Education

It was a ghostly but educational day June 1 as the students from East, West and Waterville Elementary Schools and Waukon Middle School explored Spook Cave in McGregor. For 60 years the cave, estimated to be more than 750,000 years olds, has drawn people to see the stalactites and stalagmites. Some were spooked by the story of “Old Joe Smiley”, an old man who went into the cave to change a light bulb and never came back out. As each guide drew deeper into the cave they explained the discovery, development and history of the natural limestone cave and beautiful area. Submitted by the Community Connections 10th hour summer students.
 

Those who may be interested in discussing the books they read with other readers, in meeting new people, in looking for a new author or genre to read but who may not be quite ready to jump all in just yet, or who are simply at a loss for what to read next are invited to join the Thursday Night Book Club held at Robey Memorial Library in Waukon the third Thursday of every month.

Upcoming discussions by the Book Club include the following:

July 19: Native American-themed

August 16: Non-Fiction

September 20: Iowa-themed or Iowa author.

All are welcome to attend. For more information on the Thursday Night Book Club that meets at 6 p.m. the third Thursday of each month at the library, contact Robey Memorial Library by telephone at 563-568-4424, by email at robeymemorial@waukon.lib.ia.us or through the library website at www.waukon.lib.ia.us.
 

The Iowa Master Gardener program with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will host a trio of Growing Season webcasts this summer. Master Gardeners will gain educational hours while learning about insects, tree care, organic vegetables, composting and growing roses.

The two-hour webcasts will be shown at the ISU Extension and Outreach Allamakee County office in Waukon. The webcasts are open to the public for a fee and open to anyone who may be interested. Those Growing Season webcast topics include:

• Tuesday, July 31 at 9:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m.: Insect Update and Tree Care - Get the latest details about invasive garden pests, including Japanese beetle, Emerald ash borer and spotted wing drosophila from Donald Lewis, professor and Extension entomologist at Iowa State University. Then learn about how to maintain the health of trees from Jesse Randall, associate professor and Extension forester at Iowa State.

The future is clearly here for 95 students that attended the 4th Annual STEAM summer camp at the Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) - Waukon Center in early June.

From June 5-7, the nearly 100 students going into Pre-K through seventh grades attended the day camps and participated in a variety of activities. The STEAM camp - STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math - included sessions on coding challenges, virtual and augmented reality experiences, robotics, engineering and circuit-building.

Students learned how to code a robot to make it follow steps and maneuver around obstacles, coloring a 2D image and making it come to life through augmented reality, and drawing, designing and building creatures and structures. Other activities tested the young learners’ skills in building straw towers to support a weight and making a marble run where the goal was to have the marble move as slow as possible.

Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative (ACEC), located near Postville, has awarded seven area high school graduates (all of whom are pictured above) with the Hauschild Scholarship. The Hauschild Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in 1995 in memory of Robert “Bill” Hauschild by his wife and family. This annual scholarship is provided in recognition of Bill’s dedication and service as a director of the Cooperative from his election September 10, 1988 until his death March 17, 1993. This year, a total of $3,750 in scholarship funding was awarded to seven high school seniors who are all entering a course of study within the electric field.

Thirty-seven high school students representing Iowa’s locally-owned electric cooperatives traveled to Washington, D.C. June 8-14 and joined more than 1,800 other students from across the nation for the 2018 Electric Cooperative Youth Tour. Iowa’s electric cooperatives were the first ones to send students to Washington, D.C., back in 1958; this year marks the 60th anniversary of the journey.

“The Youth Tour is the highlight of the summer for many students, and we’re proud to send 37 of Iowa’s best and brightest to our nation’s capital this year to participate,” said Chuck Soderberg, Executive Vice President of the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives. “These students gained a first-hand understanding of the legislative process and made connections with other student leaders from across the country that will last a lifetime. We look forward to continuing the Youth Tour tradition for years to come.”

Scholarship trio ...
Thea Meyer, daughter of Don and Mary Meyer of Waukon, was the recipient of three scholarships at the 2018 Upper Iowa University (UIU) Honors and Awards Banquet held in April on the school’s campus in Fayette. She is pictured at right with Upper Iowa University President Dr. William R. Duffy. Meyer was awarded the Excellence in Education Scholarship, which is bestowed upon a deserving student who has junior or senior status in the Teacher Education program and has achieved a grade point average of 3.5 or higher. The intent of this scholarship is to assist a student who possesses the qualities of an effective teacher. The scholarship recipient is chosen by the faculty of the Andres School of Education.

Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Business and Community Solutions is offering a High School Driver Education course from July 5-20. The course will be held from 1-4 p.m. at the NICC Waukon Center, 1220 Third Avenue NW.

To satisfy the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements for a drivers license, students must attend 30 hours of classroom instruction and six hours of Behind the Wheel (BTW) driving experience. Attendance is required at all sessions. Students must have an Iowa driver’s permit before the first class.

To register online for class (#59604), or for more information, visit www.nicc.edu/solutions or call NICC Business and Community Solutions at 800-728-2256, ext. 399 (Calmar Campus) or 563-568-3060 (Waukon Center).
 

The junior and senior members of the Waukon High School Band and Choir left Tuesday morning, May 29 with chaperons for their biennial trip to New York. While on the trip, the group took a double-decker bus tour at night through Manhattan and Brooklyn and toured NBC Studios, Rockefeller Center, Times Square (pictured above), Central Park, Little Italy, Manhattan Museum of Natural History, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the 9-11 Memorial and Museum. In addition to sightseeing, the students also took part in a theater workshop with a cast member from the musical “Wicked.” The group also attended Broadway performances of “Aladdin” and “Wicked”. The trip was under the direction of Waukon Music Department instructors JoAnn Sherman and Sarah Palmer. The group returned to Waukon June 2. Photo by GroupPhotos.com © 2018.
 

Kee High School musicians Neve Goetzinger and Michelle Walleser will tour Europe with the Iowa Ambassadors of Music (IAM) July 3-18 of this year. Both students will be performing with the choir contingency of the group, as Goetzinger sings Soprano 1 and Walleser sings Alto. They were nominated by former Kee High School Choir Director Ethan Ivey.

These local students are part of a select group of 390 student musicians, advisors and parents from across Iowa making this year’s tour. The 2018 tour is a 21-day event that includes four days of rehearsal in Grinnell, with a farewell concert at Grinnell College (Darby Gymnasium) July 2 at 7 p.m. The Ambassadors then have a 16-day concert tour through England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Liechtenstein. The students will perform in each country, except Liechtenstein.