Happy Holidays 2009

Happy Holidays to everyone

in this great big wonderful,

confusing, exciting, challenging,

loving, World!

Let go of 2009.

Celebrate your life.

Achieve one goal for 2010...

then another, then...

way more fun

than ditching

New Year's resolutions

by January 3rd.

Ellettsville Fire Department: Just Visiting

Guess whose hubcap frames The Edge!



Chris Hostetler is our, very own,

volunteer Fire Fighter.

He works for Bean Blossom Township Fire Department,

but as all cooperative rescue teams know,

Everyone Works Together for the Common Goal:

To Save Lives!

Pictured: Edge students and the Ellettsville Fire Department, Chief and Engine 73.

Wacky Shirt Day

Wacky Shirt Day!!! What a great idea! Another day in Volunteer, another brainstorm.

Alyssa Wise is at it again.

While sorting through the clothes

in Clothes for Classmates,

she finds so many wacky

and interesting shirts just hanging there,

waiting for someone to take them.

A light bulb goes off in Alyssa's head;

she comes up with Wacky Shirt Day.

Here we go again at The Edge.

Those Wacky Students!

I Could Volunteer Everyday!

Britany Fortune helps out at Edgewood Primary School.

I get to the primary at the time my class goes to lunch. The boys tell me all kinds of "Knock-Knock" jokes and what they brought for lunch.

We go to recess and they play tag, and I help them when they want to play on the monkey bars. It takes a lot of energy, but I love to do it because they love help with things they can't do.

I love helping at EPS because it's given me a better understanding about how children act and it's just a fun place.

If I could, I'd volunteer everyday!

Tie Dye Friday

One day on a Wednesday to be exact,
a student by the name of
Alyssa Wise
had an idea.





While going through clothes for Clothes for Classmates
Alyssa, miraculously, found ten tie dye shirts.

She came up with the idea
of having everyone
wear a tie dye shirt to school
on Friday.

Michael Heckman and fourth grader, Dakota.

Michael and Dakota spend Wednesday afternoons reading, Indian in the Cupboard. Michael also works with Miss Meadow's third graders and Miss Mc Clellan's, fourth graders and helps them learn.

T-Shirts for the Walk

Ashley Ennis and Brandi Rogers are making T-Shirts for the Out of the Darkness Walk to prevent suicide.

Ashley is walking to honor someone lost to suicide, "I'm walking for my girlfriend's older brother who died two years ago."

Firefighter: I Love Helping People Out

Chris Hostetler is a firefighter for a lot of reasons. "I love helping people out. I've wanted to do this my whole life. You will never feel the thrill unless you are a firefighter. I love the fact that I help people and I can enter a burning building and be protected. Joining the fire department is one of the smartest things I've ever done. It is full of opportunities."

Suicide Prevention Works

For every suicide death there are at least twenty suicide attempts. There have already been 5 million suicide deaths in this new century. Join with us to help prevent suicide by participating in the Out of the Darkness Walk!

Walk to Prevent Suicide

If you haven't been affected, someone else has. Each year approximately one million people die from suicide. This toll is higher than world deaths each year from war and homicide. At least 100,000 adolescents die by suicide every year. Join The Edge and walk to prevent suicide on October 10, 2009, from 9-11 a.m., Mellencamp Pavilion (IU Campus/17th & Fee Lane). Check in from 8-9 a.m. Opening ceremonies: 9 am. Walk because you care! Register online: www.outofthedarkness.org.

Behind the Scene at the Hoosier Hills Food Bank

Tyler Karnes volunteers at the Hoosier Hills Food Bank every Wednesday. Tyler likes the fact that he gets high school credit for his work at the food bank. What would our community do without the food bank and its volunteers?

The Hoosier Hills Food Bank volunteers sort and stock donations, read labels,and double check bags and boxes before they are distributed to individuals, food kitchens, and family centers.

If you would like to pick up or drop off donations visit the food bank at 2333 West Industrial Park Drive (Hwy 37 South and Vernal Pike) or call 334-8374 for additional information.

Live, Learn, & have Fun with it

There are a lot of responsibilities at The Edge that require students to work in the classroom, volunteer in the community, and have a job (complete with W2 forms at the end of the year).

Ashley Baker, senior, needs eight credits to graduate. Ashley is enrolled in Government, Econ, and Literature of the World. When they are graded at 80% or higher she can enroll in her last high school class!

The remaining four credits will be earned by maintaining employment for an average of 15 hours each week, attending the Workforce Development class on Fridays, and volunteering at EPS in Mrs. Burn's kindergarten class.

Ashley's goal for her semester at The Edge is to live, learn, and have fun with it. "It's easier than regular school because you can get credits by working and volunteering to lower the credits you have to earn to graduate."

Taking it up a Notch

Austin Foster spent the spring semester of 2009 volunteering as a teacher assistant in Mrs. Mitchell's first grade classroom at Edgewood Primary School. "One of the highlights of the year was bookmaking. Each week the class of twenty-two students wrote in journals. Writing was daily. We created a different book each week relating to a theme or book Mrs. Mitchell read to the class. Over the semester I assembled over 500 blank books for the students to write in. One time the students were reading about moles and so the book covers were construction paper cutouts of a mole's hands."-Austin

Austin also worked with students who needed help with math, spelling, reading, writing, completing homework, and social skills. He worked with teams of students on behavior such as using kind language towards others.

Great Leader+Great Partnership=Great Classroom

Mrs. Mitchell and Austin Foster cleaning up her classroom at the end of the 2008-2009 year.
“I don’t know who learned more last year, me or the kids!”-Austin

The Edge Computer Classroom

The Edge students share a common goal: Graduate with a High School Diploma! Students complete coursework using the Aurora Learning program.

Clothes for Classmates

Everyone! Check out the free "Clothes for Classmates" sponsored by The Edge students. "Clothes for Classmates" continues on Wednesdays at Edgewood Primary School.

We look forward to seeing you!

Go The Distance

The 2009-2010 school year theme at The Edge is "Go The Distance." Each individual here is on a mission to do whatever it takes to graduate.

The word impossible is not in our vocabulary. Pass it on.