Hello all, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report.
For this April 28th, 2025, have your host, James Jamail, off here, and welcoming into
the studio.
Some of our friends from the Port Edward School District we have, and I'll let you guys
introduce yourselves and your titles so the audience could put a voice to the name.
James, start with you.
Good morning, James.
Thank you for having us in today.
This is Jim Beena.
I'm the Port Edward School District Administrator and Ed Hoyer Elementary School Principal.
Jim, good to see you again.
Next laugh for being here.
Thank you.
Emily Anderson, I am the fifth through 12th grade band director at Port Edwards.
Emily, great to meet you.
Thank you very much for being here.
Appreciate it.
We'll be putting you on the spot.
I mean, asking you questions in a moment.
Just a moment.
Jim, if you don't mind, I want to start with you.
And you've got a number of things we wanted to touch on today.
Can we start with the host of Club State Conference?
It sounded really exciting.
Yeah.
Absolutely, James.
And again, thank you for having us in Port Edward School.
I am always excited to share the good things happening in Port Edwards.
We are a hidden gem here in Central Wisconsin.
We have so many outstanding things happening in our small school district that you oftentimes
only find in medium-sized schools and large schools.
But we do them here in Port Edwards because we take so much pride in our school district.
The HOSA Club.
HOSA Club is in its first year here at John Edwards High School.
It was started by high school nurse Katie Borts.
HOSA, in case our listeners haven't heard about it, it was an organization originally
founded in 1978.
The purpose of HOSA, it is a future health professionals organization.
It helps those who want to go into nursing, dentistry, any of the sport of areas of health.
It helps them to become leaders in the global community through education, collaboration,
and experience.
With, I can remember hearing about HOSA before and everything and thinking similar things
to hearing you talk about it right there.
The opportunity in so much of what we are going to talk about today and really in general
when we talk to our public schools is this, what can we spark in a young mind?
There's no idea, especially when it comes to kids.
If you think you know what they like, wait five minutes, it's probably going to change.
That's cool.
That's part of being a kid.
But every once in a while there's something that happens and a spark happens and you
just never know where that could be.
Every one of the industries you mentioned there and things you were talking about there
are certainly industries that could always use great young minds.
That's a great part of this to begin with.
The fun and the camaraderie, so many things that come about with this organization is a
big key part of it too, Jim.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's right now we have all young ladies in the program and they have, I have an opportunity
to see them working at fundraisers and see photos of them at the state conference.
As you mentioned, the camaraderie is great.
They're having a great time.
One of the things we want to do in addition to sparking interest, James, is we want
to create career pathways for our students.
Oftentimes, an adolescent or a teenager, they may go to an industry or a store or a work
site and say, wow, this is really cool.
I could see myself doing this 10 years from now when I'm in my 20s.
How do we get them from being age 15 to age 25 actually into that industry?
The HOSA club is one of those pathways or one of those conduits.
The HOSA club, when they went to state, they went to the state conference at the Kalahari
Resort in early April.
They got to meet hospital representatives and clinic representatives and dental representatives.
People are actually in the career already or in the profession and they were able to learn
how to, you know, what is my path?
Where do I have to go to school for these things?
How do I get from age 15 to age 25 and into this profession?
Having people that not only in the industry but care about the industry, being able to
explain this to them, could not only make that spark even more stronger or help them figure
out other things that they might want to do?
It's such a great thing.
And then again, of course, the camaraderie and so many other things that come of this is
a great opportunity for kids.
Thank you for telling us about that.
That's really good.
Absolutely.
We have some upcoming spring events in the district as well.
We wanted to touch on.
Sure.
Absolutely.
A couple of fun things that are taking place, so a couple of things of note.
We have our high school variety show that will be May 23rd at 7 o'clock.
That is a Friday night at the Dorothy Alexander auditorium.
The high school variety show is a staple in Port Edwards.
It has been going on for decades.
High school students are able to sign up and share their talents.
