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U.S. Air Force Technical Sergeant Aubree Peterman was recently awarded the 2016 NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) of the Year for the Eighth Air Force. She is the daughter of Bob and Kristi Hager of Waukon and is currently stationed at Anderson Air Force base in Guam, along with her husband, Staff Sergeant Christopher Peterman, and their two children, Kaden (age 9) and Kinley (nearly two years old).

by Brianne Eilers

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors met for its regular monthly meeting Monday evening, March 20. Prior to the meeting, board members were invited to attend a presentation from the Industrial Arts class at Waukon High School, where they viewed the CNC Plasma Cutter in action as instructor Brian Hilsabeck and student Trevor Brink showed how the machine is used. Hilsabeck noted that project-based learning is a major focus.

Instructor Jed Hemann also gave a brief presentation on the projects his classes have worked on due to the fact that there is no house building project this year. Projects have included the concession stand at the Waukon City Park, improvements to the press box and concessions stand at the high school and the shot put area at the high school.

The Kee High School Speech program had five students perform in multiple categories at the State Individual Speech Contest held at Waldorf College in Forest City Saturday, March 11, with one of those performances being selected for All-State recognition. Kee senior MaKayla Manning (pictured at above right) had her expository address, entitled “EMOJI,” selected to advance on and perform at the All-State Individual Speech Festival being held Monday, March 27 at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. There were 93 schools that performed at the March 11 Northeast State Contest and five expository address speakers were selected to perform at All-State with the other 17 top expository address speakers from across the entire state. The All-State Speech Festival is a showcase honoring the best speakers in their events from the entire state.

The Honors English 11 class at Waukon High School has been working on a 20% time project this semester. The project is designed after the concept used by the 3M company that had its employees take 20% of their work time to work on something other than their regular duties. Sticky Notes are a result of 3M’s 20% time. The Honors English students were given 20% of their class time to work on an individual project not assigned in their course work. Monday and Tuesday, March 13 and 14, the students presented their project ideas, goals and completion timeline to classmates, faculty and community members (some of which are pictured in the photos above and below). The projects will be finalized at the end of the semester with a finished product which will be presented in TED talks in the high school auditorium. Photos and information courtesy of the Allamakee Education Association.
 

Lansing VFW Post 5981 recently presented a check for $1,000 to the Lansing Lions Club in support of the Playground Enhancement Project at the Sports Complex in Lansing. Pictured above, left to right, is VFW Commander Glen Reed presenting the donation check to Lansing Lions Club Treasurer Kelly Welsh. To donate a tax free gift for the playground project, write a check to the City of Lansing Park and Recreation Board earmarked for the Playground Enhancement Project. Submitted photo.
 

by B.J. Tomlinson

At the regular meeting of the Lansing City Council Monday night, March 20, Mayor Pro-tem Rebecca Conway opened the meeting. At 7:03 p.m., after approving the Consent Agenda, Conway opened a public hearing related to the Bridge Replacement Project on South Road.

Julie Neebel, representing iiW Engineering from Dubuque, reviewed and summarized the project. She said bids would be opened tomorrow (Tuesday) through the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT). "The road will be closed during construction," she explained. "The existing bridge will be replaced with a new 130-foot bridge, a 30-foot wide roadway and a five-foot sidewalk on the west side of the bridge. The bridge will be three spans so there will be a pier on each side of the stream with room between the pier and the abutment so that people can walk or fish along the stream."

The Waukon Park & Recreation Youth Soccer Program is for boys and girls in Kindergarten through sixth grade. Basic fundamentals of soccer will be taught along with team participation.

Teams will be grouped together as follows: Kindergarten participants will have their own league, first and second graders will be together, third and fourth graders will be together, and fifth and sixth graders will be together. Different size fields and balls will be used to accommodate the lower ages and skill levels. All players must wear shin guards and they must be covered by socks or pants; cleats are optional.

Games will be played Saturday mornings starting April 8 and will run for five weeks, all played at the soccer fields on the west edge of Waukon, across the street from the Waukon Wellness Center. There will not be games held April 15 due to Easter weekend.

The Waukon girls track team is fielding 41 team members for its 2017 campaign, with more than half of this season’s team members being listed as returning letterwinners from last season. A total of 22 varsity veterans return for this season, some of them not only returning with experience at the highest level of Iowa high school competition with State Meet qualification, but also winning medals at that season grand finale last spring.

The Kee girls track team will field 21 members for the 2017 season, with just over half of this year’s squad returning with letterwinning experience. Within that returning veteran experience lies an even greater benefit for the Lady Hawks with a pair of those veterans bringing back with them experience from every high school competitor’s ultimate destination, the State Meet.

A squad of 55 members holds a great deal of promise for the 2017 Waukon boys track team this spring, but that promise won’t have a great deal of experience to benefit from. Just 10 of this year’s Indian track and fieldsters return with varsity letterwinning experience, as the track Tribe graduated a large group of strong competitors last spring.

Those veteran 10 are led by six seniors in Austin Day, Adam Gruman, Hunter Jensen, Tyler O’Neill, Brandon Regan and Blain Swenson. Juniors Evan Armstead, Abe Schwartz, Mitchell Snitker and Isaiah Welch round out this season’s returning letterwinning experience.