SYRACUSE – It is hard to keep any secrets in a high school. Word travels fast and pretty soon gossip between two people quickly becomes common knowledge. At Wawasee High School people have been talking and the word is out about the Lady Warrior volleyball team, they are really good.

Manchester was the most recent team to get the word on just how good this Wawasee team is as the Lady Warriors swept the Squires 25-15, 25-13, 25-21 Tuesday night in Syracuse.

Wawasee struggled early in the first game but was lifted by Alli Ousley. The first time the junior stepped up to serve on the night Wawasee scored six straight points to take a 13-8 lead. Manchester never really threatened in the first game after the run as Wawasee won easily 25-15. Ousley would prove to be a constant pain for the Squires all night as she finished the game leading Wawasee with 14 assists, six kills and three aces.

The Squires showed some signs of life at the beginning of the second game but again failed to keep the momentum going and let Wawasee take control, leading to a 25-13 Lady Warrior win. Manchester head coach Rebekah Brown was not sure where to start with what went wrong for her team.

“We are still learning. We really need to improve our communication on the court. That is one of the areas that really hurt us tonight,” stated Brown.

Communication proved to be an issue most of the night as several mental miscues cost Brown’s team any chance at keeping up with Wawasee in the first two games.

Perhaps the best start Wawasee had all night was in the third game. The home team easily jumped out to a 10-4 lead but watched it slowly shrink. Manchester closed the gap at 11-10 and put Wawasee under pressure several times before the Lady Warriors finally closed out a well-earned 25-21 victory to complete the sweep.

With Manchester (1-8, 0-1) out of the way and the Northern Lakes Conference slate right around the corner, Lady Warrior head coach Jeff Phillips is making sure his team is prepared for what lies ahead.

“I want the girls to be happy about where they are right now but they also need to know that our next goals start on Thursday. Plymouth is our most important match of the year at this point. How we come out and play is going to set the tone for the rest of our season. Are we going to compete in the NLC or are we going to let this record dwindle away? That is the question we have to answer in our next match,” Phillips stated.

The answer to that question will come soon enough as Wawasee (9-1) travels to Plymouth on Thursday night with the varsity match set for approximately 7:00 p.m. in Plymouth.

In the junior varsity match the Wawasee JV rebounded from an ugly loss to Bethany Christian with a 17-25, 25-24, 15-4 victory over the Manchester JV. Sophomore Tia Long led the Lady Warrior JV with 10 digs, nine assists and three aces.Click to view slideshow.

Wawasee High School has invited Tippecanoe Valley High School PEER Facilitators to provide instruction on ways to reduce bullying at the high school level.

Beginning with the 2013-14 school year, the state of Indiana now requires schools to provide anti-bullying training to all students and staff. Students will hear about issues such as peer pressure, harassment, intimidation and bullying. Students will also learn what it means to be a bully, what it means to be bullied and what it means to be a bystander.

TVHS will utilize its 29 PEER Facilitators, along with the 16 newly trained Wawasee High School facilitators, to educate the students of Wawasee High School.

This Oct. 1 assembly is only for those students and staff at Wawasee High School.

Bullying is certainly nothing new and has occurred in schools for multiple generations. But sometimes students are afraid to talk about it and its effects can be devastating, even to the point of thoughts of suicide.

This morning, students and staff of Wawasee High School were given a strong anti-bullying message by student peer facilitators from Tippecanoe Valley High School. For about one hour, Wawasee freshman students gathered in the auditorium at WHS, while sophomores were in the main gym. Those two grades were released and then juniors filled the gym while seniors were in the auditorium.

Beginning with the current academic year, the state of Indiana now requires schools to provide anti-bullying training to all students and staff. Valley students, who trained Wawasee’s students involved in their peer program that kicks off this week, dealt with peer pressure, harassment, intimidation, bullying and cyber bullying.

The students noted bullying usually involves three elements: the bully, the bullied and the bystander. They heavily utilized the book “The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander” by Barbara Coloroso.

TVHS junior Sarah Jones spoke quite candidly to the Wawasee students. She said she has been personally affected and still is by bullying. Students have excessively harassed her about her hair color and clothes.

