Education - Pierce County Journal

Representatives of Cenex, Quinn Motors and the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce were in attendance after being named to the 2025 WASB Business Honor Roll.

Ellsworth celebrates 2025 WASB Business Honor Roll

School districts are the heartbeat of many communities—and the community often steps up in return. The Wisconsin Association of School Boards Business Honor Roll recognizes … more

10/15/25

Junior Mady Maxwell, a September Ellsworth High School Student of the Month.

EHS honors September Students of the Month

Ellsworth High School is pleased to announce the September 2025 Students of the Month: Freshman Nolan Helgeson, sophomore Lydia Selzler, junior Mady Maxwell and senior Carly Girdeen. Nolan … more

10/15/25

ECSD to survey community on operational referendum

ELLSWORTH — The Ellsworth Community School District board heard and approved the final community survey for a potential four-year operating referendum that would be voted on in April. The … more

By Andrew Harrington | 10/15/25

The River Falls High School RoboCats competed last March in the La Crosse Regional FIRST Robotics competition! The team fine-tuned their robot, practiced driving skills, and strategized for alliance play. With countless hours of coding, building, and testing, they were ready to showcase their innovation and teamwork.

RF Robotics expands to all district schools, homeschool group

RIVER FALLS – Robotics in River Falls is now offered in its district schools and through a homeschool group. Robotics in River Falls started at the elementary level, when Greenwood and … more

10/8/25

Grace Ptacek is the Prescott Community Club Student of the Week for Oct. 8.

Prescott Community Club Student of the Week: Grace Ptacek

The Prescott Community Club Student of the Week for Oct. 8 is Prescott High School junior Grace Ptacek, who was nominated by English teacher Tania Novak. “Grace has been performing … more

10/8/25

For Plum City Homecoming Week, students participated in dress up days, hallway decoration, lip sync performances, and Powder Puff Football. Each class earned points for their participation. According to calculations by stats class members (from left) Nick Delong, Maddey Kopp, Ellyana Shingledecker and Maggie Bechel, the winning class was the juniors. Their class earned the most points with 202, followed by the seniors (191), sophomores (190) and freshmen (120).

GALLERY: Homecoming 2025 across Pierce County

Besides cooling temperatures, crunching leaves and all things pumpkin spice, fall also brings Homecoming celebrations to area universities and schools. Here are some photos to enjoy from … more

10/8/25

Students walk on the UW-River Falls campus early this September. UWRF has again been named to lists of best colleges by U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review.

UWRF receives national recognition for providing high quality education

RIVER FALLS – The University of Wisconsin-River Falls has once again been recognized by multiple publications as one of the top public regional universities in the Midwest, a sign of the … more

10/1/25

Chippewa Valley Technical College President Sunem Beaton-Garcia, student Holly Hufnagle, who attended CVTC and transferred to UW-River Falls, UWRF Interim Chancellor John Chenoweth and Sarah Schliesmann, the UW transfer academic advisor at CVTC, pose for a photo at Reaffirmation Day 2025. The day celebrated a continuing commitment to providing a seamless credit transfer process between the two schools.

UWRF, CVTC continue commitment to a seamless transition for transfer students

RIVER FALLS – Leaders, faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) met Tuesday, Sept. 23 in River Falls to reaffirm the two … more

10/1/25

Sophia Stelmach (left, seated), a first-year pre-vet major originally from Elk River, Minn., explains an experiment calculating the density of salt solutions as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers visits a chemistry lab class at UW-River Falls, Thursday, Sept. 25. The visit was part of Evers’ tour of all 13 Universities of Wisconsin campuses. Also pictured: Caitlin Krantz, a first-year animal science major with a dairy science minor from Wausau, Quinn Reid, a first-year undecided major from St. Francis, Minn., and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Karl Peterson.

Gov. Tony Evers visits UW-River Falls as part of 13-campus tour

RIVER FALLS – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers visited University of Wisconsin-River Falls Thursday, Sept. 25, as part of his 2025 tour of all 13 Universities of Wisconsin campuses. Evers made stops … more

10/1/25

Si Hanson, Prescott Community Club Student of the Week for Sept. 24.

