From left are Tippecanoe Valley High School Principal Chad Cripe, Amy Baca, Kirstyn Yoder, Valeria Jimenez, Quinten Allen and School Board President Adam Heckaman.

BURKET — A quartet of 11th-graders at Tippecanoe Valley High School received their due on Monday night, Jan. 21, during the monthly meeting of the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation’s Board of Trustees.

Named as Rising Stars of Indiana, Amy Baca, Kirstyn Yoder, Valeria Jimenez and Quinten Allen were presented to the board by TVHS Principal Chad Cripe.

“We have four absolute rock star juniors to present to you tonight,” said Cripe. “As part of our membership of the Indiana Association of School Principals, each year you get to nominate up to four juniors to be Rising Stars and (at a future board meeting) we’re going to nominate one senior to be Indiana Academic All-State. This award is based on academics but it also has a citizenship piece, and also has an extracurricular piece.”

Cripe told the board that the process for finding the four Rising Stars was an arduous one, touting a large pool of exceptional students currently studying in their eleventh year.

“We certainly had a lot of worthy candidates and the students you see before you are all in the top 10,” Cripe said. “They’re all exceptional students in the hallway with their character and leadership.”

In other business, the board received a report on the progress of the Burket Educational Center, now in its 16th year as the corporation’s alternative school. The report was presented by teacher Micah Lukens and Director Brandon Kresca.

The board also received a donation from Kerlin Ford of Silver Lake as part of that business’s on-going Drive 4 UR School event. The car dealership used test drives as a way to raise funds for the school and presented a check to Tippecanoe Valley for $5,180.

The school corporation also received grants from the Indiana Department of Education for a Project Lead The Way Cybersecurity Grant for up to $8,000; $2,500 Roundup Grant from Kosciusko County REMC for the Tippecanoe Valley Middle School Viking Vittles Program; and a $2,500 TVHS Theatre Grant from the Frank Levinson Foundation Fund to support the high school’s production of “Once On This Land” in March.

From left are School Board President Adam Heckaman, Rick Kerlin and Valerie Warner of Kerlin Ford and Tippecanoe Valley High School Principal Chad Cripe.