A publication by the students of Maquoketa Valley High School

Students exposed to computer programming

by Emma McDowell Students at MV are now one step

closer to programming robots after com-pleting an hour of code.

During WIN time Friday, students went to Code.org to be introduced to cod-ing. The hour of code is an introduction to the world of programming and computer science. Knowing how to code is a valu-able skill in our modern world. Every web-site, game and app people use on a daily basis has thousands of lines of code used to make them. That code was written by someone who once knew nothing about coding, but learned over time.

There are many helpful tools on-line that can teach people how to code. Codecademy, Code School, Udacity and CodeHS are great places to start and are completely free. Schools have also started teaching computer science classes.

Hopefully the hour of code has sparked an interest in programming with students, and they consider it as a future career path.

Mrs. Moenck and Mrs. Scherrman coordinated the efforts.

Students will use WIN time again today to work with the program.

Musical talents show growth by Riley Kay Sternhagen

Hey, Cats! Do you hear those sleigh bells jingling? I do! But where are they coming from? Well, the music de-partment, of course! After many weeks of practice, our band and choir are once again ready to perform their annual Christmas concert.

Next Monday, December 14, the band will perform a variety of songs, in-cluding “The Witch and the Saint,” and “Fresh Aire Christmas,” and the choir will be singing new songs like “African Christ-mas Carol” and “Bethlehem Procession.” There will even be a few extra special per-formances, including Smooth Harmony singing “Mary Did You Know,” and Taylor

Guthrie’s solo, “Be Born In Me.” Just like in years past, the concert has free admis-sion, so everyone can feel the Christmas spirit.

About the concert, Mrs. Mueller commented, “I’m very excited for the com-munity to see how far we’ve come. We’ve made many positive improvements since our last concert.”

Mr. Hadley added, “I’m excited for both the band and choir to perform the music we’ve been working on. It is always a cool opportunity to get to share music with friends, family, and the community. The church is a great space for our sound, so come support our music students Mon-day night!”

Issue 11 December 11, 2015

Get to know two new Wildcats by Emily LaGrant

The student body has some new faces to welcome in our midst. If you’re like me then you might be wondering a bit about these two individuals. Take a little chance to get to know Alex Kammiller, the new sophomore, and James Blair, the new freshman.

Alex Kammiller Where are you from? Durango What hobbies or interests do you have? Anything to do with horses. What do you like about MV so far? It’s small. What are you looking forward to this year? Working with my horses. Would you rather have a dog-sized el-ephant or an elephant-sized dog? Dog-sized elephant.

James Blair Where are you from? Grand Junction, Colorado What are your hobbies or inter-ests? I like to race mo-tocross. What do you like about MV so far? How friendly ev-erybody is. What are you looking forward to at MV? I’d like to get smarter. Also, I want to go out for track and next year, football. Would you rather have a dog-sized el-ephant or an elephant-sized dog? Elephant-sized dog.

If you see either of these boys, feel free to stop and say hi! Let’s help give these individuals an MV-worthy welcome!

Patrick Hansen, Alex Digman and Kelly Winter rehearse for Monday night’s concert.

So if you love bopping your head along to a jingle bell beat, or belting out those Christmas carols you hear on the ra-dio, don’t forget to stop by St. John’s Cath-olic Church Monday at 7:00 PM, and enjoy the concert.

Wrestlers open season with home meet, Cascade tourney by Emily Krapf

The Maquoketa Valley High School wrestling team started off the sea-son by going 2-1 while hosting East Bu-chanan, Midland and Central City.

The team started the night by de-feating Central City 78-0. Wrestlers who were successful during this dual were Can-yon Richardson (forfeit), Carson Wright (forfeit), Tanner Parmely (forfeit), Dylan Happel (forfeit), Austin Stogdill (pin), Mitch Smith (pin), Norman Wilson (for-feit), Cole Kruse (forfeit), Dylan Wright (forfeit), Jordy Downs (pin), Alec McDow-ell (forfeit), Eric Heims (pin) and Kaleb Kruse (forfeit).

