Education News

The Storm Lake Early Elementary Center construction project took a step forward this week as the school board approved the bond sale to finance the project with Pennsylvania-based brokerage firm Janney Montgomery Scott, with interest costs less than anticipated...

The Storm Lake School District plans to add a net of eight new staff members for the next academic year, according to discussion at the most recent board of education meeting. The additions are needed in the face of growing enrollment, board member Erika Dierking felt. “In my opinion, we haven’t kept up with staffing… we constantly ask our staff to take more and do more, and they do it happily. I’m excited to get these new people hired and relieve some of the pressure on our people.”...

The 3rd annual GRIT Cultural Conference was hosted on Friday, February 28 by Buena Vista University in partnership with ISU Extension and Outreach and Northwestern College. The GRIT event is designed to encourage youth from underrepresented populations to visit and take part in activities on a college campus. ...

Iowa’s three public universities announced Wednesday they would shift to only online classes beginning March 23 in an effort to keep students and faculty safe from the new coronavirus. The University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa said they would only offer online classes after students return from next week’s spring break. The online courses would continue for at least two weeks, with officials reassessing the situation during the week of March 30...

The growing problem of a shortage of school bus drivers threatens the transportation programs of many rural Iowa schools, including Cherokee and surrounding districts. Among the many reasons for this job pool drain are: • Cumbersome state and/or federal restrictions and mandatory testing on-line and face-to-face chasing some applicants away, including retirees who may not be well-versed in computer technology...

The Storm Lake High School Individual Speech team earned 20 division 1 ratings at district contest in Ida Grove on February 29. Those entries are headed to state competition in Carroll on March 14. The Speech Team will be hosting their annual Speaker’s Cafe on Monday, March 9 at 7 p.m. ...

All seven of the St. Mary’s Individual Speech students are advancing to State Competition in at least one of their events.  State is March 14, at Carroll Kuemper. Josh DeLira- Spontaneous Speaking and Lit Program “Names”, Arianna Ramirez Pantoja- Original Oratory “Translation”...

The Parents and Teachers of Panthers Group (PTP) of St. Mary’s School presented a $13,600 check to St. Mary’s administrators.  These funds were raised from the Dancing with the Storm Lake Stars fundraiser at KC Hall on January 25.  This donation plus a $5,000 in October was earmarked towards upgrading technology for the St. ...

WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) urged support for preserving Minor League Baseball clubs across the country, including those in Davenport, Burlington and Clinton, in response to Major League Baseball’s (MLB) proposal to eliminate 42 teams nationwide...

Nine Buena Vista University (BVU) business students and seven science students have been selected for the Clifford A. Rae Academic Achievement Award for the 2019 calendar year. The awards, which range up to $5,000, were created by two separate $750,000 endowments from the foundations established by Dr. ...

Come join for an exciting night of dance performances by our youth clinic kids, the dance team, dance team parents, and a couple of surrounding schools. The night will kick off Friday at 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s High School. Admission to event: $5 Adult and $3 Student...

Simpson College has named Brett Dewerff of Storm Lake to the President’s List for the 2019 Fall Semester. Students named to the President’s List achieved a 4.0 GPA for the semester. Dewerff is a graduate of Storm Lake High School.

Erin Brockovich, who was propelled into a household name on the heels of the Oscar-winning biopic starring Julia Roberts, is speaking at Iowa State University.  Brockovich, the legal researcher whose dogged persistence was the impelling force behind the largest medical settlement lawsuit in history, will deliver “The Power of One” at 7 p.m. ...

Iowa Central Community College student, Olivia Erenberger, is currently spearheading a fundraiser to help Australian wildlife and communities affected by the recent wildfires. To gather funds, Erenberger is selling photos she captured of the country while visiting on a study abroad program last spring. All proceeds of the photo sales are being donated to the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Riverina Bushfire Appeal and The Rescue Collective...

Recently, Iowa Central Community College held a ribbon-cutting event in Laurens, for the opening of their new Northwest Iowa Career Academy. The new training center was made possible through dedicated collaborative efforts between Iowa Central, Pocahontas County Economic Development Commission, public schools and area businesses. Local Laurens manufacturer, Pengo Corporation, donated several sets of DeWalt tools to the career academy for students to use and enhance their learning experience...

Destiny Einerwold leads the BVU women’s basketball team with a 16.9 points per game scoring average. The senior forward is close to the top of her team when it comes to another important average, as in grade point average. Einerwold’s 3.835 GPA was part of a team grade point average of 3.855 compiled during the fall semester...

Ridge View High School Senior, Yesenia DeLaO, as she signed on February 7,to be on the Dance Team at Briar Cliff University. Front: Cassie Crum (mom), Yesenia DeLaO, Hector DeLaO (dad), Kaela Wiig (Briar Cliff Dance & Cheer Coach) Back: Xavier DeLaO (brother), Juliana DeLaO (sister), Gabby DeLaO (sister), Tracy DeLaO (stepmom)...

