Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
AKRON – Lindsay Petersen and Cassie Rich were announced as Tippecanoe Valley High School valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, at Tippecanoe Valley Community Schools’ board meeting on Monday.
Petersen plans to study animal science and minor in ag business at Huntington University. Rich is undecided on her major but is considering either software development or mathematics.
The board also recognized students who had gone above and beyond in their extracurriculars during the winter season. Students and teams recognized included:
• Kaitlyn Eastgate qualified for the Indiana Schools Speech and Debate Association competition. This was the inaugural year for the TVHS Speech and Debate team.
• Viking Helm (TVHS Student Council) raised over $6,000 for Riley’s Children’s Hospital.
• From Solo and Ensemble Band, Kodiak Hillen and Drew Evans qualified for state and received a Silver qualification.
• National History Day team members Abby Heckaman and Tessa Rich made it to the state qualifiers.
• Kolten Sisk made it to the semi-state wrestling qualifier.
• Karlee Hallstrom and Lizzie Daniels made it to the girls wrestling regional qualifier. This was the girls wrestling team’s inaugural season.
• The TVHS girls basketball team was the INSC Conference champions.
• The TVHS girls swimming team was the INSC Conference shampions for the second year in a row.
• Gavin Leininger made it to the regional dive qualifier.
TVHS Principal Brandon Kresca presented information regarding TVHS.
The graduating class of 2026 had SAT scores above the Indiana average for both English and math. For the SAT English test, the TVHS class of 2026 earned an average score of 492. In Indiana, the average score is 483. For the SAT math test, the TVHS class of 2026 earned an average score of 466. The average score for students in the state of Indiana is 456.
Literacy block placements have replaced silent reading time and are split into three categories: enrichment, fluency, and UFLI. Enrichment students read novels and focus on discussing, analyzing, and writing about the content. Currently, 67% of students, 366, are in enrichment.
Fluency students focus on increasing the words per minute reading rate of students by reading short passages. Twenty percent, or 110 students, are in this category, but every student at this level has shown improvement since implementation at the start of the school year.
UFLI is directed toward special education and English Language Learning students. UFLI curriculum focuses on phonics and building the fundamentals. Thirteen percent of students, 35, are in UFLI. Six UFLI students have tested into the fluency category.
Kresca said regarding the program, “The eventual goal is that every student graduate from Tippecanoe Valley High School 100% at or above reading level for their grade level.”
There has been a noticeable improvement in student behavior this school year. Thus far in the 2025-26 school year, there have been 264 referrals, minor infractions; and 86 incidents, major infractions. For comparison, during the 2024-25 school year, there were 369 referrals and 137 incidents.
In other business:
• Parent-teacher conferences were Tuesday, March 17.
• “Shrek the Musical” will be in the TVHS auditorium at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 26 and Friday, March 27; and 4 p.m. Saturday, March 28. Tickets will be $10 for adults and $5 for students. Children 5 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased online here. https://tvtheater.ludus.com/index.php
• Psi Iota Xi sorority donated $3,000 to be split evenly between the library, band and choir programs.
The nest regular board meeting will be 6 p.m. Monday, April 20 at Akron Elementary.
