Students who spelled their nine words perfectly were Yaniv Smukler and Erin Van Wesenbeeck.  Raleigh Daniel, James Knight, Melissa Riggio, Sam Smith and Zeke Willey were near perfect spellers, missing only one word.  The other members of the team were Kelaiah Awoyemi, Varu Musunuri, Serena Nayee, McKenzie Records, Dan Spall and Lily Wolf.

FHS Spell Bowl Team – (Front row) Lily Wolf, Raleigh Daniel, Melissa Riggio, McKenzie Records, James Knight, Serena Nayee, Varu Musunuri, (Row 2) Yaniv Shumkler, Sam Smith, Zeke Willey, Kelaiah Awoyemi and Erin Van Wesenbeeck.

The team is coached by Deborah Hejl and John Drozd, with much appreciated assistance from parents Mary Willey and Ellen Spall. “Since more than half of these students are underclassmen, we expect to be very competitive next year,” said Coach Hejl. FHS is undefeated in Conference or Area competition for the past four years.  “Congratulations to these fine students, who put in many long hours to study the 2,700+ difficult words on the list.” For more information, contact Hejl at (317) 915-4290 or email her at dhejl@hse.k12.in.us

Jeremiah Best, Alex Aldridge, Kyle Gabbard, Collin Denham, and James Castro.

On September 18, Harrison Parkway second graders boarded the train on 141st St. near school and rode it to Fishers’ Town Center. There they discussed the purpose of each of the community buildings including town hall, police department, fire department, license branch, post office, library and train station. Conductor Ralph Bell explained how Fishers’ name had changed over the years. He said it was originally called Mudsock, later Fishers Switch and finally Fishers.

Teacher Susan Tysen said the trip supported state standards where children are asked to ‘differentiate between events that happened in the past and recently, recognize examples of continuity and change in local and regional communities and consider ways that people and events of the past and present influence their lives.” As the train passed through Noblesville, they also talked about the town buildings, the county buildings and purposes that they serve.

Students visited The Indiana Transportation Museum in Forest Park in Noblesville. There they learned that refrigeration cars were once cooled by ice chopped out of and transported from northern lakes. They also talked about related modes of transportation such as a trolley car and mule pulled cars. Conductor Bell made sure that the students understood how and why the modes of transportation have changed over the years to best serve the needs of the people in the area. For more information, contact Tysen at (317) 915-4210 or email her at stysen@hse.k12.in.us

“The children in our community are very important to us and with the success of Teen Academy, we are excited to work with the kids again this year.” said Chief George Kehl.

The purpose of the academy is to allow teens to better understand police officers and to strengthen the relationship between the police department and the community. Officers will teach blocks of instruction on various topics such as emergency vehicle operations, building searches, drug investigations and domestic violence. Students will have classroom instruction as well as practical “role play” training each day.

For more information or to enroll in the Teen Academy, contact Sergeant Ed Gebhart at the Fishers Police Department at 317-595-3372.

Deta Lasley is a very responsible and dependable volunteer for the Fishers Police Department’s “Victim Advocate Call Program” which involves calling every victim of crime on a weekly basis for support. She was the first volunteer to sign up, initiated expanding the program up to five additional volunteers and has personally contacted over 300 victims.

Selected by a panel of judges who reviewed all nominations, Lasley displayed exceptional dedication and commitment towards helping Fishers residents. All award recipients are Fishers residents that have made a positive impact on the community by helping individuals, organizations or the Town of Fishers. These winners have gone above and beyond to help or support others while being wonderful role-models.

Past recipients of this award were Dub and Jeanne Clark in 2007 and Mary Pat McKee in 2008. This award was named in loving memory of William D. Kehl Jr. whose life was tragically cut short and who dedicated many years to the Fishers Freedom Festival and the Town of Fishers. He was an intricate part of our community and will always be remembered for his wonderful sense of humor, his drive to be the best at everything, and his absolute dedication to his community.

Back in 1989, the founders of the Fishers Parade and Festival decided to have a community gathering to celebrate Independence Day. With the help of volunteers, the event originated as a one-day community picnic, parade, and a few games for the children. Due to the overwhelming participation by the public, this event grew to a two-day event.

The mission of the Fishers Freedom Festival is to encourage fellowship through civic partnerships and citizen involvement by creating a safe environment, developing needed community services, promoting family integrity and striving to improve the quality of life for every resident by investing in human potential.

The 21st Annual Fishers Freedom Festival was Saturday, June 27 & Sunday, June 28, 2009. The Festival is always in need of volunteers at different levels of participation. For more information on volunteering or about the festival, please visit www.FishersFreedomFestival.org, email freedomfestival@sbcglobal.net, visit 8601 East 116th Street in Fishers or call 317-595-3195.

It is the goal of the Fishers Police Department to achieve and maintain the highest level of quality service for our residents and visitors.  Input from the citizens of Fishers is essential in the Fishers Police Department’s continued effort to promote effective police services and protection to all members of the community.  Please complete the survey on line at  www.fishers.in.us/pdsurvey.

All the enchanting characters are here:  Wilbur played by Fishers residents Andy Raab, (the young Wilbur) and Cory Ruddel, (the older Wilbur), who desperately wants to avoid the butcher. Fern (played by Fishers resident Gabrielle McAree), a girl who understands what the animals say to each other; Templeton, (played by Anderson resident Wes Miller) the gluttonous rat who can occasionally be talked into a good deed; the Zuckerman family; the Arables; and most of all, the extraordinary spider, Charlotte (played by Indianapolis resident Gabrielle Baker), who proves to be “a true friend and a good writer.”

