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South Tahoe High School sophomore Andrew Herrera brought home third place honors from the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) state wrestling tournament this weekend.

Herrera, who wrestled at 170 lbs, beat Spring Creek's Masin Goodell during Saturday's final round to be the only wrestler from South Lake Tahoe to place.

Pahrump Valley won first place in the team category, followed by Lowry, Virgin Valley and Spring Creek. South Tahoe placed 15 in the state's team category.

Dr. Graham Kent (STHS class of 1980) from the UNR Seismological Laboratory will give a presentation on ALERT Tahoe . ALERT Tahoe is a new, one-of-a-kind, fire camera and multi-hazard tracking system that includes smoke investigation, prescribed fire oversight, wildfire tracking, Earthquake Early Warning, and monitoring of extreme weather events. A prototype of the fire camera system is functioning, scoring early successes during the summer of 2014.

Dr. Kent will present on the existing and planned camera system, in an incredibly interesting presentation.

Location

When Sue Novasel won November's El Dorado County Supervisorial race it left a vacant seat on the Lake Tahoe Untiifed School Board (LTUSD). A Notice of Vacancy was filed, encouraging locals to apply to fill the trustee position for the remaining 22 months of Novasel's term. At Tuesday's LTUSD School Board meeting, the opening was filled.

The South Tahoe Vikings varsity boys basketball team scored 44 points in each of their two road trip games this weekend, but the games had differing results.

On Friday, STHS lost to Northern Nevada 1A league leading Elko 65-44. Junior Denzel Perez led all Viking scorers with seven points, followed by Seniors Stone Merkley and Matt Herring with six each.

Kealoha and Diane Ferlatte will be in South Lake Tahoe this week as part of the Tahoe Arts Project's goal of bringing the arts to town.

Diane Ferlatte, world famous storyteller, and Kealoha, Poet Laurette of Hawaii, come together for an exciting night of slam poetry, storytelling and prose. Don't miss your chance to see these two industry legends together in a unique performance to be enjoyed by all ages.

What a great opportunity for young people in South Lake Tahoe! All kids in 2nd grade through 8th grade are invited to participate in the first ever STHS Dance Team camp on Saturday, January 24. After spending the day learning routines from the varsity Dance Team, attendees will be performing during a halftime show during the Viking varsity basketball against rival Truckee High.

Camp will start at 10 a.m. All participants will get a performance t-shirt and lunch. The cost is $35 per dancer. All proceeds go to support the Dance Team.

The South Tahoe Lady Vikings Varsity team currently has a 3-3 record in 1A Northern Nevada League action. They are coming off of a full week of basketball action.

On Friday, January 2, South Tahoe lost to Elko 52-33. Senior Ally King led all STHS scorers with 10, followed by Sophomore Drue Chapman's 9.

The girls had a win against Spring Creek 46-42 on Saturday, January 4. King and Chapman led scorers again with 17 and 16 respectively. They each had two 3 pointers each.

1980 South Tahoe High graduate Dr. Graham Kent from the UNR Seismological Laboratory will give a presentation on ALERT Tahoe in Incline Village on Thursday, January 8.

ALERT Tahoe is a new, one-of-a-kind, fire camera and multi-hazard tracking system that includes smoke investigation, prescribed fire oversight, wildfire tracking, Earthquake Early Warning, and monitoring of extreme weather events. A prototype of the fire camera system is functioning, scoring early successes during the summer of 2014.

Dr. Kent will present on the existing and planned camera system.

South Tahoe High graduate Robbie Gallo (aka Rob Hurt), the founder, MC and front man for the popular hip hop band, Vokab Kompany, hits the main stage Monday to open up the three day outdoor concert in South Lake Tahoe.

Sunday night, he and the group were in Reno and will be spending New Year's Eve at Park West in Chicago, but for today, South Lake Tahoe gets their own back on stage at both SnowGlobe and the after concert at Blu Nightclub at MontBleu.

The tributes and memories of Dejon Smith continue to pour in via Facebook and media outlets as well as through much desired hugs.

South Tahoe High had counselors on hand Monday during the school day, helping students deal with grief. The death of 14 year old freshman Dejon Smith has affected not only his friends and classmates but also unknown people around the country.

Everything from decorated cars full of STHS Cheerleaders to a tow truck and dump truck decked out in holiday cheer were part of the Third Annual Holiday Parade in South Lake Tahoe.

31 entries made up the parade which started at the top of Ski Run Blvd and went through town, ending in the parking lot of TJ Maxx.

"This was a really fun even for the whole community," said JoAnn Conner, organizer of the event (and City Councilwoman). "This parade raised a lot of money for Christmas Cheer as well as bringing in a lot of toys. Thank you to everyone who made all of this a success."

