“It means I’m taking a step farther in my career in aviation,” said Karson Morrical, a junior at Mississinewa High School. “It’s a great opportunity for me to get a chunk of my flight training paid for.” 

There were high bars the students had to reach to receive scholarships. They had to have quality professional writing in their application essays, have 100% in the course to receive top honors, and show initiative and aptitude in class preparation and engagement. 

“This aviation program, I believe, is one of eight in the state available to students at this age,” said Mark Hobbs, the student community specialist for GRCC.

Whitney Gall, a senior at Eastbrook, received top honors for her work in the aviation program. 

“I feel like it’s really taught me how to kind of operate more like a professional setting,” said Gall. “I know Mr. Johnson does a really good job trying to, like, prepare us for the workplace and for college and kind of take stuff to the next level. 

What started in 2023 with $14,800 has grown to $27,500 in a few years.  

“It’s just really donor involvement. We’ve had donors step up in a major way to help make this happen,” said Mark Johnson, the Aviation Program coordinator. “It can’t happen on its own, it’s got to be through donor involvement.”

The Boren Foundation, founded in 1982, had a representative at the scholarship ceremony. 

A few years ago, Johnson had sent an application for funds to help the aviation program. 

 “I think we denied it, but once we got to learn more about the program and how it was helping the kids and area kids, as far as learning about aviation and it’s something that they want to pursue, we decided to get involved,” said Sally Briner, the executive director of the Boren Foundation

But what do the parents think about all of this? April and Chuck Morrical, the parents of Karson were in attendance at the ceremony. 

Karson Morrical was 16 when he first flew a plane and got his license a few months after that. 

“It’s really cool to see that he’s doing something that he really likes, and, you know, working toward a career that he’s gonna love,” said April Morrical.

Nathan McNeely said Mark Johnson has done a great job of bringing people together and being able to support the program that provides their students with networking opportunities and experiences they wouldn’t have without the program. 

New students are introduced to the program each month.

GRAE aims to help 16-17-year-olds who have been released from the school system, and anyone seeking their GED.

“What helps is we have two different areas.  We have a classroom and then an office classroom,” said Donna McNeely, a teacher in the adult education program. “So the weeks we have orientation, our regular students go to the other office area because there’s computers set up that where they can study, and then teachers over there that can help them as well.”

Part of orientation is the partnership GRAE has with businesses in Marion. Workone, Ivy Tech and Afena all participate in teaching different skills that range from resume building to financial literacy. 

“Our program is a part of Marion community schools, and we’re funded through the state of Indiana through the Department of Workforce Development,” said Jenalee Veenkant, the program coordinator for the adult education program. “Because the ultimate goal of our program is to increase the job opportunities for people who come to us.

GRAE has been in Marion for decades. It falls under the Marion Community Schools umbrella. 

“We were Marion Regional Career Center. A couple of years ago, I changed it to Grant Regional Career Center,” said Nate McNeely, GRCC director. “We pulled the adult program under that because it connected more with the group that we serve.”

The program itself lasts however long the person in it needs. This can range from five weeks to two years. 

“[In] high school, a lot of things can happen in life that change the trajectory of somebody’s educational path,” said McNeely “In Grant County, there’s a lot of individuals that do not finish high school in the time that they would typically a traditional student would finish high school.”

Veenkant said that everybody deserves a chance to get their equivalency diploma. 

“The big thing I want them to know is it’s not going to look anything like school looked like for you before,” said Veenkant. “It’s very different as far as it’s just kind of between you and your teacher, as far as how you did on the test and what you’re working on next.”

River Rock Lofts will be located near the southeast corner or E. 1^st St. and S. Adams St.  The complex will have over 80 apartments for rent. 

“The city had a vision for downtown. The plan was amazing. The mayor inspired us. This type of product is what we build. It’s a mixed-use development and a mixture of commercial and the first-floor apartments above,” said Shelby Bowen, owner of Rebar. “So it’s a really great fit type of product we build, combined with the Mayor’s vision for downtown.”

The apartments have a budget of $10.8 million, with construction starting when the weather breaks. 

“The River Rock Lofts serve as a cornerstone of our newly established Riverfront district. We are delighted to collaborate in introducing such a high-quality housing option in our community,” said Mayor Ronald Morell in the Rebar Press Release. 

