General

Students from both Dubuque Senior and Hempstead High Schools competed in the Iowa High School State Track and Field Championship at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, IA from May 18 – May 20th.

Congratulations to the following student qualifiers in the Class 4A categories:

Dubuque Senior High School

GIRLS

High Jump

• Cambel Drapeau

1500M Run 

• Leah Klapatauskas

3000M Run

• Emma Chesterman
• Leah Klapatauskas

4x800M Relay

• Emily Gorton, Claire Hoyer, Neveah Kessler, and Leah Klapatauskas

Alternates

• Kaitlyn Miller
• Julia Kilgore

BOYS

Shot Put

• Cohen Pfohl

100M Dash

• Nick Lambe
• Deyon Moore

110M Hurdles 

• Nate Obbink

400M Hurdles 

• Nate Obbink

Shuttle Hurdle Relay

• Nate Obbink, Tyler McDonald, Ethan Rader, and Dylan Thul

4x100M Relay

• Jaden Arnold, Benjamin Francis, Nick Lambe, and Deyon Moore

4x200M Relay

• Jaden Arnold, Benjamin Francis, Nick Lambe, and Deyon Moore

800M Sprint Medley Relay

• Jaden Arnold, Benjamin Francis, Nick Lambe, and Deyon Moore

4x400M Relay

• Jaden Arnold
• Charles Crow
• Dustin Foht
• Benjamin Francis

Alternates

• Marshawn Dukes
• Isaac Gooch
• Zack Heiar
• Montrel Jones
• Landon Kelly
• Jackson Kieffer
• Daylin Moore

Hempstead High School

GIRLS

Discus

• Gabbi Frederick

Shot Put Wheelchair

• Ally Darter

100M, 200M, and 400M Wheelchair

• Ally Darter

400M Dash

• Camdyn Kay

800M Run

• Keelee Leitzen
• Brooke O’Brien

1500M Run

• Sophia Dallal
• Keelee Letizen

3000M Run

• Evie Henneberry

4x400M Relay

• Isabel Brauhn, Camdyn Kay, Mylee Lange, and Maddie Leeser
  • Alternates: Piper Birkenholz, Sophia Dallal, Brooke O’Brien, and Mallory Tomkins

4x800M Relay

• Sophia Dallal, Camdyn Kay, Keelee Leitzen, and Brooke O’Brien
  • Alternates: Isabel Brauhn, Julia Gehl, Evie Henneberry, and Mylee Lange

Distance Medley Relay

• Keelee Leitzen, Brooke O’Brien, Ayla Osterkamp, and Mallory Tomkins
  • Alternates: Akeelah Anderson, Evie Henneberry, Camdyn Kay, and Jillian Renne 

Sprint Medley Relay

• Akeelah Anderson, Brooke O’Brien, Ayla Osterkamp, and Mallory Tomkins
  • Alternates: Isabel Brauhn, Camdyn Kay, Maddie Leeser, and Jillian Renne

BOYS

High Jump

• Will Pitz

1600M Run

• Caleb Kass
• John Maloney

3200M Run

• Caleb Kass
• John Maloney

4x400M Relay

• Charlie Driscoll, Will Pitz, Devin Spahn, and Joe Vize
  • Alternates: Matt Hanselman, Zack Johnson, Avery Keehner, and Jordan Plummer 

4x800M Relay 

• Charlie Driscoll, Micah Fern, Zack Johnson, and Joe Vize
  • Alternates: Brandon Kass, Caleb Kass, Matt Hanselman, and Owen Leitzen 

Pioneer Cup Runner-Up (Top 5 Internationally)