Next the Wildcats took on Mid-land and won by a fnal team score of 72-06. Helping to get this team win were wrestlers Canyon Richardson (forfeit), Justin Krapf (forfeit), Tanner Parmely (pin), Robert Hildebrand (forfeit), Austin Stogdill (pin), Norman Wilson (pin), Cole Kruse (pin), Dylan Wright (forfeit), Jordy Downs (for-feit), Alec McDowell (forfeit), Eric Heims (pin), and Kaleb Kruse (forfeit).

Maquoketa Valley ended the night by losing the dual to East Buchanan with a team score of 34-45. Wrestlers who won in this dual were Canyon Richardson (for-feit), Austin Stogdill (pin), Norman Wilson (pin), Dylan Wright (pin), Alec McDowell (pin), and Jordy Downs (12-3 decision).

Coach Tim Andrews said he was satisfed with how his started out this dual season. “East Buchanan has a very respect-able team this year with a plethora of upper classmen. To have that meet come down to a match or two that could have gone either way says a lot about the hard work these guys put in this offseason. Hopefully we can learn from some of the mistakes we made quickly as we head into a busy De-cember.”

The team traveled to Cascade for its frst tournament of the season Fri-day night as they took on Clayton Ridge, Maquoketa, Cascade, MFL Mar-Mac and Washington. The team ended the tourna-ment 3-2.

The Wildcats won their frst dual against Clayton Ridge with a team score of 66-12. Wrestlers who were successful included Dylan Happel (forfeit), Austin Stogdill (pin), Mitch Smith (pin), Dylan Wright (pin), Alec McDowell (pin), Eric Heims (pin), Kaleb Kruse (pin), Canyon Richard-son (forfeit), Carson Wright (forfeit), and

Tanner Parmely (forfeit). Next Maquoketa Valley wrestled Maquo-keta and also won with a fnal score of 48-31. Wrestlers who won their matches were Austin Stogdill (pin), Normal Wilson (pin), Cole Kruse (pin), Alec McDowell (pin), Jordy Downs (forfeit), Eric Heims (pin), Kaleb Kruse (pin), Canyon Richardson (forfeit), and Tanner Parmely (pin).

The Wildcats then wrestled Cascade, winning with a fnal team score of 57-24. Wrestlers who helped to win this dual were Mitch Smith (3-1 decision), Norman Wil-son (pin), Cole Kruse (pin), Dylan Wright (forfeit), Jordy Downs (forfeit), Alec Mc-Dowell (pin), Eric Heims (forfeit), Tanner Parmely (forfeit), Dylan Happel (forfeit), and Austin Stogdill (pin). Maquoketa Valley then wrestled MFL Mar-Mac, losing with a score of 34-48. Wrestlers who were successful during this dual were Jordy Downs (14-4 decision), Alec McDowell (pin), Eric Heims (pin), Tanner Parmely (pin), Austin Stogdill (pin), and Mitch Smith (pin). Lastly the Wildcats ended the night by battling Washington, and losing with a fnal team score of 13-59. Wrestlers who won their matches were Alec McDowell (11-2 decision), Jordy Downs (7-4 decision), and Eric Heims (pin). Coach Tim Andrews said he was pleased with how his team wrestled in the frst three of the fve duals. “Then came the injury bug and that was very hard to overcome with the last two duals. Hopefully we can get guys healthy and get back to somewhat of a full line up as we move into the next

Kaleb Kruse puts some pressure on his opponent at the Cascade tournament. (photo courtesy of MV Athletic Boosters)

two weeks before break.” Senior Austin Stogdill who has been plagued with injuries throughout high school and has been unable to wrestle until this year suffered an injury which has now left him on crutches. On Tuesday night the Maquoketa Valley wrestlers traveled to North Linn to wrestle Postville, MFL Mar-Mac and Ed-Co. They went 2-1 for the night.