Prescott Community Club Students of the Week: Si Hanson & Adara Foulks

The Prescott Community Club selected Prescott High School senior Si Hanson as the Student of the Week for Sept. 24. He was nominated by English teacher Allison Pasiuk. “Si Hanson is by far … more

10/1/25

Prescott and Wauwatosa West high school students exchanged T-shirts during their combined trip to Lac du Flambeau.

PHS students take 26th trip to Lac Du Flambeau

“It’s hard to describe,” said Prescott High School senior Emelia Berg. “Over the four days you learn so much, meet many new people, and gain a unique perspective on many … more

Staff report | 10/1/25

Krista Lesiecki, former math teacher at Ellsworth High School.

Resolution reached, teacher no longer on staff in Ellsworth

A resolution was reached with an Ellsworth Community School District teacher after fallout from a social media post about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10. … more

By John McLoone | 10/1/25

Members of the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce and Village Board joined representatives of the Ellsworth Community School district for a ribbon cutting in one of the middle school’s new student spaces Wednesday, Sept. 24.

ECSD unveils completed referendum improvements at EHS, EMS

ELLSWORTH — The Ellsworth High and Middle Schools opened their doors Sept. 24, unveiling the completed referendum projects to the public during a ribbon cutting. It has been a long process … more

By Andrew Harrington | 10/1/25

RF annual meeting digs into proposed budget

RIVER FALLS — The River Falls School Board held its annual budget meeting Sept. 22, discussing what went into a levy increase and mill rate decrease. Director of Finance Lynette Coy detailed … more

By Andrew Harrington | 9/24/25

NY Times bestselling author to speak at UWRF Oct. 3

RIVER FALLS – The Walker D. and Helen Bryant Wyman Speaker Series will present featured speaker Steven Levitsky on Friday, Oct. 3, at 4 p.m. at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the … more

9/24/25

Participants in the 2025 Data Analysis and Monitoring Crew Program (DAM Crew), stand in in the Kinnickinnic River. The project, which monitors the ecological health of the river, is one of seven water quality projects involving UW-River Falls supported by a new round of funding from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin.

UWRF among recipients of Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin funding

RIVER FALLS – The Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin has awarded $324,944 to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls for seven water quality projects that the university is either leading or … more

9/24/25

Hannah Baier, paraprofessional/aid at Elmwood schools.

New staff joins Elmwood schools

Elmwood School District welcomes the following new staff for the 2025-26 school year. Hannah Baier Position: Paraprofessional/aid Hometown: Elmwood College/work experience: I … more

9/24/25

A layout of the two proposed locations for a new transportation center. Proposal A is on existing school property while proposal B is across County Road CC and would be purchased land.

SV district approves land purchase for new transportation center

SPRING VALLEY — After a vote from residents as well as an approval from the school board, the Spring Valley School District got the go ahead to purchase 34.3 acres of land to construct a new … more

By Andrew Harrington | 9/24/25

UW-River Falls student composer and film director Landon Zientara directs the UWRF Cinema Symphony during a daylong screen scoring recording session held April 26 in Abbot Concert Hall. “Vigil,” the film Zientara directed and scored, will be shown at a free premiere along with the documentary, “Screen Scoring at UWRF,” directed by Casey Palbicki, a senior lecturer in music and stage and screen arts, Sunday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. in Blanche Davis Theatre in Kleinpell Fine Arts, 420 E. Cascade Ave., River Falls.

UW-River Falls hosts student film and screen scoring documentary premiere

RIVER FALLS – The University of Wisconsin–River Falls will host a free film premiere Sunday, Sept. 21, featuring the short film “Vigil,” with direction and a musical score by … more

9/17/25

New UW-River Falls students gather on campus with the Marching Falcons marching band and Freddy Falcon mascot to begin Orientation on Saturday, Aug. 30. UWRF saw a 5% increase in new first year students enrolled this fall, based on preliminary estimates.

UWRF sees increase in first year students, steady enrollment overall for 2025-26

RIVER FALLS – The University of Wisconsin-River Falls saw a 5% increase in new first year student enrollment this fall, according to preliminary estimates based on day one student counts, while … more

9/17/25