Education

The week of September 30-October 4 is Homecoming Week at Waukon High School, culminating in the Waukon Indians facing off against the Oelwein Huskies in the annual Homecoming football game Friday, October 4. The theme of “Harness the Huskies” has been chosen for this year’s Homecoming, and students and staff throughout the Allamakee Community School District will spend the week partaking in various activities and events, including dress-up days, pep rallies and the traditional “Burning of the ‘W’.”

The activity schedule for Homecoming Week is as follows:

Iowans interested in the care of trees, forests and natural resources should consider attending a forestry field day this fall, held by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and various public and private partners.

Topics will include how to manage a forest for profit, water quality, wildlife and the aesthetic value of trees. Additional topics will include forest establishment, tree protection and invasive species control, herbicide use, forest products, portable sawmills, timber marketing and the legal aspects of forestry.

“Trees, woodlands and forests are often vastly under-utilized by Iowa landowners,” said Billy Beck, assistant professor and extension forestry specialist at Iowa State University. “These forestry field days provide Iowans the knowledge and resources to harness the true power of their forests.”

In a late afternoon special session Friday, September 20, the Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD) Board of Directors approved the resignation of New Albin Elementary School Principal Chad Steckel from all of his duties of principal, driver’s education and coaching within the school district.

The vote was unanimous from all board members.

Steckel had just been approved as a driver’s education instructor for the fall at the board’s Monday, September 16 regular meeting. EACSD Superintendent Dr. Dale Crozier was not available for follow-up Tuesday morning, September 24. No additional information was available at press time Tuesday morning for this week’s edition.

The Confirmation Class of 1969 at Glenwood Lutheran Church in rural Decorah will be holding a 50-year reunion Sunday, October 6. The reunion will include the 10:30 a.m. church service, which will then be followed by a potluck dinner. Members of that Confirmation Class of 1969 pictured above include: Left to right - Front row: Diane (Westby) Larson, Beverly (Brandt) Bachelder, Pastor Olaf Brandt, Nancy (Everud) Winholtz; Middle row: Lorna (Wilkins) Duvel, Helen (Dahlen) Wise, Donna (Smorstad) Bentley, Robin (Sacquitne) Althoff, Vicki (Olson) Westendorf; Back row: Merlin Tangen, Michael Onsager, Gary Flatland, Gene Teslow, Howard Dahlen, Loren Wilkins. Submitted photo.
 

by Brianne Eilers

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors met for its regular monthly meeting Monday, September 16. Under the consent agenda, the board approved the following personnel: staff for after school programming, West Elementary secretary maternity leave coverage and 2019-2020 volunteer coaches: Jack Regan (wrestling), Amy Wasson, Mike Shupe, Greg Criswell and Bridget Dolan (girls track) and Morgan McMillan (golf). The board also accepted the resignation of Daneshia Snitker from her position as varsity softball assistant coach.

The board approved several Sunday requests and out-of-state field trips including a Sunday cheer competition, Google Summit, Iowa Business Education Association Conference, the annual Chanhassen trip, and for first graders to attend the Nutcracker. One open enrollment was approved.

Waukon Middle School eighth grader Olivia Marti entered a drawing into the Choose Iowa Coloring Calendar contest hosted by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship this past spring. The entry was to be an 8.5”x11”, horizontal, black and white drawing that represents agriculture in Iowa.

Marti was one of 12 winners selected this summer to be included on this year’s calendar, and she was recognized by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig at a ceremony at the Iowa State Fair in August (pictured above). Her artwork (pictured below) has been printed as one of the 12 pages for the Choose Iowa Coloring Calendar, being displayed for the month of December. The calendars were distributed by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship during the Iowa State Fair. Submitted photos.
 

What do bats, mushrooms, wilderness, the Mississippi River, art, citizen science and mounds all have in common? The answer is Effigy Mounds National Monument Summer Evening Programs. Join Effigy Mounds National Monument every Sunday and Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. in the Effigy Mounds National Monument Visitor Center for fun explorations and intriguing discussions about these topics.

All programs begin at 7 p.m. and are offered through the summer season ending October 20. Attendance is free and reservations are not required. Below are the topics and remaining schedule:

Employers, community members and educators are invited to join the IowaWORKS team for the Future Ready Iowa Employer Summit September 25 at the Norplex-Micarta facility located at 665 Lybrand Street in Postville. Iowa Workforce Development is partnering with the Iowa Association of Business and Industry and the Iowa Business Council to host the summit. The event runs from 7-9:30 a.m.

The Waukon Kids Day Program “Food, Fitness, Fun!” has been working hard to keep the plants in the school gardens as nourished and bountiful as possible. In August, the tomatoes, peas, cucumbers and ground cherries were coming in quickly and students shared the bounty with the Summer Feeding Program and also donated to the Allamakee County Food Shelf.

“On donation day, we took a five-minute walk to the Food Shelf,” reports Alyssa Bell, 4-H AmeriCorps member. “We donated seven pounds of produce from our small garden. That’s great! The students were very proud to share what they have grown.”

The four Waukon High School young ladies pictured above qualified to compete in the national online “Capture the Flag” competition through Girls Go Cyberstart, a cybersecurity competition which took place over the summer beginning with 719 teams from high schools across the nation. The National “Capture the Flag” competition of 120 qualifying teams involved a set of computer security puzzles and challenges designed to test skills in areas such as reverse-engineering, memory corruption and cryptography, among others. Members of that National Finalists team include, left to right in above photo, Ashley Liddiard, Bridget Duncklee, Alexis Hogan and Madelyn Waters, all under the direction of Allamakee Community School District Allamakee Accelerated Learning Program (AALP ) Teacher Peyton Lapel. Alexis Hogan earned a spot on the individual semifinalists list for her overall score in the competition. Submitted photo.