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News articles that Andrew Atwal has written

Hospital Awards

Avera Sacred Heart Hospital Receives National Recognition

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

Avera Sacred Heart Hospital (ASHH) in Yankton was recently recognized as one of just 86 hospitals in the nation to rank in the top 10 percent in the country for excellence in patient safety and experience, according to a Healthgrades study.

The patient safety award places ASHH in the top 10 percent of all hospitals in terms of its performance in keeping patients safe from complications during their hospital stays. The patient experience award also places ASHH in the top 10 percent of hospitals nationwide for the delivery of a positive experience for patients during their stay at the hospital.

This marks the sixth year in a row that ASHH has ranked in the top 10 percent among hospitals in the nation.

“Many hospitals may claim to have the best quality, experience and safety for their patients, but they may not have the data to support those claims,” Pam Rezac, ASHH president/CEO, told the Press & Dakotan. “By utilizing Healthgrades, the public can have the confidence that the designation of ASHH for the awards we received is based on evidence-based data.”

Healthgrades independently measures hospitals based on data that is submitted to the federal government. No hospital can opt in or out of the analysis, and no hospital gets paid to be measured.

Rezac noted that staff members are gratified to have won such awards, and receiving them is a testament to the high quality of services staff members provide patients and visitors on a daily basis.

“Consumers should have confidence in the evidence-based data, and the fact that Avera Sacred Heart is one of only two hospitals in South Dakota, and 86 in the nation, to have earned the distinctions,” she said. “The awards should also be significant to the people we serve in Yankton and the region, in that they can have confidence that they are receiving top-in-the-nation quality care and customer service.”

Rezac added that she’s proud of the employees, medical staff and volunteers at Avera Sacred Heart.

“The people we have make an amazing contribution and significant difference in the lives of the people we serve,” she said. “Our staff are focused on providing the best evidence-based care and safe environment to our patients.”

The Healthgrades report highlights the variation in hospital quality across the nation.

“The goal of the report is to show consumers that spending time on understanding hospital performance can be a matter of life and death,” Evan Marks, executive vice president of informatics and strategy for Healthgrades, said in a statement. “Consumers can be assured that a hospital that has been recognized with a 2013 Healthgrades patient safety excellence award had demonstrated an established commitment to patient safety.”

Rezac said officials at Avera intend to continuously promote evidence-based health care best practices.

“We devote significant resources to the orientation and continuing education of our staff to assure optimum patient-centered high quality care and a safe environment,” she said. “We will continue to submit our clinical data and pursue surveys of our patients and residents to obtain information to ensure we are providing the best possible care to the people we serve.”

To read a full copy of the report, visit healthgrades.com.

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

Mount Marty College Book

MMC Faculty Member Contributor In New Book

Posted: Sunday, April 21, 2013 10:00 pm

By Andrew Atwal andrew.atwal@yankton.net

When a Mount Marty College faculty member traveled to a conference on getting philosophy into K-12 schools, he never knew it would turn out to be the basis of a new book.

Nick Shudak, director of the masters in teacher education program and assistant professor at MMC, is a contributor and editor of the new book “Philosophy In Schools: An Introduction for Philosophers and Teachers.” The book is aimed towards helping philosophers and educators bring philosophy into the K-12 classrooms.

“People often tend to think of philosophy as this difficult college-level subject matter that is out of reach, and maybe even out of touch, for K-12 students and teachers,” Shudak said. “This volume, rather, looks at philosophy as a way of being and thinking that is perfectly fit for what goes on in the K-12 schools and curriculum.”

He added that he thinks it’s important that people in the area get some insight into the type of academic and scholarly work that is being done at a college in their backyard.

The book is in collaboration with two other nationally recognized professors. Sara Goering is a professor at the University of Washington and the director of the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children. Thomas Waternberg is a professor at Mount Holyoke College and has an award-winning website that contains information on philosophy for K-12 schools.

“The Philosophy for Children (P4C) is a movement that tries to get more philosophical thinking and skills into K-12 schools,” Shudak said, “It’s a pretty sizable movement that has been going on for around the last 30 years. One of the difficulties it has faced is when people ask questions like, ‘How do you do it and what do the models look like?’”

He added that philosophy is an eternal and enduring conversation about questions that have been asked for thousands of years on the subjects of justice, goodness and beauty. He said there is already numerous topics in K-12 curriculum that revolves around those questions.

“The questions then become, how can we help teachers look at their already existing curriculum a little bit more philosophically?” Shudak said. “Most of what teachers do is already philosophically-laden, so these topics exist all around them.”

