The Rutland Rambler

Congratulations to the following students who were chosen as November Students of the Month!

K - 2nd Grade: Nora McGuire

3 - 5th Grade: Logyn Reagle

6 - 8th Grade: Riley Trygstad

9 - 12th Grade: Jessie Agnew

Story by Hannah Albrecht

The Rutland High School has two exchange students this school year, Hannah and

Ploy, and it is very interesting to know more about Germany and Thailand. Christmas is

one of the most beautiful times of the year in both countries.

The German and American Christmas is very similar. In Germany you put up a

Christmas tree, decorate your house, bake many cookies, and eat a lot of food. The

Christmas in the U.S. it is more colorful than in Germany. The German Christmas tree is

getting decorated with red, silver, or gold ornaments and there are not that many

Christmas lights on the houses. It is still very pretty but it is definitely more boring than

the American Christmas. In Germany, on Christmas Eve the family comes together, you

eat duck, fish, or sausages, and you will unpack the presents that Santa Clause

brought you. Santa Clause in German is “der Weihnachtsmann” which means “the

Christmas man”. At the first Christmas Day you will eat more food and it’s the same for

the second Christmas Day. There is one tradition that you don’t have in the United

States. It is called the “Weihnachtsmarkt”. It is like a small fair with a lot of stands with

typical German Christmas food like almond crusts, fruits covered in chocolate,

gingerbread, and so much more. There are also carousels, a fairytale forest, and people

walking around in cool Christmas costumes. In Germany, Christmas is an important

part of the year because the family comes together.

Christmas in Thailand also has a lot of similar traditions. There are school concerts,

Christmas party, gift exchanges, and much more amazing events. The school is getting

decorated and the playground is turning into an amusement park with slides, ferris

wheels, etc... The cities in Thailand are also getting decorated with Christmas trees

and the street lamps are decorated. You will sing many Christmas carols in church and

at Christmas Eve you can supper in the church.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

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Story by CeCe Gibney

On November 15th freshman FFA student Josie Nold competed in

Districts in the areas of Broadcasting, Extemporaneous Speaking,

and Creed. Her topic in Extemporaneous Speaking had to do with

farmer consumer interaction and how to make agriculture more

available in urban areas as well as remaining relevant in rural areas.

She competed in Broadcasting that night she placed 1st which

qualified her for State! Sunday December 5th Josie Nold traveled 3

hours away to the Ramkota Convention Center in Pierre, South

Dakota. She ended up placing 6th in Broadcasting with the topic of

WNFR Rodeo. Joise said she made a lot of new friends and had lots

of fun. She got to see the Capital at Christmas and said that was a highlight of the trip.

Story by Kaelie Lindholm

One of our new students is Ayriauna Ackerman. Ayriauna is 13 years old and came to our school this year! She is a new member to 7th grade class. She is a great addition to the already great class. She is not involved with any actives at the moment. Ayrianna enjoys many things in her life like video games, basketball, and her cow! She has many animals that include cats, cows,

chickens and ducks. Her hero is her dog! One other thing she enjoys in sleeping! We all wish we could get more of that! Her previous school was Brookings Middle School. She still lives in Brookings and has a older brother that is also going here also. His name is Tristan and he is 17. Beth and Kim must make great food because its Ayrianna’s favorite thing here so far! Welcome to Rutland!

Story by Shayne DeVaney

The 2021 ORR Boys Basketball is back and stronger than ever. The Raiders did not lose any seniors last year. They were looking forward to going to Lake Preston on December 10th. That didn't go as planned as mother nature decided to bring on some snow. The game is rescheduled to December 28th, Busses and start times will be the same. They boys recently did a fundraiser for raising money for new jerseys and fun things that could be planned during the year. The fundraising was selling meat and it was well received. Each player set a goal to sell over 20 items and most people did. They have been practicing for over two weeks and they are determined to win. They are putting in time on and off the court so an end goal of being state bound can be achieved. They aren't a very big team but they are fast and very athletic. The Raiders set a specific goal, and that was to break the most rebounds in the season. They are planning on getting 700 or more rebounds, and if they do they will break their school record. They are a defensive team that loves to press and put pressure on the other team, and they will do so from all the conditioning and workout stations that have been done in practice. The basketball team went to Alcester on Tuesday December 14th to take on the Cubs. The Raiders boys varsity team went on to a high scoring win over the Cubs with a final score of 61-19. They had 13 turnovers and out rebounded the Cubs. The Junior Varsity team started off slow but got better as the game progressed. The start of the third quarter they decided to do a ⅔ press and that got them to pull away, until they had to sub in and the game got tense after that. They came out with a loss but fought until the end. The ORR Raiders take on the Deubrook Dolphins on December 17 in Rutland to start off the basketball season at home.

Story by Hayden Oftedal

The Lady Raiders have kicked off their season with a bang! The Lady Raiders started to

practice on Monday, 22nd of November. This season there are 21 athletes taking part this year.

The returning varsity starters are Julia Trygstad, Paige Hanson, Alivia Bickett, Brooklyn

Hageman, and senior Alivia Spilde. These five girls have dedicated themselves to put their best

foot forward this season. During practice, the Raiders are putting their all into making the team

better. Our new Head Coach Crystal Hansen pushes the team to do their very best at practice.

