Education

The Kindergarten and Transitional Kindergarten classes at St. Patrick School in Waukon have learned all about apples this fall. They learned about the apple life cycle, different colors of apples and what they need to grow, and they read lots of apple stories and got to eat some apple treats. To end their apple unit, the students visited Peake’s Apple Orchard (pictured in surrounding photos) and went on a hayride through the apple orchard, observed their sorting and cooling process, heard an apple story, sang some songs and even got to sample some apples. Submitted photos.

Students at St. Patrick School in Waukon recently enjoyed a week of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) activities in computer class. These activities, some of which are pictured in the surrounding photos, implemented various aspects of the STEAM curriculum and involved such activities and technology as the Merge Cube, Augmented Reality Apps, Coding with the Colby, Building with Legos and magnets, among others. STEAM activities allow the students to become scientists, mathematicians and designers while becoming innovative thinkers that solve problems, all while using their own individual creativity. Through these activities they are able to continue to try and retry each activity or technology process, re-evaluating, redesigning and rethinking problems to create unique and inventive solutions. St. Patrick School appreciates the contributions of all who donated towards the school’s recent STEAM day activities. Submitted photos.

by Brianne Eilers

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors held a work session Wednesday, September 26 to discuss funding options for capital improvement projects. Managing Director Travis Squires from Piper Jaffray was there to discuss a capital financing review for ACSD. Squires reviewed taxable valuations and the ACSD tax rate history, as well as funding options for capital projects that would still keep the tax rate fairly low.

ACSD Superintendent Jay Mathis discussed capital projects, including the East Elementary HVAC project and improvements needed at West Elementary to be considered over the next five years. The board decided that another work session was warranted for the HVAC project at East Elementary and that was scheduled for October 2.

Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Business and Community Solutions is offering “Food Heaven: Homemade Jam & Bread” Thursday, November 8 from 6-8 p.m. at the NICC Waukon Center, located at 1220 Third Avenue NW.

Participants will be guided step-by-step in the process of making their own home baked bread and sweet jam. Those attending can bring a friend, or group of friends and should be prepared to get hands-on. There is a supply fee due to the instructor the night of the class.

To register online for “Food Heaven: Homemade Jam & Bread” (#65898) or for more information, visit www.nicc.edu/solutions, call NICC Business and Community Solutions at 800-728-2256, ext. 399 (Calmar campus) or the NICC Waukon Center at 563-568-3060. Registration deadline is October 26.
 

The Waukon High School music department has selected “The Addams Family” as this year’s musical production under the direction of Louise Wild and musical director Sarah Palmer. Three performances are being planned for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 1, 2 and 3, all at 7:30 p.m. The  performances will be held at the Waukon High School auditorium.

The ghoulish Addams family is visiting the graveyard for an annual gathering of all family members (living, dead and undecided) to celebrate what it is to be an Addams. Uncle Fester (played by Sean Liddiard) stops the ancestors’ return to their graves to enlist their help. He explains that Wednesday (played by Oonagh Ahouse), under protest, has invited her new (normal) boyfriend, Lucas Beineke (played by Denzel Decker), and his parents, Mal (played by Robbie Drew) and Alice (played by Emily Kolsrud), to dinner.

At the end of August, the sixth grade students from St. Patrick School in Waukon participated in an overnight retreat at Village Creek Bible Camp in rural Lansing. The retreat consisted of many activities that focused on communication, problem-solving and working together as a team. The sixth graders were also able to focus on their faith and grow spiritually. Submitted photo.
 

Allamakee County Pheasants Forever, Mississippi Valley Sportsman Club, Allamakee County Conservation Board, Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Riverland Conservancy will again be sponsoring a mentored youth pheasant hunt Saturday, October 20. The event will start at 8:30 a.m. at the Mississippi Valley Sportsman Club located two miles south of Lansing. DNR officers will start the morning discussing the importance of habitat for pheasant survival and review some of the hunting regulations. Hunter safety instructors will then go over safe gun handling and hunting in the field, followed by a trap shoot at the clubhouse.

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Directors of the Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD) was held at Kee High School in Lansing Wednesday, September 12 due to a scheduling conflict with its typical third Monday of the month meeting date of September 17. The meeting included both the board’s annual reorganizational meeting at the start of the new school year, as well as regular business.

The Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Waukon Center is celebrating its 10th anniversary. To celebrate, the center will hold an open house Friday, October 5 from 2:30-4:30 p.m., following the Waukon High School Homecoming parade.

At the open house, community members may tour the Waukon Center, meet with center staff, see the improved health lab and learn more about credit courses and programs available through NICC. Root beer floats will be served at the event for attendees. The Waukon Center is located at 1220 Third Avenue NW, Waukon.

Ruffin James White-Magner, 27-year-old son of Mary Jane White and James W. Magner of Waukon who attended St. Patrick School in Waukon from Kindergarten through seventh grade, is speaking about his robotics research in security at two international conferences in Madrid, Spain held between September 29 and October 5.

His first presentation, “Leveraging Data Distribution Service Security in Robot Operating System 2,” was at the Robot Operating System Convention (ROSCon), an international annual gathering where he has presented earlier research in Vancouver, Canada (2017), in Seoul, Korea (2016) and in Hamburg, Germany (2015).