News
Volunteer opportunity: Post-Prom Game Committee seeks new chairperson
The Vinton-Shellsburg High School Post Prom game committee is in need of a new chairperson, as soon as possible.
The group is seeking a parent of a VSHS junior who is would be willing to use their energetic, outgoing personality to help organize activities and volunteers for the Post-Prom event.
Please contact Sarah Wagner or one of the other committee members if interested.
VS FFA/Ag students share hatching video
The Vinton-Shellsburg FFA/Ag Department is celebrating the hatching of several chicks in its incubator. The program, with "The Barn," its outdoor learning lab, as well as its greenhouse and fish aquariums, continues to offer students a variety of hands-on lessons. Students have even witnessed the birth of baby pigs.
The students have been watching the eggs for the past few days, and this week shared a video of the hatching process. VS to host 7-8th grade Honor Choir Festival Feb. 15; VSMS students to sing
The East Central Iowa Choral Directors 7th & 8th Grade Honor Choir Festival will be held on Monday, February 15 at the Vinton-Shellsburg High School. The event will conclude with a concert at 7:00 pm in the high school auditorium.
Participating schools include Bellevue, Central City, Valley Lutheran (Cedar Falls), Marquette Catholic, Vernon Middle School (Marion), Tipton, South Tama, Oak Ridge (Linn-Mar), Cascade (Western Dubuque), North Cedar, Calamus-Wheatland, McKinley (Cedar Rapids) and Vinton-Shellsburg. Iowa's Congolese community unites to help Highway 30 accident victims
The tragic accident on Highway 30 claimed the lives of three Congolese Iowans who came to the U.S. to flee the unrest and violence that has plagued much of Africa.
The three men who died in the accident early last Thursday morning had recently moved to Iowa. They were in a vanload of immigrants headed toward the Iowa Premium Beef packing plant in Tama, where many of the immigrants had found their first jobs.
Benton Co. Community Foundation grant application deadline approaching
This is a reminder that grant applications can now be submitted to the Benton County Community Foundation for its 2016 grant cycle. The deadline to submit applications is midnight (CST) March 15, 2016. Grants are awarded to projects in the following areas: art and culture, community betterment, education, environment, health, historic preservation and human service.
Nepotism policy: Employee handbook revision will allow county worker to keep job
The Benton County Board of Supervisors, along with several representatives of county departments, have been working for several weeks on revising the county employee’s manual (handbook).
On Tuesday morning, the group spent more than an hour going over the fourth revision of the handbook, which covers a variety of employment rules and procedures.
Vinton Garden Club News 1/27/16
The Vinton Garden Club member of National Garden Clubs, Inc., District II, and Central Region met at 12:30 pm at Luanna Hawkins home for the January meeting. The program was “Benton-Tama Water Quality Project” given by Shannon Mitchel, Water Shed Coordinator.
President Fran Stueck called the meeting to order at 12:45pm. Meeting was stopped to hear Shannon speak then at 2:15 the meeting resumed.
Vinton woman wins $100,000 from Iowa Lottery
A Benton County woman may be getting a newer pickup truck after claiming a $100,000 prize from an Iowa Lottery scratch game.
Barbara Osterkamp of Vinton won her big prize on a “Vegas Game Book” scratch ticket she bought Thursday at Casey’s, 4397 N. Center Point Road in Center Point. She claimed the seventh of eight top prizes of $100,000 available in the game. FFA Fruit Sales
With the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Fruit Sales finally getting wrapped up, from delivering fruit and collecting the rest of the money, the final amount of money raised is $32,013!
The month of November was filled with getting customer orders in and trying to reach as much people as possible in such a short time, because the next month, on the 15th, the two delivery trucks arrived at the high school with boxes upon boxes of fruit, sausage, nuts, and cheeses.
Shellsburg students learn basics of skiing and Sundown Mountain
The VS fifth graders left Shellsburg Elementary Monday morning for the bus trip to the Sundown Mountain ski resort near Dubuque.
A few teachers and several parents, including some who had never skiied before, joined the 5th graders in the snow. Several ski instructors offered lessons to the participants at every level. The resort offered special school pricing, and funding for the trip came from a Vinton Community Foundation grant.