WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020
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VOL. 123 NO. 04 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Fall high school season begins. PAGE 12
School Board hears presentation from Cultural Responsivity Team BY JASON SCHULTE EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
The Osceola School Board heard from staff members Olivia Willett, Erin Morrison and Erin Larson, who spoke on behalf of the Cultural Responsivity Team during a meeting Aug. 19. The team started this summer as 19 staff members met six times to launch it. It’s also well represented – members of all four buildings and the District office are represented in the group. The trio talked about its action plan – ALL (Advocate, Listen, Learn) and how that will be enacted over the following months. Under advocate, visuals will be used, which will include posters, yard signs, stickers and T-shirts. Featured within the Elementary and Intermediate school will be signs saying, “All are welcome here” and at the Middle and High School will be “Hate Has No Home Here.” For listen, the goal is to provide tools and platforms to foster communication for students and staff. The three said getting more books for children at a younger level is needed. And for learn, it’s evaluate and challenging current practices, recognize biases and creating a resource lists for staff. “We are ready to do this work,” said Willett. Other news Director of Instruction Becky Styles gave an update on enrollment numbers for the Osceola Virtual Academy. As of the meeting, there were 114 students enrolled, with 33 in the elementary, 16 in the intermediate, and 26 in the middle and 39 in the high school. Styles stressed the importance of the Academy, because if it wasn’t for it, 51 would have open enrolled out and 21 would have been home schooled. Approved the hire of Megan Ellison as a
Straight shooter Nick Nissen off to a great start in shooting trap career BY JASON SCHULTE EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
Dean Nissen can remember at an early age his son Nick loving the outdoors. “He would fish from dawn to dark,” he said. It wasn’t just fishing. “He’s an very accomplished hunter,” Dean continued. “He had two large bow bucks on opening days the last three years. “He’s an also an extremely good archer, rifleman and a great turkey caller.” Yet, for all those exploits, shooting trap might be where his greatest success lies. As Dean explained, Nick was taking hunter safety classes when he was 11 (he’s now 15 and starting his sophomore year at Osceola High School Wednesday). Each kid was trying rifle and shotgun at clays where coach Mike Annunziata noticed his ability. “He can make the most difficult targets look easy,” Annunziata said. “Shooting on a windy day with targets “dancing” a lot and his ability to shoot targets right out of the weeds.” Nick competed in his first year at Nationals at the Scholastic Clay Target program in Ohio where the event was a little overwhelming. Dean estimated there were 10,000 shooters there and they almost had to pry him out of the vehicle to go shoot. Four years later, those nerves are
almost certainly gone. Nick finished fourth in the singles portion of junior varsity category at the 2020 Nationals in Ohio last month. Singles mean the shooters stand 16 yards away from the center of the “trap house” and shoots at random targets that fly at various
angles in front of him. There are five positions that each shooter shoots from, five shots per position, totaling 25 shots or one round. “It’s an amazing moment when you can go 25-for-25,” Nick said. SEE NISSEN, PAGE 19
Polk County Board meeting opens with strong language
SEE SCHOOL, PAGE 2
BY APRIL ZIEMER EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
Early deadline
There were not many public comments at the beginning of the August’s regular meeting of the Polk County Board, in fact only one. When it ended, Polk County Chair Chris Nelson called the language used, “Showing poor character.” Reverend Donna Martinson, a
Due to the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 7 the deadline for press releases and advertising for the Sept. 9 edition of the The Sun will be noon on Sept. 3.
JASON SCHULTE | THE SUN
Nick Nissen proudly showing off some of the medals he has won at various state and national meets over the years.
resident of Garfield Township, made the public comments. She said she was attending as a participant of Amery United, an anti-racism group and was concerned over remarks that have been made on social media by Tom Magnafici, West Central Planning Commission and newly appointed Polk County Board Supervisor, Sharon Kelly. Martinson apologized for the
language she was about to use as she quoted Magnafici’s April Facebook post concerning Governor Evers cancellation of the election. The post contained multiple expletives. Next, Martinson read a statement she said was posted by Kelly on the St. Croix Library page, which was later deleted. “Black Lives Matter
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