Huntington County Community School Corporation

Andrews Elementary School third grade teacher Debbie Thieme and Riverview Middle School choir teacher Danielle Webb have been named as HCCSC’s Primary and Secondary Teachers of the Year for the 2022–23 school year, the district announced during the annual end-of-year awards program on Friday morning.

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.

Current Huntington North High School junior Gloria Friesen has the opportunity to travel across seas to Spain this summer to participate in the Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Languages. Friesen has taken Spanish courses for many years and is excited to immerse herself in the language and culture.

During the most recent school board meeting on May 8, six 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. Trout also gave a brief summary of the recipients’ achievements.

HCCSC Board of School Trustees member J. Ryan Wall was recognized at Monday night's board meeting for receiving an Advanced Award from the Indiana School Board Association’s Exemplary Governance Awards program.

The HCCSC Board of School Trustees approved the hirings of Zach Baker as Riverview Middle School's assistant principal and athletics director and Eric Thompson as Huntington North High School's boys basketball head coach during Monday night's board meeting.

Huntington North High School has many clubs that operate daily, completing difficult tasks and striving to make Huntington County a better place. One of these many clubs is called Huntington Youth Leaders (HYL), an 8-month long program that is made up solely of sophomores who wish to participate in creating service projects that will benefit their community. This club is sponsored by Dave Harvey and Ruthann Rust, two HNHS teachers who wish to see underclassmen thrive in their leadership.

During the most recent school board meeting on April 24, Huntington North High School’s Varsity Singers, Viking Volume, Varsity Brass and Varsity Crew 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. Trout also gave a brief summary of the recipients’ achievements.

Students at Andrews Elementary School recently had the opportunity to visit the StarLab, a blow-up planetarium for students to see and interact with the night sky, led by third-grade teacher Debra Thieme.

Huntington North High School juniors had a special English class on Thursday, April 6, in honor of reading “The Great Gatsby” in class. “The Great Gatsby” follows multiple wealthy people in New York City, coming from opposing sides of the Long Island bay. The two sides were named, respectively, the East Egg and the West Egg.

During the most recent school board meeting on April 10, student spelling bee winners of Huntington County Community School Corporation 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 and Director of Elementary Education Jay Peters. Director of Secondary Education Chuck Brimbury also gave a brief summary of the recipients’ achievements.

During the most recent school board meeting on March 20, members of Huntington County Community School Corporation were invited to be recognized for displaying HCCSC‘s core values. The members were grouped by Executive Secretary Cindy Gray and thanked and congratulated by Superintendent John Trout and Director of Elementary Education Jay Peters. They also gave a brief summary of the recipients’ achievements.

The HCCSC Board of School Trustees formally approved the hiring of Jaymee Wappes as the next principal of Riverview Middle School during Monday night’s board meeting. Wappes, who currently serves as Riverview’s assistant principal and athletic director, will take over as the principal starting in the 2023-24 school year, as current Riverview principal James Bragg will be retiring following the 2022-23 school year.

HNHS FFA students and committee members hosted the “Blue and Gold Rush Huntington North Alumni Banquet.” This annual event took place Feb. 25 at the Huntington County Fairgrounds to appreciate alumni and other supporters. The supporters enjoyed a night that included dinner and was sprinkled with music, entertainment and an understanding of how their donations serve the HNHS FFA program.

Huntington North recently received donations from the Amazon Distribution Center and the Huntington County Sheets Wildlife Museum. These donations will be used by the HNHS vocational programs through the Learning Center and the HNHS FFA program.

During the most recent school board meeting on Feb. 27, members of Huntington County Community School Corporation 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 and Director of Elementary Education Jay Peters. Director of Secondary Education Chuck Brimbury then gave a brief summary of their achievements.

During the most recent school board meeting on Feb. 13, members of Huntington County Community School Corporation 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 their achievements.

With the Board of School Trustees’ approval and participation, the Huntington County Community School Corporation is launching an important initiative, its 2023-2028 strategic planning process.

During the most recent school board meeting on Jan. 23, the HNHS girls bowling team was 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. Trout then gave a brief summary of their achievements.

Liesl, a 5-year-old Bernese mountain dog, wanders the halls of Salamonie Elementary School on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Or, as owner and art teacher Cindy Callison calls them, “T-days.” Liesl is a trained therapy dog and loves to hang out with the kids of Salamonie during recess and while Callison teaches her art classes.

Huntington North High School is adding a construction trades program for the 2023–24 school year. This program will expand upon the introduction to construction class the school has offered for several years.

During the Jan. 9 school board meeting, a donation of $60,000 was accepted for Roanoke Elementary School from the first Paul and June Everitt Foundation Grant. This will be used to build a pavilion in the playground area.

