The North Nodaway PTO is selling knockoff bags for $50 each. They will be in at the end of August. If interested, contact any PTO member. Committee members are Sara Coleman, Stan & Lindsey Alexander, Ashlie Marriott, and Ashley Turner.
The PTO provides the following for the school district and more:
—Purchase most school supplies for students at both schools;
—Field trips;
—Treats for Teacher Appreciation Week;
—Help with Adopt a Teacher at Christmas time.
The Hopkins Male Beauty Pageant is growing in leaps and bounds. Now, it has gotten international and even interstellar attention, with a strange visitor from Mars gracing the show. It was all in good fun as proceeds went towards the North Nodaway PTO to help teachers and students.
A last minute entrant, Jasmine, who looked like NEN grad Colton Swalley, was the surprise winner of the pageant this year. “She” made plans to enter it next year if former Bluejay baseball standout Dylan McIntyre were to hit five home runs or pitch a complete game shutout for his new team, Northwest Missouri State. But “she” was prevailed on at the last minute to enter in this year’s edition.
When “she” entered the contest, Jasmine busted some moves and so stunned the other contestants and the crowd that none of the other contestants could come up with any special talents or skills that could catch up. Even a feud between Keisha, who looked like Owen Coleman, and Dirty Shirley, who Keisha called a “retard,” did not derail the momentum that Jasmine had. Jasmine said that people had to pay for more, which got plenty of wallets to open up Saturday.
Keisha, who looked like Owen Coleman, hailed from South Virginia. “She” took the idea of confederacy to the next level, declaring that South Virginia was its own country. “She” travels the world, is fond of swimming, and doesn’t care if “her” black socks are in or out of style. “I don’t need talents, I’m just that beautiful,” said Keisha.
Kahina hailed from Bedford and came for the street fights, but had not found a fight yet since coming to Hopkins. “She” said “she” should be the winner because it would help “her” fight career. “She” wanted to be rich and famous and see all “her” posters.
Delirious, who hailed from St. Joseph and who was one of the oldest contestants ever to enter the show, looked like Mark Spire. “She” was going to Bedford because “she” heard that the swimming was good there. However a check of the Iowa DNR website found that while the Lake of Three Fires State Park was open, swimming was not recommended there because of contamination from E.coli. Delirious makes periodic trips to New Orleans, where “she” has a good time and can see quite well despite “her” age.
Ruby said “she” should win the contest because “she” was a gem. “She” was decked out in red for the pagent, but “she” said “she” would look good in any color. “She” hailed from Overland Park, where “she” gets a lot of business. “Her” game is to come into small towns and run away with the beauty contests, because they don’t know what was coming from “her.”
Becky hailed from Downtown Hopkins, and swore “she” had no talents despite everyone wanting “her” to sing and dance. “She” was 32 years old and was very short. “She” admitted to interacting with the homeless man from time to time, seeing “she” was from his neck of the woods in Hopkins.
Karen hailed from Kentucky, which people found hard to believe, because “she” still had all “her” teeth. “She” works at anything that can pay, and “her” special talent was that “she” could win anybody over because “she” could cook.
Minnie from South Dakota is a professional snake wrangler. “She” catches rattlesnakes and butchers them, selling them to local restaurants for $3,000 a snake. “She” can catch 150 per day. While rattlesnake meat is not widely popular or mainstream in South Dakota, it does have a niche appeal among certain outdoor enthusiasts, survivalists, and novelty-seeking diners. It may appear occasionally at wild game feeds, hunting expos, or specialty restaurants. Prairie rattlesnakes are common in that state. So Minnie doesn’t have to do a lot of work to make a living, since there is a niche market there and can spend the rest of “her” time plying her trades. “She” spends a lot of “her” time and money getting “her” hair, which has many colors, just right.
Rhonda from Mars won so many beauty pageants on that planet that “she” got kicked off the planet and sent back to Earth, where “she” kept right on winning. “She” sported a stick from a camel’s leg; they have camels on Mars. “Her” hobbies including drinking beer and smoking dope. Mars has transcended the need for money; however, they do have elections. They recently had an election between Sleepy and Daffy, in which Sleepy won and Daffy sent everyone to the Red House, believing it was rigged. “You call them politicians; we just call them liars,” “she” said.
In an interview afterwards, Rhonda said that businessman Elon Musk, who has spent billions of dollars in an effort to get a manned mission to Mars, didn’t have a clue and that people had already made it to Mars while the media was not paying attention.
