Greetings! The fourth quarter is here and it is per-haps the most demanding nine weeks of the school year. Schedules get tight as the school year winds down and comes to a close. Once again, I am wondering where the time has gone. It has been another great year in so many ways. April and

May bring numerous op-

portunities for the students,

staff, and parents to come

together and celebrate ac-

complishments and partici-

pate in special activities. As we begin to move

into the last two months of school, I want to remind

you that it is important to

be proactive with your

child's academic perfor-

mance. Their grades, at-

tendance, and classroom

attitudes can sometimes

change like the weather.

This can be an up and

down time for them as

they, at times, are thinking

about spring events and

summer activities.

Our teachers work

hard to manage the class-

room environment. If you

have any concerns about

your student's academic

performance, be sure to

contact the teachers. By

the same token, our teach-

ers are asked to contact you

when the student's grades

are low or behavior be-

comes an issue. The goal is

that by working together in

true partnership, we can

ensure that each student

achieve success academi-

cally. Our students have

done very well academical-

ly, and as I’ve said in the

past, the positive results are

due to a collaborative effort

amongst the staff, students,

and a great parent commu-

nity. I would like to congratu-

late our 2nd – 8th grade stu-dents on completing the Iowa Assessments in Febru-ary. The students took these tests very seriously and used their test taking strategies when completing the testing sessions. Their scores were outstanding! I would like to thank our staff and parents for their efforts in helping students feel prepared and comfortable with the testing. Our staff will analyze these results to help guide our

school improvement plan-ning. We are striving to meet the demanding stand-ards that are thrust upon us by this challenging world. Our academic areas are fo-cusing instruction on real-world learning that will al-low students to transfer learned information to un-predictable situations.

I would also like to thank all of our parents who attended our February parent/teacher conferences. It is always exciting to see our parents and teachers working together to help our students grow and to cele-brate our students’ success-es. Your commitment to your child’s educational journey is inspiring.

Also, thank you to our

parent volunteers for organ-

izing the staff luncheons on

the third Wednesday of eve-

ry month. The goodies and

prizes are fun to look for-

ward to each month. You

certainly spoil us! Let’s bring

closure to the school year in

a positive manner by contin-

uing to raise the bar togeth-

er. As always, please call us

if you have questions, want

to pass on positive feedback,

or have concerns. We are

always happy to hear from

you and value your input.

Volume 3, Issue 3

Principal’s Perspective Al Laboranti

PK-12 Principal

March 20, 2015

Special points of interest:

Whiting’s Vision Plan

Iowa Assessment Results

Band and Choir Concerts

Pennies for Patients

NHS Blood Drive, 3/27

NO SCHOOL April 2, 3 & 6

“Like” Us On FACEBOOK!

W H I T I N G C O M M U N I T Y S C H O O L D I S T R I C T

SPRING 2015

Inside this issue:

Superintendent's Message 2

WCSD Vision Plan 3-5

WCSD IA Assessments 5

Elementary 6-7

Mentoring 8

Band and Choir 8

NHS 8

Pennies for Patients 9

Speech 10-11

Up-Coming Events 12

“Like” Us on Facebook 12

P a g e 2

From the Superintendent Jeff Thelander

March, 2015 Greetings Whiting Community School Parents, It is hard to believe that the school year is ¾ complete already! Our students and staff have achieved so much this year, both inside and outside the classroom and now we focus on finishing this final quarter of the year strong. My correspondence in this newsletter is broken up into three parts:

I. A Vision Plan for the Student Learning at Whiting Community School in the future II. A preliminary tax levy update that will be certified in April

(WE WILL BE LOWERING OVERALL TAXES for the 15-16 school year) III. A review of our Iowa Assessment Achievement Data this year

I would like to start by saying that it has been a great joy to be part of the Whiting School District this past year, and that I am looking forward to working with the district as a shared superintendent with Lawton-Bronson again next year. The goal of this letter is to spell out the vision which Mr. Laboranti and I

have composed for FUTURE learning at Whiting Community School. As district superintendent, my first priority is to provide the vision and management of resources to insure that every Whiting student re-ceives a world class education that will prepare him/her for a successful future. This letter clarifies how

