Valley School Board Updated On Burket Educational Center
Posted
Amanda Bridgman-
BURKET – Tippecanoe Valley School Board met at and heard an update of the Burket Educational Center Monday night.
Micah Lukens, an instructor of the alternative education program there, said the center opened in 2003 and before that it was an old elementary school. The goal of the center is to provide positive learning experiences for students who may not have had success in traditional classroom settings.
Lukens highlighted some of the ways they do that there, including business-centered classes, participation in Jobs for American Graduates, increased participation in the Warsaw Area Career Center and through work-based learning.
Three students will compete in various tasks, including employability, Jan. 31 at the Salvation Army Kroc Center in South Bend, Lukens said, and eight students are currently taking courses at the WACC.
There are 26 students enrolled in the alternative education program now, not including four who had enough credits and graduated this year.
Lukens also recognized five students who were present during Monday’s board meeting and highlighted why they found themselves in the program and how they’ve used that to either obtain a diploma or are on their way. One student had attendance problems; another fell behind in schoolwork because she was the main support to her father who had become seriously ill; another student was having problems with bullying; another was pregnant and now has a baby.
Since 2003, the center has helped 345 students, Lukens said.
Also Monday, the board:
• Recognized senior Quintin Allen for being accepted to the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Molecular Medicine in Action program. The program was developed by representatives of the Riley Children’s Foundation, IU School of Medicine and the Indiana Association of Biology Teachers to provide high school students an inside view of research and science. Of only 50 students chosen in Indiana for the program, Allen was one.
• Accepted a $1,000 grant from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation from the John R. and Joan Bradway Fund to go toward the middle school’s functional life skills cooking program.
Teacher Cathy Olson gave a brief presentation on the class. She said students pick out recipes, travel to the Akron grocery store and buy groceries, then come back to the classroom and learn how to follow a recipe and even about the culture where the recipe they chose may have come from. The grant money will cover the cost of those groceries for the rest of this year and probably most of the entire next year, she said.
• Accepted a $2,500 grant from the Kosciusko County REMC Round-Up Grant for the middle school’s Viking Vittles program. Lori Tilden-Geiger, director of marketing, public relations and grants, said the Viking Vittles program sends food home with students on the weekends, but it expands much more than that. She said the program’s money also is used, for example, to help a family who had a house fire buy clothing, or to provide holiday meals like a turkey and the fixings to families in need.
The next board meeting is 6 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Tippecanoe Valley Middle School.
