Donald Bradley addresses the Tippecanoe Valley school board.

MENTONE — Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation’s Board of School Trustees heard a presentation Monday night, June 11, on a program designed to help increase students’ chances of survival in the terrifying event of the unthinkable happening locally.

A program called Project Valley Safe, championed by 2018 Tippecanoe Valley High School graduate Donald Bradley, is designed to provide a five-gallon bucket full of emergency supplies in each of the corporation’s 144 classrooms.

“Donald just graduated from the high school,” said outgoing Superintendent Brett Boggs. “He’s also employed part-time with Rochester Metal Products and requested funding from them for Project Valley Safe. He’s the developer of that project, which is a student-led initiative.”

Bradley secured $100 donation from his employer and the corporation has received a promise of $2,000 from Good To Go Oil Company, both donations of which will be earmarked as part of the project’s estimated $5,000 price tag.

“How Project Valley Safe got started is there have been a lot of school shootings and a lot of stuff has been happening,” said Bradley. “The last school shooting really hit home because these kids, they were just like me. They were about to go do some great things and it was cut short because of stupidity. As a senior, I thought we needed to do something.”

The buckets, called first response buckets, will be filled with emergency supplies such as water or essential first-aid kits.

Bradley told the board he is continuing to pursue other avenues of fundraising to help completely pay for the project. Interested citizens can also help the cause by using a Spirit Pump located in Akron, which donates a portion of gasoline purchases to projects such as Project Valley Safe.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the hiring of Math Teacher Baylee Hibshman and Spanish Teacher Sarah Hoff for the high school.
• Presented accolades to three employees. The corporation awarded Mentone Elementary School Third-Grade Teacher Paige Miller the World Class Teacher Award, while also recognizing LeAnna Bell and Emily Gearhart with the district’s Pillar Award for support staff.
• Special Education Teacher Cathy Olson told the board about a young student who battles multiple debilitating conditions, which make attending school a challenge. “For Juliana, a typical day at school can be very painful for her,” said Olson. Olson applied for, and received, a grant for equipment designed to ease the stress on Juliana, while at school. “In this case, I thought that this was a dream grant, I probably won’t get it funded,” Olson said. The grant for $650 was approved by the board and came from donorchoose.org.
• The board also approved a grant for $1,000 from the Fulton County Women’s Giving Circle for the high school’s Champions Together program.