Northern Indiana is full of people working hard every day to make their communities a better place. Since 2011, GreatNews.Life has been putting the spotlight on the people spreading this positivity in the Region with our Life in the Spotlight series. New articles are published every Wednesday, so be sure to check back often to learn more about the stories of great people doing great things in Northern Indiana.
What’s recently happened? The Greater South Shore Conference (GSSC) Swim Meet was held on Saturday, January 11. This is one of the two most important swim meets of the season, the other being Sectionals. Both Wheeler High School (WHS) swim teams,...
Sinéad Aherne is a massage therapist working at Mamabear Massage in Valparaiso. She’s been employed there for a little over a month. No stranger to the inherent art in her profession, she’s worked in roles similar to the one she’s in now for...
Kevin Wallace grew up just an hour north of Columbus in Mansfield, Ohio. His undergraduate studies were completed at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana, near Warsaw. Currently, he is the fourth-grade teacher at Central Elementary School in...
Jeffrey Hellmers used to live in Lincoln City down in Southern Indiana, hailing from the same region as Abraham Lincoln. He attended Heritage Hills High School. He was part of a play there that helped him understand his liking for working with the...
Dustin Nelson is the principal at Northview Elementary School, part of Valparaiso Community School corporation. He graduated from Portage High School in 1994, when he began carving his own path in the world of education. In December of 1998, he went...
Kasey Hoag is the owner of Six Cypress Boutique in downtown Valparaiso. She hasn’t always held that title, however, because she used to work for Ford Motor Company. Moving to the Region and then spending six months as a stay-at-home mother...
Carol Haller is a sixth-grade teacher in Valparaiso. She’s been teaching for almost 40 years at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. Her lasting effect as an educator has been felt for decades. Haller grew up in Michigan City and attended Rogers...
Richard Bender hails from a farm in Northeastern Indiana. He grew up in a region north of Fort Wayne near Auburn and attended Leo High School. His time in high school played a role in his motivation to become a teacher himself. Bender was highly...
Dr. Pablo Bukata was born in Argentina. His family moved to the United States when he was two years old. He grew up in Illinois, then came to Lake County, Indiana, around the time he was six. He went to high school nearby but left the Region to...
Deanna Gallardo always thought she’d become a writer or editor. Life’s taken her down many paths, and she even spent some time as a dental assistant following her graduation from Indiana University Northwest (IU Northwest) in Gary. She worked at...
