Homecoming week at Decorah High School will include the crowning of the 2023 king and queen.
Queen candidates from the senior class include Lydia Frank, daughter of Kyle and Jacki Frank; Sydney Kipp, daughter of Ryan Kipp and Jenny Kleiner; Naomi Simon, daughter of Matt Simon and Melissa Simon; Brynn Storhoff, daughter of Brent and Brigit Storhoff; Hayley Stowe, daughter of Haywood and Erika Stowe; and Yazmeen Whitsitt, daughter of Novian and Katherine Whitsitt.
King candidates from the senior class include Kelley Gates, son of Aaron Pattison and Megan Gates; Simon Kutz, son of Eric Kutz and Miko Kominami; Trey McCain, son of Kevin and Boots McCain; Creed Monroe, son of Darin and Sarah Monroe; Fisher Tweten, son of Jason and Tera Tweten; and Kaiden Youngblood, son of Harold and Dawn Youngblood.
Junior class attendants are McKenzie Riley, daughter of Adam and Jessica Riley, and William Hahn, son of Brent and Amanda Hahn.
Representing the sophomore class as attendants are Drew Zwart, daughter of Robert Zwart and Cheri White, and William Tallier, son of Aleksandra Tallier and the late William Tallier.
Jillian Volz, daughter of Daniel and Bethany Volz, and Carter Riley, son of Adam and Jessica Riley, will represent the class of 2027.
The coronation ceremony will be Friday afternoon with a pep assembly and parade to follow.
DHS Queen and King Candidates:
Front row (l-r): Kaiden Youngblood, Fisher Tweten, Creed Monroe, Kelley Gates, Simon Kutz and Trey McCain
Back row (l-r): Yazmeen Whitsitt, Sydney Kipp, Lydia Frank, Hayley Stowe, Naomi Simon, and Brynn Storhoff
9th-11th grade DHS Homecoming attendants:
Front row (l-r): Jillian Volz, Drew Zwart, and McKenzie Riley
Back row (l-r): Carter Riley, William Tallier, and William Hahn
Officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced the names of over 16,000 Semifinalists in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Five Decorah High School students–Gabriel Hiner, Simon Kutz, Anders Lovstuen, Aidan Nalean-Carlson, and Henry Weis–are among those honored. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring.
High school students entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which serves as an initial screen of the program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 94 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and all National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists and will earn the Merit Scholar title.
A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.
NMSC, a not-for-profit organization, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
Decorah High School National Merit Scholarship Program Semifinalists (l-r): Aidan Nalean-Carlson, Simon Kutz, Anders Lovstuen, Gabriel Hiner, and Henry Weis
Homecoming week activities for Decorah High School students will commence with the Viking Olympics on Sunday, September 17. This event aims to encourage team building among students across all grade levels.
Each of the ten teams competing will consist of students from each grade level. They will apply their skills in trivia, kickball, pickleball, bags, and tug of war. A new feature this year will be a flag decorating contest. The students will design and decorate a flag that represents their team and school spirit. The flags will be presented during opening ceremonies of Viking Olympics and will then be displayed in school throughout the week. Proceeds from this event will be donated to the Decorah Community Food Pantry.
As the week continues, students and staff will have the opportunity to cheer on sports teams and celebrate school spirit. Monday the JV football team will face Independence here at home. On Tuesday the cross country teams and volleyball teams will travel to compete. Thursday the JV football team will play Mason City, again on home turf.
Friday will bring many elements of Homecoming together for a day and evening of fun and camaraderie. Students will attend the coronation ceremony in the afternoon where the Homecoming king and queen will be crowned. A pep rally will immediately follow the coronation.
The Homecoming parade will start at 2:30 p.m. at the high school and follow the traditional homecoming parade route down West Water Street and River Street.
It will be a clash on the gridiron as the Decorah Vikings take on the Riverhawks of Mason City High School at 7:30 p.m. The Decorah freshman football team will play at 5 p.m.
