By Reagan Crowdis

April 16, 2021

The 7th grade jazz band had a jazz band competition on February 26th. The 7th graders placed 4th overall.

Nathan Harrington a 7th grader at the middle school. Nathan played the alto saxophone in the 7th grade jazz band. Nathan also played 2 solos at the competition.

Brooke Sprague is also a 7th grader. She played one solo and said that jazz band was fun. She also said that it was fun to be able to talk to her friends while also playing the also saxophone.

Jenna Krantz a 7th grader. She stated that she enjoyed playing with her friends. She got 1st in the solo awards out of several soloists. She also said that she was nervous to play in front of the judges.

The 7th grade jazz band had a lot of people who learned new instruments. Some people had to change to a new instrument. Amelia Growden changed from a flute to the bass guitar.

The students in the jazz band did very well. If you are in 6th grade the 7th graders encourage you to join jazz band. It is fun and you learn a lot from it. Overall it is a great experience.

By Jenna Krantz

April 16, 2021

Honor Band Canceled for the Second Year in a Row

This year, 11 7th-grade students were selected for the honor band. This band is called the SCIBA (South Central Iowa Bandmasters Association). A few of these students were Sadie Goering, Jocelyn Manock, and Aidan Trier. As implied, it was an honor to be chosen for this group, because it means they are the top band students in 7th grade.

Aidan, a trombone player, says that “She (Mrs. Hoverstein) had sent in our lesson books to the high lord people who had chosen the top people who were furthest in their lesson books at the beginning of the school year”

Unfortunately, the honor band concert has been canceled this year, but it was still a big honor to be chosen. Sadie, a clarinet player, said that instead of a concert, they “got a picture and a certificate because there’s no honor band this year, for if you would’ve been in the honor band but, you know, covid killed everything.”

There was also an honor band last year, and there will be an honor band next year that will hopefully not be canceled. Jocelyn, a clarinet player, says, “I was excited about performing and meeting other people.”

By Olivia Nefzger

February 26, 2021

There are many things that North Polk cheerleaders enjoyed about their sport this season. Makayla McGraw, Katelyn Simoens, Emily Gibbons, and Savannah Tighe shared their favorite and least favorite things about basketball season.

Makayla’s favorite thing about cheerleading is being around people like friends and fellow cheerleaders. Katelyn enjoys stunting, She is also all the positions including flyer, base, back base, and front spot. Makayla is also all of the positions along with Emily, and Savannah is a flyer. Emily and Savannah’s favorite things about cheer is stunting. They can do all of the positions as well.

Emily thinks that the hardest part of cheerleading is remembering all of the cheers, being loud, and also being sharp. Emily, Savannah, Katelyn, and Makayla all say that conditioning is hard but it’s good for you. Emily Gibbons loves cheerleading. Emily said “I love it! Not only is it a good way to exercise, but I love love love stunting because certain stunts challenge me so I push myself out of my comfort zone.”

The reason Savannah decided to join cheerleading is “I decided to do cheerleading because i thought it would be fun to stunt.” Some of these girls are excited to do cheer next year. And Makayla would like to add: “Have a nice day!”

By Jocelyn Manock

November 18, 2020

7th grader, Aidan Schumann, states that his favorite game was the Winterset game because that was the only game they won. He then says that the score for the Winterset game was 16 to 14. His goal for the season was to get a touchdown or win a game. He then says that his favorite part about football is, “Probably getting tackled or dogging everyone, like juke them out.” He then shares which position he plays, “I personally play outside receiver, which is like X or Z.” He then says that his favorite play is, “Right quick fade, it’s where I’m on the outside, on the left and I go out really long. Or like Duo Left Hail Mary, is like to the end zone for a touchdown.”

Coach Albertsen, the seventh grade football coach, explained more about the season. He states that his favorite part of the season was watching everyone improve so much from the early days in August to mid-October. He then shares what his favorite memory was, “My favorite memory was how excited the team was when we defeated Winterset on our home field.” He then goes on to say that they had played six games this year and had won, one of the six games they played. The game ending score was 16 to 14 against Winterset.