She noted some members of the swimming team at TVHS reached out to her and offered to help. They told her she has a unique personality and not to try to be someone else.

While being interviewed after her presentation, Jones said the swim team members encouraged her to help others being bullied. “I got my mind wrapped around this idea that I could help kids in my peer group,” she said, “and I could have an amazing impact on kids.” Kids are sometimes afraid to talk about bullying, she added.

Bullying can be defined in different ways and that is sometimes why it can be difficult to effectively address. Often, though, it involves intimidation or threats in some manner.

TVHS senior Tanner Andrews said after his presentation the student peer facilitators are “very passionate about doing what we can to stop bullying.” He said one goal of their message is to make more clear the line between teasing and bullying.

Valley peer facilitators gave a presentation to their own student body, but had not spoken to another student body prior to Wawasee. Nearly 30 TVHS facilitators made the trip to Syracuse.

Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tammy Cotton shared a meeting she had with Wawasee High School Principal Mike Schmidt, Kathy Myers and WHS Assistant Principal Steve Perek to chamber board members at their regular meeting Oct. 2. The theme of that meeting, according to Cotton, was connecting students with the local community and its businesses.

One method presented by Schmidt included a potential new class, financial planning, that would be made available during the fall of 2014. The idea came about from a concern that many students did not know how to write checks or create budgets.

Beyond those skills, the class would also have a mock interview component, where student would prepare for 10-15 minute mock interviews with six to 10 local businesses and professionals. Cotton welcomed board members and local businesses to contact Schmidt if they are interested.

Other means of involving students in the community included having interested students use their Warrior Time to complete projects for local businesses or organizations like fliers.

Additionally, WHS will release a new quarterly newsletter with the chamber planning to feature a link to it on their website.

Taste of Syracuse planning is off to a good start, according to task force leader Beth Kroes. “There are a lot of good ideas,” she said, noting the task force hopes to have brochures created soon. A date for the event has also been decided: July 19, 2014.

While the event will be a fundraiser for the chamber, discussions were had about choosing a local program or organization to give a portion of the money raised, in addition to collecting can goods to go toward the Syracuse food pantry.

Other thoughts for the event included allowing local restaurants to set up and each showcase one of their food items. The task force hopes to have more information to present at the November board meeting.

In other news:

• The town of Syracuse will be doing three to four more paving projects before the end of the year.
• Local businesses are asked to contact WHS if they are interested providing donations for the 2014 Pow Wow carnival event.
• The draft of the shop local passports was presented at the board meeting with local destinations to be highlighted in the campaign being the Milford Annual Bazaar, Syracuse’s Holiday Magic and North Webster Santa Visit. Other locations were in Pierceton, Winona Lake, Leesburg and Warsaw.

The chamber’s next regular meeting will be Nov. 6 in the chamber office.

Senior homecoming queen and king candidates for Wawasee High School include, in front from left, Samantha Delafuente, Tia Rinker, Jacquelynn Mishler and Lydia Katsaropoulos. In the back row are Adam Doll, Michael Pena, Jordan Elliott and Austin Lutz. (Photo by Tim Ashley)

October means leaves changing colors and dropping, farmers harvesting crops in fields and homecoming week at Wawasee High School.

This week at the high school is loaded with activities culminating with the crowning of the homecoming king and queen during halftime of the Wawasee-Elkhart Memorial football game Friday, Oct. 11, at Warrior Field.

This year’s homecoming theme at WHS is “Warriors Give Back.” Each grade level has a different color and is supporting a different cause based on the theme.

Freshmen are the color blue for childhood hunger, sophomores are red for heart health, juniors are lime green for mental health and seniors are pink for childhood cancer. Throughout the week students will design banners for their cause to be displayed during the homecoming football game. And during lunchtime throughout the week, there will be a “penny war” with the proceeds going to charities.

The underclass court for Wawasee High School’s homecoming includes, in front from left, Alexandra Fiscus (freshman), Michaela Herendeen (sophomore) and Breanna Robinson (junior). In the back row are Tyler Smith (freshman), Brock O’Haver (sophomore) and Austin Rhodes (junior). (Photo by Tim Ashley)

Students purchased homecoming shirts and the shirt colors reflect the causes. They will wear the shirts to the game. With the shirt purchase, they get a balloon the same color as their cause. They will release the balloons during halftime of the game and anyone in the crowd may purchase a balloon representing their favorite cause.

