Several Warsaw Community High School seniors were recognized for their achievements on AP exams during a combined school board meeting on Monday, Sept. 18. Pictured are the students who were able to attend the meeting alongside Warsaw Community High School Principal Troy Akers (far left). Photo provided by WCS Director of Communications Krista Polston.

By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Several Warsaw Community High School students were recognized for their achievements in Advanced Placement classes during a combined school board meeting on Monday, Sept. 18.

Twelve WCHS students received high scores on AP exams, with six receiving the distinction of AP Scholar. Three students were recognized as AP Scholars with Honors, and two were recognized as AP Scholars with Distinction. The students are now seniors but were juniors when they took the exams.

To receive the distinction of AP Scholar, students must score a three or higher on at least three AP exams. Students receiving the AP Scholar Award were Var Bobba, Abygail Hermann, Annalisa Hertzler, Molly Kissling, Claire Reichenbach, Knox Ritter, and Patrick Stump.

For an AP Scholar with Honors, students must score a three or higher on at least four AP exams, with a minimum score of 3.25 on each test. Bronwyn Harrison, Doondeeshwar Patnala, and Elijah Zaugg received this honor.

AP Scholars with Distinction have to score a three or higher on at least five AP exams. Raquel Brouwer and Caleb Smith received this distinction.

A majority of the aforementioned students attended the board meeting along with their parents.

Following the recognition, WCHS Principal Troy Akers and Warsaw Area Career Center Principal Ben Barkey presented data on AP and dual credit courses, respectively.

In 2022, Akers said just over 70% of WCHS’s AP students scored a 3 or higher on their exams. This percentage is the highest it’s ever been. For the first time in 25 years, no students signed up to take AP U.S. History in the 2023-24 school year. However, Akers expects the class to return in Fall 2024. At WCHS, AP scores in physics and chemistry courses are behind the state and national averages; Akers noted administration was considering solutions to rectify this.

For the 2022-23 school year, a total of 542 dual credits were earned by WCHS students. At the WACC, 2,478 dual credits were earned through the engineering, technology and manufacturing department; 444 through agriculture; 976 through medical science; 1,655 through business and computer science; and 946 through family and consumer sciences.

With the dual credit program, Barkey said WCHS and WACC have partnerships with Grace College, Purdue University, Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana University South Bend, and Vincennes University.

Barkey provided an example of dual credit success through Caleb Smith, a student recognized at the meeting as an AP Scholar with Distinction. Smith has already received an associate’s degree from Ivy Tech before even graduating from WCHS.

In other business, a public hearing for the school district’s 2024 budget was held. The budget totals $100,297,061 and is distributed as follows: education fund, $52,669,000; operations fund, $26,500,000; debt service fund, $16,544,061; referendum fund, $2,884,000; and rainy day, $1,700,000.

Chief Financial Officer April Fitterling said priorities during the budgeting process included teacher salaries, the retention of support staff, and the continued maintenance of the school district’s facilities.

No impact on Warsaw Community Schools’ current tax rate is expected. The budget will officially be approved by the board in October.

The school board also heard a brief update from Transportation Director Mark Fick, who emphasized the importance of vehicle tracking devices on the district’s school buses. Tracking recently helped the district assist a bus driver who had a medical emergency.

For the 2023-24 school year thus far, there have been 45 bus stop arm violations, with 16 sent to the county prosecutor’s office. Fick said the number of violations is down compared to this time in 2022.

WCS Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert noted the public is playing a role in reporting stop arm violations by contacting staff to report when they happen.

WCHS Student Council President Grace Ganser also provided an update on upcoming events. Homecoming is Friday, Sept. 29, with the parade theme being Movie Night. The parade’s route is the same as 2022’s. A WCHS alumni dinner will be held prior to the game from 6-7 p.m., with all the proceeds from the dinner going to Riley Hospital for Children.

There will also be a homecoming semi-formal dance open to all WCHS students from 8-10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, at the WACC gym. Tickets are on sale but are limited to a max of 400.

The board also:

• Recognized Amy Hobbs, WCS’s director of special services, who will be retiring at the end of September. She worked at WCS for 31 years.
• Approved a four-year contract with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office for a school resource officer. Joel Popenfoose will be monitoring Leesburg, Claypool and Madison Elementary Schools.
• Approved the following donations: $2,000 from Lake City Dental Solutions for WCHS athletics/2023 football; $1,000 from the Pierceton Days Parade for the WCHS band; $1,500 from the Warsaw Education Foundation, $500 from Tranzstar Warehouse LLC, and $500 from Tri Kappa for the WACC/N.E.W. Workshop; $800 from Tri Kappa for Pink Out Night; and $500 from The Vines at Nappanee for athletic advertising and promotions.

The board’s next work session is at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10. The next regular meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23.