Whiting can offer its students that well-rounded education. Mr. Laboranti and I conducted meetings with all of our high school students earlier in the fall. From what we heard from our students, they want to be part of a Whiting school and to that end, we are going to work extremely hard with our staff to provide our Whiting students a viable PK-12 educational program that pro-vides as many opportunities as possible for achievement in the classroom and in activities. The conversa-

tions with our current students began the planning that is conveyed in this communication. This plan, which we are discussing with the Board of Education throughout the spring, begins with keeping Whiting a K-12 system for the foreseeable future (this means, in real numbers, at least four years ahead and, hopeful-ly, many more beyond that). Please do not read into “four years” as being only four years. The future of the Whiting Community School District is important for our families and staff here to know: Whiting will

remain a viable school for the foreseeable future, and the entire staff here is dedicated to working dil-

igently to make that happen. We are being both OPTIMISTIC and REALISTIC for the future of the Whiting Community School.

The district can control four things:

1. Providing our students a world class education 2. Offering a small student-teacher ratio with plenty of support for student growth 3. Offering as many extra-curricular opportunities as possible 4. Providing a safe environment for our students

If we do these four things well, then we are maximizing what we can control. As a district, Whiting is very fortunate to have financial strength because this allows the district to continue financially as a strong edu-

cational PK-12 system for the foreseeable future. However, Whiting must also take intentional steps to cooperate with our neighboring school districts. The reality is that if student enrollment continues to de-cline in our community, county, and surrounding area, we must always keep options open to share programs when necessary. Enrollment is a factor we cannot control. We must work together NOW in case sharing is necessary in the future.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 5

V o l u m e 3 , I s s u e 3

A VISION PLAN FOR STUDENT LEARNING

The Whiting Community School Board, Administration, and Staff are moving Whiting Community School forward as a K-12 system. Whiting can and will remain a PK-12 system as long as two factors are in place:

1. We have the financial means to offer our students a world-class education.

2. There is enough support among our families and community to keep Whiting “Whiting.” We believe the

support is there currently to move forward, and that this is conditional on Whiting offering our students the

very best education that prepares them for their futures. Our current achievement results demonstrate that

we are meeting our students’ basic learning needs, but we must be sure we are continuing to offer our stu-

dents a multitude of educational and extra-curricular opportunities.

On behalf of our board, I want to be very specific and candid about some factors that still need to be considered moving

forward.

Whiting Community School is “beating the odds” by maintaining a strong financial position during a time when most schools Whiting’s size have either consolidated or are planning to do so. At the same time, however, we have to face the

realities of declining enrollment and the past five years of shrinking state aid. The GOOD NEWS is that we have

enough financial leverage to move forward with a bold plan for the Whiting Community School. If enrollment/

budget pressures become too great in years to come, we will still have a large enough time frame to explore coopera-

tive arrangements if necessary. The future of Whiting as a K-12 system rests entirely on the future enrollment in the district. Our job is to cast the vision to keep Whiting educationally viable and to offer the best for our students while also keeping all options open for the long-term.

Educational Planning For many small schools across the state, “educational bankruptcy” precedes “financial bankruptcy.” In other words, by trying to keep a budget intact, many of the programs that impact students must be cut. As a result, reductions in spending can hurt students’ learning because they are denied access to critical learning opportunities.

At this very important juncture for Whiting Community School, we have to make wise and creative choices in order to balance offering the most for our students while remaining financially viable. After spending eight months working with our staff and students, I believe we have both the leverage to continue forward as Whiting Community School and the means to offer our students all of the opportunities they deserve as part of their education here. That vision begins with Whiting “reinventing” itself as a school system. With our high number of open enrolled students into the district, we serve a broad community of families, both inside Whiting and outside Whiting’s boundaries. Whiting offers individualized attention because of its size. Our goal is to expand what we offer our students in order to broaden their learning experiences here. Below is our plan to meet these goals. This plan considers the following two questions:

1. What will the Whiting PK-12 education program look like in 2015-2016 and beyond?

2. What will Whiting’s extra-curricular opportunities look like in 2015-2016 and beyond?

Whiting’s PK-12 Educational Program

Our educational program, designed to meet the opportunities awaiting our students in the 21st Century workplace, begins

with a strong foundation in math and science. We also emphasize a strong program in language arts and communication

skills (literacy, speaking, and writing.)

