SURPRISE! It was "Dress like the students" day today for the EPJ staff! The SLC staff all dressed up like Yixian! Happy Fri-YAY!

7th grade FACS students made their first sewing project.

Some of the EPJ Unified Special Olympics athletes (Zaden, Clara & Rawsen), unified partners (Korbyn & Ava), coach Cass and EPJ Education Rising students (Ava & Laila) took the plunge on Saturday February 15, 2025 at OLC in Vermillion. The funding from events like these is one of the reasons why we're able have Special Olympics be a part of our community. Congratulations to Zaden for being the athlete that raised the most money of our EPJ group for the plunge. EPJ's Educators Rising and EPJ's Student Council helped raise money to help make this event a success!

On Saturday Feb 15th Educators Rising participated in the Polar Plunge that raised money for the EPJ Unified Special Olympics. Students Laila and Ava Peters represented Ed Rising and braved the icy cold waters for this great cause.

Due to the Cold Weather Advisory lasting until 9:00 am Thursday 2/20/2025. The Elk Point-Jefferson School District will have a 2-hour late start on Thursday, February, 20th. The EPJ District would like to thank all of you for your patience this week while navigating extremely dangerous temperatures.

Due to the extremely dangerous windchills and the cold weather advisory, the EPJ school will run 2 hours late tomorrow February 19. Once again there will be a 2-hour late start on Wednesday, February 19.

Paws of the Pack: Art That Gives Back has arrived! This exhibit (up today through February 20th) features artworks created by the Mixed Media classes. Students browsed the Siouxland Humane Society’s online site and picked an animal to create an artwork of to help animals in need find homes. Each artwork incorporates two found objects inspired by the animal’s traits and/or story. 🐾 How It Works: Students create unique mixed-media portraits of animals available for adoption. If an animal is adopted, their new family receives the artwork as a special keepsake! Many of the animals got adopted while students were still actively creating the artworks, but there are still plenty that need homes with available artworks! Available pets can be viewed at siouxlandhumanesociety.org/adopt/find-a-friend. Animals that have already been adopted are marked as such in the show. Those artworks will be taken to the Siouxland Humane Society upon the conclusion of the art show to be picked up by their new owners! Animals that are still looking for homes that have artworks available in the show are: Montana the cat, Ruffus the dog, Frieda the dog, Frog the cat, Barthalamute the guinea pig, Milo the dog, and Fonzie the dog. If you have been looking for a furry friend for your family, this may be a great opportunity! Please contact Siouxland Humane Society if you are interested in adopting.

Good Evening Husky Nation, Due to the Extreme Cold Weather Warning effective through tomorrow at 12:00pm. The EPJ School district will be closed, tomorrow 2/18/2025. Please stay safe and warm.

7th grade FACS students are learning to sew!

EPJ basketball doubleheader vs Beresford tonight. Varsity games livestreamed at the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPlMQ9SwS48

After School club information: Starting Marc h 24 Times 3:10 to 6:00 pm. Grades: JK-5 Cost: 65 dollars a week (Sliding Scale for families and income based) Where EPJ School Contact: Ashultz@nwsymca.org Registration Link: https://operations.daxko.com/Programs/Redirector.aspx?program_id=22537160&cid=2199

EPJ travels to Dakota Valley tonight for a wrestling dual. Varsity dual is at 6 pm followed by a youth dual.

EPJ Girls Basketball vs Crofton. Tip-off is 5:00 with JV. Livestream link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApeX1R4U0CY

Jazz Concert tonight! 7:00 pm start - livestream link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTQF-hCMnXM

Superintendent Philip Schonebaum was elected as a member of the South Dakota Beadle Club on February 5th in Pierre, South Dakota. "The purpose of the Beadle Club is to signally honor selected individuals in South Dakota who have given meritorious service in the cause of education over the years. This service must be aside from and in addition to their regular contributions made in their official capacities. The major purpose of the Beadle Club is to foster and encourage individuals to emulate the life of General Beadle, who by his leadership, sacrifice, and sincere interest in educational activities in South Dakota, contributed much to the stability of our present program by establishing permanent school funds of the state. The members of the Beadle Club are to dedicated their individual and cooperative efforts to help preserve the permanent school funds of the state." https://www.sasd.org/beadle-club/ Congratulations Superintendent Schonebaum!

BEC/LCC Conference Tournament in Montrose on Saturday, February 8

Our EPJ School Counselors, Christine McMeekin-Hemmingstad and Danielle Schonebaum, had an incredible opportunity to attend the South Dakota Department of Education’s School Counselor Professional Development! They deepened their knowledge of the South Dakota Comprehensive School Counseling Program, gaining valuable insights to better support our students. We’re excited for them to bring this information back to the EPJ community!

DAK XII/NEC Clash - Saturday, February 8 at 2:45 pm EPJ vs Groton. Here is the link to the livefeed https://www.team1sports.com/highschool/sd/?S=madisonbulldogs

On Monday Feb 3 the Educators Rising students visited the students in Mrs. Eriksen's kindergarten room where they helped her students write secret Valentine messages to their parents. The aspiring educators of Ed Rising truly enjoyed this experience getting to work with the kindergartners and gave each student a special Valentine eraser, pencil and sweet treat! Thank you to Mrs Eriksen for having us.

On Tuesday Feb 4th, 12 EPJ students traveled to Morningside college to compete in a Math/Science competition. The morning consisted of 2 multiple choice exams in either: Math, Chemistry, Physics, or Biology. In the afternoon the students competed in a quiz bowl competition followed by STEM break out sessions where the students engaged in hands-on activities. Two of our EPJ students brought home a medal. Aaron Coyle placed 3rd in Chemistry and Thomas Hemmingstad placed 3rd in Math. Congrats to all who attended! It was a fun filled day of Math/Science!