Coach Albertsen then shares how he coped with COVID being an obstacle this year, “COVID definitely made our season more complicated. We had to wear masks while coaching, which I had not done before. We also had to make sure to follow the guidelines on minimizing the risk of spread during practice and games. It's something we had to be mindful of in order to finish the season.” He then shares that his favorite part of coaching is teaching athletes to focus on improvement, rather than comparing themselves to others. He then states what his favorite part of football is, “Football is the ultimate team game. It takes every player doing their job to be successful. Some other sports can be dominated by an individual, but not football.

Kaiya Strawn, a 7th grader, states that her favorite part about playing football is that she gets to play with her friends, that it’s just a fun time. Also, that you encourage each other. She then says that COVID-19 has affected her year in many ways, for example she states, “We lost over half our football players, so we all had to learn new positions and for our first game we were mostly all in every play.” She then states that they coped with over half of their football players gone by, “Just knowing that we all had to try our best, and that we had to give it our all, that’s all that really matters. She then states what her favorite game was, “I’d say our Bondurant game, because there was a lot of struggling in it and we all had to help ourselves and get back up, it was really cold and rainy and we all just had to cope with what was going on around us.”

She then says that she will be playing next year and is excited about new coaches and maybe playing different teams, also seeing who will be playing next year. She then states why she played football in the first place, “Actually I had a friend, we were on the bus talking about football and if they were going to play or not, and my friend, Logan, said that I would be good at it, and so I said, ‘I don’t know.’ And I thought about it and went home and asked my mom and she said no at first and then I asked my step dad and he said, ‘Yeah, go for it,’ and so I went for it. She then says that she plays Nose on defense and that her favorite thing to do is to tackle people. She then shares something that surprised her this year, “Other teams and how good they were. And all the things they did differently than us.” Lastly she shared, “Go out for football! It’s an amazing experience and I love doing it!”

November 18, 2020

By: Madi Pratt and Savannah Tighe

Mrs. Rose is the current art teacher at North Polk who is always finding creative outlets for her students.

She has recently picked up Inktober. ”Inktober is an event where you are given 31 different drawing prompts and the only rule is that it needs to be in ink,” Mrs. Rose states. “The concept of Inktober is to get people to drop to get them created and you said creative side of their brain.” Mrs. Rose said. She started Inktober with the current 7th graders. ”I thought that if I got 8th grade students that told me to become a better artist I should do the same because I was not drawing everyday.”

Her favorite part of Inktober is, “Reviewing what students have made because they can have clever and funny takes on the prompts.” Her least favorite part of Inktober is she has all of our ideas in her head so she struggles to find her idea.

She started Inktober because, “It is a good way to make a habit of creating something one time a day,” she said “ I think generally it's a really good outlet for kids but it does have 31 days in it and it can get fun or it can feel like it's a really really long time especially when I have you guys every other day so if you miss a day I guess you have it on a Thursday then you're responsible for Friday Saturday and Sunday so there is a lot of hatchet works for you guys to do specially over the weekend some people put in a lot more effort the others.”

As you can see Inktober is more important then it may seem. Mrs. Rose says, she can't wait to see another year of Inktober drawings!

November 18, 2020

By Ella Hill

7th grade girls basketball is beginning, and the sound of squeaking sneakers is underway. There are 16 girls going out for the girls 7th grade age group this year, which is an extraordinarily low number. There will only be enough players for two teams. An A and a B team.

Addison Mart (better known as Addi) shares how hyped she is that basketball has finally begun. “I like playing basketball with my friends,” she says. “We practice every week day after school. We do drills, conditioning, offense, defense, that sort of thing. The basketballs are provided, we just have to wipe them down afterward.” Addi says. Some changes have had to be made to the practices due to COVID 19. The 7th grade girls started off the season being able to take their masks off for practice, but with positive cases increasing they are now required, to slow the spread. It will be necessary for spectators to wear facial coverings at all times.

The girls first game is on November 9th. Both the A and the B team will wear their color reversible jerseys. One side is red, one side is white. Both teams will be wearing white for the first game. The basketball season has begun, but who knows how long it will last, with Coronavirus going wild.