The Wildcats wrestled Postville frst and won with a team score of 49-15. Wrestlers who helped to win this duel were Carson Wright (3-0 decision), Tanner Par-mely (forfeit), Dylan Happel (pin), Robert Hildebrand (pin), Mitch Smith (forfeit), Cole Kruse (pin), Dylan Wright (12-2 de-cision), Alec McDowell (pin), and Kaleb Kruse (forfeit).

Next Maquoketa Valley wrestled MFL Mar-Mac and lost with a score of 18-55. Wrestlers who were successful were Tanner Parmely (forfeit), Dylan Wright (pin), and Alec McDowell (pin).

The Wildcats fnished off the meet by defeating Ed-Co with a team score of 60-18. Wrestlers who won their matches during this dual were Tanner Parmely (for-feit), Mitch Smith (forfeit), Norman Wilson (forfeit), Cody Gibbs (forfeit), Cole Kruse (forfeit), Dylan Wright (forfeit), Alec Mc-Dowell (forfeit), Eric Heims (forfeit), Ka-leb Kruse (forfeit) and Justin Krapf (for-feit).

Last night the wrestlers compet-ed at Central City. Results will be in next week’s issue.

What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever gotten?

by Riley Kay Sternhagen Emma McDowell: My laptop Pedro Chavez: Xbox 360 Nichole Lucas: My puppy Angel Rumbo: Xbox One Jordan Ross: a TV Ethan Fonck: Play Station 4 Lucas Johnson: Remote control boat Kristin Brehm: I usually get coal. Brody Sevart: I don’t like Christmas and I don’t like presents. Dakota Nuttall: Money

Student of the week Shawnae Hoeger

You recently made a quilt. Why did you choose to make one? I chose to make a quilt because I am going off to college next year and needed a bedspread. I thought it’d be really neat to make my bedspread. What kind of problem-solving skills did you have to use to make it? I used half squares, so it was very hard matching them up perfectly. I needed to know how long to cut each piece too. It was an advanced quilt design, and Downs and I knew we could accomplish it. What’s the most valuable skill you learned from making it? I learned that a quilt takes a lot of time. I wanted it to be perfect. It was my frst quilt I had ever made, so it didn’t end up perfect. I am okay with it though, I am proud I ac-tually fnished it. It feels good once you fnish a big project. What project will you work on next? I am going to start working on making bags for my family members for Christmas. —Shawnae was nominated by Mrs. Down.

Girls basketball defeats Central City, falls to

top-ranked Springville by Kristi Goedken

Last Tuesday the girls basketball team traveled to Central City to take on the Wildcats in their second game of the season. Your Maquoketa Valley Wildcats walked away with a 77-26 win. “I was very pleased with our energy at the start of the game against Central City. I really felt like we were aggressive defen-sively which turned it to easy points on the offensive end. We are doing a great job of sharing the ball and making the extra pass.”

Leading the scoring for the night was Brianna Mensen with 17 points followed by freshman Sam Wall with 16. The team had 22 steals which converted into easy points. The MV girls shot 8 of 13 from the free throw line for a 61%. On the defensive end, our girls were able to pull down 35 rebounds from both the offensive and defensive end compared to Central City’s 14. “This team can be really fun to watch. It was great because we had 12 girls score in this game. We have a ways to go and things will get a whole tougher this week. It will be good for us. We have a great op-portunity to play the # 1 team in the state on our home foor. I’m excited to see how our kids handle it.”

The Maquoketa Valley girls faced the number 1 rated team in 1A Tuesday night. Facing the Springville Orioles on our home court is exciting. After a hard fought 32 minutes, Springville was able to get the win with a fnal score of 62-49. Stats from that game will be in next week’s Echo.

The girls travel to Bellevue Mar-quette tonight.

UGLY SWEATER DAY

Don your best ugly sweater on Friday, Dec. 18.

Why? Because it’s fun...and it’s going

to be cold.

Athlete of the Week Name: Norman Wilson Sport: Wrestling

What weight are you wrestling at this year? 152

What are your goals this year? To not have any regrets.

What’s the hard-est part of wrestling? Everything.

What’s something about wrestling non-wrestlers may not know? It’s a lot harder than it looks.

