Students showcase band, garden and kindness projects at LaPorte school board meeting

Students and staff used the school-board meeting to highlight extracurricular and experiential learning programs across the district.

Matt Sullivan, LaPorte’s director of K–12 music, introduced members of the marching-band leadership team and said rehearsals and leadership training began months earlier. "We are already so excited thinking about our upcoming season as we've recently announced our show theme to be Dragon Dance," band president Natalie told the board, adding that the band and guard will "create a story for our audience to follow." Sullivan invited the community to attend home football games.

At Indian Trail, Principal Mrs. Marks and garden-club lead Aaron Price described the growing community-learning garden and an in-progress greenhouse funded in part by Jones family grants and supported by material donations from the Mil Creek Lions Club. Price described partnerships with LaPorte High School agriculture students and the Purdue Extension Office; student Nicholas read a short piece about why learning to grow food matters to the school community. The presentation also included hands-on projects: students demonstrated candling eggs as part of a duckling-hatching project.

Lori Scragggin, a Kesling co-sponsor, described the Kesling Kindness Crew for grades 5–8, which organizes activities such as locker messages, staff appreciation days, and campus service tasks. Two sixth-grade students summarized the crew’s mission to promote ‘‘compassion, empathy and good character’’ across the campus.

The board thanked the students and staff for their presentations and noted the programs’ roles in student engagement and community partnerships.