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The Leader In Me program is inspired by Stephen Covey’s ‘7-Habits of Highly Effective People’ and is a model, impacting leadership, culture, and academics. Money for the program was made through a grant from the Koch Foundation.

Dr. Daryl Hagan, Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Evansville, says, “So that when teachers are teaching students, are interacting with students, are collaborating they’re putting first-things-first and they’re understanding what that means. They’re using the habits to really utilize those habits in their daily lives and more specifically in the classroom.”

School officials believe this model will help the continuous improvement in Catholic education. 13 schools in the Diocese will participate in this new program and will receive grant money.

Trisha Memmer, a teacher at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Newburgh, says, “It really has the seven habits that we can incorporate in our school day it strengthens our Catholic identity, we are definitely able to really embody what this model will mean for our future.”

The model will be implemented for k-12th graders across 13 schools in the Diocese.

Hagan says, “In order to move students from point a to point b and then c, d, e, and f, we need to know that there is the right mix there that we have the right parameters set up.”

Faculty and staff will go through a three year professional and development training. The first two days of training focuses on teachers and they bring those skills to the classroom on the final day.

Memmer says, “We all have those leadership skills we all have qualities we can use to become better leaders and more successful.”

Leaders say people have been grateful for their time and money and they appreciate everything.

Hagan said, “This recent donation and gift from the Koch’s is a perfect example of how coming together when the community cares about their kids and Catholic schools provide such a quality Catholic academic education it’s a win-win for everyone.”

Diocese officials say while 50 percent of the schools have the Leader In Me program, they hope to expand the program to other schools in the near future.

The gift will fund the Koch Chair in Medicine, which will be held by the associate dean and director of IU School of Medicine-Evansville. This comes as a landmark moment for the education of health professionals in Evansville.

Programs from the IU School of Medicine, IU School of Dentistry, University of Evansville and University of Southern Indiana will be housed under one academic roof when the Stone Family Center for Health Sciences is dedicated on August 9th.

“We’re extraordinarily grateful for the generosity of the Koch Foundation,” said Jay Hess, MD, PhD, MHSA, dean of IU School of Medicine. “Together, with the new building, this gift will be instrumental for attracting and supporting outstanding medical education leaders for Evansville.”

The impact of the Koch Foundation’s gift will be doubled curtesy of the match that is part of For All: The Indiana University Bicentennial Campaign.

Currently, IU School of Medicine-Evansville enrolls 66 medical students and is one of nine medical campuses that are part of the IU School of Medicine.

State Fair Opens With A Salute To Indiana’s Circus History

By Brynna Sentel
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—Take a trip to the Big Top Circus as Indiana’s annual summer celebration of all things agriculture salutes the state’s circus history.

The 2018 Indiana State Fair opens Friday at the state fairgrounds and runs through Aug. 19. In addition to the usual agriculture exhibits, deep-friend foods and state pride, the fair celebrates the state’s rich circus history.

 

Indiana, known more for its corn and soybeans, became famous for its circus connection in the late 1800s when many traveling shows established winter headquarters near Peru, Indiana.

By the 1940s, the shows began wintering in Florida, but to keep the circus spirit alive Peru launched its Circus City Days in the 1950s. After that a circus tent was rented for the inaugural Peru Amateur Circus for children age 7-21 to participate in.

State fair officials hope to encompass the spirit of the circus with this year’s theme while keeping the typical fair festivities alive.

It wouldn’t be a state fair without some new fried foods unveiled each year. In past years, fairgoers were introduced to deep-fried Snickers and other concoctions, while this year’s event has its own unique creations designed to test the palate.

For example, ever wonder how you deep fry a sugar cream pie? To find out how that mixture of sugar, butter and cream holds up in a deep fryer you might have to go to the fairgrounds and check it out for yourself.

Other treats that take rich or fattening foods and load them up with sugar are the carmel apple elephant ear and piggy popcorn with sweet yum yum sauce. And if your taste runs to plain popcorn, that is available for free every day from noon to 5 p.m.

 

The Big Top Circus will offer three shows a day. But if the circus isn’t your thing, you can take in scores of other events that change every day.

Concerts at the Chevrolet Free Stage, free with admission to the fair, will feature singers such as Rick Springfield and Hunter Hayes as well as bands like Dirty Deeds USA, Extreme AC/DC and HANSON.

Other events include harness racing, a cheerleading competition, tractor pulls, a watermelon seed spitting contest, rodeos, demolition derbys and much more.

Livestock competitions such as the rabbit ambassador and rooster crowing contests as well as  the dairy goat olympics will also take place throughout the fair.

A crowd favorite is Animal Town, which will include eight different species of barnyard animals every day of the fair.

The fair offers promotional days such as $2 Tuesdays where admission fees are $2, along with concession food and midway rides. Wednesdays are free with a ticket that will be printed in The Indianapolis Star the day before. Wednesdays also offer free shuttle rides to seniors age 55 and older.

On Thursday, Aug. 16, AAA members can present their card for free admission.

Introduction of royalty such as crowning Miss, and Jr. and Little Miss Indiana, will take place on Sunday Aug. 12 at 4:30 p.m.

Last year 906,732 fairgoers attended the fair, a 24 percent increase from the year before. The all time highest attendance at the fair was in 978,296 in 2013.

Almost a million fairgoers are expected this year so safety has been revamped to ensure a safe day for all attendees. Hoosiers can expect metal detectors at all pedestrian entrances along with bag checks, so plan ahead and only take the necessities.

General Admission is $13 at the gate, children 5 years and younger get in free. Parking is $5 during the fair.

FOOTNOTE: Brynna Sentel is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

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