Education

by Brianne Eilers

During its last early dismissal from school, West Elementary Kids Club had 66 students participating in an afternoon of five fun-filled stations. The most exciting station was organized by Kathy Hay from Keystone Area Education Association (AEA). Hay brought with her four different types of robots, each with outstanding capabilities. “Meccanoid” (pictured) is a three-foot tall robot that follows voice commands including dance, exercise, high five, kung fu, and walks with people. “Ollie” is a cylinder-shaped robot that spins, turns and speeds along any surface. Star Wars movie-goers would have enjoyed the “BB8,” which is just like the BB8 in the new Star Wars movie, but is 10 times smaller. The head stays on the top while the bottom sphere body rolls right, left, forwards and backwards, spinning as it goes.

The Waukon Walking School Bus will start its spring walking season in April. Walking School Bus dates include the following Thursday mornings: April 7, April 14, April 21, April 28, May 5, May 12 and May 19. The Walking School Bus provides a safe, fun and active way for students to get to school. The Walking School Bus will start in downtown Waukon. Interested families should drop students off by 7:40 a.m. at the Area Development and Visitor Center on the corner of First Street and Main Street. Routes lead to East Elementary, West Elementary and St. Patrick schools. Students will be walking 10 to 20 minutes and arrive to school by 8:10 a.m. or earlier. Parents are reminded to dress their students for the weather, as spring mornings can be pretty chilly. The Walking School Bus will not walk if it is below 40°F or if it is raining/storming/snowing. Volunteers to walk with the students are also encouraged.

The Allamakee County Conservation Board (ACCB) has partnered with Postville Community Schools and Eastern Allamakee Community Schools to build bluebird houses for distribution to the public. Students in the industrial arts programs with instructor Todd Neal from Postville Community Schools and instructor Ray Rankin from Eastern Allamakee Community Schools used the project to learn basic woodworking skills including layout design, planing, sawing and assembly while providing a service for the residents of Allamakee County. The students were also given the opportunity to install birdhouses around their schools and houses. Materials for the bluebird houses were provided free of charge by the Yellow River State Forest Sawmill, and Luster Heights Correctional Facility also helped with planing of the rough-sawn lumber. Without the help of these organizations, the project would not be possible.

by Brianne Eilers

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

Three individuals from the Kee High School Speech team were selected for the All-State Speech Festival to be held April 4 at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls after competing with students from nearly 100 other Iowa high schools at the State Individual Speech Contest in Dubuque March 12. Left to right in the top photos, MaKayla Manning was chosen for her Literary Program, Tom Martin was selected for improvisational acting, and Ethan Walleser was also chosen for improvisational acting. "These students will be showcased at the festival as the best Iowa student speakers in their event," Kee High School Speech Coach Tammy Manning said. "We are so excited, it has been a few years since we had individual members selected."

Cassandra Berger, a 2012 graduate of Waukon High School and current senior at the University of Dubuque (UD), was one of 13 UD students who replaced ceiling tiles and insulation, painted walls, and removed dilapidated items from a local homeless shelter for men Wednesday, March 9.
The UD students partnered with eight John Deere Financial sales executives from Des Moines, Iowa and Canada to volunteer at Almost Home, a homeless shelter for men that strives to help men find jobs and permanent housing. Some of the volunteers sorted clothes at Open Closet, a program of Almost Home that gives away clothing to people in need.

The Waukon Walking School Bus will start its spring walking season in April. Walking School Bus dates include the following Thursday mornings: April 7, April 14, April 21, April 28, May 5, May 12 and May 19. The Walking School Bus provides a safe, fun and active way for students to get to school. The Walking School Bus will start in downtown Waukon. Interested families should drop students off by 7:40 a.m. at the Area Development and Visitor Center on the corner of First Street and Main Street. Routes lead to East Elementary, West Elementary and St. Patrick schools. Students will be walking 10 to 20 minutes and arrive to school by 8:10 a.m. or earlier. Parents are reminded to dress their students for the weather, as spring mornings can be pretty chilly. The Walking School Bus will not walk if it is below 40°F or if it is raining/storming/snowing.

Waukon Middle School is presenting its annual springtime production this Friday, March 18, bringing "Screenagers" and "Ten Actors in Search of a Cell Phone" to the stage of the Waukon High School Auditorium. The production begins at 7 p.m. and is written by Jim and Jane Jeffries.
In "Ten Actors in Search of a Cell Phone," the school play is brought to a halt when a cell phone comes up missing and one of the actors refuses to go on stage until she finds it. Through the attempted recreation of every move prior to the cell phone missing, more than just the phone's location is discovered, offering a humorous look at how gossip gets started and what it can lead to, and hopefully teaching some lessons along the way.