Norse News

By Mason S. The Roland-Story Jazz Band is gearing up for a year of swinging songs, soulful solos, and jaw-dropping performances. After placing 3rd last year at the Iowa Jazz Championships, this year's band has big shoes to fill, especially to keep the rich musical tradition alive and prove that they are one of the top ensembles in the entire state. Students have been working hard to perfect their musical selections, from big-band Jazz Standards to modern funk hits. Lead trombone player Bradey Haberl said, “I think this year's music is some of the best I’ve ever played. It's definitely my favorite by far, but it is also by far the most difficult music we have ever played. This increased difficulty in music is not without reason. The rhythm section currently comprises all returning players: Aubrey Britten on bass, Cael Vermeer on piano, Mason Schnurstein on guitar, with Ella Murphy and Eli Van Hove both on percussion. The rhythm section is the glue that keeps the band togethe...

By Isaac D. Every year before Christmas, staff and students work tirelessly to perform a breathtaking concert. The teachers often stay for hours after the school day is finished to help students improve the music. The Band Teacher, Mr. Maseman says, “All of the band students are doing a great job of preparing for the Winter Concert, which will feature the challenging selection: "The Polar Express.”  “The Polar Express” is a college level piece, containing the music from the movie of the same name. The band has worked hard perfecting it. Mr Stalzer, the choir teacher, is focusing on making this the best it can be. He directs the Bass, Mixed, and Treble choirs, and has them learn songs that are sure to take your breath away, along with using an unusual instrument, wine glasses! Thor’s Men and the Valkyries are student lead singing groups that will be performing. Thor”s men will be performing an interesting twist on a classic Christmas song. As you can tell, the concert is going to b...

By Ana H. Ms. Furlow is new office staff for Roland-Story High School. She has four daughters, three of whom are still at Roland-Story. She is a hometown staff and is very excited to be at Roland-Story High School. She came to Roland-Story to be near her daughters. Ms. Furlow in her freetime likes to go to her daughters’ sports and loves cheering them on. She also likes photography and is one of the teachers for Yearbook. Ms. Furlow has a daughter that is graduating this year. She has a sophomore and also a 8th grader. Ms. Furlow is excited to embark on this new adventure and see her daughters grow up. Being a staff at the high school has given her more time to be able to see her daughters grow up. Through the craziness of the day, she still loves being at Roland-Story and is excited to have this job at the school. Volleyball is a sport that Ms. Furlow’s daughters love! As a mom of three volleyball players, she does a lot of cheering. She loves going to games and seeing her daughters g...

By Mikayla C. Do you like reading mystery and thriller novels? Are you a lover of true crime television shows? Or maybe you prefer to try solving unsolved case files based on the information given about the cases online? If you love anything relating to a good mystery, then Criminology Club is the right place for you! Criminology Club meets in Mrs. Ferrell’s room after school once every month (sometimes every two weeks). The date for each meeting is tentative, so contact Mikayla Carpenter or Mrs. Ferrell for more information about the club.  Criminology Club talks about unsolved cold cases (murders, disappearances, etc.) from here in Iowa in the early 1900s up until the present. For a bit of background knowledge, unsolved cold cases are cases that the police and the FBI aren’t able to solve after three years. After those three years, the case legally becomes “cold.” This club discusses theories on unsolved mysteries and often has a case to study and develop a theory for.  The ...

By Kara H. On November 8th and 9th, the Roland-Story Fall Play cast and crew performed the show Humbletown: The Greatest Town on Earth, with lots of success! This year’s fall play was a comedy that was about a small town named Humbletown and how it came to be, alongside many other fun little adventures and events.  The show was told through two contradicting narrators, Jenny and Old-Timer, who were played by Rylee Wolff and John Craig. These characters were constantly found bickering and making nonsense of the history of Humbletown, resulting in the play telling its history a little differently than what is to be expected. One scene that had this was over The Great Depression, but was known as The Great Saddysaddysadtime in the play. Here we got to see different characters arguing on where to put their money and investments, as well as who they should blame for all their troubles. They ended up blaming a Scapegoat, played by Max Koppes, that was a goat who had a sign saying “Scapeg...