Beginning with the coming school year (2015-2016), Whiting’s math program will now offer all students the opportunity to

take trigonometry and calculus by their senior year. Gene Smith has joined our staff and will be teaching a couple of our

upper level math courses next year. We are also offering chemistry, physics, and anatomy and physiology every year start-

ing in 2015-2016, so that Whiting graduates can receive all these classes by the end of their senior year if they choose to

take them.

P a g e 3

P a g e 4

From the Superintendent (continued) Whiting’s PK-12 Educational Program (continued)

Agriculture is the foundation of our local economy. We are working on adding an agricultural studies program and

FFA (Future Farmers of America) to compliment a successful industrial technologies program that we are also ex-

panding. We are deciding on the most fiscally responsible means to do this, whether sharing a program or sharing an

instructor.

In language arts, our seniors will still have the opportunity to take college-credit composition courses their senior year.

In addition we are adding a debate class to go along with speech and the other high school language arts offerings. We

are also building additional 2nd chance reading courses to insure that all 8th graders will enter their high school years

reading proficient. Also, we want all of our 3rd graders to achieve reading proficiency before they enter the upper ele-

mentary grades.

Whiting will also continue to offer a full-time visual arts program and K-12 music program as well as expanded cours-

es in Spanish, social studies, business, and family and consumer sciences. For our seniors we are also developing a

CAPSTONE program that will offer them a college credit class and workplace experience.

The goal of our educational program is to provide our students with a well-rounded academic preparatory experience

that will give them a foundation for success in college and the work place. We want every Whiting student to gain

leadership skills that will make him/her a positive contributor to his/her family and community.

Extra-Curricular Opportunities/Sports

We are working to place Whiting in an athletic conference where our students will have an opportunity to be as com-

petitive as possible. Twenty-five years ago when I was in high school, Whiting’s conference was made up of teams

similar in enrollment to Whiting. Over time, all of those former Little Sioux Conference schools combined or consol-

idated. That continues to shift the competitive balance between larger schools and schools the size of Whiting.

Whiting has two choices for athletics:

1. Enter more sharing agreements with neighboring schools to play sports

OR

2. Continue to play as Whiting High School in as many activities/sports as possible. This option would be ideal

if we can find a conference for Whiting that offers our students competitive balance.

A survey of our current student body has told us that our students want to participate as students of Whiting High School in as many sports as possible. So the next question is “how do we build schedules that provide competitive balance?” Our conference solution MIGHT be the Frontier Conference for volleyball, basketball, track, and cross country next year. This league is made up of one small public school in Nebraska and eight small private schools in the Omaha metro area. We played two of these schools in basketball this year. Mr. Steele, Mr. Laboranti, and I are working on getting Whiting into this conference for the previously mentioned sports. This MAY happen by the fall of 2015, but

there are still a couple of hurdles to clear. We will be officially meeting with the leaders of the conference this month at their next meeting. We will know the status of Whiting potentially entering this conference by the end of May, and we will communicate that status as soon as possible. There are many benefits to playing sports in an affiliat-ed conference.

If we can enter this league, the benefit will not only provide us with a conference of competitively balanced schools, but it will also help us keep schedules filled. Since these are Nebraska schools, they do not play summer softball/baseball, and so we will play as an independent in summer sports. We are sharing football, wrestling, cross country, and golf with West Monona through the 15-16 school year and will re-evaluate those sharing agreements for next year on an on-going basis.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 5

V o l u m e 3 , I s s u e 3

For Fine Arts, our students will be part of the Rolling Hills Conference, allowing for our speech, art, and music students to perform in more festivals and honor programs in each of these programs beginning next year. Why not the Rolling Hills for sports? Whiting has applied to this conference twice this year, and twice we have been denied entry for sports due to concerns of travel distance of the eastern schools in the conference. Some of these schools are located closer to Des Moines than Sioux City, thus the travel concerns. We will continue to schedule non-conference games with the western half of the Rolling Hills schools, including West Harrison, Woodbine, and Charter Oak-Ute, along with other smaller schools including Siouxland Christian, River Valley, etc.