Nick McKinley, the Marion City Council president was at the groundbreaking and said that this new complex will be the catalyst for changing the landscape of downtown Marion.

“We need more housing in Marion. I have my own story. When I moved here, I couldn’t find any market-rate apartments, couldn’t find any houses for sale, and so really, just provide market-rate apartments in the downtown area. It’s a win-win,” McKinley said. 

River Rock Lofts aims to attract professionals, empty nesters and residents seeking high-quality housing. The apartments will be priced at $1000 and $1500 a month, depending on the apartment. 

“As a community that’s growing, and you have to have places for people to live. If you want people to if you want Marion to grow, you got to have homes for them to live in,” said Kylie Jackson, president and CEO of Greater Grant County Chamber of Commerce.

Jackson said that people living in downtown Marion is on the rise, and along with new shopping, places to eat, and different amenities, new housing is just a different piece of the puzzle for Marion. 

“It’s not just about the apartments. This is a partnership with the City of Marion and the state of Indiana. It’s contributed, what’s called a renting grant. And so together. It’s really a team effort to do something special here in downtown Marion,” Bowen said. 

More information can be found at https://www.riverrocklofts.com 

Updates Pending.

“I was very restless in my job, and I really wanted to do something that was just invigorating and stimulating, professionally,” said Adam Thompson, a professor at IWU and a healthcare provider for the USA Olympic Fencing Team. 

Working for the Olympics, one is entering into a very competitive atmosphere. Like the athletes, healthcare providers must be at the top of their game just to have a chance to work with their Olympic team of choice.  

“Well, I use the analogy, frequently, that I absolutely believe, that you have to stay cutting edge in your discipline. You have to stay current,” Thompson said. 

The athletes whom Thompson works with often have full-time jobs in addition to training, so they are looking for quick and quality health care. 

“When I learn new techniques, I research new concepts, I’m able to take that scholarship right into clinical practice with them. When I then use that clinical practice, I get the opportunity, I take it right back to the classroom and I can give students real-life experiences,” Thompson said.

Zach Hobson, the head athletic trainer at IWU, has watched Thompson’s journey since 2017 when Hobson was a student. 

“From a credibility standpoint, and just working with some of the world-class athletes, can just really make an impact on students that he encounters,” Hobson said. 

One of the students impacted by Thompson is IWU alum Neal Stepp. 

“After hearing about (Thompson’s) experience and seeing all the amazing places he was able to go, I knew I wanted to be a part of that,” Stepp wrote in an email. “In the Spring of 2023, I completed my Sports Medicine Volunteer Rotation at the Colorado Spring Olympics and Paralympic Training Center, which is the first requirement to be involved with Team USA.”

Officials asked Stepp to provide services for the Para-swimming team and to work the Paris Olympics. 

“It goes to show that you don’t have to fall in a rut, so to speak,” Hobson said. “You can dream big outside the bubble of IWU, outside of Marion as well.”

“I was able to learn and grow from everyone that I was able to work with, which has made me a better clinician. The passion I have to continue to work with Team USA is an impact I will be experiencing for a long time,”  Stepp wrote. 

Thompson described his journey with the Olympics as “longball.” His journey started in 2014, and working with the Olympics, he needed to be in the game for the long run, hence his term, longball. 

“I joke all the time that Indiana Wesleyan is my ‘Indiana Jones’ job. Teaching pays the bills, I love to teach, and I love to teach what I do,” Thompson said. “But what I really love is sports medicine around the world.” 

All photos provided by Adam Thompson

“I’m very excited to see where this goes with the public,” kitchen coordinator April Weaver said.  

The Kitchen coMPany opened in March internally at Carey Services, serving staff and preorders only, to introduce the kitchen to the people interested in learning about food service work. 

“It’s been great. They’re very kind and caring and they do an excellent job and they work fast-paced. And everyone respects everyone,” said Cassie, who works in the kitchen. 

People working in the kitchen are paid Carey Services employees. 

“The hope is that then, as they learn, they have a desire to go out and get a community-based job,” said director of fund development, Kelly Scher. 

The feedback from the Kitchen coMPany has been positive thus far. They did catering for the Grant County 4-H fair back in June, Scher said.

“They’ve been really supportive already of what we’re doing,” she said. “They’re getting good quality food made with a purpose behind it as well, so it’s pretty exciting.”

