Education

The Iowa Association of Community College Trustees (IACCT) has honored a Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) faculty member and an administrator with awards for excellence.

Carla Heathcote, a Graphic Design instructor at NICC, received the 2020 Outstanding Faculty Award. Kyle Collins, associate dean of Instructional Design and Innovation at NICC, received the 2020 IACCT Outstanding Administrator Award.

IACCT recognized Heathcote for excellence in teaching, innovation in programming and advancement of community college education. As an instructor, Heathcote created “NICC Creates!” a student-run design cooperative that provides design and marketing services to NICC students and non-profit organizations. The cooperative recently partnered with a local innovation center, Creative Adventure Lab, and the University of Iowa’s Venture School to assist with the creation of the visual communications for new entrepreneur-students participating in the class.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Allamakee County will be offering Private Pesticide Applicator Continuing Instruction Course (CIC) trainings in its office located at 218 Seventh Avenue SE Suite #102 in Waukon.

Due to COVID-19 distancing regulations, applicators must preregister. No walk-ins will be accepted. The registration fee may be paid the day of the training. The course will fulfill 2019-2020 applicator recertification requirements for private pesticide applicators.

The training dates will be August 31 and September 28. The two-hour long training times will be 1-3 p.m.

To obtain additional information about the CIC, contact the Allamakee County Extension Office at 563-568-6345.
 

The Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) - Beyond BOW program is offering three virtual seminars focusing on fly fishing. While the seminars are geared towards women, they are open to any adult who would like to attend. Participants may choose to take part in any or all of the following seminars, all of which are offered through Zoom web-conferencing software:

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The regular monthly meeting of the Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD) Board of Directors was held Monday, July 20. After the agenda was adopted, the usual and customary authorizations were approved, including the July consent items, minutes of the regular June meeting, bills for June 30 and July, Secretary’s Financial Report for June, Student Activity and Food Service June Reports.

The board approved the bids for bread and milk. Only one bid was submitted for each category, including Prairie Farm for milk and Bimbo for bread. The bids were as follows:

½ pt. 1% white - .2820
½ pt. skim white - .2670
½ pt. skim chocolate - .2995
8-oz. orange juice - .1940
20 oz. loaf Whole Wheat Bread - 2.22
24 oz. loaf 53% Whole Grain White Bread - 2.24
Hamburger Buns Wheat 16-count - 3.18
Coney Buns Wheat 16-count - 3.18.

Monday, July 27 the Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD) released its Return to Learn plan to the public for the 2020-2021 school year. The full plan, along with some quick facts and other detailed information, can be found on the school district’s website at www.e-allamakee.k12.ia.us.

Beginning with the first day of school, August 24, and currently planned through at least the end of September, the EACSD will implement a hybrid plan for learning which will include on-site instruction in classrooms Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, with required learning from home through Google Classroom being utilized each Wednesday. Facemasks are heavily encouraged in school, but not required - except on buses. The district encourages parents to provide their own transportation to and from school, if possible.

College junior Danielle Stock has been awarded a $1,500 scholarship from America’s Farmers Grow Ag Leaders, sponsored by Bayer Fund. In the fall, Stock will continue her studies in Animal Science at Iowa State University in Ames.

“Bayer Fund is committed to improving educational opportunities in STEM fields for students in rural communities. The Grow Ag Leaders program provides an opportunity to help youth across the country with college expenses and encourage their pursuit of an ag education,” said Amy Simpson, Community Engagement Manager, Bayer Fund.

The future of agriculture relies on talented young people like Stock to fill thousands of jobs in a variety of fields, such as plant science, engineering, communications, finance, and more. Grow Ag Leaders raises awareness of diverse career opportunities in the agriculture industry and provides 352 scholarships nationwide to support student’s post high school ag education.

by Brianne Eilers

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors met for its regular monthly meeting Monday night, July 20. Personnel matters approved under the consent agenda included After School Program staff, Brenda Good as a substitute bus driver, Rachel Adney and Amber Adney as co-volleyball coaches, 2020-2021 Mentors, fall sports volunteers and the resignation of paraprofessional Mariah Fogt. Also approved under the consent agenda was renewal of the Backpack Program for 2020-2021, the Free and Reduced School Meals policy and the MidAmerica HRA Service Agreement update.

The Iowa Department of Education, Bureau of Nutrition and Health Services, has announced its policy for free and reduced price meals for children unable to pay the full price of meals served under the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program and the Afterschool Care Snack Program.

State and Local school officials have adopted the family size and income criteria for determining eligibility as printed in the chart accompanying this article.

Households may be eligible for free or reduced price meal benefits one of four ways listed below.

Students attending need to register through online link

The Summer Prom event that several local parents have been working on since mid-April is being planned to take place Saturday, July 25 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon for Waukon High School students who completed their junior or senior year this past school year, along with their guests. Committee members have been communicating with Allamakee County officials, who say that with the locations and events that have now been opened up and the easing of many restrictions in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event should be able to happen as well.

With doors opening at 6 p.m., the evening will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a catered meal being provided at no cost to the students by Rich Schulte of Schulte’s BBQ & Catering of Waukon. The menu will include roast pork with cheesy potatoes. The committee is looking for parent volunteers to help provide salads and desserts.

Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) and eight additional colleges in the Community College Alliance for Agriculture Advancement (C2A3) will receive $529,924.48 over the course of the next four years as part of a cooperative agreement issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS).

The nine Midwestern community colleges that comprise the Alliance boast strong agricultural programs and traditions. The consortium was developed under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the USDA-NRCS and USDA North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (USDA-SARE). NICC is the only college in Iowa to be selected as an alliance partner.