Crystal said, “Our team goal for the year is to play as a team so that we can accomplish more

than previous seasons.” As this is her first year as girls basketball Head Coach she is looking

forward to seeing the progress the team makes as a whole and watching them have fun and

enjoy playing basketball. She is also happy to have young, athletic, and hard-working athletes

on the team this year. One of the more difficult parts of coaching for her is setting expectations

and finding a way for the girls to finish and not hang their heads no matter the circumstances. The Lady Raiders worked very hard over the summer preparing for the 2021-2022 season.

Because of that hard work, the girls have grown in confidence and communication the court.

The Lady Raiders stepped out on the court for the first time on Friday, December 3rd to

take on Great Plains Lutheran. The girls stepped into this game blindly because they have not

played Great Plains Lutheran in the past. Crystal had said that “To come out on top we need to

play as a team and communicate on the court. Also keep their head high and play until the very

end. The Junior Varsity team battled with GPL until the very end but unfortunately lost. The JV

has a lot of young talent that will soon grow to be a very good team. The varsity also had a

hard fight with GPL. In the first quarter, the Lady Raiders scored 10 points and also had 13

rebounds total. At half-time the girls trailed Great Plains Lutheran by only two points, the score

being 22-24. The Raiders had six assists and one block. They came out strong after half-time

only letting GPL score eight points in the third quarter. It all came down to the fourth and final

quarter. It was a very aggressive and impressive game to the very end. The final score was

46-45. The Lady Raiders came out on top because of all the hard work they put in two weeks

before this big day. This game gave the girls the confidence to travel to Lake Preston to get

their second win. On Thursday, December 9th the Junior High also traveled to Lake Preston, with theVarsity. There they played the first game of the season and took home a win. The JH team is

ready to play more games and continue to improve. As for the varsity they also took home their

second win of the season, which makes their record 2-0! The Lady Raiders had the early lead

with the end of the first quarter being 16-6. The same pattern followed into the second. At half-

time the Lady Raiders had a comfortable lead, the score was 28-15. In the third quarter, the

Divers started to close the gap on the Raiders. All of that was done by the fourth quarter. The

Lady Raiders had only let Lake Preston score five points in the fourth quarter. The Raiders

score an outstanding 16 points in the fourth quarter alone, making the final score 50-28! So far

the Lady Raiders have had a great season. Please continue to support the girls as their season goes on!

Story by Bella Malisch

It was a full house on the evening of Monday, December 13 to enjoy some Christmas cheer for

the Rutland Christmas Concert. The Elementary started the night filling the stage with Rudolph

noses. The elementary continued to bring the Christmas spirit with lots of energy and lovely

singing. The 5th grade band had their first performance at the concert playing Jingle Bells.

Next up was the 6th grade choir with some beautiful songs of the Christmas season. The high

school choir ended the choir portion of the concert with a fun up beat song. Kazoos made an

appearance in the high school choir portion in “We are Santa’s Elves.” 6th-12th grade choir all

came together to sing the Jonas Brothers “Like It’s Christmas”. The 6th grade band played a

few selections, one of which being “Christmas Crabs.” Two of the sixth graders explained the

story behind the song and why it works as a Christmas tune. 7-12 Band closed out the concert

with three different songs, one of which was titled “Haunted Sleigh Ride.” The Rutland

Christmas Concert was a wonderful way to start off the Christmas season. Ms. Shay and the

Preschool-12th grade students have worked extremely hard on their musical selections and

they were able to share their talents to a full gym.

The US Government class was excited to be able to have a Zoom visit with our South Dakota Representative Dusty Johnson. It was a fantastic visit where Rep. Johnson answered many questions from the students ranging from maritime legislation to concerns about bills with regards to the cattle industry. Rep. Johnson fielded many questions concerning the Infrastructure Bill and what that bill means for South Dakota should it go through. Additionally, there was a great discussion about fiscal responsibility at the federal level.

Story by Dillon Renaas

The student teacher of the month of December is Ms. Callie Martens. She grew

up in DeSmet, SD. After graduating from DeSmet High School, she went on to

Dakota State University. She is currently student teaching in the 2nd grade

classroom. On May 7, 2022, she will graduate from DSU and she hopes to

teach 2nd grade or lower. She hopes to continue to teach in a small school

similar in in Rutland then. Ms. Martens wanted to pursue a career in education

because she loves to see the growth of students after they have struggled with

something and teach our future generations of this country. She enjoys seeing

students understand something after they struggle and wanting to teach our

future generations. She has learned in Rutland that small schools allow for

better relationships with co-workers. Her biggest takeaway from student

teaching is to “pick your battles, you’ll be able to get through each day, and

have another chance the next day.” Some advice she would give to people

considering a degree in education is to know why you want to teach that way.

When the hard days are coming, you can remember why you are teaching.

Alongside from school her hobbies/activities include spending time outside and

she loves making crafts. Ms. Martens will be here for the full school year. We

enjoy having her around Rutland School and a part of the Rutland community!

Story by Charlie Jeratowski

This year is the first year the ORR Raiders have had a wrestling team. They are co-oped with Madison. We have 4 total wrestlers from ORR, 2 of which are from Rutland. Our 2 wrestlers from Rutland are Ryan Sievers who is a Junior and Dillon Sievers who is an 8th

grader. Ryan Sievers said “This season is going well, we aren’t bad in any means, we stand our

ground against most schools and are pretty consistent.” We wish the wrestlers success on the mats in their quest to victory.