A Whitley County High School (WCHS) student, who will be representing the district at an upcoming national competition, a region winning high school bass fishing team and a pair of high school students, who studied abroad in Italy, were among the students recognized by the Whitley County Board of Education during its monthly meeting last Thursday.
Engineering student Dylan Miracle, who will be a 12th grader at the high school, has finished in second place in the region and second place in the state in as part of a Technology Student Association (TSA) competition.
TSA is an organization holding many opportunities for students to engage in competitions and projects within the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. He will go on to compete in the national competition in June.
Miracle competed in the children’s stories competition where he developed and produced a non-fiction, die-cut board book.
His book title was Dino Discoveries. It has 24 pages and 454 words.
“Some people may ask what does making a children’s story have to do with STEM? Pretty much for science, you have to understand the adhesives and the laying methods for the durability of your book. There is a lot of psychology behind the colors in children’s attention span. You have to understand how paper thicknesses can affect the books flexibility and overall strength,” he said.
Miracle also was recently accepted into architectural school at the University of Kentucky.
In addition, bass fishing team members Aiden Taylor, who is a tenth grader at WCHS, and Braden Rose, who is an eighth grader at Whitley County Middle School, were recognized for winning the regional competition.
Superintendent John Siler said he thinks this was the first time a high school team has won the bass fishing region.
Whitley East Elementary School Sixth Grade Teacher Taylor Rogers has been coaching the team for three years and has grown it to include seven boats. He noted there are approximately 80 boats in the region, which gave his team about a 1.6 percent chance of winning the region.
The team finished 40th at the state competition held at Kentucky Lake.
WCHS 10th grade student Skyler Nichols and ninth grade student Charles Adam Petrey studied in Italy as part of a study abroad program through Western Kentucky University.
Nichols was also recently accepted into the Gatton Academy.
Established in 2007, The Gatton Academy is Kentucky’s first residential two-year program for gifted and talented juniors and seniors. The Gatton Academy’s students enroll as juniors and are full-time WKU students pursuing their interests in advanced science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
In addition, the board recognized district Accelerated Reader grade level winners Elijah Benson, Whitley Primary School kindergarten; Carson Wilson, Whitley Primary School first grader; Camryn Mitchell, Whitley North Elementary School second grader; and Taylee Shupe, Whitley Intermediate School third grader.
District top five Accelerated Reader point earners were Mitchell, Wilson, Whitley Intermediate School third grader Donovan Swords, Whitley Primary School second-grader Nikki Patrick and Oak Grove Elementary School first-grader Rykker Esworthy.
A staff member was also recognized during Thursday’s meeting.
Whitley North Elementary School Third Grader Teacher Natasha Dople was presented with the May Above and Beyond Award. It is awarded to teachers, staff or volunteers, who go above and beyond the call of duty.
In addition to her teaching duties, Dople has also helped coach the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams.
Whitley North Elementary School Principal Richard Frazier nominated her.
