By David Kronke, Tribune-Star   February 28, 2025
It’s no exaggeration to say that fifth graders at Sugar Creek Consolidated Elementary School immersed themselves in hyperbole Friday afternoon. They presented their program “Tall Tales Wax Museum” for parents and visitors.
Students lined the walls of the gymnasium in costumes, a plethora of Zorros, Calamity Janes, Johnny Appleseeds, John Henrys and Slue-Foot Sues (a character from the 1948 film “Melody Time” who rode a giant catfish on land and married Pecos Bill).
While many presenters had props, fifth-grader Jilly Bosley had her own, too: a tornado in a bottle for her Tall Tales Wax Museum presentation Friday on Pecos Bill at Sugar Creek Consolidated Elementary School in West Terre Haute.
The tellers of tales stood before posters they had made of their flamboyant characters.When a visitor would press a red button on their posters, the kids would recite a 45-second speech about the larger-than-life personae they portrayed.
Students selected the characters they would depict for a variety of reasons. Rylan Hunter, 12, chose keel boatman/brawler Mike Fink because he wrestled alligators, which is something Hunter would like to do (his prop was a large stuffed alligator).
Molly Stahly, 10, chose the Unsinkable Molly Brown not because she loved the move “Titanic” (she hasn’t even seen it), but because they shared the same first name.
Wyatt Stevens, 11, chose to be a plastic-sword-wielding Zorro, he said, because “I originally was going to pick John Henry, but he already got picked (a lot) so I got Zorro. He seemed really cool.”
Landen Guiton, 11, chose the prolific gardener Johnny Appleseed — who as a child would weep if he hadn’t munched on an apple for several hours — because, he said, “I think I can really relate to him. I really like apples myself. He just kind of fit my personality.”
Fifth-grader Samuel Parsons talks about the life of Hiawatha during his presentation for the Tall Tales Wax Museum on Friday at Sugar Creek Consolidated Elementary School in West Terre Haute
Karen Adkins, 12, opted for Calamity Jane because “She just seemed really nice and I liked her.”
Cole Dillard, 11, seemed determined to bring his performance of John Henry to life. While most participants simply recited their lines, Dillard spoke in a deeper register as John Henry, enthusiastically interpreting lines like “The pants I put on in the morning were too small by night.” His poster was vividly colorful, and he had created a giant black prop hammer for his steel-driving man.
“I like how he works hard, and I like the prop that he uses, and I also like to wear jeans,” Dillard explained.
“Tall Tales Wax Museum” was made possible through a grant from the Vigo County Education Foundation that paid for art supplies, poster boards and the materials to make props.
Foundation Executive Director Jane Nichols said that tall tales were standard in the school’s language arts curriculum.
“And how much more fun to actually become Mike Fink or Annie Oakley or some of these characters and learn about them and be able to present facts?” she said. “They are talking to adults. They are expressing their creativity through their illustrations and how they dress up and have their props as their characters. You can tell the kids are having a ball.”
Nichols acknowledges that Sugar Creek fifth-graders seem to get a lot of grants — another paid for a Colonial Days event in November.
“They have amazing teachers and this is for the whole grade level so it means that the teachers work together and they plan what activities will enhance the curriculum and bring it to life for the kids,” she said. “They do a great job. They really are [good grant applicants]. They work hard to get the most bang for the buck.”
The foundation in August 2024 distributed 139 mini-grants ($750 or less) totaling more than $86,206 for classroom enrichment opportunities benefiting all Vigo County School Corp. schools.
Nichols called the role-playing exercise “a good family activity — I know a lot of people have taken off work to see their kids’ characters come to life.”
One of those was Austin Wolfe, parent of Abigail, who portrayed Hiawatha, the cofounder of the Iroquois Confederacy.
“She makes a great Hiawatha even though she’s a female and Hiawatha was a male,” Wolfe enthused. “She’s really worked hard and has been preparing for weeks now. She’s studied and learned a lot about Hiawatha and she’s done a good job.”
But Abigail wasn’t the only student who Wolfe thought performed admirably.
“We’ve listened to a few of them — they’ve done really well,” he said. “You do learn a little bit about history from these kids and they’ve worked so hard and done really well with their outfits. It’s great. I’m really proud of them.”
David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at [email protected].