North Polk’s Trap Team

By Eaton Beckstrom

November 19, 2019

Have you ever heard of the sport trap? Trapshooting is a sport where you shoot targets out of the air. North Polk has had a trap shooting team for the last two years, which involves 7th-12th graders. The team practiced at Ames and Polk City. They use 12 and 20 gauge shotguns to shoot clay pigeons. Clay pigeons are small, fragile frisbees about two times smaller than a dinner plate. For safety, they have to read a board with the safety rules on it before they start. The most important rule is to always keep the muzzle in a safe direction with the action open. At the range in Ames, the trap house is voice-activated, but in Polk City, it is remotely activated. When you’re ready, you yell, “Pull!” The goal is to hit as many as you can out of 25 clay pigeons.

Sam Wetzler, a first-year member, said he found out about the trap team “A month before it started.” Sign up was during the summer. His favorite thing about the trap team was “getting to shoot clay pigeons.” He also liked the trap team because he said, “my friends were on it.”Trap is a fun and really popular sport and people in other countries play it too. If you’re interested in joining the trap team next fall, make sure you sign up and give it a try.

7th-grade volleyball had 6 teams this year: A-F. Mrs. Ann Bonewitz, coach of the A- D teams, has been coaching volleyball for 15 years overall, 9 years at North Polk Middle School (NPMS), teaching for 13 years in 8th grade Science, this is her 14th year, has this to say, “I think the season went really well. We had 44 girls overall.” She had to coach 22 girls. Overall, she won & lost games, but they did win all their matches. E- F teams had a similar season. Her assistant coach, Mrs. Bakken, coached teams E-F. Mrs. Bonewitz says a positive of the season was the girls improved a lot. She viewed them as a good passing team. She also says a negative was the number of players to court-ratio. The number of players on the court made things a little difficult, but she made it work. But, everybody did work hard, and they learn some life- lessons.

Mrs. Sloan (Head 8th grade volleyball coach) and Mrs. Royer (Assistant 8th grade volleyball coach) had more wins than losses. Mrs. Sloan has been coaching for 2 years, one in 9th grade and one in 8th grade, this was her first year coaching 8th grade, and she teaches in P.E. & Health. Mrs. Sloan says, “I think the season went very well.” She chooses to coach 8th grade that season because it was less time commitment. Mrs. Sloan said one positive of the season was the athletes were willing to work hard, a negative of the season was their focus needed more work. Overall, a positive part of the season was getting to know the girls.

By Addison Ollendike

November, 19, 2019

North Polk middle school basketball has a separate 7th and 8th-grade team. A game of basketball is a 5 vs 5 players with 4 quarters in each game.

For the 7th grade, there are 4 different teams. There is an A, B, C, and D team that have 8-10 players on each team. If there is any confusion as to why there are four different teams, they do that so students can be with other students with similar skill sets.

There are three coaches that help with 7th-grade basketball. The head coach Mrs. Bakken was a student at North Polk and played basketball in 7th and 8th grade. She said that she loves to coach 7th grade because they are the middle child of the school. The 2 assistant coaches are Mr. Ehrlichman and Mr. Halterman. Mr. Halterman said he always liked basketball: “I played from the time I could walk and all through high school.” Mr. Ehrlichman said that “I played in High School and I’ve been coaching Middle School basketball for 5 years.”

Their first game was Monday, November 4th, 2019. As of November 8th the A, B, and C team are all undefeated, but the D team lost their first game.

When asked about their favorite part of this year’s student 7th-grade girls basketball team. They all replied with similar answers saying this year’s girls have good attitudes, hard-working mindsets, everyone is looking to improve, and they are all kind to each other. Basketball is a sport that is played all around the world. It is an all-around sport meaning it can be a sport that is played indoors and outdoors. Wish luck to the 7th and 8th-grade girls basketball teams for a great and safe season!

NPMS Wrestling

By Grace Wedig

November 19, 2019

The 7th grade and 8th grade North Polk have a wrestling team. The team started in late October and the season ends right before winter break in December. For our school it is an all boy team but for some schools they have a girls team. The coaches are Jerry Walker and Chris Silver. The wrestling team for North Polk has been here since the 70’s or 60’s.