What’s a great warm-up song? “Back in Black”

Do you have any pre-meet traditions? Just staying calm and focused

Grapplers go 3-0 at CC by Emily Krapf

The Maquoketa Valley wrestlers traveled to Central City Thursday night to battle Central City, Starmont and North Linn. After many recents injuries, the Wildcats still came out on top by winning all three of the duals.

Maquoketa Valley frst wrestled Central City and won with a fnal team score of 64-07. Wrestlers who helped to win this dual were Justin Krapf (forfeit), Tanner Parmely (forfeit), Mitch Smith (12-1 decision), Cody Gibbs (forfeit), Cole Kruse (forfeit), Dylan Wright (forfeit), Jordy Downs (forfeit), Alec McDowell (pin), Eric Heims (forfeit), Kaleb Kruse (forfeit), and Canyon Richardson (forfeit).

Next the Wildcats battled Star-mont and won the dual 63-18. Wrestlers who were successful during this dual were Carson Wright (pin), Parmley (pin), Robert Hildebrand (8-2 decision), Smith (forfeit), Gibbs (pin), Cole Kruse (forfeit), Dylan Wright (pin), Downs (forfeit), McDowell (pin), Heims (pin), and Kaleb Kruse (pin).

The Wildcats ended the night by beating North Linn with a fnal team score of 48-36. Wrestlers who won their matches during this dual were Parmely (pin), Smith (pin), Gibbs (pin), Cole Kruse (pin), Dylan Wright (pin), Downs (pin), McDowell (for-feit) and Heims (forfeit).

7

9 6 5 8 4 7 8 6 2

5 6

8 6 1 5 9

2 9 1 3 4

6 9 7 8 3 2

Meet the Freshmen

Maddie Lahr, Brooke Wilson & Brooklyn Sands

Name: Maddie Lahr Siblings: Garrett Activities you plan to be involved in: vol-leyball, softball, golf, FFA, speech, play, band Favorite Subject: science Career Aspirations: small animal vet or a doctor Hobbies: hanging with friends

Name: Brooklyn Sands Siblings: 4 Activities you plan to be involved in: cross country, basketball, track, speech, play, Spanish club Favorite Subject: Spanish Career Aspirations: something in the busi-ness feld or an interpreter Hobbies: hanging with friends, playing basketball Something cool about you: I have a pot-bellied pig

Name: Brooke Wilson Siblings: Megan, Emily, Drew, Angie Activities you plan to be involved in: vol-leyball, basketball, track, softball, FFA, Spanish club, play Favorite Subject: Math Career Aspirations: something in the medical feld Hobbies: Something cool about you: I am Angie Wilson’s sister

—typist: Kristi Goedken

Angie’s Angle by Angie Wilson

Wrinkles and Old Wedding Bands

Am I the only one who fnds old people the cutest thing ever? The one thing that will turn my frown upside down in an instant is an old couple. Watching as my grandpa still reaches for my grandma’s hand as they walk into the church allows me to feel hopeful. My grandpa still today opens the car door, holds her purse, and pulls out my grandma’s chair. The things that we only dream that our boyfriends or imagi-nary would do for us, he still does after 60 years of marriage. Sometimes I just watch in awe at the small gestures that show their love they share for one another.

I have always looked to my grandparents relationship to remind me of what true love refects. I asked my grandpa about how they met and how in the world they stayed married for 60 years. His answer hit me right in the feels. He said that he grew up in an era where when something became broken, it was fxed. He told me it wasn’t easy, but it was worth falling in love with his best friend over and over again.

Old couples are stamped with age and life. But most importantly they are stamped with an everlasting love. I guess what I am trying to say is to honor those who keep the ability to see how beauty never grows old. So look upon those who wear wrinkles and wedding bands because we the young, are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are the great works of art.

Do’s and Don’ts of Gift Giving by Shaylyn Trenkamp

The holidays are right around the corner, and with them comes White Elephant exchanges, gift giving between family and friends, and more. How do you get the right gift for every person on your list? The impossible becomes possible with these special hints.