Dirty Shirley hailed from Germany and does not believe in shaving legs like the rest of the contestants. It didn’t stop “her” from busting a move. “She” came to Hopkins because “she” had met Dennis, one of the band members, online and wanted to see him in person. They shared a passionate hug at the end of the show.
Keisha was named the best dressed. Kahina had the best hair. Dirty Shirley had the best personality.
But not everyone was pleased with the outcome, with Dirty Shirley and Ruby saying the result was rigged. “I should have busted a move. You don’t know what you missed,” said Ruby.
The Hopkins Picnic Male Beauty Pageant will be held Saturday, August 9th at 7 pm at the stage. This year, the proceeds will go to the North Nodaway PTO.
The PTO buys most of the school supplies for kids, leaving minimal shopping for students. The PTO pays for field trips. This year, they paid for 50% of all Team Trevin shirts for all students in the district to support student Trevin Wyllie and his battle against cancer. They supply the teachers with teacher appreciation gifts and meals and each teacher is given $50 for anything in their classrooms from attending one meeting.
This year, the PTO will do “Adopt a Teacher” for Christmas.
The North Nodaway School Board Wednesday approved two substitutes and named a contractor for the bond project to build the additions at the elementary and high school as well as the new bus barn north of the high school.
The board approved Jennifer Riedel as a substitute custodian and Stephanie Deleon as a substitute paraprofessional, custodian, and cook. The vote was 4-0, with board member Vicki Riley abstaining. Board members Samantha Brown and Cari Cline were not present.
The school received three bids for the bond project. The school received a bid from Herner of St. Joseph for $1,980,000 for the high school and the elementary and $835,000 for the bus barn for a combined total of $2,815,000. Lee Grover submitted a bid for $2,298,579 for the high school and elementary additions and a combined bid of $3,020,225 to do the bus barn as well. They were not willing to do just the bus barn. Lehr submitted a bid for $2,024,291 for the high school and elementary additions, but no bid for the bus barn.
The proceeds from the voter approved bond issue came out to $2,643,000. The board voted to approve the bid from Herner Construction, contingent upon a negotiated contract by Superintendent Chris Turpin to build the new additions at the elementary and high school as well as the new bus barn. The school has three years to spend the money raised from the bond issue.
The board approved Hines Mechanical of St. Joseph to complete the air conditioning project contingent on a negotiated contract by Superintendent Chris Turpin. Four contractors took a tour of the facility, but only two submitted bids.
Hines Mechanical submitted a base bid of $143,571, an addition of $4,730 for reheat coils, and an addition of $13,640 for double wall spiral pipe. IHP submitted a bid of $258,351 with an addition of $12,897 for reheat coils and $39,718 for double wall spiral pipe.
Money will be paid for by ESSER money and other funds that the school had set aside for the project.
Second grade teacher Danielle Johnson and Rosemary Cooper, who is student teaching under Johnson, talked about their work in teaching second graders. They are working on kindness and are brainstorming ideas to raise money for local causes.
Kindergarten teacher Angie Davison reported that she had gotten a $500 grant from the Missouri Retired Teachers Association for new toys for her classroom. She was able to get toy sticks and balls, magnets, puzzle blocks, legos, building cubes, and other toys for her class. They are working on keeping emotions under control, recognizing emotions, and reading allowed.
The board approved the itinerary for the senior trip that will take place from May 8th to 11th before graduation. North Nodaway seniors will stay at WaterMill Cove in Branson. They will give access to a complimentary golf cart for being return customers. On the way, they plan to visit the Osceola Cheese Factory and pick up some samples. They will also visit Five Star Parks on Monday.
Possible attractions at Branson include the Indoor Zoo, Dixie Stampede, the Zipline, the Gravity Coaster, go karts, a boat, and dinner at Lambert’s.
Elementary Principal Ashley Marriott reported that new Elementary Student Council officers were named. Named were Gannon Stricker (President), Arianna Owens (Vice-President), Zoey Pearson (Treasurer), and Ava Steinman (Secretary). Representatives of the student body who will be invited to participate in the student council include Charlie Piper, Cade Miller, Avary Volner, Montana Morrow, and Dustie Rader.
Around 110 grandparents and special adults were served at the elementary Grandparents Day Luncheon.
Professional development on October 24th focused on learning more about utilizing the school’s new math resources and breaking down the benchmarking data.
A PAT Trunk or Treat was held Thursday afternoon at the elementary.
As of October 13th, there were 95 students in the elementary and 14 in the Pre-K.
High School Principal Roger Johnson reported that there were 12 vo-tech students, 11 dual credit students, and 7 cadet teachers, of which two were in the elementary.
