Dell Rapids Middle School Archives - Big Sioux Media Sports Network

Staff and Student Recognized at Dell Rapids

January 30, 2021 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Four staff members and a student at Dell Rapids High School were recently recognized in different areas.

Two coaches were honored by the South Dakota Football Coaches Association for their 30 years of coaching. Those coaches were Coach Craig Jorgensen and Coach Dane Stone.

Dell Rapids High School Principal Mr. Drew Bunkers received a Southeast Area Principal Pyramid Award for Communicator and Optimist. Dell Rapids Middle School Principal Mr. Fran Ruesink was recognized by the South Dakota Association of Secondary School Principals as their Region 2 Middle School Principal of the Year.

The Region V FCCLA meeting was hosted by the Dell Rapids chapter recently, and Rylee Rinehart, who ran for region office, was elected as region president for the coming year. She will be installed as one of the state officers at the state conference in April.

Annual 5th Grade Living History Fair Held

March 30, 2018 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

The Dell Rapids fifth graders held their annual Living History Fair on Friday, March 23rd, in the Dell Rapids Middle School commons area. This was the seventh year the fifth grade classes at Dell Rapids have held this event.

Students were given an historical figure to portray during the event. They spent the last few weeks researching their person, putting together a report, creating a costume, and putting together a visual board about their person. The students then held “performances” two different times during the day of their event. The first session was held from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., and the second session was held from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Students had coin cans at their station. When visitors put coins in the jar, the students “came to life” and acted out their report about the life of the person they were portraying. The students will be donating all the money raised during the event to a charity of their choosing.

Dell Rapids Middle School Holds Annual Dodgeball Tournament for Heart Association

February 24, 2018 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

The Dell Rapids Middle School students once again competed in a dodgeball tournament to help raise money for the American Heart Association Awareness months of February and March. The tournament was held on Wednesday, February 14th at the middle school gym for 5th through 8th graders. The students were able to raise money by purchasing socks or a shirt which they could wear during the dodgeball tournament.

Last year the DRMS students raised a record amount of $1,627.00. The students didn’t quite reach the record amount set last year, but they were able to raise $1,331.00 for the American Heart Association.

Dell Rapids Middle School Physical Education teacher Julie Barber said, “Thank you to these DRMS students and their families for supporting this worthy cause and raising such a large amount of money. This was a great exercise in community service and working with each other in an effort to address an important issue facing our society. Together, we can make a difference!”

Several Area Students Participating in Music Festival

February 14, 2018 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Numerous middle school students from both Dell Rapids and Dell Rapids St Mary schools will be participating in the Brandon Valley Music Festival. The festival will be held Wednesday, March 7th.

Students are selected for the festival based on nominations and recommendations sent to coordinators by music directors from area schools.

Six students from Dell Rapids were chosen for the choir portion of the festival. They are Kerrigan Kindopp, Cara Rice, Desirae Horton, Cariss Montgomery, Winston Strauss, and Tristen McDaniel. Five students from Dell Rapids St Mary will also be a part of the choir. They are Rebecca Geraets, Briar Hansen, Ella Swift, John Pica, and Noah Olund.

Five students from Dell Rapids and four students from Dell Rapids St Mary were selected for the band. Abby Greenhoff, Gunnar Chamley, Michaela Witte, Weston Mason, and Josie Geraets were selected from Dell Rapids. Maya Heinitz, Gabe Nelson, Seth Roemen, and Kyle Bares were selected from St Mary.

DRMS Students Have GenCyber Day with DSU

January 22, 2018 by Submitted

Each grade level from the Dell Rapids Middle School was able to participate in the GenCyber Day for 35 minutes each on Friday, January 19. Students had the opportunity to work with littleBits, Dash robots, Ozobots, or the BB-8 robots. littleBits offered students the chance to build items that moved, made noise, or had lights blink. The Dash and BB-8 robots allowed students to code the robots using a mobile device to move or perform tasks. Students using the Ozobots (a robot the size of a bouncy ball) used blank sheets of paper to draw pathways with markers for the Ozobots to follow. Students were also able to use a particular scene to change the direction or speed of the Ozobots.

