Plymouth High School is proud to announce the valedictorian and salutatorian for the Class of 2017. Garrett Garver has been selected as valedictorian of Plymouth High 
School’s Class of 2017.Garver delivered the valedictory address at Plymouth’s commencement ceremony Friday night as the 142 graduating class at PHS was saluted.
Garrett Garver, son of Dawn and Matthew Garver, secured the valedictorian honor with a grade point average of 4.3 and is ranked first in the class of 271 students. This fall, he plans on studying pre-pharmacy at Purdue University in West Lafayette, with hopes of one day becoming a pharmacist.
He has earned an Academic Honors Diploma and has excelled in upper level academic classes that are offered at Plymouth High School. During his four year high school career, Garver has received numerous academic awards, including being inducted into the Academic Hall of Fame this year for his involvement in both the English and Spanish departments; he was also recognized for being in the elite Top 5% of his senior class of 2017 and received the Academic Excellence Award.
For the past four years at Plymouth High School, Garver has been an active member of the Speech and Debate team. This year he placed first in the state in the Congress category, and second in the district in the United States Extemporaneous speaking category, which advances him to the National Speech and Debate Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama, June 18-23.
Throughout tenth through twelfth grades, Garver has been active in a career and technical student organization called Business Professionals of America. This year, he placed first in the state in both Economic Research, and Accounting Math Concepts and fifth in Financial Math and Analysis Concepts. He qualified to compete at the 2017 National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida, which was held last month.
Garver has been actively involved with planning and executing schoolwide events and activities through the student government during his high school career. First, serving as a class officer his freshman year, then as co-president of his class his sophomore year, the class president his junior year, and during his senior year he was elected vice president. He has also served as an elected officer of the Mayor’s Youth Council for all four of his years here at Plymouth High School.
Throughout high school, Garver actively volunteered in the community as a member of Key Club and National Honor Society. He participated in numerous service projects such as the Earth Day Cleanup and the Student Council Christmas Party. He also assisted in school registration, parent teacher conferences, and many other events.
Garver was also a member of the PHS Spell Bowl Team. This year, the team finished as conference champions and advanced to the state competition where they finished 3rd in their division.
This year, Garver received an award from the PHS Theatre department for Outstanding Senior Performance in Theatre. He has participated in numerous plays during the past two years as a member of the Plymouth High School stage crew.
He also received recognition this year at the PHS Senior Award Program as a Top 10 NLC Academic All Conference Student Athlete, for his involvement his junior and senior year in PHS Cross Country and PHS Track his junior year. Earlier in the year, he was also recognized as a Scholar Athlete for the month of August.
In October of 2016, Garver was selected as one of the Marshall County torchbearers for the state of Indiana’s bicentennial celebration. He proudly represented Plymouth Community School Corporation, as his winning essay secured him the spot as the PHS Torchbearer.
During his senior year, Garver received a Statewide Transfer General Education Core certificate from Ivy Tech Community College for successfully completing 30 dual credit hour classes while attending PHS. The certificate can transfer and is equivalent to a college freshman year of tuition, room and board.
Garver was awarded the Eugene and Florence Stanley Scholarship, the Richard F. and Betty J. Heiser Scholarship, the Samuel Elliott Perkins IV Memorial Scholarship, the Purdue Alumni Club of Marshall County Scholarship, the Kiwanis Key Club Scholarship, the American Legion Oratorical Contest Award, the 2017 Dan Tyree Speech and Debate Scholar Speaker Scholarship, the Stephen P. Jeffirs Memorial Outstanding Senior Speaker Scholarship, the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center Plymouth Campus – Health Careers Scholarship, the Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarship, the Purdue University Marquis Scholarship, the Purdue University Charles B. Jordan Memorial scholarship, and the Purdue University Trustees Scholarship.
Travis Owen – Plymouth High School’s 2017 Salutatorian
Owen is the son of Mark and Melissa Owen of Plymouth. He has a grade point average of 4.293 and is ranked second in the class of 271 graduating students. Owen has respectfully earned an Academic Honors Diploma.
This fall, Owen plans on studying Biochemistry at DePauw University in Greencastle. He is looking forward to exploring the possibilities of directing his study of focus in the future towards pre-medical or pre-pharmacy.
This past spring, Owen was inducted into the Academic Hall of Fame for his involvement in both the Mathematics and Science departments within the Weidner School of Inquiry @ PHS, the Project Based Learning high school located within Plymouth High School.
Throughout his time at Plymouth High School, Owen is proud to say he was actively involved in planning and executing the PHS Dance Marathon, which supports Riley Hospital for Children. The event is a multi-hour, multi-faceted event that blends dancing, games, crafts, food, and fun into one philanthropic experience. Owen was the student president his senior year, the chair for dancer registration his junior year, the chair of athletic outreach his sophomore year, and when he was a freshman, he was an executive committee member.
Owen was actively involved in student government throughout the past four years as well. Both his freshman and sophomore years, he was the co-president of his class, and he held the rank of officer during his upperclassman years.
Last summer, Owen was nominated by Plymouth High School teachers to represent the senior class at Hoosier Boys State at Trine University in Angola. The program allows students engage in state government and actively work together in a hands-on way to win elections, propose laws, negotiate bills, and enforce the legislation and procedures established from the local up to the state level. While at the weeklong program, Owen said he was elected by his peers to hold the role of county clerk and city chairman. He said he was proud to be able to lead his city to be called an “Honor City.”
For all four years, Owen wore proudly the #30, as he was a forward for the Plymouth Pilgrims basketball team. At this year’s PHS Academic Awards Assembly in May, Owen received a recognition award for being a Top 10 NLC Academic All Conference Student Athlete. When he wasn’t playing on the court, he was busy planning events and activities to get his peers involved, as he was a member of the Pep Club for the past two years.
Owen also received the Academic Excellence Award this year for being in the elite Top 5% of the senior class of 2017. During his senior year, he received a Statewide Transfer General Education Core certificate from Ivy Tech Community College for successfully completing a minimum of 30 dual credit hour classes while attending PHS. The certificate can transfer and is equivalent to a college freshman year of tuition, room and board.
Outside the classroom, he enjoys volunteering his time at various organizations throughout Marshall County, including the United Way and the Plymouth Rotary Club.
Owen was awarded the Eugene and Florence Stanley Scholarship, the Richard F. and Betty J. Heiser Scholarship, the Beacon Credit Union Scholarship, the Martin’s Supermarkets Dependent Scholarship, Tri Kappa Marjorie Giffen Carothers Memorial Scholarship, the Fred Morrow Memorial Scholarship, the Marshall County FOP Lodge 130, the Plymouth Firemen’s Memorial Scholarship, and the Comcast Leaders and Achievers Scholarship. Based on his high GPA and test scores he also received both a Merit Scholarship and a Presidential Scholar Award from DePauw University.
The Plymouth Community School Corporation administration, along with the Plymouth High School faculty and staff would like to congratulate these two exceptional students on all of their hard work and accomplishments inside and outside of the classroom.
