More than 140 kayakers from across the country were in Yankton this weekend for a 72-mile journey down the Missouri River to Sioux City.

The South Dakota Kayak Challenge, in its fourth year, began Saturday morning at 7 a.m. at Riverside Park, and racers had until Sunday afternoon to finish the challenge.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for our team to show off the beauty of the Missouri River,” said Jarett Bies, co-founder of the challenge. “The area we hold the kayak race is one of the most scenic and beautiful stretches of the river. It’s a great opportunity for people to come and experience that beauty first hand.”

The first South Dakota Kayak Challenge took place in 2010, and Bies said the event has been growing ever since.

“The South Dakota Department of Tourism took note of a kayaking event in Missouri and approached Steven Dahlmeier (the co-founder of the event) and to ask us if we could put together and comparable event in South Dakota,” Bies said. “We want to continue to make these events safe and open to everyone. We don’t have any time cut-offs for checkpoints like some races do. Anyone from a beginner to a hard-core paddler can come out and make the event their own.”

He added that he has been kayaking for about 15 years and said one of the things he loves about it is the tranquility and that you can get to places on the river you can’t reach with a boat.

“It’s also very intimate in that you’re only a few inches off the surface of the water,” Bies said. “You don’t get that with a boat or Jet Ski. It’s physically intense, but it’s also very rewarding and the opportunity to explore either a small stream or huge river is very appealing to me.”

Dahlmeier said his favorite place to paddle is the Yankton-Ponca stretch of the Missouri River and added that he enjoys it because the river is always changing each time he is out on it.

He said planning for this year’s event went well.

“Some of the racers have come from as far away as Rhode Island and Georgia,” Dahlmeier said Friday. “Water levels are a bit low this year, which will make for a new challenge looking out for sandbars and navigating the channel. But we know participants will be eager for the challenge.”

He added that some people in the race are doing it to challenge themselves, and not necessarily the other racers.

“If they do the challenge in their first year, they could look back next year and try to beat the time they had set,” Dahlmeier said.

Dahlmeier and Bies placed volunteers all along the river — including in Yankton, Myron Grove, Bolton and Sioux City — to monitor riders and safety.

The race began at 7 a.m. Saturday with a gunshot start. Riders were placed into one of two categories: the competitive class, for riders with more experience; and the adventure class for less experience paddlers.

“The competitive class is fun to watch. The kayakers in that group are serious and in it to race,” Dahlmeier said. “The adventure class has a number of people, some are more competitive and others are there just to paddle and enjoy the river.”

The average time it takes riders to complete the course is typically around 15-18 hours. Last year, the first place finisher took just about eight hours to complete the 72-mile course.

“This is a challenging course,” Dahlmeier said. “The upper stretches of it are part of the national park. Some of it is does not have a channel, is wild and changes depending on the flows out of Gavins Point. Each year the main channel may move to another part of the river, so kayakers need to use their best judgment to navigate where the channel is in the river.”

Kayaker Ben Busser, from Brookings, said Friday night he didn’t plan to get too competitive during the race, but was looking forward to it.

“This is something new for me to do,” he said. “I’ve been kayaking for about two years and came here with a group of four people. We haven’t kayaked at all this spring so this will be interesting.”

Dahlmeier said he appreciates the support from local communities, include the Yankton and Vermillion Chambers, city councils and parks departments in the area.

“It would be hard to move the race from Yankton because of the great support we have around here,” he said. “We plan on continuing this every year as long as we can. We don’t want it to grow too big that we can’t handle the race anymore. We need to be respectful of the resources we have and make sure the checkpoints don’t ever get too big.”

The results of the 2013 Kayak Challenge are as follows:

• Women’s Tandem/Competitive — Carol Heffinghaus. Rolla, Mo./Joan Twillman, St. Charles, Mo.: 11 hrs, 59 min.

• Men’s Tandem/Competitive — David Lackey, Ashland, Mo./Matt Green, Jefferson City, Mo.: 8 hrs, 51 min.

• Women’s Solo/Competitive — Nancy Smidt, Sturgis: 12 hrs., 24 min.

• Men’s Solo/Competitive — Calvin Hassel, Grand Island, Neb.: 8 hrs, 58 min.

• Women’s Solo/Adventure — Katherine Albers, Sioux Falls: 14 hr., 28 min.

