When a group of local students came up with the idea for an art wall, the city and local business owners got on board and the wall is now under construction.

The students are part of the Fishers Mayor’s Youth Academy.  Mayor Scott Fadness provided a challenge to the high schoolers in the group – “What are creative places doing to create creative spaces?”

The group looked at the Venice Public Art Walls in Venice, California, which has become a tourist destination and local landmark that generates public art through creative place-making.

A group of local businesses started to get on board.  Those business owners include:

• Sagamore Concrete (Concrete)
• Hagerman Construction Corporation (Form and Finish)
• Kimley-Horn (Design, DNR and Hamilton Co. Permitting)
• Gilliatte General Contractors, Inc. (Excavating and Site Prep)
• Geotill Engineering, Inc. (Soil Borings)
• Stoeppelwerth & Associates, Inc. (Land Survey)
• Faegre Baker Daniels LLP (Coordination)

“The students’ presentation to the City Council in May passionately showed how public art matters, and they inspired us to find a way to build a piece of our public art ecosystem,” said Steve Hardin, partner at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, in a city news release. “Our Fishers youth have great ideas, and I’m so thankful for these local businesses who stepped up immediately to celebrate the students by turning their idea into a reality. That’s the Fishers way.”

The City of Fishers created an Arts & Culture Commission to promote art projects throughout the community, including the new wall.

“The work of The Mayor’s Youth Academy and local business leaders collaborating to bring an engaging and authentic art experience to the city represents the very core of what make Fishers a smart, vibrant, and entrepreneurial city,” said David Decker, chairman of the Fishers Arts & Culture Commission. “Community-led art and culture initiatives are vital to ensure an exceptional quality of life for the residents of the community.”

Construction of the art wall is underway at Fishers’ Brooks School Park (11780 Brooks School Road) and should be completed by spring of 2020.  Local artists will be showcasing their work on the wall, with a rotation calling for a new piece of art each new season.

Hamilton County Reporter

Fishers rolled to another victory on Saturday, winning at Bishop Chatard 59-47 to stay unbeaten for the season.

The Class 4A No. 5 Tigers led 15-9 after the first quarter and 31-23 at halftime. Fishers extended its lead further in the third period, going up 46-33.

“The game was a great team effort on both ends of the floor and the Tigers were extremely balanced in scoring,” said Fishers coach Lauren Votaw.

Katie Burton scored 12 points for the Tigers, with Olivia Smith adding 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field. Lydia Stullken added nine points, led the rebounds with seven, blocked six shots and made four steals.

Fishers is 11-0 and plays Friday at Noblesville.

Hamilton County Reporter

Fishers made a comeback in the third quarter, and that helped the Tigers to a 60-58 victory over Mount Vernon Saturday night at the Tiger Den.

The win kept Fishers’ undefeated record intact; Fishers is now 4-0. The Tigers led 11-10 after the first quarter, with Jeffrey Simmons scoring seven of those points.

The Marauders held the Tigers to eight points in the second period and went into half leading 25-19. Fishers answered back with a 20-point third quarter, including 11 points from Alex Szilagyi. The game was tied at 39-39 after three periods, and the Tigers used balanced scoring to get the win, as six different players scored in the fourth.

Szilagyi finished the game with 22 points, including five 3-pointers. Simmons scored 17 points and Charlie Smith added 10.

Fishers next plays Friday when it hosts Shenandoah.

Hamilton County Reporter

The Noblesville Fire Department (NFD) responded to a large commercial fire at 16100 Allisonville Road Thursday evening. Crews encountered large amounts of smoke and flames coming from the building, where vehicles ere stored. It was unoccupied at the time of the fire. Crews were able to quickly bring the fire under control. There were no injuries. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. NFD crews were assisted by Fishers Fire Department, Hamilton County EMA, Noblesville Street Department and Noblesville Police Department.

Hamilton County Reporter 

The first weekend of Hoosier Crossroads Conference games saw some hard-fought contests, including one at the Tiger Den.

