South Dakota

South Dakota State to host first state high school esports tourney this weekend

Published

10 months ago

March 19, 2024

South Dakota State to host first state high school esports tourney this weekend

Michael Klinski
| SDN Communications

Jeff Evenson didn’t know much about esports when he first heard that the South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) was considering sanctioning it.

“I kind of thought it was just a bunch of kids playing video games, and I was thinking, ‘Come on, get outside and go do something,’” he said.

But when Evenson began to learn more about esports through his job as a sales and marketing manager at Northern Valley Communications/James Valley Telecommunications and through his son’s interest in video games, his opinion started to change.

“I learned quickly it was about connecting kids who have like interests,” he said. “It’s learning teamwork and communicating with each other on a team in pursuit of a common end goal. To me, that is a life skill you will need in the workforce someday.”

That future workforce includes NVC/JVT and other SDN Communications member companies in the telecommunications industry across South Dakota. Several of the companies, including NVC/JVT, are contributing money and behind-the-scenes support to schools in their coverage area.

For NVC/JVT, that means a one-time donation of $2,000 for Aberdeen Central, Northwestern and Warner high schools for the 2023-24 pilot season as well as a commitment to other schools that might sign up when the sport is sanctioned by the SDHSAA in the fall. The funds can be used for whatever the schools want, as long as it’s connected to their esports program. Aberdeen used the funds to help pay for professional coaching, while Northwestern and Warner are using it to offset students’ entry fees, Evenson said.

“We knew we wanted to be a part of it,” Evenson said. “This is not a traditional sport, but it is a sport that is near and dear to our hearts and our industry. These might be our customers and our employees someday, so we are embracing it.”

‘What we do complements what esports is doing’

SDN Communications, a business connectivity provider in South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota, is owned by 17 telecommunications member companies. Those companies cover more than 80% of the state and hundreds of communities.

Several members are supporting their local schools’ esports program as the SDHSAA prepares to sanction the sport for the 2024-25 school year. More than a dozen schools will compete in the pilot season’s state tournament March 22-23 at South Dakota State University in Brookings, and many of them are being supported by SDN member companies.

Interstate Telecommunications Cooperative (ITC), based in Clear Lake, provides Internet and TV service to more than 10 eastern South Dakota counties. It’s supporting Deuel’s esports team and will contribute to other schools if they sign on.

ITC gave $3,000 to Deuel’s team, which includes player jerseys with ITC’s logo. Since Deuel already had an established program and equipment, the team used the funds for trophies, end-of-year awards, a pizza party and game-specific training, coach Michael Gohring said.

The partnership was a natural fit, ITC CEO Tracy Bandemer said.

“You need a good internet connection for esports, and you aren’t going to find anything better than the fiber internet we offer,” she said. “What we do complements what esports is doing. And then who knows? They might be our next employees. We are looking out in the future — that is just a good place to be.”

Deuel has been participating in esports for five years; Gohring said the school was one of the first in the state to start a program. Students built the team’s computers, teaching them valuable tech skills in addition to their participation.

“It’s nice to have (ITC’s) support,” Gohring said. “They are a pillar in our community – literally a block away from our school.”

SDN member companies all in on esports

Like ITC and NVC/JVT, Midstate Communications reached out to all its schools in its coverage area to offer up a partnership, General Manager and CEO Chad Mutziger said.

Midstate, which is based in Kimball, will contribute $3,000 over three years to schools that start an esports team. Mutziger said five have signed up to start a program, including Platte-Geddes, which received a $5,000 grant, including $500 from Midstate, to help kickstart its team.

Mutziger cited the workforce development aspect as well as the fiber internet connection as to why Midstate is getting involved, but he also said the company is happy to support a program that offers an extracurricular activity to some students who sometimes get overlooked.

“Esports might reach out to kids who maybe weren’t involved in other extracurricular activities in the schools,” Mutziger said. “And it gives them an opportunity to be part of a team or be a part of their school.”

At NVC/JVT, Evenson said they reached out to nine schools in their coverage area to offer support for an esports program. Meanwhile, the three schools that are participating in the pilot season are doing so in different ways. Aberdeen Central has a state-of-the art computer lab, while Warner’s team is competing and practicing from home. Northwestern has a combination of at-home and in-school practices.

SDN member companies have connected South Dakota communities with the world for decades. Now they’re helping connect students in schools through esports.

“This sport is flexible for schools,” Evenson said. “It’s going to help connect kids. … It’s absolutely paramount and crucial that (SDN member companies) are involved in this. These are our kids that are in these schools, and this is part of why it has been so important for all of us to get fiber to these rural communities. Not just for gaming, but you are not going to have a successful esports team if you don’t have fast, reliable broadband.”