Dr. Ashley Podhradsky, an associate professor from Dakota State University in Madison, led of a group of undergraduate and graduate students that helped students with each station.

“While all of the connected toys are fun to play with, they all teach important fundamentals of computer science. The kids learn linear logic they can apply as they advance their skills. We know kids won’t be experts in a day, but if we can get them interested in cyber that is a big win,” commented Dr. Podhradsky.

Scott Headrick, one of the K-12 Technology Integrationists for the Dell Rapids School District, thought the event went well. “We have great kids in Dell Rapids. It was wonderful to have students get an opportunity to learn problem solving skills and computer science! It was great to have Dr. Podhradsky and the DSU students lead us in such fun, learning activities!”

Submitted by Scott Headrick

Dell Rapids Middle and High Schools Raise Money for Hurricane Relief

October 23, 2017 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

Students at both the Dell Rapids Middle School and Dell Rapids High School held fundraisers recently to raise money for hurricane relief.

The middle school held a week-long “Penny War” the week of October 16th – 20th. Students could bring in spare change throughout the week with the winning class receiving a movie and popcorn party for the whole grade. Points were accumulated throughout the week for each grade level. Points were gained by adding pennies to grade’s jug. Points were subtracted by adding silver coins and bills to the other grade’s jugs. The 6th grade finished with -19,001 points. The 7th grade had -13,763 points. 5th grade finished with -13,762 points. The winning class of the movie and popcorn party was the 8th grade class with a total of +1,922 points.

Throughout the “Penny War” week, the students and staff of the middle school raised $1,186.24! All the money will be donated to the American Red Cross for relief efforts following hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.

The Dell Rapids High School also held their own fundraiser that also raised funds for hurricane relief. Raffle tickets were sold to the high school students for $2.00 each. The raffle earned the students a chance to throw a whipped-cream pie at Mr. Bunkers during the pep rally on Friday, October 20th. A few lucky students were drawn out and able to throw their pies in front of the entire middle and high school during the pep rally. The high school students were able to raise $200 to be added to the hurricane relief.

Dell Rapids Middle School Band Numbers Increase

August 17, 2017 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

The Dell Rapids middle school band numbers will see a significant increase this coming school year. Dell Rapids Middle School Principal Fran Ruesink reported that 52 fifth graders were going out for band this year during the Dell Rapids School Board regular meeting on Monday, August 14th.

Ruesink said, “Bryan Timperley has been pretty busy this summer. He’s been giving free lessons to a lot of kids. Last spring he worked pretty hard at opening the door and getting kids acclimated and getting them introduced to instruments.”

The 5th and 6th grade band will have a total of 82 students this year with 30 sixth grade students joining the 52 fifth grade students. That number is up 20 students from the previous year. Last year there were 40 fifth grade students and 22 sixth grade students.

“It’s a testament to his character,” said Dell Rapids School Board President Matt Weiland.

Ruesink also mentioned that due the large number of students that will be participating in band this year, there is still more work to be done to get lessons scheduled.

“We’re trying to get the lessons and everything in the morning. It might bump up a little bit into the afternoon. There’s just a lot of kids, and he’s got to see them. It’s a good problem,” said Ruesink.

Dell Rapids Teacher Gets Adopt-A-Classroom Grant from Sioux Falls Federal Credit Union

June 14, 2017 by Submitted

Sioux Falls Federal Credit Union Awards Six Adopt-A-Classroom Grants

Sioux Falls, June 14, 2017: As our local school districts face increasing budget constraints, a growing number of teachers spend more of their own money to provide school supplies for their students. In a recent survey conducted by SheerID, teachers in the United States spent an average of $513 on out-of-pocket classroom supplies such as instructional materials, books and professional development.

Sioux Falls Federal Credit Union has been helping to off-set these costs since 2009 with their Adopt-A-Classroom grant program. This grant provides teachers in Lincoln, Minnehaha, McCook and Turner counties $500 to help cover necessary non-salary expenses to fund their classroom.