​Six Terre Haute North Vigo High School students, participating in school-sponsored travel abroad experiences, are the recipients of travel grants, thanks to a restricted fund created at the Vigo County Education Foundation. The fund was endowed by the family and friends of the late Martha Layton to honor her memory and legacy. The Martha Layton Memorial Fund was will help defray the expenses incurred by students wishing to participate in a school-sponsored trip outside the United States.
Layton was a Vigo County School educator for over 30 years. She began her teaching career in 1985 at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, teaching French and Spanish.  In 1993, she moved to Terre Haute North High School and continued teaching French and Spanish.  Even after her retirement, she continued to substitute teach until the pandemic. Layton spent many summers in France chaperoning American exchange students. She also organized and chaperoned numerous other summer trips to Europe for Terre Haute North students. Layton believed that by experiencing different cultures you learn more about your own, enabling you to see what makes your own culture unique
The Vigo County Education Foundation held a recognition breakfast for the recipients of the grants. Receiving the grants were Ava Bautista, Camryn Cheesman, Mylee Douglas, Madilynn Hartwell, Hally Justice, and Aidan Watson. Attending the event to honor the students were members of the Layton family, the Terre Haute North foreign language teachers, North High School administrators, members of the Vigo County Education Foundation Board of Directors, as well as family and friends of the students.
Layton loved her students more than anything. She believed that traveling to another country was wonderful for students to supplement their classroom study, learn about the culture, and broaden their horizons. 

The Vigo County Education Foundation on Thursday received $4,000 from a fundraiser conducted by Terre Haute McDonald's restaurants.
In September, all five Terre Haute McDonald’s restaurants hosted a city-wide fundraiser for VCEF.
A percentage of purchases in the restaurant and on the McDonald’s app were calculated for the donation to support the Education Foundation’s mission of enriching education of Vigo County School Corp. students.
The funds will be used to help teachers infuse their classrooms with creativity, innovation and hands-on learning opportunities, through classroom and school wide grants and district wide programs.
All of these local McDonald’s are owned by Nick and Jami Kasprzyk, who are continuing supporters of local schools and teachers.
“The Vigo County Education Foundation is immensely grateful to the Kasprzyks and their McDonald’s patrons for their generosity and kindness," said Jane Nichols, executive director of the Education Foundation. "This gift is truly an investment — an investment in our community’s most valuable resource, the education of our children."
Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at [email protected]. Follow Sue on X at @TribStarSue.

Sugar Creek Consolidated Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Kathryn Rademacher-Smith’s classroom is the rare one that boasts a kitchen with a fridge and oven adjacent to the desks, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that on this Friday its air is aromatic with the scent of cinnamon.

​Students have baked themselves apple turnovers and created butter by shaking buttermilk in little jars. It’s all for a little snack they’ll enjoy later in the afternoon.
Welcome to Colonial Day, which has become an annual Consolidated tradition allowing students to set aside their textbooks for a day and make not just pastries but candles, ink, Native American rattles and write with old-fashioned quill pens.
The event comes courtesy of a $750 grant from the Vigo County Education Foundation.
Foundation Executive Director Jane Nichols explained, “We raise funds to empower teachers to bring more creative, hands-on learning to their classrooms. These are the things kids remember. This is what’s important — the experiences, the extra things. Are they going to remember the tests they take? No. But they’re going to remember making butter.”
Principal Suzanne Marrs agreed.
“It’s just a way to connect with the past and really bring the history of Thanksgiving to life for our kids,” she said. “They’re really starting to learn what life was like at that time. It gives them real-world experience.
“Any time in education when you can actually use your hands and have real-life experiences helps you to connect to what you’re really learning,” she added, noting that the turnover aroma was wafting up to the classroom above them, no doubt making students there pretty jealous. “They’re getting an authentic experience that they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.”