He added that one way teachers can get philosophy into the classroom is through literature groups when talking about protagonists and antagonists. The philosophical aspect of this would be why are these people in disagreements.

“It’s important because these philosophical thinking skills help go deeper into questions of everyday life,” Shudak said. “It’s not always one answer, and sometimes there isn’t an answer. It’s just a way of going deeper into questions.”

He noted that kids are naturally disposed to wonder, enjoy puzzles and play, and if educators can take the ancient saying that philosophy begins in wonder seriously, then it makes sense that there can be better efforts made to bring students in contact with philosophy.

“Teachers talk about the importance of critical and creative thinking, and about the necessity of 21st century skills, and philosophy is a wonderful midwife for making those things happen in classrooms,” Shudak said. “This book brings together K-12 educators, teacher educators and trained philosophers who discuss and describe their efforts at making curriculum a bit more philosophical — there is really a bit of everything in this volume.”

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

Health Care Degree Specialization

MMC Adds New Degree Emphasis

Posted: Friday, April 19, 2013 11:30 pm

By Andrew Atwal andrew.atwal@yankton.net

Mount Marty College is giving its students yet another degree option from which to choose.

In response to statistics from the United States Department of Labor that show health care administration being a career that is expected to go at an above average rate over the next decade, officials at Mount Marty College are adding health care administration as a new business administration degree emphasis.

The degree emphasis will begin for the fall 2013 semester, and students who are juniors and lower will be eligible for the program.

“We’ve been working to develop this program for about a year,” said Joe Sejnoha, associate professor of business. “The health care field is going to continue to grow because baby boomers will be getting older, so there will be more of a demand for health care facilities for those individuals.”

Bob Tereshinski, vice president and dean of academic affairs at MMC, said the program has potential to work well with Avera Sacred Heart Hospital (ASHH) across the street from campus.

“(Joe) Sejnoha brought up the comment that it would be nice to be able to have a hands-on process for the health care administration emphasis with the facilities Avera has in the community and in the region,” he said. “We would use the facilities for a six-hour internship with our students who are involved in the emphasis we’ve created.”

Sejnoha said there is also the potential to use some of the executives at Avera Sacred Heart as faculty members for the program.

“We’ve had several meetings with Pam Rezac (president/CEO of Avera Sacred Heart Hospital) and a pivotal point of those meetings was to be able to have the capabilities of utilizing the staff members at Avera as guest speakers and possibly adjunct faculty members,” Tereshinski said. “We also found out that there are a number of other retired individuals in the community that can help us by serving as guest lecturers, as well.”

Rezac said the partnership between Mount Marty and Avera with the new emphasis will not only help out students but will also help Avera, too.

“Health care systems such as Avera need to recruit talented, dedicated people to join the health care management and administrative teams to assist us in providing high-quality, accessible health care services to our communities,” she said. “In addition, health care delivery is rapidly changing, and the expectations of patients demands a higher level of expertise in managing health care’s valuable and limited resources.”

Rezac added that the health care administrative team views the partnership with Mount Marty as a great opportunity to contribute its knowledge and expertise to the health care administrative profession.

“The partnership will also help to enhance the retention of current Avera Sacred Heart employees who may view the new health care administrative course offerings as a way to advance their own career options,” she said. “Together, ASHH and MMC can maximize resources and combine our talents and expertise towards this mutual goal.

“Also, it should not be overlooked that both entities foster strong faith-based settings for learning, teaching and developing well-rounded and educated health care professionals.”

Career options for students who choose to add the health care administration emphasis to their degree program include working in management at a health care facility, clinic or hospital.

Tereshinski said the addition of the health care administration option adds yet another option to the choices students at MMC have.

“This gives us another avenue for our business administration majors,” he said. “This gives us a different track for our business administration students to take for when they graduate. The emphasis makes things more specific for the job market and employers, and also makes our graduates more marketable for the workforce.”

Rezac said the evidence she’s seen points to their being serious shortages of health care professionals sometime in the near future.

“The partnership is a natural fit for both ASHH and MMC, and will benefit the people of our region through the promotion of high quality health care services,” she said.

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

Mount Marty College Spring Play

MMC Getting Set For Spring Production

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

When director Stephen English set out to direct pick a play for the upcoming Mount Marty College spring production of “The Small Room At The Top Of The Stairs,” he decided on a post-modern show that would be performed in the small bistro area on campus.