• Charlie Ramos
• Ben Valentine

Pioneer Cup Invitational Round Competitors

Team 2

• Will Kelley
• Ian Wagner

Team 3

• Neal Patel
• Owen Wagener

Team 4

• Beckett Kraus
• Winston Richardson 

Team 5

• Landon Brimeyer
• Max VanderPloeg 

Team 9

• Alyssa Blum
• Charlotte Kelley

Team 12

• Aliyah Blum
• Lauren Hunold
• Aubrey Scardino

Pioneer Cup First Round Competitors

Team 6

• Levi James
• Jordan Noel

Team 7 

• Angel Parra
• Justus Riley

Team 8

• Jackson Bartley
• Bryce Hentges
• Layne Massingham

Team 10

• Jocelyn Ervolino
• Jordyn Martin

Team 11

• Tanner Brimeyer
• Alaina Sutter

Team 13

• Wesley Bobis
• Owen Williams

Students from both Dubuque Senior and Hempstead High Schools will compete in the Drake Relays at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, IA from April 26 – April 29th. Known as America’s Athletic Classic, this event is considered one of the top track and field events in the United States.

Congratulations to the following student qualifiers:

Dubuque Senior High School

Girls 1500M Run

• Leah Klapatauskas

Boys Shot Put

• Cohen Pfohl

Boys Team 4x100M Run

• Jaden Arnold
• Ben Francis
• Nick Lambe
• Deyon Moore

Alternates

• Marshawn Dukes
• Noah Roling

Hempstead High School

Co-ed 400M Wheelchair

• Ally Darter

Girls 800M Run

• Keelee Leitzen

Girls 1500M Run

• Keelee Leitzen

Boys 1600M Run

• John Maloney

Boys 3200M Run

• John Maloney

Girls Team 4x100M Relay

• Akeelah Anderson
• Ayla Osterkamp
• Jillian Renne
• Mallory Tomkins

Girls Team 4x400M Relay

• Camdyn Kay
• Keele Leitzen
• Brooke O’Brien
• Ayla Osterkamp

Girls Team 4x800M Relay

• Evie Henneberry
• Camdyn Kay
• Keelee Leitzen
• Brooke O’Brien

Girls Team 800M Sprint Medley Relay

• Akeelah Anderson
• Brooke O’Brien
• Ayla Osterkamp
• Mallory Tomkins

Alternates

• Isabel Brauhn
• Maddie Digman
• Julia Gehl
• Zach Johnson
• Maddie Leeser
• Aubrey Schlichte

The Dubuque Community School District was recently recognized for its communication efforts in the 2023 Iowa School Public Relations Association (ISPRA) Communication Contest, honoring outstanding school communication throughout the state.

The district received 9 awards in the contest, with each entry evaluated and scored independently by school communication professionals in other state chapters of the National School Public Relations Association. Based on a scoring rubric, winning entries can receive (from lowest to highest honors) an Award of Merit, an Award of Excellence, or a Blue and Gold Award, given to entries recognized as best in the state for receiving the top overall score of 5 out of 5.

The district was honored with the following:

BLUE AND GOLD AWARDS

• • Photography: Dubuque Senior High School Madrigal Dinner
  • Video (Long): Say Something
  • Social Media: Goals for the Year Campaign (12 post campaign)
    • Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, Post 5, Post 6, Post 7, Post 8, Post 9, Post 10, Post 11, and Post 12

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

• • Video Series: Teacher of the Year Finalists
  • Video Series: Sign Language Instructional Series
  • Video (Short): Fulton Elementary Farewell 
  • Video (Long): Together, We Can Achieve Anything
  • Excellence in Writing: Superintendent Farewell Editorial
  • Special Purpose: Kindergarten Sign-Up

“As a district, we believe that having outstanding schools relies on having an engaged, informed community,” said Mike Cyze, chief communication officer. “We work hard to proactively and transparently communicate to those we serve and we are pleased to be recognized for our work in doing so.”

 

 

High school students from the Hempstead High School Physics Team recently returned from an impressive showing at the 2022-23 State Physics Competition at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) on Tuesday, April 11th.

The competition included a series of five physics events that stressed creativity and ingenuity as well as an understanding of physics related principles. Over 230 students were present with 24 schools representing Iowa. The top eight scorers in each category added to the team points which helped the Hempstead High School Physics Team earn first place out of twenty teams.

