This week is number 5 of a 6 week series I am writing to update our STC community about what I’ve learned so far as a school board member.

This week is about Activities and Athletics. Let me start off by talking about the huge benefit students have when participating in extracurricular activities. Some valuable things participants learn are communication skills, teamwork, becoming a better listener, and develop a more positive attitude. A few more individual things students learn are discipline, better self-esteem, and overall talent. Getting involved usually improves classroom behavior and better overall fitness and sportsmanship. I could go on and on about the benefits of getting involved for the students when exposed to these activities. Students that get involved are 15% more likely to go to college. Some studies show that a students academics can go up as much as 40%. I know that’s wishful thinking for some, but it’s true for others.

Okay, so let’s get into some numbers. At the STC school district there are 21 sports teams at the high school level including the 4 cheer and dance teams. There are 21 other activities like drama, fine arts clubs, marching band, and FFA just to mention a few that students can get involved in. A lot of athletes get very involved in these other type of activities too. Some students are involved in as many as seven or eight clubs or teams throughout the year and still get good grades.

There are 42 head coaches and many assistant coaches at the high school alone. Of the 456 students at the high school, all but 75 students are involved in some type of activity throughout the year. Thats nearly 84% participation!

At the middle school there are 423 students. Many of these students go out for multiple activities that total 471 participants altogether. There are 25 activities that have coaches and many have assistants. The staff at the middle school do a great job transitioning most of the youth leagues athletes into the school programs and promoting others to get involved.

Our district spends about $290,332 paying all the coaches or sponsors to bring out the best in our students and develop their talents. The coaches are paid out of the general fund. All the money brought in from sports and activity events goes to the activity fund. This fund is responsible to pay the referees, concession stand supplies, and just about anything you could need for the 67 different activities in our district. The activity fund is also helped out by sales from the student and teacher vending machines. The only exception to this is the drama department. They keep their earned money separate from the activity fund to pay for their department’s supplies, clothes and props etc. The drama department is self sufficient and does a good job managing those funds.

The athletic departments overwhelmingly generate more income for the district, but nonetheless pays for all the extracurricular activities that students do. Every year the high school activity account starts off with around $40,000 and the middle school starts off with $30,000. These are not solid numbers from year to year but it’s close. The main thing to know is they are self sufficient.

The most expensive sport to fund is high school football. Every year the 30 to 40 helmets need to be reconditioned. This usually cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000. These helmets need to be replaced every 10 years. And costs $425 or more for new ones. New football pads cost $300 each when replaced. The five referee officials at football games cost $235 each per night to do both games. The ticket price at most sports events are set by the WaMaC conference. Our district makes little as $2,000 and as much as $10,000 per night for admissions and up to $3,000 for concessions, So it really makes a difference if we have 4 or 5 football games every year and if it’s homecoming or if we play a fierce competitor like Grinnell. At the high school level, a rule is you need one coach per 10 athletes. We have a total of six coaches, four at the varsity level and two at the frosh (freshman/sophmore) level. This is mainly for safety of all the athletes. The top three sports that generate the most money are football, wrestling and track.

Some sports teams and activities have their own fundraisers. Those monies raised can stay with that team to do what they want to. But of course, those dollars raised can only be spent after approval of the activities director.

Not all coaches are paid the same. For example, based on 5 years of experience, a head coach for high school football makes $5,200, the high school band director can earn $3,200. The eighth grade basketball head coach earns $2,350 and the E-sports coach earns $3,200. It all depends on how long the season is, it could be a one night musical performance or year round responsibilities guiding FFA students at various competitions. All activities have countless hours of practice. Most teams travel to other districts and all coaches have responsibilities of the students well being and safety. Every coach is trained on many things prior getting a coaching certificate. Things like theory of coaching, ethics, injury prevention and child abuse are just a few of main ones.

Let’s talk about the WaMaC conference we are in. First things first, WaMaC is an abbreviation of three rivers that drain east central Iowa, the Wapsipinicon, Maquoketa and the Cedar. The STC school district is the second smallest school in the WaMaC. There have been conversations in board meetings to join the NICL conference. NICL stands for Northern Iowa Cedar League. Years ago we joined the NICL conference, but we returned to the WaMaC after just a few years. The main reason we returned to the NICL conference at that time was the NICL schools did not have competition in the fine arts departments like they do today. STC needed to be balanced for all activities involved not just the sports. STC is still considered a 3A school in every sport and activity except football where we are considered 2A. There is a formula that uses our free and reduced lunches number to determine our conference eligibility. If South Tama did join the NICL conference we would be one of the largest districts. Last winter South Tama did apply to join the different conference but we were turned down by a unanimous vote from the other schools. Our hope is to appeal their decision and ask again in the future. I think being in a conference with smaller schools would benefit us for several reasons. We would be closer distance to travel to events and maybe more people would come to our home events if we had more winning programs. More winning programs could bring in additional money to the district. I know there are some people that may disagree with me on this subject but this is my opinion.

Okay, here’s my plug for our school district and getting involved. Our district needs more officials and coaches. If you are interested in becoming a coach or referee, the STC district will reimburse you for your training to become certified. Pease contact Chelsea Ahrens or Scott Bolen at 641-484-4811 to start a conversation. If you aren’t ready for that, but could help in other ways the STC Booster Club does a lot of great things for our school. One of their annual fund raisers is the Ken Kolpin Open Golf Tournament on August 17th. This a great way to volunteer or participate to help raise money for their club. So get out of the house, make new friends and make a difference in our community.

Next is activity passes. Any STC school area resident age 65 and over can get a pass to get in free to all home sports and activity events except drama events. Other adult passes are $90 per year, and family passes are $250 per year. Single tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for students per event. Throughout the year there are close to 50 events at the high school and around 60 at the middle school. Contact the schools to get set up and come cheer on the Trojans!

I know I did not mention anything about all the accomplishments and successes of our athletes or other activities. I believe our local paper does a great job of covering those stories. There is a tremendous amount of hard work our coaches and staff do every year to help tomorrow’s leaders become the best person possible. There is no doubt that sports or other activities make a huge difference in the person your child or grandchild will become. As for the coaches, shake their hand, tell them thank you and enjoy the fruits of their labor with a better well rounded student. Next week it’s all about academics. Until then that’s how I see it!