What a busy few weeks it’s been
This is my first chance at writing a column since the paper published its Graduation special section. Looking at it each year, I am amazed at the wide variety of future plans that students list in this section. The New Prague High School Class of 2016 has students going to school all over the nation, and in once case, outside the US.
Each year, The Times staff puts in a lot of extra hours of work to get all the information that is needed, find and write additional stories, pick out photos from the past school year and more. We get a lot of assistance from the office staff at New Prague High School. Each year, our goal is to get a photo for each of the students. Sometimes, that doesn’t happen, sometimes it happens because we go out and get photos of students who don’t have a photo to submit. This year, thanks to the yearbook staff and office staff, each of the students had a photo in the section. Several years ago, we made the decision to print color photos of each of the graduates. While this added to our production time and printing expenses, we felt that it was a valuable change for the section.
Of course, this section, like any other of our publications, doesn’t happen without the support from the advertisers in the community. Each of the students was sponsored by a local business or organization and that helps pay the bills for the added printing and staff costs. We thank the students and school staff for their cooperation in putting this annual section out each year, and we thank the advertisers for making the section possible.
* * * * * New Prague High School’s graduation was held outdoors at Trojan Stadium for the first time. The bleachers were filled and many people were standing along the fenceline watching the ceremonies. The weather cooperated and most people enjoyed the outdoor festivities. One feature that was added was the students’ names and photos on the scoreboard on the south end of the field. We got a call at the office the morning of graduation when the school realized they were missing a few photos. We were glad to send them the photos we had received so that each of the 299 graduates would have their face on the scoreboard.
* * * * * New Prague’s Memorial Day festivities were held last week, and once again it was an impressive turnout at Memorial Park for the city’s official observance. New Prague has a very proud and active veterans community. The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars actively promote many community activities and work hard to support not only general community activities, but veterans’ causes as well. In turn, the community supports the veterans in these causes. Thanks to the Legion and VFW organizations, and their Auxiliaries, for the many good things they do.
* * * * * Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to spend a couple hours on Cedar Lake with the Let’s Go Fishing organization as they made their first trip of the season. This is the second year the organization has taken seniors, veterans, the disabled and others out onto Cedar Lake to enjoy a boat ride and some fishing. Of the group of 13 people on board, counting myself and the two-person crew, five of them enjoyed wetting their lines, with different degrees of success. Besides enjoying the near perfect weather on the lake, one thing I noticed was the variety of houses on the lake. Growing up in the 1970s, the lake was dominated by small summer cabins. There were a number of families I knew who owned homes in town and had cabins on the lake that they would use throughout the summer. Since then, many of the cabins have disappeared and been replaced by larger, year round homes. I confess I haven’t been on Cedar Lake too often over the past 40 years. I knew there weren’t as many summer cabins as there used to be, but it was still striking to observe the changes firsthand.
* * * * * The 2015-16 school year has ended, and the final spring sports teams at New Prague High School are winding down their season. This weekend, the softball team competes at the state tournament for the second time in three years after coming back through the loser’s bracket to win the Section 1AAAA title. They play Woodbury at 9 a.m. Thursday in North Mankato. The Trojan track and field teams did well at the Section 2AA meet, but had only three athletes - Alex Torp, Mitchell Delbow and Josie Herrmann - qualify for the state meet. All three will compete on Friday at Hamline University. Finally, Taylor Ledwein will conclude her stellar golf career at New Prague High School next Tuesday and Wednesday at the state meet at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids. Ledwein is the defending State Class AAA champion and will be looking to keep the state crown in New Prague for the fourth consecutive season.
* * * * * Good luck to each of the athletes, and thanks to the coaches of all Trojan sports for their cooperation throughout the school year in helping us to provide coverage in The Times. After coverage of the State Golf Meet in the June 23, issue, high school sports takes a two month hiatus before the fall season begins in mid-August.
