Around Town
Students volunteer in Vermillion, Yankton for Day of Service
More than 80 University of South Dakota students participated in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Jan. 19. For the seventh year in a row, the Center for Academic and Global Engagement at USD organized and sponsored various volunteer efforts in both Vermillion and Yankton. In total, students volunteered at 16 different locations […]
Boy Scout presents ROTC program with custom bookcase
The University of South Dakota Reserve Officers’ Training Corps welcomed a new addition to the decor in the Burr House Friday afternoon. Graham Leonard, a Boy Scout and a freshman at Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, presented the ROTC with a custom bookcase he built as part of his Eagle Scout requirements. Leonard said the […]
Vermillion man carries on tradition of family Christmas tree business
To students, Mitchel Morse is the man who unlocks the Muenster University Center every day in the early hours of the morning, the man who arranges and aligns furniture to accommodate campus speakers and events and the man who ensures the MUC is neat and tidy. But to the community of Vermillion, Morse is known […]
USD students lose “grandparents” after closure of Vermillion Assisted Living
Every Thursday, University of South Dakota senior Scott Cichos has gone to Vermillion Assisted Living to visit his adopted “grandfather” David Hansen. Cichos met Hansen three years ago through the Students Enhancing Resources for Vermillion Enrichment (SERVE) organization at USD. “He’s a huge jokester, and he’s just got the greatest outlook on life,” Cichos said of Hansen. […]
Sculpture Walk to expand to downtown Vermillion
Downtown Vermillion will get a touch of artistic culture this summer as an extension of the University of South Dakota’s Sculpture Walk brings four sculptures to Main Street. Larry Schou saw an opportunity to give recognition to the Arts Department and commemorate the hard work of artists in a way that would also benefit the city […]
PHOTOS: Annual parade lights up downtown Vermillion
Vermillion community members lined Main Street to watch the sixth annual Parade of Lights Friday evening. Among the more than 20 entries in the parade were the University of South Dakota Reserved Officers’ Training Corps, the Alpha Phi and Kappa Alpha Theta sororities, and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. After the parade, members from the […]
Poverty affects one third of Vermillion residents
The University of South Dakota is getting involved in an initiative to assess why Vermillion’s poverty rate is not being addressed as much as it should. Kelsey Collier-Wise, executive director for United Way of Vermillion, said Clay County has a poverty rate of 24 percent, with Vermillion’s poverty rate reaching nearly 33 percent in 2010. To […]
City Council approves food pantry funding
The Nov. 16 City Council may have adjourned in a matter of 11 minutes, but many recent developments in the city include increased funding for a program targeting low-income residents in the area and a multi-million dollar renovation in Vermillion’s Prentis Park. Funding for food pantry With the harvest season coming to a close, produce donations to […]
Recycling at USD decreased from 2013
Every other weekend, University of South Dakota first-year Gabbie Sefranek, a sustainability major, takes seven peoples’ worth of recyclables back to her hometown of Omaha, Neb. “None of my friends would recycle before I asked them to,” Sefranek said. Sefranek’s mother teaches at a high school where the janitors take all recyclables to a center that […]
Chamber raises $1.67 million to increase economic development
As Vermillion city officials continue to push for economic development, students at the University of South Dakota are involving themselves in the process. Through VermillionNEXT, Young Professionals Network of Emerging Leaders, students have the opportunity to engage with professionals in the area who are between 21 and 40 years of age. “The Vermillion community has […]