DuneNews

Outstanding Awards: left to right, Makayla Erickson, Brianna Manning, Elsa Estridge, and Lucy Rutkowski.

On Thursday, February 13, students from Chesterton High School’s Trojan Guard Marching Band were honored for their outstanding achievements and performances during the fall season. With an impressive 2nd Place finish at State, the students, parents, and staff consistently put forth great effort and were frequently rewarded with supplementary awards such as Best Music, Best Visual, and Best Effect.

Honors for this year’s Trojan Guard members include:

Most Improved Freshmen: Alex Brown and Allison Lopez

Most Improved Sophomores: Lyric Brown and Abigail Krueger

Most Improved Juniors: JJ Ames, Addison Huffmaster, and Katie Newbanks

Most Improved Seniors: Jasper Britzke and Olivia Sundquist

Most Improved Auxiliary Members: Caryss Vandiver

Outstanding New Member: Claire Thomas

Outstanding Musical Contribution: Cameron Pace and Soren Schott

Outstanding Marching Contribution: Sam Ames

Outstanding Leadership: Vanessa Godinez

Outstanding Attitude: Nat Leensvaart

Section Leaders: Katherine Newbanks (Flute), Holly Decker (Clarinet), Madison Buckley (Bassuba aka bass clarinet & Tuba), Will Liles (Alto & Tenor Saxophone), Vanessa Godinez (Trumpet), Liam Gray (Mellophone), Samantha Ames (Baritone), Elsa Estridge (Batterie), Jasper Britzke and Cece Post (Pit Percussion), Brianna Manning and Lucy Rutknowski (Color Guard).

Senior Recognition: Samantha Ames, Jasper Britzke, Madison Buckley, Makayla Erickson, Elsa Estridge, Vanessa Godinez, Chloe Hall, Nat Leensvaart, Archer Lohman, Ashton Rospierski, Soren Schott, Olivia Sundquist, and Destiny Williams-Najzer.

Exceptional Contribution to the Trojan Guard: Herschel Hardwick, Kevin Landers, Morgan Millis, Kenzie O’Daniel, and Lucas Torres

Drum Major Awards: Makayla Erickson and Madelyn Street

Outstanding Section of the Year: Baritones

Samantha Ames, Logan Bullard, Jayden Hughes, Vincent Mueller, Nathanael Palmer, Maverik Simmons, Adam Tenbarge, Gage Teso, and Andria White

Outstanding Contribution to the Auxiliary: Lucy Rutkowski

Outstanding Contribution to the Trojan Guard: Elsa Estridge

Outstanding Trojan Guard Auxiliary Member: Brianna Manning

Outstanding Trojan Guardsman: Makayla Erickson

Congratulations to the Chesterton High School Winter Guard for achieving fourth place at their third competition of the season at the Carroll High School Competition on February 15. The team had a seven point growth over the previous week's scores! Their 2025 show, “Let it Pour", will compete next at Zionsville High School on March 1.

The public is invited to come and support the CHS Winter Guard and their performance of “Let it Pour”, on Tuesday, March 11 in the CHS Gym. The Community Night performance is free and open to the public, and will also feature a performance from the CMS Winter Guard! Mark your calendars to cheer on both Winter Guards, as CHS prepares for state finals!

Members of the CHS Winter Guard include: Abigail Demsich, Makayla Erickson, Ava Garland, Vanessa Godinez, Madison Jackson, Abigail Krueger, Allison Lopez, Brianna Manning, Addison Mason, Morgan Millis, Natalie Newman, Kaylin O'Daniel, Kenzie O’Daniel, Baylee Parrott, Lilyanne Peschke, Lucy Rutkowski, Alina Summer, Caryss Vandiver, and Caprie Wilson.

Prop Crew members include: William Newman, Cece Post, Miles Gast, Cohen Parrott, and Natalie Leensvaart.

CHS Winter Guard Director Jeffory DeHenes is assisted by Katie Radliff with technical help. Robert Mueller has been in charge of building and maintaining our amazing props.

Congratulations to the Girls Swimming & Diving Team on another outstanding season. They finished the season with their 26th consecutive DAC and IHSAA Sectional Championship. They wrapped up the season at the IHSAA State Finals where they finished in 8th place.

