Iroquois, SD

Our electronic sign is finally in and running!! What a fantastic addition to our town. If anyone is coming our way from out of town, slow down a little and check it out. Some landscaping needs to be done yet but we have some gals trained on using it and following our annual Sports Day we’ll get the necessary downloads and it will be ready for community posting. Right now we’re using it to advertise the schedule for the Sports Day weekend, July 11, 12 and 13th. This sign is a direct result of our Horizons Study Circles and the assessment of community needs that resulted from that. Thanks to all participants in those Study Circles. Great things DO happen when people get together and discuss things.

As I am writing this, we are in the process of painting a house for a gentleman who is disabled. Volunteers are scraping the house, getting it ready to paint. One of our Community club members has a paint sprayer and has volunteered to paint it.
A beautiful cool evening last night allowed us to get a good start.
As part of our strategic plan, we want to beautify our little town, one house at a time.
Flowers have also been planted around town to help spruce up the town.
We want to have everything done in time for our sports day events that will be held in July.

There will be a Memorial Day Program on the 26th of May at 10:00 A.M. in the South Gymnasium.

Gunner Baatrap, former State Legion Commander, will be the featured speaker.

After the program the procession will go to the Maplewood Cemetery, where flowers will be placed on the Servicemen’s Memorial. While the names of deceased Veterans will be read. Followed by a Gun Salute.

The Legion will serve a meal at the Legion Hall following the service.

Brandi Blue, Hillary Bohlander, Brittney DeJong, April Leichtenberg, Kendall Leichtenberg, Shelby Matthews, Casey Miller, Lindsey Miller, Eric Schoenfelder, Melissa Schortzmann, Jordan Vaudrin, and April Nuese were Confirmed by Bishop Swain at St Paul, Iroquois on Wednesday, April 2, 2008.

Those receiving their First Communion on April 27th were: Kenzie Blue, Raysia Culver, Makayla DeDeyne, and Josh Keating.

And the Graduating students were honored at a Graduation Mass at St. Pauls on Sunday May 4, at !!:00 A.M.
Those graduating were: Megan Keating, Emily Lynch, Christopher Schortzmann, and Michael Whirledge.

ON Sunday, May 5th, our Horizons group decided to sponsor an open house to showcase our beautiful school. It was a beautiful day. Several local people showed up to take the tour and to look at the exhibits that were on display at each classroom.
We had several new families come and take a look around and possibly enroll their students.
Our group served refreshments during the tour. We also provided free bussing to the open house for those families that live in Huron.
We think it was a success, and we plan to have another open house again this August when we are ready for school.
New carpet is being installed this summer in the elementary end, and some painting and cleaning will be done by then.

The first graders, along with the preschool, kindergarten, and second grade classes of Iroquois Elementary went on their field trip. They went to Brookings for a day to enjoy the fine arts. The day started by touring the Harvey Dunn Art Museum. The kids were able to go on a scavenger hunt to find items that were hidden in the paintings. After the museum, we loaded up and headed to Burger King for lunch. We then raced back to the campus to watch the play Aladdin. The play was filled with singing, crowd participation, and a flying carpet! When the play was over, we went to the park. The first graders had a great time on their trip. We would like to thank the school, Donny DeJong, the Iroquois PTO, and our parent volunteers for helping make this a fun day for our students.

How can your community sustain the changes it has already made in its leadership? By continuing to encourage active involvement from the whole community. The more people involved the better off our community will be. Those in leadership will hopefully sustain if they know they have the help and support of others. And the community will thrive if we get everyone involved.

What structural changes have been made in how the community does its work / makes decisions? The community has discovered the value of getting everyone involved in the decision making process. When you get more involved in making decisions, it is easier to get those people involved in doing the work. If they have a part in the choices, they want a part in getting a favorable outcome. When you can get an idea that people are excited about, it is easier to get volunteers for the project.

What structural changes have been made so that your community leadership sustains partnerships with others? All the community organizations began meeting jointly to share ideas and resources with each other. Then, each group knows what each other are doing and can help each other out.

(the following was an editorial in the local Huron paper)
The Iroquois School Board is committed to creating a strong future for our school and for our students. In the past few years, we have added several new courses to the curriculum such as ag classes, health education, technical and career education classes, and a wide variety of online classes. Along with the additional courses, the district has also added cross country and oral interpretation, and next year, competitive cheer will create even more opportunities for our students.
Our middle school students recently competed in a regional music contest and did very well and, at the end of the month, they will compete in an instrumental contest. We have worked to fulfill the needs of the students and incorporate activities that they are interested in.
Many of our students have graduated and gone on to do very well in college and in the professions they have chosen. We are proud of our students accomplishments and will continue to help them achieve their goals.
We encourage you to come and visit during the open house on Sun., May 4th from 2-6 pm or come to the all-school music concert on Mon., May 5th at 7 pm to listen to our students and tour the school extravagtanza.
At both of these events we will be showcasing the classes, students and teachers who are all helping create the strong future we envision for our school. We want to thank the students, teachers, parents and community members who continue to support our school and work toward a bright future. We all need to come together and be part of the action at the Iroquois school.
Greg Blue, Board President
Jerrod Fast, Terry Schoenfelder, Greg Bich, Greg Schortzmann

How will your community make decisions about seeking further resources to support its plans?
Organization leadership will be encouraged to seek financial assistance for community projects through the use of available grants. Also by attending regional conferences sponsored by Horizons, leaders can learn about additional resources thay may not now know are available. Also thorough discussion by ALL leaders of ALL organizations will make it easier for the whole town to be on “the same page” concerning community projects and steps being taken to complete these projects.

Is a system in place to seek, receive, monitor and report on new resources to support community work?
One system being enacted currently is that all organizations, including Community Club/Horizons, Fire Department, Iroquois Housing, City of Iroquois, school system and anyone else interested, will hold twice a year joint meetings. This joint meeting will enable all to seek, receive, monitor and report to all other organizations where they have found help and all organizations will know the progress of others. This blog site is an excellent resource in itself. On it other towns report on their successes and where they found resources. An example of giving help to other towns is the success of Iroquois Housing. This group has been fielding questions from across the state asking how it is that a tiny town like ours can build and occupy 15 new homes in the past few years. Leaders have also participated in discussion groups and conferences relaying how we’ve done it. Also a close working relationship with the county commission is an excellent way to keep avenues of discussion open.

The Iroquois Horizons/Community Club is hosting an open house at the school on Sunday, May 4th from 2-5 pm. We want to showcase our beautiful school and make the public aware that we are accepting open enrollments. One of our bus drivers is offering to meet the public at DJ ’s Gas Station in East Huron to bus the public over for this open house. We will offer refreshments at the school.
One of the highlights of the tour will be the projects that each classroom will be displaying during the extravaganza that will be held the next day.
Hope you can come and see our beautiful school.