“Iron Man 3” is a Marvel Comics movie of the main hero, Iron Man. The main actor for all “Iron Man” movies is Robert Downey, Jr. “Iron Man” is about billionaire weapons builder Tony Stark. In “Iron Man 1,” he was doing a weapons demonstration in the Middle East. As he was on the road, a bunch of terrorists attack his Humvee, and then capture him. The people who captured him informs him that if he doesn’t make weapons for them, they will kill him. Tony and his partner then creates an iron suit with weapons on it to escape the compound. With the will to save the world from danger, he creates a newer suit, with all new weapons, new look and the ability to fly, thus creating Iron Man.

From then, he saves the world a lot of times from certain doom, such as when other villians want to change the world and kill him. With each suit being different, he proves that saving the world is a hard task. In “Iron Man 2,” he is suffering from a rare disease because of his metal heart implant he built in the compound in Iron Man 1. He then finds a cure, thus creating a new element to save him, and he also has a partner to help him save the world. His partner’s name is War Machine. A new enemy has also been introduced, with the ability to have electrical whips, shocking Tony in his suit.

In “Iron Man 3,” Tony has changed a lot since we have seen him. He creates more Iron Man suits, night by night, because he can’t sleep ever since “The Avengers” movie. In “The Avengers,” a group of Heroes save a city from aliens, and Tony was part of the action. During the movie, he is seen falling from the sky after he drops a nuke into the portal where the aliens come in through, when Hulk catches him, and almost dying from saving the city, thus forcing him to nightmares every time he sleeps, so he stays up every night making new gadgets for his suits. Meanwhile, War Machine has a new name and a new suit as Iron Patriot. A new threat has appeared as a dangerous foreign man committing acts of terrorism, so it is up to Tony to take him down and save the world once again.

I give this movie 10/10. The action in this movie is awesome, and the reoccuring characters are really awesome. I like the part you get to see different Iron Man suits in action with Tony. I also have enjoyed the storyline of continuing from a movie that was not even part of the ‘Iron Man” series, but also showed Tony in “The Avengers” as well.

• Mason DeJong (mdejong@pelladium.com)

The semester test schedule will be as follows:

Thursday, May 30 (will test periods 1-5)

1st   8:15-9:26 71min

2nd 9:31-10:42 71min

3rd         10:47-11:58 71min

lunch 11:58-12:48             50min

4th         12:48-1:59 71min

5th         2:04-3:15 71min

Friday, May 31 (will test periods 6-8)

6th         8:15-9:30 75min

7th         9:35-10:50 75min

lunch 10:50-11:40 50min

8th         11:45-1:00 75min

Two additions came over the weekend for staff members. Elyse Louise Otte was born to athletic director Dale Otte and his wife Anne. She checked in at 6 lbs., 19 inches on May 10.

Harrison Dashiell Williams, son of English teacher Jessica and her husband Ewan was born May 11. He was 7 lbs., 14 oz. and 21 inches long.

• Cheyanne Van Donselaar (cvandonselaar@pelladium.com)

Several of the teachers chosen to teach the Career Academy are already staff members. For subjects such as Ag Business, Building Trades, and Culinary Arts, teachers at the high school will use the DMAAC curriculum to educate students.

Officer David Buekelman of the Pella Police Department will be teaching the criminal justice class, as he already has experience in the resource department, making him qualified to teach students. A teacher from Central College, yet to be determined, will teach the Intro to Education class, while the welding teacher, also yet to be determined, will be picked from Vermeer.

“Our Career Academy is partnering with other companies to educate students. Instead of just hiring teachers, we are hiring experts in the field. These teachers will go through a teacher training and will follow DMAAC curriculum,” said Nelson.

• Christina Gualtieri (cgualtieri@pelladium.com)

Let’s be honest, the average high school student here has experienced multiple Tulip Times; enough to the point where the weekend is nothing but a chance to get out of school early. I’m not speaking for everyone, but that’s the way it is for plenty of high schoolers. Since the weather took away four of the six parades, students were left without one of the most interesting aspects of Tulip Time.

So, what grandiose plans did students have instead of watching parades? Not much, actually.

“I just went home and did homework,” said freshman Trent Schippers.

“I was at home doing nothing,” said senior Ben Robertson.

“I gave my weiner dog a bath and dried him off. It took a long time,” said freshman Brad Bortscheller.

Many students’ Tulip Times consisted of just hanging out with friends.

“During one [parade], Esabelle [Morris], Sheldon [Rozeboom] and I bought food and went out to a pond thing and just chilled. We listen to music too,” said junior Samm Blatt.

“I went to Katie Canfield’s house. We just hung out and watched the movie Shrooms,” said sophomore Jason Morgan.

“I saw Iron Man 3 and hung out with friends. I built a snowman, too. I never even watched the parades,” said junior Brooke Reed.

“I hung out with my friends, watched movies and worked. I watched the Quay Thomas Band too!” said junior Sami Wassenaar.

Senior Jake Wesemann decided to get out of town during Tulip Time instead of try to bear the weather.

“I went to Pleasantville and went to grad parties. That’s all I did,” said Wesemann.

The Tulip Court tried to make the most of the dreary weekend, as well.

“I know the Tulip Court had fun. We played jenga one afternoon, had a snowball fight, had a movie night, and even went bowling. We definitely made the best of the situation,” said senior Beth DeWolf.

A student with one of the more interesting Tulip Time stories is sophomore Matthew Weihe. He worked at a poffertjies stand for much of Tulip Time.

