Plymouth Grad to walk the red carpet

LOS ANGELES, CA – Monday night Plymouth High School graduate Tyler Langdon will have his moment.

He’ll walk the “red carpet” with the likes of Sylvester Stallone and Sean Penn on his way to accepting the Hollywood Discovery Award as part of this year’s Hollywood Film Festival.

“My family took a trip to Los Angeles – I think it was around the time I graduated from high school – and we took the whole tour. Went to the (Kodak) theatre where they hold the Oscars every year,” said Tyler. “They have the whole thing set up there with the red carpet and the plaques on the wall for all the films that have won over the years and spaces for the ones in the future.

“I remember my mom commented that maybe a film I’d be involved with would take one of those empty spots some day. That wasn’t real then but now it feels like that actually might be possible some day.”

Langdon was nominated for the award by submitting a short film scene to an award winning group of casting directors who decided the list of new talent to be considered for the award given to a rising star in the film industry. After that it was up to the voters who went to the Yahoo Movies sight to watch the clips and cast their ballot.

“I really appreciate everything that everybody did to help me,” said Tyler. “It’s really nice to know how much people in your home town rally around you.”

“I’m really excited. This is an opportunity that’s so far above the kind of opportunity people at this level in their careers normally get.”

While he is on top of the world right now, Tyler still has his feet on the ground. He knows the chance to stand in front many of Hollywood’s elite on Monday night and accept the award could be the biggest audition of his young career.

“That’s how I’m looking at it,” he said. “Hopefully the award speaks to my talent and ability this is a chance for me to catch people’s attention. I was texting my father the other day and I said this is a great opportunity but I really want to be sure this is just the beginning and not the peak.”

Tyler has made a few friends in his time in Hollywood that are offering some help. Vicki Stern a writer who was in charge of comedy for NBC studios in the 1980’s and her husband Jay Stern who was the producer of the Rush Hour movies have taken the young actor under their wing.

“Vicki is going to help me write an acceptance speech to make sure that it’s really great,” said Tyler. “I think they’re going to help me pick out a suit for Monday too. They’ve been like family to me since I’ve been out here and I couldn’t get any better advice.”

And he has started practicing his acceptance speech.

“The support I’ve gotten is so much more than I could have imagined and I can’t thank everybody enough.”

Langdon waiting for final tally

LOS ANGELES, CA – Plymouth’s Tyler Langdon is glad that things are getting back to normal – at least as normal as an actor’s life can be.

“It’s been the most stressful two weeks of my life,” he said with a laugh. “Every free moment has been filled with being on Facebook, emailing, reminding people to vote for me. Now I have to catch up with all the things I didn’t do. I’m sure I have about a billion emails to catch up on.”

Langdon was one of the finalists for the Hollywood Discovery Award part of the Hollywood Movie Award’s portion of the Hollywood Film Festival’s week of activities. Nominated for the spot, it was up to the will of the internet voters that went to Yahoo Movies to place their vote for their favorite male and female performer.

With voting now complete, Langdon can merely sit and wait for the phone to ring.

“I just really want to thank everybody that voted for me and all the support everybody gave me,” he said. “I’m just so appreciative that people kept voting for me and didn’t just get sick of hearing my name and having me remind them to vote. I really can’t thank everybody enough.”

He also knows where his real fans are.

“I’m totally convinced that the city of Plymouth, Indiana is single handedly responsible for where I’m at in the voting,” said Tyler. “I can’t say thank you enough to everybody back home.”

Pride of Plymouth Marches On

LAFAYETTE - The Pride of Plymouth is keeping the dream alive.

 

Plymouth's own will be showing their stuff at the Plainfield semi-state next week, advancing in Regional action for the second time in the band's history - and the second time in the last three years. 

 

"They also ranked near the top of the field of 17 bands and put us in a great position for a hopeful first ever trip to state finals," said Plymouth Band Director Bryan Ames.

The Pride of Plymouth finished in the top 10 and received a Gold rating.

The band will compete against 19 other schools this weekend at the ISSMA Semi-State held at Plainfield High School hoping for a shot at a state title.

Ten of those Semi-State bands will advance to the ISSMA State Finals.

 

 

Photo courtesy of Steve/Julie Goble

Class of 1978 Grad offering hope to cancer patients

ERIE, PA – The one key element for cancer patients is hope. Plymouth High School grad Mark Neidig is working hard to give patients that hope.

As head of the Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation his organization is providing hope for a less damaging treatment for all kinds of cancer. The revolutionary non-invasive radio wave machine – invented by the group’s founder John Kanzius – is offering hope to many for a better and more effective way to treat the disease.

Recently the treatment made headlines with successful early tests on small animals. Researchers have been able to treat pancreatic and liver cancers very successfully with no damaging effects or toxicities to the surrounding cells. They’ve been able to show control of the cancers without producing illness, side effects or damage to the animals. Three new manuscripts were recently published validating the work.

“That’s a big thing for us right now,” said Neidig of the published studies. “In order to move to the next phase of study you have to have validated research published in reputable scientific and medical journals. The exciting news is that we have killed pancreatic cancer cells in tests.”

It’s been a busy time for Neidig and the Kanzius Foundation as they spread the word about the success of the revolutionary treatment. A grant from Pepsi of $250,000 has allowed for the campaign to ramp up and take the fight to Capital Hill.

