The enthusiasm was palpable! I’m confident one could feel it pouring from the kids. The anticipation alone took their breath away.

The Badgers had a busy week between wrestling, basketball, and the first speech competition. The basketball team headed to Hershey for their first games of the South Platte Valley Association Conference tournament.

The Badger boys’ basketball team played in its first SPVA tournament. Their first-round game was against the Chase County Longhorns, which the Badgers controlled in the first and fourth quarters, earning a 67-54 win. In this game, senior Isaac Cronin set the single-game scoring record with 42 points, previously held by Andon Olson.

The Badger Wrestlers had a home dual with O’Neill and Winner on Tuesday, where Valentine Boys went 1-1. Beating O’Neill but losing to Winner. They then headed out of town on Thursday to outrun the weather. On Friday, the boys took part in the Chadron Duals. Valentine as a team went 3-2 on the day. Beating Chase County, Valley, and Central, but a loss to Scottsbluff put them into the 3rd and 4th grade medal round.

Orion has always been my favorite constellation and with the SeeStar S30, it is most definitely my favorite to photograph! Orion is 1,344 light years away and is 24 light years across! A light year is the distance light travels in one year, which is about 5.88 trillion miles! The Orion Nebula, also called M42, is included in a very large system called the Orion Molecular Complex and includes several other nebulae. (astrobackyard.com) This nebula in the photograph can actually be seen without a telescope.

third round of the Vets Club soup contest, which was sponsored by Ward Plumbing and Heating, had five fantastic soups! Winning the night was Brittany Benzing’s ham and potato, followed by the taco soup from Tony Hanson. Marry me chicken soup prepared by Chelsea Fuhrer and taco soup made by Tina Anthony tied for third place. Suzanne Schultz made a creamy carrot soup. The last preliminary round will be held on January 30!