Summary With three-fourths of the current school year completed, we have done our best to listen to the needs of our students, fami-lies, and the community. Activity offerings and expanded course offerings were two issues that were consistently men-tioned as needing consideration. Our plan for moving Whiting forward rests on answering these needs and continuing to do the many things the district already does well. Furthermore, the need for increased technology investment (both in infra-structure to support technology and staff development to prompt more student learning WITH technology) is also a priority, and this requires some rethinking of current staffing. We are also considering how to accomplish technology goals with as minimal additional cost as possible. Our new Facebook site currently reaches 360 people and that was launched just three weeks ago. Our next communications step is to improve our current website. TECHNOLOGY IS THE CONDUIT TO OUR PARENTS AND COMMUNITY.

Quite a bit has happened in the past eight months, and although options are developing quickly, we also know that time is

needed for some of these initiatives to take root. The key point I want to make in this letter is “we are moving and we

are listening to our students and parents.” My hope is that this correspondence can cast a vision for the potential oppor-

tunities ahead for Whiting Community School. At the end of the day, enrollment is still the most important factor in decid-

ing the district’s ability to plan a PK-12 system beyond the next few years. If you have any questions, please contact me at

(712) 455-2468 or e-mail me at thelanderj@lb-eagles.org. We will plan a PK-12 parent/community meeting in late April/

early May to discuss everything detailed in this letter.

Overall Tax Proposal for 2015-2016 Public schools are funded through a combination of state aid and local property taxes and student enrollment drives the TOTAL amount of spending authority we have to provide an education for our students. As previously mentioned, Whit-ing has a strong Unspent Balance and a very strong solvency ratio and these are the TWO key indicators for a district’s financial health.

Whiting’s overall property tax levy will be formally approved by the board of education during a hearing at the end of the month and the proposed overall tax rate WILL BE DROPPING by app. $1.50/1,000 of valuation. This means that our

property tax payers, from residential property owners to ag land commercial property owners will be paying a low-er tax rate and likely a lower tax obligation next year. We are proposing an overall rate of 11.83/1,000 for next year, compared to just over $13.00/1,000 this year.

If you have any questions related to the proposed tax rate, please contact Jeff Thelander at 712-455-2468. State aid and local property taxes fund our General Fund. Our general fund pays all employee salaries and benefits, educational materi-als, transportation expenses, plant maintenance expenses, flow-through money to the local AEA, and pretty much every-thing that relates to educating students. Additional property taxes are levied to support our PPEL funds (building and grounds infrastructure) and management fund (used to pay for property liability insurance, etc.) I think it is important for our tax payers to know what they are paying and where your tax dollars that come to the school go and hence, this explana-tion. If you’d like to learn more, please come to our budget hearing on March 31 at 6:00 PM in the board room.

Student Achievement Results from Iowa Assessments in 2014-2015 Once again, congratulations to our students and staff on an outstanding year of Iowa Assessment achievement. We have divided our scores to our elementary, middle school, and high school.

P a g e 5

2014-2015 IOWA ASSESSMENT PROFICIENCY SCORES

Grades 2-5 Grades 6-8 Grades 9-11

Reading 81.3% 75.0% 92.8%

Math 90.6% 82.5% 88.1%

Science 90.1% 90.0% 88.1%

Note: In all three categories: Reading, Math, and Science, Students MET proficiency scores.

P a g e 6

Inside Whiting Elementary

S P R I N G 2 0 1 5

1st Grade We have been studying the habits, characteristics,

and life cycle of penguins.

Kindergarten

Students will be observing

incubation of chicks throughout

the months of March and April.

2nd Grade

Students are flying through Rocket Math!

Reader’s Theater is being used to improve

reading fluency, and in Social Studies we

are studying natural resources and what

the earth provides.

3rd Grade Students are working hard on multipli-cation and division facts! In science we are having fun learning about simple machines and how they make our work easier. We are also working hard on our reading fluency by performing Reader’s Theater for the 2nd grade class!

4th Grade

We had a busy 3rd quarter creating

inventions and writing “How To”

paragraphs. We are looking forward

to the last quarter of the year and to

warmer weather, so we can do some

projects outside!

5th Grade Our new math curriculum is challenging us daily,

we are busy learning how to multiply and divide

by decimals. In Science, students made an

arthropod of their choice and explained the char-

acteristics to the class. These are currently on

display in the atrium of the elementary wing.

