Harrisburg 41-2
Giving you more than just the 411, this is the Harrisburg 41-2 Podcast. In this podcast, you’ll hear how more than a 700% increase in student enrollment over the past two decades has created both challenges and opportunities — and how the district is moving forward strategically to meet them. Coming to you from the Harrisburg School District in southern Sioux Falls and Harrisburg, South Dakota.
Harrisburg 41-2
Fall Activities
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Join us as special guests Mr. Shane Wuebben, Fine Arts Director, and Mr. Jim Altenburg, Activities Director share the lineup of our fall events, including Tiger Bowl this weekend!
Transcript
00:00:03 JoAnne
We're giving you more than just the 411. This is the Harrisburg 412 podcast coming to you from Southern Sioux Falls and Harrisburg, SD.
00:00:19 JoAnne
Welcome to the Harrisburg 412 Podcast, the show that gives you more than just the 411 on the latest district happenings.
00:00:27 JoAnne
My name is Joanne VerMulm, communications director for the Harrisburg School District, and today we're talking with special guests Mr Shane Wuebben and Mr Jim Altenburg.
00:00:38 JoAnne
Mr. Wuebben is the Fine Arts director for the Harrisburg School District.
00:00:43 JoAnne
Welcome, Mr Wuebben.
00:00:44 Shane
It's a pleasure to be here, Joanne.
00:00:46 JoAnne
And Mr Jim Altenburg, activities director for the Harrisburg School District, welcome, Mr Altenburg.
00:00:53 Jim
Thank you for having me, Joanne.
00:00:56 JoAnne
All right.
00:00:57 JoAnne
Well, as you may have guessed, today we're talking about the many activities in both Fine Arts and athletics to start off our school year and including one coming up this weekend, Tiger Bowl, which will be held on Saturday, September 3rd throughout the day.
00:01:11 JoAnne
If you're new to the district, Tiger Bowl is a huge event sponsored by Tiger Nation, our high school boosters association, and involves 4 sporting events of Fine Arts performance at halftime and two a youth events for our Tiger Cubs in the district.
00:01:26 JoAnne
Mr Altenburg, can you tell us what events kick off the day?
00:01:29 Jim
6:00 PM to.
00:01:30 Jim
6:30 is the youth football camp registration on Friday, September 2nd, and the camp itself will run from 6:30 to 7:45.
00:01:41 JoAnne
And then those participants who were in the football camp will be at the game.
00:01:44 Jim
Yeah, and then they'll they'll participate in the beginning or at the beginning of the football game.
00:01:50 Jim
They'll run onto the field with the team and.
00:01:55 Jim
Get a big cheer from the crowd.
00:01:57 Jim
A little fun.
00:01:59 JoAnne
And then we have an event for our young tiger cheerleaders.
00:02:03 JoAnne
Can you tell us about that one?
00:02:04 Jim
Well, on Saturday morning at 8:30, registration begins for the.
00:02:10 Jim
Young girls or elementary age girls cheer camp and that will start at about 9:00 o'clock and.
00:02:16 JoAnne
And Tiger Nation, we should say, is sponsoring this event.
00:02:21 Jim
Yep, Tiger Nation handles the event. They take the proceeds from the gate, and it is we are tigernation.org.
00:02:29 Jim
So if you want to look into registering for any of that, we are tigernation.org. You can also join Tiger Nation at we are tigernation.org.
00:02:38 JoAnne
And then we have a series of high school events.
00:02:42 JoAnne
Throughout the day.
00:02:43 Jim
At 11:00 o'clock we start with soccer matches.
00:02:46 Jim
We have the boys varsity in the stadium at 11 and on the North Grass field we have the girls JV.
00:02:53 Jim
Then at 1:00 o'clock, we'll have the girls varsity in the stadium and the boys JV on the North Grass field.
00:02:59 Jim
Also beginning at 1:00 o'clock we will have.
00:03:02 Jim
Sub varsity volleyball matches.
00:03:04 Jim
Our 9th grade will play T area in the auxiliary gym and our JV will play T area in the main gym.
00:03:11 Jim
Then at 2:00 o'clock.