It's our little Port Edwards version of America's Got Talent.
Yes.
We'll see everything from stand-up comedy to musical performances to dramatic performances.
It is just a great night of entertainment.
People don't have to travel far and spend a lot of money to see great talent.
They can come to the Dorothy Alexander auditorium at Port Edwards High School, May 23rd at 7
o'clock.
So this is open to the public?
It is open to the public.
Very cool.
Absolutely.
I want to say something real quick too.
The whole reason I'm in this chair right now is basically because of these kind of things
in great schools.
When I first moved to this area, I had a real tough time making friends and really getting
out of my own comfort zones and all of that.
But I wanted since I was seven years old to be an actor and I was going to push myself
to do it.
Mr. Hood about to suggest that, you know, you try out for the sixth grade play and the
talent show or the sixth grade talent show and everything.
I had no idea what I was going to do because I don't have a whole lot of talents.
So I went up there and tried to do a comedy special in sixth grade.
It didn't end well, guys.
It didn't go great.
But it was such a powerful and great experience for me.
I can literally, as you're talking about a gym, like, imagine being back there in Washington
school and the dome and everything.
One of the things, one of the values and reasons I could say I'm in this chair because of that
experience is not because everything went swimmingly and went great.
It was a real life experience.
Some of it was good.
Some of it was bad.
I got experience talking in front of people and the more and more, I got of that as I
went into high school and took debate or any of these other things.
It built me to where I, one day, I felt that much more confident and comfortable talking
to people.
And I'm not talking about acting a radio.
I mean, just day-to-day life when I was working construction or working the front desk
at the hotels I worked at or something.
I felt that much more comfortable talking in front of people, talking to people because
again, wasn't very good at that when I was young.
This really set the stage for me, really got me on a path of being able to work more
and more with the public, which no matter what these kids do in life, they're going to want
more and more of those skill sets that speaking in front of people or just speaking with people
or anything.
There's so many advantages to these four kids.
Along with just having fun and enjoying yourself and seeing these kids go up there, there
is no such thing as a bad show involving kids.
It does not exist.
The element of it is fun, especially when things are going right or wrong.
It could be fun for either reason.
This is going to be a great one.
What is the date of that again, Jim?
Sure.
That is Friday, May 23rd at 7 o'clock.
Make sure to make plans for that, everybody.
That's going to be a great one.
Awesome.
And when you take these in, you're supporting these kids, you're building their confidence
up, you're investing in our future, really, is what you're doing just by taking it a
fun-bred variety show.
Absolutely.
You know, your personal story, you couldn't have said it any better than the way you did.
It gives kids confidence.
It gives them a vision for who they want to be.
It makes them stand a little taller.
It makes them feel good about their school experience.
And also, I just want to echo what you said.
There's no such thing as a bad kids.
They're just, isn't it?
It's just watching them perform and seeing the confidence.
You can literally see their confidence build as they're on stage performing.
And Emily is going to share in just a few moments with us, some of the great things happening
in our music department at school, too.
So, yeah, May 23rd, our variety show at John Edwards High School, 7 o'clock.
Yeah, really encourage anyone to come out and watch that.
Jim, just a couple of things I wanted to ask you about.
The Do Gooder Wisconsin Challenge.
I wanted to take a moment to talk about what this is, especially for anybody that may
have not heard about it.
Sure, absolutely.
The Do Good Wisconsin program is a program that was founded by a couple of gentlemen a
few years ago.
And if you look them up on Google, like we all do, their mission is to foster a culture
of kindness, giving, and philanthropy throughout Wisconsin.
It doesn't get much better than that, James.
So one of our elementary teachers, Ms. Jennifer Johnson, thank you so much, Ms. Johnson.
She teamed up with our Port Edwards parent organization to do the Do Good Wisconsin
serial box challenge.
And in February and March, at Hoyer Elementary School students collected over 500 boxes of
serial for our area food pantries.