The individuals at the IHSAA State Finals were:

• Event 1 Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay: 6th Chesterton
  1) Adalyn Laughner 2) Brenley Bonez 3) Tegan Werner 4) Peyton Ostertag
• Event 2 Girls 200 Yard Freestyle: 17th Miata Henderson and 23rd Lux Mountford
• Event 4 Girls 50 Yard Freestyle: 5th Brenley Bonez and 15th Tegan Werner
• Event 5 Girls 1 mtr Diving: 16th Bayley Fowler
• Event 7 Girls 100 Yard Freestyle: 8th Adalyn Laughner and 19th Peyton Ostertag
• Event 8 Girls 500 Yard Freestyle: 15th Miata Henderson
• Event 9 Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 18th Chesterton
  1) Lux Mountford 2) Patricia Ozimek 3) Emily Hofmann 4) Miata Henderson
• Event 10 Girls 100 Yard Backstroke: 8th Adalyn Laughner
• Event 11 Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke: 4th Brenley Bonez
• Event 12 Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 4th Chesterton
  1) Peyton Ostertag 2) Tegan Werner 3) Adalyn Laughner 4) Brenley Bonez

To read more about the exciting day for the Trojans from Tom Keegan, follow the link below.

https://www.onwardtrojans.com/stateswimmers021525

Congratulations to Mr. Mark Peterson who was named the 2025 Indiana Career Development Professional of the Year this past week. Peterson was recognized at the 19th Annual Impact Awards Luncheon hosted by Indiana Chamber of Commerce and Institute for Workforce Excellence for his role in the success of the school's Internship program. This successful program serves over 160 CHS students who are gaining real world experience in preparation for life after high school. Congrats to Mark Peterson, director of the CHS Internship Program and the Internship program team - CHS Associate Principal Kristen Peterson, Asst. Director of Internships Candy Wilson, and Internship Supervisor Krysta Klinedinst.

Help us celebrate our DSC Transportation Appreciation Day on Friday, February 21, for National School Bus Driver Appreciation Day. Every day, either as children or parents, we appreciate school bus drivers. They are always there to make sure that kids go to and from school, safely and on time.

Help VOTE Chesterton High School 'Best Public High School' for the 3rd year in a row! Voting opened TODAY. Participants may vote one time daily in each category today through March 23. Click on the image below of this link to vote: https://www.nwitimes.com/exclusive/readerschoice/best-of-the-region-ballot-2025/

ONLINE ENROLLMENT is NOW OPEN for incoming Duneland Kindergarten students for the 2025-2026 school year. Families are asked to complete online enrollment prior to attending Kindergarten Round-Up on Thursday, February 27, 2025. To get started please visit: DSC Kindergarten Enrollment 2025-2026

Nominations on are now open. Click on the image below to learn more and to caste votes for your favorites.

ParentSquare, the new communication platform, allows parents and guardians in DSC to receive all of their communications from the district, schools, classrooms and school activity groups in one unified app and service.

Duneland School Corporation has adopted ParentSquare as its new communication platform for the 2025-2026 school year and will begin inviting DSC families to verify their accounts over the next few months before launching in June.

ParentSquare is a communication platform designed for schools to connect with students’ families and keep them informed. It’s used by K–12 schools and districts to streamline messaging - such as announcements, attendance notifications, event reminders, one-on-one messages, and more - into a single, user-friendly interface. This decision has followed careful consideration of the needs of our school community as well as laws and regulations surrounding student data privacy. ParentSquare will help us to centralize messages and announcements to improve engagement with our students’ parents and guardians.

By unifying multiple tools into one communications app and service, ParentSquare provides a seamless experience for parents and staff. Parents will be able to keep track of news, activities and events from all their children’s schools in one place.

DSC hopes that ParentSquare’s intuitive, two-way platform will foster greater communication and family involvement. With ParentSquare, parents can enjoy photos posted by teachers, fill out forms and permission slips, sign up for parent-teacher conferences, check grades and attendance, and much more. School staff and parents can engage in both one-to-one and group messaging with real-time language translation.

“Effective school-to-home communication has never been more important, which is why Duneland School Corporation adopted the ParentSquare communication platform. We’re looking forward to reaching 100% of our families no matter where they are, unifying all our communications tools, and adopting a more eco-friendly approach by reducing the amount of paper used to send important communications,” said Bridget Martinson, DSC director of Public Relations/Marketing.

DSC’s partnership with ParentSquare will enable stronger engagement between school and home, and help empower everyone within the school community to stay connected and informed. For more information on ParentSquare, please visit www.parentsquare.com.

Each of the 11 Duneland School Corporation schools, in collaboration with the Indiana Department of Education, are working toward renewing distinction as a Family Friendly School. The purpose of this initiative is to ensure that each DSC school is demonstrating excellence in engaging families in their children’s education.

