12 Broadcaster Press JULY 68th Annual Summer Music Camp Being Held At USD This week, more than 120 students from eight states gathered at USD to AUGUST United Way Of Vermillion Receives Grant Award From Dakota Hospital Foundation VERMILLION, S.D. – United Way of Vermillion was recently awarded a $15,000 grant from Dakota Hospital 39 YEARS IN BUSINESS Foundation (DHF). The grant requested funding in the launch of the Community Connection Center in downtown Vermillion. Dakota Hospital Foundation is pleased to provide funding for the reception area. “United Way of Vermillion has worked very hard to bring this vision of a multi-use facility to address social needs in our community. Dakota Hospital Foundation is proud to be a part of this exciting project,” said Linda Kogel, board president, DHF. “All of the organizations involved in the CCC are so grateful to the Dakota Hospital Foundation for their investment in this project,” said Kelsey Collier-Wise, executive director, United Way of Vermillion. “We believe this innovative approach to addressing need in our community is truly going to change lives for the better, and we’re lucky to have such amazing partners like DHF making it possible.” The Community Connection Center (CCC) has been established to help Clay County residents receive assistance moving from crisis to stability. The CCC will serve as a one-stopshop for multiple services, including, but not limited to, United Way of Vermillion, the Vermillion Food Pantry, the Weekend Backpack Program, the Welcome Table and Salvation Army of Vermillion. Bringing available food programs together, especially, aims to more efficiently address food insecurity in our community. Two local organizations received funding from the April 2019 Dakota Hospital Foundation open grant period. The total awarded in the spring cycle was $17,500. The next open grant period is in the month of October. Learn more at sanfordvermillion.org. ‘Cure For Collins’ Carnival Has Successful Debut In 2017 and 2018, Chris and Katie Kassin held special activities to raise funds in honor of their daughter, Collins, who has cystic fibrosis. The money raised at those two events were donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to help find a cure for Collins and all others who battle this illness. Last year the Kassins noticed something unique. Their neighborhood event had grown. So this year, they decided to seize that momentum and go big. The result was last weekend’s Cure for Collins fundraiser event which took the form of a carnival held Saturday afternoon in Vermillion’s National Guard Armory. The event featured bouncy castles, a number of carnival games and a host of items donated by area merchants that were sold at a silent auction to help 33 YEARS IN BUSINESS 33 YEARS IN BUSINESS 30 YEARS IN BUSINESS Vermillion SEPTEMBER Hog Hammer BBQ Are 2019 South Dakota BBQ Champs Hog Hammer BBQ, a team of four friends from Omaha, Nebraska, walked away Saturday with top honors at the South Dakota BBQ Championship held as part of the Ribs, Rods and Rock ‘n Roll celebration in Vermillion. Along with the first place trophy, the team of Chris Baumgart, Tom Chappelle, Brian Czyz and Ryan Brott received a check for $2,000. The four friends have be barbecuing for about four years, Baumgart said. “We just loved to cook,” he said, describing how he and his friends got started in competitive barbecue. Saturday’s rain didn’t dampen their efforts, Baumgart said. “It was beautiful,” he said. “It was perfect – it wasn’t hot out at all.” The weekend’s weather didn’t force Hog Hammer BBQ to change its cooking methods for the state competition. “It cooks relatively the same as long as you don’t have a lot of wind going up and messing with your fire,” Baumgart said. “Today was perfect.” “We’ve been friends for about four or five years,” Brott said. “We just like to cook in our backyards. We thought we had good food so we started competing.” Hog Hammer BBQ doesn’t compete with the intensity of some of the teams that travel to Vermillion. Brott said they rarely travel more than a couple hundred miles from Omaha. “This is our second contest this year,” he said. “It’s just fun.” Hog Hammer BBQ’s success isn’t the product of doesn’t any special techniques or rubs or sauces with secret recipes. “It’s just a lot of practice and a lot of luck,” Brott said. Grand Opening For Community Connection Center Draws Hundreds Kelsey Collier-Wise, executive director of the United Way of Vermillion, shared an observation while addressing the Vermillion Rotary Club last March. During discussions she had with other community leaders about how to best assist local people who need help, the topic of Vermillion’s services being scattered around town often came up. Collier-Wise, while helping a homeless individual earlier this year, made a mental map of all the places the man, who had no automobile, would have to visit in the dead of winter before • Bakery • Full Service Meat Dept. • Floral Dept. • Pharmacy 24 Hour Employee Owned Grocery Store • HealthMarket • Starbucks • Food Court (Including Kitchen, Deli, Salad Bar and Chinese) 605.624.5574 • 525 West Cherry Street • Vermillion, SD 57069 Don’t forget to make your 2019 IRA Contribution Curt Robinson Financial Advisor 23 Market Street Vermillion, SD 57069 605-624-2028 www.edwardjones.com Member SIPC IN We make it happen! 