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Communicating in a new age
Published 12:00 p.m., November 18, 2009
District 544 has begun communicating in new ways to highlight the wonderful programs and activities happening in our schools. With the help of our technology department, we have set up a posterous (pronounced post-er-ous) account that automatically links to our Web page.
My personal account is HYPERLINK "http://544supt.posterous.com/" http://544supt.posterous.com/, and last week I posted videos and pictures from the fall play, A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream, the Veterans Day program, the Middle School band concert, the high school art exhibit in the high school foyer and the African drumming program at Adams School.
Also, visit http://www.isd544.org/alerts to sign up for the e-mail alert system which is used throughout the year but especially during the winter months to notify parents, students and staff of weather-related announcements.
American Education Week
American Education Week (Nov. 15-21) is always celebrated the week prior to the week of Thanksgiving. The National Education Association, whose Web site provided this information, was one of the creators and original sponsors of AEW.
AEW spotlights the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education from kindergarten through college, and the need for everyone to do his or her part in making public schools great.
Distressed that 25 percent of the country's World War I draftees were illiterate and 9 percent were physically unfit, representatives of the NEA and the American Legion met in 1919 to seek ways to generate public support for education.
The first observance of AEW was Dec. 4-10, 1921, cosponsored by the NEA and American Legion. A year later, the then U.S. Office of Education joined the effort as a cosponsor, and the PTA followed in 1938.
Award Programs
Last week two programs recognized our veterans and students. On Nov. 9, seniors Lauren McGovern and John Lindblom were the masters of ceremonies for the annual Academic Excellence Awards, which recognized the A and B honor roll students from the 2008-09 school year. Erin Beck, Janelle Beske and Alyssa Cote entertained the audience with their flutes, playing “The Penney-Whistle Song” by LeRoy Anderson. The keynote speaker was our new high school assistant principal, Shane Thielke, whose speech will be shared in a future column.
A special thank you to Academic Excellence Awards committee members Sherri Money, Lori Kugler, Renae Rassmusson and Judy Zenner, and also to Kim Dowzak, Sue Thorsen and The Flower Mill for their help in organizing the ceremony.
At the Veterans Day program, principal Dean Monke welcomed the large crowd and served as master of ceremonies. VFW Post 612 posted the colors, and Past VFW Commander Louie Kamrowski was the keynote speaker. Patriotic stories were read during the program by Alyssa Cote, Tia Pederson and Katlyn Swedberg. Our choirs sang our national anthem and “America the Beautiful,” and the band played the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
The Voice of Democracy Awards were given out by VFW Commander Dennis Anderson and VFW Ladies Auxiliary President Sue Stroud. Winners of this year’s patriotic speech and oratory contest were Emma Childs (first place), Ethan Taylor (second place) and Nick Risbrudt (third place).
The program ended with Lars Ronnevik playing “Taps,” the audience exiting to a selection of patriotic music played by our band and Mr. Monke reminding people to call a family member or any other veteran to say thank you for his or her service to our country.
Special thanks to Bob Gadow and Louis Karsnia at the VFW for helping to make the arrangements for this program.
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The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post. To post a comment you will need to register. Or, if you're already registered but have not included your true, verifiable identity with your registration, you will need to update your account to include your identity. Effective Dec. 1, 2009, all posts appear with the commenter's true identity, which must be verified by site staff. Those who registered prior to Dec. 1, 2009, should be aware that once you update your information with your true identity, all prior posts under your user name will also indicate your true identity. If you do not wish to link yourself to prior comments, you should register again with a different user name.Posted by mgordansons (Marty Gordansons) on November 22, 2009 at 1 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We have been told over and over lately that we must now start identifying ourselves when writing a letter to the editor and also to comment on a letter to the editor or an article.
WHY is there no name attached to this this thing? Who wrote it? Why do you have a double standard?
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