• Men’s Solo/Adventure — Chad Cadwell, Dekalb, Ill.: 9 hrs., 51 min.

• Mixed Tandem/Adventure — David Deslauriers, Brookings/Erinn Ipsen, Brookings: 16 hrs., 10 min.

• Men’s Tandem/Adventure — Justin Herreman, Rapid City/Steve Jones, Rapid City: 11 hrs., 37 min.

• Women’s Tandem/Adventure — Jennifer Brown, Vermillion/Danielle Quist, Vermillion, 15 hrs., 45 min.

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

District 18 state representative Bernie Hunhoff said he was “honored” to give the keynote speech at the annual Yankton VFW Memorial Day program Monday, and he spoke of those who died for their nation with the highest honors.

Specifically, Hunhoff spoke about stories of the soldiers from South Dakota and the patriotism the state displays.

“This is a day we need to remember the soldiers that didn’t return home from war,” he told the crowd at Memorial Park. “During the battles South Dakota soldiers have fought in, the state has lost around 3,000 soldiers in wars.”

Hunhoff added that it’s up to the rest of us — teachers, family members, friends and community members — to tell the stories of soldiers who did not return home from war.

“There are no stories more telling about us as a people then the stories of soldiers who have served overseas,” he said. “George McGovern, for example, served in World War II as a bomber pilot and flew around 35 bombing missions. After the war ended, he could have come home immediately but he chose to stay abroad and continue to serve.”

Hunhoff also told the story of Sig Anderson, who was a war hero in the Navy and would go on to serve as governor of South Dakota from 1951-1955.

But, the District 18 lawmaker said his most memorable story of a soldier in South Dakota was about a Native American who served abroad.

Eagle Elk, who would be renamed Clarence Wolf Guts by his father, grew up speaking the Lakota language.

“He would join the Army in high school and became a code talker while serving (during World War II),” Hunhoff said. “He would translate language into the Lakota language and the Japanese were never able to crack the code of the language. He survived the war and said that the one thing he was most proud of was being able to defend the freedom of our country.”

Hunhoff added that every day Wolf Guts would pray he could come home to South Dakota after the war ended.

Hunhoff also told the story of Don Smith, who grew up in Belle Fourche and was a football star at South Dakota State University.

“Smith was a pilot when he served and decided, in order to complete a mission, they needed to strip the plane down of extras in order to add additional gas tanks,” he said. “After he dropped bombs in Japan, his plane landed in the water near China. He had to paddle all the way onto the Chinese mainland.”

Hunhoff added that when Smith arrived in China, he was cheered by the Chinese. He also ended up on the cover of Life Magazine for his heroism serving.

“Smith returned to South Dakota in April 1942, and his wife had a baby,” he said. “He went back to war in November of that year and his plane ended up crashing, and he passed away as a result of the accident.”

Hunhoff said that the stories he told are why it’s important that people gather on Memorial Day to remember fallen veterans.

“We need to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to give us our freedom,” he said. “This is something we can be proud of.”

The event also featured music by Haylee Heinemeyer, Mary Schmidt and Rachel Wood. Post Commander Rich Wright acted as the Master of Ceremonies.

“These ceremonies are very important,” Hunhoff said. “Soldiers should be remembered for their sacrifices and their stories tell us more about who we are.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

Andrew Atwal/P&D

‘We Start Your Care’

From left: Jamie Freeman, senior paramedic; Jared Drotzman, paramedic; and Mark Nickles, senior paramedic, all of the Yankton County EMS. Freeman stresses the importance of 911 and paramedics, rather than people driving themselves to the emergency room.

Kelly Hertz/P&D

Benefit

Back row from left: Marcy Moser, Kris Ford, Pauline Akland. Front row from left: Pancreatic cancer survivor Bob Willcockson and Deb Weddingfeld. The group has been planning a benefit for pancreatic cancer, which is set for this weekend.

Kelly Hertz/P&D

Pain In The Grass

Last year’s drought caused considerable stress on some area lawns, forcing many homeowners to reseed their grass and take special measures to keep their turf alive.

YHS graduating senior Jacob Bies said he wouldn’t be where he is today without the staff at Yankton High School.

