Latest news with #BrandonValleyHighSchool
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Students encourage peers to donate blood, save lives
BRANDON, S.D. (KELO) — For 16-year-old Cheyann Mccaffrey, today was her first time donating blood. 'The people in there are just so kind and very accommodating. They asked you if you want snacks, drinks, and it doesn't hurt. Goes very quickly–about ten minutes. If anything, the questionnaire is longer,' Brandon Valley Sophomore, Cheyann Mccaffrey said. Witnesses called in Sioux Falls murder trial She is one of the many students who helped spread the word for the Brandon Valley High School Blood Drive. 'We like to make a lot of posters and place them around the whole school. And it's also on social media. And so a lot of people are able to see it that way,' Brandon Valley Senior, Lily Christensen said. 'I just encourage, you know, people I know to come and do it with me,' Mccaffery said. These students hope that by encouraging their peers to donate blood when they are young, it will become something they do for years. 'It's good because we're young and healthy and it builds really good habits for our whole life,' Christensen said. But it's never too late to start giving. 'I think a lot of people think it's super scary because there's needles, but it's one single tiny poke and then you just kind of sit there after. I think it's a lot more important then people know. You donate a pint of blood, you're saving 3 or 4 lives,' Mccaffery said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Percussion Showcase set to return to Brandon Valley
BRANDON, S.D. (KELO) — The sounds of drums will ring throughout Brandon Valley High School on Saturday. Declan Lee is a senior at Brandon Valley High School and member of the Indoor Drumline, playing the bass drum. 'If you ask anyone else, they'd probably tell me I'm way too loud all the time, so I just enjoy drumming, so much fun to me,' Brandon Valley senior Declan Lee said. Appropriators reject Noem's $3.6 million cut for SDPB That volume will be on display this weekend, as Brandon Valley hosts the South Dakota Percussion Showcase. 'I'm looking forward to showing off all the work we've put in, finally seeing everyone around here because most of the competitions are pretty far away so not many people get to see them around here,' Lee said. 'We're hosting percussion groups, color guards, and brass and woodwind,' Brandon Valley Director of Percussion Devon Melillo said. Devon Melillo is the Director of Percussion. 'It will be a variety of concert percussion groups that are performing what you might expect more at a band concert and then more of the marching percussion theater where they're performing a show,' Melillo said. 19 groups will perform this Saturday, including Brandon Valley. The theme of this year's show is The Cave. 'We are illustrating a cave where on the floor we have a tarp that's colored and textured, along with some props, specifically taking the audience into kind of a different world,' Melillo said. 'Pretty simple down to the name, The Cave, it's creepy, like loud, and bunch of different emotions from different movements,' Lee said. Brandon Valley has 33 kids between its drumline and front ensemble, and Lee says they're ready to deliver. 'I think we've made amazing progress over not that much time, a few rehearsals, and shows completely different than two weeks ago,' Lee said. The competition begins at 3:00 p.m. Saturday at Brandon Valley High School. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for students, while kids ages 5-and-under are free. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
This Is The Way foundation
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — There's a new foundation that's been established by a Brandon, South Dakota family that is meant to inspire hope and action by awarding college scholarships to anyone looking to get into the medical field. The foundation is to honor a teenager whose life was taken too soon. 13-year-old Spencer Thorsland touched so many lives in a short amount of time. KELOLAND News was invited to follow his courageous journey as he battled cancer for three years. One of those people he touched was Hollywood actress Emily Swallow, who plays the Armorer in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian. Spencer was a big Star Wars fan. We were there at his home when Swallow stopped by to pay Spencer a surprise visit. 'Wanted to get more involved because I believe so much in everything they do and they've built such a beautiful community, so they asked me to be an ambassador and part of being an ambassador means I get to hang out with Spencer,' Swallow said. Brookings runaway cow goes viral When they talked, they talked about Swallow's role as the Armorer. Emily: She does not have children of her own, but I guess she is sort of a motherly figure in some ways. Spencer: You're a mom to me, I love you like a mom. Emily: Aw, I love you too. Spencer: I love you more. Emily: I'll never ever compare to your real mom, but I'll be your Star Wars mom. One month after that visit, Spencer died on January 8th of last year. 