Shoe donation to Westchester
Seniors from the Duneland Senior Center have donated over 231 pairs of shoes to the Westchester Intermediate School Shoe Drive. Pictured are Duneland seniors with their grandchildren who are students at Westchester Intermediate, left to right, Elsie Scheetz and Linda Hampton with granddaughter Danica Scheetz; Kathleen Flory-Smith with grandson Sam Fine; Linda Burton with grandson Carlos Torres; Judy Guidish with granddaughter Addison Cole; kneeling, front Faith Michael; and back Principal Shawn Longacre. So far, the school has collected approximately 1200 pairs of gently used or new shoes and need to collect the remainder before their drive’s extended end date of Friday, October 28. The school is asking the community for help in meeting their goal of 7,500 pairs. Shoes can be brought to the School’s Main Office, 1050 S. Fifth Street in Chesterton through Friday, Oct. 28.
Foundation Grant for Library Materials
The Yost Elementary School Media Center recently received a $500 matching grant from the Duneland Education Foundation (DEF) to purchase encyclopedias and audiobooks after receiving a $500 monetary donation from local residents Bruce and Judith Chelf. The World Book Discovery Encyclopedias were purchased specifically to be used by the third grade for a United States project but will also be used by all students in grades 2-4. The audio book sets will be used in the kindergarten and first grade learning centers on a daily basis. Pictured with the new materials are, left to right, DEF President Joseph Day and DEF Director Allison Kroft, first grader Lillian Escobar, third graders Abbi Parrish and Lucas Anderson and first grader Cameron Brown with Media Specialist Kristen Borrelli.
CMS 8th Grade Reading Project
The Chesterton Middle School Social Studies department wrote a grant to the Indian Humanities to sponsor an all eighth grade reading project. As part of a unit on the Revolutionary War, students will read My Brother Sam is Dead, a Newbery Award winning book. This is an independent reading project students can complete in class and in SRT's @CMS_Librarybooks. Students are encouraged to talk about the book with their families. Parents can follow along on Twitter @CMS_SStudies, and @CMS_Trojan. Pictured are students with their new reading project books. Front row, left to right, Jack Furmanek and Summer Grayson. Back row, Morgan Virden, Isabella Sanchez, Logan Riley, Taylor Edwards, Troy Feller, Jack Furmanek, Carter Casbon, Nick Fleischauer and Rachel Moore.
Choosing the setting
Mark Marimen, author of the Haunted Indiana series, recently made his annual visit to Westchester Intermediate to support the school’s goal of improving students' writing skills, and to help instill a love of reading and writing in the fifth grade students. He spoke to the students about his love of hearing ghost stories around the campfire as a child, and how those childhood stories inspired him to become an author. After his presentation, students had writing workshops in their classrooms with Marimen. Pictured is Marimen receiving an idea for a scene in a ghost story from fifth grade student Mia Bolde in Kathleen Gerber’s classroom.
Jackson Young Citizen Award
The Duneland Exchange Club recently presented Jackson Elementary fourth grade student Garrett Koch, center front with certificate, with the Young Citizenship Award. Also pictured, left to right, Principal Dr. Linda Rugg, Duneland Exchange Club representative Lorelei Weimer, his grandparents Jerry and Penny Koch, his father Kyle Koch, his mother Dawn Huston with twin brother Lucas Koch, stepfather Steve Huston, and his teacher Stacy Vesling. This award is given to a fourth grade student who is an all around good citizen. The club presents this award to one student at each of the five Duneland elementary schools, at the sixth grade level at the each of the intermediate schools and at the eighth grade level at Chesterton Middle School.
Nature Night at Bailly Elementary
Bailly Elementary School PTO hosted a Nature Night at the school featuring the Issak Walton League. The educational event was open to the Bailly students and their families as a fun, educational evening with stations about animals; conservation; soil, water and air; and much more. Pictured examining one of the turtles at the event was, left to right, second grader Tristan Long and his sister Makayla, kindergarten.
Trojan Guard Third at State
The Trojan Guard competed this past weekend in the Indiana State School Music Association’s Scholastic ‘A’ State Finals competition in Indianapolis. After putting in an excellent performance, the group captured the third place position missing second place by the narrowest of margins. The Trojan Guard has won this competition two out of the last three years and was a strong contender this season as well.
This year’s production entitled, “Tangled,” featured musical themes inspired by famed composer Johann Sabastian Bach. The production consists of a four movement musical score including: Mvmt. I “Twisted Minuet,” Mvmt. II “Neo-Toccata,” Mvmt. III “Modern Ayre,” and Mvmt. IV “Fugue Fantasia.”
There are 93 students in the Trojan Guard, include: Amera Abuhakmeh, Victoria Adams, Keyon Allen, Bianca Alvarez, Hailey Ayala, Abby Billings, Kris Bodie, Kelsey Bolton, Aaron Brookhouse, Kaitlyn Brueggert, Katie Budzius, Colin Campbell, Olivia Cappos, Andrew Cernick, Alyssa Cole, Madison Comfort, Mercedes Cooper, Adam Davis, Gavin Dooley, Tristan Dooley, Naomi Draus, Dani Else, Annabelle Engel, Laura Estridge, Garrett Fairbanks, Andrew Figg, Sailor Franklin, Toby Franklin, Emmie Fredrickson, Jessica Fuller, Izabelle Galvin-Ellis, David Gerth, Josh Guzek, Anthony Hampton, James Hawley, Ally Henry, Nathan Herr, Ryan Herr, David Hodgkiss, Mark Hodgkiss, Henry Hoham, Harleah Hufstedler, Hollie Jones, Jack Jones, David Kosakowski, Sadie Kidd, Conner Kilander, Holly Kittredge, Carlie Kocoj, Nate Kravitz, Zachary Lane, Anthony Langley, Olivia Lee, Abbey Leffert, Hannah Maluvac, Madison McCall, Shaye McCarthy, Reagan McCoy, Aidan McNicholas, Clare McNicholas, Elissa McNicholas, Jackie Moehl, Abby Morris, Kaylee Mullins, Holly Muszynski, Madison Muszynski, Violet Needham, Liam Oberlander, Mary Oberlander, Eli Ontiveros, Abby Palmer, Bryan Pamintuan, Nolan Poczekay, Regan Kistner, Dylan Rodriguez, Samantha Runions, Kylie Sabol, Sydney Sarver, Delaney Schavey, Alec Schmidt, Chris Sexton, Ashley Shideler, Brett Sivadon, Savannah Sivadon, Ayssa Thompson, Hunter Torres, Alissa VanNoort, Shayne Wassell, Jacob Weitzel, Brooke Wilson, Harley Wines and Jacob Winland, The Drum Major for the Trojan Guard is Trey Bonnema.
The Trojan Guard is under the direction of Michael Scheiber with assistance by Vincent Arizzi. Additional staff includes Lisa Scheiber-color guard director, Kylene Mitchell-color guard assistant, Matt Christensen-marching tech and Jeff Wroblewski-drill design. For additional information regarding the Trojan Guard, or any CHS music event, please contact the CHS Music Department at 983-3730.