WARSAW — Efforts to bring Hobby Lobby to Warsaw will come with a cost.

The city presented a plan to city co8uncil to provide $250,000 toward Hobby Lobby’s new construction at the Marketplace of Warsaw on the east end of the property.

The city and developer, Sullivan Wickley, confirmed plans a few weeks ago after it became apparent that Hobby Lobby planned to open a store in the city.

The agreement comes after years of social media support for a Hobby Lobby to open a store locally, as well as negotiations with the city to make that happen

Jeremy Skinner, the city's director of community and economic development, presented details of the plan Monday night.

Skinner said the city considered various locations and that Sullivan Whickly assembled a plan that was workable for both sides.

“Hopefully, with the addition of Hobby Lobby, they’ll be able to fill those little spaces remaining with additional tenants.”

Skinner announced the city would provide $250,000 to help with construction plans, which include demolishing several empty storefronts east of Planet Fitness.

The city also provided money several years ago when Sullivan Whickley first announced plans to renovate the shopping center.

Since then, the developer has brought in Ollies, Beall's, and Planet Fitness.

“As you may remember, we did a bond issue for the Marketplace of Warsaw when it was basically 90 percent empty,” Skinner reminded the council on Monday night.

Payments would come from TIF revenues and would be made this year and in 2026.

City Council unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding on the deal on Monday night.

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WARSAW — Parking for youth football games at Fribley Field on Market Street in Warsaw will soon be expanded a bit.

That’s because the city has recently been clearing out some trees in the area and will revamp what has been a makeshift parking area east of the field in the past.

The city acquired the land a few years ago.

Fribley Field attracts large crowds and parents whose children participate in the youth league often park in a church parking lot on the north side of Market Street.

Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer said he was unsure of exactly how many parking spaces the entire area would hold, but said it will likely just about double in size.

The lot is roughly a half acre, he said.

Cleanup in recent days involved the removal of vegetation, saplings and sizeable trees.

"Hopefully, that will prevent some of the parking across the street and make it safer for the kids," Plummer said.

He said the lot would not immediately be paved, but would be ready for the upcoming football season.

"I think it will improve it. It probably won't solve it but we do the best we can down there," Plummer said.

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WARSAW — Kosciusko County middle school students will have the opportunity to compete in the National Civics Bee for the first time during the 2023-24 school year.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, organizer of the National Civics Bee, has named the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce as an official partner to host a Kosciusko County competition in 2024, according to a provided news release.

The National Civics Bee is a competition that encourages young Americans to engage in civics and contribute to their communities. This opportunity extends to students in sixth through eighth grades, granting them a platform to demonstrate their civics knowledge.

Students can enter the competition by submitting an essay online beginning Nov. 13, 2023.

For educators, the program offers valuable resources, including a teacher guide, to introduce the opportunity to their students, the news release states. Resources are available through the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and local participating chambers.

Participants in the National Civics Bee will have the chance to gain recognition for their civics knowledge and skills, and compete for prizes, including a $1,000 cash prize for the state champion. The competition enables students to explore issues that matter to their communities, furthering their understanding of civic engagement and fostering responsible citizenship.

This year, the National Civics Bee is expanding its reach to students in 28 states, with plans for a national competition scheduled for 2024. A three-year, $4.5 million grant from the Daniels Fund will allow the U.S. Chamber Foundation to scale these bees to all 50 states by 2026.

“In these challenging times, fostering a deep understanding of civics and government among our young students is of utmost importance. The National Civics Bee provides a unique platform for them to not only showcase their knowledge but also become active and engaged citizens of the future,” said Hilary Crow, vice president of civics at the U.S. Chamber Foundation.

Kosciusko Chamber President & CEO Rob Parker said, “The Kosciusko Chamber is proud to have been selected as a partner for the National Civics Bee. We believe that a democracy is strongest when its citizens are most informed and we are proud to be able to bring awareness and knowledge by offering a Civics Bee in our community.”

For more information, click on the website here.

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High school students, transfer students and their families are invited to see Grace’s campus and learn about its variety of academic opportunities. The day will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Mount Memorial Hall, 808 Kings Highway, Winona Lake.

At Lancer First Look, prospective students and their parents will tour the campus, meet with admissions and financial aid staff, chat with current Grace College faculty and students, and eat lunch in the dining commons. After lunch there will be a panel discussion with faculty, staff, and current students followed by an information meeting for college transfer students.

“Grace College prioritizes getting students on campus to experience our Christ-centered community firsthand,” said Dr. Mark Pohl, associate vice president of enrollment management at Grace. “Lancer First Look is an opportunity to share our academic excellence and deeply-connected community with prospective students and their families.”

Grace College continues other unique visit options this summer. Every Thursday evening, Grace will host Sunset Tours. These visits begin at 4:30 p.m. and end by 7 p.m. Students participate in an admissions and financial aid meeting, campus tour, and (with the right timing) finish with a gorgeous Winona Lake sunset.