Determined to save Wilbur, Charlotte begins her campaign with the “miracle” of her web in which she writes, “some pig.”  It’s the beginning of a victorious campaign which ultimately ends with the now-safe Wilbur doing what is most important to Charlotte.  This is a beautiful, knowing play about friendship that will give the audience an evening of enchantment.

Charlotte’s Web performances run every weekend from Friday, October 10 through Sunday, October 26, at The Artists’ Studio in Fishers. Friday and Saturday evening performances begin at 7:30 pm. Saturday matinee performances begin at 2 pm, and Sunday matinee performances begin at 5 pm. Adult admission is $15 and admission for children 12 and under is $11, with special discounts for groups of ten or more and senior citizens. To reserve your tickets to Charlotte’s Web contact The Artists’ Studio at 317-594-5070 or go to www.artists-studio.com.

The Artists’ Studio is located in Fishers at 12810 Ford Drive, behind the Ford dealership at 126th Street and State Road 37.

With over $815,000 raised, opportunities are still available for companies and individuals to contribute to the campaign with recognition opportunities ranging from scoreboard signs to metal plaques or engraved bricks on a donor wall. The campaign goal is to cover as much as possible of the estimated $1.7 million cost with donations. An updated donor form is also available on the district web site (www.hse.k12.in.us) with a link under “Hot Topics.” Companies interested in corporate sponsorship options should contact one of the athletic director offices at FHS (915-4296) or HSEHS (594-4196).

Dedication of Clarian Health Field and Reynolds Tigers Stadium will be this Friday evening before Fishers High School’s first home game that begins at 7 p.m.

Judge Nation is ordering mediation to be held on September 11th between the Town of Fishers and representatives from the GUO. An attorney from Carmel will officiate the mediation. Before mediation will occur, the GUO will be hosting meetings with the petitioners to obtain signatures from the residents allowing the GUO to be their agents during the mediation. Non-GUO representatives will not be allowed during the mediation according to court documents.

More to come…

Back in 1989, these individuals were part of the founding group for the Fishers Parade and Festival and decided to execute a community gathering to celebrate Independence Day. With the help of Bryant, Dragoo and Wright, the event originated as a one-day community picnic, parade, and a few games for the children. Due to the overwhelming participation by the public, this event grew to a two-day event.

“They have been a great asset to our organization and should feel very proud of what they have done for our community,” stated Festival Executive Director Jennifer Kehl. “Giving 20 years of dedication and time as they have is a very recognizable accomplishment. With an event of such magnitude as the Fishers Freedom Festival, it takes hundreds of volunteers to make it successful. The community you live in is what you make of it. To make it the best it can be, you need to contribute by volunteering.”

Darcy Bryant helped with the first festival in many various tasks. When food vendors were added to the festival the second year, she managed and supervised the vendors so that non-profit organizations sold food on Saturday and local businesses sold food on Sunday. In 1999, Bryant moved on to handle the Business Tent switching from a smaller group of individual company tents set up at Holland Park to one very large tent encompassing over 100 vendors through 2007. She has also served on the festival’s board as Treasurer, a Division Leader for the Main Parade since 1990 and has been on the Scholarship Committee.

Don Dragoo handled the clean-up of the first festival which lasted one day, then managed the Children’s Parade for eight years watching the participant level increase to around 350 children. In 1998, Dragoo progressed by taking on the responsibility of organizing the Main Parade which he still handles today. This parade draws in thousands of attendees filling in all spots of the parade route year after year. He has been President since the festival’s board of Directors’ inception in 1994. Lastly, Dragoo is on the Strategic Planning Committee for the recently operational “Volunteers of Fishers” organization, supported by the Fishers Freedom Festival, which helps Fishers residents who want to volunteer in the community and match them up with various Fishers organizations and businesses that need assistance for events that help improve our community.

Rhonda Wright has managed the Entertainment Tent which hosts a wide variety of local performing groups and been a Division Leader for the Main Parade since the festival’s inception. In the early years of the festival, she helped with the Free Games Booth. Wright, long-time Fishers resident who grew up attending the Hamilton Southeastern schools, also has been a frequent member of the Festival Board as Vice President over the years.

All three volunteers were valuable contributors to the idea and creation of the Fishers Freedom Festival twenty years ago, are long-time Fishers residents, and have assisted with various festival fundraisers throughout the years. Such events include golf outings and the “Christmas in October” craft fair which draws in a crowd of approximately 1500 visitors and contributes tens of thousands of dollars to the festival’s budget.

The mission of the Fishers Freedom Festival is to encourage fellowship through civic partnerships and citizen involvement by creating a safe environment, developing needed community services, promoting family integrity and striving to improve the quality of life for every resident by investing in human potential.

The 21^st Annual Fishers Freedom Festival will be Saturday, June 27 & Sunday, June 28, 2009. The Festival is always in need of volunteers at different levels of participation. For more information on volunteering or about the festival, please visit www.FishersFreedomFestival.org, email freedomfestival@sbcglobal.net, visit 8601 East 116^th Street in Fishers or call 317-595-3195.