Fishers hosted Noblesville on Friday, and it was a fun battle between the two county rivals. The Millers stayed with the Tigers for the entire game before Fishers hung on for a 59-51 victory.

“The fun thing about this league is, you get all kinds of different and teams and great coaches,” said Tigers coach Matt Moore. “And tonight was the first step up for us to be where we need to be. You just got to take care of business. You got to win your home games and you got to steal some on the road.”

Fishers led 15-10 after the first quarter, with five different players scoring at least two points in that period. Alex Szilagyi had five points. Noblesville’s Alex Hunt also had five points in that quarter.

The Millers jumped ahead 18-17 early in the second period, but the Tigers reclaimed a 28-25 lead by halftime. Jordan Gadis had a great quarter for Noblesville with eight points, while Preston Roberts added seven. Meanwhile, Fishers’ Jeffrey Simmons was playing well under the basket, with six points.

Late in the third quarter, Roberts tied the game up at 39-39 with his third 3-pointer of the game. Bryce Williams answered back with a layin, and that allowed the Tigers to lead 41-39 at the end of the period.

Williams’ basket actually started an 8-0 run for Fishers. The Tigers opened the fourth quarter with a three-point play from Simmons, then Isaac Farah nailed a 3. Fishers was able to keep the lead around eight points for the remainder of the game; the Tigers went 11 of 13 from the free throw line in that period.

“I think all three games now, going into the end of the third quarter with a minute to go, it was a one-possession game,” said Moore. “And being in that position, our guys understood that if we get stops, we can get some runouts, we’re a pretty good free-throw shooting team. And once we extended that a little bit, we were able to space the floor and at that point, we’re making shots. I thought our guys did a good job of, when we took some shots that didn’t fall, we got back to who we are, of getting the ball back inside to Jeff.”

Simmons finished the game with 18 points, while Szilagyi had 17. Moore also gave credit to his players’ defensive efforts.

“Defensively, I thought Dominic Castellani was outstanding,” said Moore. “I thought Charlie Smith and Drew Turner were two guys that did a great job in their roles tonight and stepped in when they needed to. For us, we got the flexibility of having a lot of guys that can defend and handle the ball. Justin Long is a guy that does a lot of good things for us. Doesn’t maybe show up in the stat sheet all the time. He impacts the game.”

Gadis led the Millers with 14 points, while Hunt scored 13 and collected four rebounds. Roberts, who was 3-for-3 from 3-point range, finished with 10 points.

“I think we did a decent job,” said Noblesville coach John Peckinpaugh. “We still got a lot of work to do. We’re going to be a completely different team in January. We’re just going to stick with our process of how we’re going to try to get better, get good at what we want to be good at. And it’s going to take some time, but I think we took a step forward tonight. We’ll just keep getting after it.”

Fishers is unbeaten at 3-0 and will host Mount Vernon tonight. The Millers are 1-2 and return to their home floor tonight to take on Class 3A No. 8 Beech Grove.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern was dealt a tough loss in its Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener on Friday, falling to host Avon 73-70.

It was a close game throughout, with the Orioles leading 19-17 after the first quarter and 38-37 at halftime.

Avon led 54-50 at the end of three periods and were able to hold on despite a 20-point fourth quarter from the Royals.

Three Southeastern players finished in double figures, led by Vinny Bucilla’s 24 points, including four 3-pointers.

Mabor Majak scored 14 points and collected nine rebounds, while Kole Hornbuckle had 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists. John McCall pulled five rebounds, while DeAndre Rhodes collected four rebounds.

The Royals are 1-2 and host Pike on Tuesday.

When you work in one place for 25 years, doing essentially the same work, you learn a great deal.  Mike Reuter is retiring at the end of 2019 after 25 years of service as HSE Schools Chief Financial Officer.  I sat down with Mike and talked about both the past and the present, and what he has learned, during this podcast discussion.

Hamilton County Reporter

On Thursday, Noblesville Mayor-elect Chris Jensen has announced Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Captain John Mann will serve as Noblesville’s new police chief. He will begin serving on Jan. 1, 2020.