And not only were they doing good by collecting serial, the Do Good Wisconsin program put a
fun twist on it.
They have a contest where you could make the most creative music video.
And so our parents, they lined up the 500 boxes of serial out the front sidewalk.
It snaked into the hallway through the gym.
And they put some fun music to it.
And we had kids doing cartwheels over the serial boxes as they toppled over.
And they submitted this very awesome music video.
And we earned fourth place in the state of Wisconsin for most creative music video.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
It was very cool.
So last Friday, the Do Good Wisconsin co-founder, Eric Salzwadel visited, visited at Hoyer Elementary
School.
He was a school-wide assembly and he presented a trophy to the school for this fourth place
finish.
So hats off once again to Ms. Jenny Johnson and the part of its parent organization for just
giving us a shot of energy in February and March as we're working through that quiet
time of winter, something fun to look forward to each day.
It just gave us a shot of energy in our school.
So it was a very cool thing while helping others.
Those brains are sponges and they're taking all this in just like I was talking about
the laughter, the applause they get from performing or anything like that.
Doing these kind of things are more and more examples of not only getting those brains
to realize what it is to add to your community to be a part of a community, help a community,
but also seeing adults doing that.
And those brains taking that in and seeing teachers, their parents, their guardians, anybody
else.
Oh, this is what an adult does.
This is what they, and there's more and more opportunities for that along with, of course,
the good that they're able to raise and do with a program like this.
Very well said, James, you know, watching our parents walk in with their, their bags
of cereal and the kids are smiling.
Is there helping their parents unload them?
You're right.
They're sponges.
They're leaving those positive imprints on our children.
So it was a really, really cool program for about three weeks there.
Thank you, Jim.
I appreciate all the time in the, in the updates there.
Thank you so much for that.
Absolutely.
And I appreciate you also bringing Emily and I wanted to talk to you.
So I love talking, obviously I love talking theater or music or any of these things.
So not, not, not too surprising there, but Emily and I keep wanting to say Miss Anderson.
I have to tell you that right away.
I don't know what.
It's true.
True.
True.
True.
But I really appreciate you being here.
And there's a couple of things we wanted to talk about with you.
Now, December of 2025, there was participation in the Pearl Harbor Parade.
Can you touch on that a little bit?
There will be.
Yes.
Upcoming December, we, the Port Edwards High School Band is combining with the Lincoln
High School Band and we will be flying out to Hawaii, Oahu, we'll be staying at Waakiki
Beach.
They're, of course, they're going to experience all the fun things Hawaiian.
But we also will be marching in the Pearl Harbor Parade.
It's really exciting because this year is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War
II.
So that'll be a great thing for our students to experience.
Of course, the experience Pearl Harbor, they, we also will be doing two other performances
along with the parade.
We will be doing a masked band performance with every other school that comes from the
nation out to Hawaii.
And then we will also be doing our own Just Lincoln and Port Edwards performance as well.
Very cool.
I can only imagine you're going to need a DJ for this.
So I guess I go.
Of course.
I go.
All right, I go.
Twist your hand.
Twist your hand.
Twist your hand.
You know, in all seriousness, everything I've been saying before about the, the brains being
sponges or the things that they take in and they pick up from us as adults and everything.
That is a real, is our job as adults doing these things and act like this.
It's certainly going to be a memorable experience for them for many, many reasons.
But one of the ones that will hopefully and certainly hit home is doing something like
this and anything involving our soldiers, our military, any chance to be able to bring
them lightness, a smile and certainly noticing them represent, you know, being a part of
things with them.
It goes very far too.
I, it's interesting you were talking about this and I immediately thought of a story.
My papa told me when I was a kid when he was stationed over in Hawaii and just in what
it meant to him and the impact.
You know, it wasn't anything like this, but he could talk about it like it had happened
yesterday.
These, these actions, these performances, anything you want to say really goes a long
way for them.
