By Emily Bontrager
The Mississinewa School Board filled the vacant board member seat for the at-large district at Monday’s school board meeting.
Lani Stearns was chosen to fill the role after the previous at-large district board member moved out of the school district.
Superintendent Jeremy Fewell said that several candidates were interviewed before the school board ultimately decided on Stearns.
“I was elated to have three strong candidates be interviewed last week with that, and so I do not envy the board on making this recommendation and decision” Fewell said.
School board vice president Chris Cunningham said that all of the candidates interviewed were very passionate about Mississinewa.
“Each one of them brought the spirit of Mississinewa with them. I mean, you could tell they were passionate about our school corporation, they were passionate about our school corporation…some of them in different areas, but all of them had a skill and an expertise.”
Cunningham filed the motion to accept Stearns onto the school board with Conrad Herrera as a second. The motion passed unanimously.
Stearns ran for Mississinewa School Board at-large in 2024.
School Board President Denny Smith said two other potential candidates had also previously run for the position.
“It takes some special people that are willing to do that,” Smith said. “We’ve been lucky, we’ve had good candidates, really good board members and a good strong support.”
Cunningham said that he hopes those who applied for the position and were not chosen would run for a position in the future.
Andrew Scalf 
Ryan Witwell 
Keyton Tipple