During the most recent school board meeting on Jan. 9, 16 Huntington County Community School Corporation members were invited to be recognized for displaying HCCSC core values. Students and staff that received recognitions were grouped and called forward by Executive Secretary Cindy Gray and thanked and congratulated by Superintendent John Trout. Director of Secondary Education Chuck Brimbury then gave a brief summary of their achievement.

The HCCSC school board of trustees welcomed elected member Kari Heim to serve as the representative for district three of Huntington County. Elected in the 2022 district election, Heim comes to the board with excitement.

HCCSC and the Board of School Trustees recognized Brian Warpup at the Dec. 19, 2022, meeting for his eight years of service on the Board of School Trustees.

To add onto the celebration of the holidays at HCCSC, the corporation held its annual Christmas card contest. Five student-made cards were selected to be the fronts of HCCSC’s holiday cards, sent to the superintendent’s mailing list. Two cards came from Riverview Middle School and one card came from each of Lincoln Elementary School, Salamonie Elementary School and Crestview Middle School.

The Board of School Trustees recognized a pair of groups during the core values discussion section of Monday night's board meeting, with the Unified Robotics team and the Huntington North Marching Vikes receiving recognition.

The Salamonie Elementary School Student Council and National Elementary Honor Society held a food drive for the Warren Food Pantry and a United Way Help-A-Thon. In total, students brought in and donated 1,734 food items for the Warren Food Pantry and raised $1,537 to be donated to United Way of Huntington County.

The Huntington North High School Class of 1972 recently celebrated its 50th reunion on Sept. 10 with 287 attendants. The reunion held many events such as the HNHS Varsity Singers and Viking Volume serving guests and a select auction selling items donated from local businesses to the passed graduates.

On Dec. 9, the Huntington County Community School Corporation concluded its annual Salvation Army canned food drive. This year’s food drive was a great success and just another example of the kindness and support we have from our Huntington County community.

Huntington North High School senior Audrie Bowman received a life-changing surprise on Friday, as she was announced as the University of Saint Francis Pay It Forward Scholarship winner. The scholarship provides the winner with a full-tuition and fees scholarship to attend USF for four years, a value of $140,000.

The Board of School Trustees honored 20 people during the core values section of the Nov. 28 board meeting.

Twenty-three people were recognized as part of the core values discussion during the Nov. 14 Board of School Trustees meeting.

Huntington North High School’s marching band, the Marching Vikes, wrapped up a successful season Oct. 29, battling at Indiana State School Music Association’s semi-state competition, hosted at Pike High School in Indianapolis.

Roanoke Elementary School hosted its annual Roanoke United Way pumpkin contest the week of Oct. 24. The school raised just under $600 to be donated to the United Way of Huntington County, a local nonprofit that aims to create a more united community with strong leadership and a vision to create a better quality of life for community members.

Huntington North High School Athletics is releasing a one-stop shop website encompassing team schedules, rosters and other valuable sports information. This is a new website separate from the existing HNHS page that holds only a singular tab for athletics.

The Huntington County Community Learning Center received multiple donations to better the advanced manufacturing and criminal justice half-day programs provided at the Learning Center. The items donated have a monetary value of $9,000 and were donated by Bill Crockett, Micropulse Inc. and Huntington County Central Dispatch.

Nick Altman, Adalyn Cutting and Muzamel Shirzad were recognized during Monday night's Board of School Trustees meeting for their displaying of the core value High Achievement, High Expectations and Accountability.

The Huntington branch of Partners 1st Federal Credit Union hosted their annual “Focus on the Students Community Day” event for the sixth year this summer to collect school supplies for HCCSC. The event started at the end of June and ran through the beginning of August, wrapping up on Aug. 5. The event ended with a community day of ice cream and much to celebrate.

Fourteen Huntington North High School students recently received recognition for their academic excellence, earning Academic Honor awards from the College Board National Rural and Small Town Recognition Program.

The Board of School Trustees approved a proposal from Superintendent John Trout to restructure HCCSC’s Central Office administrators during Monday night’s board meeting. The new leadership structure features a Superintendent, Director of Elementary Education and Director of Secondary Education, replacing the previous structure of a Superintendent, Business Manager and Director of Curriculum.

As the new school year begins, HCCSC would like to introduce the eight new administrators throughout the district who have joined us this summer. The eight administrators span the entire breadth of HCCSC, with at least one new administrator joining each of the high school, middle school, elementary and district-wide levels.

The Board of School Trustees formally approved John Trout as HCCSC’s new superintendent during Monday night’s special session board meeting. Trout replaces former superintendent Chad Daugherty, who left HCCSC for a position in South Carolina after 25 years of service to the HCCSC community.