Author: Decorah Community School District

The 2023 Luther College Dorian Vocal Festival was held January 8-9 with nearly 1000 high school juniors and seniors from Midwest schools participating. Each year at the festival a solo competition is held to select individuals to perform at the Festival Grand Concert.

This year four singers from Decorah High School advanced to the semi-final round: Jenna Hartz, Sally Laybourn, Ada Lovelace and Michael Njus.

From the twenty-five semi-finalists, five were chosen to perform at the Festival Grand Concert. One of the five was DHS tenor Michael Njus who sang “Die Forelle” by Schubert for a live audience of 1400 people. The concert was also streamed online.

Through the joint financial efforts of the Decorah Community School District and the Decorah Music Boosters, a new grand piano has been purchased for use in the Decorah High School auditorium.  The seven-foot Schimmel instrument will benefit for …

Decorah Schools will have a 2-hour delay on Thursday, .

Decorah Middle School teams had strong performances at the State Mock Trial competition, earning a trophy and two outstanding performance medals.

Decorah’s 8^th grade team won the seventh-place trophy out of 32 teams that competed at State. Decorah was edged out by 4 points by the team that advanced to the semi-final round.

Decorah’s 7^th grade team received the most nominations from participating teams to win the Critelli Award for outstanding “professional conduct, courtroom decorum, civility and sportsmanship.”

Two Decorah students were honored with All-State individual medals: Lulu Bellrichard and Jillian Volz for Outstanding Attorney. To earn this award, a student must be nominated by both judges as their top choice in a single round.

The two Decorah teams qualified for the State competition by placing first and second at the Regional competition in Waterloo. Decorah’s other two teams placed fourth and fifth. Over 125 teams compete in Regionals statewide.

This year’s case was a personal injury civil trial about a customer who fell down two flights of stairs in a restaurant during a busy lunch rush. For the competition, students write scripts as attorneys and witnesses and perform trials as plaintiff and defense against opposing teams.

“This was a very challenging case this year with four expert witnesses and many technical documents,” said teacher coach Carole Sand.  “I’m very proud of our Decorah students. Winning the 7^th place trophy, two outstanding performance awards, and the Critelli Award at State is a testament to the students’ hard work, talent, and commitment.”

Many Decorah participants were nominated or honored for outstanding performances as attorneys or witnesses at the regional and state tournaments, some by numerous judges.

Outstanding honors went to 8^th graders Lulu Bellrichard, Spencer Christensen, Lawrence Christman, Emma Cline, Thomas Davis, Jackson Irwin, Naomi Kutz, Myla Leitz, Jayden Lundtvedt, Gavin Luzum, Teagan Menke, Olivia Rissman, Grace Stockman, and Jillian Volz.

Seventh grade outstanding performers included Poppy Bellrichard, Isaac Bentley, Matthew Burkholder, Pranav Caton, Leah Garcia-Prats, Max Goodner, Kaya Johnson, Kora Kelly, Sophia McGee, Shriyansh Patel, Kate Pattison, Nils Peterson, and Davis Walter.

DMS Mock Trial is part of the school’s Extended Learning Program. Coaches include Sand, Scott Boylen, and Sarah Zbornik. Supporting the program are volunteer expert mentors: attorney Sandra Benzschawel, Judge Marty Lingreen, Judge Linnea Nicol, Luther graduate Peter Stelter, and former Decorah student Jacob Stock. Decorah High School assistant coaches include Mara Branum, June Breitenbach-Dirks, Grace Blikre, Mikayla Hiner, Evon Leitz, Nora Lesmeister, Lily Sandhorst, Kamryn Steines, and Kaylie Wemark.

“We owe much of our success to all of the mentors, assistant coaches, and high school students who donate countless hours to work individually with our students,” said Sand. “We also appreciate Lisa Lantz at The Getup for donating clothing for our costumes.”

The Decorah High School Music Department will present a winter choral concert at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, December 19 in the DHS Auditorium. The concert will feature Ninth Grade Bass Clef Choir, Ninth Grade Treble Clef Choir, Viking Chorus, and Concert Choir. Audience members will hear music by Rachmaninoff, Ramsey, Fox, Bray, and Gardner; songs in Hebrew–“Dodi Li” and “L’dor Vador”; a Native American piece– “Lakota Wiyanki”; and arrangements of familiar seasonal pieces–“Do You Hear What I Hear,” Barbra Streisand’s “Jingle Bells,” and “Here We Come A-Caroling.” The concert will conclude with Concert Choir and alumni singing Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” – a DHS tradition.

The DHS Madrigal Singers will perform carols in the auditorium beginning at 7:10 p.m.

