Falls High Ink

Weekly Newsletter (March 20-24)

With The First Day of Spring on Monday March, 20th I Fall Recived an additional 7 Inches of Snow on Wednesday With the School Delayed for Two Hours

New MN Law Provides Statewide Free Breakfast and Lunch in Schools

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz officially signed into law HF5 on Friday, March 17th, which would ensure free school meals for students. This will guarantee that all students, regardless of their family’s need, will receive food during the school day to fuel their education. Minnesota is the fourth state in the country to enact this program!

Karla Line, the school’s Food Service Director, praised this new law. “As a teacher, I see the need for the stigma of school lunches to be removed, and I am so proud of Minnesota.”

The current free and reduced lunch program only provides aid to those who meet the federal income criteria, determined by the USDA Guidelines. While this is beneficial to those who need financial assistance the most, there are families who don’t qualify for this program and still struggle to pay for their student lunches. Across the country, school meal debts have been accumulating.

During the pandemic, a similar free school lunch program was implemented. “There was an astronomical increase in food insecurity among children” during this time, explained Line, and it was universally beneficial for students to have access to healthy school meals. The cost of living has increased, with inflation and various economic worries hitting the nation, so this law gives families one less bill to pay. The pandemic program was discontinued at the end of 2022 but this new legislation will be replacing it with permanent meal coverage.

By: Ellen Windels

Minnesota will cover the difference between the total cost of meals for students and the federal funding received for them, which will be roughly $400 million. A la carte items and second helpings will not be covered, but regardless, it will ease a large portion of the cost. This law could save families upwards of $1,000 a year.

By giving every student automatic free lunch, students who may feel embarrassed about their own financial situation won’t stand out in the lunchroom. Additionally, any students struggling with food insecurity outside of the classroom will now have at least two guaranteed healthy meals. “Hunger is most often invisible. In students, it is tiredness, distraction from daily tasks, and it is so hard to learn with an empty stomach,” said Line. “That should not be something a student ever has to worry about while they are in the school.”

The funding will be received by school districts at the beginning of next school year. Come September, Falls High students will all receive free lunch!

Article Source: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/03/17/gov-signs-universal-school-meals-bill-into-law

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FHS Speech Team - Successful @ Black Duck

The FHS speech team participated in the Drakes Speech Challenge at Black Duck. The team placed 1st overall in the small team sweepstakes and received a team trophy, which hasn’t happened in years!

In the category of Duo Interpretation:

Eve Hemstad & Chole Hufnagle received a 3,2,4 and advanced on to finals to receive a 7,5,7 and placed 7th overall.

In the category of Humorous Interpretation:

Mitchell Erickson received a 1,3,1 and advanced on to finals to receive a 1,1,1 placing 1st overall, Joe Sullivan received a 1,1,3 and advanced on to finals to receive a 4,2,6 placing 4th overall, Kourtney Talley received 3,2,1 and placed 9th overall, Max Youso received 3,3,2 and placed 11th overall.

In the category of Discussion:

Karlyann Bennett received 5,4,5 and placed 9th overall.

In the category of Prose:

Linnaea Yount received 2,2,3 and advanced on to finals to receive 6,6,6 placing 6th overall. Leah Boe received 3,1,4 and advanced on to finals to receive 7,7,7 placing 7th overall.

The speech coach, Mrs. Jayde Hall commented saying “the kids did an excellent job. I’m very proud of their hard work throughout this season and am excited to see how they compete at sections!”

The speech team is back in action this coming weekend on Saturday 25th @ Grand Rapids for their final regular season meet.

(If you have never heard of speech before and are confused by the results, the numbers represent what place you got in the room you were in. Typically 5 people are in a room with one judge and you are ranked 1 to 5, with 1 being the best and 5 being the lowest. If the meet is big enough, the top 6 or 7 advance on to finals and are judged the same but there are three judges instead of one like a normal round).

Kenyan Olson Signs With Mesabi Range

Senior Kenyan Olson signed a letter of intent to play football next year at Mesabi Range Community College. Olson is pictured below with coaches Sethen Ettestad and Brandon Barras.

Falls High Knowledge Bowl Team is State Bound!