“We want to show off the sunsets over Winona Lake that Grace students enjoy frequently while they are here,” Pohl said.

Individual campus tours are offered at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays throughout the summer. These visits allow prospective students to schedule meetings with professors and coaches in areas of interest.

For more information or to register for Lancer First Look or a campus tour, visit www.grace.edu/visit-us, call 866-974-7223 or emailvisit@grace.edu.

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Warsaw Community Schools has selected Steven Boyer for the role.

He follows in the steps of Chris Gensinger, who will retire at the end of this school year after 40 years with Warsaw Community Schools-- 26 of those as principal of Eisenhower.

Boyer previously worked in Plymouth schools since 2006, most recently as principal of Menominee Elementary School.

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Brandon Kresca was unanimously voted into the role for the 2019-2020 school year at Monday night’s school board meeting.

Kresca previously served as the assistant principal since February of 2018.

He will now fill the position currently held by Chad Cripe, who is resigning after being principal since 2017.

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Mr. Randy Harris submitted his resignation Tuesday, and it became effective this morning.

Both Mr. Harris and the Board agree that his resignation was “in the mutual best interest of both parties.”

HCCSC released the following statement on Mr. Harris’ resignation:

“Mr. Harris has served HCCSC for nearly four years, and has guided the School Corporation through very difficult processes including the closing of Northwest and Lancaster Elementary Schools, the reopening of Horace Mann Elementary School, redistricting of the entire School Corporation, and important remodeling projects at Huntington North High School including the North Arena and HNHS Auditorium projects. Mr. Harris also participated in the negotiation of four teacher contracts that increased teacher pay each time.”

The Board of School Trustees will immediately begin the process of hiring a new Superintendent.

Meantime, Assistant Superintendents Chad Daugherty and Scott Baumgardner will take on responsibility and oversee daily operations.

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The school announced Monday that the Wisconsin Republican will discuss topics during the 2019-20 academic year including the fundamentals of American government, the current state of political polarization, and Catholicism and economics.

Ryan didn’t seek re-election last year. He’ll be among other former lawmakers and government officials sharing real-world policy and political experience with students at Notre Dame.

The school announced earlier this year that former Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly was returning to his alma mater as an instructor after losing his re-election bid. Denis McDonough, one of former President Barack Obama’s top White House aides, earlier joined the school’s international affairs program.

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Purdue students returning from spring break on March 18 will no longer have access to bandwidth-consuming sites like movie and TV service Netflix, gaming site Steam and music streaming site Pandora, The Journal & Courierreported. Social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, won't be blocked.

"This is aimed at what's considered recreational streaming," said Julie Kercher-Updike, Purdue's deputy chief information officer. "It's really about making it so streaming doesn't take away from giving academic resources first priority."

The university will create designated spaces in academic buildings where students can access the streaming sites.

Purdue President Mitch Daniels launched efforts in 2018 to reduce the university's broadband services, which had seen five times the consumption and prices double over four years.

The university conducted a week-long study of Wi-Fi traffic in two of its largest lecture halls and found that just 4 percent of data was downloaded from sites deemed "academic," while 34 percent was from sites deemed "likely non-academic."

"When it's purely recreational, especially during class hours, I think it raises some questions," Daniels said at the time.

The university tested filtering sites in the fall and spring and saw bandwidth usage drop. Blackboard, a university site used for assignments and grading, jumped from being the No. 78 most used site in one of the lecture halls to being ranked in the top 10, said Mark Sonstein, Purdue's executive director of IT infrastructure services.

The pilot included information on how to file a complaint about the filtering, but the university received little criticism, said Kercher-Updike.

"We just have not seen the push back we thought we would see," she said.

Michael Graham, a junior studying engineering, said he didn't notice any changes to the class he had that experienced the test filtering.

"I'm not in there to watch movies or anything," Graham said. "I really don't know anyone else who does, either. ... So, I guess I don't have a problem with it."

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The Indiana Department of Education says the 2018 state graduation rate was 88.1%. That’s up almost a full percentage point from 2017.

Locally, the only public school corporation with graduations rate below the state’s was Whitko Community Schools.

The state waiver graduation rates for public schools were 92.23 percent for Wawasee School Corp.; 92.31 percent for Warsaw Community Schools; 95.92 percent for Tippecanoe Valley School Corp.; 83.93 percent for Whitko Community Schools; 98.51 percent for Triton School Corp.; and 95.97 percent for Manchester Community Schools.

For Lakeland Christian Academy, a local non-public school, the state waiver graduation rate was 87.88 percent, below the state’s by 0.22 percent.

The state non-waiver graduation rates locally were 84.47 percent for Wawasee; 84.23 percent for Warsaw; 87.76 percent for Tippecanoe Valley; 79.46 percent for Whitko; 97.01 percent for Triton; and 91.13 percent for Manchester Community Schools.

For Lakeland Christian Academy, the state non-waiver graduation rate was 81.82 percent, more than 1 percent over the state’s.

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