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Covering Milford, Syracuse & North Webster, Indiana
Making Discarded Wood Into Art
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
One Nation Under God
Page 8 themail-journal.com
EXTRA DUTY SOLUTION — Kosciusko County Sheriff Jim Smith, right, and Lt. Mike Mulligan, left, talks to the Kosciusko County Commissioners Tuesday about Extra Duty Solutions.
WAWASEE GRADUATION — Wawasee High School’s graduation was Sunday, June 2 and 220 students received their diplomas. As they walked off the stage, they shook hands with Wawasee school board members. Photo by Phoebe Muthart.
WHS bids farewell to class of 2024 Text and Photos By PHOEBE MUTHART Staff Writer The Wawasee High School class of 2024 turned their tassels and graduated Sunday, June 2, with 220 graduating seniors receiving their diplomas. Student speakers during the school’s 56th commencement
exercises included valedictorian, Senate Shaw, and salutatorian, Allison Clark, who gave their speeches to a packed gym. The school was filled with fellow students, family and faculty. Clark thanked those who supported her the last four years. She said when she was a freshman she was terrified.
But she tried tennis, where she eventually met her best friend. “I’ve changed and learned a lot,” she said. “I took risks, made new friends and took up a new hobby.” She said do not have “doubt or fear, continue taking risks and make yourselves uncomfortable.” Senate Shaw said he moved
to Syracuse from Texas four years ago. He did not know anyone and didn’t like Indiana at first; however, he said he is grateful now, and he even took up cross country. He gave the seniors some advice. “Change is a catalyst for growth,” he said. “Courage is a catalyst for change. We Continued on page 2
‘High school build’ to begin this summer By LAUREN ZEUGNER Staff Writer School may be out for the summer, but it won’t be quiet around Wawasee High School. What is being called “the high school project,” started this week. The plan is to renovate the current career technical education building. The nursing program, CTE administration and the Chartreuse Art Gallery will move into the area currently housing the choir, band and orchestra rooms inside WHS. Culinary arts will also be moved into that area, gaining a new kitchen in the process. The space in which the current auditorium is located will be converted to classrooms, and a new addition will be constructed on the north west side of the building. The new, two-story addition will take out the social studies block, hence the need for additional classrooms. The new classrooms will be located where the current surge area is now, across from where audiences enter the auditorium. “The performing arts addition is
Sheriff’s office to contract with Extra Duty Solutions for community use of off-duty officers By DAVID SLONE Times-Union When the community needs the use of off-duty officers for events, the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office has found a solution to help manage the requests. Kosciusko County Sheriff Jim Smith told the Kosciusko County Commissioners on Tuesday that Lt. Mike Mulligan has been working on a program the last several months called Extra Duty Solutions in regards to filling the needs the community has for off-duty officers. “This is a system that will be conducive to filling those needs, but I think it will be beneficial to the county,” Smith said. Mulligan explained Extra Duty Solutions was developed by a retired police officer who dealt with all the extra duty details such as weddings, graduations and “any kind of party somebody wants to have.” He said the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office will sign an agreement with Extra Duty Solutions, which is month to month and no cost to the KCSO or the county. “When someone calls in for a venue security-style detail, they will be forwarded to this Extra
Duty Solutions. Extra Duty Solutions will take what we set within our parameters, they will relate to that venue and they will set” it up, he said. A text message will go out to law enforcement officers that want to be involved and who signed up with Extra Duty Solutions. Mulligan said Extra Duty Solutions “takes care of handling all the money transactions, they pay the officers upfront. If the venue doesn’t pay, then Extra Duty Solutions will go after that venue for their payment, but the officers are already paid.” One of the nice things about the program, he said, is that he knows Winona Lake is currently on board with it. “If we have a detail that we can’t get filled, within our parameters, then (Extra Duty Solutions) will send it out to other departments and make sure that the details are filled for the community. They manage all of it, and they pay our guys and then they send us a 1099 at the end of the year,” Mulligan said. Commissioner Bob Conley said he thought the Indiana State Police did something similar and it’s highly successful for them. Continued on page 2
NEW EXTERIOR — Shown is an artist’s rendering of what the new performing arts center will like once construction is complete. Wawasee School Corporation has started a new $35 million renovation project at Wawasee High School which will see more space allocated to CTE programs, new classrooms and a new performing arts center. The project started this week. Graphic provided by Wawasee Community Schools. the end result to a chain reaction,” explained Emily Worrell, director of communications and marketing for Wawasee Community Schools. The project is the direct result of the community engagement project the school corporation conducted last year to create a list of priorities for the district. The community engagement project brought together people representing all aspects of the community for five weeks to walk through each facility, looking at the budget and what priorities within the district should be addressed. Those representatives then broke into work groups for work sessions to come up with a list of needs, such as renovations at Milford Elementary School and finding more space for the CTE program at the high school. “Our CTE program has grown significantly and we need the space,” Worrell said. The new build project, which will cost approximately $35 million, will not result in an increase in taxes or require a referendum.
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Dr. Brandon Penrod, director of finance for Wawasee Community Schools, explained the project is tax neutral for a variety of reasons such as assessed value going up and debt falling off, allowing for new debt to be added without affecting the tax rate. “It’s a really cool project, Milford School will be too,” Penrod said. “What the architect has done is gorgeous.” The Wawasee Community School Board and Dr. Stephen Troyer, school superintendent, felt this was a window of opportunity to make significant investments into school facilities. The district had debt that is being paid off so the school corporation is able to do this project, along with the Milford Elementary School project, without raising the school tax rate. Both projects allow the district to prioritize academic needs with upgrades to two of facilities that need the most attention.
“We are excited to have the support of both the school board and the community as a whole as we look to the future at Wawasee Schools,” Troyer said. Acknowledging $35 million is a lot of money, Penrod said it would be well spent, “for everything that is being done and the number of students it will impact.” Worrell noted these funds are not educational funds, so they cannot be used towards teacher pay. The funds freed up by the debt cliff are allocated for capital projects. “We’re getting the most bang for our buck with this build,” Worrell said. Penrod encourages everyone to keep up to date with the project by attending school board meetings and through social media. The next school board meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, at the Professional Learning Center, 801 S. Sycamore St., Syracuse.
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