Yeah, I'm very excited for the kids to be able to, you know, honor our veterans in this
way and it'll just be something, of course, we do Memorial Day and things like that, but
this will just be a whole nother level that they'll get to experience.
And I think we've never done something combined with Lincoln.
So I'm really excited to pull our schools together, you know, we're not really rivals because
we're not in the same conference, but it's nice to be able to connect and have kind of
cross those bridges with them each other.
Well, and that sounds like a really fun opportunity for not only the kids, but for you as music
teachers as well to be able to kind of talk a little bit more.
Yes, I've been able to connect with Jean Olson, who's a fabulous band director.
She's already given me so many tips.
I am a young teacher, so she has been very helpful and we're also as a way to kind of prepare
for Hawaii.
We're going to combine together to march in the cranberry parade, the cranberry blossom
festival parade.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, that's a great idea.
Oh, that's really cool.
That's a good one.
And you do have some upcoming spring concerts, one of the touch on as well.
We do.
Spring is like the busiest time ever for a music department.
So I could rattle off probably a dozen events, but we'll just list the most exciting ones.
Upcoming this weekend is State Solar Ensemble.
So between the choir department and I, we have 16 students that are going to attend the
state at the state level.
So what they had to do is they performed in the hardest category and then they had to
receive the highest rating in order to go on to the next level.
So to have 16 students in such a small school district is, they're really high numbers.
It's impressive.
They're very excited.
We have a mallet quartet.
We have a ton of vocalists going.
We have a trumpet trio that's going to perform.
So we're excited to see that.
So if you have any free time on Saturday, May 3rd, you want to head over to UW-Stevens
Point and check out any students from the local area that are performing at the highest
level.
It'll be a great day.
Yeah.
Make sure to mark that in your calendars, everybody.
May 3rd.
We'll be mentioning it on a morning show.
Make sure that they get a good crowd for that one and all these events we've been talking
about today.
We'll be mentioning in our morning show, reminding everybody about them.
Yeah.
There are two concerts that I want to promote.
We have our choir concert that's coming up on Tuesday, May 6th.
That'll be at 6.30 in the auditorium.
Dorcy Alexander.
Yes.
Thank you.
Dorcy Alexander auditorium.
That'll be at 6.30 for the choir concert.
That's their alumni concert.
So if you are an alumni of Port Edwards and used to sing in the choir, you're welcome to
come back and sing on the very last song with them.
We also have our final band concert, which will be Monday, May 12th at 6.30 as well.
And we have our mass combined band at the very end, so I'll have all 6 to 12th graders
performing at the same time.
One song, Rock Lopster.
You're not going to want to miss it.
Oh, wow.
Oh, that's awesome.
It's going to be a good one.
So that'll be, yes.
May 12th at 6.30.
Oh, that's great.
That's fantastic.
And one of the mentioned just a couple of other things, Emily, before we let you go, you
have a 6 flags trip that we want to make.
We do.
So again, we're combining with choir.
I'm so glad that we get to do so many combined things as a department.
And we will be driving down on May 16th to Gernie, Illinois.
We will perform that night.
We'll get rated, and we will get scored against other schools in the area, and the greater
Wisconsin and Illinois area.
So that's really exciting.
And then we'll go to Rainforest Cafe.
We're going to go.
Of course, the 6 flags, and the kids are excited about Golden Corel for some reason.
But of course, they'll spend the whole day having fun at 6 flags as well.
So that's a great opportunity for us.
And we'd like to thank Pete, the Port Edwards Educational Foundation, for sponsoring this
as well.
They sponsored a big portion of it.
You know, and I'm not sure if the audience has picked it up or not, but there's been kind
of an underlying theme with so much of what we've talked about today with the, not only
these kids getting an opportunity, whether it's music or it's some of the other programs
we've talked about, certainly an opportunity to do the things we've talked of.
We've mentioned as far as experiences, and the reps that they are building, whether
it's working with people or talking in front of people or anything, the traveling that
it is involved in going on so much is so great for kids.