Bies was recently named a National Merit Scholar and received a $2,500 scholarship. In addition, he also received the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor’s scholarship, which covers his full tuition.

It’s a fine way to cap off his high school career, which officially comes to a close Sunday at the annual YHS commencement at the Summit Activities Center.

“The process starts out by students taking the PSAT (preliminary SAT) exam,” said Jacob’s father, Marc Bies, a counselor at YHS. “The National Merit group identifies the top 50,000 PSAT scorers. Commended students are the top 34,000, while the other 16,000 are considered national merit semifinalists.”

As a national merit semifinalist, Jacob also had to take the SAT exam to confirm his PSAT score. He also had to complete an application that showed his school provided academic rigor, a recommendation from a staff member, an essay and a list of extra-curricular activities.

“I had to write a 500 word essay about someone who inspired me,” Jacob said. “I chose to write about my grandmother, who died about a year ago. I wrote about her and her impacts on my life.”

He added that the entire application process, which began at the beginning of his senior year, was a little bit stressful.

“It was a lot of work for me,” Jacob said. “I had to compile a resume, fill out all of my extra-curricular activities and just make sure I had everything done for the application.”

He noted that writing the essay was a long process, but was able to have an English teacher at YHS look over the essay to make sure he had everything he needed.

“Mr. Crandall and Ms. Kuhl were instrumental in filling out the academic rigor and demographics forms,” Marc said. “We found out he was a finalist for the scholarship in February, and then found out he received the scholarship in March.”

Since beginning his academic career at YHS, Jacob has run cross country for four years, track for three years, been involved with the marching band, jazz band, concert band and, this year, took part in the one-act play and spring musical.

He said he is looking forward to attending UNL this fall.

“I really like the location of UNL — it’s not too far from home and is one of the bigger universities in the area,” Jacob said. “I also have family near Lincoln, and know the town a bit because my brother goes there.”

He also added that UNL has a good biochemistry program, which is his intended major.

“I also applied to USD, and it came down to the wire on deciding between the two schools,” Jacob said. “I thought UNL would be a better fit in case I decided to change my major.”

Nationally, 8,300 students either will receive the National Merit Scholarship, or a corporate sponsor scholarship.

“I’m extremely thankful he got the scholarship. Not just Jake, and not just us. It’s the fact that this school has provided the academic rigor for him to be able to succeed,” Marc said. “With that, he invested in that rigor and did what teachers asked him to do, and it all paid off with the scholarship.”

Jacob said he’s thankful for the teachers he has had over the years.

“I never had a teacher here that I felt wasn’t involved or supportive of their students, regardless of whether they were struggling or excelling,” he said. “Teachers here are always trying to lift students up further, and I’m blessed to have had that as part of my education here. I’m thankful and really honored and glad I had the support and help on the way there from family, teachers and staff members.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

The Yankton School District is saying good-bye to more than 512 years of experience at the end of the school year. Eighteen staff members — ranging from the administrative level to the school board — have announced their retirement.

Terry Crandall, longtime high school counselor and one of those who is bidding farewell to the district, said that, although the school district will replace the people leaving, their experience will be missed.

“That’s a lot of experience,” he said. “You can’t replace that experience. You can replace the people, and I know they will, but you can’t replace that experience.”

The list of retiring school personnel includes:

• Dan Miller, middle school teacher, began at YSD in 1969: 44 years;

• Judy Tereshinski, high school teacher, 1970: 43;

• Marsha Bertsch, Stewart School teacher, 1973: 40;

• Marlene Johnson, enrichment and technology at Stewart, 1974: 39;

• Sandi Pierce, Beadle School teacher, 1977: 36;

• Mary Malchow, high school speech language, 1978: 35;

• Sharon Ehrhart, Lincoln School teacher, 1978: 35;

• Terry Crandall, high school counselor, 1980: 33;

• Ginger Larsen, high school physical education, 1980: 33;

• Nancy Schaap, middle school paraprofessional, 1980: 33;

• LaVonne Lorenzen, Stewart School counselor, 1985: 28;

• Sandy Rupiper, middle school counselor, 1986: 27;

• Joe Gertsema, superintendent, 1990: 23;

• Sandy Hoffner, high school teacher, 1992: 21;

• Chris Specht, school board member, 1997: 16;

• Rhonda Bartekoske, middle school food service, 1999: 14;

• Karen Haffner, middle school food service, 2001: 12;

• Jennifer Satter, Stewart School secretary, (N/A).