Mann

“John brings a lifetime of law enforcement experience at every level from the neighborhood patrol to command staff,” Jensen said. “I’m proud to have him leading our police department as we work to transform our approach to public safety to ensure Noblesville is one of the safest cities in the country to live, work, and raise a family.”

Captain Mann is a nearly 30-year veteran of the IMPD and currently serves as a Captain in the Downtown District, with experience including decade-long stints in operations and arson investigations. Alongside Jensen and Public Safety Director Chad Knecht, Mann will work to achieve administration goals of making a safer Noblesville through traditional crime prevention and facing next generation challenges of mental health and addiction treatment.

Mann currently serves as a Captain in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, assigned to the Downtown District. He began his career with IMPD in 1992 as a patrol officer after graduating from Indiana State University with a business degree.

He worked his way up the ranks, earning the rank of Sergeant in 2005 and Lieutenant in 2010 before his promotion to Captain in 2016. During his career with IMPD he has served as Commander for the Southeast District as well as an Executive Officer for the Chief of Police.

He was a member of the Indianapolis Police Department SCUBA team for 12 years, before its disbandment in 2006. He holds a Master’s Degree in Criminology from ISU and is also a 2013 graduate of the FBI National Academy. He is married with four daughters.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern girls soccer coach Greg Davidson (left) was named to the Indiana Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame during this fall’s ISCA banquet. Davidson became the 21st coach to enter the Hall of Fame.

Davidson has been the head coach for the Royals since 1999, where he has led teams to eight conference championships, five sectional titles, five regional titles, two final fours and one semi-state championship, which sent the Royals to a state runner-up finish in 2011.

Prior to coming to Southeastern, Davidson coached the Zionsville girls team from 1996 to 1998, winning three Rangeline Conference titles in three years. He started has career as an assistant coach for the Zionsville boys team from 1994 to 1996. Davidson has won 24 district, conference and county coach of the year awards, was the Indiana Coach of the Year in 1998, and coached the All-American game in 2018.

Davidson has been the ISCA’s President since 2012 and also serves as the Indiana girls representative to the national organization. He is one of 10 coaches that represents boys and girls high school soccer on the National Advocacy Counsel for the United Soccer Coaches Association. Davidson has been on the girls high school poll committee for 20 years, has been an ISCA District representative for 13 years and an ISCA board member since 2004.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern broke out of a defensive battle in the second half of
an all-county and Hoosier Crossroads Conference game with Noblesville on
Wednesday, eventually winning over the Millers 51-32 at the Royals’ gym.

Class 4A No. 6 Southeastern led 12-8 in the first quarter. Sydney Parrish had
seven points in that period, while Makayla Hinshaw scored the other five. Dani
Mendez had four of the Millers’ points.

The second quarter was very defensive, with neither team scoring until the
last two minutes. Mallory Miller scored for Noblesville, then teammate Abby Haley drained a 3-pointer to get the Millers up 13-12. But the Royals took the lead
back at the buzzer with a layin by Ryan Viele, and HSE led 14-13 at halftime.

Parrish took over in the second half, pouring in 12 points in the third quarter
alone. Jackie Maulucci also got going, with seven points; both players made
a 3-pointer in that period, as did Viele.

When the dust settled, Southeastern held
a 38-23 lead.

Parrish continued her run in the fourth quarter, adding another 13 points, including three 3s. She totaled 25 points in the second half, and 32 points for the game.

Parrish also collected eight rebounds, with Maulucci and Hinshaw each getting
four. Maulucci made four steals.

Noblesville was led by Ashlynn Shade, who finished with 12 points, 10 of
them in the second half. Miller and Mendez both had six points, with Mendez
also pulling five rebounds.

The Royals are 3-0 in conference play and 8-1 overall, and off until Tuesday
when they travel to Pendleton Heights.

The Millers dropped to 0-3 in the HCC and 3-6 overall; they travel to Homestead
on Saturday for a makeup game with the 4A No. 4 Spartans.