JGHS principal updates school board

Prior to the winter break, Manering stated that the Boys Wrestling team won the Harry Ganser Memorial Duals for the third year, the team won every match. Two wrestlers on the Girls Wrestling team qualified for the state qualifiers. Those wrestlers were Olivia Nifong, sophomore, and McKinley Platz, freshman. 

“The IHSAA has made this year girls wrestling to be what’s called an emerging sport. So they create bylaws and they start the process of moving them into a IHSAA. With that, the coaches association has created this state meet and it’s been going on for a couple of years. We’ve gotten many females this year, I think we have five or six that finished the year out,” said Manering.

Nifong and Platz competed at Mooresville High School for the IHSGW State Championships over the weekend. The two were the first members of the girls team to qualify for the state meet in school history.

Principal Manering then reported to the board that the high school attained 100 percent graduation rate last year.

“It is just a tremendous accomplishment for every student, staff member, anybody that’s associated with John Glenn High School and the entire community. It is an entire team effort of rolling up your sleeves, getting these kids working forward if they’ve not been successful in some classes getting them caught up,” said Principal Manering. 

One of things that JGHS has utilized to help reach that 100 percent graduation rate was the start of an alternative education program. “We’ve started an alternative ed program, which has really helped kind of getting kids out of those distractions in the classrooms. Because a lot of times, that’s what it is, they get distracted by things and then fall behind,” he said.

This accomplishment wasn’t something that was obtained in a single year. “I’m very, very proud of that. That’s something that there’s a lot of years that have gone into that. But, a 100 percent, it’s something that doesn’t happen very often and it’s something that we always tried for and usually don’t quite get there. We had some kids that finished over the summer to do that too,” said Manering.

Also in his report, he asked the board to accept the following donations: $50 from Stephen and Katherine Lawson for the Drama Club, $1,113.55 from Lincoln Township Trustee for Falloween, $150 from St. Patrick’s Church toward the choir, $500 from the Town of Walkerton toward drama, and $100 from Emily and Chris Winchell for baseball. 

The Junior Class will be doing a carnation sale fundraiser closer to Valentine’s Day. 

There were four juniors that were chosen for the Class of 2024 Rising Stars by the Indiana Association of School Principals. Those juniors were Carter Dupont, Chase Miller, Logan Richie, and Hannah Thomas. Manering explained that the Rising Stars is a non-competitive recognition program that’s designed to honor high school juniors for their academic achievement by allowing schools to honor identify scholars during their junior year. By identifying them during their junior year, Manering said that it could boost visibility and scholarship opportunities for them.