11/18/21: Area Happenings & Accomplishments

Ballot finalized for OC District 1 ballot

Voters in O’Brien County won’t have much to choose from when they hit the polls Dec. 7 during the special supervisor election.

Republican Tim Overmire, of rural Hartley, is the only name on the ballot. The deadline to file nomination papers was last Friday. Democrats did not nominate a candidate, and no other residents filed.

Barring a successful write-in campaign, Overmire will take office once the results are canvassed and he’s sworn in. He will succeed former District 1 Supervisor Sherri Bootsma, who resigned last month due to an impending move. The term expires at the end of 2024.

Overmire, 38, is a 2002 graduate of Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn High School. He and his wife, Laurena, have four children and live south of Hartley. He is a farmer and also serves as a district sales manager for Stine Seeds.

District 1 includes the City of Hartley and the townships of Lincoln, Hartley, Center, Omega, Grant and Highland. Six sections of Franklin Township are also included in its boundaries.

NCC students inducted into Phi Theta Kappa

Thirteen students were inducted into Phi Theta Kappa at Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon on Nov. 3.

Phi Theta Kappa is an international honor society of the two-year college. NCC’s chapter is called Beta Lambda Pi.

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society is the largest honor society in higher education with 1,285 chapters. According to the society, “The purpose of Phi Theta Kappa shall be to recognize and encourage scholarship among two-year college students. To achieve this purpose, Phi Theta Kappa shall provide opportunity for the development of leadership and service, for an intellectual climate for exchange of ideas and ideals, for lively fellowship for scholars, and for stimulation of interest in continuing academic excellence.”

Students were invited to be a part of Phi Theta Kappa based on eligibility requirements that center on having a 3.5 grade point average.

New PTK members from this area include Jagger Anliker, of Primghar; Jayden Lyman and Nathan Serr, of Sanborn; and Ethan Spronk, of Hartley.

AA degree at NCC ranked No. 1 in Iowa

The University HQ (universityhq.org) has ranked the Associate of Arts (AA) program at Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon as the best in Iowa.

University HQ is a college data center for higher learning that provides students with the necessary resources to prepare and plan their career paths in their chosen fields.

The Top 5 Associate of Arts Degree offering colleges in Iowa are Northwest Iowa Community College, North Iowa Area Community College, Northeast Iowa Community College, Iowa Lakes Community College and Kirkwood Community College.

NCC’s AA degree is a path for students who plan to transfer to a four-year college or university, or are uncertain about their future academic plans. The degree is also beneficial for students who want to “try” college without having to decide on a major area of study. NCC offers three tracks of AA degrees: General Associate of Arts Degree, Transfer Major Associate of Arts Degree or the Associate of Arts Plus (AA+).

AA degrees are offered full or part-time and on campus and online (or a combination of those options).

Ranking factors included for this study are cost of tuition, admission rate, retention rate, graduation rate, graduating salary, number of programs offered, online programs offered, loan default rate, diplomas awarded and percent of students receiving financial aid.

Village Northwest Unlimited elects board members

The 45th annual meeting of Village Northwest Unlimited (VNU) in Sheldon was held on Oct. 28, during which one new member and two incumbents were elected to the board.

Dave Van Den Brink was elected to serve a three-year term on VNU’s board. An Ag/Business Banking Officer at Peoples Bank in Sheldon, Van Den Brink takes the place of the retiring board member Heidi Brown, of Sheldon, who served for nine years.

In addition, current board members Chad Petitt and Marvin Lindley, both of Sheldon, were re-elected. Each of them will serve another three-year term.

Other board members are Barry Whitsell, Dennis Ten Clay, Judy Winkel, Dave Van Essen, Tom Fuoss, Trevor Gottula and Amy Van Marel, all of Sheldon; Ann Maggert, of Matlock; Nathan Rockman, of Sibley; and Paul Truesdell, of Hospers.

Grant supports day camp events at Autumn’s Center

Seasons Center for Behavioral Health in Spencer was awarded a $2,000 grant from the Clay County Community Foundation to host one-day camp events at Autumn’s Center. The events were held on Oct. 30 and Nov. 7.