The bistro setting will feature audience members up close and sitting around all sides of the stage.

“I like this kind of environment,” English said. “When I was in grad school, we had three or four different spaces to perform in. One was thrust-style like this. Two years ago was the first show I did in this space with this type of style.”

He added that, up until that production, he had never seen anything on campus that was thrust style.

“The comments were very positive about it,” English said. “In some ways, it has to be more real because audience members are not looking from afar like with a show in a big auditorium. In the larger theater space, what a director does not want you to see can be hidden. This is far more open.”

The play is based on a French folk fairy tale, and the author of the play gets a lot of her material from the original fairy tale.

“This is really the definition of a post-modern play,” English said. “With the post-modern culture, a lot of times productions don’t make sense or have a conclusion, and this one may leave the audience asking a lot of questions.”

The play follows a young woman named Grace, who has just married an older man. The man, who is rich, gives her his entire house and says everything in it is hers. The only thing he asks is that she does not go into a small room at the top of the stairs.

“Nature ultimately dictates that she must discover what’s in the room,” English said. “The production is about her finding out what’s in the room and, when she does find out what’s inside, it is not what she or the audience expect it to be.”

After Grace finds out what is in the room, the questions are asked about what exactly is the thing she finds and what does it mean.

English said the play is a thriller and has a sort of “Hitchcock” type of feel to it.

“It’s really a mystery because we don’t know what is in the room, so Grace needs to go in and discover what is inside,” he said. “Audience members will want to know what is in the room, as well.”

English added that Grace represents all of us that want life to be like the fairy tale. But, he said, the play posses the questions such as, is a fairy tale really what we want? The play also asks a number of questions and concerns on social issues.

“The play will ask a lot of questions, and it really wants audience members to go there with the characters and wonder about what’s happening and what the answers are,” English said. “It’s a different kind of play for us here at Mount Marty and for the Yankton audience. I’m not sure how the audience will react — some may think it’s neat and interactive in the small space, others, who are used to the more traditional style of theater, may not understand it.”

Because the production is in a smaller space, there are only about 75 tickets available for each show. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. April 24-27.

English said rehearsals have been going well, but some of the actors in the production are not used to the thrust style of setting.

“It’s a different style, even for our actors,” he said. “When they’re not on stage, actors sit in chairs around the outside of the stage, so they can be seen by audience members even when they’re not in a scene.”

English added that actors need to be more focused in the smaller environment.

“I was saying to an actor the other night, ‘You need to find a way of engaging the audience. Even though they’re close, you need to draw them in to what you’re doing without making physical eye contact with them,’” he said. “Actors need to be able to look through audience members so that when you talk, the audience will hear it as if it’s said directly to them.”

English said there is some mature content in the production, so he tags it with the ‘PG-13’ rating.

“It deals with a lot of material that asks deep questions,” he said. “The original fairy tale is about a man who murders his first three wives, but a lot of that doesn’t follow suit in this play. This is very modern in its use of the material from the fairy tale.”

Cast List:
Grace — Brooke Fischer
Henry — Ben Gothier
Anne — Raegan Layher
Joyce — Gina Dethlefsen
Jenny — Samantha Tobey
Director and Designer — Stephen English
Costume Designer — Dawn Ferris

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

Kindle Named YSD Superintendent

YSD Goes With Kindle

YHS Principal Tabbed To Succeed Gertsema As Supt.

Kelly Hertz/P&D

YSD Goes With Kindle

Yankton High School Principal Dr. Wayne Kindle has been chosen to replace Dr. Joe Gertsema as superintendent of the Yankton School District. Kindle will move into his new job July 1.

Posted: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 10:33 pm

By Andrew Atwal andrew.atwal@yankton.net

After searching for a superintendent for the past several months, the Yankton School District (YSD) school board has decided to fill the position by promoting from within.

Dr. Wayne Kindle, who has been serving as principal of the Yankton High School since 2007, will take the reins as YSD superintendent July 1.

Kindle told the Press & Dakotan he is honored and humbled to be chosen as the superintendent of YSD.

“Our students, staff and administrators have worked hard to continue the strong tradition of academics, fine arts and athletics in the district,” he said. “Most important has been the success of students when they leave YSD. I also look forward to creating short and long terms goals, which benefit the quality of education that we provide our students.”

Kindle has been with YSD since 1991, when he began his career in the district as a sixth grade teacher. While at YSD, he pursued advancing degrees at the University of South Dakota. By 1994, Kindle moved to the Yankton Middle School to become an associate principal, and was promoted to YMS principal in 1995.