102 East Main • Vermillion, SD 605-624-4132 www.pressingmatters.biz T SERVIC Troy Gregoire (605)624-5585 www.qualitymotor.com 401 W. Cherry • Vermillion, SD 57069 30 605-624-8643 101 South Plum Vermillion, SD YEARS IN BUSINESS 29 she goes to bed. I hope that one day Collins can live a life where CF no longer exists. Where CF only means Cure Found.” And Ultimate Car Washes “Storage Units Available” 807 Princeton, Vermillion, SD • 605.624.6904 33 YEARS IN BUSINESS raise funds. People who visited the carnival could also purchase t-shirts with the sales’ proceeds going to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The bigger-than-usual event didn’t disappoint in either the entertainment provided or the amount of funds that ultimately were raised. “I think it was right about $20,000, give or take a few dollars,” Katie said Sunday afternoon. “It’s pretty cool … last year our theme was butterflies, the year before was trolls. The past two year’s events were backyard barbecues – we just had them at our home and opened up our garage. And last year was the first year for the silent auction. “Last year it just got so big that we felt that we really needed to move it someplace else,” she said. Katie quickly expressed appreciation Sunday for all of the volunteers who helped make Saturday’s event possible. “There were some people who had their own things – there were USD PA students there to help who had their own t-shirts on, but I think we had about 30 volunteers,” she said. “I know we had more people visit than last year and last year we estimated around 250. This year, I think it was probably double that. We had a ton of people through there. We asked several different people who were there and they agreed that total attendance was right at around the 500 mark.” In a recent Facebook post to help make the public aware of the carnival, the Kassins describe their daughter and the daily ordeals she faces while living with cystic fibrosis. “Our daughter Collins, as many of you know, is a spunky 5 year old with an infectious smile and a giggle that will melt your heart. She has a heart of gold and wants only to make everyone around her happy,” the couple wrote. “When she was 12 days old, she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. She is a fighter beyond imagination and stubborn. She is wise beyond her years when it comes to this disease. She can tell you about the drugs that she takes and reminds us to give her her medications. She can swallow six pills at a time, and on average, she takes almost 40 pills a day. “Our hope is that by awareness and fundraising, that one day, this won’t be Collins’ reality. Our hope is that one day, she can wake up in the morning and not have to worry about doing her treatments before she leaves the house. Or that she can have a meal without taking enzymes to help her digest it and gain weight,” the Kassins wrote. “And we hope that one day, when she is sleepy at night, she can just go to bed, without having to worry about doing her treatments before Henderson’s PR Proposed VHS Addition Has Estimated $2 Million Cost The Vermillion School Board received additional information Monday concerning its plans to build an addition onto Vermillion High School that will house administration offices and an alternative school classroom. It also received a rough estimate of the new construction’s cost. It will likely be a little over $2 million, according to Sean Ervin, an architect with TSP, an architectural and engineering firm located in Sioux Falls. “We’ve been making some good factors,” Ervin said. “We’ve got work factors; we’re starting to figure out exactly how things impact the costs of things. We know that the hot water and the chilled water (in the high school) do have capacity for this expansion. Our engineers have reviewed the site; they’ve looked at where they need to connect. They’ve written narratives to help our estimator understand exactly what kind of impact those things will have.” As more information is learned about the building site, the ability to come up with an accurate cost estimate increases, Ervin said. “We start to understand exactly what it takes to connect the building,” he said. “What we don’t have yet are costs for soil borings. That’s typically something we have done early in the process. We haven’t done that yet because we thought it would be valuable to have this discussion with the board first before we make a commitment to somebody else to make some borings. “What they’ll do is they’ll drill holes down and tell us what the bearing capacity of the soil is as we design the addition,” Ervin said. “(They’ll tell us if) we don’t have an addition that sinks or rises because of clay or because of water issues or other things that are unidentified yet.” The planners have Camp Engages Student Is In The Fun Of Science This week, 45 seventh, eighth, and ninth graders have been learning about forensics and crime scene investigation at the 18th annual Lawrence Brothers Science Camp at USD. During the six day camp, the junior high students engaged in finger-printing, blood-typing, and hair and fabric analysis; enjoyed lectures about the brain, sound, teeth, and diseases; investigated and “solved” a crime; competed in a Lego robot challenge; and had a lot of fun while doing all of it. “This is a very fun, hands-on camp,” said Dr. Barbara Goodwin, camp director who started Lawrence Brothers Science Camp 18 years ago. “The purpose is to expose kids to science. There is no prerequisite to get in and no academic requirements other than a love of science.” During camp, students in attendance are divided into groups. Each group is led by a college-aged counselor who stays with the students in the dorms and engages with them 24 hours a day, said Goodwin. In their groups, students develop close friendships and work on group projects, including a final camp presentation delivered to their parents on the day that they leave the camp. At night, groups enjoy social activities like going to the swimming pool, watching a movie, and exploring great USD resources like the Wellness Center. “This year’s activities include coding theory, fingerprinting, blood typing, anatomy, how sound can help solve crimes, how to identify hairs, disease detectives, how interpretation of insects can help solve crimes, how teeth can help solve crimes, 3-D printing of brains, and more,” said Goodwin. The Lawrence Brothers Science Camp simply makes science fun. “There are lots of interesting science activities organized by USD faculty, staff, and students,” said Goodwin. “Campers get to meet new people and have fun with others from all over the region.” Students come from across South Dakota to attend the camp. This year’s camp also includes students from Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota, as well as one student