Do get a head start. Plan ahead so you can organize ideas and think about what would mean the most to the recipients of your gifts.

Don’t concentrate on prices. How much you spend is not equivalent to how much the gift will be appreciated, so be thought-ful instead of lavish with your money.

Do personalize gifts. Even if you get a store-bought gift for someone, you can wrap it in a way that shows you care or include a card that makes the gift more personal.

Don’t be too intimidated to ask. Some-times the best way to fnd the perfect gift for someone is to ask family members or close friends, or even that person, what he or she wants.

Do give experiences. Give movie tickets, concert tickets, or a promise of a road trip or night out soon. Gift cards to certain places, maybe restaurants for instance, provide opportunity for experiences rather than stuff.

Don’t overlook details. If you get as excited to give gifts as I do, this probably isn’t a problem, but it is important. Includ-ing a note, adding a bow, and sticking in all the wrapping paper edges can make a gift seem that much more thoughtful.

Do get crafty. Think hard about skills that you have or projects that would mean a lot to the person you’re giving a gift. Knit a scarf, paint a jar and fll it with kind notes, or even write a letter and add some choco-late to the mix.

Iowa Cattlemen's Foundation

2015 Beef Scholarship

Extravaganza

Cat Attack Best Buds Cutet Couple Flashback

Colin Wendt & Trent Reeves by Nichole Winter What is your best memories of each other? Tping Zach Cornell

Any nicknames for each other? Colin: Turt Trent: Nothing

What is your favorite thing to do to-gether? Colin: Scoping out the babes on the beaches Trent: Soccer

by Nichole Lucas

This week’s cutie is in the sophomore class. He is in speech, track, and football. This cutie has one older sister, drives a gold Chevy, and loves pizza.

Alex Kammiller & Josy Harmon by Kristin Lucas

What is your favorite thing to do to-gether? Josy- play games Alex- hang out

How’d you meet? Josy- school Alex- Jake

What is your favorite thing about them? Josy- his humor Alex- her personality

Students compete for scholarship

Last Friday Kalvin Orcutt and Andrew Palmersheim competed in the Iowa Cattlemen’s Foundation Beef Schol-arship Extravaganza. Although they did not fnish in the top ten, the experience was a good learning experience.

by Becca Hill & Amanda Fortman

Five years ago this week in 2010 the MV Dance Team competed at state, placing third in poms and fourth in hip hop. This was Coach Rudd’s frst year. They also planned on competing at the U.S Cel-lular Center and with the West Delaware Dance Team at the West Delaware Game. Charlotte’s Web was announced as the Spring Play. MV traveled to Iowa City for a double dual against Iowa City Regina and HLV. MV brought home many wins. Wrestlers include Luke Kramer, Jared Coyle, Dustin Sternhagen, Tanner Heitz, Carter Funke, Aaron Wendt, Adam Steger, Tyler Yonkovic and Troy Hunt.

Ten years ago this week in 2005 Maquo-keta Valley won over Oelwein Huskies 56 to 26. Coach Kriegel was very happy with the team and how they played. Donny Nordmann let the cats with 25 points and Casey Lechtenberg with 12. Donny Nord-mann was also the Athlete of the Week for Basketball. His most memorable moment was beating Beckman the year before and the District Championship game against Clayton Ridge. The MV Drill Team place fourth out of twelve at State. Dancers include: Samantha Strum, Jennifer Pins, Mekell Helle, Allison Supple, Stacy Dig-man, Lalaina Rabary, Michelle Durey, Miranda Knake, Laura Seibert, Audrey Salow, Carly Supple, Danielle Carlson, Maggie Seibert and Kallyn Ford.

Wildcats lose close one to Orioles

Throwing in from the sidelines was Jacob Bonert against the Orioles this week. (photo by Shaylyn Trenkamp) by McKenzie Lansing

This Tuesday, the boys suffered a tough lost. They played Springville at their frst home game. They fought very hard the entire game. They played very well. The Wildcats were tied with Springville to-wards the very end of the 4th quarter with a score of 44-44. Springville got the ball and scored a 3 pointer the very last second causing the fnal score to be 44- 47 with a win for Springville.

