Lending a hand
Thumbs-up to the group of local residents looking to bridge the gap between those in need of assistance and those with the means to provide the support to make it easier to help and be helped in Jackson County. A special thumbs-up to those spearheading the effort. They are Jessica Olsen with First Presbyterian Church, Robin Everhart with Central Christian Church, Karen Browning with Double Down Outreach Ministry, Ryon Wheeler of the Boys and Girls Club of Seymour and Shellie Jordan, director of the Center for Congregations southeast office in Seymour.
Academic all-stars
Thumbs-up to Brownstown Central’s Claire Poulton and Tayler Garland, Trinity Lutheran’s Savannah Harweger and A.J. Goecker and Crothersville’s Piper Hensley for their selections as 2018-19 Academic All-State honorable mention by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.
Top flight
Thumbs-up to Indiana University East senior Lance Hackman for being named the River States Conference’s Men’s Golfer of the Week. The Brownstown Central High School graduate shot a 2-over 74 at the Savannah State Spring Invitational over spring break.
Seeing stars
Thumbs-up to the students, faculty, administrators, staff and volunteers who had a role in Trinity Lutheran High School being named to the Indiana Department of Education’s list of Four Star Schools. This marks the sixth time in seven years the Seymour school earned the award, which was created more than 30 years ago to recognize outstanding academic achievement.
Scholarly
Thumbs-up to Trinity Lutheran High School senior Nathaniel Bauman who is a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program and classmate Mark Shoemaker who made the commended list. Bauman is among the top 15,000 students in the country to be recognized as a finalist and is Trinity’s first finalist.
Thumbs-up to Brownstown Central Middle School eighth-grader David Pate and Seymour Middle School seventh-grader Benton Smith for being selected as semifinalists eligible to compete in today’s National Geographic Society GeoBee state competition at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.