Norse News

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...