Norse News

By Ana H. This year's Norse term was quite a surprise. Many changes were made, and some people liked it, and others didn’t. Though there were changes, Norse Term was still crazy fun. I was amazed to see all the different projects, from job shadows to college visits. I had the opportunity to see many people’s ideas come to life and what they want for their future. Some of these changes were that the Freshmen did a project at the school. Although the Freshmen had to stay at the school, I think they still had fun. I had a freshman friend who got to see firefighters and EMTs come to school and talk about their experiences and jobs. Other students got to play games and just have fun with no stress of deciding what they wanted to do for Norse Term. Some other changes include more community service acts, such as volunteering at Bethany or Affordables. I think overall Norse Term is a great idea, and it can help teach the R-S students what they want for their future. Norse Term teaches the ...

By Taryn P. Norse Term is a huge opportunity to show your skills. Now taking place in February, students are allowed to take creative freedom on their projects. However, there is a change this year, starting this Norse Term students now have three categories they must fit their projects into.  Freshmen have to stay at the school and do projects around the school in selected rooms, for the rest of the school you have the option to pick between a personal project, community service project, or a job shadow or college visit. These guidelines give the students freedom; however, still make a difference or get information on things they are interested in.  This is my junior year so I had three options to pick from this year and next year I will have only two because you can not repeat the same category. For my Norse Term project, I chose to do a job shadow. I shadowed a local hair stylist to learn more about the field and get any questions I had, answered. This was super beneficial ...

By Leila W. On Monday, February 10th, the Roland-Story school board met again for their monthly meeting. The main topic of this meeting was finances.  Member of the school board include Chris McIlrath, Erica Watts, Matt Dahlsten, Ashlee Mullenbach, and Tosha Whipple. Three other speakers were also present: Mr. McQuillen, Rylee Wolf, and Mrs. Hartzler.  The first thing they discussed were teacher positions. A few people are applying for the Special ED and Preschool positions. There are also some teachers retiring this year, so there is a need for new applicants for those jobs. Rylee Wolff mentioned how the world of education is changing drastically, and fewer kids are interested in becoming teachers. This can cause a problem with many school districts' inability to fill their open positions. Another subject that was brought up was paying off renovation debt. In recent years, the elementary school has had a huge renovation of its music and art rooms. The high school got a new fo...

By Morgan B. Every year, around 3,000 Iowan FFA members compete at Nationals. But getting to nationals is not an easy task. The road to nationals starts with sub-districts. This year five members of the Roland-story FFA chapter had the opportunity to compete at subdistricts in Algona on February 11, 2025. Competitors included Morgan Bryan in ag sales, Mason Tice in radio broadcasting, Mya Oberender, Taylor Rechkemmer, and Hadley Carlson in chapter program.  Chapter program was the first Roland-Story team to go. Freshmen Mya, Taylor, and Hadley were the first people from Roland Story to compete in Chapter program since advisor, Katelyn Zimmerman, took over the ag program. They got a gold and placed 4th overall, but were unable to advance to districts.  Sophomore Mason Tice was the next to compete. He tried radio broadcasting for the first time this year after competing in Creed speaking his Freshman year. He received a gold rating and placed 5th overall, but did not advance to ...

By Keely O. On Monday, February 10th the Roland-Story Norsemen, ranked #7 in class 3A, played against the Van Meter Bulldogs. The Norsemen’s record is 19-2 and the Bulldogs' record is 11-9. Going into this game the girls had prepared in practice knowing that this was going to be a good game and that they were going to have to fight all the way through. They had scouted Van Meter in previous practices and knew what to expect when they faced them on Monday.  The first quarter had started and it was low scoring, only 7-7 at the end of the first quarter. The start of the second quarter had begun and the Norsemen were starting to take the lead! Finishing out the 1st half with a score of 24-20. During halftime, the Norsemen get a pep talk in the locker room and come out ready to keep competing, and that is just what the 3rd quarter looks like, a competition. Van Meter scored 13 points and the Norsemen scored 12 points, leaving the final score at the end of the 3rd quarter to be 36-33. Th...

By Nevaeh L. On February 8th was Roland Story's sweetheart ball. At the sweethearts dance everyone dressed up and came in a group of friends or a date. It was all anyone can talk about for weeks. The dance was from 8-10 PM. When you arrived at the dance they had the gym lit up with LED lights and a setup stand where the DJ had his speakers and equipment. There was a table with drinks and snacks.   Before everyone hit the dance floor and played any music they had a sweetheart's court of seniors and people got to vote the day before. They had announced who the winners were before the dance. The winners were Patrick Gomez and Kate Berggren.  After they announced the winners they shut the lights off and played music.  As the music began to play people filled the gym up and started dancing.

By Nolan O. The Norsemen can improve to (5-12) after a win against Greene County (3-15). Final score 55 to 22 Norsemen. The Norse gain a much-needed win after losing the last 4 out of 5 previous games. The boys prepare for West Marshall on Tuesday, February 4. After quarter 1 the Norsemen lead 14 to 6 and are looking to keep this commanding lead through the second quarter. Halftime Norsemen lead 27 to 14 and are looking to ride some momentum into the second half. The Norsemen take over in the third quarter and shoot their lead up 42 to 16 with 1 quarter to go and a 26-point lead this game is almost sealed. The final score was 55 to 22 Norsemen win. Sophomore Luke Thoreson leads the way with 25 points on 61%  shooting from the field, adding 6 assists and 9 rebounds. Junior Cody Long adds 7 points on 60% shooting and 3 assists. With a smothering defense, the Norsemen were able to cruise to victory and had control of the game from the beginning. The Norsemen were also able to more tha...

By Kaylee K. On January 25th, Roland-Story entered four events into the district speech competition. District speech is the first of any of the speech competitions. The events entered were three short films and a readers' theater. There were 21 participating members and everyone one of them did a phenomenal job.  On the surface, speech sounds like a competition about just that: giving speeches. Speech certainly helps with public speaking, but there is a large variety of different events to participate in. Short film and radio broadcasting are recorded before the competition; it is simply a matter of presenting the material. One act and readers’ theater are often long, acted pieces with a large number of people. Speech is a great place to express yourself and meet new, interesting people. The day, like every speech competition, starts bright and early on a bus. District speech this year was at Des Moines East, so that is where the bus headed. When the group arrived at the competitio...