When Concord High School graduate Diamond Burdine stares at himself in the room full of mirrors where he spends hours each week, he sees an Indiana University South Bend student with ambitions of becoming a professional dancer. But he saw something very different five years ago.&nbsp;Back then — before he joined Concord's Best Dance Crew — he saw a troubled teen who bounced among more than a dozen foster homes. He saw someone who'd just been arrested. He saw someone who would end up in jail.&nbsp;He saw a lot of things, but he didn't see hope.&nbsp;But now he’s taking home top honors from the Tremaine Dance Competition with the school's dance team and auditioning for “America's Got Talent” with the dance crew. He doesn’t have time to make trouble.&nbsp;"I was a foster kid. I really didn't care about anyone else's feelings, I didn't care about the world," Burdine said. "Dance sent me to a whole different world."&nbsp;Rich Matteson came on as the CHS resource officer about seven years ago, and very early in his time there he recognized the at-risk students and the challenges they were facing: peer pressure to join gangs or do drugs for the guys, teen pregnancy and self-esteem issues for the girls.&nbsp;But he noticed something else. Many of the kids notorious for making trouble were also the ones doing flips off bleachers and chairs, or dancing in the bathrooms and hallways during lunch.&nbsp;They were not the typical athletes, not like the football players, wrestlers or baseball players. They showed promise as dancers. That was the start of Concord’s Best Dance Crew.&nbsp;“The number of students ending up in jail and following in the wrong footsteps of parents, it’s astronomical,” Matteson said. “We have to find a way of pointing these kids in a different direction and giving them a way out.”&nbsp;Matteson recruited a handful of at-risk kids and gave them a set of strict stipulations: Show up every day after school for practice, keep grades up and racking up discipline referrals means dismissal from the team. The after-school practices were very intentional, Matteson said.&nbsp;“Most kids, especially young men and ladies in their position, they go home to an empty house or to a house where things aren’t going so well,” he said. “They turn to the street, running the streets all hours of the night. Getting arrested or involved in gang activity. But the dancers are here late at night; they don’t have that opportunity.”&nbsp;He teamed up with Stephanie Pairitz, who came to Concord to lead the existing dance program in 2009. Pairitz, who also acts as a coach, a mentor and a mom, said the dancers feel at home in their corner of the high school.&nbsp;They know they have an adult to talk to if they’re having a hard time or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich waiting for them if their cupboards are bare. For the original guys on Concord’s Best Dance Crew, that has made all the difference.&nbsp;“If Concord’s Best Dance Crew had never started, I would probably be in jail. Probably wouldn’t have graduated high school, to be honest,” Burdine said. “As soon as I joined, I learned from a lot of people that, hey, that’s not the way to go.”<h2>‘A SOUL THING’&nbsp;</h2>Burdine is just one of the success stories from Concord’s dance program.&nbsp;There’s also David Garcia, a junior, who started hanging out with so-called friends who were getting involved with gangs, drugs and alcohol. But then he joined the dance crew.&nbsp;“Ever since that, my life has changed,” he said. “These are the only people I hang out with. We have this bond. I feel like it’s unbreakable.”&nbsp;And there is Shimmy Sar, a senior who grew a passion for dancing by watching Michael Jackson videos.&nbsp;“I was conceited and thought I was better than everyone here,” he said. “I don’t like to ask for help, but I made a new family.”&nbsp;The success goes beyond the anecdotal evidence, Pairitz said. Every student who has committed to Concord’s Best Dance Crew has graduated from high school.&nbsp;That’s a 100 percent graduation rate, compared to the school’s rate of 87.5 percent. So, why has dance proven so successful at keeping kids in school?&nbsp;“Arts touch human beings in a way that nothing else can,” Pairitz said. “It touches our spirits. It’s a soul thing.”&nbsp;She said it gives students an outlet to express themselves and provides a distraction from their personal battles.&nbsp;One dancer lost her home and all her belongings in a fire her freshman year. Another was embroiled in a legal battle with her stepfather. Both said dance practice was a welcome escape from the confusion in their lives.&nbsp;The dance program is also successful because students get to act cool and listen to popular music, Pairitz said, but they’re not doing stupid things like stealing or getting in fights.&nbsp;“It fulfills that desire to go outside of your normal self and to live it,” she said.&nbsp;And, as insignificant as they might seem, it has to do with the mirrors that line three walls in the dance studio. They encourage introspection, Pairitz said.&nbsp;"It pushes you to be calm and incredibly aware of who you are and who you want to be," she said. "it's about taking up space, not trying to be invisible."&nbsp;<h2>‘AN AWARENESS THEY CAN DO ANYTHING’&nbsp;</h2>Pairitz trained as a professional dancer and spent time performing on national and international stages.&nbsp;She wants to give her students that same opportunity. “I knew that anything I really put my focus on I can really achieve,” she said. “That’s the most powerful thing to give to the next generation, is an awareness they can do anything.”&nbsp;With the financial support of the Elkhart community and scholarships from Tremaine, Pairitz took the team to regional and national competitions, where they challenged dancers from professional schools and studios.

