The art of speech is one which is important to master every day. People use speech daily, some vocally, some with actions and many both verbally and with their actions. If we were all judged by our art of speech, many of us may be disappointed in our judging results. Luckily, we are not judged by our speech.
    Four ladies from MVAOCOU were brave enough to have their speech judged at the district individual speech contest on February 25th. Two of them, Grayce Hanke (daughter of Jesley and Chad Hanke of Mapleton) and Annamarie Mallory (daughter of Bethany and Ted Mallory of Charter Oak) earned trips to the state individual speech competition. Along with Mallory and Hanke, MVAOCOU was represented at Districts by Patience Windsor who competed in Original Oratory and Madison Behrens who competed in Prose Reading. The ladies both received a 2 rating.
    Annamarie stated that, prior to this year, she had participated in individual speech in Improv. The senior had attended State in Improv but decided to change the categories in which she competed.
    "Every year I have been doing Improv, but this year I decided to try Original Oratory and Radio News Broadcasting," said Mallory. "I decided to do original oratory this year after writing so many essays for college scholarships. Original oratory is an original speech that is meant to be inspiring, which I felt would be easy to get from some of my essays I had to write about facing adversity. I decided to give Radio News Broadcasting this year because of our success in group Radio Broadcasting, after helping out a bit in the RamCast this year, and seeing some of the success that Cadence had with it. I am super excited with the new things I have a tried and the outcome I have seen!"
    Grayce credits the speech director, Stephanie Petersen with getting her toes wet in the speech pool.
    "I wasn't planning on doing individual speech my freshman year, but Ms. Petersen told me to try Improv because she thought I would be good at it. Well, she was right," exclaimed Hanke, currently a junior. "I have made it to State every year for Improv but just fall short from that judge recommendation (to be named to All-State). I'm excited I made it to state again and I hope this year is the year I make it to All-State!"
    The ladies participated in the state competition this past weekend. Mallory received two 1s and a 2 rating with an overall 1 rating in Radio Broadcasting and three 1s in Original Oratory which gives her a chance to be named to the All-State team. Hanke earned two 1s and a 2 rating in Improv. All three entries received overall 1 ratings.
    Congratulations to all four participants for your bravery to use your art of speech in the speech contest, and a special congratulations to Annamarie and Grayce for your success at State.

    It's that time of year again, time for kids to begin thinking of playing ball for a few months this summer. Time for little league to come to the minds of kids and parents.
    Sign up for little league runs through Friday. As has been the past few years, Danbury, Mapleton, Anthon, Castana, and Oto will all sign up in one location. The kids will be combined as needed to make teams for the respective grades. To sign up, please go to https://mapletonyouthathletics.sportsengine-prelive.com/.

    Every school day, kids are required to sit and learn and increase their knowledge. They are given a recess or two, but they return to their seats to continue learning. Their natural energy is set aside for the sake of education.
    The Danbury Community Club and Danbury Recreational Board began an after school program at the rec center to help the kids expend the energy they accumulated while they were expanding their knowledge. In February, the after school program began, and it has been received well. Around 28-30 children from kindergarten through sixth grade have been taking advantage of the opportunity to run, play a variety of sports and games, and to get rid of lots of energy.
    "The Community Club and Rec Center Board came up with the after school program and got the ball rolling," said Steffany Bettin, one of those in charge of the program. "They wanted to give kids a chance for healthy activity and give parents a break on pick up times."
    The program begins after school on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays and run until 5:15. The committees chose those days of the week to avoid religious education Wednesdays and weekend plans. On school days when school gets out early due to scheduling, the program will begin early and end early. For example, if school is out at 1:30, open gym will be from 1:30-3:15. In the event of school cancellation or an early out due to weather, there will be no open gym.
    "Any school age kid may attend; you do not need to sign up," added Bettin. "Parents are responsible for getting their child to the gym and picking up on time."
    After school participants who attend Danbury Catholic School walk to the rec center at the bottom of the hill. Some public school participants catch the bus which stops in front of St. Mary's rectory and walk to the rec center. Those participating are asked to use the door on the northeast side of the school at the back of the building. New participants will be given an information form and waiver to be filled out and returned.
    Volunteers monitor and sometimes play with the children. So far, 10 volunteers have signed up to help, but more are appreciated. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Steff Bettin at 712-880-0008 or Joann Treiber at 712-880-0119.
    The program also feeds the children a snack. Snack and drink donations are also appreciated. Talk to Steff or Joann or talk to one of the Colberts at Colbert's Market.