Launched in 2015, the Family Friendly Schools initiative focuses on addressing the academic, physical, emotional, and social needs of students, while providing the needed resources and fostering the active involvement of their families through schools and the community. The program recognizes and honors schools that welcome all families into the school community, communicate effectively, support student success, speak up for every child, share power and collaborate with the community.

As part of this process, students in grades 5-12 will be asked to take a 5-minute Family Friendly Schools survey (link for parent review only). Students will take this survey at their school sometime between the dates of Feb. 18 - March 2.

Thank you for your support!

In keeping with our Core Values, Duneland School Corporation is committed to fostering partnerships to improve the quality of life in our community. One of our most important partnerships is with our families. As we strive to continue to build upon and strengthen our family partnerships, DSC is applying for renewal from the Indiana Department of Education as an IDOE “Family Friendly Schools” corporation. In doing so, we will continue to “focus on addressing students' academic, physical, emotional, and social needs while providing the needed resources and fostering the active involvement of their families through schools and the community.” (Indiana Department of Education Family Friendly Schools Handbook)

Please help us as we continue to support our students and community by completing the IDOE online survey.

Your ongoing support in educating the children of our community is greatly appreciated!

SURVEY LINKS AND INSTRUCTIONS:

Survey Links:

• 2025-2026 Family Friendly Survey Questions for Families

• 2025-2026 Family Friendly Survey Questions for Families-Spanish

School Name: choose your school from the drop-down list

School Corporation: 6470 Duneland School Corporation

School Liaison Name: MICHELLE PALKO

School Liaison email: mpalko@duneland.k12.in.us

School Codes for your convenience:

6928 - Bailly Elementary School

6819 - Brummitt Elementary School

6817 - Jackson Elementary School

6823 - Liberty Elementary School

6941 - Newton Yost Elementary School

6821 - Liberty Intermediate School

6927 - Westchester Intermediate School

6925 - Chesterton Senior High School

6926- Northwest Indiana Online School (Trojan Virtual Academy)

The goal of the Duneland School Corporation district school newsletters is to inform students, parents and the school community about school-related information.

The Duneland Schools share information that pertains to opportunities our students may be interested in and outside of school on a special page on our website. These available opportunities are offered by not-for-profit partnerships and organizations within our school district boundaries and local communities. Follow this link to Community Opportunities.

Want your event/activity/camp posted on this page? Submit a request by email with the flyer/information to the Duneland Schools Administrative Center to ahicks@duneland.k12.in.us and bmartinson@duneland.k12.in.us.

Click on the image below to register

Online registration is now open for State Park Little League Baseball 2025. New or Returning players may register by clicking the State Park Little League logo at left.

Online registration for 2025 Liberty Rec. Baseball and Softball. Register by clicking the Liberty Rec. Baseball and Softball logo at left.

The CHS Applied Arts class is excited to exhibit cubism self-portraits at their upcoming "Outside the Box" gallery show. The exhibition will feature oil pastel drawings by 21 students celebrating uniqueness and diversity through creativity. The class is taught by CHS art teacher Colin May.

The show will be hosted at The Das' Gallery (Country Inn & Suites, 2020 Laporte Ave. Valparaiso, IN) through February 2025.

The Duneland Exchange Club is thrilled to announce the 33rd Annual Youth Talent Showcase, an exciting event designed to spotlight the incredible talents of students in grades K-12. Whether you sing, dance, play an instrument, perform magic, or have another unique talent, this is your time to shine!

The showcase will take place on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at 6:00 PM in the Chesterton High School Auditorium. Proceeds from the event will directly support the Chesterton High School Natural Helpers Club, a student organization dedicated to peer support and community service.

Audition Information:
Auditions are required for participation and will be held at Bailly Elementary School on:

• Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at 6:00 PM
• Thursday, March 13, 2025, at 6:00 PM

Students interested in participating can apply online by visiting the Duneland Exchange Club’s website at www.dunelandexchangeclub.com. Applications can also be accessed via the QR code on event posters.

Both group and individual acts are welcome to apply. With a professional stage at Chesterton High School, this is a fantastic opportunity for young performers to showcase their skills in front of a live audience.

Don't miss your chance to be part of this incredible tradition. Apply today and join us for a night of fun, talent, and community spirit!

For more information about the Duneland Exchange Club and its programs, please contact mariabachuchin750@hotmail.com.

This is an excellent opportunity for parents/caregivers and team members to gain valuable insights and resources for navigating the IEP process.

The SEPAC team will be on hand to share information about resources available outside of the school setting.