Sioux Falls Federal Credit Union invited the public to nominate any certified K through 12 classroom teacher who works in an accredited public or private school within the credit union’s service area to receive the Adopt-A-Classroom grant. The nomination form included a brief description on how the teacher has made an impact on their life. “We knew teachers made an impact on their students, but in reviewing all of our nomination forms, we realized all the ways our teachers create an engaging, interesting and fun classroom experience that not only benefited the student but their family,” stated Sioux Falls Federal Credit Union President/CEO Fran Sommerfeld.

The credit union has awarded six grants in the 2017-2018 school year. Grants of $500 have been awarded directly to teachers to provide them with some of the resources necessary to cover out-of-pocket expenses. “The teaching profession is one that demands dedication, commitment, and sacrifice. Most teachers often go beyond the call of duty to create a stimulating, safe learning environment and to help each student succeed. We are excited to be able to offer this program to help our teachers create an engaging, interesting, and fun classroom experience for their students” said Sommerfeld.

Congratulations to our 2016-2017 winners:

Danyel McFarlane – Lowell Elementary
Kari Hettinger – Dell Rapids Middle School
Sarah Darling – Brandon Elementary
Doyle Becker – Washington High School
Carla Diede – Harrisburg South Middle School
Cheyenne Lambley – Tri-Valley Elementary

Sioux Falls Federal Credit Union was chartered in 1934 and currently serves anyone who lives or works in Minnehaha, Lincoln, McCook and Turner counties of South Dakota. The not-for-profit cooperative has over 27,000 members with six Sioux Falls branch locations.

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Dell Rapids Middle Schoolers “Dodgeball” for American Heart Association

February 16, 2017 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

In observance of the American Heart Association Awareness months of February and March, Dell Rapids Middle School students in grades 5 through 8 competed in a dodge ball tournament on February 10^th, 2017. In order to raise money to support one of the leading causes of death in the United States, students donated money toward socks or a shirt which they could wear for the tournament. The students enjoyed the tournament and raised $1,627.00 for the American Heart Association. Each class was divided into teams and played against one another.

The $1,627.00 raised this year beat last year’s record number of $1,315.00.

Dell Rapids Middle School Physical Education teacher Julie Barber said, “Thank you to these DRMS students and their families for supporting this worthy cause and raising such a large amount of money! This was a great exercise in community service and working with each other in an effort to address an important issue facing our society.”

As part of the fundraising efforts, a pizza party was awarded to the class that had the highest amount of donations. This year’s winning class was Mrs. Gruneich’s PE class. As for the winners of the tournament in each grade level, Mrs. Gruneich’s team won the 5th grade tournament, Mrs. Hettinger’s team won the 6th grade tournament, the orange team won the 7th grade tournament, and the orange team won the 8th grade tournament.

“Kiss the Pig” Contest at Dell Rapids School Raises Money for MS Society

February 13, 2016 by Matt Larson, Big Sioux Media

“We are all here because we are raising money for MS,” said Dell Rapids High School Principal Ms. Kludt to a gym full of students during an assembly on Wednesday.

Students at Dell Rapids Middle School and Dell Rapids High School competed throughout the day by paying $1.00 to have a “dress up” day and to have their name entered into raffle. The middle school had a “Random Costume Day or Pajama Day”, while the high school had an “I Hate Winter” day. Students were able to purchase as many raffle tickets as they wanted all day long.

The winning school’s principal would have to kiss a pig.

“All day long I was wondering is it going to be me? Is it going to be Mr. Ruesink? I don’t know. I know how well the middle school kids raise money. It was nip and tuck there. It was just nip and tuck. So, Mr. Ruesink, you don’t have to,” Kludt announced.

At 3:00 in the afternoon, Ms. Kludt puckered up and laid a big kiss on a pig in front of the middle school and high school students at the assembly which concluded the day-long fundraising event.

The total amount of money raised during the “Kiss the Pig” contest along with the winners of the raffle prizes (Quarrier t-shirt quilt, Revo headphones, and quarry rock hitching post) will be announced during the Dell Rapids Quarrier boys basketball game on Friday, February 19th.

All the money raised will be donated to the MS Society.

The National MS Society’s current campaign is “Together, we can Kiss Goodbye to MS” for Valentine’s Day. #KissGoodbyeToMS

More information about the National MS Society can be found at their website, http://www.nationalmssociety.org/