As a result, ten $1,000 scholarships will be gifted to ten students that choose to go into a STEM related field at UNI. The team also had two students earn individual medals as place winners for being one of the top three teams in their categories.

Congratulations to the following students on these honors:

State Team Championship

Hempstead High School Physics Team

Individual Medal Winners

Measurement Team #1 – 2nd Place

• Jett Didelot | 10th grade
• John D’Souza | 10th grade

Bridge Team #1 – 3rd Place

• Jett Didelot | 10th grade
• John D’Souza | 10th grade

Top 8 Place Finishers

Catapult Team #1

• William Houselog | 10th grade
• William Scott | 11th grade

Mousetrap Team #1

• Brett Tomkins | 11th grade
• Rylan Mours | 10th grade

Mousetrap Team #2

• Paul Mueller | 11th grade
• Andrew Chipperfield | 10th grade

Soda Straw Team #1

• Brett Tomkins | 11th grade
• Ryan Mullen | 11th grade

Soda Straw Team #2

• Dawson Fish | 11th grade
• Charlie Driscoll | 11th grade

Bridge Team #2

• William Scott | 11th grade
• John Maloney | 11th grade

Bridge Team #3

• Hannah Davisdon | 11th grade
• Ryan Mullen | 11th grade

Measurement Team #2

• Hannah Davisdon | 11th grade
• Ryan Mullen | 11th grade

Measurement Team #3

• Rylan Mours | 10th grade
• Aiden Quam | 11th grade

State Competitors

Catapult Team #2

• Hannah Davisdon | 11th grade
• Rylan Mours | 10th grade

Catapult Team #3

• Paul Mueller | 11th grade
• Andrew Chipperfield | 10th grade

Mousetrap Team #3

• John Maloney | 11th grade
• Dawson Fish | 11th grade

Soda Straw Team #3

• Aiden Quam | 11th grade
• Rian Velde* | 10th grade

*Denotes student that attends Dubuque Senior High School

High school students from Hempstead and Dubuque Senior recently returned from an impressive showing at the 2023 IHSAA Boys Wrestling 3A State Championship.

Congratulations to the following students on these honors:

3A State Dual Championship

Hempstead High School – 7th Place

Individual 3A State Finishers

Hempstead High School
Jojo Lewis (wt. 220) – 2nd place
Josiah Schaetzle (wt. 160) – 3rd place
Mitch Pins (wt. 106) – 6th place
Evan Bratten (wt. 113) – 8th place
Mitchell Murphy (wt. 120) – 8th place

Individual 3A State Qualifiers

Hempstead High School
Landon Reisen (wt. 126)
Dawson Fish (wt. 138)
Cole Rettemaier (wt. 182)

Dubuque Senior High School
Mason Besler (wt. 120)
Beau Healey (wt. 160)
Cohen Pfohl (wt. 285)

 

You might say it has been another banner year for the Dubuque Senior High School speech team.

On Saturday, February 18th the Dubuque Senior Speech Team performed at the Iowa High School Speech Association Large Group All-State Festival at Iowa State University. The team of over 75 Dubuque Senior students proudly represented and entertained audiences in performances ranging from One Act Play to Musical Theatre. The Dubuque Senior Speech Team closed the ceremony by earning three Critic’s Choice Awards for outstanding performance of the day in the categories of Ensemble Acting, Radio Broadcasting and Solo Mime.

In the category of Ensemble Acting, Over the River and Through the Woods claimed the Critic’s Choice Award. The play, written by Joe DiPietro, is a warm-hearted, boisterously funny, and touching story about intergenerational relationships and deep familial love. The performance featured students Lucia Kuehn, Scout Kuehn, Soren Obermueller, Aidan Seville, and Emma Ward. It was directed by Aaron Dean. The critic was Tiffany Johnson, Assistant Professor of Theatre at Iowa State University and Artistic Director of the Pyramid Theatre Company of Des Moines.