The Decorah High School Music Department will present a winter choral concert at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, December 19 in the DHS Auditorium. The concert will feature Ninth Grade Bass Clef Choir, Ninth Grade Treble Clef Choir, Viking Chorus, and Concert Choir. Audience members will hear music by Rachmaninoff, Ramsey, Fox, Bray, and Gardner; songs in Hebrew–“Dodi Li” and “L’dor Vador”; a Native American piece– “Lakota Wiyanki”; and arrangements of familiar seasonal pieces–“Do You Hear What I Hear,” Barbra Streisand’s “Jingle Bells,” and “Here We Come A-Caroling.” The concert will conclude with Concert Choir and alumni singing Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” – a DHS tradition.

The DHS Madrigal Singers will perform carols in the auditorium beginning at 7:10 p.m.

Conductors for the concert are Jason Rausch and Dean Beckman, and collaborative pianist is Mary Beth Bouska. Guest percussionists are Liam Chamberlain, Kealy Hines, Alex McGohan, and Gerald Thompson. The public is warmly invited to attend this concert.

When the JV and Varsity boys’ basketball teams from Decorah and Sumner-Fredericksburg met recently for the Achieve Scrimmage match, they accomplished much more than just the opportunity to compete against each other. Donations were collected for admission into the scrimmage, and they were split between the schools’ local food pantries. $200 was directed to the Decorah Community Food Pantry, and $200 went to the His Hands Food Pantry in Oran, Iowa.

The Decorah boys’ basketball team met with Matt Tapscott, director of the Decorah Community Food Pantry, to learn more about food insecurity in northeast Iowa and to present the $200 check.

Twenty-eight students from Decorah were recently selected for participation in the 36^th annual Opus Honor Choir Festival.  Over 2,100 students were nominated by their directors for 720 positions in the four Opus Honor Choirs. Selections were made by means of a recorded audition.

This is the sixteenth year that Decorah has had students audition for the Opus Honor Choirs. During the past 16 years more than 365 Decorah students have been accepted through recordings submitted by Dean Beckman, Jason Rausch, and community youth choir directors. This year, twenty students were selected from Decorah Middle School by recordings submitted by Dean Beckman, the second highest number of students accepted into the honor choirs by one teacher in the state of Iowa in 2022. Eight students were selected by recordings submitted by Jason Rausch at the Decorah High School. Opus Honor Choirs performed on November 17^th in C.Y. Stephens Auditorium in the Iowa State Center in Ames.

The following students were accepted in the Open Honor Choir:

5^th Grade:  Kaya Olson and Abby Shaw

6^th Grade:  Hanna Lensch, Ayla Low, and Marley Phillips

7^th Grade:  Kennedy Carlson, Kylie Cord, Cooper Ewing, Derek Hrdlicka, and Kaya Johnson

8^th Grade:  Elliot Berland, Spencer Christensen, Sawyer Courtney, Jayden Lundtvedt, Clarence Nimrod, Noah Potvin, Olivia Rissman, Daric Sheffield, Grace Stockman, and Colin Thompson

9^th Grade: June Breitenbach-Dirks, Elsa Christman, Will Duder,

Ezra Harman-Wood, Mikayla Hiner, Klara Kelly, Caden Malanaphy, and Naomi Pedlar

In addition, two students were selected as solo finalists to audition for the final concert: Cooper Ewing in grade 7 and Colin Thompson in grade 8. 

Guest conductors of the choirs include Christina Svec, Iowa State University, 5th & 6th Grade Honor Choir; Nick Oswald, Southview Middle School, 7th & 8th Grade Bass Clef Honor Choir; Amy Kotsonis, University of New Hampshire, 7th & 8th Grade Treble Clef Honor Choir; and Andrew Last, Luther College, 9th Grade Mixed Honor Choir. The Opus Honor Choir Festival is made possible by the Iowa Choral Directors Association, Inc.

Decorah High School students and staff donated a record amount of money for the Decorah Community Food Pantry. A grand total of $4252.22 was collected, well over $800 more than last year. 

To prepare for the money drive, members of FFA and Community Club recently met with Food Pantry Director Matt Tapscott on a Saturday morning to discuss the program and offer some help. After learning more about the pantry, students stocked shelves, cleaned freezers and carts, vacuumed, and other tasks. It was an excellent kick off to the food drive; the students came away with a better understanding of the pantry and its needs. One statistic stood out to them: the number of clients who use the pantry has doubled since January, and out of the 46,440 food insecure people living in northeast Iowa, 14,500 of them are children.

FFA member Kyleigh Batterson remarked, “It was wonderful to see our school come together to help out our community. I am thankful for all the opportunities we had this year to further understand food insecurities in our community and act upon them.”

The Decorah Family, Educator and Community Organization’s online Viking Apparel Shop is now open.  All orders are due by November 30, and merchandise will arrive prior to the winter break in time for the holidays.  All funds raised will go directly to the Decorah FEC Organization to help support elementary students and schools. The online store link is https://fec2022.itemorder.com/shop/home/.