Education

Each year Northeast District and Iowa FFA officers plan and facilitate Greenhand Fire Up Conferences for FFA members in the Northeast District. Waverly-Shell Rock High School in Waverly welcomed FFA chapters from all over the Northeast District October 17, including 475 total members from 33 schools. The Little Switzerland FFA Chapter at Waukon High School had six members attend the event. Chapter member Alaina Gebel was asked to be a facilitator at the event and worked with Greenhand members on learning how to manage their priorities. Waukon FFA students in attendance included (left to right in the photo above): Owen Regan, Taylor Jackson, Kendra Gibbs, Tucker Burrichter, Trevor Block and Landon Burington.

written by Mallory Berns, Chapter Reporter

The Waukon FFA Chapter participated in the annual Northeast District Soils Evaluation Career Development Event held at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo September 28. Members of the 12th-place team included Waukon High School students Ethan Gibbs, Caleb Helgerson, Olivia Marti and Ethan Palmer.

There were 62 teams at the event, resulting in 223 individuals that participated in this year’s Career Development Event designed to provide students an opportunity to display their agricultural knowledge and skills in the area of Soils Evaluation. The Soils Evaluation Career Development Event included the evaluation of four soil pits, plus a written exam about soils in Iowa.

Elizabeth Blake, Ag in the Classroom Coordinator for Allamakee County Farm Bureau, recently visited Kindergarten classrooms at West Elementary School in Waukon to talk about farm turkeys. She read a story about a family’s turkey farm and the students worked on a book on the life cycle of turkeys. Submitted photo.
 

American Education Week is observed every year in the United States during the week prior to the Thanksgiving holiday with the principal idea of reminding everyone of the roots of American education. This year’s observance is taking place November 13-19.

In addition to the variety of activities and events planned within the Allamakee Community School District throughout this week, the American Education Week Committee of the Allamakee Community Education Association has submitted the photos below that provide a sampling of the foundation of American Education Week within local schools, as well as thoughts from students within the Allamakee Community School District as to why they value the education they receive within the Allamakee Community School District.

West Elementary School

Barrett - I like to see my friends and learn. I really like Mystery Science and all the fun activities we do.

Allamakee County Sheriff Deputy Ross Kolsrud and K-9 Officer Tyr visited East and West Elementary Schools in Waukon for a presentation featuring Officer Tyr’s training and skills during Red Ribbon Week, which is observed October 23-31 each year in an effort to support families and communities in nurturing the full potential of healthy, drug-free youth. Waukon Police Chief Paul Wagner also visited with students and staff during Red Ribbon Week.

The three individual students pictured above with Deputy Kolsrud and Officer Tyr were selected to have their picture taken with the local law enforcement pair from a group of students who had received Indian Pride tickets for their positivity, respectfulness, involvement, dependability, and/or excellence in recent weeks. Those students included Craeton Leiran and Lily Monroe (standing left to right in back) and Emily Grangaard (kneeling in front). Submitted photos.

The 2022 Iowa FFA Dairy Cattle Career Development Event was held in conjunction with the Youth Dairy Classic in Manchester Friday, September 9. Twenty-eight teams and individuals participated in this year’s Career Development Event designed to provide students an opportunity to display their knowledge and skills in the area of dairy cattle selection and management. As a part of the contest, FFA members evaluated six classes of heifers and/or cows, gave one set of oral reasons that required members to justify how they placed the class, and a written examination that covered the production and management of a dairy herd.

The Waukon FFA team of (left to right in the submitted photo above) Kiersten Gibbs, Alaina Gebel, Cassidy Gibbs and Elizabeth Fossum was recognized as the Reserve Champion team at the event. Individually, Cassidy Gibbs placed 13th, Fossum placed eighth, Kiersten Gibbs placed sixth and Gebel placed fourth.

The Allamakee Community School District added 13 new educators to its staff at the start of the 2022-2023 school year. Throughout a timeframe of several weeks, the Allamakee Community Education Association, in cooperation with The Standard newspaper, is introducing these new school district additions to the public through an article series in this newspaper. This week’s installment in the series will feature West Elementary School Transitional Kindergarten teacher Dacia Sommer, and Julie Lenth, who teaches Spanish and Talented and Gifted (TAG) students at Waukon High School and Waukon Middle School.

Follow the yellow brick road to Waukon High School for “The Wizard of Oz,” the classic by L. Frank Baum brought to life with music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg with background music by Herbert Stolhart. Performance dates in the Waukon High School Auditorium are scheduled for Thursday, November 3 at 7 p.m., Friday, November 4 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, November 5 at 7 p.m.

This classic tale takes Dorothy (played by Molly Peake), a Kansas farm girl, over the rainbow to discover the importance of home.  When a cyclone rips its way through Kansas, Dorothy Gale and her dog, Toto, are swept up by the cyclone and taken away to the magical land of Oz. There she meets Glinda (played by Bailey Sherman), the Good Witch of the North, who shows her the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, as well as The Wicked Witch of the West (played by Lanie Monk), who would be of no help on her journey.

St. Patrick School in Waukon celebrated its Grandparents Day event Friday, October 14 with students sharing the morning with their grandparents taking part in a variety of activities, including morning Mass (pictured at right) at St. Patrick Catholic Church. Students also got to eat lunch with their grandparents, with over 500 meals being served, including the student lunches. Grandparents Day is an annual event scheduled to celebrate the importance of grandparents in the lives of students and all youth. Submitted photo.
 

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach joined the St. Patrick School Kindergarten class to offer hands-on learning recently. Youth participated in learning about Fizz, Bubble, Goo! The kindergartners learned what makes Alka Seltzer fizz and what gas blows up their balloon when they mix baking soda and vinegar. Another experiment was making elephant toothpaste (as pictured in the photo at right above) and watching the reaction between hydrogen peroxide, yeast and soap. One of the favorite activities of the session is making different slime recipes and seeing which one held together the best and had the most bounce. They made bubbles and bubble blowers, and made their own cola with ingredients right out of the cupboard. The final experiment was watching the volcano of mentos and Diet Coke (as pictured in the photo at left above).