News

Harvard’s graduation ceremony was unlike none anyone had ever seen. There was no big audience of family members and friends waiting to hear speeches and see their student receive a diploma. There was no band playing, flower ceremony or flashes from several cameras going off.

And yet, it was a ceremony to remember, and carried with it a series of well-thought out, sincere speeches from the graduates and class speaker.

“For a while I was frustrated with this whole situation… our senior year was cut short and all of the memories and experiences we would have had are now just a distant dream,” Salutatorian Ellie Fields said. “What I’ve learned during this time, though, is to be thankful for the little things.” Fields, and Valedictorian

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

To say Shelley Stone liked being a teacher for 31 years is a huge understatement—in her words, she has “absolutely loved it.”

The 2019-20 school year closed out a 31-year career as a teacher at Harvard Public School, first as a third-grade teacher for seven years, and then as the kindergarten teacher for the remaining 24 years.

Her love and want to become an educator began when she was in school, all thanks to several of her own teachers, including Barb Colvin, Marsha Sukup, and Craig Barfknecht, among others.

“They’re all excellent role models and all very respectable people,” she noted about her former teachers.

At the time, Stone was thinking about going into the cooking and nutrition side of home economics, but one area of the subject wasn’t her forte.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

Saturday, May 9, the day Sutton’s senior class of 2020 was supposed to walk across the stage and receive their diplomas, instead was a different sort of celebration. Due to COVID-19 and a postponement of their graduation ceremony, seniors paraded around town in vehicles decked out in 2020 decorations, writings, and streamers. Here, the line of seniors make their way south on Saunders Ave under a Sutton Mustangs flag hung by the Sutton VF Department.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

Between April 27 and May 4, Clay County’s COVID-19 lab-confirmed cases increased from six to 13.

The South Heartland District Health Department announced May 4 that an additional five new cases have been confirmed in the four-county South Heartland Health District, bringing the district total to 221. There have been five deaths.

County totals of May 4:

• Adams—203

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

Tis the season for stormy weather, with a taste of the severe weather season hitting Clay County Wednesday, April 29. Here, dark, low-hanging clouds move over a field east of Harvard. The rain, dark sky, and brief cold temperatures quickly moved east, leaving behind nothing but sun and 60-degree weather. 

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

What started out as a way to celebrate their seniors as students checked out for the last time turned into a community event. Hurts Donuts visited Sutton Public School’s parking lot Friday, May 1, first allowing seniors to grab a donut as they returned any items needed on their last day of high school. At 9 a.m., the donut truck opened to community members. Here, Emmy Haight picks up a dozen donuts during her turn in the line. ASHLEY D. SWANSON | CLAY COUNTY NEWS

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

The newly-adapted normal for school has changed the way students are learning, communicating with teachers and friends, and even eating their lunch.

But just as the teachers and administrators haven’t stopped doing their jobs, school’s kitchens and those who work in them haven’t stopped either.

On May 1, the School Nutrition Association (SNA) has celebrated school nutrition professionals with School Lunch Hero Day for the past eight years.

The option of students and staff being able to see those smiling, cheerful lunch ladies while going through the line each day may have changed, but their mission of keeping students fed with nutritional, balanced diets is on-going, proudly supporting the SNA’s title for them—Superheroes.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

Two females in their 20s have been added to the list of COVID-19 lab-confirmed cases, bringing Clay County’s total to six.

The South Heartland District Health Department announced April 27, that 13 new cases have been confirmed in the four-county South Heartland Health District, bringing the district total to 149.

County totals of April 27:

• Adams—140

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/

The new normal is anything but normal.

Doctors and nurses on the front lines of medical facilities are constantly adapting to the daily changes occurring throughout the world.

COVID-19 took the regularity of how medical facilities run and forced changes in protocols and in-patient appointments, while instilling a new sense of fear and anxiety.

However, county clinics and local hospitals aren’t feeling the brunt of COVID-19 patients as much as larger cities and areas are.

“We live in a rural community and we’re pretty self-isolated anyway. Places having issues are where they’re densely populated,” James Ohrt, MD at Sutton Family Practice/Henderson Healthcare, said.

To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. http://etypeservices.com/Clay%20County%20NewsID530/