Van Buren Local Schools

The FFA held its annual Farmyard Fun Day on Tuesday, May 20, exposing students to the wonderful world of agriculture. Whether it was interacting with animals, planting vegetables, or using water-soaked newspaper to create wildflower seed packs, it was a great learning experience.

Big congrats to our ESL graduates! #BeABlackKnight

Congrats to Calvin for his Positive Behavior Referral! #BeABlackKnight

VB & LB raised over 7K for LLS this year for the Bring the Change event! Thanks to all who contributed! #BeABlackKnight

Congrats and thanks to Principal Gunder for helping Mr. Newcomer today! #BeABlackKnight

Congrats and thanks to Principal Gunder for helping Mr. Newcomer today! #BeABlackKnight

Congrats to our May Knights of the Round Table! #BeABlackKnight

Congrats to Sammy for her Positive Behavior Referral! #BeABlackKnight

Students can check out this week's Volunteer Opportunities of the Week to get involved and work toward the Community Service seal!

During their May meeting, the Van Buren Local School District Board of Education recognized two local businesses, Bowman Electric and Aqua Lawn Irrigation, for their strong support of Van Buren Local Schools. The companies were honored as part of the Ohio School Boards Association’s (OSBA) 2025 Business Honor Roll program. The program gives school districts a way to thank local businesses and recognize them for their valuable contributions to schools. OSBA provides personalized certificates and other resources to help school districts with their recognition activities. Board member Michael Leifheit presented the awards to Chris Bowman of Bowman Electric and Ken Willey of Aqua Lawn Irrigation. Van Buren Local School District and its board members, administrators, staff, and students would like to express their sincere appreciation for all these businesses do for our district.

This week's Joust About Careers episode features the 10-minute highlights of the interview with 2011 Van Buren graduate Hannah Shank, a Transport Operations Supervisor at Marathon Petroleum Corporation. The highlights focus on a typical day for Hannah, how women are breaking barriers in the transportation field, how valuable career skills can be developed in high school, and much more. The highlights and full interviews are available on YouTube at bit.ly/JoustAboutCareers, or full interviews can be found on various podcast platforms by searching Joust About Careers. This is also the last episode of the 2024-2025 school year, so look for new episodes in September. Have a great week!

Congratulations to senior Lacey Bowman for representing Van Buren as this year's recipient of the Franklin B. Walter Award. In addition to receiving a scholarship, Bowman had the opportunity to give a speech about her most influential teacher, Mr. Eric Heitkamp, who teaches Business and Financial Literacy.

Congrats to Ava & Hunter for their Positive Behavior Referrals! Also a big thanks to our 5th grade reps for their participation with Chick-fil-A for a day! #BeABlackKnight

Congratulations to Transportation Supervisor Arian Keeran for being part of the first-place Northwest region team at the Ohio School Bus Safety Road-E-O state contest on May 10! Individually, he also placed 14th out of 42 participants.

Thanks for coming out to tonight's performance of The Little Engine That Could Sing featuring Mrs. O'Toole's & Slone's classes! Mrs Barger's & Tabler's classes are on Thursday! #BeABlackKnight

Chick-fil-A for a day was another success! Thanks for coming out to support Elle, Everly, and Charlotte & VB! #BeABlackKnight

Congrats to Remi on her Positive Behavior Referral! #BeABlackKnight

Kona Ice will be at the elementary on May 22nd for K/2/4 and May 23rd for 1/3/5. As before, pre-orders are preferred and must be placed by May 21st  by 6 PM. https://customer.kona-ice.com/#/user/search Event Code: K1046662567

The latest episode of the Joust About Careers podcast features 2011 Van Buren graduate Hannah Shank, a Transport Operations Supervisor at Marathon Petroleum Corporation. In this episode, Hannah shares how a typical day looks for her, how studying abroad led her to teaching in Austria, what playing college softball taught her, and much more. To watch on YouTube, visit bit.ly/JoustAboutCareers. To listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or other podcast platforms, search Joust About Careers. Have a great week!

After students worked hard to serve the community yesterday morning, Student Council hosted the annual field day in the afternoon. Whether it was jumping on the inflatables, dunking staff, or playing pickleball, the students still had plenty of energy to make it through the afternoon. Thank you to Mrs. Leonard, Student Council advisor, for organizing this event!