Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 135, Number 1, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 2 January 2014 — Page 1

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Jordan Pippenger

HERnAGE SKILLS WORKSHOPS ELKHART The Elkhart County Extension Homemakers will host their annual Heritage Skills Workshop from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15. Both full-day and half-day classes will be offered and are limited so early registration is encouraged. Qasses at the workshop will include knitting techniques, home decor tips, bookmark creation, quilting, embroidered ornament design, Crotchetting, rug-hooking, crossweaving, bracelet-making, paper piercing and much more. Registration forms and sample photos are available at http://www.ag.purdue. edu/counties/elkhart under IHot Topics! or available at the office. Pre-paid registration is required postmarked by Jan. 31. Fees will vary depending on the workshop and registration includes lunch. The Elkhart County Purdue Extension Office is located on the 4-H Fairgrounds in Goshen.

WATER AEROBICS CLASSES AT NWHS WAKARUSA North Wood High School's Continuing Education program will host an aerobics class from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays from Jan. 8 through Feb. 17 and from Feb. 24 through April 2. A minimum of 12 students must be preregistered in order for the classes to take place. For more information or to register, contact Sharon Plank at (574) 773-3131. CENTER THRIFT SHOP OPEN BREMEN The Center Thrift Shop winter hours began Dec. 4. The shop is open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. every Wednesday. The Center is located on the third floor of the First United Church of Christ on the comer of Center and Sherman Streets in Bremen.

It gratefully accepts clean, quality clothing of all sizes on Wednesdays when the shop is open. Contact Laura Barnes with any questions at 574-546-3065. Volunteers are always needed. NAPPANEE PUBLIC ÜBRARY CLOSED The library will close at noon on New Year's Eve, Tuesday, Dec. 31 and will remain closed through Jan. 1. Regular hours will resume 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2.

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Contest winners awarded

By Dani Molnar Editor NAPPANEE Between Thanksgiving and the December Second Saturdays event, the community was asked to vote for their favorite holiday decorations around town. Winners of the Second Saturdays Window Decorating Contest were named after the festivities Dec. 14. L.J. Wagner was named first place winner and Antiques on the Square was named second place winner. Individuals who visited six different stores and cast ballots were also eligible for drawing themselves. The voter's cash prize was given to Alyson Moi of Edwardsburg, Mich. January's Second Saturdays is currently in the planning stages but coordinator Liz Mullet hinted that may include 'a chili cookoff to heat up these cold winter nights. For more information about Second Saturdays events, "like" Visit Nappanee on Facebook or go to www.visitnappanee.com.

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Cheryl Wagner of U Wagner accepting her first place award from Liz Mullet.

Future looks bright for Nappanee

By Dani Molnar Editor NAPPANEE - "It's been a good year and 2014 will be an even better," Mayor Larry Thompson said of Nappanee development in the past year. While still recovering from the recession, Thompson believes Nappanee is coming out stronger and more diversified than before. "I think the economy in Nappanee, being an RV industry, is coming back stronger." He went on the explain that woodworking has become almost

Wa-Nee Schools earn high marks from state

By Lois Tomaszewski Managing Editor NAPPANEE/WAKARUSA - Wa-Nee Schools made the honor roll, scoring mostly "As" in the state's school grades, released Friday, Dec 20. The grading systems, based on an A-F grade, is a way the state determines whether students in the state schools are meeting academic growth standards. The grades are based on a number of factors, including student test scores. In the spring, computer problems during test-taking caused problems for some schools and is a primary reason why the grades were released so

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Alyson Mol, shown with Uz Mullet of the Second Saturdays Committee accepting her cash prize.

a popular a profession as the RV industry for the city. Thanks to the influx in jobs and industry, there has also been a rise in business. Local companies are expanding and developing and other companies are looking to expand into the area. Already for 2014, three companies have expressed interest in expanding in the Nappanee area; two are local companies. "That's pretty exciting," he stated. As for the city, growth is also in the works. Although no major projects occurred in 2013, a number

late this year. For local schools, the results were pretty much on track. At the elementary level, Wakarusa Elementary, Nappanee Elementary and Wood view Elementary maintained their A grade from last year. For Nappanee Elementary, the 2013 school year marked die fourth consecutive A grade. At the middle school level, North Wood Middle School earned a B. one letter grade below last year's A. The school has made steady progress over the past 10 years, moving from aDgrade to a four years of Cs and earning an A last year. At the high school, the state

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Dean and Sally Guard of Antiques on the Square show off Decorating Contest:*^

were finished. Lincoln Street West and County Road 7/ Oakland Avenue were both completed with the help of INDOT, who matched the city to pay for it. The recycling area was also completed. The coming year will see a number of them. Plans are in the works to send water and utilities to the area surrounding the Nappanee Municipal Airport; the hope is that it will allow for further development and bring more businesses into the area. As for the parks department, 30 acres of land has been set aside to

awarded a grade of A. This is the same grade as last school year. Statewide, Indiana schools saw improvement over the prior school year, with 67% of all schools receiving an A or B grade (up from 62%

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build a soccer complex and renovation of the town's swimming pool is also in the plans. In 2014, the city will also finish renovations on six local homes which will be available for purchase through the first-time home buyer's program. Further into the future, the city is busy figuring out funding for the combined sewer overflow project which will begin construction in 2015 and was labeled by Kim Ingle, clerk-treasurer, was the biggest project Nappanee's ever had. "We've had the struggles that any See Future, Page A 3

in 2012), and 10% more earning A's ■than last year. In public schools, 165% were A's or B's in 2013, up from 158% in 2012. The percentage of public schools with D's or F's decreased prom 20% in 2012 to 16%in 2013. Indicating a fairly stable model, there were only 72 schools whose grades varied by more than 2 grade levels (e.g. A-D, B-F, etc.), representing about 4% of all schools. I "Education in Indiana is improving every day and our kids, our teachers and our schools deserve to be commended," Governor Mike Pence said. 'Today's release of the 2012-2013 accountability grades 8e« Marks, Page A 3

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