After serving 12 years as YMS principal, Kindle became the principal at YHS, a position he has held since 2007.

“Dr. Kindle has not only served YSD for more than 20 years, but he has also served the Yankton community during this time by serving on numerous community boards and volunteer committees,” said Jay Williams, member of the YSD school board. “He has raised his family here and has a daughter who has returned to Yankton and currently serves as a dentist.”

Kindle said that he plans to do a lot of listening and meeting with people to gather their ideas.

“If there is mistrust, I want to gain the trust and confidence back of those who feel this way,” he said. “Between now and the end of the current school year, I have many things to get done and finish at YHS. My plan is to provide the students at YHS with a great finish to the 2012-13 school year, and I look forward to moving into the leadership role as superintendent.”

Sarah Carda, who was elected to be a YSD board member last week, said she’s excited that Kindle was named the superintendent.

“I understand that the candidate pool was very well qualified, but Dr. Kindle is the type of individual and leader who would stand out,” she said. “I look forward to working with him, and I respect his leadership style and his accomplishments within the district speak for themselves.”

Carda worked with Kindle when he served on the board of trustees at Mount Marty College, where he oversaw the committee on enrollment management and student affairs.

“I was always impressed with Kindle’s ability to calmly tackle difficult topics and never personalize the situation,” she said. “He is very well respected in the community and has one of the strongest work ethics I have witnessed.”

Kathy Greeneway, member of the school board’s personnel committee, said Kindle’s experience within the district will benefit him as superintendent.

“His clear passion for student success is very much exemplified when he talks about students and the success he wants them to have,” she said. “Certainly his education and background will be great attributes for him, as well.”

Superintendent Dr. Joe Gertsema’s term will end on June 30, and Kindle will take over the next day.

“Dr. Kindle is fully aware of the budget problems we’ve had, and it should be a pretty seamless transition, as far as him moving from principal to superintendent,” Greeneway said. “We have a great business manager who will be able to help him and great staff members that can lend their support for him, too.”

Carda said she has high respect for Kindle and his advocacy for academics and providing children with the best experience possible.

“He is someone that has high standards, doesn’t tolerate out-of-bounds behavior and works hard to help all children,” she said. “I look forward to his calm and competent leadership during the difficult times ahead. He is someone that I can look up to and learn from, and, most of all, trust.”

One of Kindle’s first responsibilities as superintendent will be to select a new high school principal.

“He’ll advertise for the position and look for a person to come in and become the YHS principal,” Greeneway said. “He’ll be able to see who is interested in that position, and the personnel committee will work with him in interviewing potential candidates.”

The school board was aided in its search by Dakota Educational Consulting, a contract that cost the district $8,000, which helped the board find candidates for the search. Despite picking an internal candidate, board officials said their search would not have gone as well as it did without the help of the firm.

“I think the search firm was a tremendous help for us,” Greeneway said. “We had a great selection of candidates who were interested in the position. The consulting group did a great job to help us go through the candidates after they presented the information about each person. However, the decision ultimately rested on the board to narrow down the selection to the five people we chose for on campus interviews.”

Williams said it would have been “irresponsible” for the board to attempt selecting a superintendent without the help of the search firm.

“The search for a superintendent is, perhaps, the most important decision a school board will make,” he said. “To make such a decision without assistance would be inappropriate, in my opinion. I would have no idea on how to attract viable candidates for the district.”

Williams added that the consultants not only assisted the board in finding candidates, but also assisted them by providing a lot of knowledge to assist the board members in their decision.

“The firm also helped us set up the interviews, not only with the board, but also with other stake holders,” he said. “They also educated us on the types of questions interviewers should consider asking the candidates. The $8,000 spent on this selection was a big bargain.”

Carda said she thinks hindsight can is 20/20 on the board hiring the search firm.

“Personally, I don’t think they had much of a choice,” she said. “If they would have promoted Dr. Kindle, there would have been speculation about being an insider and not even expanding the search. I believe it was a fair search with the outside help.”

YSD board member Jim Fitzgerald said he thinks the process set up by Dakota Educational Consulting was “invaluable.”

“The search firm brought five great candidates to the table, and, at the end of the day, the school board had a couple hours of dialogue and received input from the three interview committees,” he said. “Dr. Kindle received high marks from all of the committees. I did not take the job of finding our next superintendent lightly, and with the great candidates we had, it was a hard decision.”

