer being used. That would be a HUGE help!  The hardest part is making sure we get in touch with EVERYONE. We don't want to leave anyone out. There is also a PHS Alumni site on Facebook that we can also use to track everyone down. We thought we would send out a mailer.....so it would be helpful to have your address as well, even if it was the same as 5 years ago!

Oh yeah.....by the way, it's Saturday, August 6th.....with a multi-class get together at Swan Lake on Friday night with various classes that graduated before and after us, which I've heard is really fun as well! So....I'm going to hit the SEND button and see what happens! I hope you are picking up on how "special" we want to make this reunion and how much WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Thanks for reading this long-winded notice.....and fire-up for a awesome party in August! Hope to hear from you soon!

Mindy (Pesch) Langdon

Cleveland honored by Plymouth

PLYMOUTH – One of Plymouth's finest was recognized for his service by the Plymouth Common Council Monday night – but it was a bittersweet moment for all.

“I suppose it's nice to be recognized, but the outcome was certainly not what you would want,” said Plymouth Police Sergeant Gary Cleveland who was honored by a commendation by Plymouth Chief of Police Jim Cox and by a proclamation by Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter.

Twice in the month of February Cleveland was called to the scene where an infant was discovered not breathing. In each case Cleveland immediately administered CPR to the infant and his efforts along with those of paramedics were able to revive vital signs in each child. In each case however the child was determined to be brain dead several days later at the hospital and taken off respirators.

In the most recent case the efforts to revive the infant allowed parents to make the decision to make their child a donor in hopes of saving another child's life.

“Its the kind of call that when you get it it stirs something deep in your heart, especially if you have kids of your own,” said Cleveland. “It gives you a special sense of urgency to get there quickly. That baby is depending on you. That baby is depending on the whole world to be there for them and that makes you want to get there as quickly as you can.

“None of us (emergency personnel) are looking for that kind of recognition. Nobody does this job for that reason. They do it because of a deep sense inside of them to always be there for the community. It's part of who they are.”

A graduate of Plymouth High School and a veteran of the Air Force, Cleveland has been a Plymouth Police Officer for the last 18 years. It was in the Air Force that Cleveland first learned CPR and part of his ongoing training with Plymouth PD includes regular refresher courses on the procedure. It's a skill that he urges everybody to learn.

“People should absolutely learn CPR,” he said. “It's only a matter of time before a loved one may need that kind of help.”

PHS Business Professionals headed for National Finals

PLYMOUTH — Plymouth High School BPA (Business Professionals of America) students competed in the State Leadership Conference last weekend, with many advancing to the National Leadership Conference.

The state contest was held in Indianapolis from Feb. 27 to March 1. The PHS students, coached by business teacher Chad Miley, fared extremely well.

“The administrative support team advanced to Nationals for second straight year. This year there were three new members,” Miley said, “And the small business management team won its third state championship in four years. This year’s team had no returning members from the 2009 state championship team.”

Sarah Gouker and Scott Cawthon advanced to National Leadership Conference for the second year in a row.  Competitors Eric Blake, Fletch Craft, and Kelly Bryant advanced to National Leadership Conference in both of their competitive events. Bryt Hiatt advanced to National Leadership Conference for the second time in four years and won his second state championship.

Additionally, PHS had five state champions and six state runnerups at this year’s state conference making this the most successful in PHS history.

“PHS is sending a school record of 12 members to the National
Leadership Conference,” Miley said.

Individual placings for the team were: Payroll accounting: Fletch Craft, third; fundamental spreadsheets: Eric Blake, state champion; keyboarding production: Kelly Bry-ant, state runner-up; Scott Cawthon, sixth; fundamental word processing: Kelly Bryant, fifth; desktop publishing: Kelli Weist, 10th; basic ofice systems and procedures: Sam Van Voorhis, sixth; prepared speech: Sarah Gouker, third; extemporaneous speech: Patrick Felke, state finalist (sixth); administrative support team state runner-up: Eric Blake, Scott Cawthon, Fletch Craft, Morgan Hill; small business management team state champions: Courtney Harris, Bryt Hiatt, Maja Howard, Lane Singleton; advanced spreadsheets: Karl Faulstich, 10th; computer security: Logan May, state runner-up.

Logan May was medalist winner in open events: Marketing, management, and human resource concepts, where he was third; information technology concepts where he was sixth; and financial math and analysis, third.

Future artists on display this month

In honor of Youth Art Month, Plymouth Elementary students are having a special display of student work at the Heartland Gallery in downtown Plymouth.

The opening reception will be held on Friday, March 11, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

The display will be on view all of March, so if you are unable to attend the reception, you can visit the Gallery any time in March. The Gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday, 12:00 to 5:00 pm and Saturday 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. The entrance to the Gallery is next to Sisters Tea, 203 N Michigan Street, Plymouth.

