Today's logo share is the chain. This, like the anchor, is a secondary logo. The chain is a symbol of our connectivity. While we're all individuals, we are all Lakers. We are stronger together.
#AnchorDown
Lakeland School Corporation Public Notice
April 20, 2023
The Lakeland School Corporation Board of School Trustees will be appointing a replacement for David Hughes, after he resigned on April 17, 2023. If you reside in Lima Township, District 2, and are interested in becoming a School Board Member please send a letter of interest to Lakeland School Corporation, Attn: Office of Superintendent, 0825 E 075 N, LaGrange, IN 46761, by May 5, 2023.
Once appointed, the new member will fulfill the term until its expiration on December 31, 2026.
Today's logo share: the Anchor! The anchor is considered a secondary logo for Lakeland, and comes in blue, white and red. The committee felt the anchor held more strength standing alone. The phrase "Anchor Down" holds special meaning to many Lakers, and we didn't want to lose that. In the survey students indicated that they view Lakeland as rugged. The details of the anchor are a nod to that ruggedness. #anchordown
Lakeland is pleased to announce the valedictorians of the graduating class of 2023. Since 2007, Lakeland has awarded the title of valedictorian to the students within a tenth of a point of the highest GPA in the class. The most valedictorians any graduating class has had over the past 15 years has been five, but this year an astounding eight students hold the distinction of being within a tenth of a point of the highest GPA which this year is held by Brooke Retterbush.
Lakeland wants to congratulate this group of students on their accomplishment that has never happened before and will be difficult to repeat.
Raul is the son of Raul and Mercedes Ballines of Howe. He is planning to attend Rose-Hulman to study computer science with a minor in philosophy. Raul participates in DECA, the Math Academic Team, is a member of the National Honors Society, and the treasurer of Juntos (Hispanic Heritage Club). While at Lakeland, Raul’s favorite class was Principles of Biomedical Science where he had a lot of fun with a trimester-long autopsy project using all they were learning to figure out how their lab subject died.
Hope is the daughter of Sally Henderson (deceased) and Granddaughter of Susie Casteel of LaGrange. Her future plans are to attend Indiana Tech and get a bachelor's in the science of nursing. While at Lakeland, Hope participated in art club, FFA, Academic team, National Honors Society, and Track. Hope’s favorite class at Lakeland was the Project Lead The Way - Medical Innovations course. She loved all of the labs they did, and learned a lot in just two trimesters. Her favorite lab was making a working prosthetic arm out of everyday items.
Raeghan is the daughter of Tricia Gromala and Dion Johnson of Hudson. She plans on attending Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis as a member of the Honor’s college to major in nursing. Raeghan is involved in Spirit Club, National Honors Society, Interact, Cheerleading, Tennis, and organizing the Baccalaureate program. Her favorite course was either AP Literature where they had fun recreating old skits as a class or U.S History and Government where she loved hearing everyone’s different point of views during the different fun projects.
Owen is the son of Chris Norton and Brooke Norton of Orland. He plans to go to Ball State University and study Public History. Owen has participated in Science Academic Team, served as co-leader in Sources of Strength, and a member of the National Honors Society. Over the last four years, Owen’s favorite class was creative writing because writing is his favorite hobby; had he never taken creative writing, he would never have discovered his passion and talent for it. This passion led to his becoming a published author through the 2023 Scholastic writing competition in the humor category.
Manisha is the daughter of Anand and Teresa Ramachandran of LaGrange. She plans to attend the University of Alabama on a full ride. Majoring in Biology and Microbiology, minoring in Liberal Arts and Astronomy as a Blount Scholar. While at Lakeland, Manisha has participated in a variety of activities including Varsity Girls Soccer, the vice president of finance for DECA, student council, science academic team, National Honors Society, Varsity Gymnastics manager for two years, studied violin and piano, as well as served as the yearbook editor. While at Lakeland, Manisha enjoyed AP Language and Composition because the environment was fun to learn in, and Mrs. Cowley helped her tremendously in the classroom and outside with preparing for college.
Alivia is the daughter of Shane and Stacie Rasler of Wolcottville. She plans on attending Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis in their Honor’s College while majoring in Nursing. While at Lakeland, she was involved in Girls Varsity Soccer and Girls Varsity Basketball, DECA and National Honors Society. Her favorite class was AP Literature and Composition because she loved the curriculum and Mrs. Cowley is an amazing teacher.
Brooke is the daughter of Beth and Joseph Retterbush of Wolcottville. She plans to attend Ball State University to receive a bachelor's degree in accounting. While at Lakeland, Brooke was involved in Competitive Dance at TC Dance Academy for 11 years, Varsity Girls Golf, Varsity Gymnastics, Student Council, National Honor Society, Senior Class Treasurer, Peer Coaching, Girls Tennis, and the Prom Committee. Brooke’s favorite class at Lakeland was Ceramics because Mrs. Jukola makes it fun, and gives them a creative outlet to create what they want and use their hands instead of sitting in a classroom listening to information.
Ezekiel is the son of Brian and Markelle Wachtman of Howe. He plans on attending Purdue and majoring in Engineering. While at Lakeland, he participated in cross country, basketball, track, soccer, National Honors Society, and DECA. His favorite class was Algebra I with Mr. Menz because he loved playing the Pente tournaments.