In the category of Radio Broadcasting, KWOZ was awarded the Critic’s Choice Award. The performance imagines a witty, whimsical news broadcast from the Land of Oz featuring beloved characters from the classic film. The newscast featured Aidan Dolan, Maddie Fast, Joplin Halstoos, Maura Lawler, Makayla Makovec, Brice Shaw, Hannah Tracy, and Nate Williams. It was directed by Greg Ernzen. The critic was Calyn Thompson, an anchor at WHO-TV 13, Des Moines.

In the category of Solo Mime, The Price of Perfection received the Critic’s Choice Award. This moving performance examined the pressures of body image and the toll it takes both physically and mentally. The performer was Elise Norman. It was directed by Megan Schumacher. The critic was Paul Kalina, Associate Professor of Movement Studies at the University of Iowa.

Dubuque Senior was also awarded the E. Wayne Cooley Large Group Sweepstakes Trophy. The trophy is awarded to the school receiving the most All-State honors at the IHSSA Large Group Festival, making Dubuque Senior the 2023 Large Group State Champions.

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Iowa High School Speech Association Information:

• The Critic’s Choice Award is given by a theatre professional to the top performance of the day in each category.
• This is the tenth Ensemble Acting Award for Dubuque Senior, a category dating back to 1984.
• This is the fourth Radio Broadcasting Critic’s Choice Award for Dubuque Senior, a category dating back to 2005.
• This is the fifth Critic’s Choice Award in Solo Mime for Dubuque Senior, one of the original IHSSA categories from the first festival back in 1981.
• The three Critic’s Choice Awards tie the school record for these honors awarded at a single festival. Dubuque Senior has achieved this feat four times. (1984, 1987, 2015, 2023)
• The award includes a traveling banner which Dubuque Senior will return to the All-State Festival next year.
• This marks the 34th, 35th, and 36th Critic’s Choice Award win for Dubuque Senior High School and the 17th in the last 11 years.
• This is Dubuque Senior’s seventh Large Groups Sweepstakes State Championship. (1984, 2001, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2023)

We are pleased to present the Fall/Winter 2022-2023 K-12 Virtual Student Art Gallery, highlighting the amazing artwork of our students.

The exhibit features the ability to virtually walk through a curated gallery of work — and we hope you’ll enjoy immersing yourself in the exhibit as the vision of these talented student artists comes to life.

VIEW THE VIRTUAL STUDENT ART EXHIBITION

The Iowa Legislature is again discussing proposed legislation that would create a school voucher program in Iowa, often being referred to as Education Savings Accounts.

Now is the time for action.

Iowa already has significant school choice in its public schools and the Dubuque Community School District opposes the creation or expansion of programs/plans that redirect or designate additional taxpayer funds for private school, homeschooling or other private services.

We hope you will consider advocating in opposition to school vouchers as well.

Investments in education savings accounts, voucher programs, school tuition organizations or homeschool:

• Remove resources from public schools,
• Lack accountability for expenditures, requirements to educate all children or provide special education services, and
• Are hidden from the public oversight that should come with tax dollars.

KEY TALKING POINTS

• Iowa already has a wide range of school choice options for parents and students, including: in district transfer, district-to-district public school open enrollment, charter schools, strong non-public schools, home school options, publicly funded School Tuition Organization tax credits.
• Parents should have the choice to enroll their child in a private or religious school, but not with public taxpayer funds.
• Use public dollars for public schools, period. The public’s investment should be used to support public community schools which are open to all students regardless of race, religion, gender, socio-economic status and disability. These same expectations do not exist for private educational institutions in our state.
• This bill creates incentives for outside entities and private organizations to establish a private school in our district, without consent of our locally elected School Board. Private schools are then given freedom from regulations that our school district must follow. Why not instead give our public schools flexibility and funding to be innovative?
• Public funds require public accountability and transparency. Public schools are overseen by a publicly elected citizen governing board, are required to report academic results to the general public, have an annual public financial audit, and are transparent with all expenditures and decision-making. Private and religious schools are not held to that same public standard. Taxpayers have a right to know how their funds are being used, but are left in the dark about the use and impact of voucher funds.
• A slippery slope toward a costly and expansive voucher program: This voucher program may start small, but as we’ve seen in other states, once a program is established, it is easy to expand. This will pull more resources away from public schools.

