Austin Couch, center, is surrounded by SGCS board board members who voted unanimously Monday evening to appoint Couch as the new principal of Churubusco High School. From left are Bob Amber, Cathy Petrie, Couch, Tanya Young and Nick Uecker.

And the new principal of Churubusco High School is … Austin Couch.

Couch is excited about the new opportunity. He lives in Fort Wayne and said he has had the opportunity to work in Fort Wayne, but Couch said he has never seriously considered changing school districts.

“Why would anyone want to leave Churubusco (schools)?” he asked. “It’s a great place to be.”

Smith-Green Community Schools board of trustees voted unanimously to appoint Couch at a special meeting held today, Aug. 25.

Couch began working at Smith-Green Schools in 1997 as a middle school English teacher. He was a team leader and  most recently worked as the principal of grades K-8. He also filled in for middle school principal John Davis as needed.

He is a graduate of the University of Georgia. After graduating, Couch moved to Indiana where he continued his education - student teaching and getting his master’s degree from IPFW in Fort Wayne in 2007.

Couch and his wife, Jennifer, have four children. Couch’s stepson, Joshua, is a freshman at IPFW, and he and Jennifer have three daughters, Alyssa, 8, Aubrey, 6, and Sydney, 3.

Jennifer Couch is a stay-at-home mother who is kept very busy with the four children, but has always been very supportive of his career, Austin Couch said.

“It would be very hard if she were not supportive,” Couch said. “But she has always encouraged me and been there all the way. She and I are both very excited about this new opportunity. I could not do it without her.”

Couch said he is looking forward and excited about working with the same staff he has been working with for many years.

“This is the school district where I grew up as an educator,” Couch said. “To see the growth is exciting. I really like it here, and this is what I want to bring to the new, young teachers - this excitement” about working and staying in Churubusco.

A Churubusco all-class reunion will be held Saturday, Aug. 16, in the Churubusco Community Park Boy Scout building from 12 noon until 4 p.m.

All former students and alumni of CHS, and their guests, are welcome to attend.

Guests should bring a wrapped white elephant gift and a side dish to share. Meat and beverages will be provided.

Call Bob at 602-2903 for more information.

By Brian Graham
For Buscovoice.com
I had occasion to stop by the morning workouts of Churubusco athletes at the high school, and I was reminded of the evolution of training from “back in the day” to the present. Think of it as a few hours spent with professional trainers, the most up to date equipment, and you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for it.

When I was in school, we had some summer workouts, loosely organized by the captains, but absolutely nothing like what these young men and women put themselves through currently, with the help of the coaches.

This is all done in an effort by the coaches and players just to remain competitive in their respective sports. All schools are doing this, and the days of showing up for the first day of practice out of shape are long gone.

For all practical purposes, every sport is now year round, and while coaches encourage athletes to play multiple sports, the issue they are not very tolerant of is not making the effort to better themselves through summer workouts.

It was gratifying to see the number of athletes that were making the sacrifice, getting up early, working out hard, and learning the lessons of how hard work pays off, with many of them going on to work summer jobs after their workout.

I talked with Churubusco High School athletic director/head football coach, Lee Etzler, about the upcoming summer football camp starting July 21st.

“We will go from about 7 a.m. until 1 or so,” Etzler said.

We talked about numerous subjects, but he still missed nothing.

“Keep your feet still, don’t take that cheat step,” he mentioned to one athlete, as we talked. I told him that I thought several of the high schoolers demonstrated good running mechanics. Coach Etzler said “all the credit goes to Doc, he really stresses that” referring to assistant football/head track coach Zach Dock.

“I think we are really getting excellent senior leadership,” said assistant football coach John Schmidt, “and it shows up in the attendance.”

Coach Paul Sade agrees, stating that, “without question, a stronger athlete is a better athlete”.

COMING SOON: Watch Buscovoice.com for online videos of the athletes working out.

Churubusco High School and Middle School volleyball camps start the week of July 14th. Cost is $25.00 per athlete.

Contact Mark Bankson or Chris Holloway for further information.