1. Pass the Graduation Qualifying Exam (GQE) or qualifying for a waiver which also requires having attended high school 95% of the time OR
2. Complete a Graduation Pathway offered by the school

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reminds us that high school graduates make 26% more on average than non graduates. Incomes increase as skills and degrees stack. For example a student earning a certification is likely to earn 12% more than a high school graduate. And, the median income for a college graduate is 67% higher than a high school graduate.

Providing students and their parents with the knowledge to make choices and providing access to programming will ensure our Jimtown Jimmies can remain competitive in this ever-changing world.

The Northern Indiana Conference held the annual conference wrestling tournament on Saturday, January 15th at Elkhart High School. Jimtown did very well in the 12 team conference, finishing 3rd overall.

Jimtown had 3 conference champions on the day: Aaron De LaLuz at 120, Connor Watts at 145 and Landon Buchanan at 170. The Jimmies had several All-NIC performances including , Alex Moyer at 106, Mikey Kallimani at 132, Noah Eberhart at 138, and Connor McPhee at 182.

At the end of the meet the coaches in the NIC vote for the Wrestler of the Year and Coach of the Year in the NIC. This year Jimtown is proud to announce that The Wrestler of the Year is Landon Buchanan. The Coach of the Year is Jimtown’s Jerimiah Maggart

Testing is around the corner for many of our Jimmies. Each test is a component of graduation, so it is important to make sure students are focused and ready to go.

Seniors who have not yet passed the ISTEP nor completed Grad Pathways will retake the ISTEP on February 8 (Math) and February 10 (ELA).

Juniors will take the SAT exam while Sophomores and selected Seniors will complete the ASVAB test on March 2.

The monsters have invaded! The 7th grade Family and Consumer Science Class teamed up with the kindergarten classes to create little monster buddies. Pictures were given to the kindergarteners to color and the 7th graders matched a monster doll that they made to the picture as closely as possible. Then the monster buddies were packaged up and given to the kindergarteners to keep. We had such fun creating these for our friends at the elementary school.

Our counselors have been instrumental in planning and implementing Kindness Week at JIS. We took a week in January and focused on being intentional about treating each other kindly. Our grade levels each made Valentine’s cards for a grade level at the elementary school or some of our community’s senior citizens at Hubbard Hill. We hope to continue acts of kindness throughout the whole year.

More than 60 JES families recently came out for our Title 1 Family Literacy Night. We played reading games, participated in activities and shopped at the Book Fair. Parents learned more about our Title 1 Program, including the resources available to check out that support reading and math at home. Thanks to Mrs. Vollmar, Mr. Eppert and several of our staff for setting up and volunteering to help!

If you would like information on how to access our resources for home or any other information about the Title 1 Program, please reach out to your student’s teacher or the JES office.

And on behalf of Mrs. Hutsell, our librarian, thank you for the help and support for Book Fair. We made almost $2,000, every penny of which is used to buy materials for the library.

Teaching and learning would never occur without our maintenance department staff Steve Sandsmark and Robert Getz. Marty Moyer and Steven Williams round out the team for special projects. The maintenance team keeps our buildings warm, lighted and safe. They are early risers and weekend warriors responsible for plowing our parking lots and clearing side walks so that our buildings can safely open.