Kindle said he appreciates the selection process that the board used, as well as the members who served on the interview teams.

“I want to thank everybody who has offered their support to me during the search process and since being selected as the superintendent of YSD,” he said.

Greeneway said she strongly feels that the best candidate was selected to serve YSD going forward.

“We had a lot of really good discussions in regards to all of the candidates,” she said. “Every candidate brought some strong features that we felt would have been of great benefit to YSD. It wasn’t an easy decision, but, after a lot of discussion, we determined this was the avenue we were going to take and felt Dr. Kindle was the best candidate.”

Fitzgerald noted that Kindle has served YSD well and, even though he doesn’t have any superintendent experience, he has the tools and skill set to move the district forward.

“The board felt as if Kindle genuinely cares about the kids, which was evident in his interview,” he said. “I feel it was important to go through this process so that the school, community and parents all had input. I appreciated all who contacted me and voiced their opinions on the search.”

Fitzgerald added that the board will do everything they can to help Kindle be successful.

“I also believe that he has big shoes to fill as Dr. Gertsema retires,” he said.

Kindle said he won’t back out of the challenges that face the district going forward.

“I know we have challenges ahead of us and, after spending 22 years within YSD, I am not ready to walk away,” he said. “I am dedicated to working with our community, staff, parents, and school board in finding solutions for balancing our budget and implementing a plan to enhance financial stability.”

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

Volunteer Of The Year

Roth Honored As Volunteer Of The Year

Kelly Hertz/P&D

Volunteer Of The Year

At a reception honoring Yankton-area volunteers, Diana Roth was named Yankton’s 2012 Volunteer of the Year Monday night. Roth has volunteered making quilts for her church, at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital, with RSVP and reading at area schools. She said she volunteers “because I love it.”

Posted: Monday, April 15, 2013 10:31 pm | Updated: 10:35 pm, Mon Apr 15, 2013.

By Andrew Atwal andrew.atwal@yankton.net

Volunteers from around Yankton gathered at Mount Marty College Monday night for a reception that honored volunteers and announced the 2012 volunteer of the year.

This year’s winner is Diana Roth.

“She taught at Yankton School District (YSD) for more than 20 years,” said Lauren Hanson, executive director for the Yankton-area United Way and Volunteer Services. “She’s volunteered with RSVP, at schools, the hospital and by making quilts for her church.”

Roth said she was in shock when she found out she’d be honored with the award.

“There are so many other deserving people here today who could have won the award,” she told the audience. “I’m honored and I volunteer because I love it.”

Roth added that she enjoys the people she’s met over the years that she’s volunteered, and she said it’s something new every day.

“Words cannot describe how honored I am to be recognized, but I don’t volunteer for the recognition,” she said.

Roth added that she volunteers because it’s rewarding and there is something for everyone.

“I volunteer because I love it,” she said. “Not only that, but I also don’t like to clean house.”

Hanson said Roth deserved the award, and said she’s excited that Roth was honored.

The event featured wine and light food, door prizes and honored each of the volunteers of the month chosen during 2012.

“We invite volunteers to the event and thank them for the work they do,” Hanson said. “We need to recognize the importance of volunteers for the community because they help keep a lot of programs here stabilized.”

She added that she was delighted that so many volunteers showed up to the event and said it’s an honor to be able to thank them for the work they do.

“I know the community appreciates the effort from the volunteers here,” Hanson said. “They deserve to feel appreciated and to have a good time at this event, which is all about them.”

Jody Roose, development and administrative coordinator for the Yankton United Way, said volunteers are “everything to us.”

“The volunteers here today put in about 14,000 volunteer hours annually,” she said. “A lot of agencies in Yankton would not exist without volunteers.”

Mayor Nancy Wenande said she’s grateful for the volunteers who serve in the community.

“Yankton has a great reputation for getting projects done,” she said. “A lot of these projects wouldn’t come to fruition without the efforts of volunteers. They see the needs we have and are not afraid to step up and volunteer to make things happen.”

Wenande added that a lot of events that benefit area businesses — including banquets, Riverboat Days and RibFest — are not possible without volunteers in the community.

“Ninety percent of the events that benefit community businesses are volunteer-driven,” she said. “Volunteers are the people who make things happen.”

Roose said she couldn’t imagine what Yankton would be like without the leadership of volunteers in the community.

“I think Yankton would be a pretty bleak place without the people who forego there own time to help out,” she said. “The volunteer leaders here help out the community in countless ways.”

