NPCS Newsletter - Fall 2025

Hello Cougar Nation! What an exciting time it is to be a Cougar! With the first 9 weeks of school behind us, we would like to take some time to share several of the accomplishments of our students and other exciting things happening around our campuses. NPCSC is a special place. Let's keep up the great work!

All four of our North Putnam Schools held programs in support of our current and former Veterans. Each of these programs focused on the history of Veterans Day and the reason why NPCSC is extremely appreciative of the servicemen and servicewomen of this nation. Cougars know that FREEDOM ISN'T FREE!! Thank you to all of local Veterans!

Our students pride themselves in being positive role models for our elementary students. This group used their “puppet power” to educate Roachdale Elementary students about the dangers of nicotine and other harmful substances.

Our NPHS students did a FANTASTIC job in bringing the production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" to life. We love seeing our students being creative in all arenas!

Our CDL students spoke at the school board meeting about the importance of the program in their lives. Thank you to Mr. Tom Williams and Mr. Jeff Doss for all of your hard work preparing our students for life!

Our NPHS freshmen took part in the “Freshman Experience” with the Freshmen at Cloverdale. They toured Ivy Tech, Crown, and the Putnam County YMCA to get an idea of all the resources they have at their fingertips right in our county!

The North Putnam Esports squads have been putting in work. For the second year in a row, NPHS students have qualified for the National play-offs through PlayVS, the Esports platform of choice for many high schools around the country. Good luck everyone!

Our Food Science team comprised of Chase Abdon, Aubrey Crowe, Katie Jo Hodgen, and Natalia Grajewski received a GOLD rating and a placing of 10th in the NATION! This also qualified them for an all expenses paid trip in January to Atlanta for the International Production and Processing Expo.

Our Parliamentary Team placed Silver in their division. This team of students continues to shine and impress in every outing!

Many thanks to all of the participants in the annual NP FFA Trunk or Treat. It was a fantastic evening of fun and fellowship for the entire community!

We are proud of all our fall student-athletes. Here are a few highlights from the fall.

Girls Golf - 2nd Place Team finish in County

Cross County - Girls County Champs, Boys 2nd Place finish in County

Jenna Day County and Conference Champion. Barbi Fuchs, Brooklynn Sutherlin, and Elijah Harless MAC all-conference Runners

3 Individual Regional Qualifiers. Jenna Day, Brooklynn Sutherlin, and Corbin Conner

Football - Christian Kramer and Wes Murphy named MAC all-conference players

Boys Soccer - Issac Polley named MAC all-conference

Puppet Power!

Our 3rd–5th graders had a fun visit from high school students through the PIE Coalition. The students used puppets to teach and talk about the importance of making healthy choices and staying drug free! Big thanks to our high school mentors for bringing such great energy and messages to our classrooms!

Roachdale staff had a great time greeting families and passing out candy and smiles to the community! Our staff is AWESOME!!

A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to our local firefighters in helping make Fire Safety Day such a big hit!! The kids loved it and it was extremely informative!

Families are invited to join us for Literacy Night on Tuesday, November 18, as we bring the beloved story If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to life! Each grade level is preparing a fun, hands-on literacy activity that connects to the story. It’s sure to be a night full of reading, laughter, and cookies!

Fundraising Success: Thank you to everyone who supported our Trash Bag and Popcorn Fundraisers! Thanks to our generous families and community, sales were higher than ever—helping us fund student experiences and classroom resources across the building.

Book Blast Book-Raiser: Our BookBlast book-raiser was a huge success! Participation increased this year, allowing us to place even more books into the hands of our students. We’re grateful for everyone who helped us spread the love of reading at Bainbridge.

Celebrating Success: We were proud to celebrate our students’ hard work and commitment to learning with Perfect Attendance and Honor Roll recognition this month. Their perseverance and positive attitudes shine bright!

K-9 Demo at Bainbridge: Students at Bainbridge Elementary enjoyed an exciting visit from the K-9 trainers! Officers shared how they work with their dogs to help keep our community safe. Students were captivated by the demonstrations and loved learning about teamwork, responsibility, and service.

It is an exciting time to be an NPMS student! Over the course of the next month, students and staff are witnessing a facelift of our Media Center. These upgrades will provide even more opportunities for our students to explore, create, share, and collaborate.