00:03:13 Jim
The 10th grader sophomore team volleyball team will play T area in the main gym followed by the varsity at about 3:00 o'clock versus D area as well.
00:03:24 Jim
Then at 6:00 o'clock, of course we have the football game.
00:03:26 Jim
Our opponent is Brandon Valley.
00:03:28 Jim
Tickets for each of the events the the volleyball.
00:03:33 Jim
Soccer and football, each separate.
00:03:37 Jim
Are $10.00 for adults and $5 for students.
00:03:40 JoAnne
And can be purchased online.
00:03:42 Jim
Can be purchased online at the school website through the Activities Link.
00:03:48 Jim
And you can, yeah, you can get your tickets right there, get a QR code that will be scanned at the gate and you don't have to wait in line for tickets.
00:03:56 Jim
Brandon Valley versus Harrisburg is typically a pretty good match up.
00:04:00 Jim
Close in proximity to one another, so this will be a large crowd, so I would recommend getting your tickets in advance.
00:04:06 Jim
It'll make entrance to the stadium a lot easier and a little more efficient for you.
00:04:11 JoAnne
And activity passes are not accepted at this game.
00:04:14 Jim
Activity passes issued by the school are not accepted now.
00:04:18
OK.
00:04:20 JoAnne
And we have.
00:04:20 JoAnne
Of some new seating in our stadium.
00:04:23 Jim
We do, we do.
00:04:24 Jim
The seating on the east side has been upgraded.
00:04:28 Jim
We have a grandstand over there very similar to what is on the top level of the West side, the home side of the stadium.
00:04:36 Jim
So that will help accommodate the visiting fans a little bit better.
00:04:39 Jim
It will be yet incomplete to a degree on Friday.
00:04:43 Jim
Or excuse me, Saturday.
00:04:44 Jim
Well, Friday too.
00:04:45 Jim
And Saturday.
00:04:47 Jim
But it will be useful, it will be used the the handicap ramp will be there and there will be adequate walking surface to get to it.
00:04:55 Jim
So it'll be a huge upgrade, especially for the visiting fans.
00:05:00 JoAnne
And we should also mention our band will be performing at halftime at the football game, which leads us to Mr Shane Wuebben.
00:05:08 JoAnne
Can you tell us about what the band is up to this season?
00:05:12 Shane
00:05:12 Shane
Yes, we'll get to see the new marching season premiere at all the home football games.
00:05:17 Shane
Very excited for the band to show off their show for the year.
00:05:20 JoAnne
And band is kind of different than it used to be.
00:05:23 JoAnne
It seems more almost drama based.
00:05:26 Shane
It does look different.
00:05:28 Shane
We have what I would call.
00:05:30 Shane
I'd use
00:05:31 Shane
I'd call the old style that
00:05:33 Shane
Big 10 style, where you see hundreds of kids out on the field creating geometric shapes and now we have more of the drum core style, which is really more a focus on how to combine the musical elements with visual elements, creating a story that you see performed throughout 345 selections.
00:05:53 Shane
Movements on the field, so there's a lot more visual elements going on with color and design dance from our color guard.
00:06:04 Shane
Not just those geometric shapes from many years ago.
00:06:07 JoAnne
And what is their theme this year?
00:06:10 Shane
This year the theme is the Candy House, which is a classic retelling of the story Hansel and Gretel that I'm sure many people remember.
00:06:19 Shane
We have the young kids playing out in the forest and they come upon a house that is made of candy and a stranger appears who of course then they really become enthralled.
00:06:30 Shane
With, but they don't quite know the mystery about this person, and it might have kind of some dark end.
00:06:37 JoAnne
All right, well, let's hope good triumphs over evil.
00:06:40 Shane
There's going to be a lot of fun elements, a lot of big props that we'll see out on the field.
00:06:46 Shane
The parents have worked really hard in creating some great props to add some visual elements to it.
00:06:50 JoAnne
And it does seem like there's a lot of parent involvement with the band as far as getting equipment on and off the field, setting things up, etc.
00:06:58 Shane
Yes, they've been working hard on props, so we're going to see some big things out there.
00:07:03 Shane
We're going to see our our band and our color guard really working together to create this story.
