Heather Watterson has been training with Elk Point-Jefferson’s longtime business manager Terri Chicoine and has taken over the position in a smooth transition. The Wynott, NE native was officially hired by the school district in December 2022.

The Dakota Valley girls basketball team had two road games in the _rst full week of Februar y. Both were exciting contests that showed the stamina and grit of this DV team. The Panthers would lose a close battle versus the Vermillion Tanagers on Tuesday, Feb. 7, but they would take down the Dell Rapids Quarriers on Friday, Feb. 10.

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Selected members of the Dakota Valley high school band participated in the 24th Annual Quad States Honor Band Festival on Friday, Feb. 3 and Saturday, Feb. 4 at the University of South Dakota (USD) in Vermillion. This event brought together some of the best high school musicians from South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota. Students worked with Dr. Todd Cranson (USD Director of Athletic Bands) and Dr. Luis Viquez (USD Director of Orchestral Studies) for two days in preparation for a late afternoon performance on Feb. 4 in Aalfs Auditorium. Composer and conductor Andres Soto was also a guest at this event. Soto worked with the band students to perform two pieces of music that he wrote to be premiered at this music festival.

Dakota Valley 6th grader, Iris Liao, took 1st place at the Regional Spelling Bee at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, SD Saturday, Feb. 4. Liao won on the word “ferret” and has advanced to the South Dakota state competition.

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It was a fun and exciting night for the Dakota Valley varsity wrestlers on Tuesday, Feb. 7 as they hosted conference rival Elk-Point Jefferson for a home dual. In addition to great matches, it was also DV’s senior night and the annual youth wrestling dual between the Panthers and the Huskies for wrestlers ranging in grades junior kindergarten to 6th. Approximately 20 members of the Panther Youth Wrestling club came out to cheer on the high schoolers and wrestle for the crowd after the high school dual finished.

A game hasn’t been played yet by the newly SDHSAA-sanctioned softball teams, but the South Dakota High School Activities Association board of directors spent some time on Wednesday ensuring that there were rules in place for the proper stoppage of play.

The South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) is embarking on a two-fold mission to study its classification system as well as the calendar it uses for scheduling high school activities.

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