Mark your calendars and join us for an informative and supportive evening. We look forward to seeing you there!

The Duneland School Corporation Early Learning HUB is proud to be the first birth to school initiative in Porter County. The HUB is a place for caregivers and their children to learn, play and grow together.

The HUB is learning about feeling, Valentine’s Day, community and more with our HUB families for February. If you have children ages 0-5, come join in the fun M-F at the HUB. Check out this FREE program at our DSC website.

https://www.duneland.k12.in.us/programs-services/duneland-early-learning-hub

Explore the Duneland School Corporation’s Trojan Learning Center (TLC)!

The Trojan Learning Center offers a variety of educational opportunities for young children and their families. Here's what we provide:

• Duneland Early Learning HUB: A FREE birth-to-school program for children ages 0-5 and their caregivers. Learn more about this exciting program here: Duneland Early Learning HUB.

• Preschool Programs: We offer preschool options for children ages 3-5 with developmental delays and Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).

• Duneland Family YMCA Partnership: In collaboration with the Duneland Family YMCA, we also offer two additional preschool classrooms.

All of our preschool programs use a proven curriculum to support children's social skills and emotional growth. The TLC ensures that every child enjoys a fun and nurturing learning experience, with engaging activities that bring all preschool students together!

Click on the image below for more information and to apply TODAY!

Ready to make a difference in the lives of students? Interested in a fulfilling and rewarding position with no required evening or weekend work? Looking to enjoy the same summer and holiday schedule as your kids? The primary responsibilities of Exceptional Learning (EXL) Instructional Aides range from sharing smiles, making connections, building confidence, encouraging learning, supporting students with instruction in & out of the classroom, and assisting children with self help & self management skills.

DSC is currently searching for select individuals to serve as EXL Instructional Aides. Available positions can start at $19.00, $17.00 or $15.00 per hour. Opportunities exist at elementary, intermediate and secondary levels and can:

• be full-time/benefit-eligible
• be part-time and follow the student school day
• involve sharing the day with a single student
• involve engaging with multiple learners in a classroom setting
• 
  

Do you want to earn money but still be home with your family?

Does the cost of childcare hinder your plans to work?

Does your child participate in the many afterschool opportunities?

Would you like to spend quality time with your kids during spring, summer and winter breaks?

https://www.applitrack.com/dune.../onlineapp/default.aspx...

Did you know that Duneland Schools has an online Spirit Wear Stores where you can buy your Duneland all school spirit wear? Check out our Spirit Wear Store platform at: https://dunelandschoolsopenstores.itemorder.com/shop/home/

The DSC Child Nutrition Department utilizes NutriSlice as its menus program. This app is available for iPhone and Android through your mobile app store. Parents can also access the full website for Duneland Schools on a computer via this NutriSlice link.

This app will allow parents and students to view the menus as well as the nutritional info for each menu item at any of the Duneland Schools. This program will be developed further incorporating images of the actual food items being served at each of the Duneland schools.

In the Fall of 2023, a strategic planning team was formed to review and update the current four-year strategic plan into a five-year plan that will be used to guide the Corporation from 2024-2028. The Board of School Trustees for the Duneland School Corporation approved the new DSC Strategic Plan at its December 4, 2023 regular meeting. The plan will guide DSC for the next five years in the areas of Student Achievement, Safety & Operations, People & Culture, and Finance & Facilities.

These timelines were revised as of December 2024 to reflect necessary adjustments to the plan and to ensure the continued success and growth of our educational community.

Click this link to view the new 2024-2028 Strategic Plan

Contact the Duneland School Corporation IT department via one of these methods:

1. Open a IncidentIQ ticket by sending an email to: helpdesk@duneland.k12.in.us
   
2. Log into IncidentIQ and submit a request duneland.incidentIQ.com

Families without internet due to financial hardship have access to programs from two local providers.

Comcast Internet Essentials:

• Families that qualify for public assistance programs such as the National School Lunch Program, Housing Assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI and other programs may also qualify for the Internet Essentials program from Comcast.

• This program offers internet at a low cost per month.

• Additional options and services are also available

• More information is available at this Comcast link

Frontier Lifeline Program:

• Families that qualify for public assistance programs such as the National School Lunch Program, Housing Assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI and other programs may also qualify for the Lifeline Program from Frontier.

• More information is available at this Frontier link

Email: bmartinson@duneland.k12.in.us

Website: www.duneland.k12.in.us
Location: 601 West Morgan Avenue, Chesterton, IN, USA
Phone: 219-983-3600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dunelandschools/
Twitter: @dunelandk12