The Homecoming queen and king, their court, and their parents will be presented at halftime of the varsity game, along with a performance by the Decorah High School Pride of the Vikings marching band.
Six Decorah FFA members traveled to Manchester on Friday, September 8th, for the state FFA dairy cattle evaluation, dairy handling, and milk quality competitions.
In the contest of dairy cattle evaluation, Brody Courtney, Kiele Eberling, Anders Lovstuen, and Creed Monroe placed second overall as a team with a gold rating. They also placed 1st place in the oral reasons class as a team. Lovstuen received first place in the oral reasons class and received second place overall in the individual competition. These students evaluated six classes of dairy cattle, gave a set of oral reasons, and took a test on dairy cattle production and management.
Logan Frye represented the Decorah FFA in the dairy handling competition and received a bronze rating. This contest is a dairy showmanship contest where members are evaluated on how they handle and present the animal for show.
Braunwyn Darrington represented the Decorah FFA in the milk quality and products contest. She placed 14th overall as an individual, evaluating a variety of cheese, milk, and milk product items. She also took a knowledge test and completed a milk pricing problem.
The Decorah FFA Dairy Cattle Evaluation team of (left to right) Anders Lovstuen, Brody Courtney, Creed Monroe, and Kiele Eberling placed second overall as a team and 1st place in oral reasons at the Iowa FFA State Dairy Evaluation Contest.
Anders Lovstuen of the Decorah FFA received first place for oral reasons and placed second overall in the state FFA dairy cattle evaluation contest.
Logan Frye represented the Decorah FFA in the dairy handling competition and received a bronze rating.
Braunwyn Darrington competed in the state FFA milk quality and dairy products evaluation contest and received 14th place as an individual.
For the third year in a row, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Decorah High School as the second-best high school across Iowa. This marks the fifth consecutive year in the top two spots.
Principal Brad Hurst remarked, “This prestigious recognition is not the work of any individual but the result of a collective effort. It honors the achievements and performances of our students, who continually embrace academic challenges and consistently excel. In addition, significant preparation and pride are invested to ensure that each student at Decorah High School maintains access to a rigorous, world-class education. This monumental task is made possible by the dedication, commitment, and hard work of our entire staff—our teachers, counselors, administrators, office staff, para professionals, custodial staff, nutrition service staff, and bus drivers.”
Hurst continued, “We are also immensely grateful to our colleagues across different schools who have been instrumental in establishing and maintaining the foundation of rigorous learning and the high expectations we maintain for our students at Decorah High School.”
More information about the ratings can be found at https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/iowa.
Seven students from Decorah High School–Lucas Arendt, Aidan Nalean-Carlson, Peter Essa, Aya Hawthorn, Mason Myers, Alexis Walker, and Henry Weis–have been selected as a College Board National Recognition Program awardee. Margret Zook, a former DHS student, also received this honor. All recipients received the National Rural and Small Town Award (NRSTA).
These students earned this recognition because of their academic achievements in school and outstanding performance on the PSAT/NMSQT®, PSAT™ 10, and/or AP® Exams. They’ve accomplished these milestones during a demanding period of their high school career.
“We’re thrilled that our students have earned this recognition. We are very proud of them for their achievements in their classrooms and on College Board assessments,” said Pat Trewin, DHS guidance counselor. “These programs help students from underrepresented backgrounds stand out to colleges during admissions.”
“We want to honor the hard work of these students through the College Board National Recognition Programs. This program creates a way for colleges and scholarship programs to connect directly with underrepresented students who they are hoping to reach,” said Tarlin Ray, College Board senior vice president of BigFuture. “We hope the award winners and their families celebrate this prestigious honor.”