from Australia. be immersed in a world of music. The students in grades five through 12 participated in small and large group bands and choruses, took private lessons and classes, and enjoyed numerous concerts and performances during the 68th Annual USD Summer Music Camp. “I feel the camp has been going great!” said USD Music Professor John LaCognata, this year’s camp director. “This camp provides [students] with an opportunity to experience a variety of ensembles, including choirs (Concert Choir and Show Choir), Orchestra, and bands (Concert Band and Jazz Band). In addition, classes offerings include piano, guitar, bell choir, music theory, electronic music, music composition, jazz improvisation, conducting, world drumming, and Orff bells.” The USD Music Camp is a six-day intensive immersion in music, said David Holdhusen, chair of the USD Music Department who has been involved with the camp for many years and is a previous camp director. “On Sunday afternoon, 120 students walk through the doors of the Fine Arts building,” he said. “Six days later, they put on a concert. … When the campers arrive on campus, they haven’t seen the music before. Some of them don’t know anyone. But it doesn’t matter where they’re from, these students come together and they work together to make a beautiful sound.” Campers at the USD Music Camp are kept busy from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. each day with musical endeavors. Every camper signs up for to participate in at least one large group band, orchestra, or chorus and then many also take optional ensembles like Jazz Band, Opera, Pep Band, and small group ensembles. Most bands and specialty groups practice twice a day, and in between those practices, campers take private lessons and elective classes. Small group master classes for each instrument and voice are also held. And then there are camp concert events each night, during which students are entertained by faculty members, honors students, and others. Music camp culminates with two concerts staged by the students during the last two days of camp. Last night’s Thursday night concert featured the Junior and Senior Jazz Bands, Pep Band, and the Junior and Senior Show Choirs. S Powering Up In Vermillion In the near future, certain motorists could get a real charge out of traveling in and through Vermillion. At Monday night’s regular meeting, the Vermillion City Council approved setting up an electric vehicle charging station. The city plans to enter into a threeyear lease agreement with the ChargePoint company for a dual port station at a cost of $2,750 per year. On Tuesday, Assistant City Manager James Purdy contacted ChargePoint officials about the city’s interest. The company’s response was swift, and action began that afternoon. “They’re sending over a proposal and a contract. Once that is signed and the site is ready, we’re looking at a matter of weeks and then we’ll be set up,” he said. “We don’t have a specific date on this, but we can absolutely get it done by the end of the year.” determined that there are a couple of utility lines buried close to the front end of the building. “It looks right now like we’ll have to move those or protect them at a very minimum and so we haven’t done a final survey of the site just yet because we thought that would be helpful to have happen after this early estimate,” he said. The report submitted to the board Monday, Ervin added, doesn’t include the cost for adding canopies to the north side of the existing high school building to improve the structure’s appearance. The canopies can be designated as alternates when bids are let, he said. “Those kinds of alternates are the things that help you get enough flexibility so that when you are receiving bids, you can adjust that bid to what you want to be, to match up with your budgeting ability,” Ervin said. If all goes as planned, the Vermillion School District’s administration offices will be relocated to the new addition to the Vermillion High School building at about the time classes begin in the fall of 2020. The school board, which has been exploring the option of moving top administrators out of a downtown office building that it leases for approximately $4,000 per month, set plans in motion in April to go ahead with a process that will eventually lead to the new construction at the high school. The addition will house the offices of Vermillion School Superintendent Damon Alvey, Business Manager Sheila Beermann, and their support staff. The new structure will also house the school district’s alternative school, which currently is located in a strip mall on Vermillion’s Cherry Street. E “Looking at 2021 for construction is very realistic. If we can get the legs on this (project), it will happen sooner rather than later. We anticipate this will happen in one construction season. It might need the entire construction season.” In 2016, the City hired Confluence to prepare a conceptual plan for a downtown infrastructure — or streetscape — project. Some features include bumpouts at pedestrian intersections, new sidewalks, trees, landscaping, seat walls, new street lighting and other improvements. “The downtown street lights needs to be replaced and converted to LED lights, like the rest of the community,” Prescott said. The lighting project should be seen as an investment and not as an expense, according to Assistant City Manager James Purdy. “The new LED lighting will be part of our (emphasis on) renewable energy,” he said. “This will cut our energy costs and save the city money in the long run.” The bumpouts will reduce the crossing distance for pedestrians, Purdy said. Studies show bumpouts tend to produce lower average traffic speeds at those spots, he added. The feature is designed to provide greater safety at those intersections without interfering with traffic, he said. “It won’t reduce the street by one inch,” he added. January 28, 2020 www.broadcasteronline.com www.VermillionMedicalClinic.com 1120 E. MAIN Vermillion, SD 57069 605-624-2829 YEARS IN BUSINESS 121 MAIN Irene, SD 57037 605-263-3343 www.hansenfuneralhome.com