V o l u m e 3 , I s s u e 3

Elementary Highlights

P a g e 7

Inside Story Headline

2015 Elementary STARRS Program

Students were introduced to the new STARRS program at the beginning of the second semester. STARRS stands for Students that are Respectful, Responsible, Safe. Stars are given to students who are displaying appropriate STARRS behavior. Students are recognized on Friday afternoons.

The elementary snowman reading contest started on January 5th. Stud-ents were encouraged to bring in as many reading sheets as they could fill out at home for reading with a parents or grand-parent.

On March 2nd, students celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Students visited different classrooms and participated in a variety of activities related to the books Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax, The Foot Book, Hop on Pop, One Fish, Two Fish, and Oh, the Places You’ll Go!.

The elementary students were also encouraged to build a snowman at home over the holiday break. Winners of the contest were Bristol Pike, Kindergarten and Carlie Roberts, fourth grade. Congratulations! Students who reached their goal for reading incentive in November/December were rewarded with cake, hot chocolate, and a cotton ball snowball fight.

The third grade class won the contest and were re-warded with a tub of white cheddar cheese puffs and assembled the snowman in the hallway.

Juniors and Seniors have begun mentoring sixth grade students. During weekly sessions upperclassmen work on study skills, assist with homework, and build positive relationships with students. All who are involved are learning and bene-fitting from this new program.

Elementary music students will pre-sent their spring concert on April 16th. The fifth grade band will be performing a few short selections followed by the kindergarten; first grade will sing songs about ocean creatures and a mix of seven silly songs. The second grade through fifth grade will be performing a musical entitled "Go Fish" by John Jacobson and John Higgins. All the students have been working very hard on their music and look for-ward to seeing you there.

P a g e 8

Upcoming Band and Choir Concerts Thursday March 26th ~ Thursday April 16th ~ Thursday April 30th

High School Mentor Program In-Progress

The middle school and high school spring music concert will be held Thursday, March 26th. Choir stu-dents are working on two part and three part songs, focusing on vowel matching, enunciation, and singing various styles of literature. Band students are focusing on songs in 6/8 time and tempo changes. Each group is being challenged in various aspects and both groups are very excited to showcase what they are working so hard on.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 5

On Wednesday, March 18th, the Whiting

chapter of the National Honor Society

inducted seven new members. In order to

be a member, students must demonstrate

the positive attributes of scholarship,

leadership, character, and service. These

seven new members join the ten current

members. Throughout the year, NHS

members have run or assisted with food

drives, blood drives, concessions, and

student mentoring programs. They also

are actively involved in their churches

and various youth and community organi-

zations. Congratulations to all of our

members.

2015 Inductees

Junior Grant Turner,

Sophomores Jocelyn

Murray, Karisa

Leinen, and Kayli

Carpenter, Junior

Kaylee Kirkpatrick,

and Sophomores

Kysa Pierick and

Evan Christensen

2015 National Honor Society Induction Ceremony

The Roses Concert will be held on Thursday, April 30th. The mid-dle school/high school choir and band will perform some fun, up-beat music. A few students will perform contest selections. The seniors in band and choir will be honored with a Rose Ceremo-ny. Please come help us honor the senior members that have dedicated their time and talent to the music program.

V o l u m e 3 , I s s u e 3

On Monday, March 9th through Fri-day, March 27 the Whiting School is participating in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) School and Youth Program Pennies for Pa-tients. This is a three week long ser-vice learning program in which kids collect spare change to help those afflicted with blood cancer.

This is the 15th year that Pennies for Patients has taken place. Your child should have brought home his or her very own colorful collection box to assist in the search for spare change around the house. It is the hope that your child takes pride in having a sense of ownership over the box, filling it up with spare change, and returning the accumu-lated amount to school. We would like the students to keep their col-lection boxes at home. Students should bring money in each week to

their classrooms from home in a zip lock bag. There will be a collection box in each classroom. We will be counting the money every Friday during the three week campaign. During the three weeks of Pennies for Patients, we encourage you to help fill up that little box with discovered change. In addition we ask that you please take a moment to speak with your child about the value of helping others, then flip over the couch cush-ions and look under the car seats or the center console for spare change – every little bit helps in joining LLS in its fight against blood cancers. Our school now has an online webpage for donations!!! The website is: http://nebraska.sy.llsevent.org/whitingschool. (Please note: due to the changes at the LLS, western Iowa is now in the Nebraska chapter based in

Omaha.) Make sure you fill out all parts of the online form before submitting your donation.