Monday evening is the “Capture the Flag” event, Wednesday evening is the talent show and Friday is the balloon launch.

Also during the week, dress up days will include green and gold Monday, boot scootin’ boogie day (cowboy attire) Tuesday, Wednesday is wacky Wednesday, Thursday is throwback day and Friday will be the class cause color day. Students will decorate their class alcoves throughout the week, too.

The Warrior Leadership Committee is helping with homecoming week and is sponsoring the “Capture the Flag” event.

For the fall concert, Vocal Motion, pictured, will be joined by the eighth grade choir, consisting of Milford School and Wawasee Middle School students, the Advanced Chorus and the Beginning Chorus.
Pictured in the first row, from left, are Amanda Bradley, Kaylee Nelson, Tristin Beery, Ashleigh Frecker and Melodie Jones. In the second row are Jesus Brito, Tiarra Culp, Taylor Heck, Allyson Weaver, Priscilla Par and Jacob Heath. The third row is comprised of Ethan Wright, Kendra Marsh, Allison Harney, Emily Jones and Braxton Oberg. In the back are Sabrina Hamilton, Joshua Collins and Kira Bailey. (Photo by Dani Molnar)

Get ready for a show Tuesday, Oct. 15, when the Wawasee High School Choral Department presents its fall concert in the high school auditorium. The show’s curtains will open at 7:30 p.m. with the public cordially invited to attend.

The department has been working very hard to present this show, and it is guaranteed to bring a smile to attendees faces.

The eighth-grade choirs from both Milford and Wawasee Middle School will be joining the high school choirs for the concert, where they will be performing “Africa” and “Haven’t Met You Yet.” The eighth grade choirs are directed by Peg Zimmerman and Hope Bechtel, respectively.

Vocal Motion will be singing and dancing to “Beautiful Day,” “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),” “Let Me Be Your Star” and “Light Up the World.” Dance captain for the group is senior, Amanda Bradley.

The Advanced Chorus girls will be singing “Life Has Loveliness To Sell” and “Drift Away.” Meanwhile, the Beginning Chorus will entertain us with “A Joyful Song” and “Drive My Car.”

“Land of the Free,” will be performed by all of the combined choirs at the conclusion of the program. All choirs will also participate in the grand finale, which will feature the song “Don’t Stop.”

Tickets are $5 for general admission with children 5 years and under being free.

Director of the high school choirs is Connie Meadows with Veronica Runyon serving as the choreographer for Vocal Motion.

School buses will be stuffed full of food for the second annual Wawasee High School Key Club Stuff the Bus non-perishable food drive.

It will be held the week of Oct. 28 to Nov. 2 and the goal this year is to stuff two buses full of food for the Syracuse, North Webster and Milford food pantries.

Food pantries rely heavily on community donations in order to ensure they have enough supplies to serve those who require assistance. Currently, the Wawasee Community School Corp. has about a 50 percent free and reduced price lunch rate among the student population.

Key Club members will be at the Dollar General store in Milford (SR 15) from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29; from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, at NewMarket (SR 13) in North Webster; and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at NewMarket (SR 13) in Syracuse. Donations of nonperishable foods to the Stuff the Bus food drive will be collected by the students those days.

In addition, the buses will be at the high school every morning the week of Oct. 28 for student and staff donations. Donations will be delivered to the food pantries after school Tuesday, Nov. 5.

For the first time since 2004, the Wawasee High School Marching Band is advancing to the regional competition. During Saturday’s invitational at Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Wawasee earned a gold rating in open class, class C.

The regional competition will be held Saturday at Chesterton High School in the northwest portion of the state. Wawasee is scheduled to perform at 2:54 p.m. (note Chesterton is on Central Time).

WHS released a statement written by Jamaica Ensz, drum major for the band, and Jasmine Ensz, former drum major and the current band director’s assistant. Ken Brower is the director.