00:07:10 Shane
One thing you know that's really different about this style of marching is we don't have that what we'd call a battery or that drumline anymore.
00:07:19 Shane
And you know, that's really to help our group out.
00:07:22 Shane
We have our pit ensembles.
00:07:24 Shane
Sometimes they'll be in on the back of the fields and then it'll be on the front closer to the home stand.
00:07:30 Shane
And that's really to provide some support, not only rhythmically with the drum set, but some harmonic support, melodic support with some of the other instruments that you would say, well, that doesn't look like a marching instrument.
00:07:42 Shane
And we have a lot of parents out pushed that equipment.
00:07:44 Shane
Out on the field for our kids.
00:07:46 Shane
But that really, that's this whole new style of marching.
00:07:50 Shane
We're going to see that also in this season show and we're going to see all those parents helping those kids out.
00:07:56 Shane
It's it's going to be a good time.
00:07:57 JoAnne
And they do set it up and they tear it down very quickly.
00:08:01 JoAnne
Alright, awesome.
00:08:03 JoAnne
Are there any other activities for Fine Arts during Tiger Bowl?
00:08:06 Shane
No, we're not for Tiger Bowl, where the next big push will be homecoming, where we have some theater events with the variety show at the high school.
00:08:15 Shane
You know, right now we are in the point of where we're getting the curricular activities.
00:08:19 Shane
The Co curricular activity is getting started and extracurriculars are just starting to begin.
00:08:24 Shane
We're in that recruiting phase for a lot of our extracurriculars where we won't see those really hit the ground running until October, November, really.
00:08:33 Shane
Show choir, of course, at the high school.
00:08:35 Shane
Show choir is definitely often running.
00:08:38 Shane
Maybe I should say often dancing.
00:08:40 Shane
They have begun.
00:08:41 Shane
They've had their first choreography weekend where our choreographer comes in and works.
00:08:46 Shane
They've learned several movements of their show.
00:08:48 Shane
They're they're making some great efforts.
00:08:51 Shane
Through a great donation from Tiger Nation.
00:08:53 Shane
We were able to add some large mirrors to our rehearsal space, which allows the kids really to see what they're doing and.
00:09:00 Shane
It really allows them to help clean what their dance looks like on their own without having to have some.
00:09:05 Shane
And tell them the improvements, they can actually see it now.
00:09:08 Shane
So those are big portable mirrors that Tiger Nation purchased.
00:09:12 JoAnne
And what is the theme for show choir this year?
00:09:14 Shane
Yeah, show choir for the high school theme. If you are a fan of big band music, you are going to really love the the theme for our show choir this year. It's this 1920s underground kind of story that it's about a girl who stumbles upon an underground dance club.
00:09:32 Shane
And finds confidence to end up joining in that high energy group.
00:09:36 Shane
It's going to feature many big band songs, including some hits that were rewritten more recently.
00:09:44 Shane
You're going to hear songs, please don't stop the music by Rihanna, you're going to hear a techno version.
00:09:50 Shane
So a remix of putting on the Ritz and a standard, maybe this time from cabaret.
00:09:57 Shane
So a lot of.
00:09:59 Shane
New music that really is old music and you're going to hear it in a really fun new way.
00:10:04 Shane
And you know, if you have a, if it's a big band theme, we better have a big band playing.
00:10:09 Shane
And so we have students who will be providing all the compliment for the show choir.
00:10:13 Shane
It's we're going to have a great big band supporting the largest average show choir that we've had.
00:10:21 Shane
Yeah, we this the program is really taking off.
00:10:25 Shane
The kids are working really hard after really two full days of dance rehearsal.
00:10:31 Shane
They really brought their energy, they brought their hard work and we have good things we're going to see this year.
00:10:35 Shane
00:10:37 JoAnne
I love Big band music.
00:10:37 JoAnne
It's going to be fun.
00:10:39 JoAnne
Speech and debate is also a Fine Arts activity.
00:10:42 JoAnne
What's going on in the world of speech and debates?
00:10:44 Shane
Speech and debate.
00:10:45 Shane
That's also a change.
00:10:47 Shane
I think we've seen over the last couple of years what used to be a season for speech or oral interp in the fall.
00:10:54 Shane
Is now moved to almost year round.