In Kelsie Rhoads’ classroom, students are making candles, as well as ink from blueberries. Pupils melted wax in slow cookers and added essential oils like eucalyptus and lemon. They dipped a wick into the melted wax and then doused them in water repeatedly, then hung their creations to dry.
“When they get home, they can light it like a real candle,” she said.
Sarah Pigg and her husband Daniel, owners of Sycamore Winery, are in Rhoads’ classroom helping the students there — including their son Elliot — create the candles. If winemaking and candle dipping were to appear in a Venn diagram, their circles would overlap at no point whatsoever.
“I just learned how to make candles this morning,” Sarah said, adding wryly, “I consider myself definitely an expert after about an hour. We didn’t know what we were doing, but it’s fun just to help.”
Upstairs in Jennifer Price’s classroom, students created Native American rattles — at a powwow earlier in the day, they learned what the rattles were used for, and now they were making them themselves. Price said Colonial Day is quite the departure from an average day in the classroom.
“Typically, we’re learning our math or reading at our seats, not a whole lot of movement,” she said. “And this is learning the typical day in the life of someone from Colonial times, so they get to move around and get to do a lot of hands-on [work] which is really important for learning. Having fun in a different classroom environment — they physically get to make apple [turnovers] and butter.”
Fifth grader Connor Trout proudly showed off his rattle, a stick wrapped in yarn and accented with beads. He called Colonial Day “mostly excitement and fun” and said he learned about “the games they played, like marble rolling. They wrote with a feather, which was really cool.”
Almost as cool as doing the exact same thing 400 to 500 years later.
David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at [email protected].

​Tribune-Star staff report Nov 25, 2024

The Vigo County Education Foundation awarded $40,061 in school-wide grants to 17 schools Friday during its semiannual Business and Bagels event.
Sponsored by Labor Link, the event celebrated educational excellence and highlighted VCEF’s commitment to enriching educational opportunities for Vigo County students
The grants will fund a range of initiatives, including author visits, theater productions, literacy programs, enriching field trips, and academic and attendance incentives.
Each program is designed to enhance learning experiences and foster a love of education among students across the district, according to a VCEF news release.
During the event, the Leadership Giving Award was presented to Indiana State University President Mike Godard on behalf of the university. Godard spoke about the meaningful collaborations between ISU, the Vigo County School Corp. and the foundation.
“ISU’s unwavering commitment to the growth and development of our educational community is a shining example of what it means to be a true leader in giving and service,” said Alex Allen-Hodge, VCEF board president.
Several notable projects received special recognition during the event:

The Vigo County Education Foundation (VCEF) received a transformative gift from the Gibson Family Foundation for new technology at the Allen Memorial Planetarium.  This new, state-of-the-art technology will not only allow the Vigo County School Corporation (VCSC) to enrich STEM education for students, but it will benefit the entire community.
The VCEF exists to help the Vigo County School Corporation bridge the gaps in funding to provide enriching, experiential programs and projects for its students. The VCEF works to build partnerships between businesses and individuals and our schools. This is an excellent example of a family stepping up, in a most significant way, to provide exceptional, innovative educational programming. More succinctly, the planetarium would not be operational anymore, and our students would be deprived of this educational enrichment opportunity without their support.

The Board of Directors of the Vigo County Education Foundation made a formal proposal to the Board of Directors of the VCSC to request that the Allen Memorial Planetarium be renamed the "Gibson Allen Memorial Planetarium," due not only to the Gibson family's rescue of this incredible community resource, but in honor of the late Max Gibson, who was a strong proponent of the value of a quality public education for every child, and his belief that providing an enriching education is the key to success.
The VCEF also received a gift from Judy Brett and the late William Brett, and grants from the Wabash Valley Community Foundation and Duke Energy Foundation for the planetarium project.
The Allen Memorial Planetarium first opened its doors in1974, and with the grand opening came the unveiling of the star ball. This new-at-the-time technology was officially named the Spitz Laboratories, Inc. Model A4 Planetarium Instrument, but was conversationally known as “Stella.” Its abilities included showing the star field, the Milky Way, several Messier objects, 2 constellation outlines, the Sun, the Moon, several planets, and the motion of these celestial bodies both in daily rotation and in annual movement.