Career Expo this Tuesday at the MEC in Shipshewana. All students in grades 9-12 will be attending. 9th and 10th grade plus IMPACT juniors will go from 9-11. Impact juniors will need to pack a lunch as you will return to Lakeland right before getting on the bus to go to Impact. Seniors -including Impact Seniors- will receive a free lunch and attend from 11:30-12:30. All remaining juniors will attend from 12:30-2:15. We will have buses available for all students to attend.
Thank you Laker Nation for honoring Eztrella today! She will be missed. Let her kindness and love live on through all of us!
Laker Nation,
At about 1 am this morning I was notified of an email threat that was circulated to many school districts across our state. This email was sent to 35 superintendents including myself. Our local law enforcement, Indiana State Police, and the Indiana Department of Homeland Security are all aware of the email. It was the recommendation of law enforcement that we continue with a normal school day, as the threat was deemed non-credible. The same scenario occurred in Washington yesterday, with an email sent to 35 districts.
School personnel did a visual inspection of all of our buildings today as a precautionary measure.
The safety and security of our students is always our top priority. If I believed for one second we were in any danger, we would not be in school.
Thank you for being a Laker and thank you for entrusting us with your children!
Respectfully,
Traci Blaize, Superintendent
Don't forget Laker Nation will be honoring Eztrella Luna by wearing purple tomorrow! Shine bright Lakers! 💜
We are excited to send off nine of our IMPACT students to the SkillsUSA State Competition this Friday, April 14 and Saturday, April 15 in Indianapolis. Cheer these students on because they have worked hard and could potentially earn their way to the National SkillsUSA Competition in June. Representing Lakeland are Abygail Brewer, Caitlyn Miller, Angelina Clay, Eva Taylor, Jeffery Mullen, Ethan Fought (not pictured), Isaac Hays, Cristal Nieves, and Yadira Diaz. Good luck and go Lakers!
Laker Families,
I have no idea why it happened, but there was a computer error with powerschool and reported everyone was absent from school today. We are working to get it fixed on our end and will make sure attendance is accurate. Sorry for the inconvenience or any worry this may have caused.
Hearts in Laker Nation are broken with the loss of our Little Laker, Eztrella. We will wear purple in her honor on Friday, April 14th. Donations for the family are being accepted at all school offices.💜
Community Partners involved in the LaGrange County Child Abuse & Neglect collaborative are asking for your help in raising awareness for National Child Abuse & Neglect month. Beginning today, and for the month of April, we are kicking off a "Blue Tire" campaign across LaGrange County.
We are asking people to take their photo with the blue tire and post on social media using #87SCAIT23. Please help us to Stop Child Abuse In Its Tracks and share with those you know!!
This week the tire is located at the LaGrange County Courthouse. Each week the tire will rotate to a new location.
Just a reminder: Lakeland School Corporation will be on Spring Break April 3-7. The Corporation Office will be closed Monday, April 3rd due to a planned power outage, and on Friday, April 7th for a Holiday.
School will resume on Monday, April 10th! Until then, stay safe and thank you for being a Laker!
Still 2 hours remaining for tonight's Parent-Teacher conferences at the Jr/Sr High. You can enter through door 7. Conferences are in the Miller Field House (Aux Gym). See you soon. Go Lakers.
New Life Fellowship 2755 S SR 5 in Topeka will be offering free groceries to families in need on April 10th from 3:30 pm to 5 pm. This event is not connected to Lakeland School Corporation. We are providing the information in order to assist LaGrange Co. families that may be in need.
Our National Honor Society volunteered at the recent LaGrange Co. Parks Department Maple Syrup Days! Here's a link to the news story: https://www.lagrangenewsonline.com/articles/maple-syrup-days/
#Lakerleadersareeverywhere
Our Academic teams had a terrific showing at Dwenger yesterday! They competed against 18 teams. Our Fine arts team (J. Combs, A. Ferguson, A. Yoder & A. Tennant) came in 1st place! Our Science team (N. Tropp, W. Norton, H. Henderson & E. Marchand) tied Northrup and came in 2nd after the tie breaker! Our English Language Arts team (J. Whited, S. Ramachandran, M. Tropp, J. Gracia & L. Wilson) did well also; they placed 5th! Great job Lakers! #LakerLeadersareeverywhere
We are looking for more preschool students for the 2023-2024 school year! Currently, we will have 7 openings at our Wolcott Mills Campus. We are full with a waiting list for Lima-Brighton. We will add to the waiting list with the hopes of opening another class at Lima-Brighton. We charge $50/week for half day students and $100/week for full day students. Students who will be 4 next year may qualify for assistance through On My Way to PreK. Please call 499-2408 to talk with Deb regarding registration! Check out our preschool page: https://pk.lakelandlakers.org/o/pk
The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile will be bringing Parkview Physician's Group Pediatric Care to Lakeland Intermediate School on March 20th! Care is open to any child age 0-18, regardless of whether or not they are Lakeland student. Forms were emailed to all Lakeland families. You can also register by calling: 1-877-774-8632.
Congratulations to Lakeland's Vocal Motion Show Choir! They ended their competition season on a high note with a Best Crew for a small mix trophy, 2nd runner up trophy, an invite to the night show and a 5th place trophy! Way to weather the storm gang!