-30-

Source link

Click to comment

South Dakota

South Dakota Company Recycles Plastic Into Fence Posts | Aberdeen Insider

Published

6 hours ago

January 20, 2025

Press Room

South Dakota Company Recycles Plastic Into Fence Posts | Aberdeen Insider

Many farmers are frustrated with all of the plastic that clutters their farmyards.

Tarps from silage piles, plastic containers, net wrap, totes and drums pile up. It is estimated that 12.5 million tons of agricultural plastic are used annually in the U.S.

A company near Lennox transforms the plastic generated on farms and from other sources into something that every farm needs — 4-inch and 6-inch fence posts. It’s a brilliant example of waste reimagined.

Billy Pollema, vice president of sales for ZahnTech, said the company transforms waste plastic into a product needed by the ag market.

“We sell these posts nationwide, and some have gone to Florida and the Caribbean islands. In those places, they struggle with wood posts rotting due to the salt water and humidity, so this is a good fit for them,” Pollema said.

Bags and other types of plastic are recycled into fence posts by ZahnTech in Lennox. Courtesy photo.

MORE: New agricultural business program will start next fall at Northern State

“Currently, the company processes 30,000 pounds of plastic daily,” he said. “We take it in, shred it, melt it and turn it into something useful. Our goal is to triple what we can process.”

People are thinking more about being sustainable and many want to get to zero waste. The company wants to rebrand recycling and change the way the world views garbage.

ZahnTech is eager to keep plastic out of the landfill.

“We encourage people to bring plastic to us from all over South Dakota. We are even getting some from Wyoming. Our company is partnering with farmers plus different industries. We take it all in as long as it is plastic. There are seven types of plastic in our formulation,” Pollema said.

Trucks constantly pull up to drop off their loads, he said.

“We take chemical jugs as long as they’ve been properly rinsed. We get thousands of barrels from ag companies during the summer and fall, plus plastic pallets,” Pollema said. “We’ve partnered with the city of Beresford to take their curbside pickup materials. Every two or three weeks, it comes to us in bales. They’ll dump it in our shed and we’ll take it from there. We do not accept liquids, glass, metal or hazardous chemicals.”

In addition to ag plastic, ZahnTech is getting semi loads of plastic waste from many industry partners, including Glanbia Nutritionals, which has locations all over the country. Recently, 10 semi-loads of Walmart bags were dropped off. That’s 500,000 pounds of bags waiting to be shredded.

The process uses a primary shredder and a secondary shredder, reducing the plastic to three-eighths inch. Then the material goes through the hot melt extruder and flows into molds for the 4-inch and 6-inch posts.

MORE: Latest 2024 farm income forecast shows overall decrease from 2023

There’s strong demand for the posts.

“We price them to be competitive with the wood market as farmers don’t want to pay more than they have to. ZahnTech is one of the few companies using this process. In addition to the company in New Zealand, there is one in Canada and one in Pennsylvania,” Pollema said.

He was at the recent Dakota Farm Show in Vermillion showing people the pros of using the posts and explaining what the company does. The plastic posts can replace the green-treated posts or posts treated with creosote to prevent rot. Wood posts normally need to be replaced every 10 years or sooner. ZahnTech information said testing shows their posts will last 100 years.

Business sparked by frustration from lack of plastic scrap recycling options

A fence post made from recycled plastic by ZahnTech in Lennox. Courtesy photo.

The owner, Avery Zahn, started the process, and Pollema shared Zahn’s story.

Zahn has owned a pipeline business. His frustration stemmed from the lack of plastic scrap recycling options, forcing him to take the materials to the landfill. After he sold his business, Zahn noticed the railroad ties around his horse arena were rotting and needed to be replaced. Remembering the unrecyclable plastic, he searched for a way to make something usable from it, such as fence posts. He found that in New Zealand, a company developed a process to do that.

“He bought his first extrusion machine from New York, brought it to South Dakota and started figuring out a way to melt the plastic and turn it into fence posts,” Pollema said “Avery tried different formulations and produced a composite to get the posts to the needed strength. After a year and a half of research and development, the company started making and selling products. That was a year and a half ago. It all started with Avery looking at the posts and deciding, ‘I’m going to come up with a better way.’”

The biggest cost for ZahnTech is electricity, with 3,000 amps of service coming into the production facility.

“It’s our major cost and it would be great if we could reduce that, maybe by using some solar power,” Pollema said.