By Sue Loughlin, Tribune-Star, Aug 22, 2024

​Pam Runyan’s students at Sarah Scott Middle School will learn about growing their own food, while third-graders at Lost Creek Elementary will do weekly science experiments.
Cheryl Thornton’s second-graders at Dixie Bee Elementary will “adopt” a stuffed animal reading buddy with the promise to read to it nightly at home.
All three programs are benefiting from mini-grants distributed Wednesday by the Vigo County Education Foundation.
VCEF awarded 139 mini-grants totaling more than $86,206 for classroom enrichment opportunities benefiting all Vigo County School Corp. schools.
“All of these mini-grants are made for $750 or less, and it is amazing to see what great teachers are able to accomplish with that amount of money,” said Jane Nichols, Vigo County Education Foundation executive director.
Runyan’s grant, called “The Greenhouse Effect,” expands on what she’s done in past years.
“We will continue planting in soil and hydroponics in the classroom, but we will also take the planting outside. There will be a greenhouse outside my classroom” that her students hope to use.
“The greenhouse needs some love put into it before we use it. That’s where my grant money comes in to help,” she said.
Lost Creek third-grade teachers received a grant to continue their weekly science experiments, which might involve dissecting owl pellets, seeing what happens when Mentos mix with soda pop or building towers made from cups, tape, string and marshmallows.
With the towers experiment, they learn about balance, weight and gravity.
The science experiments aim to increase students’ knowledge of science through fun and interactive learning.

West Vigo plans after-school intramural eSports team
By Sue Loughlin | Tribune-Star
Nov 16, 2023
West Vigo High School plans to start an after-school intramural eSports team thanks to a grant from the Vigo County Education Foundation.
West Vigo was one of 19 schools benefiting from $35,365 in school-wide grants distributed Friday during the VCEF Business and Bagels program at Terre Haute North Vigo High School.
Esports, or electronic sports, involves competitive, organized video gaming. 
Esports is growing in popularity, and it’s a way to involve students who may not participate in other school activities, said Ryan Easton, high school principal.
“Mental health, grades, attendance and behavior all improve when having a sense of belonging and connection,” he said. “This will hopefully be that connection that so many of our students need.”
He distributed a survey in school, and among students who responded, 30% had a interest in eSports.
“It’s a no brainer,” Easton said. “If I can get that one student to want to come to school that day, if I can get that one student to not worry about what’s going on at home, we’re doing our job.”  
The team will be coached by media specialist Jamie Young.
For those who play eSports, it’s been shown to improve cognitive skills, problem solving, decision-making, teamwork and communication, he said.
Some students played informally last year at the school, and “there was an overwhelming response,” Young said. Students who had never spoken to each other were competing and “high-fiving each other.”
It created “a very strong sense of community,” Young said.
The grant will allow the school to purchase equipment and expand from one game set up so that multiple games can be going at once.
For some of the kids, it’s their first chance to be on a team. “You can’t put a price-tag on that,” Young said.
Business and Bagels, which takes place twice a year, provides the community with an update about the impact the education foundation is having to enhance learning and teaching in the Vigo County School Corp.
The grants have a school-wide impact, said Jane Nichols, executive director of the foundation. Some of the activities funded include school visits by authors, collaborative engineering to create a business and the performance of musical theatre.
It’s a way for the community to see “some of the exciting, engaging ways that principals and teachers are inspiring kids and trying to enrich their learning,” Nichols said.
Terre Haute North Vigo High School received a grant for a collaborative engineering and entrepreneurship venture. In the project, students create products that are sold on a website.
A grant to Franklin Elementary for its book vending machine program was supported by a Rose-Hulman Institute of Technnology “Give up a meal” (GUAM) program.
In that program, Rose-Hulman students donate meal swipes and declining balances at the end of the quarter; 179 people donated for a total of $3,000.
The foundation’s Leadership Giving Award went to Pat Minnis, a former member of the education foundation’s board of directors.
She established the Joe Minnis Memorial Fund at the education foundation to honor her late husband, Joe Minnis, who served for 12 years on the Vigo County School Board and volunteered for many years on the education foundation board of directors.
Those funds go toward career-technology education projects.
Pat Minnis told those assembled that Friday would have been Minnis’ 87th birthday.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at [email protected] Follow Sue on Twitter @TribStarSue​