Webster Elementary Named One of State's Four Star Schools

By Carol Anders
Reprinted by permission of The Pilot News. 

PLYMOUTH — The Indiana Department of Education released the list of 2009-10 Four Star Schools Tuesday, and  Webster Elementary was one of those named for the distinction.

According to the IDOE, out of 1,808 public schools, only 188 schools met the criteria to be named a Four Star School. Thirteen of the 261 private schools also received the honor.

 

Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett said, “Today I offer sincere congratulations to Indiana’s 2009-10 Four Star Schools as we celebrate their dedication to academics. These schools set high expectations for their students on a daily basis, and as a result, students work hard and exceed those expectations. The students and teachers in these schools should be extremely proud of this honor, and I am confident they will continue down this path of success.”

 

Carrie McGuire, principal of Webster said, “This was a huge team effort by all of my staff.” 

 

McGuire explained only 20 of the 44 staff members at the school are certified teachers. 

 

“We all — teachers, aides, custodians cafeteria workers, and secretaries — live by the mission statement of the Plymouth Schools to ‘do whatever it takes,’” she said. “We all share in upholding the core values that includes integrity. We make each other accountable.”

 

According to McGuire, this is the third time that Webster has been in the Four Star category, having achieved the honor in 2003 and 2004. This, however, is the first time that Webster has been in the top category since McGuire become principal five years ago.

 

She attributes the success to the dedication of the staff and the use of data and research to present material. 

 

“We don’t try to just fit the individual student to the program,” she said. “We adjust the program to the student. We try to match our instruction to the needs, strengths and learning styles of the students.”

 

She also had great praise for the parents/families of Webster students. 

 

“We have been able to develop relationships and partnerships with our parents,” she said. 

 

In a recent survey, McGuire said that 98 percent of the families of students were involved in one or more school events.

 

A score needed to be named a Four Star School that combines both the English/Language Arts and math portions of the ISTEP tests was 83.1 percent for grade 3 and 81.3 percent for grade 4. Webster had a score of 94 percent passing in grade 3 and 93 percent passing in grade 4. 

 

McGuire said, “Our staff is also willing to learn and try new things. They are really ‘learners’ themselves.” 

 

She applauded the efforts of the Title I and Special Education teachers for their intervention strategies.

The other three elementary schools in the Plymouth system fared well on the tests, but narrowly missed the Four Star rating. Along with Webster, Jefferson Elementary, Menominee Elementary and Washington Elementary had scores well above the Four Star percentage mark in grade 4. Menominee was only 2.5 percent under the cutoff in Grade 3 and both Jefferson and Washington were approximately 13 percent under the point for the top rating.

 

John Glenn High School is the only other local school to earn this rating.

PHS senior shows the power of Poetry Out Loud

INDIANAPOLIS – It is said that poetry is a universal language and Plymouth High School senior Christina Green has brought that language to life.

Christina finished second recently in the Indiana Arts Commission's Poetry Out Loud state competition in Indianapolis. The competition involves choosing, memorizing and reciting three works of poetry to be judged by a panel. Winners of the single school competitions then proceeded to Indianapolis for the state championship.

“There is an anthology of thousands of poems to choose from,” said Kyle Coffman, English teacher at Plymouth High School who coached Christina for the competition. “One of the three poems must be 25 lines and must be written before the 20^th century, and it can be both.”

“I probably spent five hours picking selections for the school competition,” she said. “I read through them all and I chose the ones that stayed with me.”

The main selection that stayed with Christina was a poem by Martin Espada called “The Meaning of the Shovel”.

“It's about a man who digs latrines in Nicaragua,” said Christina. “It's based on a man who went to the country for a radio job and ends up digging latrines. He talks about the revolution and of a group of high school kids who are killed by soldiers for trying to teach illiterate children to read. It's extremely powerful and the last line really stays with you 'I dig because I work for nothing and for everything'. That contrast is very powerful.”

Obviously written from a very different cultural perspective, Christina was able to bring out the nuances, speaking to the power of poetry itself.

“I think that it (poetry) taps into all the things we all experience as humans,” said Coffman. “Christina is also very intuitive. She was able to figure out what Espada was trying to capture and interpret that.”

Christina also chose the poems “Their Bodies” by David Wagoner and “Revenge” by Letitia Elizabeth Landon for her readings. She was awarded a $100 cash prize and a $200 prize for the PHS library to purchase poetry books.

“There's something about poetry that connects us all as part of the human experience like Espada's poem that has a lot of power behind it,” said Coffman. “And then sometimes its just fun.”

“After all it is Dr. Seuss week,” added Christina.