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Youth Apprentice, Skill Certification Programs Prepare Tomahawk Students Published on 02/21/2025 under News

Career and Technical Education is focused on preparing students for their lives beyond the classroom.

The Tomahawk School District continues to offer students opportunities. As we've featured, February is Career and Technical Education Month, and principal Ryan Huseby recapped some of those programs on and off campus.

That includes the work-based learning Youth Apprenticeship. Huseby says the program is sponsored by the Department of Workforce Development and mirrors a traditional adult apprenticeship. The students are paid employees, working at least 450 hours. They also complete job-related coursework in partnership with the matched employer.

Huseby says THS has one of the highest YA enrollments in the area, with 43 students last school year.

Meanwhile THS students also have the opportunity to earn industry-recognized certifications. One of the first on campus was the Certified Nursing Assistant program. This year the district added Firefighter 1 to the growing list which also includes welding, OSHA Safety, Culinary ServSafe, and computer aided design.

Huseby says these certifications showcase skills valued by employers. Last year THS students earned 144 certifications.

In Other News

Hatchet Hockey Team Advances in WIAA Playoffs

Published on 02/21/2025 under Sports The #1 seeded Hatchet Hockey Team started their trek back to Madison with a dominating 9-0 win over #8 seed Rhinelander in the WIAA Division 2 First-Round Playoff Thursday night at SARA Park. Tomahawk outshot Rhinelander 70-7 and had seven players find the back of the net. They were Jake Albert, Caiden Reichelt, Jonah Dickens, Jett Reilly, Austin Lamer, Sawyer Hanna, and Max Larson, who got his first career varsity goal. Lamer had a hat trick and three assists on the night. Tomahawk also got two assists from Dickens and Landyn Seymour. The win puts Tomahawk at 21-3 on the season, adding on to the school record for most wins in a season by a Hatchet Hockey team. #1 seed Tomahawk will battle it out with #4 seed Northland Pines in the WIAA Division 2 Sectional Semifinal at SARA Park Tuesday night. The Fehrman Orthodontics Radio Pregame Show will begin at 6:35 and opening faceoff is at 7:00. Alex Koch and Keith Hanse will be in the broadcast booth.

Published on 02/21/2025 under Sports The Tomahawk girls' basketball squad ended their season on a sour note at Medford Thursday night, losing to the Raiders, 50-30. The Hatchets, despite experiencing foul trouble in the first half, trailed by just six. However, Medford opened up the second half on an 11-2 run to surge ahead and coast the rest of the way. Claire Albert led the way in scoring for 13 points for the Hatchets. Tomahawk finishes the 2024-25 regular season with an 11-12 record and a 4-8 Great Northern Conference record. The Hatchets begin postseason play Tuesday with the WIAA Division 3 Regional Quarterfinal against Sturgeon Bay at the Hatchet House. Tip is at 6:00.

Published on 02/21/2025 under Sports Tomahawk's boys' basketball squad was unable to end their long losing streak with a 63-25 loss at Rib Lake Thursday. The loss drops Tomahawk to 4-18 on the season and is their 13th straight defeat. The Hatchets' last win was back on January 3rd against Faith Christian Academy. The Hatchets turn right back around for Senior Night and their final Home Great Northern Conference Showdown against Medford tonight. Tip is at 7:15.

Published on 02/21/2025 under News Lincoln County residents continue to benefit from the county's forest lands, not only recreationally, but also financially. At their meeting this past week, the Lincoln County Board received the 2024 annual forestry report. The county maintains a little more than 100,000 acres of forest land. According to the report, the timber sales from those lands generated more $1.9 million That's actually an $800,000 drop from 2023, which was the second highest total all-time. Twenty percent of those funds, approximately $385,000, goes back into the county's general funds, while 10% or $190,000 is distributed to townships with county forest lands. The remaining dollars are put into the county forestry fund, with any surplus directed to the County CIP program. The report stated, "Generally speaking, pulpwood markets have been and continue to be weak. Lincoln County is fortunate to have two significant mills in Tomahawk and two others just to the south in Rothschild and Mosinee." In addition to the timber sales, the county also received several thousand dollars through sales of biomass, firewood, Christmas tree and bough permits. The report also includes other county forest-related topics including tree planting and restoration, recreation, invasive species control, and wildlife projects.

