By Kenzie Gamlin | HCCSC Communications Intern
During the most recent school board meeting on May 22, 35 HCCSC members were invited to be recognized for displaying HCCSC‘s core value of High Expectations, High Achievement and Accountability. The members were grouped by Executive Secretary Cindy Gray and thanked and congratulated by Superintendent John Trout. Director of Elementary Education Jay Peters then gave a brief summary of the recipients’ achievements.
After being verbally recognized, Trout and School Board member Gary L. McLellan gave the individuals an official certificate in honor of their core value and took a picture with the honorees to remember the moment.
Ruthie Butler, a third grader at Flint Springs Elementary School, was firstly recognized for her creation of a poster to represent the importance of handwashing. In a collaboration between the Huntington Health Department and the HCCSC district, many students were tasked with creating a poster with the theme of handwashing. However, Butler’s poster stood out in the sea of creation and she was declared the winner of the Public Health Poster Contest.
Butler is in Mallory Hammel's class at Flint Springs, and for being the winning classroom, Hammel is being awarded $100 to spend on healthy activities in the classroom. A notable mention of the staff that promote these healthy activities is Christine France, public health department nurse.
Butler will receive a framed copy of her poster and an additional will also hang in the health department. During the beginning of the 2023–24 school year, Butler’s poster will be distributed to all schools and local businesses to remind everyone to wash their hands and to keep healthy habits.
Students and club sponsors of the Crestview Academic Super Bowl Science Team were recognized for their accomplishments in the middle school Academic Super Bowl season this school year. The team competed at a state competition with 40 other middle schools and the students representing Crestview won the junior class state champion title with a score of 18.
Throughout the year, students and the club sponsors absorbed information about energy and its transportations, mainly working with topics in energy, work and power. The team consisted of Kory Boxell, Kristen Cassidy, Isabella Hall, Braden Mayer, Jaicey Mayer and Grace McClellan and these students were led by Nichole Gilg, Matt Groves, Peter Kitchen and Ryne Wemhoff.
Two members of the transportation department were recognized for their hard work during the process of bus inspections this year. Tracy Stout and Andrew White are mechanics for HCCSC, and these two worked hard and precisely to prepare for the inspections throughout the year and the process ran smoothly and very well.
With the maintenance help of Stout and White, the transportation department ensures the community with confidence that the buses of HCCSC are safe and efficient for students and staff.
Each year, HCCSC likes to recognize their staff with achievements such as Classified Staff of the Year and Teacher of the Year. Each department and each school throughout the district takes pride in these staff members and enjoys publicly recognizing each of these individuals for their hard work and their dedication to serving HCCSC students daily.
HCCSC departments honored Kendra Schell as the Food Service Classified Staff of the Year, Tara Eppard as the Health Services Classified Staff of the Year, John Humphrey as the Technology Classified Staff of the Year and Debbie Goodyear, Shannon Houser and Don Okuly as Transportation Classified Staff of the Year.
HCCSC elementary schools honored Kim Gentis-Cocklin as Andrews Classified Staff of the Year, Debbie Thieme as Andrews Teacher of the Year, Lori Statchwill as Flint Springs Classified Staff of the Year, April Poling as Flint Springs Teacher of the Year, Michael Moore as Horace Mann Classified Staff of the Year, Christina Tolin as Horace Mann Teacher of the Year, Mark Crews as Lincoln Classified Staff of the Year, Janelle Buzzard as Lincoln Teacher of the Year, Brittney Garcia as Roanoke Classified Staff of the Year, Jill Webb as Roanoke Teacher of the Year, Leigh Martin as the Salamonie Classified Staff of the Year and Leah Long Salamonie Teacher of the Year.
HCCSC secondary schools honored Mark Dimond as Crestview Middle School Classified Staff of the Year, Peter Kitchen as Crestview Middle School Teacher of the Year, List Leist as Riverview Middle School Classified Staff of the Year, Danielle Webb as Riverview Middle School Teacher of the Year, Beth Clark as Huntington North High School Classified Staff of the Year and Matt Crozier as Huntington North High School Teacher of the Year.