The school completed drills on emergencies, including tornadoes, fires, bus evacuations, intruders, and earthquakes. Some procedures were tweaked to help substitute teachers.
Middle school and high school teacher teams were working on writing curriculum and developing cross curricular ELA units and activities, planning large student incentives, awards, and community service opportunities.
Parent teacher conferences were held on October 20th. Professional development was held on October 24th. Last year, there were 19 students with perfect attendance; this year, there were 30.
There are currently 32 students participating in the Missouri A+ program. Mr. Johnson said the peer teaching component has been beneficial to the students.
College reps from Missouri Western, Missouri, and Northwest were at the school recently. Junior students attended the Northwest Career Fair. Seniors attended the career fair at the St. Joseph Airport. Sophomores attended the My Success Event.
The Student Council attended the Northwest District Student Council meeting at Polo. Several great ideas came back with the students to the school.
Service learning projects are underway, and a new Leo Club is being formed. Several ideas were discussed for community service.
Superintendent Chris Turpin reported that the roof project that was approved by the board in the September meeting has been completed and that the roof shouldn’t be an issue for many years to come.
The City of Hopkins is in the process of sandblasting and relining the water tower next to the school. They have blocked off part of the parking lot and stored some of their equipment by the commons.
The annual school board training will be next month. Board filing dates will be set next month, and board working sessions will be set; topics will include school safety planning and a possible presentation on bleachers.
The ball field restrooms and concession stand have been winterized.
The school is in the process of finding a full time custodian for the elementary school.
The North Nodaway PTO purchased North Nodaway shirts for every student and staff member. They also provided monetary support for staff dinner during parent teacher conferences.
The school has been donated free furniture, including 30 teacher chairs, tables, magnetic dry erase boards, and a new electric projection screen.
A grant has been submitted for interior door costs at the high school.
On June 4th and 5th, the North Nodaway PTO is holding a rummage sale at the North Nodaway School.
The PTO is seeking donations for the sale. They are looking for gently used clothing, shoes, toys, books, games, household items, knick-knacks, and other items. Donations can be dropped off at the old gym at North Nodaway. Use the main front doors (ring doorbell). Helpers will be inside to let you in.
Dropoff dates and times are as follows:
May 23rd – 3:00 to 6:30 pm
May 24th – 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
May 25th – 8:00 am to 6:30 pm
May 26th – 8:00 am to 5:30 pm
May 27th – 12 noon to 4:30 pm
May 28th – 12 noon to 3:00 pm
May 31st – 8:00 am to 6:30 pm
The rummage sale hours will be from 8 am to 5 pm June 4th and from 7 am to 12 noon on June 5th. All proceeds go to school supplies, field trips, classroom incentives, and more.
For more information, call Lindsay Alexander (660) 254-3420.
Pole banners are coming to Hopkins, Chris Turpin told the North Nodaway PTO Tuesday night, March 8th. He was reporting from the Hopkins CBC meeting. They will line poles along 148, third street, and Barnard Street with the theme, “School Pride, Family Pride, Community Pride.” They will be seasonal and rotated every season. A fundraiser was held Sunday at the Community Building for the banners and signs that was well attended.
The PTO received $337.99 from a recent Taco John’s Crunch for a Cause. There were 182 hats and visors sold at home basketball games this year.
Change Wars are being held this week at both the Pickering and Hopkins school buildings. Proceeds go towards the PTO.
The PTO covers around 90% of elementary supplies and is now looking to help with the high school. They also pay for field trips.
Bingo Night went well, and there were a lot of positive comments.
Next month, new officers will be named for the PTO.
Athletic Director Cody Jenkins requested and got funding for rubber weights. He is starting a weightlifting program for the junior high, and there is a lot of interest, with 20 kids in one class. The rubber weights will allow the students to lift safely, without risking breaking the floor. He will also purchase new weight pads to replace some old pads.
The PTO is planning a Teacher Appreciation Week for May and a rummage/bake sale for June. The PTO approved $150 for each building to feed teachers during parent/teacher conferences.
The PTO will do the Male Beauty Pageant for the Hopkins Picnic this year.
The next meeting will be April 12th at 6:30 pm in Hopkins.
The North Nodaway PTO has raised over $1,300 in recent fundraising efforts. The male beauty pageant at the Hopkins Picnic raised $1,290 as of Thursday morning. In addition, Kelly Dailey sold custom tumblers at summer baseball games and donated $50 of her earnings to the PTO.