00:10:57 Shane
We have national tournament in June speech excuse me debate as well has become a novice season in the fall, winter and then we go into the varsity season in that January, February, March kind of time and we have national tournaments in June as well there.
00:11:15 Shane
So we're in that again, the recruiting phase where we've got our novice starting.
00:11:19 Shane
We have a lot of students involved in the curricular class of debate, for example, and they become our novice team competing at the novice level after school in turn.
00:11:30 Shane
Then we have those students who continue on into the upper levels of debate class.
00:11:34 Shane
They also continue at that varsity level in the extra curricular debate.
00:11:39 JoAnne
And in our middle and elementary school programs, what do we have going on to start the year off?
00:11:44 Shane
Well, with the start of school, we have classrooms starting again.
00:11:48 Shane
Our art classrooms are beginning up again.
00:11:51 Shane
Art studios, our music classes are beginning.
00:11:54 Shane
Choir and band are beginning.
00:11:56 Shane
I know our fifth grade band families are right now.
00:11:59 Shane
Selecting instruments or getting students enrolled.
00:12:02 Shane
They'll begin their band and their band class and their band lessons here in the next few days.
00:12:08 Shane
We're in that phase of really getting some of those foundations built in the class and then of course we will see those concerts start hitting really heavy in November, December and then again in the late spring.
00:12:23 Shane
So we're just in that phase right now where we're in in the classroom, doing a lot of work, getting a lot of foundations set.
00:12:29 JoAnne
And Showchoir is also at the middle school level, is that correct?
00:12:34 Shane
Yes, Middle School has show choir.
00:12:36 Shane
Middle School also has drama as well.
00:12:38 Shane
Two programs we offer for Fine Arts we offer later in the spring we offer oral interp, but right now we have, we have North Middle School is beginning their auditions for their musical, which will then be in November and then after their musical.
00:12:54 Shane
They'll go really into their show choir season S middle school kind of flips a little bit, and that they will start their show choir season a little bit sooner in the fall because they do their drama production later into the winter, so it makes sense for their timing.
00:13:12 JoAnne
And I know arts and Education Week is coming up here very soon.
00:13:16 Shane
Very soon we have arts and Education Week.
00:13:19 Shane
The week of September 11th we begin national arts and Education Week.
00:13:24 Shane
We will have a focus on some social media push for encouraging learners.
00:13:31 Shane
And parents to do a shout out to teachers that maybe they currently have, that have really provided some inspiration in the arts, whether that's music or visual arts or performing arts, speech and debate.
00:13:45 Shane
It's an opportunity for people maybe to do a shout out and thank a music teacher or an art teacher from years ago that they had growing up.
00:13:55 Shane
It's also an opportunity for us to recognize that art isn't just taking place in.
00:14:01 Shane
Art class or in music class, we have classroom teachers that are incorporating activities in their classrooms to promote learning through the use of.
00:14:10 Shane
Art. Awesome.
00:14:12 JoAnne
All right.
00:14:13 JoAnne
Well, thank you, Mr Wuebben.
00:14:14 JoAnne
In early update.
00:14:14 Shane
You're welcome.
00:14:16 JoAnne
OK.
00:14:16 JoAnne
Mr Altenburg, what other activities do we have this season?
00:14:21 JoAnne
What other sports activities?
00:14:23 Jim
Well, the school sponsors 18 competitive athletic teams. In fact, now we're going to add a 1919 in the spring with softball and currently we have 10.
00:14:35 Jim
Of those programs active, so we've got cross country both boys and girls that are competing.
00:14:42 Jim
We've got soccer, both boys and girls.
00:14:45 Jim
We've got volleyball, football, boys, golf, girls, tennis, competitive cheer and competitive dance all competing right now.
00:14:54 Jim
They've all kicked off their seasons.
00:14:58 Jim
Cheer team won their competition last night in Watertown.
00:15:01 Jim
The dance team got second there.
00:15:03 Jim
Hip hop squad did win.
00:15:05 Jim
The hip hop side of things, so they had a great night last night.
00:15:09 Jim
The volleyball team swept Yankton at all levels last night.
00:15:12 Jim
So two freshman games, a sophomore game, JV game, and a varsity game.