Other volunteers of the month honored at the reception included:

• Wenande for her work with the Boys and Girls Club;

• Healthy Yankton;

• AARP Tax Aides;

• Jane Miller for volunteering at the Avera Hospice;

• YALC Volunteers;

• Stan Hrouda for volunteering at The Contact Center;

• Mary Crawford for her work volunteering at The Center;

• Arlene Kathan for volunteering at the Heartland Humane Society;

• Jane Pugh for volunteering at The Contact Center;

• and Ken and Jacque Kahler for volunteering with the Red Cross.

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

Missouri River Superintendent

MNRR Superintendent Leaving Yankton For Nev.

Randy Dockendorf/P&D

Moving On

Steve Mietz, superintendent of the Missouri National Recreational River for the past three years, is leaving his post to become the new superintendent at Great Basin National Park in Baker, Nev. His replacement has not yet been named.

Posted: Thursday, April 11, 2013 10:14 pm | Updated: 10:26 pm, Fri Apr 12, 2013.

By Andrew Atwal andrew.atwal@yankton.net

The superintendent of the Missouri National Recreational River for the past three years is taking a new position in Nevada.

Steve Mietz is set to become the superintendent at Great Basin National Park in Baker, Nev., beginning on April 22.

“The park features more than 77,000 acres of land and has a large mountain peak of around 13,000 feet,” he said. “Great Basin also has a limestone cave, which is a popular tourist attraction; bristlecone pines, which are more than 4,000 years old; and a variety of other natural resources that make the park unique.”

Mietz said one of the biggest differences between the two parks is that the National Park Service (NPS) owns the land of Great Basin.

“Here at the Missouri River, we work in partnership with a lot of groups, including state agencies and the Corps of Engineers, so the NPS doesn’t necessarily take the lead in all activities,” he said. “At Great Basin, we take the lead in most activities. We still will work in partnership with groups, but not as much as we do here.”

Mietz added that at the MNRR, there is some ambiguity with who’s in charge of what along the river.

“In most instances, we usually decide to work together,” he said. “With the new job, it’s more clear who will be in charge if there are problems or things that need to be resolved.”

Mietz came to this area from the southwest, and he said he is eager to return there.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back in that area and being near mountains,” he said. “However, I’ll miss a lot of good friends here and some of the partnerships we’ve made.”

Mietz’s replacement has not been named yet.

“With the sequester, we’ve been under a hiring freeze. However, we were able to get an exemption because of how critical this position is,” he said. “We will have an interim person until a permanent replacement is named.”

The goal is to have the permanent replacement hired and in place by the end of the summer, Mietz noted.

He added that it was a tough decision for him to leave Yankton.

“We’ve made a lot of great progress over the last three years that I’ve been here,” Mietz said. “We’ve enhanced our outreach efforts and have changed the attitudes about the perception of the NPS. We got a lot of work done, and it’s hard to leave some of the projects that are still being developed.”

However, he believes this is a good opportunity for him and his family and is looking forward to moving.

When he begins the job at Great Basin, there are a number of issues he’ll have to deal with.

“Water is a really important issue in Nevada, as are water rights issues,” Mietz said. “When I get there, the park will just be opening up for spring with a lot of operational things going on. I’ll try not to get in the way of people getting there jobs done.”

He added that the budget for the park must be figured out as well, and the sequester has led to smaller budgets for many national parks.

“I enjoyed working on the longest river in the country, and I’ll really miss working on such a mighty river,” Mietz said. “I’ll miss the people here a lot. People we’ve worked with have a lot of passion about the river and people here like working together to get things done. There were not a lot of egos that got in the way of us getting projects finished.”

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

Spring Musical

YHS Set To Perform Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

The upcoming Yankton High School (YHS) musical is sure to bring lots of laughs to audience members.

This year’s YHS spring musical is based off the late-1980’s comedy, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” that featured Steve Martin and Michael Caine.

“Scoundrels” first ran as a show on Broadway in 2005, while also having several tours across the United States. The show closed on Broadway in September 2006, after a total of 626 performances.

The play follows two con men in the South of France, only one of whom is established. He makes women fall in love with him, and gets their money, then sends them packing.

“A young con man from America comes into the picture and the veteran decides to take him under his wing,” said musical director Keith Goeden. “The two end up having a competition to see who is the best of the bunch.”

He added the competition involves both men trying to seduce a young woman in order to win her affections.

“That bet really ends up being the plot of the whole play,” Goeden said. “They’re competing to win her affections, and she goes back and forth on both of them.”