By Kaylee K. Colorguard, or Flags, is generally something that would be categorized as a team activity. However, in some instances it can be an individual pursuit. On October 24th, the Roland-Story Colorguard sent four soloists to Pella to perform their solos. This was where the qualifying round for state flags, run by ISDTA, was held.  Soloists Maddie Templeton, Lexi Butler, Kaylee Koppes, and Brooklyn Richardson all put together a routine. Each contestant carefully crafted and perfected their solos over months of practice. All this practicing happens while also preparing for team events, parades, and halftime performances. As a result, solos can be a very stressful endeavor, and yet, each soloist pulled it together flawlessly. Every small detail of a solo is chosen by the individual. The costume, the flag silk, the music, the choreography. All of the various parts are what make the solo so unique to the person. The four solos that went to Pella each chose a different style. Maddi...

By Brynn A. There was excitement in the air on the morning of October 26, as 22 singers from the Roland-Story choirs made their way to Indianola to audition for the 2024 All-State choir.  The All-State audition process begins in August and consists of months of rehearsing in a group of one to four people. Each group sings a selected cut from five or six different songs in front of a judge and this lasts about five minutes. After the initial audition, singers can be recalled by the judge to sing on their own. Some others are not recalled and are accepted into the choir on just their group audition. Singing in this ensemble is one of the greatest honors a high school singer can achieve.  On Friday, the day before auditions, Mr. Stalzer stated, “I feel very confident that a lot of our students are going to have success, because they are very well prepared and a lot of them are looking forward to it.”  Senior Allison Tjaden remarked, “I think it went well, I was really confid...

By Owen K. The 2024 Norsemen football season has pleased Story City and Roland locals. The team's progression and culture-building over the past four years have earned the Norse a 6-2 record heading into the first round of the playoffs.  The season started with a dominant win over South Tama but was followed by a tight loss late in the second game against Nevada. In the third game, the Norse shut out close rival South Hamilton with a score of 56-0. Heading into the 4th game, the Norsemen knew they would need to beat Kemper Catholic to strengthen their hopes of winning the district.  The game was neck and neck the whole way, with both teams hurling punch after punch to fight to stay in it. The game was tied at the end of the 4th quarter and went into overtime. The Knights struck quickly in OT with a touchdown and a 2-point conversion. The Norsemen got the ball with only ten yards to go, but could not push through Kempur's tough red zone defense bringing up a 4&8. They ran a...

By Alli J. The Roland-Story Volleyball team welcomed the Clear Lake Lions for the 3A quarterfinal match on October 22. They have had a very successful season. The Roland-Story volleyball team set the record for the number of games won in a season. Roland-Story is the conference champion and remains undefeated within the conference. Roland-Story entered the game with a record of 29-4. Clear Lake entered with a record of 13-15. This was not the first time that these two teams competed against each other this season. Earlier in the season, they met at the Forest City tournament where Roland-Story came out with a win.  Roland-Story took the lead early in the game and finished the first set with a score of 25-15. Set 2 also went to the Norsemen with a score of 25-9. Lastly, Roland-Story finished out the match with a score of 25-9 in the last set. The Quarterfinal match went to the Norsemen. They won their 30th match of the year in 3 straight sets over Clear Lake. There were many outst...

By Keely O. FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, is a club that meets at the home of the Berggrens (when it's nice out) and at the high school (when it’s cold outside). We meet almost every Sunday from 6-7 pm.  On a usual night at FCA, we start by playing a group game, which could be anywhere from a game of wiffle ball to Nukum. After the game, we circle around as a big group and do our lesson. Mr. and Mrs. Berggren always has a lesson each night. We get a sheet of paper that has various questions and bible verses on it. Once we get the paper, we break off into smaller groups and go through the questions and verses. We discuss the questions as a small group before we come back together to discuss them as a large group. That normally is what FCA consists of but on Sunday, October 20th, we did something a little different. We had a game/fun night. There were lots of different things that were set up for us to do. We first got pizza and dessert, and if you wanted you could sign up f...