When the boys were down, Coach Dunlap called a timeout. In this time out he had a few words of encouragement for the boys. He went on to say, “Who’s gonna fnish the hardest? I know it’s gonna be you guys.”

Our top four scorers this week were Brock Hillers and Jacob Bonert each scoring a total of 10 points, Kyle Wilson scoring a total of 9 points and Clint Krapf scoring a total of 8 points.

Our top four rebounders were Ja-cob Bonert with 7 rebounds, Brock Hillers with 6 and Kalvin Orcutt and Kyle Wilson each with 4 rebounds.

Although they lost, some great things happened on the court. The team as a whole scored 71% of their three- point feld goals during the second half of the game. We are now ranked third in our conference, following Alburnett closely with their re-cord being 2-1. Brock Hillers shot the most free throws for the team, attempting 11 and making 4.

The Wildcats will face Marquette Catholic tonight in Bellevue. JV starts at 4:00.

Hall Smarts by Shawnae Hoeger

We are keep-ing the Christmas Spirit alive with another Christmas edition. This week’s contestants are Austin Stogdill, Brianna Mensen, Eric Deutmeyer and Kelsey Ries.

1. What do you call an elf that sings? Austin: Singing elf Brianna: Wrapper Eric: A normal elf Kelsey: Buddy the Elf Answer: Wrapper

2. What do get when you deep fat fry Santa? Austin: Fried Santa Brianna: you get a lot of fat and cookies Eric: Idk Kelsey: Crisp Cringle Answer: Crisp Cringle

3. What do you call a frog hanging from he ceiling? Austin: Mistletoad Brianna: Mistletoad Eric: Mistletoad Kelsey: Mistletoad Answer: Mistletoad

4. What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Austin: Frosted Flakes Brianna: Carrots Eric: Carrots Kelsey: Snowballs Answer: Frosted Flakes

5. What do you call a bankrupt Santa? Austin: Saint Nickel-less Brianna: Saint Nickel-less Eric: Saint Nickel-less Kelsey: a Santa without money Answer: Saint Nickel-less

Looks like they knew their Christmas Riddles more than I thought! Brianna and Austin tied for frst place with three points a piece. Kelsey and Eric tied for second place with two points each. Great job this week!

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT MV the week of December 14, 2015

MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2015 1. Keystone at MV for Hearing Re-Checks - All Buildings 2. High School Band & Vocal Christmas Concert - HOME (St. John’s Catholic Church) - 7:00 PM

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2015 1. Deadline for January Newsletter Articles - Please Send to Sue Kramer at Johnston Elementary 2. 6th Graders Catapult Competition -MS Multi-Purpose Room - Noon until 1:30 PM 3. Homework Assistance for 7th & 8th Graders - After School until 4:00 PM 4. HS JV/V Girls & Boys Basketball - HOME - Lisbon - JV starts at 4:45 PM / V starts at 6:15 PM 5. HS JV/V Wrestling at Postville (also with Clayton Ridge & Ed/Co) - 5:00 PM (Bus Leaves at 2:30 PM)

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2015 1. Homework Assistance for 7th & 8th Graders - After School until 4:00 PM

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015 1. Middle School (6th-8th) Band & Vo-cal Christmas Concert - MS Multipurpose Room - 1:30 PM 2. HS JV/V Wrestling at Alburnett (also with Ed/Co) - 6:30 PM (Bus Leaves at 4:30 PM)

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015 1. Back Pack Delivery - Johnston, Earlville, Delhi Elementary & Middle School 2. HS JV/V G & B BB at East Buchanan - JV 4:00 PM / V 6:30 PM (JV Bus @ 2:30 PM / V Bus @ 4:20 PM)

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015 1. HS V Wrestling at North Linn - 8:00 AM (Bus Leaves at 5:10 AM) HS JV (9th) Girls Basketball at Cascade - 9:00 AM (Bus Leaves at 7:50 AM)

photos by Flavia XavierTHIS is MV