00:15:16 Jim
One every set there.
00:15:17 Jim
The varsity volleyball team has lost one set to Sioux Falls, Lincoln in a tournament over the weekend, and they stand at 6 in all, our football teams are off to a good start.
00:15:26 Jim
Playing some very competitive games.
00:15:28 Jim
Our Varsity team is an inexperienced group, as yet they we graduated several players.
00:15:35 Jim
I think we returned three or so on offense and only about four or five on defense.
00:15:40 Jim
So we've got some development there in a very, very, very tough classification, but they will continue to grow and improve and I look forward to seeing them.
00:15:49 Jim
Down the road.
00:15:51 Jim
As well as week to week and watch him go.
00:15:53 Jim
So our boys golf team is very competitive.
00:15:57 Jim
They've finished in the top three of the tournaments that they've been in up to this point.
00:16:00 Jim
We've got some young talented athletes there.
00:16:03 Jim
Our girls tennis team is rebuilding to a degree.
00:16:06 Jim
We returned some state champions on that team and the double side of things, so it'll be fun to watch those gals continue to grow, improve and.
00:16:14 Jim
Continue to compete, compete.
00:16:16 JoAnne
So half the sports are happening.
00:16:18 Jim
Half the sports happen in the.
00:16:21 Jim
Over half the sports happen in the fall, so falls a busy time and athletics.
00:16:25 Jim
It's an exciting time.
00:16:26 Jim
We always get good weather, so we just as well get the kids outside and get them competing.
00:16:31 Jim
And girls soccer team is unbeaten at three zero and one.
00:16:36 Jim
They have one tie against Brandon Valley and the boys soccer team is also unbeaten.
00:16:40 Jim
They have one win.
00:16:41 Jim
0 losses and three ties, so they're having a great season and it's probably the best combination of.
00:16:50 Jim
Soccer standings that we've had didn't probably the last 6-7 years at this point, so they're off to a great start in doing a great job.
00:16:56 Jim
So they play obviously on on Saturday morning and I don't think I mentioned their opponent when I spoke before.
00:17:02 Jim
They play Sioux Falls, Washington.
00:17:04 JoAnne
Thank you, miss Trottenberg.
00:17:06 JoAnne
Mr Webb.
00:17:07 JoAnne
And did you want to add something?
00:17:09 Shane
You know, Joanne, I think one thing that is surprising for our Harrisburg community is that even as our high school has grown.
00:17:16 Shane
Alone and our middle schools have grown.
00:17:19 Shane
We still are able to have kids participate in multiple activities if they want.
00:17:26 Shane
And our coaches and advisors work with each other to help make sure that if a student wants to be a student athlete and wants to be a student artist or musician, they can still do that to the level that they would like.
00:17:37 Shane
So if that's just doing.
00:17:39 Shane
Some Co curricular music events they can, or if they want to do something extracurricular, we really do work to try to make that happen.
00:17:47 Shane
And I think that's something that's pretty rare now for a school of our size.
00:17:51 Shane
But I think it's something that we need to acknowledge is really important for kids, that they can make those choices and we can help support them and our coaching and.
00:18:00 Shane
Activity directors have really made that high.
00:18:02 Shane
Open, and I think that's something we should be proud of, that our kids can do many different activities and we can help them try new things, help them continue with things that they are, they enjoy.
00:18:13 Jim
Yeah, definitely.
00:18:15 Jim
We have a lot of athletes from, say a fall sport that will, that are involved in choir, that will come and sing the national anthem at a winter sport game and that's kind of fun to watch.
00:18:25 Jim
It's it's nice that they can display their talents both on the Fine Arts side and on the athletic side to our community and and the people that are that are in the venue get to see that.
00:18:34 Jim
They do more than just play volleyball, for example.
00:18:37 JoAnne
And I have always said as a teacher.
00:18:40 JoAnne
To see a student in front of you in your classroom doing their classwork is one thing, but then to go into the auditorium and watch them perform a solo or to play an instrument.
00:18:54 JoAnne
Or to see an art project that they've done, or to see them on the court.
00:18:59 JoAnne
It's an amazing thing to be able to see the full spectrum of talents that our students have.