Crandall said the top priority of the staff is to prepare students for the future, something they love doing and will miss once they retire.

“Our goal here is to prepare the students and make sure they arrive there safely,” he said. “As time changes the administration changes, and I’ve become more reflective of that, but teachers are still expected to do a job. We’ve been given the opportunity to do the things we felt we’ve needed to do to succeed and have our students succeed.”

Here are profiles of three of the teachers who are retiring at the end of the school year.

Terry Crandall

Crandall has served as a counselor at Yankton High School since 1980. Before that, he taught English and was a counselor in Irene.

Crandall said being a counselor was a natural transition for him, because people always came to him for advice.

“I didn’t like teaching English, and people had always come to me to talk and come to me with their problems, so it was a natural fit for me,” he said. “The counseling program just seemed like a second-nature thing for me. As I became a counselor at the school, I found out it really was a good way for me to express my interest and my abilities.”

Throughout his years at YHS, Crandall has seen changes in administration as well as other aspects of the school, but he said what he noticed the most was the changes in communication and technology.

“There has been a huge change in technology as far as how we do things,” he said. “The students’ outlook and their world view have changed quite a bit over time. You’re able to see what’s going on in Russia in real time, and that’s a new thing. We communicate through Twitter and Facebook and text messaging, and that’s changed how we talk with each other.”

Crandall said the students have always been a big part of his life at YHS.

“I’ll absolutely miss the students. I’ll miss interacting with them and just seeing them in the hallways and seeing them walk by,” he said. “It’s a flow of 1,000 people walking past and it’s amazing, and it’s quite an          experience.”

But Crandall isn’t done with education yet. After he retires, he will teach a human relations class at the University of South Dakota for seniors and graduate students.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said. “I was almost to the point where I was thinking to myself, ‘Who’s going to want me? What do I have to offer?’ Then USD emailed me to see if I was interested. It kind of came out of nowhere.”

He said he is also looking forward to spending time with his grandchildren and working on his yard at home.

“I love to work on my yard and things like that, so I’ll be able to keep that going. Classes (at USD) don’t start until Aug. 27. Before, I was always working by Aug. 1, and now I’ve got a whole extra month. I’m looking forward to it. I’m a little scared because it’s going to be a new experience, and I want to make sure those students are getting the value out of the class because they’re paying for it. But the class is right in my wheel house.”

Dan Miller

After starting his career as a Yankton Middle School history teacher more than 40 years ago, Dan Miller said now was the time for him to retire.

“I’ve been teaching a long time,” he said. “I’m 69 years old. I could go a while. When I retire, I’ll be able to visit my family in Denver pretty much anytime I want.”

Miller added that he “absolutely loves” teaching middle school aged children and teaching history.

“There wasn’t really anything that influenced my decision to retire. I just felt as if it was the right time to go,” he said. “My first job here was teaching seventh grade American history and I’ve been teaching history ever since, but mostly to eighth grade students.”

Miller said middle school students are more excited about learning than other age groups are.

“For a lot of the students, it’s the first time they’ve ever heard of this stuff. They may have heard about certain events, but didn’t know anything about them,” he said. “They may have known a bit about the Civil War, but not why they fought or the names of the battles. Teaching has easily been the most enjoyable part of my time here at (YSD).”

Judy Tereshinski

Judy Tereshinski began her teaching career at Yankton High School in 1970, and will end her career this week.

“It feels great with Yankton High School as my first and only school,” she said. “The first year when I came here, of course, there were teachers that I had in high school. It was difficult for me to call them by their first name, but it just takes some years of experience. Now it’s time for someone else to be the youngun’.”

Although Tereshinski will miss her teaching days, she said she is happy with her decision. Tereshinski said she has no plans as of now, but will enjoy spending time with her husband Bob, who is retiring from Mount Marty College.

“I’ve cried, I’ve laughed, I’ve been sad and I’ve been happy,” she said. “When I did put in my resignation, that was my saddest day, because I really didn’t know if it was the right thing, the wrong thing, the right time, the wrong time. It’s done, and I’m happy I’ve done it.