Carey Services leadership has been talking about adding a coffee service to the kitchen.

“We have some partnerships,” Scher said. “We announced that we are finally in the final stages of some new partnerships with the Milk and Honey out in Converse, and I’m not sure of a date yet, but we will be offering Milk and Honey drinks here.”

Leadership has also talked about opening a brick-and-mortar store down the line as their kitchen continues to grow.

“It’s been different for me. I’ve never been in food service,” Cassie said. “So, it’s been more of a harder (learning) curve, but it’s also been like a curve of…me getting out of my comfort zone.”

Carey Services also announced it opened its Marketplace to the public and started a partnership with the Grant County Rescue Mission to sell items at reNEWed Boutique.

“I’m looking to see that it helps encourage our individuals to better themselves and have that public interaction, to show compassion to the public, and be a part of that,” Weaver said. 

The Kitchen coMPany is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The Cornfield Classic kicked off a fundraising campaign from the IMPS to buy the old Glenn Scott Harley Davidson building on Third Street. 

“We’re trying to raise $150,000 to purchase the (Glenn Scott building),” Loretta Tappan, IMPS board member and secretary-treasurer, said. “And what we want to do is create a museum on one side in the Glenn Scott building, and then have a restoration shop on what is currently the muffler shop side.”

The event started at noon with live music, food and a 60-mile bike ride around Grant County. Participants visited locations with significance to Grant County’s motorcycle history. 

When the building the IMPS was originally looking at was sold, the IMPS board found that Jones was selling the Glenn Scott building. They began talking with him about purchasing the building. 

“The biggest thing is the collaboration, and working,” Tappan said, “trying to just get the word out about what we’re trying to do, why it’s important, what the vision is, and then who also wants to be a part of that.”

The City of Marion, IMPS and other businesses from across Grant County worked together to put on the Cornfield Classic. 

“I think it’s great. It’s like everything else, the people trying to keep the history and it’s a good building,” Woodrow Clark Jones, owner of the Holt Muffler building, said.

Kathy Chandler, a volunteer at the event, said that they want to keep the history of the Cornfield Classic going, 

“And it should bring a lot of people in. Harley Davidson is interested in getting into it, the (IMPS) people are interested,” Chandler said. “It’s just taking time to get it going.”

IMPS is dedicathttps://indianamps.orged to ensuring that the history and stories of Indiana’s motorcycle history are passed down to future generations. Turning the Glenn Scott building into a museum and restoration shop will help in that mission. 

“We really want to make this happen,” Tappan said. “We’re committed to it,” 

IMPS posts updates and information about events at https://indianamps.org

Ruth Tripp, a senior at Oak Hill High School, found out she has Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer, last fall. Hodgkin’s lymphoma can be found in the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, and other areas in the body.

“It just meant a lot. Just knowing how hard these freshmen, some of which I’ve never met, and sophomores, that worked so hard to try and help me even just a little bit,” Ruth said.

Rebecca Willis, an English teacher at Oak Hill High School, originally approached Ruth about the fundraiser.

“Every year she does a fundraiser that her students help raise money for, and she told me that she wanted to do this for me,” Ruth said.

Willis gave each student a personal goal to make the fundraiser successful.  Generally, each student needed to raise less than $10 to meet fundraiser’s $500 goal.

Some students went into the community and asked for donations, resulting in several individual donations of hundreds of dollars. Altogether, the students, with the community’s support, raised $5,416 to benefit Ruth and her family.

“I think the thing that really struck me the most is just the fact that no matter what (Ruth) was doing, whether she was here, whether she was getting chemo, she always had a smile on her face,” Willis said.

Ruth’s father, Steven Tripp, a professor of natural science at Indiana Wesleyan University, spoke of the impact the community, and the cancer diagnosis has had on him as a parent.

 “As a parent, watching your child go through this and recognizing not only the illness but the potential mortality and recognizing how this is going to affect your child’s life, not just in the immediate but probably a lifelong concern, it’s overwhelming,” Steven said.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society approached Ruth to be its honored hero a couple of weeks ago.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society raises money for people with blood cancers. One-third goes to helping patients, one-third goes to helping the patients, and the final third goes to making sure the patients get the right treatments and medicine.