He said the reason he chose this musical was because he was intrigued by it when he saw it on Broadway about a decade ago.

“At that time, I thought it was a cute and fun play,” Goeden said. “Anytime I pick a show, I try to have the type of show that matches up with the kids we have here as best as it possibly can.”

Another reason he decided on this musical was because YHS has done two fairly small musicals the last two years. He decided he wanted to try to have a bigger show again.

Goeden said part of the reason why bigger musicals aren’t usually selected is because of scheduling conflicts that arise.

“The musical is bigger this year in terms of the number of kids we have involved. Last year, we had about 16 kids in the cast; this year we have around 40,” he said. “We try to get more kids involved, which is great, but it causes headaches sometimes. When kids miss practices, at a certain point they need to choose what they want to do. A lot of kids want to do everything, and sometimes they don’t get that choice.”

Goeden said this show also features more than 200 pages of music and a lot of material, a longer script, and the length of the play is increased compared to previous musicals performed at YHS. The bigger production also involves around 70 kids, including those working backstage.

He added that kids have been “working like heck” to get ready for the upcoming shows, set for April 18-20, 22 at 7 p.m. at the Summit Center theater.

“Over the Easter weekend, we put in long days and are now only down to the last rehearsals,” Goeden said. “We’ve been racheting things up. We know our time is limited and I think we’re getting there. That said, we still have a lot of hard work we need to put in before we’re show-ready.”

Sarah Santos, who plays Christine in the show, said she loves the dancing and singing in this musical.

“I first did a musical at YHS as a freshman, and loved it and have been doing plays ever since,” she said. “I love meeting new people, and the cast members really become a family. I love to show my stuff on stage and I think this will be my favorite musical I’ve been a part of.”

Goeden said when he is recruiting kids for shows, he just tells them to give it a shot.

“Most people that end up becoming involved in the theater end up not just liking it, but loving it,” he said. “It’s just that initial step of trying it. I tell them that they don’t necessarily have to be on stage, they can work other jobs backstage.”

The finishing touches are currently being put on the production, Goeden said.

“We’ve been having a lot of hectic last several rehearsals,” he said. “We try to attack certain things way before, but as you get closer, desperation forces you to take things more seriously and to work harder. Three weeks ago, things were more laid back — now, kids know the time is getting short, we will get a lot done between now and opening night.”

Goeden said this play is very funny and is a chance for community members to check out the talent that YHS has. He added that it’s a “PG” show, as well.

“Everyone has to make the call on their own,” he said. “I wouldn’t have any problem showing my nieces and friends’ kids the musical. I don’t think it’s bad at all, and we cleaned up some of the naughty stuff. There is still some kissing in the show, though.”

Goeden said people who think they might not like theater should give “Scoundrels” a chance.

“It’s really hilarious,” he said. “People say, ‘I don’t like theater’ Well, they should give it a shot. They might be surprised and should come out to see the kids’ talents we have here.”

Cast List

Lawrence — Paden Schmidt
Freddy — Jase Likness
Andre — Matt Watt
Christine — Sarah Santos
Muriel — Lexi Fokken
Jolene — Tierney Scoblic
Lenore — Alexa Berg
Sophia — Gabrielle Swensen
Croupier — Devin Clark
Conducter — Jacob Bies
Waiter — Garner Brandt
Renee — Bailey Franzen
Gerard — Cade Newland
Usherette — Maddy Logue
Hotel Manger — Alex Rehurek
Sailors — Kellen Soulek, Devin Clark, Tom Kellen, Mitch Riibe
Porter — Derek Gravholt
Cop — Cole Modregger
Nikos — Adam Spencer
Accordian Player — Cody Geary
Chorus: Kevin White, Colby Benson, Jack Tramp, Tyler Stoll, Evan Schade, Kourtney Erickson, Alanna Binder, Cayla Slattery, Jeryka Goble, Rachel Orton, Gabby Slowey, Grace Adam, Kisha Jensen, Jenna DeBoar, Haylee Worm, Shane Wright, Mitch Riibe, Jackie Pajl, Bailey Franzen, Kelsey Butler, Susanna Kinsley, Jessica Popovich

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

Remembrance Walk

Remembrance Walk Planned In Honor Of Brianna Knoll

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

To her closest friends, Brianna Knoll will always be remembered as lively, bright, generous and kind woman with a “fantastic sense of humor.”

