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COLUMBUS—Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has made appointments including:

Kathryn N. Farmer of Bluffton has been reappointed to the Ohio AMBER Alert Committee for a term beginning February 24, 2023, and ending February 6, 2025.

Keith A. Cheney of Lima has been appointed to the Ohio Casino Control Commission for a term beginning February 24, 2023, and ending February 21, 2027.

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Twelve Bluffton High School students have artwork on display in the 2023 Kewpee High School Invitational Exhibit which runs through March 1 at Artspace/Lima, 65-67 Town Square, Lima.

Three Bluffton students received awards for their work:

  • Brookly Nance - 1st place in Jewelry for "City Star"
  • Hayden Dearth - 2nd place in Sculpture for “Cabin on the Lake”
  • Hope Miller - 3rd place in Digital for “My Baby”

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If you’re part of Gen X, chances are you tried to avoid death by dysentery and debated how many bullets to take with you on your Oregon Trail trip, provided courtesy of the still-popular pixelated video game. First released in 1971, the game, which has undergone several adaptations since then, was designed to help teach younger students about 19th century pioneers who journeyed along this historic westward route.

But it’s what the game, particularly its original version, doesn’t teach and show, however, that captured the interest of Ohio Northern University professors Dr. John Estell, professor of computer engineering and computer science, and Dr. Stephany Coffman-Wolph, assistant professor of computer science.

The two turned those game gaps into research and learning opportunities that continue to resonate with and benefit engineering majors. Their success with intersecting the science of digital gaming with fuller and accurate historical knowledge about Oregon Trail realities resulted in a redesigned Programming 2 course that students love, so much so that enrollment in the course doubled. A pedagogical spinoff being introduced in spring 2023 will be an interactive fiction course for both computer science and English students that Estell will be teaching with English professor Dr. Lisa Robeson.

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Bluffton High School Band director Dave Sycks reports that students attended Solo and Ensemble Adjudicated Events on Saturday, February 11, at St. Mary’s High School. The following ratings were earned:

Class A

Hannah Davis - Trumpet Solo - Superior rating
Alyssa Hoffman - Clarinet Solo -  Excellent rating

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On February 6, several Girl Scout troops from Bluffton toured the Clymer Wildlife Museum in Columbus Grove. 

One of the owners, Gary Clymer, and his grandson Thayne Clymer gave the girls a tour of the museum, which includes wild game from all over the world and a separate display of preserved fish, like the 12' long 500# Blue Marlin. 

With their tour guides' permission, the girls were able to feel the very short bristly hair on an elephants foot and a fossilized woolly mammoth's tusks as well as one of its teeth. The wooly mammoth had been found sticking out of a melting glacier years ago, during one of the Clymers' northern expeditions.   

The moose head in the picture is actually mounted at the height, the moose would stand in the wild.

Sixteen scouts and seven adults were in the tour group. The troops included Juniors (Troop Leader Whitney Utendorf, Asst. Troop Leader Jessica Pratt), Cadettes (Troop Leader Kelly Honse, Asst. Troop Leader Whitney Utendorf), and Seniors (Troop Leader Kelly Honse, Asst. Troop Leader Victoria Goddard).

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The January student of the month at Bluffton High School is Jacob Szabo, the son of Jeremy and Julia Szabo of Bluffton. Jacob is a senior with a 3.883 GPA. 

Jacob was a member of the Bluffton High School band his freshman year including marching, concert, pep and jazz bands. He has also been a member of the varsity baseball team. 

He attends and is a member of Redeemer Covenant Church in Arlington. He also attends a Bible study group hosted by freshman classmate Liliana Liberato.

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