Education

The Allamakee Community School District hosted the annual Career Workshop Friday, February 7 at Waukon High School. The Career Workshop is the brainstorm of Waukon High School Guidance Counselor Amy Wasson, Northeast Iowa Community College-Waukon Center Director Erica Nosbisch and Allamakee County Economic Development & Tourism Director Val Reinke. Invitations are extended to juniors and senior students at Waukon, Kee, Postville and MFL/MarMac High Schools to attend the event. The goal of this event is to introduce high school juniors and seniors to area businesses, career opportunities and the stories of local people involved in various careers. Approximately 200 students chose two career tracks each to attend based on career interests at this year’s workshop. This year’s event included the following guest speakers and their career tracks (pictured above, left to right):

Achieving academic and career success requires of high school students an openness to learning new things, and a knack for balancing demanding work and school commitments. One local student, Cassidy Byrnes, is just as determined and sees her hard work paying off.

Byrnes had already completed 32 college credits before graduating from Waukon High School in 2019. She will earn an Associate of Arts degree from Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) this May, transfer to University of Northern Iowa and arrive on campus in Cedar Falls as a junior. She participated in the Career Learning Link program through NICC to focus her career goals. Three scholarships also supported her college education: the Allamakee Scholarship Fund and the Northeast Iowa Community College Loyalty Scholarship and Opportunity Scholarship.

The Driftless Half Marathon (DHM) is offering scholarship opportunities for graduating seniors who will be attending a college or university this fall. One $500 scholarship will be offered to a senior graduating from each of two local high schools, Kee High School and Waukon High School. Students must be a part of their respective school’s scholarship fund.

Students who wish to apply for the scholarship are encouraged to contact their school’s guidance counselor for more information. Applications will be accepted until April 1 of this year. Recipients will be awarded during their respective school’s senior awards night later this spring.

The Driftless Half Marathon Scholarship is made possible by generous sponsors and loyal runners. The race committee believes in giving back to the community those who live here are fortunate enough to call home. The committee also hopes to make a positive impact while also motivating people to be active.
 

Waukon Head Start classrooms, located at West Elementary School at 953 Third Avenue NW in Waukon, will be holding Registration and an Open House Wednesday, February 19 from 4-6 p.m.  Head Start, operated by Northeast Iowa Community Action, is a full day program that offers a safe and nurturing environment while providing active learning.

Qualified teachers partner with families to provide the best possible preschool experience for children who are three and four years old. Head Start services are funded by federal and state grants and are free for families who qualify. Transportation is available in some areas.  Nutritious meals and snacks are provided by the CACFP program. This institution is an equal opportunity provider. Parents are encouraged to bring proof of income and proof of their child’s date of birth.

Monday, January 27 Waukon High School hosted the National Guard band Scrap Metal. They performed  a high energy show for all middle school and high school students. Scrap Metal is one of many ensembles that comprise the Iowa National Guard’s 34th Army Band, and is a modern New Orleans style Brass Band that plays a large variety of music, from current pop tunes, to ‘80s and ‘90s rock, blues, funk, Ska and riot jazz. Submitted photo.
 

The Kee High School Speech program experienced a very successful day at the Northeast District Large Group Speech Contest hosted by Decorah High School Saturday, January 25. The Kee program had 38 students competing in a total of 12 different acts, with some students competing in multiple acts. A total of 11 of those acts, involving all 38 of those students, received Division I ratings to earn advancement to the Iowa High School Speech Association State Large Group Contest this weekend.

The State Large Group Contest for Northeast Iowa is being hosted by Dubuque Senior High School in Dubuque this Saturday, February 8. Participating acts will be vying for possible nomination to perform at this year’s All-State Large Group Speech Festival to be held at the Iowa State Center in Ames.

The Alice Hermeier Foundation, a fund held by the Allamakee County Community Foundation, has partnered with County Social Services (CSS) to support the mental health needs of students by bringing the THRIVE Resilience Model to Waukon schools.

Mollie (Weighner) Marti, a 1984 graduate of Waukon High School, has returned to her hometown to help implement the project. Marti founded and directs the National Resilience Institute (NRI), a nonprofit organization that grew out of a community resiliency project she started in Mount Vernon after the tragic loss of young lives to suicide.

When he’s not touring or recording music as the lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Remedy Drive, David Zach follows another passion with equal fervor - abolishing human trafficking throughout the world.

Zach has made nine international deployments to Southeast Asia and Latin America as an undercover operative with the abolitionist group, The Exodus Road. While undercover, Zach identifies instances of minors being sold and captures actionable evidence of illegal trafficking activities in brothels and red-light districts. The information and evidence The Exodus Road gathers leads to raids on establishments that result in the arrests of traffickers.

Zach tours college campuses and visits communities in the United States to share his experiences. He believes that ordinary human beings can make a tremendous impact on freedom and justice in the world.

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The monthly meeting of the Board of Directors of the Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD) was held at Kee High School in Lansing Monday, January 20. The meeting was called to order by Heather Schulte, Board President.

After the agenda was adopted, the board asked for audience comments but there were none. The board next approved the authorizations for the January consent items, minutes of the December meetings, bills for January, Secretary’s Financial Report for December, and the Student Activity and Food Service December Reports.

Waukon Middle School students in grades six, seven and eight had the opportunity to Skype with author Marsha Skrypuch from Brantford, Ontario in Canada the second week of January. The author visit was made possible through the McElroy Excellence in Education Grant. Allamakee Community School District teacher librarian Lisa Snitker wrote and submitted a proposal to the McElroy Foundation to purchase multiple copies of three of Skrypuch’s novels to create a cross-curricular WWII unit, where students would learn the history and stories surrounding that era. Skrypuch’s novel Making Bombs for Hitler is the State of Iowa Teen Award Winner 2019. The book is extremely popular with young adult readers and the factor that sparked the idea for Snitker to write the grant.