Flying high

Thumbs up to the Boys & Girls Club of Seymour, which recently was honored as the 2023 League of EAGLES Gold Award winner. The award is a national recognition program for a board of directors for achieving a set of standards that provides an outcome-based assessment of the board’s responsibilities and impact for the club in the six performance areas, including attendance at board meetings, face-to-face solicitations and contributions of personal unrestricted gifts. This marks the second year in a row the board has received the award from Boys & Girls Club of America. The 2023 board of directors consists of President Gary Green, Vice President Doug Prather, Secretary Mitchell Kilgas, Treasurer Mark Dennis, Andrea Hall, Andrew Brock, Brad Lucas, Brandon Harpe, Bri Roll, Bridget Longmeier, Bruce Wynn, Drew Hillian, Dr. Eric Fish, Jackie Hare, J.D. Roberts, Jeff Lorenzo, John Beatty, Matthew Lorenzo, Stephanee Squires-Roberts, Stephanie Burgess, Suzi Wolka and Todd Prewitt.

Off to state

Thumbs up to the Brownstown Central High School volleyball squad for winning the Columbus East Semistate on Saturday by beating Indianapolis Scecina 3-2. The 24-13 Braves face 30-4 Muncie Burris for the Class 2A title at 1:30 p.m. today at Worthen Area at Ball State University in Muncie. The Braves roster features seniors Adelynn Anderson, Kera Wischmeier and Kaitlyn Williams; juniors Addison Darlage, Kinzee Dean, Haley Derringer, Noelani McPherson, Paisleigh Peters and Jaydynn Yeadon; sophomores Jenna Boknecht, Claire Brelage, Olivia Fritz, Olivia Justice, Brailey Tiepen, Genna Preston, Ashlyn Sorg, Finley Wheeler and Sophie Wischmeier; and freshmen Claire Brock, Alex Davidson, Ella Nehrt, Lois Vaught and Claire Young. The Braves, who are shooting for the school’s second state title, are coached by Jennifer Shade.

Academic all-stars

Thumbs up to the volleyball players from Jackson County high schools who recently were selected to the Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association academic all-state team. Those earning gold awards for maintaining a grade point average of 3.75 or better are Brownstown Central’s Kera Wischmeier and Kaitlyn Williams, Crothersville’s Elayna Ord, Seymour’s Journee Brown, Raeann Baker and Katherine Veatch and Trinity Lutheran’s Drew Hubbard and Kiley Zabel. A related thumbs up to Brownstown Central’s Adelynn Anderson, who earned a silver award for seniors with GPAs between 3.50 and 3.74.

Nurse-friendly

Thumbs up to Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, which is ranked as the No. 1 Most Nurse-Friendly Hospital in the nation by TopRNtoBSN, a nursing career and education website. The ranking used U.S. News & World Report, CMS, the National Database of Nurse Quality Indicators, the American Nurses Credential Center Magnet Recognition Program and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Patient Survey to determine the top hospitals for nurses. The list names hospitals in the United States that have demonstrated a high valuation of their nursing staff, provide employees with a host of benefits and support teams and provide outstanding work environments. Schneck was among an elite group of hospitals honored, including Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Cedars-Sinai and Cleveland Clinic.