Neidig recently had a chance to spread the word about the machine to Congress.

“We were able to talk to Congressional aides and Legislative assistants,” said Neidig. “We spoke to the Democratic caucus and several national foundations leading the fight for the a cure such as the American Cancer Society and Cure Search. We’re planting seeds.”

Neidig was also able to talk to Tom Ridge, the former Governor of Pennsylvania who was also the first Homeland Security Chief. Ridge was impressed enough to give the group a little help.

“He is going to connect us with several national awareness groups that his company works with,” said Neidig. “He is a very gracious man. He’s come to know millions of people in his work and support in that circle can really make a difference.”

Support at home makes a difference for Neidig as well. Wife Debbie shares his passion for the work he's doing. Debbie is a graduate of Lewistown High School in Pennsylvania. The couple met in college.

“She is there every step of the way and there is no way I could do any of this without her support,” he said.

“I lost a sister in law to breast cancer. I've seen what this disease does to people and families and that is where I get my passion for what I do,” said Neidig. “Being able to offer hope to those people is the greatest reward I can think of.”

 

The Pride of Plymouth

The Plymouth High School Marching Band continues the tradition of musical excellence in the Plymouth schools having an outstanding year under Director Bryan Ames.

The "Pride of Plymouth" advanced out of the ISSMA District competition at Concord High School and now moves on to the ISSMA Regional contest on October 16.

 

Plymouth competed against seven schools in the District competition and earned a Gold Award rating. The Pride of Plymouth also won 2 of the 3 caption awards (Best Music and Best Visual).

 

At the Regional event 17 schools will be competing for 10 spots in the ISSMA Semi-State competition.

The Plymouth band received a great seeding in the Regional contest and will perform 16th out of the 17 bands at the event.

The short clip here shows the Pride of Plymouth in performance at their own fall festival this past Saturday night that featured some of the top bands in Northern Indiana at Plymouth High School.

March for Maria

Students at Riverside Intermediate School in Plymouth showed their support for a fellow student in a battle for her life.

Riverside participated in a week of activities to raise support for Maria Gonzalez who faces surgery for a brain tumor. The brave 10 year old knows what is in store for her. This is her second fight with the tumor that went into remission after chemo treatments.

Part of a week of activities at the school Riverside took advantage of the day to stage "March for Maria". The day was declared "Blue Sky Day" for 5th grader Maria Gonzalez since that is her favorite color. The weather on Friday even cooperated as the school was able to raise over $2000 to help with her family's expenses as they take Maria to Bloomington for three weeks of treatment.

Plymouth Schools to share in $6.7 million federal grant for science education

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – The nation is investing in science and Plymouth High School along with several other schools in the state will benefit from it.

Plymouth High School, Purdue University and three other school districts – Lafayette, Tippecanoe and Taylor Community – will share a $6.7 million in a National Science Foundation grant to improve science learning in the third through the sixth grades. Partnering in the effort are Purdue's colleges of Education, Engineering, Science and Technology, the Discovery Learning Research Center, and regional industries.

“We’ve been partnering with Purdue’s schools in math, engineering and science to create lesson plans with a vision towards creating some of the top engineers in the U.S.,” said Plymouth Superintendent of Schools Dan Tyree. “It’s part of a ramping up of interest in science, math and technology teaching at schools like Plymouth.”

The work will focus on the use of engineering design-based teaching. The concept teaches problem solving in math and science through design projects.

During the five-year project, engineering, science, technology and education faculty will interact with 200 elementary and intermediate school teachers, 100 student teachers and 5,000 students. In the final year, the project will be expanded to additional school districts.

"The use of engineering design principles to affect how science and math are taught has been demonstrated for higher grad levels," said Keith Bowman, head of the Purdue School of Materials Engineering and the project leader. "But it is almost nonexistent in elementary classrooms. With the support of our school corporation partners, we seek to develop a program that will prepare teachers to impact students earlier in their academic development."

“We’re very excited about working with Purdue on this project,” said Tyree. “We’ve had the chance to collaborate with them in applying for the grant and we’re very interested in seeing what kind of an impact it’s going to make.”

Goals of the project are to improve science learning in grades 3-6 through implementation of engineering design, prepare practicing and prospective teachers to use a design-based curriculum, adapt existing materials and tasks and develop new ones where necessary, and provide an understanding of how engineering design is used by teachers to teach science and students to learn science. 

 "Engineering design-based standards are being adopted across the nation. Within the next year, elementary school science teachers, including those in Indiana, will be required to demonstrate the knowledge, skills and practices needed to teach science through engineering design," said Brenda Capobianco, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the Purdue College of Education and project co-leader. "Our work will create Indiana's first engineering design-based model for science teacher professional development at both the preservice and inservice levels and an innovative, research-based program for using engineering design-based strategies."

 The funding comes through NSF’s Math and Science Partnership program, a research and development effort that supports innovative partnerships to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science. 

The project comes on the heels of another project that Plymouth School’s have instituted called “Project Lead the Way” offering classes at junior high and high school levels designed around all types of engineering.

“The real bottom line is that we have to provide a work force that can promote economic development in Marshall County,” said Tyree. “We need to be competitive with surrounding areas in providing all our students with the kind of problem solving and technology skills that are called for in the modern work place.”