4/30/2008 – News

Paintball tournament
A paintball tournament was held in Minnewaukan April 27 despite the unseasonably cold weather. Twelve teams of 5 people on each team participated. Most were teenagers. Contestants are shown at the left lining up to get their guns and paintballs. The course they run through is on the right with nets to stop the paintballs from hitting spectators. When participants are hit with a paintball, they are deemed "killed" or "wounded" by referees. The paintball tournament was sponsored by the ND National Guard and recruiter Sgt. Dean Lundin of Devils Lake.

Leeds senior art students to have art show
Two Leeds seniors will be honored with a Senior Art Show at the United Community Bank of North Dakota in Leeds May 6-14 during regular business hours.
Senior students Amber Bracken and Alisha Strand will display a variety of items produced from kindergarten through this year. More than 25 exhibit pieces will be shown for each student with medium varieties of glass painting, ceramics, acrylics, pastels, fabrics, charcoals, pottery, lead and colored pencil drawings and more.
Amber, the daughter of Melody and Richard Bracken, and Alisha, the daughter of Donna and Mike Strand, have each been involved in elementary art, junior high art and three years of high school art classes, including advanced classes in drawing, painting, design, sculpture and multimedia. Their art instructor is Sheila Moser.
They have individually shown work at the ND State Fair, the ND State Art Show and locally. Several pieces have been chosen as representatives in the Governor’s Touring Art Show. The public is invited to view the exhibits.

Ali Strand

Amber Bracken

Earns scholarship
This year’s recipient of the Aurelie and William Jerome Scholarship at Lake Region State College (LRSC) in Devils Lake is Hope Keller, a 2007 graduate of Leeds High School. She is a freshman in accounting/business administration at LRSC and is the daughter of Wanda and Raphael Keller of Leeds. Making the presentation is Pete Jerome, son of Aurelie and William Jerome. The Jerome family name defines true dedication to a family business. Arthur Jerome, the first proprietor of Jerome Wholesale Candy Company, began distributing beer in 1933. In 1972 the company became Jerome Wholesale, Inc. Arthur’s son, Bill headed the business until his retirement in 1985 when sons Pete and Chuck assumed ownership. More than 70 endowments have been established by individuals or families for scholarships or programs at LRSC. Each is supported with a gift of at least $10,000. Only the earnings from these endowments are used to provide yearly awards.

Missionaries return
Missionaries Andy and Stephanie (Vetter) Pace are pictured with their children, Jason, Alyssa and Raquel. The Paces are missionaries in Peru, where Andy was born to parents who have been missionaries for 43 years. Stephanie is the daughter of Richard and Eileen Vetter of Esmond. The Paces went to Peru to join his parents in 1996. The Paces provide Christian education, home Bible studies, personal discipleship and church planting in Lima, a city of nearly 10,000,000 people. They also administrate and teach at La Molina Christian Schools where more than 250 students receive a Christian education.
They will speak on Sunday, May 4 at Trinity Free Lutheran Church in Minnewaukan at 9 a.m. and at Zion Lutheran Brethren Church in Maddock at 10:45 a.m.

Five generations
Five generations of the Grossman family are pictured. Left to right are, grandfather Don Grossman, great-great-grandmother Agnes Grossman holding Danica Grossman, father Jamey Grossman and great-grandfather Marvin Grossman. Baby Danica was born on Agnes’ 90th birthday.

Strand scholarships go to Mwkn grads
Two winners of the Leslie Strand Scholarship for 2008 have been announced. They are Katrece Thompson and Alyssa Erickson, graduating seniors at the Minnewaukan High School. They were chosen for the scholarships by the Devils Lake Area Foundation.
Katrece Thompson was on the A honor roll in grades 9 through 12 and was active in basketball, volleyball, track, drama, band, chorus and Science Olympiad. She was a member of the Cando Assembly of God Worship Team and took mission trips with the Fargo First Assembly of God Church. She is the daughter of Kevin and Robyn Thompson and plans to attend NDSU to possibly major in nursing.
Alyssa Erickson was active in basketball, volleyball, drama, Science Olympiad, 4-H, band, chorus and the student council. She is the daughter of Corey and Bonnie Erickson and plans to attend Lake Region State College to study nursing.
The Leslie Strand Scholarship Endowment Fund was established by the late Laura Legacie Strand in memory of her husband and son, both named Leslie Strand. The Leslie Strand Scholarship Endowment is part of the Devils Lake Area Foundation, a charitable community trust.
Leslie N. Strand, the husband of Laura Strand, was editor of the Benson County Farmers Press at Minnewaukan 1948-49, 1954-63 and 1967-70. He was editor and publisher of the Foster County Independent at Carrington when he died unexpectedly Oct. 1, 1975 at the age of 60.
Leslie J. Strand, son of Laura and Les Strand, was a 1962 graduate of Minnewaukan High School. He was one of the owners of the We Fest at Detroit Lakes, Minn. He died Aug. 8, 1989 at the age of 45 as a result of injuries sustained in an auto accident the previous day.