Fourteen youth from Clay County participated in the daylong events. Activities included opportunities to participate in health and fitness events, engage in hands-on interactive projects designed to address target specific issues (coping, anxiety, self-esteem) and experience fun social events with peers. Grant funds were used to provide scholarships and to purchase resources to facilitate event activities.

“Unfortunately, there is limited funding for special events like this for children with behavioral health needs,” said Christina Eggink-Postma, Vice President Program Coordination and Compliance at Seasons Center. “We are grateful to the Clay County Community Foundation for awarding us with funding to host events that can positively affect all aspects of a child’s long-term health, including their emotional well-being and social development.”

The day camp events are an extension of services provided at Camp Autumn, a therapeutic camp for children.

“We are thrilled to be able to provide additional services to children/youth experiencing ongoing challenges related to their social, emotional and mental health well-being as a result of experiencing abuse, divorce of parents, parental substance abuse, family violence, developmental conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Adam Lybarger, Camp Director at Camp Autumn. “Our youth have been faced with many stressors over the last year. We are hopeful that events like these will help improve family and peer relations, school attendance and grades.”

Walleye length limit to change at 3 Iowa lakes

Iowa Department of Natural Resources is changing the protected walleye slot limit to 19 to 25 inches at Big Spirit Lake, East and West Okoboji Lakes, Upper Gar Lake, Minnewashta Lake, Lower Gar Lake and Storm Lake. At Clear Lake, there will be a 17 to 22 inches protected slot limit.

These changes start Jan. 1, 2022. Daily bag limits will remain the same (three walleyes) and one walleye over the slot limit can be harvested each day.

Currently, there is a protected slot limit of 17 to 22 inches at Big Spirit Lake, East and West Okoboji Lake, Upper Gar Lake, Minnewashta Lake, Lower Gar Lake and Storm Lake have had a protected slot limit of 17 to 22 inches. All walleyes measuring 17 to 22 inches must be immediately released. At Clear Lake there is a minimum length limit and all walleyes below 14 inches must be immediately released. Anglers can keep three walleyes per day and only one of those fish can be over 22 inches.

When you catch a walleye in Iowa, there’s a good chance that fish got its start in one of Iowa’s walleye hatcheries. Since walleye often don’t reproduce naturally in the state’s inland rivers and lakes, their populations must be maintained through the DNR’s stocking program. The hundreds of millions of eggs needed each year to keep populations healthy are predominately collected from wild broodstock populations in Big Spirit Lake, East and West Okoboji Lake, Clear Lake and Storm Lake.

Walleye populations in these broodstock lakes are some of the most studied in the region. Biologists monitor these lakes to evaluate the effectiveness of different regulations and predict changes to the population to improve the angler experience and ensure that Iowa has a strong broodstock population.

“Male walleyes grow slower and don’t get as large as females,” explained Iowa DNR fisheries biologist Mike Hawkins. “They can stockpile within the protected slot. Minimum length restrictions can have a similar effect. Changes to walleye length limits at the Iowa Great Lakes, Storm Lake and Clear Lake will allow more harvest of male walleye, while still protecting the adult female population.”

NCC eligible to compete for 2023 Aspen Prize

Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon is among 150 institutions eligible to compete for the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.

Colleges selected for this honor stand out among more than 1,000 community colleges nationwide as having high and improving levels of student success as well as equitable outcomes for Black and Hispanic students and those from lower income backgrounds.

“Out of 1,047 public community colleges in the country, only 22 have been recognized as Top 150 Aspen colleges all six times since the inception of the competition. This places NCC in the Top 2 percent of the highest performing community colleges in the nation,” said President Dr. John Hartog.

Statistical points of interest for NCC within the Top 150 colleges recognized are: Top 5 percent for graduation rates for Pell recipients (low income students); Top 8 percent for first year retention rate and for three-year graduation rate for first time full time students; and Top 11 percent for three-year graduation rate for students of color.