Photo ID
Front row (l-r): Alexis Walker, Aya Hawthorn
Back row (l-r): Aidan Nalean-Carlson, Peter Essa, Lucas Arendt, Henry Weis, Mason Myers
On Friday, September 1st from 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm, the Decorah Music Boosters will be hosting their annual Chili Supper in the cafeteria of Decorah High School. Tickets are available online at https://decorahschools.ludus.com/index.php or can be purchased at the door. The cost is $8 for adults and for students K-12. Preschool children may eat for free.
Proceeds from the chili supper are used to provide scholarships to students and to assist in helping to purchase items beneficial for the music program and its students.
Thanks to the efforts of Chad Elliott, Nutrition Director and Culinary Specialist for Decorah Schools, the Decorah Community School District was awarded a Healthy Meals Incentives (HMI) grant in the amount of $149,998.00 from Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK). This grant will allow the purchase of processing equipment and local food to assist in preparing scratch recipes, improving the nutritional quality of school meals. Equipment that will be acquired includes new ovens for Decorah Middle School and Carrie Lee Elementary, frozen yogurt machines for Decorah High School and Decorah Middle School, an immersion blender for Decorah Middle School, food processors for every school, and a new grill/smoker and a patty forming machine for the district.
Elliott shared, “Scratch recipes using local foods gives us the advantage of controlling costs, salt, sugar, and fat. Using proper equipment will allow us to add flavor punches to food without adding any additional ingredients at all. Honoring the food by cooking with the proper method and intensifying the flavor will be one of the ways we will preserve the food’s integrity.”
“Efforts to improve the quality of Decorah School District’s food are always on my priority list. Increasing local food purchases allows consistency of product and the ability to gradually introduce more scratch recipes each year to reduce sugar and sodium. For instance, the new grill/smoker will add a tremendous amount of flavor to smoked pulled pork, BBQ smoked pork ribs, grilled summer squash, grilled chicken sandwiches, grilled asparagus, smoked salmon, grilled pork chops, carnitas, and grilled-glazed carrots–all while adding zero salt, fat, or sugar,” Elliott continued.
The nutrition department was also awarded a Local School Food II grant of $8,000.00 to purchase local meats and vegetables for this school year’s school lunch. Combining this grant with the HMI grant, the district will receive $31,254.00 worth of free local food this year. Elliott commented, “These funds will be used to increase consumption of our district’s local food items. Two to three times each year, we purchase local beef raised by up-and-coming local farmers through our food hub, and then our local Winneshiek Cattlemen bring their grills to the school and cook the hamburgers for our district free of charge. This day is an exciting day for students and staff as they can see and smell the burgers cooking as they enter the buildings. Participation is always very high these days. Pizza is our second-highest participation day, and we will introduce a completely scratch version of our pizza to students for breakfast and lunch using locally grown and milled wheat from an up-and-coming young grower.”
The HMI grant will also support Elliott’s attendance at a training conference. He stated, “We gain so much knowledge and confidence seeing other districts doing what we do. Networking with peers and sharing our success stories with others encourages everyone to succeed.”
The Healthy Meals Incentives grant is part of an allocation of nearly $30 million by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service to 264 schools across 44 states and the District of Columbia.
“Offering healthier school meals is key to helping our nation’s kids get the nutrients they need today and for their long-term development,” said Action for Healthy Kids CEO Rob Bisceglie. “Through this historic investment in school nutrition, we will help school districts across the country overcome challenges and develop solutions to provide nutritious foods for the children they serve.”
“Students in every community deserve access to healthy and nutritious meals,” said USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small. “Today’s announcement demonstrates the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to creating healthier, brighter futures for our children. With these funds, small and rural school districts will be able to modernize their operations and provide more nutritious meals, helping students succeed in the classroom and beyond.”
Action for Healthy Kids is dedicated to improving children’s health and well-being by bringing together and mobilizing educators, families, and other key stakeholders to help children lead healthy lives. Through its core programming and family-school partnerships, AFHK has impacted more than 20 million children in 55,000 schools nationwide to address systemic challenges in underserved communities. To learn more about its growing network of volunteers and champions, visit www.actionforhealthykids.org.
