The Dell Rapids High School Jazz Ensemble participated at the SDSU/Brookings Optimist Jazz Festival in Brookings Thursday, April 4th. The group received 2nd Place in Class A competition. They also received “Outstanding Trumpet Section” and “Outstanding Rhythm Section” awards for their performance. Jayme Damm and Zane Lodmell also received “Outstanding Soloist” awards.
Dell Rapids Boys and Girls State Representatives
Ten area students will be participating in the 2013 South Dakota American Legion Boys and Girls State events. The Girls State event will take place in Vermillion at the University of South Dakota on Monday, May 28th, through Saturday, June 1st. The Boys State event will take place in Aberdeen at Northern State University on Sunday, May 27th, through Friday, May 31st. The students participating are:
Girls State
- Taiven Logan – Dell Rapids High School
- Tia McKillip – Dell Rapids High School
- Victoria Murphy – Dell Rapids High School
- Alexis Sprecher – Dell Rapids High School
- Mary Lack – Dell Rapids St Mary
- Anna Wolles – Dell Rapids St Mary
Boys State
- Jonathan DeNoon – Dell Rapids High School
- Matthew DeNoon – Dell Rapids High School
- Michael Mitchell – Dell Rapids High School
- Shane O’Hara – Dell Rapids High School
2013 School Board Election
Two Dell Rapids school board positions were up for election on April 9, but only two residents filed for the positions: Jody Schumaker and incumbent Matthew Weiland. Since the candidates are unopposed, there will NOT be a school board election held. (Incumbent Cindy Schuch did not seek re-election).
Both Weiland and Schumaker will be sworn in for a three-year term at the July 8, 2013, annual meeting.
State One-Act Play Results
The 2013 State One-Act Play Festival was held in Brandon on Thursday, January 31st, through Saturday, February 2nd. Dell Rapids High School performed their play The Devil in Sherman Marsh on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. Receiving Outstanding Individual awards from Dell Rapids were Alec Riswold, Darrian Grassi, and Tad Lacey.
2013 Dell Rapids School Board Election
Two school board positions will be up for election on April 9. The two three-year positions, with duties to be assumed on July 8, will be vacant due to the expiration of the present terms of Cindy Schuch and Matthew Weiland. Nominating petitions, along with information on how to circulate a petition, are available in the school district business office. Petitions may be picked up and circulated between January 25 and February 22, and must be filed with the business manager no later than February 22, at 5:00 p.m. To vote in this election, residents of the school district must be registered by March 25.
To be eligible to serve on a South Dakota school board, one must be at least 18 years old, a resident of the school district, and an eligible voter of the school district.
“The Wise Owl” — Dells Public School Newsletter
Lockdown Drill Held for K-12 Public School
Due to the recent tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut – the Dell Rapids Public Schools’ District Crisis Team held a lockdown drill for grades K-12 on Wednesday, December 19. Please click on the “parent letter” link to see the letter sent to the parents of our students.
103rd Annual State Oral Interpretation Festival
The first State Declamation Contest was held in 1910 as part of that year’s State High School Track and Field Meet. In 1911, the first state-wide Declamation Contest was held independent of the State Track Meet. From those modest beginnings 100 years ago those early declamation contests have evolved into the modern State Oral Interpretation Festival of today. This year students from 82 South Dakota high schools will compete in the 103rd Annual SDHSAA State Oral Interpretation Festival on Friday and Saturday November 30 and December 1 in Yankton at the Yankton High School.
This year’s State Interpretation Festival competitors have qualified for the Festival through a combination local school, district and regional competitions. The Festival will feature a combined total of 286 Class “AA”, Class “A” and Class “B” entries. The Class “B” State Oral Festival competitors were determined by advancing from one of the ten district contests to a Class “B” regional contests and advancing from their region contest to the State Festival. The Class “A” State Festival competitors qualified for the State Festival after advancing from one of five Class “A” regional contests. Class “AA” contestants have advanced to the State Festival as a result of intraschool competition in their own schools. The 2012 State Oral Interpretation Festival will showcase competitive performances by 91 entries from 13 Class “AA” schools, 90 entries from 27 Class “A” schools and 105 entries from 42 Class “B” schools.
The State Oral Interpretation Festival, sponsored by the South Dakota High School Activities Association, brings together South Dakota’s best high school oral interpretation speakers in a “festival” setting. During the State Festival the students will compete to achieve a “Superior” rating which is the equivalent of a state championship in their contest event. State Oral Interpretation Festival competition is divided into seven contest events: Non-Original Oratory, Interpretation of Serious Plays, Interpretation of Serious Prose, Poetry Reading, Humorous Reading, Duet Interpretation, and Readers Theatre.