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Concord High School dance program provides troubled teens with a way out

• Maintained relationships with the superintendents and school boards of Elkhart County's seven public school districts.&nbsp;• Visited all 55 public schools in the newspaper’s coverage area to learn from teachers and students in order to highlight positive and innovative education experiences.• Served on PBS panel discussion regarding standardized test scores alongside politicians and superintendents.

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Bluebird's Complete Guide To Account-Based Marketing

Offer story-driven marketing services in the areas of content, design, strategy and development. Selected projects and accomplishments: Directed content strategy for Futurestay as the SaaS start-up successfully raised $11 million in Series A funding.<ul><li>• Used content (including webinars, ebooks, video, case studies, press releases, blogs &amp; more) to drive a 533% increase in organic traffic</li></ul>Served as the director of digital communications for the grassroots campaign of U.S. Congressional candidate Pat Hackett.<ul><li>• Earned media coverage from the New York Times, Newsweek, Marie Claire, NBC News, Time Magazine, among others</li><li>• 75% of voters contacted through campaign turned out to vote, compared with just 47% overall turnout</li></ul>Acted as copy lead on agile sprint testing campaigns. Used in-depth discovery work and user personas to draft, test &amp; iterate on messaging to drive growth.<ul><li>• Reduced CPC by 53% for electric vehicle rental start-up Borrow</li><li>• Achieved a CPI 33% lower than global iOS average for Morty, an app for escape room enthusiasts</li></ul>

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GOSHEN — When Ira Glass postponed his March 19 visit to Goshen College, the news was a relief for die-hard Indiana basketball fans.&nbsp;The same night that Glass, public radio star and host of NPR’s “This American Life,” was going to spend an evening in Goshen, Indiana University was set to take on rival University of Kentucky for a spot in the Sweet 16 in the 2016 NCAA tournament. Some in Goshen mused that Glass must be an IU or Kentucky basketball fan and he postponed the show so he could watch the big game live.&nbsp;Glass shot down that theory with a laugh during a recent telephone interview with The Elkhart Truth.&nbsp;The real reason he couldn’t make it in March? He was jetting off to Europe to try to meet up with a group on the run from the Islamic State group — a much more noble excuse than March Madness. Glass has since returned from Europe — the IS segment has not made it to a public broadcast yet — and will be speaking at Goshen College on Saturday evening. (A few tickets remain; visit goshen.edu/tickets if you’re interested.)&nbsp;During the event, called “Reinventing Radio: An Evening with Ira Glass,” Glass will talk about “This American Life” and how the show is made. He will recreate the sound of the show using his iPad on stage, mixing stories and his narration with pretaped quotes and music.&nbsp;“This American Life” is a weekly public radio show broadcast on more than 500 stations across the country. Each one-hour episode has a theme, and there are generally three or four stories or “acts” that fit that theme. The show combines documentary storytelling with other types of entertainment, like monologues or comedy routines.&nbsp;The best way to understand what the show is about is to give it a listen, Glass said.&nbsp;Glass chatted with The Elkhart Truth ahead of his first visit to Goshen. Here is a bit of what he had to say.&nbsp;<h2>What is the most challenging part of making a show?</h2>Glass: It’s hard finding stories and it’s hard making stories as sparkly as they can be. The mundane work can be hard, the planning of when stories can be finished, when stories can get on the air. Stories don’t want to be finished exactly when you want them to be finished. Finding an idea to make a story about is a job. It isn’t like stories are sprinkled on you like fairy dust.&nbsp;<h2>What makes a good story? How do you take a raw interview and turn it into a segment that sparkles?&nbsp;</h2>Glass: It depends on the story. Obviously, the plot has to be good and drive at some thought in the world. We’re looking for scenes with funny moments and emotional nights. It has to be interesting and surprising. Weirdly, a lot of the editing comes down to noticing when you’re bored and noticing when you feel excited. The more your work amuses yourself, the better it will be. We’re out for our own pleasure.&nbsp;We have a theory of what the story has to be, but often the story will change over the course of the interviews. The staff will edit over and over again and the person that’s listening will give notes and make these changes and then give it to someone who hasn’t heard it yet. Everyone gives notes. By the time it’s done with the process, it can be as many as eight or nine people in the room.&nbsp;Lots of stuff we kill, probably a third to a half of the stuff we start. That’s a luxury we get as a weekly show, but we’re also very dogged in making it work.&nbsp;<h2>What do you hope people take away from your work?</h2>Glass: Honestly, it’s entertainment. We want people to feel the feelings we feel. Sometimes it will be a very missionary show, when we think that people should know this or people need to hear about this. The first and foremost important thing is absolutely, people should be entertained and have feelings and experience it like a story.<h2>You’re also involved with the wildly successful “Serial” podcast. What do you think of its popularity?</h2>Glass: We all feel really excited and proud. “This American Life” is doing in short form what “Serial” does in an amazing way in long form. What’s interesting is it kind of kicked off a whole wave of people getting involved in pod-casting. Like, 10.7 million people have listened to every episode.<h2>What is a piece of advice you wish you had when you were first starting out?&nbsp;</h2>Glass: It’s normal not to be good at the beginning. I wasn’t so talented at the beginning. It took me a long time before my work was special in any way. I really wondered if I was ever going to get there. I wish someone told me that’s normal, that’s nothing strange.&nbsp;When there are movies about creative people, it’s about the Mozarts who were unstoppable. But most creative people, they were bad and then they got good. People take time to develop who they are and it’s important to think about that, to know you’re not as good as you want to be and that you want to be more special than you are.