By Brinley C. Did you know a cross country course is 3.1 miles long? The Roland-Story Cross Country team headed to Nevada on October 14, 2024 to compete in the conference meet. The team has put a lot of work into perfecting their performances and were ready to compete. The meet didn’t go as expected but the team still ran their best times and gave themselves a chance at winning.  This was the first meet where temperatures were below 80 degrees. In fact, it was around 50 degrees so the team was ready for their first cooler meet.  This course is a little different than most. Most of the time they are held on golf courses and you do a lot of back and forth, although this time the runners are running around a lake. The athletes run through the woods as they are slowly making their way around the lake. Since they are mostly surrounded by trees on their run it limits the spectators. There are not a lot of people cheering them on. They are on their own, which is hard. They need to ke...

By Leila W. On Monday, October 14th, many topics were discussed at the Roland-Story High School school board meeting.  The school board members are Chris McIlrath, Erica Watts, Matt Dahlsten, Ashlee Mullenbach, and Tosha Whipple. There were also two other speakers present, Mr. Patton and Rylee Wolf.  The topic of middle school lockers was mentioned among the board members. It was brought up that the state of the current lockers are deteriorating with broken locks and shelves. Everyone was in agreement that the middle school needs new lockers.  Another subject that was brought up was the fall fundraisers including FCCLA, band, and choir. The funding goes to support our school trips and other activities. This year the band is going on a trip to Florida over spring break and next year Spanish is going on their trip to Spain. Spanish also previously took a trip last spring break to Costa Rica. One of the main topics that was discussed was make-up school days. They talked ab...

By Kelsey J. We had been preparing for this competition for two weeks. We were ready. But, there was still that sense of nerves in the air. We could all feel it, no matter how tired we were. It was Saturday, October 5th, and it was the day of the Carroll Band Days. We woke up early that morning to load the buses and the trailer. It was a mad dash to make sure we had everything. We checked, and double checked to make sure that we had all that we needed. Then we all made sure we were on the bus and made our way to Carrol. Most people just slept on the bus or listened to music. We had to focus on what was ahead of us. The flag girls hurried to make sure all of their makeup and hair was complete. It was a very calm bus ride.  Then when we got to Carroll, we unloaded at Adams Elementary School where we could use the restroom and get dressed and ready for the performance. We first got all dressed, girls first then the guys. After that we helped to unload the trailer. We got the larger in...

By Caitlyn F. On Monday night, October 7th, the Roland-Story volleyball team played a conference match against the PCM Mustangs. It was senior citizen night for the student section and the stands were full. This was a big day for the team because it was senior night for the six seniors on the team, Kate Berggren, Caty Erichsen, Kennedy Petersen, Paige Curtis, Josie Ramus, and Kamryn Lande. These girls have been a big part of this team, and it was an emotional night for the whole team.  After the seniors were recognized, the captains from both teams were called to flip the coin to decide who would serve first. PCM won the coin toss. The first serve went to senior Josie Ramus who passed a perfect pass right to setter Miley Geise who then set it to Kamryn Lande for the middle kill. The next couple of points went back and forth between the two teams and then Roland Story finally went on a little run of serve aces. The score was now 4-1 Roland Story is up. Norse was up by three the enti...

By Blake N. Coming off a win the Roland-Story Norsemen had another easier opponent this week. They will face off against the Greene County Rams this week in Jefferson. Despite not being on their turf, the Norsemen brought home a well-deserved win vs. Greene County. To start the week the coaching staff and players received news that Blake Larson will be out for 4-5 weeks with a broken wrist. He started two games and had at least one interception in each; to say the least, it was a big loss for the Norse.  This week was like any other week for the players, same practices but a different game plan for the new team. The Norse all around played a great game, but a few people stood out. First was Cody Long with an amazing game. Cody finished the game with 10.5 tackles and 2 tackles for a loss of yards. This is impressive because the Rams leading tackler only had 8. Another player who had an outstanding week was Sophomore Ben Mazyck. Mazyck finished the game with 170 rushing yards with 20...