The State Oral Interpretation Festival competition will begin on Friday morning, November 30th at 10:00. The Festival’s second and third sessions will be held at 2:30 Friday afternoon and at 7:00 Friday evening respectively The Festival will conclude with two sessions at 9:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday December 1st. The awards for each session’s competition will be announced at the conclusion of the session. “Team Excellence” awards, recognizing the high schools whose over all entries excelled during the State Festival, will be presented at the conclusion of competition on Saturday afternoon.
Freshman Kendra Drew will be representing Dell Rapids High School. After the region tournament held on November 19th at SDSU, Kendra qualified in the category of Humorous Interpretation. Drew’s piece is entitled “The Plane Truth” by Ellen DeGenres. She has performed at numerous tournaments throughout the fall season and has consistently received positive feedback from judges.
Junior Taiven Logan will also be attending the festival this weekend. Taiven earned an alternate position for her performance in the serious plays category.
Congratulations to both of these DRHS students!
2012 South Dakota All-State Chorus & Orchestra Scheduled for Rapid City
Over 1,000 of South Dakota’s best high school vocal and instrumental musicians will gather in Rapid City for the 60th Annual South Dakota All-State Chorus and Orchestra on Friday and Saturday October 26-27. The All-State activities will culminate with a Grand Concert at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City beginning at 7:00 p.m. (MT) on Saturday evening, October 27. Concert tickets can be purchased at www.gotmine.com, by calling 1-800-468-6463, or at the box office in the Rushmore Plaza. The doors of the Barnett Arena will open for the Concert at 5:30 on Saturday evening.
The annual All-State Chorus & Orchestra, co-sponsored by South Dakota High School Activities Association and the South Dakota Music Educators Association, is the largest interscholastic high school music activity held in South Dakota. The 2012 All-State Chorus includes 932 singers representing 150 South Dakota high schools. The All-State Orchestra is comprised of 155 musicians from 30 schools.
Theresa Duffy (4-year award winner), Rachel Scholten, Alex Eulberg, and Matt Farmer will be representing Dell Rapids St Mary. Two quartets will be sent from Dell Rapids High School. They include Jordan Stone, Nicole Rice, Ben Hinricher, Jackson Gleason, Darrian Grassi, Chelsey Huffman, Austen Hof, and Dylan Damm.
The guest conductors for the 2012 All-State Chorus & Orchestra Concert are Dr. Anna Hamre from University of California, Fresno and Brian Cole from Moorhead, MN. Dr. Hamre will conduct the All-State Chorus while Mr. Cole will lead the 2012 All-State Orchestra.
During the All-State Grand Concert, the South Dakota Music Educators Association will recognize several high schools and individuals for their contributions to music in South Dakota.
The South Dakota High School Activities Association will present its “SDHSAA Distinguished Service Award” to Hans Peterson, Huron, Dr. Alan Lafave, Aberdeen, and Diane Ketel, from Rapid City.
Additional information which might assist with other news or feature stories about the All-State Chorus & Orchestra are available at the South Dakota High School Activities Association web site (www.sdhsaa.com). Once on the SDHSAA home page, please go to “Fine Arts” then “Music” then “All-State Chorus and Orchestra, and the following information can be found at this site:
1. Guest Conductor Biographical Information about this year’s All-State conductors
2. Concert Music Program – a listing of the musical selections that will be performed by the Chorus & Orchestra during the All-State Concert, including award recipients, students, schools, and directors.
3. All-State Chorus & Orchestra Rehearsal Schedule – as the title suggests, this is the schedule that will be followed during the two days of All-State rehearsal and concert performance
4. All-State Chorus & Orchestra Concert Ticket Information
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Media Contact: James Weaver, SDHSAA Assistant Executive Director (605/224-9261)
Competitive Cheer & Competitive Dance Championships
Sixth Annual Competitive Cheer and Competitive Dance Championships
Set for October 19-20
The Watertown Civic Arena is the site for the sixth annual state competition for cheer and dance. Competition for Class B and Class A will be held on Friday, October 19th, with opening ceremonies beginning at 6:00 p.m. Class AA competition will begin at noon on Saturday, October 20th. Thirty-two schools have entered the competitive cheer competition, while 25 schools will compete in competitive dance.
The 2012 Class A & B state competition will feature 29 dance routines and 17 cheer routines. Class AA entries include 15 cheer and 45 dance routines. Competition for competitive cheer will be stunting/tumbling and stunting/non-tumbling, categories. Competitive dance will have four categories: pom, jazz, hip hop, and kick. There will be both large and small group competition in each division. Each school may enter one team per division.
Last year’s overall champions in the Cheer Competition were Class AA – Brookings; Class A – Sioux Valley; and Class B – Dell Rapids St. Mary. 2011 overall champions for the Dance Competition were Class AA – Sioux Falls Washington; and Class A – Dakota Valley.
The state meet will be a two session tournament with adult tickets at $10.00 each and the student ticket at $6.00 each session. More information about the competition can be found on the SDHSAA website: www.sdhsaa.com.