COUNTY – The Shelby County Community Foundation (SCCF) announced this week that grants totaling $114,562.81 have been awarded to Shelby County nonprofit agencies. 

DES MOINES -- Last Monday, the sixth annual World Food Prize Iowa Youth Institute brought together 299 students from 131 high schools at Iowa State University to explore critical issues related to global food security and discover academic and career paths in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).    The Iowa Youth Institute has now reached over 64 percent of all Iowa high schools since its inauguration in 2011, and h

AVOCA -- Steven Sauvain has been named the new secondary principal at AHSTW School District effective July 1, pending final board approval.    Sauvain replaces Cynthia Phillips who is leaving AHSTW after four years as secondary principal for a similar position in central Iowa.    Sauvain currently is PK-6 Principal and Curriculum Coordinator in the River Valley Community School District located at Correctionville in northwest Iowa.

HARLAN – The City of Harlan and Harlan Community Schools have entered into an agreement to share an operations director for the next year.    Beginning July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018, city employee Tim Miller will spend the equivalent of 20 percent of his time working with the school district.  The remaining time will be spent with the city.  Hours may be altered as directed by the city and school district.    HCS will pay the city $15,000

 DES MOINES -- High school champions were crowned in 20 individual events at the 108th annual Drake Relays this past weekend. In nearly every instance, the 2017 flag-winner was already a household name among state track and field followers and ranked at or near the top of the meet’s qualifier list. Except for one. Harlan Community junior Nick Foss pulled off a win that was equal parts unlikely and impressive in the Drake Relays boys long jump

 Harlan Community junior Nick Foss became just the third track athlete in school history to win a Drake Relays’ individual championship Friday morning when he placed first in the boys long jump at Drake Stadium. Sondra Rauterkus won the girls high jump in 1999 and 2000 while Steve Wegner also won back-to-back titles in the boys shot put in 2000 and 2001.

 DES MOINES -- Harlan Community seniors Gillian Streit and Allison Bruck competed with the best of the best at the 2017 Drake Relays this past weekend. And although neither girl worked their way into medalist contention in their feature event, both were happy to be a part of “America’s Athletic Classic” and firmly focused on their goals for the rest of the season. Streit finished 16th out of 24 qualifiers in the discus on Thursday afternoon, t

 DES MOINES -- In a race often dominated by large-school sprinters, AHSTW junior Gage Clay once again held his own in the Drake Relays’ 100-meter dash Friday morning. Running out of lane 8, Clay struggled a bit coming out of the blocks but recovered well to finish third in Heat 2 and place 14th out of 32 qualifiers overall. His time of 11.24 seconds - run on a cold, damp morning - was not far off the cutoff for making the finals (11.12) or his

 HARLAN -- The Harlan Community girls tennis team hosted three dual meets last week, winning 7-2 over Atlantic on Monday and losing to St. Albert (7-2) on Tuesday and Clarinda (6-3) on Thursday. HCHS is now 2-7 on the season, including a 1-7 mark in Hawkeye Ten Conference meets. The Cyclone girls won five out of six singles matches vs. Atlantic, capped by a 9-8 (9-7 tiebreaker) win by Taylor Andersen in a competitive No.