“So, actually, my first event I’ll be speaking at is on June 4, and I’ll be sharing my story and everything, and how everyone has helped me so much and what I’ve gone through,” Ruth said.

She also participates at Faith in Motion, a dance studio in Marion. For her senior recital she chose to dance to Jordan St. Cyr’s song “Fires.” Ruth chose the song before her cancer diagnosis in the fall.

“The chorus is, ‘You’ve walked me through fires, pull me from flames. When you’re in this with me, I won’t be afraid. When the smoke bill is higher, on higher, and it feels like I can barely breathe, I’ll walk through these fires because you are walking with me.’ And those words have just meant everything to me this semester,” Ruth said.

“Grant County Special Olympics are for special needs in our community,” Diane Wine, a volunteer at Take to the Hoop, said.

The Special Olympics was founded in 1968 to encourage acceptance of those who have disabilities by giving them opportunities to grow and shape their skills and gifts.

“You can always tell the excitement,” Wine said. “It’s just amazing watching how these kids light up when they get to participate in something like this.”

Sherry Stepp, an athlete who participated in Take it to the Hoop said that she started playing in 2011. Stepp said that being rallied for and supporting everybody else from the different teams is amazing.

“They work with everybody, mostly the coaches are more one-on-one to help impact on me,” Stepp said.

Matt Mitchell, who also participated in this event said that basketball has helped him with responsibility and being on a team.

“It helped me get through today when I got back from practice,” Mitchell said. “It helps me get through the team effort I need to do and get things settled and just be ready to go, be on the way on time, and not worry about, you know, at home or anywhere else.”

This was also Darren George and his team’s first time at Take it to the Hoop. They have played several tournaments in Indiana and he said he and his team were impressed with this tournament.

“What we’ve been able to build has changed me profoundly,” George said. “My athletes find confidence; they find camaraderie and teamwork.”

Both Wine and George got involved after helping some of their relatives with special needs.

“For these young athletes, to be able to learn how to slow the game down to control their emotions is a big part of them maturing and growing,” George said. “There’s not a season that goes by that one or more of the athlete’s parents come up and say this program, this basketball program, has changed my child’s life for the better.”

Jameson Chesser, a volunteer, said he heard about the event through the Taylor Football team. He and his roommates talked about it and agreed to sign up to help.

“Honestly, I’ve never refed before.,” Chesser said. “So the experience was really cool.”

The Grant County Special Olympics has its Men’s, Women’s, and Youth Basketball Tournaments in April as well as swimming.

Connect with Cops event was held at Ashley’s Ice Cream. The precious police chief started this event as coffee with cops which has now been changed to reach more people. 

“Anytime that we can, we have outreach to pay back to citizens. Citizens who pay for what we do, and almost never get a return on the investment because they’re good people, taxpayers, they mind their own business,” Chief of Police David Gilbert said,” They’re not hurting people committing crimes. And yet we spend most of our time dealing with people who aren’t those folks.”

Connect with Cops is the Marion Police Department’s way of connecting with the people they serve and humanizing the cops serving in the police department. 

“Often or not, people see police as maybe unapproachable. Events like this show the community shows people in the public that it’s okay to come and talk to us,” Nick McPike, a patrolman, said. “We’re dads. We are sons. We are brothers. We are people, too. And it’s okay to come talk to us, and you know and relate to us some of the same things that you’re going through. We’re probably going through them too.”

Captain Drew Tittle and Chaplin Joe Biddle were grateful that Coffee with Cops had been kept around in concept. 

“Anytime we can get out and meet people and see the people that we deal with on a regular basis, building rapport and just letting people know what services we do provide. It’s a great thing for the community.” Capt. Tittle said. 

“It’s important just because it helps us connect with a community outside of responding to calls or something like that people would come up and ask us questions and connect with us and put, you know, faces to names and stuff like that.” Biddle said. 

Brian Conwell, owner of Ashley’s Ice Cream, was excited at the opportunity to host the event. 

“We’ve been wanting to do it for a little while. Just the opportunity came around, and I don’t know, we’re downtown, and so are the, you know, the cops are downtown, and we kind of want to just be part of the community.” Conwell said. 

Capt. Tittle said that people tend to think the police are standoffish and only should approach them if they have an emergency. Connect with Cops is meant to help people see that the police are human as well. 

Police Chief Gilbert said that they are looking forward to more Connect with Cops events in the future.