Caring

Thumbs-up to the eight men from Cummins Inc. Seymour Engine Plant who raked a yard, trimmed trees, tended to flowerbeds and cleaned a memory garden at a widow’s home in Brownstown during the 21st annual Jackson County United Way Day of Caring on May 9.

A related thumbs-up to the other 1,152 volunteers who worked at more than 170 projects throughout the county that day.

State champs

Thumbs-up to Trinity Lutheran High School’s Academic Super Bowl English team for claiming the school’s second state title in only the second year of the program at the Seymour school. Seniors Maggie Neawedde, Lexi Schneider and Macy Taylor and sophomore Nathaniel Bauman combined to answer 18 of 25 questions correctly, putting them at the top of the Class 4 competitors.

Top secretary

Thumbs-up to Tammy Marksberry, who recently received the Indiana Association of School Principals’ Secretary of the Year award. Marksberry, a secretary at Seymour-Jackson Elementary School, was nominated by Assistant Principal Karla Bohle, who said Marksberry always goes above and beyond to help serve the families, students and staff members of the school on the city’s south side.

Scholarly

Thumbs-up to Brittany Isaacs, a Brownstown Central High School graduate attending the University of Indianapolis, and Victoria Mahoney, a Seymour High School graduate attending Indiana State University, for recently being named Next Generation Hoosier Educators by the Indiana Commission of Higher Education. Recipients are selected through a competitive selection process based on academic achievement, teacher nomination and an in-person interview, and just 200 Hoosiers received the scholarships this year.

Failure to yield

Thumbs-down to motorists who refuse to recognize pedestrians have the right of way no matter if they are walking across the road in a crosswalk or jaywalking.

Abandoned

Thumbs-down to people who decide to get rid of their unwanted vehicles by leaving them in parking lots and other places.