The following students earned Dean’s List recognition for the 2019 fall term at Buena Vista University: Robert Carter of Fonda April Connolly of Storm Lake Dayne Crouch of Storm Lake Taylor Dicks of Newell Ema Enriquez of Storm Lake Lura Gamrath of Storm Lake...

Storm Lake St. Mary’s High School attended district speech on January 25. Three out of the six groups are advancing to State Large Group in LeMars on February 8.  The three qualifying teams are two short film groups, “The Spooning” and “The Fax” and TV news group “I.D.I.O.T. News.”...

St. Mary’s Preschool Teacher receives the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation Grant Storm Lake St. Mary’s Preschool teacher, Mrs. Kreutz, has been selected to receive an Agriculture Literacy Foundation Grant. The grant is designed to initiate new projects or expand existing projects that promote agriculture literacy at St. Mary’s Catholic School...

The Storm Lake High School Art Department is proud to present the following students who have had their artwork selected to be on display on BVU’s campus at the Arts and Humanities building for the annual W.I.S.E. exhibit from February 15 until March 20 with a reception on Saturday, the 15 of February from 2 p.m. ...

Taking an original approach to educating middle school students to the dangers associated with vaping, facts were delivered to the sixth through eighth grade classes in a game show. Rather than a gym full of quiet, reluctant youth — game show host Orlo Azul had students screaming, jumping up and down and cheering for one another as he introduced the information through interactive trivia questions — offering up cash and prizes to the winners...

Manichanh Naonady is a mother, journalist, non-traditional student and so much more. She’ll soon have another identity: college graduate. Naonady graduates from Iowa State University this weekend with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication. The 30-year-old’s life wasn’t always heading in this direction, however...

In celebration of catholic schools week St. Mary’s dropped off a box of goodies for the Pilot Tribune staff.

The Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council is proud to announce Matt Hansen, industrial technology teacher at MMCRU High School in Marcus, has been named a recipient of the 2020 I.O.W.A. STEM Teacher Award, sponsored by Kemin Industries. The award is given to teachers who go above and beyond to inspire student interest in and awareness of science, technology, engineering and mathematics...

As a Humboldt High School junior, Brayden Collins visited Buena Vista University and heard for the first time about the University’s Undergraduate Rural Medicine Education and Development (URMED) program, a three-week immersion into a myriad of rural medicine efforts with experiences at hospitals in and around Storm Lake...

Storm Lake’s P.E.O. Chapter NM awarded a Program for Continuing Education (PCE) grant to Laura Negrete-Sanches on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. Negrete-Sanches, a social work major of Storm Lake, was awarded $1,000 for education-related expenses as she completes her final semester at Buena Vista University. She will be completing an internship at a local school during her final semester before graduation in May...

A new Iowa State University Extension partnership in Buena Vista County with the Tyson Poultry plant resulted in the first Buy. Eat. Live Healthy outreach class at the plant last week, with Mandi De La Cruz.

The advanced ecology class at Storm Lake High School continues to work toward a school courtyard renovation project. The class is creating special clothing for the project which will be available as part of a website they are building. The shirts will feature a quote one of the students expressed when meeting with the city council recently, “Everyone needs a little green in their lives.”...

Students at Storm Lake St. Mary’s Elementary tested their engineered structures against the forces of nature... wind and rain. The workshop was conducted by Iowa State University Extension, Buena Vista County.

NASA’s planet-hunting TESS Mission keeps giving astronomers new realities to examine and explain. Case in point: astronomers using the tools of asteroseismology - the observations and measurements of a star’s oscillations, or starquakes, that appear as changes in brightness - have learned more about two stars bright enough to be visible in a dark sky to the naked eye. These red-giant stars - older, “retired” stars no longer burning hydrogen in their cores - are known as HD 212771 and HD 203949...

Casey’s General Stores has launched a new “Cash For Classrooms” program that allows customers in Storm Lake and across the region to choose schools they would like the company to consider for more than $50,000 in upcoming donations. Part of the award process is the number of times a school has been selected by Casey’s Rewards members as their designated “Cash For Classrooms” school until February 14th. The school with the highest totals will have the greatest chance to receive an award...

Five Buena Vista University students will spend the second semester in the nation’s capital as part of the University’s longstanding partnership with The Washington Center for Internships & Academic Seminars, an effort that for more than two decades has seen BVU students living, working, and learning in Washington, D.C...

The St. Mary’s Dance team has been invited by the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union to perform at the 2020 Girls’ State Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena - a first in school history. More details on the performance will be announced soon, according to coach Victoria Stille...