'The first year since Spencer's been gone, we just thought a lot about how can we keep his legacy going, he was important to so many people and he had such a value system and he touched a lot of lives, so I didn't want his voice to be silenced by going to heaven,' Spencer's mother Lori Huml said. So on the one year anniversary of his death, Spencer's family launched 'This Is The Way' foundation to raise money and awareness about the one word Spencer used all the time; eventually. 'Our first project is called the 'Eventually Scholarship'; eventually we will find a cure, eventually people will be healed from cancer and our hope is to raise money to give scholarships to Brandon Valley High School seniors who are going into anything medical; doctors, nursing, therapy, lab technician; something in the medical field, because I think somewhere out there there are puzzle pieces that are going to put this cancer thing to rest and we are going to find a cure at some point, so we just want to keep encouraging those to keep filling those shoes of those who will be leaving the field, we need more coming in,' Huml said. Spencer had dreams of helping others. 'He had a drive or desire to pursue a medical degree that's what he sort of started to think about while going through his journey and so his thoughts were to either to be a trauma surgeon or to be a plastic surgeon, so the basis of the foundation jumped from that,' Huml said. The Mayo Clinic, where Spencer received a lot of his cancer treatments, even made him an honorary doctor and gave him his own lab coat and name tag. But it's the foundation that will fulfill other dreams through fundraising. 'Our first big fundraiser that we did was with along side Domino's Pizza it was called 'Slice the Price' you could buy a Dominos gift card for $20 and $10 went right back to the foundation,' Huml said. So far they've raised $5 thousand dollars. While the foundation is a way to honor Spencer's life and committment to helping others, it's also helping Huml too. 'It's been healing for me to be involved with something and put that energy forward, I've been explaining that to friends lately, my whole life was medical, doctor visits, in the hospital, administering medicine, getting supplies for Spencer and I kind of feel this void of all that energy I put into helping him I want to do more with that and continue helping others,' Huml said. To learn more about the This Is The Way foundation and to donate to its gofundme, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
SDHSAA Boys Wrestling Region 2A Tournament highlights
BRANDON, S.D. (KCAU) – Here's a look at the championship round highlights from the SDHSAA Boys Wrestling Region 2A Tournament at Brandon Valley High School. Thanks to our friends at MetroSports TV for the highlights! For a look at the full results, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Brandon Valley senior composes music for One-Act Play
BRANDON, S.D. (KELO) —Brandon Valley High School is putting on a rendition of Macbeth, one that the director wanted to add music to. Instead of outsourcing that job, they gave it to a high school senior– Isaac Fode. 'So I made the 4 (songs) first and then I made some interludes and like some transitions and some singing backgrounds,' Isaac Fode, composer for Macbeth said. Quadruplet bull calves born on South Dakota ranch However, adding music to a Shakespearian play is not an easy task. 'He was not familiar at all with Macbeth, and he had to do a lot of research to figure out even what the story was and where the songs might go and what he might be writing,' Isaac's mom, Rachael Fode said. 'My aunt over at Lincoln High School, she teaches Macbeth at a college level. So a lot of late nights are like 10:00 and be like, hey, I have a question for you,' Isaac said. Those late nights paid off. However, it wasn't easy being both the composer and the lead in the play. 'Watching him like, make the music and then having to go do his own part. Not only was he trying to get his own character down, he was trying to add dimension to other characters as well,' Lady Macbeth, Zariah Sittig said. At the end of the day, it was all worth it. 'You hear it live for the first time, like the three witches, they have a really cool song together with like some really cool harmonies. I'm really bad at singing their part, so hearing them for the first time, and especially helping them learn that part was like actually really, really cool,' Isaac said. Isaac says he had a lot of help from his friends while working on the songs. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