“Basically, the guys wanted me to go out with another person and drive the golf cart to Central to get more poffertjies supplies, like the batter and strawberries. I drove a couple of stands down in the middle of the road, and then I realized that the back left tire was off the hinge. So, after that, one of the older workers drove us in his large pickup in the rain over to Central to pick up the supplies. I had no poffertjies for the rest of the day,” he said.

• Connor Naaden (cnaaden@pelladium.com)

Sievers and Ernst were selected to be recognized by the governor at the 11th Annual Governor’s Scholar Recognition Ceremony. They are two of 438 seniors who were recognized by Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds.

At the ceremony, Ernst and Sievers were recognized, received a certificate of achievement and had their picture taken with Branstad.  They were given a certificate of appreciation to give to the teacher of their choosing. Branstad, Reynolds and various other speakers, including members of the Farm Bureau and the 2013 Iowa Teacher of the Year, also addressed the selected students and congratulated them on their accomplishments.

“They basically just told us thank you and keep it up. The speeches weren’t anything really special, but it was still pretty cool to get recognized by so many people,” said Sievers.

Both Ernst and Sievers were surprised to find they had been accepted to attend the ceremony.

“They sent us an email, and it said I had been chosen to attend. I didn’t really know much about the ceremony at all, so I was pretty surprised with the entire process, said Ernst.

According to the official website, the ceremony is an effort to “recognize senior students who are the top academic achievers in the State of Iowa.” The ceremony is a combined effort with between the Governor’s Office, the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Farm Bureau. The 64 biggest schools in the state are allowed to choose two students to represent their school, while the remaining schools in the state choose one representative.

According to the application, students should show excellence in academic studies, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, character and effort. To put in perspective the involvement of the students, 99% were involved in extracurricular activities, and 80% were school athletes.

Ernst, despite being one of only two students selected, thinks the school, based on these criteria, had many options of who to send to the ceremony.

“I feel there could have been a lot of other options that I feel could have gone and represented the school well. We have a lot of smart, involved kids in [the senior class], but I was honored to be chosen,” said Ernst.

• Mitch Shepperd (mshepperd@pelladium.com)

“The final vote was three board members who did not vote in favor of the motion to allow the Pella Shooting Club to become school sanctioned, two in favor, so the motion failed,” said president of the school board Joan Corbin.

In preparing their decision all the board members met and spoke about the topic.

“All board members spoke as to their position surrounding the possibility of sanctioning the shooting club; perhaps the most common themes from those who spoke in opposition was 1) the brevity of time in serious consideration of the move, including time to digest the implications and think thoroughly through the particulars regarding the handling of the weapons prior to after school practices;   2) the current emphasis on creating safer schools through the re-design of most of our schools to require entrance through the offices; and   3) the recent school shooting tragedies which raised questions that again tied in to the management of weapons when shooting practices were scheduled directly after school hours,” said Corbin.

One piece of support the shooting club presented was a strong recommendation from the Marion County Sheriff.

“The recommendation from the Marion County Sheriff was considered as another piece of information, along with by-laws, insurance information, and general information about the purpose, benefits, and practices provided by club leaders.  The board used a variety of information sources along with comprehensive dialogue to assist in decision making,” said Corbin.

The board members took lots of time and serious thought in their decision. They want to make it clear that they care very much about the shooting club’s request.

“All board members took this decision very seriously, both from a standpoint of what is good for our district and in terms of providing a worthwhile sport for youth who may not also be involved with other sports and extra-curricular opportunities.   The board members who voted no to the school sanctioning, without a doubt care very much about honoring those students who choose and excel at this sport!

The debate is certainly not over and it is possible that the shooting club could become sanctioned in future years.

“Mr. Ebeling spoke to the Pella Shooting Club members in attendance to say that this issue will most certainly be re-visited and that, with more time to process the club’s insurance, by-laws and process for handling weapons that are used after school, it is quite possible that the club would be sanctioned in the future,” said Corbin.

In conclusion, Corbin wants to express their understanding of the shooting club.

“Each board member wishes to honor the desires of this worthy group that provides rich experiences for youth.  This is one decision made by this board, based upon the best information we had at the time, considered in a short space of time.  I think I speak on behalf of the board to say that we would gladly entertain consideration of this sanctioned sport again next year,” said Corbin.

• Greg Frommelt (gfrommelt@pelladium.com)

First off, if you want to get creative on a perfect Mother’s Day gift, then it will cost you at least $15. The more you spend, the better the gift. The better the gift, the more you make your mom happy. The happier your mom is, the better chance your allowance will go up! See how that plays out?

I went around town, looking for the best gift, traveling to the local stores around the square. The first thing I noticed Tulip Time was coming up, so if you need a good gift, look around during Tulip Time! Tulip Time offers a lot of nice Dutch items for sale, so give your mom a perfect bouquet of tulips! That will make her happy!

Then I went to Pella Hometown Variety, where there are dozens of arts and crafts and things perfect just for Mother’s Day. It occurred to me that you can make a better card than you can buy at Wal-Mart. Just get a piece of paper, some lace, sparkles and a tulip. Not just a card, a piece of artwork made exclusive to mom!

The best thing I saw was a card that you can record your own voice in it to make it sound like something you record. That would make your mom happy! Another voice gift is a stuffed bear that has a voice card inside of the stuffing to record “I love you” as a nice message for any mother.

All these gift ideas are the best, but there are dozens of ideas to provide the perfect message on Mother’s Day. What are you waiting for? Go out there, look for the perfect gift idea, and give to your mother! Happy Mothers Day!

• Mason DeJong (mdejong@pelladium.com)

Congratulations to the winner, Elyse Parisee, who submitted Photo 20. She will receive Dutch letters for her victory! The runner up is Allie Canfield with Photo 15.