A HUGE thank you goes out to Ms. Lacey Loschen and Edge Materials for coming to speak with our College and Career students. Our students learned about careers in construction. THANK YOU!!

Students are encouraged to get involved in the many different opportunities that we have here at NPMS. Students are developing so many skills in these opportunities to expand on what is being taught in the classroom. Thank you to our many different club sponsors for helping expand our students' horizons!

NPMS and NPHS will be hosting a canned food drive to assist the Cougar Care Pantry. Donations of shelf-stable items can be dropped off at both buildings.

The North Putnam Middle School Rocket League team comprised of Cole Nelson, Connor Chamberlain, Garrett Williams, Mathias Dutcher, and Carson Riggle is currently ranked #3 in the Eastern United States! These students continue to develop incredible communication skills, teamwork, and impressive decision making skills. Keep up the great work, Cougars!

We love to share out some of the awesome things that our Cougar Graduates are doing! In this edition, we are highlighting recent graduate, Ms. Jada Brooks. Jada is majoring in Sports Marketing/Management, Tourism/Hospitality/Event Management, and minoring in Business. Jada has served on the Rowdy Crew for the Indianapolis Indians, a TA for IU professors, is a student ambassador for the School of Public Health, and is currently serving as an Intern with Strategic Communications. Jada helps to celebrate and highlight all programs across Indiana University and can be seen front and center at almost all IU events!! Keep up the great work, Jada!

The next former Cougar we would like to highlight is recent graduate, Arrick Kramer. Arrick is currently majoring in Exercise Science with a focus in Athletic Development and Physical Training at Trine University. He is also minoring in Business. Over this past summer, Arrick was a Strength and Conditioning Intern for the Louisville Cardinal Football program. Duties for that included running position group specific training, working in cooperation with the Strength Program Directors, and monitoring the progress of some of the premier collegiate football players in the nation. For the past two seasons, Arrick is also a Strength Intern/Student Coach for Trine University in Angola. Keep up the great work, Arrick!

The last Cougar graduate we are highlighting this edition is Ms. Opry Curran. Opry decided to switch her majors after serving as an Instructional Assistant for North Putnam Middle School. Opry is enrolled in the Step-Up program through Indiana Wesleyan University and is employed as the 6th grade Math teacher for NPMS. Opry brings positive energy to the students everyday and is an example of NP graduates giving back to our schools.

Submit information to - Mr. Bucky Kramer, bkramer@nputnam.k12.in.us

North Putnam Middle School is home to the Cougar Weather Station. Powered by Earth Networks, a partner of Weatherbug, NPMS installed state of the art equipment for students and community members alike. Looking for the best local forecast? Look no further than the Cougar Weather Station!

This new tool displays attendance data at the grade-, school- and corporation-level and shows different types of absences (excused or unexcused), as well as chronic absenteeism rates. Additionally, users can view longitudinal data that can be disaggregated by student population.

Having this data at our fingertips will help both schools, as well as community partners to:

• Analyze student attendance data over time
• Identify any trends/patterns in the data or areas where data collection could be improved
• Work with a variety of stakeholders to identify root causes of poor attendance
• Review attendance policies and utilize data to inform short- and long-term policy decisions
• Set goals for improved attendance and/or data collection
• Evaluate the impact of current efforts to improve attendance

If you have not already, I encourage you to take a moment to check out the Attendance Insights data. Again, we are moving in the right direction because of your efforts and collaborative solutions, so thank YOU! Let’s keep it going!

MyRideK12 parent app

We have found out that the GPS route tracking has been not functioning correctly on the transportation app. We have disabled this feature to avoid further confusion. The app should still show you if the bus will be on time or not. Thank you all for your patience while we try to make the most out of

this app.

Transportation Information

We understand the frustration with our lack of drivers and the hardship that it places our families in at times. We have been actively trying to hire more bus drivers. We appreciate everyone’s continued cooperation and support while we continue our journey to make our school’s transportation the best it can be.

Looking to get involved as well as feature your business's logo on future publications? Contact NPCSC Superintendent, Dr. Dustin LeMay for more information - dlemay@nputnam.k12.in.us