Up for the challenge

Thumbs-up to the students at St. Ambrose Catholic School in Seymour for winning the fourth annual 3R Challenge, which involved creating and implementing a new recycling program and then showing how it promotes the three Rs of environmental stewardship — reduce, reuse and recycle. The students turned around and gave the $500 the school received from the Greater Seymour Chamber of Commerce’s recycling committee and Best Way Disposal for winning the challenge to the Missionary Childhood Association to purchase filters to purify drinking water in Haiti.Chamber award winnersThumbs-up to those individuals and business recognized by Greater Seymour Chamber of Commerce during the 85th annual meeting Wednesday. They include the three teachers of the year, Laura Burbrink, elementary; Summer Schleibaum, middle school; and Jeanna Eppley, high school; Tonja Couch, The Rising Star; The Carpet Gallery, Small Business of the Year; Royalty Companies Inc., Corporate Citizen; and Rexanne Ude, Citizenship.

A leader on the lanes

Thumbs-up to Seymour High School junior Hannah Kaufman for winning the Indiana High School Bowling Association singles title Saturday at Lafayette. Kaufman finished fourth in the preliminaries before knocking off three straight opponents to become the first Seymour bowler to win a state title.Chasing a titleThumbs-up to Seymour High School senior Noah Bullard for advancing to the boys swimming state finals in the 200-yard individual medley by finishing with a time of 1:59.88 on Saturday in the Floyd Central Sectional. He also swam well enough in the 100-yard breaststroke to advance to the state finals. A related thumbs-up goes to Owls freshman Devin Ramsey for finishing fourth in diving at the Floyd Central Sectional to advance to Tuesday’s Bloomington North Regional.

Appealing

Thumbs-up to the Jackson County Visitor Center and Brownstown Chamber of Commerce for sponsoring an Appeals on Wheels visit Feb. 19 at Brownstown Central High School. The program involves a three-member panel of judges from the Indiana Court of Appeals hearing oral arguments in a case in locations around the state instead of Indianapolis. The visit by the state’s second highest court offered local students and residents a rare chance to see the court in action.WrongdoingThumbs-down when you hire a repair and paint person and then when they are gone so are some very sentimental Christmas and Valentine’s Day decorations and other special items. Don’t trust and lock up.Edna Howard, Seymour