IU alum’s donation boosts athletics
Brown County Schools Superintendent Laura Hammack poses for a photo with local businessman John Laskowksi. Laskowski was paid $500 for speaking at the annual Brown County Chamber of Commerce meeting in February and decided to donate it to the Brown County High School athletics department.
Laskowski is an Indiana University basketball program alumnus. Laskowski presented the check to Hammack and the Brown County School Board of Trustees during the March 22 meeting.
Athletic Director Mark Bruner said the money would be put into the general athletics fund. That fund pays for officials and buys uniforms.
“(The donation) helps out tremendously,” Bruner said.
Laskowski made the cover of Sports Illustrated as the “super sub” sixth man for the 1975 men’s team, and later played professionally for the Bulls. He spent 33 years later in life calling IU basketball games for television. After a career in insurance sales, Laskowski, 65, is now getting ready to open a Culver’s restaurant in Bloomington.
Senior advances to international event
Brown County High School senior Abe Oliver, pictured, won awards for best computer science, math and best overall 12th grade projects at the Indiana state science fair on March 24. Oliver will now be heading to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair from May 13 to 18. Oliver’s topic was “Can Deep Reinforcement Learning Solve Misere Combinatorial Games?” This is the second time Oliver will compete in the international science fair. In 2016, Oliver and classmate Jadan Ercoli placed third in Robotics and Intelligent Machines at the international science fair. Ercoli and Oliver created a video game called “Permaximize.” In the game, one player uses a strategy that the duo defined, while the other uses a strategy that evolves over time.
Sophomore wins VFW essay contest
Brown County High School sophomore Allison Stogsdill has won second place in the district Voice of Democracy essay contest. Stogsdill, center, posed for a photo with VFW Post 6195 Commander Don Birden, left, and VFW member Bill Hamilton. Last fall, Stogsdill placed second in the local VFW Post 6195 essay contest. She then advanced to the District 9 contest and won first place there, which advanced her to the state level. Stogsdill’s essay topic was “American History: Our Hope for the Future.” She was invited to the VFW spring conference in Indianapolis on March 17 to accept her award. She will also read her essay during the Veterans’ Loyalty Day celebration at the Veterans Cemetery in Madison, Indiana on May 6, according to Ed Wrightsman, the chairman of the Voice of Democracy and Patriot’s Pen competitions.
Students inducted into National Junior Honor Society
Brown County Junior High School seventh graders were inducted into the National Junior Honor Society on March 8. Front row from left to right: Tori Klaker, Laney Smith, Hadley Gradolf, Londyn Koester, Olivia Tincher and counselor Terri Whitcomb. Second row from left to right: Assistant principal Greg Pagnard, Naje Bedja, Chase Austin, Hannah DeWeerdt, Mary Rygiel, Shelly Johnson, Dylan Taylor, Kat Laguna and Katie Tipton. Third row from left to right: Cole Bowman, Garrett Braden, Savannah Oden, Avery Patterson, Milly Patrick and Rafe Silbaugh. Fourth row from left to right: Principal Brian Garman, Bradley Arndt, Norah Bare, Zoe Cox, Jake Davidson, Joey Denison, Abby Fleetwood, Jade Hoffmeister, Savannah Harris and Lizzie Roush.
Molly Snyder
FRANKLIN — Molly Snyder of Brown County was named to the fall 2017-18 dean’s list at Franklin College.
BCHS to compete in engineering challenge
COLUMBUS — Brown County High School students will compete in the 2018 Boiler Tech Challenge at the Purdue Polytechnic Columbus campus April 6.
BCHC will face off against teams from seven other area high schools to complete engineering challenges. They won’t know the specific tasks they’ll have to complete until they get to the challenge.
The team earning the most combined points over the course of the day will win the Purdue Polytechnic Columbus Boilermaker Train Trophy, as well as bragging rights for the next year.
