As you all might remember, Mike Pollman's senior year the Wakonda-Gayville-Volin Panthers won the class 9A state championship against Kimball.  That season they went undefeated on their way to their state title.  That title was the most previous state title a Wakonda football team has had but it won't be the last.  The other seniors on the Championship team included: Sam Johnsen, Eric McCue,

Dan Freng, Don Logue, Daniel Wieman, and Keith Light.  Mike, along with Eric, dominated the opponent's offensive line every game.  Nobody could run on them.  Mike was also involved in track and field, throwing the shot put.
Today, Mike has a successful business, Pollman Excavation, and has a wife and a new baby son, Miles.

Love and Anger
by Courtney Nelson

What do you get when you mix a schizophrenic girl, a deranged lawyer, a wife whose husband's in jail and a nervous secretary?  You get the one act play "Love and Anger" preformed by the Wakonda drama department.
A brief synopsis of the play is that Peter "Petie" Maxwell, played by Patrick Morrison, is a lawyer who has just been through a stroke and lost some of his brain. However, he thinks he's been "reborn" and goes insane. He leaves his successful job and tries to over-throw the government from a slummy law office. There he causes

trouble for Gail Jones, played by Jeanie Stockland, whose husband is sent to prison. Maxwell works to get him out when John  "Babe" Conner, played by Andy Jensen, gets involved in the fiasco.
Apparently, Maxwell has been harassing him to shut down his paper. Conner turns to Maxwell's ex-partner, Seana Harris, played by Katie Sokolowski to stop the maddness.  Soon, Maxwell involves his secretary, Eleanor Downey, played by Courtney Nelson and her schizophrenic sister, Sarah, played by Adrianne Logue, in on the

escapade.
To make a long story short, Petie ends up dying of a stroke and with him brings the demise of his plans.
The competition was a disappointment, going over the time limit by mere seconds. On the other hand, the cast received nothing but good remarks from the judges and Katie and Patrick even came away with outstanding actor and actress awards. Perhaps there might be a state title down the road for our Drama program.

The Café: Hub of the Town
By Phillip Devine

Every town has a place where people gather, and that place in Wakonda is  Steffen's Grill & Bar, commonly referred to as "The Café."  Anything that could happen, happens at the Café.
Recently, (late fall/ early winter), the Steffen family bought the Wakonda Community Café, making it The Steffen Grill & Bar.  When they bought it, they didn't change what the people had already fell in love with.  Their speedy service and wonderful food drew people to it, making it a prominent business. 

Since The Café has become popular, people have started to make it a habit to go there at certain days at certain times.  At the beginning of the week on Sunday, the day starts out with your traditional farmers coming in and drinking their coffee, and talking until they feel they want to leave.  Then come the people just getting out of church at around ten, and they have their lunch and socialize with each other, and at noon a group of ladies also comes in.  At 2:00P.M a group of people normally come in and start to play pinnacle.  This sometimes might

last much into the night.  During the week the farmers still continue to come in on the mornings and during the day. Other things that might occur are people getting together to watch sporting events, do homework, or hang out there after games. 
The Café has made a big impact on our community.  It may have just given us someone something to do.  In the future, we can only hope that it will have more success then it already has.