“At this point, I’m up for just about anything. I’m hoping to be able to do some things with my husband, first of all, and with my family. I have nothing written in stone. It’s a great feeling.”

When Tereshinski began teaching 43 years ago, the job options for women consisted of teaching, secretarial work, nursing or homemaking, she said. After her sisters became a nurse and a secretary, Tereshinski said she became the teacher of the family.

“I graduated with a math and a Spanish major. I thought I would be teaching math, and then I was hired as a Spanish teacher. I’ve done both throughout the years, and I’ve loved both,” she said.

“I’ll miss my peers, my comrades, my colleagues and the personal connections with the students. I’ve got a lot of former students who are out there pursuing Spanish as a major or a minor or who are teaching Spanish, and that says a lot for them.”

In fact, Tereshinksi’s replacement is one of her former students, which she is glad to see.

“Yankton School District is so fortunate to have the teachers that we have teaching our students, and our community is aware of that.”

Photo: Photography By Jerry

Captain and Belle

After volunteering for Riverboat Days for decades, Gary and Velma Kuchta will be serving as this years Captain and Belle. As part of the honor, they will promote Yankton and the festival at numerous events throughout the summer. The Kuchtas said they were shocked when they found out about the honor.

Yankton School District (YSD) board members discussed the preliminary 2013-14 school budget at their regularly scheduled meeting Monday night.

The preliminary 2013-14 general fund budget is $15,586,494, before the utilization of health insurance reserves. However, the projected operating revenue for the district is $14,436,309, adding to a deficit of more than $1.1 million.

“By law, the superintendent and business manager (Jason Bietz) need to present a budget to the school board at this meeting,” said YSD superintendent Joe Gertsema. “However, it is not required that a line-item budget like this be presented — it simply has to be a basic budget.”

He noted that this year, the state Legislature approved an increase in two levies, and a decrease in another, which is impacting where YSD’s budget stands.

In addition, board members are also continuing to utilize health care insurance reserves in order to balance the budget.

“Right now this budget projects a 2.25 percent increase in salaries and benefits for employees,” Gertsema said. “However, because negotiations are ongoing, that could change.”

The preliminary budget also calls for $200,000 in utility costs to be paid for by the capital outlay fund, which also helps officials manage the budget deficit.

“One thing that is still up in the air is the funding that we will get from the federal government,” Gertsema said. “They have had to cut some education funding due to the sequester.”

He added that, at worst, YSD will be faced with a budget deficit of around $1,153,000 for the 2013-14 year.

The board will hold its next budget hearing at the July 8 meeting.

Also at the meeting, board members approved changes to the YHS and YMS handbooks.

YHS Principal Kindle said the changes needed in the high school handbook were just clarifying policies and some basic language changing.

Todd Dvoracek, YMS principal, said the middle school handbook needed changes with regards to the homework policy, bullying and information about school drills.

“We changed some information on bullying to give students and parents more information about how YMS is dealing with the issue,” he said. “We also updated the homework policy to require all students to turn in their homework, not simply to not turn it in and receive a ‘zero’ for the assignment.”

Dvoracek also spoke to board members about changing the names of two courses offered at the middle school.

The change will re-name the family and consumer science and technical education courses to “lifetime career explorations” and “technical career explorations”.

“We will continue to give students what we’re giving, but the change will help courses when we bring in new information,” Dvoracek said. “It also gives us some more flexibility with who we can hire to teach both classes.”

Board members also approved a change to the YSD language arts curriculum to be in line with the Common Core standards.

“The new standards will focus more heavily on reading for information, rather than reading for literature,” said Lincoln School principal Paul Struck. “In 2014-15, all of the tests will be based on the new standards, so we need to be ready for those changes.”

He added that the writing standards have not changed much, but there is an emphasis on language, which is based on mechanics.

“There are a lot of standards and expectations, especially at the primary levels,” Struck said. “However, there are also more expectations for all kids across all grades.”

Also at the meeting, board members approved a two-year contract for Kindle as the new superintendent.

Kindle’s contract, approved in executive session, will pay him $116,200 in the first year and $121,200 in the second year. The contract also includes all benefits in accordance with other school district administrators.

Also on the agenda Monday, board members approved recommendations for the 2013 SDHSAA ballot. This included approving changes to Amendment One, approving a District II representative and a large group board of education representative.

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal