Alma Area Schools - Promoting Lifelong Learning and Achievement

No Slowing Down the Eagles Pepin-Alma Wins Another in Dominant Fashion By Screech McNeil Melrose- American poet, Henry Longfellow warned of a potential British Invasion in 1775 by using the famous saying, ‘One By Land, Two by Sea.’ Pepin-Alma’s senior captain Madox Stewart may have been giving the ‘One By Land, Two by AIR' sign in Merosel-Mindoro on Friday night. Stewart, the 6’0 202 lb quarterback, and linebacker seemed to have his hand in nearly every important play on both sides of the ball and special teams, as the Eagles cruised to another running clock victory 43 to 6 over the Mustangs. Stewart completed 7 of 10 passes for 148 yards and three touchdowns. He ran in a two-point conversion himself and also recorded 17 tackles to lead a stingy Pepin-Alma defense in the convincing win. Melrose-Mindoro entered the contest with a 3-1 conference record, and they did their best to keep the Eagles offense off the field most of the night. The Mustangs used every bit of the play clock and utilized 6’3, 240-pound utility player Brayden Lockington in multiple positions. The hometown Mustangs were able to limit possessions the game, but it didn’t slow down one of the state’s most prolific offenses when they did get the ball. The Eagles took an opening quarter lead when Demetrius Bergmann found the endzone zone from 35 yards out. Jack Riesgraf added the two-point conversion for the Eagles’ only score in the initial frame. The Eagles added to the lead in the second quarter, and again it was Bergmann the beneficiary of some great blocking. This score was from 4 yards. The lead stretched 22-0 following an 8-play drive, that ended with a 2-yard scoring toss from Stewart to fellow senior Evan Olson. Melrose Mindoro drove to the Pepin in Alma 30-yard line on their final drive of the half, but Dylan Roundy broke up a pass on fourth down with less than 30 seconds, remaining in the half. The Eagles were not content to run the clock out. Stewart found Olson down the right side line for a gain of 22 and Bergmann ripped off an inside run of 19 yards setting the Eagles up for one last play from the Melrose-Mindoro 25. With the defense geared to stop the speedy Olson, Stewart found Cainnin Mann with a step on a defender and threw a 25-yard laser down the left hash. Mann snared the pass and reached across the goal line for a touchdown with a single tick remaining on the first-half clock to push the lead to 28-0. Melrose Mindoro stuck to their game plan and went on a 13-play, nine-minute drive to open the second half. Lockington was used mostly as a lead blocker and speedy running back Jackson Blaken found a few creases in the Eagle defense. Lockington slipped into the right side endzone for a 5-yard scoring strike on 4th and goal, to cut the Pepin-Alma lead to 28 to 6.

Picture retake day will be Tuesday, October 17, 2023, beginning at 8: 30 a.m.

Eagle Weekly for Oct. 2-7 Happy Homecoming week to Pepin! https://5il.co/263e2

The Alma School District is very fortunate to have five amazing school board members who devote hours of their time each week to provide leadership for our school district. This week is Wisconsin School Board Week so please take time to thank a school board member today! President - Todd Myren Vice President - Corey Hanson Clerk - Sarah Danzinger Treasurer - Deb Noll Member - Douglas Kane

Big Strides for Alma-Pepin Athletics By: Ashley Bartelt In the last few years, Alma-Pepin has had the opportunity to co-op with other schools to add a wider variety of activities for their students. The most recent sport added to Alma-Pepin athletics is cross country. The cross country team is based out of the Wabasha-Kellogg High School in Minnesota and includes students from Alma and Pepin. This adds a wider variety of opportunities to the students from both schools. Going to Alma has a small school feel, but not small school opportunities. Administrators at Alma and Pepin look to not only provide an excellent learning environment, but they also look to expand the interests of the students. This co-op grants opportunities to students who may lack interest in traditional fall sports and in general, gives more variety to the students from both Alma and Pepin. Overall, we can hope to see more growth in the future not just for the current students, but for those who will succeed in the future. The Students from Alma and Pepin have been taking this opportunity by storm. Cole Arens, a Pepin athlete, has done very well in the most recent cross country meet. This meet took place on September 19 at Hok-Si-La Park. This was the Lake City Invitational and was split up into girls and boys varsity. Each person had to run 5,000 meters which is a little more than three miles. The Wabasha-Kellogg team placed 8th at the event, but Cole Arens took home a big win on his own. Cole ran the 5,000 meter race in 16 minutes and 8.81 seconds, 26 seconds in front of the 2nd place runner. He ended up taking home the first place medal. Not only did Cole place first in this meet, but he hit his personal record (16:08.81). After this most recent P.R., Cole is on the 2023 leaderboard. Out of all the runners in the state of Minnesota, Cole has placed 40th in the state for the 2023 fall season. Our other runners are increasing their records and endurance day by day. All four of the Alma and Pepin cross country runners are also a part of the track team, and this co-op opportunity will further help them in the spring. We would like to give a big thank you to the athletic directors and administrators for making this opportunity possible for the students of Alma and Pepin.

Heavenly Hats

A select few of Alma-Pepin's student-athletes were given the opportunity to attend an officiating camp at Augusta High School. With this training, students will be eligible to be certified to referee high school basketball games. The kids at the camp learned how to make calls and how to use the right hand and arm signals. They discovered that the best way to make a call is to have confidence in their voice and whistle. They got to meet many new people at the clinic. The schools that attended were, Melrose-Mindoro, Alma Center-Lincoln, Augusta, Independence-Gilmanton, Whitehall, Eleva-Strum, and Alma-Pepin. The clinic lasted around three hours long and was full of lots of useful information. Keegan Stiehl and Cainnin Mann

The Eagles Dance Team has a clothing order available. Sale closes on Friday, October 13. Eagles Dance Clothing Order - https://cvsports.chipply.com/eaglesdance23/

Alma School District students benefit every day from the leadership and vision of our school board. Next week, October 1st through the 7th is Wisconsin School Board Week. Please take time to thank these dedicated school leaders. President - Todd Myren Vice President - Corey Hanson Clerk - Sarah Danzinger Treasurer - Deb Noll Member - Douglas Kane

Freshman class doing a density lab.

The 8th-grade class used play dough to make different atoms during science.

C-team and JV team football games have both been postponed for tonight(Mon. Sept. 25). High School football will practice in PEPIN. Middle School football practice has been CANCELED for tonight.

Congratulations to the Student of the Week this week, Madalyn Wick. Madalyn Wick is in 11th grade at Alma High School. She is the daughter of Tom and Mindy Wick. She enjoys agriculture and hunting. When there is a fair in the area, she loves to participate in it by showing beef cows, sheep, goats, and pigs. The extracurriculars she participates in at Alma are band and FFA. Madalyn has four younger siblings named Trevor, Molly, Trent, and Mckenzie. Her favorite thing about this school is the small class size. When interviewed, she couldn’t stop talking about her favorite teacher, Ms. Jumbeck. Maddy said Ms. J. is her biggest role model. Therefore she strives to go into the agriculture field. Written by Trenton Krzoska

Eagle Weekly for the week of Sept. 25-30 Have a great week! UPDATED https://5il.co/25mu8

Thanks to Brian Brecka with the Wisconsin DNR-Fish Management for coming to the Alma School to talk to the fifth graders. They learned how many fish were in the Mississippi River and had a chance to identify some of them. Mr. Brecka also brought in a mount of Wisconsin's state fish, the muskellunge.

Live Stream for tonight's football game at Blair-Taylor can be found on the Blair-Taylor website. It looks like it is a Fan.hudl.com live stream. Below is the link we found if you can't find it here, please go to fandudl.com and search for Blair-Taylor. GO EAGLES! https://fan.hudl.com/United-States/WI/Blair/organization/13835/Blair-Taylor-High-School/watch?b=QnJvYWRjYXN0Njc2MzY5

On September 20th, a college fair occurred in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The event was organized by Wisconsin Education Fairs. It provided students, and school counselors with a chance to explore over 100 colleges, universities, and military branches. The purpose of attending the fair is to help students have conversations with representatives, meet other students, and expose them to a variety of careers and opportunities. The fair was attended by the junior and senior classes of Alma Area Schools. It served as a “one-stop shop” for students to gather information about numerous colleges and universities. Various colleges and universities attended the fair, including all from the UW system, stretching to the Grand Canyon University. The fair helped up to 5,000 visitors with their college search and continues to grow every year with their annual college fair.

Tough Conference Matchups for the Eagles On Tuesday September 20th, the C-FC Pirates and Alma-Pepin Eagles battled it out on the volleyball court during conference play. The Eagles and Pirates have met each other a couple of times prior to the game at different tournaments and scrimmages over the summer. Each time the Pirates easily came out on top. The Eagles didn’t let that bother them though, as they came out ready to play in the first two sets. The Eagles and the Pirates battled back and forth for each point. The Pirates came out winning the first set with the Eagles trailing not far behind as the score was 25-19. C-FC’s sophomore libero Mackenzie Wenger had an outstanding game with 20 digs. Wenger’s digs helped her setter, Eliana Krause record 13 assists and her middle hitter Bella Holzer with 8 kills. Although after losing the first set, the Eagles never backed down. They came out with a lot of fire and energy for set two. The Eagles brought this set closer than the first set, but the Pirates pulled through at the end winning the second set 25-21. The Eagles’ senior, Wallice Helmin had a great game recording 15 digs and 7 kills. Both setters, Allidah Luff and Tori Creighton put up 11 assists each. In the third set, the Pirates were abundantly more focused and ready to play than the Eagles. The Pirates swept the Eagles 25-8 in the last set, sending them home early. After a tough loss against C-FC on Tuesday, the Eagles traveled north to play Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, currently the number one team in the conference. The Lancers started out strong taking the first set, 25-15. The Lancer’s outside hitter, Gabi Radichel, made the Eagles defense work hard as she nailed every ball either line or cross court. The Lancers took the second set 25-11. Even though the Eagles lost the last two sets, they still weren’t ready to be done. With the score in the third set being 20-11 while the Lancers were up, the Eagles made a comeback bringing the score 23-18. Unfortunately after all the effort given by the Eagles, the Lancers finished strong at the end, winning the final set 25-19. After a long, hard week of losses, the Eagles are hoping to get back on the right track for their game on Tuesday against Blair-Taylor in Pepin. Article written by: Tori Creighton Photos taken by: Heidi Stewart

2nd graders would like to thank Dominik's grandparents, Robert and Cheryl Traun, and Austin & Easton's parents, Steve and Christal Ritscher, for their wonderful donations to our classroom! The new games and books are a wonderful addition to the room! THANKS SO MUCH!

Wacky Wednesday Fun in First Grade!