“The Wawasee Marching Warrior Pride brought home a gold ranking from this past Saturday’s marching band competition at Homestead High School in Fort Wayne. Twenty-eight bands from around the state of Indiana came together to compete for their chance to move on to regional competition. A gold medal is needed to move on. This is the first time in nine years the Wawasee Marching Warrior Pride has received a gold medal.”

In order to qualify for the semi-state competition, Wawasee must place in the top 10 in its class.
There is a new classification structure this year for the Indiana State School Music Association marching band season. The open class is for those bands wanting to perform at the state finals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

From left, Stacie Castle, Zachary Craig, Derek Dunithan and Michael Turner are making applesauce in a kitchen at Wawasee High School. (Photo provided)

The basic employment skills training class taught by Diana Grossnickle, made up of Wawasee High School students, recently took a trip to the Community Apple Orchard near Winona Lake to pick apples for local food pantries and also themselves.

Students gained work experience in the agriculture field by picking 220 pounds of apples for local pantries and another 180 pounds for school. Back at the school, they continued their work experience in the kitchen by making the picked apples into apple butter and applesauce. They will use the applesauce as an ingredient in making muffins and the apple butter to serve with the muffins.

The apples were actually donated to food pantries in Warsaw. And 80 pounds of the apples were donated to the Syracuse Food Pantry.

Students looked up recipes to make other tasty treats they made the next week. Each student took a bag of apples home to share with their families, too.

Marching band season is now completed for Wawasee High School, but the band did earn a bronze rating during the regional competition Saturday at Chesterton High School in northwest Indiana. Only bands finishing in the top 10 move on the next level of competition.

Wawasee earned the right to compete in the regional by receiving a gold rating Oct. 12 at the Open Class Invitational at Homestead High School, Fort Wayne. It was the first time since 2004 Wawasee had earned a gold rating at that competition.

Bands receive a gold, silver, bronze or participation rating based on their level of achievement during competitions.

Josh Secor

A 20-year-old assistant soccer coach from Wawasee High School is charged with a single felony for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old female student.

Josh Secor, 20, joined the Wawasee coaching staff this fall as a JV coach and varsity assistant coach for boys soccer. On Tuesday afternoon, Secor was arrested on a D felony charge of sexual misconduct with a minor and held on a $2,000 surety bond.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Secor and the 14-year-old girl were observed having oral sex in Secor’s pickup truck on Oct. 14. The pair were also seen on Oct. 16 in a car outside of the girl’s residence in what appeared to be the act of sexual intercourse.

Syracuse Police Officer James Layne interviewed the girl who admitted she and Secor did kiss and take part in “heavy petting.” Secor was also interviewed and admitted he knew the girl was only 14 years old. He said they kissed and he fondled the girl.

Secor is a 2013 graduate of Wawasee High School. He played on the boys soccer team and was the varsity starter as a goalkeeper his senior season.

Becca Snider with a miniature horse.
(Photo provided)

As a child growing up near Mount Vernon, Ohio, Becca Snider had horses and enjoyed riding and spending time with them. Her job as a mental health therapist with Wawasee High School and Wawasee Middle School has provided an expression for her love of students and helping others.

During the recent fall break, Snider combined those passions by attending a seminar in New Hampshire through EAGALA, where she became certified as a mental health professional for the program.

“Founded in 1999, EAGALA is the leading international nonprofit association of professionals using equine therapy to address mental heath and human development needs. The vision is that every person worldwide will have access to these services known as Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Equine Assisted Learning,” according to the EAGALA website, www.eagala.org.

EGALA has more than 4,000 members in 49 countries. Facilitators must adhere to ethical standards and it is a non-profit, tax deductible group.

Snider is excited to see the pieces fall into place for the program to come to the Wawasee area. The first step was becoming certified. “EGLALA is different in that all the work with the horse is done with the people on the ground,” she explained. “Also it is a complete team approach. The team is the equine specialist, a mental health professional and horses working together with clients during the sessions.

“I like it because it is focused on solutions that the clients can arrive at themselves when given the opportunity to discover them. It uses deliberate techniques where the horses serve as metaphors in specific, ground based experiences. It is different than the physical therapy approach used at Magical Meadows and Loveway because it serves people with different needs than those programs do,” she added.