And I think that I could easily say, you know, well, in a rural area, it becomes much more
important when I was in Chicago, it was just as important.
I mean, it doesn't really matter where you're from, especially when you're at that age.
And as big as the world is and can be nowadays, you're still, at a young mind, you're not
looking at it that way.
And getting these world experiences, just another positive to all of this.
Thank you so much for all of that Emily.
I did a one other thing I wanted to ask you about because you have a something really
cool going on with the community band.
Yeah.
So if you've been excited about all the things that we've been talking about, you're like,
wow, I miss playing my entry, you know, I used to play in high school or maybe you've
started learning recently and you're interested in joining community band.
Some community bands can be really intimidating because what they do is they'll have one performance
and then, or I'm sorry, one rehearsal and then one performance.
And then that's it.
But you're at Port Edwards, we have started a new community band last summer where we will
rehearse Monday nights from six to seven thirty and we have about seven or eight rehearsals
and then we will have just one performance.
So if you're looking for something that's a little more laid back, maybe a little easier
music because you're like, wow, I really haven't played that instrument in a while, but
I want to pick it back up.
Find us on Facebook at the Port Edwards School District.
We have a link to sign up to the Port Edwards Community Band or you can reach out to me
Emily Anderson.
If you can find my email online, it's on our school district website.
And I will be glad to get you in touch and get you set up with whatever it is to be successful
and maybe picking the thing back off that clarinet or that flute or whatever it may be.
Jim, she's good.
She's really good at this.
She came in here telling us she hadn't done this in a long time and everything.
She didn't knock it out the park.
She's a natural James.
It's really great.
Absolutely.
You took care of the last questions I had even Emily, that's what good you are, nice
to be done.
Thank you again so much for being here, putting up another question.
Thank you for having us.
Oh, yeah, you're going to have to come back.
You're definitely going to have to come back.
Jim's definitely going to have to come back.
I always love to talk with you guys and talking about the Port Edwards area in general.
Jim, if people do have follow-up questions, how can they reach you?
Sure.
I'm going to share that with you in just a minute, James.
But I want to just take a moment and give props to Emily for all the great work that
she does with her instrumental program.
You've just heard it over the last five to ten minutes.
All the phenomenal things are happening in a small school district.
And I call our music department at the high school level, the dynamic dual.
There, I challenge anyone to find a better instrumental and choral teacher than Emily Anderson
and Tammy Praschewski.
They are phenomenal.
They work together on so many programs, the six flags.
They travel with kids all over the state, internationally.
They just do an amazing job.
They bring incredible energy.
Their skill is amazing.
We have the best two instrumental and choral teachers in the state in one department.
So we are so fortunate in Port Edwards to have those.
So we're very thankful for them.
I always say, I love my job.
I love teaching in Port Edwards.
When I was told about this interview, I was like, okay, it's a small school.
I'll check it out.
I was not expecting the amount of support and kindness and just the welcoming community that
is Port Edwards.
I just never would have imagined it to grow into something like this.
So I am very thankful for my job and I'm very thankful for the people and the students
that I work with.
Right on.
Thank you guys.
Thank you for that.
Jim, again, if people didn't have follow-up questions, how could they get a hold of
you?
Sure.
If you have any questions about anything you've heard today or would like to hear more
about our great school district in Port Edwards, feel free to give me a call anytime.
Again, Jim Bean on my number is 715-887-9000, extension 303.
And I look forward to hearing from our public.
Make sure to reach out right away, everybody, if you have any questions or anything.
And again, both of you, thank you so much for what you're doing our communities and hanging
out with me today.
I'm pretty in our audience.
We appreciate it.
Thank you, James.
It was great catching up with you.
And be on the lookout for more Rapids Report, everybody.
It streams Monday through Friday at 4 o'clock.
You can catch new episodes and of course catch up on old episodes at civicmedie.us or
wfhr.com.
We'll be back with more right here at 97-555-M 1320 AM, WFHR.