By: Emma Saxton

IFalls team two, consisting of seniors Ellen Windels, Emma Saxton, Jakob Clifford, and Nora Sullivan and tenth grade William Ginter, attended the Northeast Service Cooperative Regional knowledge bowl tournament on Wednesday March 15th. They came out of the written round ranked third out of twenty teams, but quickly secured their first place spot after the first oral round. They remained in first place until the fifth and final oral round where they were surpassed by Cook County 1. IFalls Team two ended the day two points behind Cook County 1 and ten points ahead of the third place team Marshall 2. These three teams will all be attending the state meet this year.

IFalls Team 2 received the Moy Sportsmanship award in addition to the second place trophy. “I am so proud of how our team has matured over the past four years, and I am so glad that we are able to contribute to a respectful competitive environment”, replied Ellen Windels when asked how winning the award made her feel. “I am glad I will get to see what the state meet is like and hope to make it to state again in the future,” said William Ginter. William is inspired by his senior teammates' efforts and has been a valuable asset to the team in the written round.

The state meet is on April 13th and April 14th this year in Brainerd, Minnesota at Cragun’s Resort. Emma Saxton is “so excited to get to spend my final high school state tournament with such amazing teammates. We, the team, have gotten so close and we are like a Knowledge Bowl family.” Ariana Zahradka has been the Knowledge Bowl coach since 2019. “I think that our team plays really well together, and we should have a good shot at being competitive at state this year. I will be very sad to see the seniors graduate.” The team will be hard at work for the next couple of weeks in preparation for the senior's final meet after a long knowledge bowl career.

Community Ed Gears Up for Spring Courses/Offerings

By: By: Keira de’Bernardeaux

This week I reached out to Beth Slatinski and asked her a little bit about what community ed is putting on right now and these are some of the current events.

On your own, this class is for 8-13 year olds to teach responsibility while home alone and this will be held on April 11th and 12th from 3:20-5:00. Babysitting class,this is for 11-14 year olds interested in babysitting,this class will be held from the 25,26,and 27 from 3:20-5:00. There will be a dog obedience class and this is for dogs older than three months April 12th from 6-7pm. There will be a Drivers Ed Class starting May 25th in room 116 the fee is $125,check or cash,checks must be made out to Falls Driving School,sign ups in the community ed office. Defensive driving for 55 years and older will be held on April 18th,9am at the college taught by a state trooper,taking this class will make you eligible for cheaper insurance. For 18 years of age and older if you’re an adult with a disability there is a program called pals run by Angela Scholler,pals do a variety of events from, exercising,crafts,bingo,karaoke,games,puzzles,and the biggest event is the pals prom. Contact Angela Scholler for more Information through ascholler@isd361.org or call 218-283-2571 extension 1250.

Girls Track and Field Starts off the Season in Full Swing

By: Jillian Bilben

Girls Track and Field has started up, and with only two weeks of practice in, the team will head to their first indoor meet at BSU on Saturday, March 25th. The captains of the team this year are Summer Hesseldahl, Dianne Lavoy, Bailey Herberg, and Nora Sullivan. Summer and Dianne shared a bit about what they are looking forward to this season, and how they expect this first meet to go.

Summer:

“I am super excited to be back this season, and to be going to our first meet on Saturday!

The first meet is really going to be about seeing where everyone is at. We have had only two weeks of practice, so I’m not expecting everyone to go out and have a personal best. The thing I really hope our team focuses on is doing their best. If we can do that, then I believe the first meet will go great. We have a great group of girls this year, with some new faces too. I am looking forward to when we are finally able to get outside. I have a really great feeling for this season, and cannot wait to see how everyone does.”

Dianne:

“I am looking forward to a fun season and seeing how much my team improves and grows. I expect the first meet to go a little wonky, but overall good. The first meet is always a jittery meet so I hope everyone just has fun!”

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Bronco Golf Remains Optimistic About Season Outlook

By: Landan Snyder

With the current problems with our local golf course, the Bronco Golf Teams are trying to figure out what they will do for the upcoming season. The current plan is to take vehicles over to Canada to play at one of their golf courses. This presents many challenges, like the ability to get every kid over the border with a passport or some other form of identification. Making everyone go all in one vehicle is also a problem if they are going to be late. The vehicles will leave with everybody at a set time so nobody can stay and get some extra practice. This plan is not set in stone and there could be many changes in the upcoming month. Numbers within the teams are strong and players hope that there could be a future for our local golf course. The putt for dough competition will take place on Thursday March 30th.