From left, David Burden, Joshua Wall, April Fitterling and Brad Gutwein were all recipients of the WCS Board Scholarships.

WARSAW — Warsaw Community Schools has awarded much-needed funding to help with the continuing education of four of its own.

At the regular meeting of the WCS board of trustees Monday night, Nov. 19, the board congratulated Joshua Wall, David Burden, April Fitterling and Brad Gutwein as recipients of the scholarship designed to help WCS educators with continuing education.

Burden, in his sixth year with the school corporation, is a STEM instructional coach, working with students at Madison and Washington elementary schools. “What I plan to pursue with this and what I’m already in the process of is an educational leadership master’s degree geared toward administration,” Burden said. “I’m just very blessed and very honored to be able to receive this. I just wanted to make sure that you all knew what an incredible opportunity this is for me. This is a game changer in many ways for me and my family.”

Wall said he is also pursuing an educational leadership degree. “I have dreams in the future to be able to move into some sort of role like that,” he said. “I currently teach in the second grade and I enjoy what I do very much. I’m so thankful to the board to receive this opportunity and to be able to continue my education.”

Fitterling and Gutwein are managers in finance and information technology respectively. They both told board members that the scholarship was welcomed as they continue their paths as lifelong learners.

“This opportunity came along and I’m looking into an MBA with an IT focus, so I’m just looking to build upon the skills I’ve been able to acquire,” said Gutwein.

In other news, the board heard presentations from several educators, administrators and board members who recently traveled to China.

The board also:

• Heard a presentation from Lakeview Middle School Principal Amy Sively regarding that school’s program called Data-Driven Intervention.
• Heard a presentation from WCS Chief Analytics Officer Shelly Wilfong about the school’s most recent ISTEP results. Wilfong said WCS students tested above the state average in both math and English. Schools throughout the district either topped the state average or improved on their averages from last year, Wilfong said.