School news of the week: Holy Hoops returns, grants bring pickleball club, ukuleles

Amazing things happen in our schools every day — if you know where to look! Do you know some school news others would love? Let us know at [email protected].

There’s a pickleball club coming to Memorial Middle School thanks to physical education and health teacher Gerrad LaBue, who received a grant from the Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation to start it. In the application, LaBue wrote: “We need more after-school activities. In the spring, the only option is track, so this opens the door for many students who don’t like to run but want to stay active and have fun with friends at the same time. Pickleball gets students away from electronics, outdoors in the fresh air, active with their peers and promotes a healthy lifestyle. If we want students to be involved, we need to provide them with more opportunities. This activity can reduce stress, help with social skills and improve emotional well-being. It is also a lifelong skill.” Thanks to Scheels for partnering with the Education Foundation to deliver this grant.

Another grant winner will bring ukuleles to third, fourth and fifth graders at Hayward Elementary. Teacher Alysa Hershman applied for it, writing: “Ukuleles will give my students the ability to create their own music and play along with various styles and songs from different cultures. Students can perform music they have created for the class and work collaboratively with others. They will dream up ideas for lyrics and songs and determine what works and doesn’t work for their compositions. Students will gain improved concentration, memory skills and self-esteem.” Thanks to Reliabank and Woods Fuller for contributing to this grant.

Longtime O’Gorman High School tradition Holy Hoops returned last week. The team of priests bested the high school seniors by a score of 53-49.

Thanks to a generous donor, fifth graders at Lowell Elementary were treated to a beautiful dinner and performance at the Washington Pavilion.

O’Gorman High School basketball players posed for pictures and signed autographs for their elementary school fans last week.

The reading tree has really branched out at R.F. Pettigrew Elementary in the past week. Students have read more than 20,000 books in just over two weeks of the Everybody Reads initiative.

And finally here’s what March Madness looks like when you’re a librarian at Hayward Elementary.