April 9 marked the two-year anniversary when Knoll was shot and killed by her boyfriend during a domestic dispute.
In relation with that date, there will be a remembrance walk for Knoll taking place at Riverside Park in Yankton. The event will take place this Saturday from 1-5 p.m.

“The walk this year will feature live music from the Kings of Oblivion and a balloon release at 4 p.m.,” said Jolene Beaudette, who was close friends with Knoll. “There will also be merchandise, food and beverages offered for a free-will donation. Portions of any donations will go to the Yankton Women’s and Children’s Shelter.”

Anne Becker is also helping to organize the event, and she was friends with Knoll as well.

“This is a ‘come and go as you please’ event, and people can walk Meridian Bridge as many times as they please,” she said. “We invite everyone from the community to come down and support the cause.”

The walk aims to raise awareness about domestic violence and the problems it can cause.

“The issue is very important. We just had another incident in town where a boyfriend (allegedly) attempted to shoot his girlfriend. Thankfully, this time it didn’t turn out horrible like it did with Brianna,” Becker said. “This community needs education and awareness on domestic violence. It’s incredibly important that this event is happening.”

Beaudette said that she hopes the walk allows community members to know of the resources available for domestic violence — including the Women’s and Children’s Shelter.

She added that the turnout was remarkable last year, and hopes it grows even more this year.

“This year, we had more time to put together the walk,” Beaudette said. “We’ve also been advertising it more this year, and a lot of news sources have been covering it. We hope that people show up and support the cause, and be informed and aware that domestic violence is going on and is an issue.”

The walk will also offer support to those who have been victims of domestic violence, and also commemorate and honor Knoll’s life.

“We want to share memories about her life during the walk,” Becker said. “The aftermath of the shooting is something we endure every day, and the grief is still overwhelming.”

She added that the walk serves as healing process for Knoll’s family and friends.

“Not only that, it will serve as a chance for people to stand united as a community and raise awareness about domestic violence,” Becker said. “The walk has become a unifying event, which enables family, friends and other victims to share their struggles and experiences together. We feel that there is an unfortunate reality that at some point, everybody knows — or will know — a victim of domestic violence.”

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

School Board Election

YSD School Board Election — Fitzgerald And Carda Prevail

Posted: Tuesday, April 9, 2013 10:02 pm

By Andrew Atwal andrew.atwal@yankton.net

Sarah Carda and incumbent Jim Fitzgerald won the two open Yankton School District (YSD) school board seats.

Voter turnout was at just 13.6 percent this year. In 2012, voter turnout was 24.5 percent, while in 2011 they were 17 percent.

“I assume the winter weather might have played a factor in the low turnout,” said YSD business manager Jason Bietz.

Fitzgerald received nearly 41 percent of the vote (1,235 total votes), while Carda received more than 37 percent of the vote (1,126 votes). Duane “Butch” Becker came in third with nearly 14 percent of votes, while Wayne Wurth came in fourth with almost 8 percent of votes.

“With the three-year term on the school board, I hope to get back to the basics,” Carda said. “I want to be able to say that YSD provides the best education for students and kids in the community.”

She added that superintendent interviews, which will be held Thursday, will be “huge.”

“YSD has not had a lot of opportunities for a change in leadership for a lot of years,” Carda said. “It’s a major time, and a good time to make changes and to move forward.”

She stated that she will not come to the YSD school board with an agenda, and will take time learning the ropes and budget in order to make the best decisions for the school.

Fitzgerald said more work needs to be done.

“We have some big decisions to make here coming up with the budgets and the superintendent selection on Thursday,” he said. “I want to just keep punching away to continue to guarantee a good educational process for the kids of Yankton.”

He said Thursday is important in order to pick a new superintendent with good leadership to continue to lead the district the way its been led. He added that it’s also important that the budget issues be worked out.

“We have to continue to try and close the budget gap within the next few years,” said Fitzgerald, who won his second three-year term Tuesday. “We have some funds that we can continue to dip into a little bit further, but at some point, if the gap isn’t closed, we would either have to look at programs and classes to eliminate, which would decrease the opportunities for students.”

He did add that he’s confident the budget gap can be closed.

“My first goal with the new term is that we can continue to offer a good education for kids in Yankton with options for them,” Fitzgerald said. “We need to make sure that we’re not just offering a bare-boned education here.”

He said his experience should help him for his new term.

“Learning the school board system is a pretty big task, so it takes a while to understand the process,” Fitzgerald said. “Even after three years, I’m still learning some of the ins and outs on how the school system works, especially when dealing with state and federal funding.”

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