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR

The following legislators represent areas served by the Dubuque Community School District. For a complete directory of legislators, view the FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR tool on the Iowa Legislature website.

• Sen. Carrie Koelker, Iowa Senate District 33
• Sen. Pam Jochum, Iowa Senate District 36
• Rep. Lindsay James, Iowa House District 71
• Rep. Steven Bradley, Iowa House District 66
• Rep. Chuck Isenhart, Iowa House District 72
• Rep. Shannon Lundgren, Iowa House District 65

You can also register your opposition with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.

Middle and high school students across the Dubuque Community School District were recently selected to perform in prestigious music festivals across the state.

Congratulations to the following students on these honors:

2022 All-State Music Festival

Saturday, November 19, in Ames, Iowa

Dubuque Senior High School
Jace Holz, orchestra (cello)
Gabrielle Norman, band (contra-alto clarinet)
Henry Raber, band (French horn)
Drew Weidemann, orchestra (bass)
Hao Xu, orchestra (violin)

Hempstead High School
Megan Bolduc, orchestra (clarinet)
Ella Stahl, band (clarinet)
Brett Tomkins, band (tuba)
Payton Reid, chorus (tenor)
Noah Blair, band (string bass)
Alec Bowman, orchestra (violin)
Cora Harvey, orchestra (violin)
Hailie Lukasik, orchestra (violin)
Gavin Weinbender, orchestra (violin)

Alternates:
Emily Davisdon, band (alto saxophone)
Gwen Deutsch, band (oboe)

2022 University of Northern Iowa Clarinet Festival

Sunday, November 6, in Cedar Falls, Iowa

Roosevelt Middle School
Josie Kilgore
Aaron Blanchard
Isla Steckel
Carson Ambrosy
Kinnick Burkart
Emerson Rowley
Hadley Peat
Adelyn Mottet
Morgan Waddington

Dubuque Senior High School
Elise Norman
Gabrielle Norman

Hempstead High School
Savannah Bailey
Lauren Schmitz

2022 Iowa Opus Honor Choir

Thursday, November 17, in Ames, Iowa

Roosevelt Middle School
Samuel Haug

Washington Middle School
Leeland Wilson
Reid Postma
Liam Dostal (also a solo finalist singing tenor 1 part)
Julie Derks

2022 Iowa Junior Honor Orchestra

Friday, November 18, in Ames, Iowa

Hempstead High School
On violin: Maria Hart, Jeannie Jasper, Alexis Luetzelschwab, Abd Ul-Haq, Gavin Weinbender
On viola: Stacy Montelius
On cello: Bella Hruska, Aadi Patel (alternate)
On bass: Hannah Wrobleski

Dubuque Senior High School
On violin: Iris Lammer-Heindel

2022 Northeast Iowa Bandmasters Association Honor Band

Saturday, December 3, in Oelwein, Iowa

Roosevelt Middle School
Aaron Blanchard, clarinet
Addison Hingtgen, bassoon
Matthew Haug, trumpet
Nolan Page, trumpet
Diem Treanor, French horn
Jordan Davisdon, French horn
Addilyn Dolan, clarinet

Dubuque Senior High School
Madison Fast, oboe
Lance Hasselblad, bassoon
Audrey Kilgore, French horn
Calvin Lueken, trombone

Hempstead High School
Savannah Bailey, clarinet
Jacob Blanchard, trumpet
Emily Davisdon, alto saxophone
Hannah Davisdon, flute
Gwen Deutsch, oboe
Hanna Dolan, flute
Emmelia Pitt, tenor saxophone
Lauren Schmitt, bass clarinet