News

Via the Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District: There will be a 2hr early out today, March 4, due to incoming weather. Due to the weather forecast, the district will not offer pep busses for Tuesday’s basketball game.  Refunds will be issued on Wednesday or applied towards busses on Thursday if our team wins on Tuesday.  The City Rec Department is working on lining up another charter bus for high school students.

For the first time in 3 years, we will be away from the computer (kind of) for 24 hours! You all may see us shaking uncontrollably over this time, but we WILL survive it I'm sure! We will be covering the basketball game in Des Moines on Tuesday, (see you all there:) via Twitter.  If you are not following us on Twitter, or Facebook, join us either place to follow the game! If there is URGENT news.

We are closely watching the weather to determine whether or not our pep busses will travel tomorrow to support our boys’ basketball team in Des Moines. While the forecast looks like it will not be good driving conditions, we are waiting until this afternoon to determine our plan and will announce it to the students before they go home today.

Smoke from the large house fire billowed high above Vinton Saturday morning, forming a large black cloud visible from miles away. But nobody called the firefighters. They were already there. Mark and Kimberly Noe offered their large old +house on 6th Street to the firefighters for a training exercise. The firefighters spent much of the morning conducting training drills before burning down the house.

For more years than most people can count, the first Saturday in March -- along with being the day for the high school jazz band festival -- is Pancake Day for the Vinton Kiwanis. The Kiwanis members, aided by local Cub Scouts and several AmeriCorps NCCC members, served hundreds of people the traditional flapjacks along with sausage and milk or juice, at the Vinton Skate Center.

Although there are many things about winter that inspire complaints, there are a few things that places without cold weather just cannot offer -- like the view of trees covered with a layer of snow or frost.

While the attention is mostly focused on the high school musicians at the NEIBA Jazz Band Festival, there is also plenty of action for Middle School students, as well. While the high school students were competing in the VSHS auditorium, the middle school jazz bands from six schools, including VS Middle School, took turns performing for the judges.

The communities of the VInton-Shellsburg School District are full of school pride and hope this week as the Vikings prepare for their State Tournament game on Tuesday. Even the snowman in front of the Vinton Lutheran Home dressed up in black and gold to cheer on the Vikings! Following is a poem written to go along with the jolly friend, from everyone at the Vinton Lutheran Home Communities!   WE WISH OUR GRANDSONS AND THEIR TEAMMATES GOOD LUCK AT STATE From their Grandparents and friends at The Vinton Lutheran Home Communities   I represent all at the Vinton Lutheran Home Standing tall and proud, second to none.

The Vinton-Shellsburg Jazz Band won the 2013 NEIBA Jazz Festival for the first time in school history (since consolidation), and earned an automatic berth to the 2013 Iowa Jazz Championships on Saturday afternoon. Sax players Claire Andreesen and Alyssa Cantrell were selected as two of the five outstanding soloists for the day, and Nick Gardner was selected as the top soloist for the entire NEIBA Jazz Festival for his sax solo; he also performed a clarinet solo.

Congratulations to the VSHS Chamber Singers on being selected as one of five ensembles in the region to take part in the Luther College Choral Invitational. Each year, Luther considers hundreds of choirs throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota. Looking for musical excellence and high quality character, choral conductors of the Luther College faculty select who they feel represent these qualities.