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An Interview With Ira Glass: 'We want people to feel the feelings we feel'

Baker wasn’t authorized to act as a police officer in Kentucky, council saysOfficers in the Kentucky State University police department would have lost $3,100 in annual pay if officials hadn’t terminated Belinda Baker’s employment.KSU jeopardized its participation in the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Program Fund by appointing Baker as interim director of University Safety and Security Affairs, according to correspondence obtained by The State Journal.A letter to KSU President Mary Sias dated March 14 said Baker is not authorized to act as a police officer in Kentucky — “not authorized” was underlined in the letter.“I must also advise you that in the event the University chooses to continue to allow Ms. Baker to act as chief of police, additional steps will be taken to remove the KSU Police Department from the KLEFP fund,” Dana Todd, legal counsel to the Department of Criminal Justice Training and the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council, wrote in the letter.The fund pays each officer a $3,100 stipend per year so long as the department remains compliant with Peace Officer Professional Standards.State law outlines 17 minimum requirements to be a certified police officer in Kentucky.Some are minor, like being a U.S. citizen and possessing a valid driver’s license. Others require testing of agility and psychological suitability. To be certified in Kentucky, an officer must also not have had certification permanently revoked in another state.Even after the minimum requirements are met, an officer has no authority or power to act as a police officer in Kentucky until KLEC has verified the certification.“Ms. Baker has been contacted previously by KLEC to request her immediate submission of documentation to demonstrate her credentials and she has been advised by KLEC Executive&nbsp;Director Larry D. Ball that she does not have law enforcement authority within the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Todd wrote in the letter.&nbsp;“Please accept this letter as a formal notice to you that Ms. Baker has not submitted any of the requested documentation to KLEC to date.”Baker was originally offered the position of acting chief of police, which requires candidates to be certified law enforcement officers in Kentucky. But her offer was later amended to the position of interim director of University Safety and Security Affairs, which required only the eligibility to become certified.“Regardless of her announced job title, Ms. Baker is in fact presently acting as the Chief of the University’s police department,” Todd wrote in the letter.An investigation by DOCJT and KLEC revealed Baker was assigned an unmarked police vehicle equipped with blue emergency lights —&nbsp;a vehicle that, by law, may only be operated by a certified police officer.In her response to Todd’s letter, Sias said she was not aware of Baker’s lack of certification.“Please be assured that KSU seeks to remain eligible for participation in the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Program Fund (KLEFPF) and to comply with all KLEC requirements pertaining to police officer certification,” Sias wrote in the letter.&nbsp;“The stipend support that KLEFPF affords our officers is critical and we are fortunate to have access to this resource.”Baker was terminated March 31, according to a document obtained by The State Journal.Todd also admonished Sias for not informing KLEC within five days that former chief Stephanie Bastin had been fired and replaced by Baker.In a letter dated March 26, Sias assured Todd the university would comply with notification law.&nbsp;She also noted Barbara Hayes was named acting director of University Safety and Security Affairs, effective March 28. Assistant Chief Tiua Chilton assumed the role of acting director Monday when she returned from a leave of absence.The situation at KSU was not Baker’s first brush with certification issues. A lawsuit was filed at Delaware State University, where Baker has returned to serve as deputy chief of police.According to the lawsuit, filed in 2011 by former DSU police officer Stephanie Smith against the university, tension was high in the police department when Baker was issued a handgun despite lacking proper certification.“Although Baker was hired in the summer of 2006, she was not certified as a police officer under the Delaware Council of Police Training program until April 2009,” according to the court file.&nbsp;“Under COPT regulations, a person must be certified before carrying a firearm and wearing a badge as a police officer.”On Oct. 26, 2006, Baker’s supervisor, Department of Public Safety Chief James Overton, issued her a handgun to qualify at the shooting range.“Smith complained to Overton, and then to COPT administrator Major Harry Downes, that Baker had been permitted to carry a firearm without first receiving the necessary COPT certification,” according to the file.The role of director of University Safety and Security Affairs has been posted to a job site, although it only requires applicants to be eligible to become a State of Kentucky Certified Law Enforcement Officer.

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Records reveal Kentucky State University funding at risk under interim safety head

• Reported on education legislation from Kentucky's capitol with articles detailing the impact on teachers, students and taxpayers.&nbsp;• Filed dozens of open records requests and earned the trust of internal sources to expose a pattern of wrongful terminations by a state-funded university.&nbsp;• Monitored and engaged with members of the community through online channels to ensure the newspaper delivered relevant content.

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Concord High School dance program provides troubled teens with a way out

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An Interview With Ira Glass: 'We want people to feel the feelings we feel'

Records reveal Kentucky State University funding at risk under interim safety head