By Morgan B. Over 33 Iowan children are sent to the hospital each day in farming-related accidents. Members of the Roland-Story FFA are trying to lower this statistic by showing students how to be safe on the farm.  On October 2, 2024, the Roland-Story FFA held their annual farm safety day for the 3rd grade students at Roland-Story Elementary.  The third-graders spent a fun afternoon outdoors, traveling to each of the 10 stations to learn about certain aspects of outdoor safety. Stations included tractor, ATV, animal, first aid, fishing, my plate, sun, Iowa products, chemical, and grain bin safety.  At a station, led by 2-4 high schoolers, the 3rd graders would learn how to be safe in that area. After instruction, they completed an activity or played a game related to what they learned. Every station also had visuals related to their topic.  Visuals are a great way to help students remember what they are learning. Getting to sit on an ATV and seeing the parts the hig...

By Justin S. Last year our team got close to state in all games. All games can either be played online or face to face. All schools may have one varsity team and one JV team per game. Each player may only play on one team per round (usually by week). All communication and organization will run through the Designated Esports Coordinator; however, there may be a game-specific coach. Teams are required to play online or face-to-face with their opponents. High school esports is part of the gaming industry. In the gaming industry, you can win millions of dollars from winning a tournament. Take Fortnite for an example. According to Mathew Players from EsprtsGG, players can win hundreds of thousands to over a million dollars. In some tournaments, you win nothing.  Sometimes you win millions of dollars. The Iowa High School Esports Association (IASHEA) hosts a number of games  throughout the year for student-athletes to participate in.  Smite is a 5 vs. 5 tower defense shooter ga...

By Selah H. The week of homecoming for Roland-Story this year was Sept. 23-27. The student council was in charge of all the fun things going on throughout the week, and they did a great job this year--everybody had a great time! Lots of fun pictures were taken, they passed out candy everyday, and decorations looked great.  On Monday there was a pep rally in the new gym going over what the week was going to look like. The cheerleaders led cheers, seniors stood up and talked for sports, the band played songs, and there was a game to finish it off. The dress up day for Monday was PJ day. Tuesday was powder puff for the senior girls who wanted to play flag football. Both blue and purple teams had been preparing for weeks, it was a good game but purple came out with the win. The student section was very loud! The dress up day for Tuesday was Adam Sandler day. Wednesday was lunch on the field. The student council planned that as well; everybody had a fun time on the field. Most people pl...

By Nolan O. In a one sided affair, the Roland-Story Norsemen beat the Southeast Valley Jaguars with a score of 42-17. After the first quarter, the game was out of hand for SE Valley. They got behind early and weren't able to fight back after that. The Norsemen were excited to get a win on their homecoming game! First quarter kicked off at 7:00 after slow starts. With 9:51 left in the first quarter, Sam Knoll finds Luke Thorsen for a 5-yard touchdown set up by Heston Mcllrath's 40-yard reception downfield. After forcing a Jaguars punt, Sam Knoll finds Luke Thorsen once again for the 21-yard touchdown catch. To top off the first quarter, the Norsemen defense forces another punt, and this time finds a wide open Heston Mcllrath for the 52-yard strike. The score at the end of the quarter is 21-0 Norsemen. The Jaguars get the ball back and break free on a long touchdown run from their quarterback closing the lead to 21-7. The Norsemen after getting the ball back, drove down the field...

By Taryn P. This 2024 Roland-Story JV team is off to a great start this year. The team intends to have a great season ahead of them with just a few games left. As a JV team, they have a ton of different strengths.  Head coach for JV Kelsey Polaski said, “We talk about things we need from each other whether it’s physical touch to calm us or words of encouragement.”  As she has said the players all like to boost each other up in the games, feeling it allows the players to connect to each other better if they have something that they know everyone likes from each other. This can be anything from a high five, words of encouragement, or even their word. Everyone on the team has words that they like to look at during games in Nevada and wrote them on their hands.  This year the JV's team toughest match so far has been against rival Nevada. The girls played hard in this game and were determined as a team to beat Nevada because they haven’t in a long time. However, this year was ...