Now she hopes to find someone in the area with horses willing to work with her. She stated, “I’m just at the beginning of this journey and am working on a long term goal of partnering with the schools, Bowen Center and private individuals to put the program into practice.”

This is Snider’s eighth year working at Wawasee. Her path from Ohio led her to Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, where she met her husband, Lee Snider, a New Paris native. Her undergraduate degree from IWU was in business and psychology and she went on to earn a master of arts degree in counseling from Grace College, Winona Lake. A sojourn in Indianapolis intervened between the two degrees.

She received her first pony when she was 2-years-old and had horses until she went to college. Now, she enjoys riding a friend’s horses whenever possible.

As Snider’s husband is the principal of Harrison Elementary, Warsaw, she explained, “We are both invested in the schools in our communities. I coach volleyball at Wawasee Middle School and I play volleyball with my husband in Warsaw.” The couple is actively involved with Christ Covenant Church and enjoy the lakes and outdoor activities in general.

“I’m so excited about the EAGALA program and hope others will be, too. The methods are research based and data has been collected on the effectiveness internationally. There is a strong program in the Indianapolis area and one underway in Fort Wayne but nothing here,” she concluded.

Teens struggling with problems are more likely to listen to another teen than they are to an adult. For various reasons, they tend to be suspicious of or not trust adults.

Mike Schmidt, principal at Wawasee High School, observed a peer facilitation program during his four years as assistant principal at Tippecanoe Valley High School. “I saw it in action for four years and I saw it work,” he said. So hoping to be proactive and deal with potential problems before they escalate, a peer facilitation program was launched Sept. 17 at WHS, about two weeks ahead of the original projected date of Oct. 1.

“There was just too much need,” Schmidt noted.

Junior and senior students are trained in conflict management and resolution and matched in a two to one ratio with a student who could be struggling with failing classes, poor study habits, a family loss, lack of confidence or other issues. Schmidt selected the 16 students who are now peer facilitators. The program is administered by Paul Meyer, a guidance counselor at WHS.

Meyer noted once a student is identified as being in need of facilitation, they are tagged based on their class schedule using a system of red, yellow and green. Red means the facilitation can’t occur at the time because the student can’t miss class, yellow is “ask me first” and green means go ahead with the facilitation. Meyer emphasized facilitators need to keep academics as a priority “because you can’t help someone if your academics are bad,” and academics is the top priority overall.

Facilitation sessions are typically held during Warrior Time now, but next year will actually be a class period built into the schedule. Depending on the problem being addressed, sessions can last anywhere from about five minutes to two hours, which Meyer noted is highly unusual as most sessions are 15 minutes to 20 minutes in length. “We try to keep sessions to about 15 to 20 minutes,” he said, and follow-ups are done, too.

How a facilitator approaches talking to a student can vary, but Meyer said often a grade check is “symptomatic of outside influences” and then facilitators use a process known in therapy as “peeling the onion.” They start with the grades and work their way down to the core issue, he added. Sometimes all students need is for someone to be willing to listen to them, he added.

Follow-up sessions are brief check-ins to see if students need something and can be at a locker, during lunch, etc. Follow-ups are done once a week for four to six weeks and then every other week for a few weeks.

Schmidt, who said he started putting the framework together for the program in February during the previous school year, emphasized it was not implemented as a response to the student suicides. He originally wanted to launch a peer facilitator program a few years ago, he noted. If facilitators see any indications a student is considering suicide, they are instructed to contact a mental health therapist, counselor or administrator. “Talking about suicide is far above their ‘pay grade,’” Schmidt emphasized, meaning they are not qualified.

Peer facilitation brought positive results at TVHS, he said. Discipline issues decreased, guidance problems were fewer and at times fights, bullying and other conflicts were avoided. Changed behavior is the ultimate goal, he noted.

Facilitators who violate confidentiality are removed from the program immediately. Another goal is to begin a similar program in the middle school grades.

Parent-teacher conferences for Wawasee High School will be held from 3:15 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 13, in the spectator gym. Counselors will be in the brick yard area for parents to pick up their student’s mid-terms.

For more information, call the high school at 574-457-3147.