Alyssa Erickson

Katrece Thompson

4-H’ers win awards
The 2008 Benson County 4-H Communication Arts, Consumer Choices and Project Expo Events were held at the Minnewaukan School on April 12.
Judges were Flo Kallenbach, Norma Jean Neumiller and Kathy Tofsrud.
Project Expo winners were Kristine Keller, grand champion-teen and Preston Gilderhus, grand champion scientific presentation-teen.

Consumer Choices winners, left to right, were Jessica Johnson, reserve champion-preteen; Katie Rice, honorable mention-preteen; Kya Knoke, grand champion-preteen; Cooper Knoke, honorable mention-8 to10-year-olds; and Preston Gilderhus, reserve champion-teen. Not pictured is Ben Backstrom, grand champion-teen.

Communication Arts winners are pictured, left to right, back row, Caleb Johnson, blue ribbon interpretive reading-preteen; Cooper Knoke, blue ribbon presentation software-preteen; Jenae Johnson, grand champion interpretive reading-teen; Andy Backstrom, grand champion public speaking-teen; Ben Backstrom, grand champion dramatic-teen; and Preston Gilderhus, holding his Project Expo ribbon. In the front row are Kya Knoke, reserve champion public speaking-preteen, Kristine Keller, reserve champion public speaking-teen; Katie Rice, grand champion commercial-preteen; and Jessica Johnson, grand champion commercial-preteen. Not pictured is Charity Dosch, recitation-Cloverbud.

Maddock class visits Sully’s Hill
The sixth grade class at the Maddock School visited Sully’s Hill April 17 to attend "Ecology Education." Students from several schools attended activities that day.
The first presentation was about rangelands, during which students learned about the different types of plants and grasses found in the area. The second presentation was about wetlands. Students were able to see how water moves throughout a wetland and also learned about ways people and animals use them. The third presentation was about woodlands, during which students were shown how to check the age of a tree and also the correct way to water a tree or shrub.
After this presentation, the students moved to another site, where they were given information about the components of soil. The presenter let them check different samples to find out how much sand or clay was in each. They got their hands dirty at this one! After this presentation, the students washed up and enjoyed a meal of grilled hamburgers, chips and milk, provided by the people putting on the EcoEd Day.
After lunch, the manager of the visitors’ center at Sully’s Hill gave a presentation on wildlife. Students were able to touch elk antlers and different horns and bones.
Next, the students moved indoors to listen to a presentation on water quality, where they were shown the many things that can cause pollution in lakes and rivers, including natural waste from farm animals, chemicals and pollutants such as gasoline and oil. After a quick quiz on the types of grains and crops, the students learned how crops are measured and how to calculate the square feet in an acre.
The outing ended with a presentation by a woman from Williston who keeps snakes and spiders as pets. Students saw a python and a tarantula and several students touched the creatures (although their teacher did not).

Sixth graders from Maddock who visited Sully’s Hill recently are, left to right, seated in front, Alecz Hill and Shawn Aabrekke. Kneeling in the middle row: Renae Lauinger, Kaylin Corrington, Kelsey Smith, Jamie Buckmier and Alexis Huffman. Standing: Isabella Lawson, Shelby Brandvold, Kaleb Westad, Dylan Lauinger, Zane Paulson, Alex Sabbe and Justin Johnson.

Takes first place
Andy Backstrom of Maddock holds the North Dakota American Legion Oratorical Contest traveling trophy for taking first place in the state high school contest. He represented the Theodore A. Togstad American Legion Post 123 at the contest. Following the presentation of the trophy, Andy and his parents, Dennis and Priscilla Backstrom and brother Ben traveled to Indianapolis, Ind. for the national competition. Andy will receive a $1,500 scholarship for competing at the national level. The trophy will remain at the Maddock School until next year’s contest.