Wrestling is a sport or activity of grappling with an opponent and trying to throw or hold them down on the ground, typically according to a code of rules. When asked in an interview “What made them get into Wrestling?” Coach Silver replied with “When I was in Middle School Mr. Taylor and Mr. Bennett encouraged me to give wrestling a try. I did and I was hooked! It was one of the best decisions that I have ever made in my life. Wrestling has taught me discipline, how to persevere, and how to work hard.” And Coach Walker said “I had always played basketball when I was growing up but wrestling had always intrigued me. I went out for the sport when I was a sophomore in high school and had a lot of fun. I didn’t continue competing after injuring my knee, but I still went to meets as a fan and supported my buddies who were on the team. Having one of my friends who ended up becoming a three time state champion I believe also helped keep my interest in the sport.” The team has their practices in the middle school wrestling room and their meets take place in the high school gym.

When asked why they decided to coach, Coach Silver replied with “I have always enjoyed athletics and my coaches at North Polk had a tremendous impact on my life. I wanted to coach to give back to my community as well as have a positive impact on the new generations of North Polk athletes. I am hoping that I can make as much of a positive impact in the lives of the athletes that I coach as my coaches had on me. I started coaching my freshman year of college.” And Coach Walker replied with “ I knew that I wanted to be a teacher & coach for quite awhile and my first teaching position in 1976 included wrestling as one of the sports to coach as part of the contract. Because I’d enjoyed the sport so much I was really grateful to get that opportunity. The relationships with athletes that I’ve had the good fortune to coach that have been formed through the sport have been extremely meaningful. I hope that I’ve been able to have a positive influence on them through the interaction that coaching wrestling has brought.”

Coach Silver said that practice that they focus on techniques. He said, "We also spend time working through different positions and situations that the wrestlers will encounter throughout the season. We record our wrestling meets so that we can watch film to determine what we are doing well and also to identify areas where we need to improve.” And Coach Walker said “There is a lot of drill and repetition that is involved in wrestling, so we spend a good amount of time focusing on fundamentals. I’ve always believed that a person needs to have a solid knowledge of fundamentals in order to have a good experience. If the fundamentals are lacking things will be more difficult so we spend a lot of time working on mastering basic fundamental positions.”

NPMS Football Recap

By: Riley Doll

November 19, 2019

The NPMS football season flew right by ending in October, and it starts again in nine months. It was very fast but for the football players, it was 24/7 except on weekends. The teams played games at home and away. The best game in my opinion was one of our 7th grade B games.

We did our best this season. We did not do field goals for some reason, but we did get some points on the board. We won our A games and some B games.

Mr Furlong, said that he thinks the entire team improved a lot and "did a lot better than they did last year, and improved in most of the areas they need to and they did the best of their abilities.” He also said that "the team really improved and all 11 guys on offense and defense, did their jobs and there practice made them win most of their games’’.

By: Ruth Turczynski

The North Polk Cross Country team really improved from the time trials to the first meet. They have been practicing hard, Mrs.Leach, one of the coaches, said “the first meet went really well, and almost everyone has improved from time trials!” The girls got 3rd place overall while the boys got 8th.

For warm-ups, the team will do dynamic stretching and jogging around the track two times to make sure no one pulls a muscle or sprain anything. Then they will do sprinting drills and pick-up runs. For the actual workout, the team practices all over the place. Sometimes they will practice at the middle school or high school track, on the street, or sometimes they will practice on our school’s own course. At the end of each practice the cross country team will do partner stretching. This is when runners get a partner and hold their leg in the air, then put their leg against their chest.

This year’s team has eight boys and eighteen girls, which is fewer runners than in years past. Even though there are less people on the team, the runners still practice hard and are improving.

Volleyball at North Polk is a fun activity that anyone 7th grade and up can join. Teams are divided fairly by skill level and experience. Volleyball girls have been working on bumping, setters are set, overhand serves, hitting, calling the ball, drils, and being a team.

There are 44 girls out for 7th Grade Volleyball. Each girl is allowed 9 playing dates. The teams are decided by grouping girls with their skills and experience. Players say that the teams are fairly distributed.

Drills are determined by working on fundamentals and then working on skills that need improvement. Some drills they do are spiking drills, serving drills, bumping drills, setting drills, and service receiving.

Strengths of this years players are that the athletes are extremely competitive. Weaknesses are that the players could improve on communication and team unity. Overall the teams are loving playing and haven’t had many loses.

At the end of the season the team will have a celebration with all players. This years volleyball players are working very hard and making good improvement.