"This was the best school assembly ever," said a South Tahoe High Junior after hearing youth motivational speaker Mike Smith on campus Wednesday. "His message was amazing."

Smith spoke of how the words that you say can leave a mark on someone’s life forever. And if you’re a bully, that mark is a scar.

This just may be the year of South Lake Tahoe girls soccer dominance. One week after the Whittell warriors won the state title for Division III schools, the Lady Vikings will try to win one of their own.

On Friday night, the South Tahoe High Varsity Girls beat the #1 seed from the South, Faith Lutheran by a score of 2-1. Junior Ashley Schouten scored both goals for STHS. Their nemesis from the North, Truckee, lost their match Friday against Sierra Vista High 1-0.

South Tahoe High School has a full day of Halloween activities on Halloween, from costumers during the school day through the final home football game of the season to late night ice skating.

During the School Day

Members of the South Tahoe High Jazz Band have been invited by Chico State professor, and Director of Jazz Studies, Rocky Winslow to take part in an individualized, private, jazz clinic with himself and two other jazz all-stars: Paul Romaine and Mark Patterson (both of Convergence Jazz Sextet).

The students will also participate in a sound check on stage with the Jazz All Stars and the Chico State Jazz X-Press. That evening they are the invited, special guests at the Chico State Jazz X-Press Concert, followed by backstage mingling with the performers.

The girl's varsity soccer team from South Tahoe High beat the Whittell Warriors on Saturday by a score of 6-0. Senior Ally King led all scorers with three goals, followed by Junior Ashlee Schouten's two and Alejandra Gutierrez, a junior, kicked in one. South Tahoe seniors Kendall Egan and Jordyn Dion each has assists.

Both teams are having big seasons. The Whittell girls are now 9-1 overall with 4-1 in league play and are in first place in Division III North. South Tahoe is now 10-2-1 overall and 7-0-1 in league and are in first place in the Northern Nevada 1A Soccer League.

The Lake Tahoe Unified School District is renewing their focus on raising the attendance rates of students in the district's seven schools. Not only is being at school essential to a good education, it's also essential to the District's budget.

On Tuesday, the LTUSD Board will vote on a proclamation to declare September as "Attendance Awareness Month." They want parents, students, teachers, staff, administrators and the community to focus on "Every School Day Matters" and help keep kids in school.

During the 2013/14 school year, the attendance rates were:

Bijou - 92.3%

Registration for kindergarten at South Lake Tahoe schools will be held on August 4th. South Tahoe Middle School registration for new students will be held on August 12 and for new students at South Tahoe High August 11-14.

The first day of school is August 25th.

It was a sea of blue and gold, mortarboard and tassels on Friday afternoon at South Tahoe High School as 246 seniors took the next step in their lives as they graduated in front of friends, parents and classmates.

Thunderheads and darkened skies threatened to dampen the celebrants but sunshine prevailed and ceremonies went off without a hitch tossed in by Mother Nature.

The Top 10% of the STHS Class of 2014, led by Valedictorian Grace Bronken

The LTUSD Board gets out of the board room and into the schools Tuesday as they have their Annual Student Lunch meeting. They will have lunch with about 20 selected students at South Tahoe High in the new Student Union. The students are a cross section of seniors who will be sharing their thoughts with the board.

How often do you get to see a Pulitzer Prize winning play in South Lake Tahoe? Most likely, not often, but here is a great chance to see the 1936 winning play, Idiot's Delight by Robert Sherwood.

Ivonne Larson, the Principal of South Tahoe High, was named Assistant Superintendent by the Lake Tahoe Unified School District Board on Tuesday, April 22. She will be in charge of Secondary Education, Career Technical Education and AVID for the district starting July 1, 2014.

This is the first time LTUSD has had an Assistant Superintendent since Barbara Davis resigned in August of 2005. The new position for Assistant Superintendent is part time.

The District will post a job opening for STHS Principal this week to replace Larson.

Due to an incident which happened at Tuesday night's South Tahoe High School basketball game, school officials have put restrictions on Saturday's game against Fernley.

Emails and phone calls went out to the parents of all STHS students, stating that "a large number of students violated the expected behaviors of positive team support, being welcoming hosts, and upholding the Viking Goals."

Because of this, school administration will only allow students to attend "and remain seated with their parents" at the game.

In what had to be one of the more exciting games all year, the South Tahoe Vikings Boy's Varsity team came back from behind to beat Dayton by a score of 64-49.

A large and vocal student cheering section was joined by a talented pep band and stands of parents enjoying the second to the last home game for the Vikings.

The STHS Varsity takes their 9-12 overall record (7-6 league)into Saturday's home game against Fernley. Varsity tips off at 3:30 p.m.

In other action Tuesday, the STHS Viking Girl's Varsity team beat Dayton 46-30 and the Boys JV team beat Dayton 43-39.