North Putnam High School selected for My Community, My Vision program

BAINBRIDGE -- Continuing a tradition of service and community involvement, students in northern Putnam County will be collaborating with local leaders to make their community better.

Over the next few months, students at North Putnam High School will work on community planning initiatives as part of the My Community, My Vision (MCMV) program supported by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA).

“My Community, My Vision” is a youth planning partnership between the IHCDA and student mentors studying in IUPUI’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs graduate program, who will help create plans of action based on the students’ ideas and input from leaders in local units of government.

The students will hone their project’s focus during regular meetings with their student mentors, after which they will present their vision to the community and at the state level. The students will present and discuss their project at an event next April in Indianapolis.

The students at NPHS participating in the project are McKenna Speier, Baylee Osburn, Grace Fry, Ty Sumners, Olivia Haste, Shay Campbell, Clarissa Gibson and Bradi Gierke. The group’s student mentor is IUPUI graduate student Madi Alton.

The local unit of government for the North Putnam initiative will be the North Putnam School Board, with board member Darrell Wiatt and North Putnam High School Principal Jason Chew serving as liaisons for the group.

“Community awareness of the honor and responsibility our students feel as they complete the project is important, and we want members of the community who may be invited to participate in a survey or to serve as community partners to know about it,” North Putnam High School’s MCMV adviser Sheri Roach told the Banner Graphic.

The students’ efforts will be aided by The Castle, a local organization whose mission is to help area schools supplement their curriculum through arts integration and project-based learning. The United Way of Putnam County has also provided support for the project at NPHS.

Each group selected to participate in the MCMV program will receive $5,000 to implement a project that fits into their vision.

“Through the My Community, My Vision program, local units of government selected to participate have the unique opportunity to work alongside youth on community planning efforts,” Lieutenant Governor and IHCDA Board Chairman Suzanne Crouch said in a recent statement.

The program is in its fifth year, and was developed with the belief that young people should not have to leave their hometowns to make an impact, according to the IHCDA’s state government web page. Previous initiatives by groups participating in the program have laid groundwork for community gardens, farmers’ markets and other projects.

North Putnam is one of five schooling districts along with Batesville, Huntingburg, Warsaw and Union County chosen for the 2018-19 program.

Those who would like to learn more about the program or the group’s plans may contact either Roach or Chew at North Putnam High School.