Tribune-Star Staff Report - November 16, 2022
The Vigo County Education Foundation and Ivy Tech Foundation have received a gift for a collaborative funding initiative to support educational advancement opportunities for Vigo County School Corp. students.
Alpa Patel and Thomas Yeagley provided a $10,000 gift, which through this initiative will help students to have the opportunity for a seamless transition from high school to a post-secondary institution.
Jane Nichols, who serves as the executive director of the Vigo County Education Foundation, praised this partnership for its non-competitive nature.
“We live in a very giving community, and our organizations share many donors, like Alpa and Tom. This partnership allows those passionate about student success to support both organizations simultaneously,” Nichols said in a news release.
Ivy Tech Community College currently offers free dual-credit courses in all the Vigo County high schools so students can earn college credits early. Dual-credit courses allow high school students the opportunity to earn a certificate or technical certificate and get a jump start on completing their associate degree at Ivy Tech or transfer their credits to a four-year institution.
Ivy Tech has transfer agreements with many Indiana colleges, allowing students who earn their associate degree at Ivy Tech the option to transfer as a sophomore or junior to many Indiana colleges.
Donations will be pooled each spring, and a committee comprised of members from both organizations and the Vigo County School Corp. will annually review and evaluate funding requests. Including the gift from Patel and Yeagley, more than $30,000 has been given in support of this partnership thus far.
To learn more or to support this initiative, contact Nichols at the Vigo County Education Foundation at vigocountyeducationfoundation.org or Rachel Mullinnix at the Ivy Tech Foundation at giving.ivytech.edu/terrehaute.

Franklin third-graders' artworks inspired by Caldecott Award-winning books by Sue Loughlin Tribune-Star March 25, 2022
Franklin Elementary third-grader Ricky Neidhamer drew inspiration for his artwork from a book about a man who took care of Aleppo’s abandoned cats in the midst of the Syrian civil war.
Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza His page of inspiration: Franklin Elementary School third-grader Ricky Neidhamer finds the page in the book, ““The Cat Man of Aleppo,” that inspired him to create a ceramic sculpture of a white dove on Thursday in the school’s library as part of the “Caldecott Art Show.”
JOSEPH C. GARZAThe book, called “The Cat Man of Aleppo” and based on a true story, includes pictures of doves flying in a beautiful blue sky. That prompted Neidhamer to make a ceramic sculpture featuring a white dove with wings spread wide in flight.

He chose the flying dove for his art because, “It’s pretty,” he explained.
Now, that art — and those of all Franklin third-graders — are on display in the school library as part of the “Caldecott Art Show.”
The project received a grant from the Vigo County Education Foundation and is a collaboration between media specialist Amber Wigington and art teacher Jana Weeks. The grant allowed Wigington to purchase a number of Caldecott award-winning books, while Weeks was able to purchase additional glazes, which can be expensive.
Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Franklin Elementary School art teacher Jana Weeks.
JOSEPH C. GARZAWigington describes to children what it means to win a Caldecott award as each book is read to the classes, and then the children have an opportunity to create a favorite character from the book; the children model the clay into their artistic pieces, which are fired in a kiln. Then, they apply a glaze and write an artist’s statement.
“They get the whole feeling of being a professional artist,” Weeks said. “This is a sensational project. It inspires them.”
It’s the fourth year for the program, and it creates special memories for the children. “They are very proud of their work,” Wigington said.
The Caldecott awards honor artists of the most distinguished American picture books for children.
Another student, Elexcia Flowers, chose to make a ceramic piece of a frog in lake. The inspiration was a picture book called “Tuesday,” in which frogs rise on their lily pads, float through the air, and explore the nearby houses while their inhabitants sleep, according to one description. The book also featured floating pigs.
“My favorite animal is a frog and I thought it would be challenging for me to make,” Flowers said.
Third-grader Mason Tingley captured a night sky full of colorful stars in his artwork based on the book, “Many Moons,” about a princess who becomes ill, and only one thing will make her better: the moon.
He chose the subject from a page in the book because, “It looks beautiful,” Tingley said.
Addyson Steele chose the book “Finders Keepers,” and her sculpture depicts two dogs who decided to share a bone after they originally had fought over it.
“We got to shape the clay however we wanted” and get creative with details, Steele said. “After we saw the results, I really loved it.”
Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Jane Nichols, executive director of the Vigo County Education Foundation.
JOSEPH C. GARZAJane Nichols, executive director of the Vigo County Education Foundation, said of the program, “I love the collaborative effort between the art teacher and media specialist. I love how they are bringing beautiful artwork and illustrations into the students’ lives and letting them create,” and at the same time, encouraging the joy of reading.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at [email protected] Follow Sue on Twitter @TribStarSue.
Read the full article with pictures here