Published on 02/21/2025 under News The Northwoods is home to a vast network of trails for all seasons and sports. The Oneida County Tourism Council is looking to highlight theirs through an updated trails guide that is now available. According to the announcement, the guide aims to promote the county's trails and outdoor recreation offerings to potential visitors through photos, information, and maps. That includes a focus on accessibility. Jacqui Sharpe is chair of the Council and director of the the Three Lakes Visitors Bureau. She says, "We spent a lot of time researching what visitors were looking for and found a strong desire for information on accessible recreation." Sharpe continue, "We added icons to help people quickly identify accessible trails, and also updated our website with information on trail surfaces, features like bridges, and rest areas with accessible restrooms." The website also shows photos of the trails to help users envision what they might encounter along the way. This spring, the OCTC will also be adding digital trail maps to the website to make navigating the area even easier for visitors of all abilities. The new Trails Guide was funded entirely by an ARPA grant through Oneida County, and was a collaborative undertaking of trail organizations, volunteer groups, the OCTC and the county Land Information Office.

Published on 02/21/2025 under News While we've been reporting snowmobile trail openers, now we've got at least one closure to pass along for next week. By recommendation from the Langlade Snowmobile Council, the Langlade County Snowmobile Trail system will have what they hope to be a temporary closure on Monday, February 24. They said the purpose is to preserve the existing base during a period of warm weather and possible rain. According to the announcement, they hope to re-open the Langlade County snowmobile trail system if/when the weather and trail conditions improve.

Published on 02/21/2025 under News The Underdown trail system is a hidden gem for silent sports here in Lincoln County. Coming up this weekend it'll be filled with competitors. The snow earlier this month came just in time for the return of the Snowbound in the Underdown. Bikers and snowshoers will get to experience the unique and scenic winter trails out of the Prairie Dells Recreation Area. Last year's races were still held with minimal snow cover, yet competitors still gave the event high reviews. Organizers note the races serve a number of purposes including raising funds for trail improvements, and also showcasing the trails to participants from outside of the area. Chris Schotz serves as race director. He was actually the focus of a Uniquely Wisconsin video segment last fall due to his efforts in expanding, improving and maintaining the Underdown trail system. There are three races distances for fat-tire bikes and two for snowshoes. To allow more participation, the snowshoe entry fee includes snowshoe loaners. They will allow late-registration on site Saturday morning, with festivities getting underway at 8:30am.

Published on 02/21/2025 under News A Tomahawk Middle-Schooler will be spelling M-A-D-I-S-O-N this spring. Several TMS students traveled to Three Lakes this past week to participate in the Regional 2 Scripps National Spelling Bee. The journey began with classroom competitions for 4th through 8th grade, followed by a school-wide competition. And in the end, champion speller Matilda VanAsten outlasted her competitors and is now state bound. According to the district, Tilly will be participating in that state competition later this spring.

Published on 02/20/2025 under News There is an ongoing effort to make broadband available to more businesses and residents of the Northwoods. The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment grant program provides Internet Service Providers with grants to bring broadband to rural areas. The Lincoln County Board recently endorsed an application from Bertram Communication. Supervisor Ken Wickham serves on the Lincoln County Broadband Commission and provided the full Lincoln County board with a brief overview ahead of their vote at Monday's meeting. He noted that there are approximately 3,000 Lincoln County locations that qualify for the program, overseen by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. Earlier this year, the LC Broadband Commission invited internet service providers to present expansion plans in Lincoln with Bertram Communications and Frontier Communications participating. On multiple occasions during his presentation Wickham referred to the Bertram pitch as 'very impressive.' He highlighted they are Wisconsin-based, out of Random Lake, which brings some knowledge of the area and landscape. They've also received similar endorsements for project proposals in Langlade, Marathon, and Shawano Counties. Their pitch also included some additional benefits including potential connection to municipal locations, first responder sites, and schools. While this grant focuses on unserved or underserved properties, Wickham noted a presence in Lincoln County could lead to more competition, which is typically good for consumers. The endorsement comes with no cost to Lincoln County. The grant, if awarded, would be a 75/25 split with the ISP responsible for the 25%. The endorsement vote by the supervisors was unanimous. No timeline was provided for the grant awards.

Published on 02/20/2025 under News The votes have been counted in the Tomahawk School Referendum, and preliminary results show the approval. Following the vote we heard from District Administrator Wendell Quesinberry who thanked voters for showing "support for the schools and students, and the continued investment into a high-quality education experience." The referendum will allow the district to exceed the state-mandated revenue limit through the 28-29 school year. Quesinberry says the additional $3.25 million will ensure the district can retain quality staff, maintain class sizes, preserve academic programs and extra-curriculars and make investments that will lead to more opportunities for students of all ages, all the while avoiding any additional and painful budget cuts. Levy rates vary by municipality with the school just one part of the formula, Quesinberry doesn't anticipate the school's portion of the levy to increase. That has been the case the past three years of the current referendum which expires at the end of the school year. Quesinberry says, "It's important for every resident to be able to make their voice heard when it comes to shaping education in our community, which is why we deeply appreciate all the engagement that occurred in the months leading up to election day. We heard from many of you, and your feedback will help guide Tomahawk Schools as we move forward." That communication will be sent out to district families as well.

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