Remember, if the school raises over $500, the winning class will get a pizza party. And, the top student in Iowa who raises the most money will also receive a gift card. Keep an eye out for spe-cial promotions and special days during this campaign.

P a g e 9

Pennies for Patients

After the first week, Whiting school has raised a total of $339.53. The class with the most money raised is Mrs. Meyer's 3rd grade class, with a total of $70.81 !! They have the traveling trophy in their room for the week.

Please help us . . . Make “change” and beat cancer!! Last year, our school raised $2,000.77!!! Make checks payable to: The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you have any questions, you can call the school at 712-455-2468.

P a g e 1 0

INDIVIDUAL SPEECH

2014-2015 SPEECH CLUB

S P R I N G 2 0 1 5

Karisa Leinen, Rose MacClure, Delaney Turner,

Grant Turner, Kayli Carpenter, and Kysa Pierick.

Not pictured Natasha Lamb

Back Row; Coach Lisa Hoebelheinrich, Rose MacClure, Abby Menke, Maggie Grell, Nick Warren, Devin Hall, Josey Johnson and Coach Lesley Hubert. Middle Row; Karisa Leinen, Kysa Pierick, Delaney Turner, Grant Turner, and Jordan Gage. Front Row; Cade Cooper, Clayton Yingst, Jocelyn Murray, Kayli Carpenter, Kaylee Kirkpatrick, Chloe Brown, Bradyn Neubaum, Lydia Woods and Cole Young. Not pictured Natasha Lamb and Jayden Keenan

GRANT TURNER

ALL-STATE SPEECH HONOR

IMPROV

V o l u m e 3 , I s s u e 3 P a g e 1 1

GROUP SPEECH ACTS

Reader’s Theater Bradyn Neubaum, Chloe Brown, Lydia Woods and Nick Warren. Not pictured Natasha Lamb

Group Improv Devin Hall, Cade Cooper and Jordan Gage

Ensemble Acting Kysa Pierick, Karisa Leinen and Kayli

Carpenter

Group Mime Grant Turner, Chloe Brown and

Delaney Turner

Choral Reading Kaylee Kirkpatrick, Rose MacClure, Abby Menke,

Maggie Grell, Delaney Turner, Jocelyn Murray. Not

pictured Jayden Keenan

Group Improv Grant Turner, Cole Young and Clayton Yingst

Radio Broadcasting Cole Young, Jocelyn Murray and Clayton

Yingst

Group Improv Karisa Leinen, Kayli Carpenter, Josey

Johnson and Kysa Pierick

It’s

a G

REA

T d

ay

to b

e a

WA

RR

IOR

!

MUSIC CONCERTS:

Thursday-March 26-7p Thursday-April 16-7p

Thursday-April 30-7p

WHITING NHS BLOOD DRIVE:

Where: WHS Gymnasium When: Friday, March 27, 2015 Time: 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.

ALL-STATE SPEECH:

Individual Grant Turner -March 30

NO SCHOOL:

Thursday April 2 Friday April 3

Monday April 6

Whiting CSD

606 West Street

Whiting, IA 51063

Phone: 712-455-2468

Fax: 712-455-2601

Go Warriors!

BOXHOLDER

It is the policy of the Whiting School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, age (for employment), marital status (for programs), religion, national origin,

creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status (for programs) or disability in its educational programs and its employment practices. Any person hav-

ing inquiries concerning the school district’s compliance with discrimination is directed to contact: Al Laboranti, Whiting Secondary Principal; 606 West St., Whiting, IA

51063, (712) 455-2468 or at alaboranti@whitingcsd.org.

UP-COMING EVENTS

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Remembering the Holocaust

WHO: Philip Gans, Auschswitz Survivor WHERE: Whiting School Gymnasium WHEN: April 21st TIME: 1:30 p.m. *Special Note: We are asking that the audience be 8th grade and/or older. On April 22nd the eighth grade will attend a screening of "Nicky's Family" at the Orpheum, Sioux City, Iowa with other eighth grade students from around Siouxland.