MORE: Invenergy plans 250 megawatt wind farm in Frederick area

While the electricity is expensive, the plastic is free.

“People are looking for places to get rid of their plastic,” he said. “We are diverting as much from the landfill as possible. It’s a great selling point for our posts as people can see we are doing something good for the environment. For years, people buried plastic, and it will take years to degrade. Many people get behind what we are doing.”

ZahnTech produces 300 plastic fence posts per day

The company produces 300 posts a day with six people in the production line who do the shredding, bundling, receiving material and fabrication. In all, there are 11 employees.

Avery Zahn founded and owns ZahnTech, a Lennox business that recycles plastic of all sorts into fence posts. Courtesy photo.

The goal is to handle 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of plastic a day with the two main lines. When ZahnTech adds another line, it will be able to handle 60,000 to 70,000 pounds a day.

Currently, ZahnTech is transforming 98% of waste into sustainable products,” Zahn said.

“We’re not far from achieving our goal — 100% waste conversion. The company wants to build a greener, cleaner world, one fence post at a time,” he said.

On its website, ZahnTech claims its posts are 10 times stronger and 20 times more durable than wood. They are flexible and can be post-driven, cut, drilled, nailed, screwed, bolted or stapled. The posts are fire-resistant, non-conductive, won’t split or rot and are impenetrable by water, frost and pests, per the website. They can also be pulled up and repositioned.

Connie Sieh Groop of Frederick is a veteran journalist and writer who has focused on all aspects of the agriculture industry during her career.

Source link

South Dakota

Mizzou wins double header against South Dakota, Northern Illinois

Published

13 hours ago

January 20, 2025

Press Room

Mizzou wins double header against South Dakota, Northern Illinois

State

Zip Code

Country

Source link

South Dakota

Sunday Forecast: Western South Dakota in for a Frigid MLK day

Published

21 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Press Room

Sunday Forecast: Western South Dakota in for a Frigid MLK day

BLACK HILLS REGION, S.D. – Many folks have a three day weekend in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day! And it will be a good day to stay inside and stay warm. The National Weather Service has issued an Extreme Cold Warning for portions of western South Dakota and northeast Wyoming. Wind chills are expected to be as low as -45° especially in the Northen Hills. Other offices have followed suit with Extreme cold Warnings covering most of the Northern Plains.

This extreme cold is unusual and potentially dangerous, with the National Weather Service forecasting “the coldest wind chill readings of this outbreak”. The Extreme Cold Warning for our region is in effect from 7pm this evening to 11am tomorrow, with a Cold Weather Advisory until 8am Tuesday.

Expect a high around 9°F in Rapid City with an overnight low of -14°F. Wind chills will bottom out around -30°F just after sunrise. The Deadwood area will see similar conditions, with an overnight low around -19°F and wind chills potentially plummeting to -45°F or even lower! Winds will be relatively calm tonight at 5 to 10 mph but will pick up to 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph by tomorrow morning. This is why the wind chill will be coldest around sunrise rather than in the midnight hours.

Monday Morning Wind Chill

Per Lundquist

There is still some slight flurries falling over northeastern Wyoming, which could lead to icy and partially snow-covered roads, but things will be clear by this evening. Clear skies at night typically help cool temperatures even further, because the surface of the Earth radiates off infrared radiation into space, which is a loss of energy and causes temperature to fall. With no sunshine to replenish that energy and no cloud cover to keep it from escaping, we’re going to cool off quite a bit.

It’s important to remember that frostbite can occur quickly in extreme cold, and with wind chills, it can happen even faster. According to University of Colorado Health, when the temperature is 5°F and the wind speed is 30 mph, frostbite can develop in just 30 minutes. At -5°F with the same wind speed, it may set in within 10 minutes. With wind chills expected to reach -45°F in some areas, frostbite can occur on exposed skin even sooner. Symptoms of frostbite usually begin with the affected parts feeling cold and painful. If exposure to the cold continues, you may feel pins and needles before the area becomes numb as the tissues freeze. If you think you or someone else may have frostbite, seek immediate medical attention.

We should see some relief on Tuesday with temperatures warming back up to the low 30s under partly to mostly cloudy skies. The next clipper type system will bring low chances for light snow Tuesday night through Wednesday night along with breezy to windy northwest winds.

Rapid City 7 Day

Per grew up in Sioux Falls and graduated from South Dakota Mines. He found his passion for weather reporting by the impact it has on the community, both in how people work and how it brings people together through severe weather preparation. He also has a passion for preventing health issues with Air Quality Index awareness. Per can be found enjoying outdoor activities in the Black Hills when the weather allows.

Source link