Student works from Current Events Class

Family: Jesse’s communication struggles

by Damien Holste, Current events reporter

Jesse Dalley entered the optimist speech contest to try to win the scholarship award. This scholarship award could help him with his future plans after graduation. I had an opportunity to listen to Jesse’s speech practice last April 2. The speech focused on the communication problem he has with his family. He tried to teach his mother ASL (American Sign Language) but it is difficult. The opposite could be said for his father who could understand what Jesse said in sign language. Jesse stated he had this dream about his wish that his mother’s relatives could converse in ASL easily. In conclusion,  I feel like he could win the optimist speech contest.


Highlight during the high school football season

By Jayden Kohl, Current events reporter

This month, several high school students are giving their optimist speeches in order to win the scholarship awards. I selected one student, Ben Brakke, to interview. Ben gave the following highlight from the highschool football season as his speech.

  1. Iowa School for the Deaf beat Arkansas School for the Deaf during ASD’s homecoming.
  2. Learning how to tackle the opponents.
  3. The seniors received farewell gifts from their coach, Brent Welsch, since it was their last year playing football.
  4. The team had an emotional reaction as the football season ended, but they stayed being optimistic about the next year’s football season.
  5. The team had a lot of positive discussions about the different things in football.

In conclusion, the football team appeared to have a good season and has high hopes for a successful football season next school year. Ben Brakke gave a good speech about this topic.


 A great activity to participate in

By Angel Torres, Current events reporter

As part of the requirement, various high school students participate in the Optimistspeech contest and the end goal is to collect scholarship awards. Cheryl Banks, Abigail Bradley and Megan Shama coordinate this worthwhile activity to give every student an equal opportunity to participate in the scholarship awards.

I had a chance to interview Jade Fastnacht about her participation. Here is what she said. She really likes this activity because it gives her a chance to describe something that is positive for her. She said she became the volleyball manager in order to 1.) be kept busy; 2.) be willing to help the players by supplying them with fresh water; 3.) learn how to be prompt by arriving ahead of or on time; and 4.) have plenty of opportunities to meet new people from different GPSD teams. She is ready to become a manager at ISD for both basketball and volleyball team next school year.

From what I observed during Jade’s speech practice, I feel she may have a chance to win this Optimist Speech contest. I also feel she will be good in her role as a volleyball and basketball manager again next school year. I wish her lots of luck!




Fabulous 4 kids attend math contest
By Jayden Kohl, Current events reporter

Eric Yepez-Morales, Jenessa Patten, Holly Schroeder, and Kali Nipper went to the middle school math contest at RIT in Rochester, New York for two days, in early April. The ISD coordinator was Ashley Villaverde.

One positive part is for the team was that some questions were easy for them to answer. The negative part for the team was the difficult questions for them to answer. But they had good teamwork together.

Everyone had a good time and met new friends. They had a wonderful tour of RIT and saw new places. They had two very busy days.

In conclusion, the team did not win but they earned good team sportsmanship medals. They all practiced hard and tried their best to win the contest. Congratulations on their hard work!