Education

At the November 21 Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Board of Trustees meeting, members approved a series of equipment purchases funded by federal grant programs that allow the College to expand its investment in K-12 student learning and business and industry regional training.

A four-year Youth CareerConnect grant from the U.S. Department of Labor is providing the College with the resources needed to purchase a range of new technology and equipment to meet the training needs of students and northeast Iowa’s future workforce.

The Youth CareerConnect grant supports the Northeast Iowa Career Learning Link, a partnership between East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA), Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC) and NICC. Northeast Iowa Career Learning Link employs a success model to work closely with high schools in the College’s district to help students identify career pathways and achieve their educational and employment goals.

The Allamakee Community School District will be hosting a STEAM Night Tuesday, December 6 at East Elementary School in Waukon from 5-7 p.m. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Design, and Math, and the general public is invited to see how these concepts are being used within the school district curriculum.

The event will feature work and activities students in the Allamakee Community School District have been taking part in within the areas of Robots, 3D Printing, Video Editing and Animation, Video Game Design, Snap Circuits, and Planetarium. Cookies and Kool-Aid will also be available compliments of Parents Supporting Students and Teachers (PSST). The theme for the event is "STEAMwork."
 

Shawn Shouse
ISU Extension and Outreach
Agricultural Engineering

PROTECTING WATER FROM FREEZING
One of the challenges of surviving an Iowa winter is keeping the water you use from freezing. A little bit of science and a healthy dose of trial and error have yielded ideas for avoiding the hassles of unwanted ice. Let's look at some advice regarding winter protection for water pipes.

Keeping water thawed is simply a matter of conservation of heat. You need to keep the temperature of the water above freezing. Now, how you do that is a more complicated issue. The three most common methods are adding heat with a heating device, insulating to conserve heat, and adding heat by bringing in warmer water.

The Waukon High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter canvassed the Waukon community Thursday, November 10 to collect non-perishable food items and monetary donations for the Allamakee County Food Shelf. Under the direction of advisor Joan Schwartz, the FBLA chapter members collected nearly one ton of food, 1,940.4 pounds, as well as $431 in monetary donations. Submitted photo.

Kristine Tidgren
Staff Attorney
Center for Agriculture Law and Taxation
Iowa State University

REMEMBER WHO OWNS THE CORN STALKS IN IOWA
The Iowa Court of Appeals had the opportunity to interpret Iowa Code §562.5A, which, in the absence of a writing to the contrary, grants tenants the right to harvest corn stalks until the lease terminates.

Little has been written about this law, which was enacted in 2010 in response to the growing value of corn stalks. Agricultural attorneys must be aware of this law and its impact on their clients. The recent case provides a good overview of its significant implications and sets forth key parameters for its application.

by Brianne Eilers

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD Board of Directors met for its regular monthly meeting Monday, November 21. Board Secretary Jaime Curtin noted that the audit for the district has been rescheduled to the first part of December.

During his Superintendent’s report, Dave Herold informed the Board that the district had received preliminary costs for replacing the middle school gym heating and cooling system. He noted that the current system is not very energy efficient. The Board will make a decision at a special meeting scheduled for December 5.

Herold also said he met with Kristi Hager, who was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives earlier this month. A few of the issues he spoke with her about included school funding being approved on time, transportation and the CTE and NICC partnership, among other things.

Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association out of Baraboo, WI is offering ten $1,000 scholarships for the 2017 academic year to college students pursuing careers, as well as two $750 scholarships specifically for students earning degrees from technical colleges.

To be eligible, applicants must be a member or the son or daughter of an Equity Cooperative Livestock producer pursuing higher education from an accredited college, university or technical school. Scholarship winners are selected based on their scholastic achievements, extracurricular activities, application essay response and dedication to a career.

Applications are available from the home page of the cooperative’s website at www.equitycoop.com, or by calling 1-800-362-3989, ext. 152. Applicants are asked to provide a current college transcript and three letters of reference in addition to their completed online application form by November 28.
 

The Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach Allamakee County office in Waukon will host a Pest Control Operators Continuing Instruction Course (CIC) for commercial pesticide applicators Wednesday, December 7. The program is offered at office locations across Iowa through the ISU Extension and Outreach Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP).
The local attendance site for the December 7 CIC is the Allamakee County Extension Office located at 218 Seventh Avenue SE, Suite #102, in Waukon. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. followed by sessions from 9 to 11:30 a.m. The registration fee increases after November 30. To register or to obtain additional information about the CIC, contact the ISU Extension and Outreach Allamakee County office at 563-568-6345.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach (ISUEO) joined the Kindergarten class at St. Patrick School in Waukon recently to offer hands-on learning as the students participated in learning about Fizz, Bubble, Goo! The kindergarteners learned what makes Alka Seltzer fizz and what gas blew up their balloon when they mixed baking soda and vinegar. They made bubbles and bubble blowers, and made their own cola with ingredients right out of the cupboard. Lastly, they learned which recipe of “gloop” held together the best and had the most bounce. The final experiment was making elephant toothpaste and watching the reaction between hydrogen peroxide, yeast and soap. For more information about joining 4-H, contact Becky Rea, Allamakee County K-12 Program Coordinator, at the Iowa State Extension and Outreach Allamakee County Office in Waukon by calling 563-568-6345. Submitted photos.

Keystone Area Education Agency (AEA) is partnering with Northeast Iowa Behavioral Health to offer Lifelines suicide prevention curriculum to all 23 school districts in the Keystone area. This mental health professional development opportunity for school counselors and educators is centered around The Complete Lifelines Trilogy of Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention programs.

Lifelines is a whole-school program that educates administrators, faculty and staff, parents and students on the facts about suicide and their roles in suicide prevention, intervention and postvention. The goals of Lifelines are to increase the likelihood that members of the school community can more readily identify potentially suicidal adolescents, know how to initially respond to them, know how to rapidly obtain help for them, and to make troubled adolescents aware of and have immediate access to helping resources and seek such help as an alternative to suicidal actions.