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Ely’s high school Knowledge Bowl team is moving on to state.
The four-member group topped a field of 18 teams at the Section 7 competition held at Mt. Iron earlier this month.
And with that, the group punched its ticket for the Minnesota State Knowledge Bowl Competition, to take place at Brainerd April 10-11.
It is the first time an Ely Knowledge Bowl team has qualified for state.
Team members are juniors Makenzi Huntington, Edward Swapinski and Jesse Grant, and eighth-grader Aria Gregerson. Team advisor/ coaches are Madeline Olson and Karl Kubiak.
The Ely team took part in three meets, competing among 53 teams across the northeastern part of the state.
There were 18 schools at the section event, with Ely winning and both runner-up Esko and third-place Cook County also qualifying for state.
“We are so proud of our students,” said Olson. “They have worked extremely hard this season and we could not be happier for this opportunity for them.”
Knowledge Bowl returned to the high school activity lineup last year after private financing for part of the project.
The city previously sold the Community Center, which is on the National Historic Register of Historic Places, to the K America Foundation, which announced plans for a Korean cultural center.
That agreement struck in 2018, fell apart and the city regained ownership and put the building back on the market, with Stupnik stepping forward in 2022.
Decades ago, the Community Center served as an Ely hot spot, housing not only the library and offices, but also a kitchen, cafeteria and auditorium that were used for numerous community events, It has been vacant since 2014 when the city closed the building after moving the library to a new facility across the street from City Hall.
In another development- related move, the council voted Tuesday to make an application to the IRRRB for infrastructure funds for utilities for the old Depot project.
In other business, the council:
• Rejected a measure that would have allowed a resident to tap four trees on the 200 block of East Conan Street for maple syrup.
Council members reiterated their desire that tapping no longer take place, which was also a previous recommendation of the city’s tree board.
• Authorized council members and city staff to attend both the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities and League of Minnesota Cities summer conferences, set for June at Bemidji and Duluth, respectively.
• Accepted a parks and recreation board recommendation for the installation of a board safe ADA compliant dock on Miners Lake, at no cost to the city.
• Hired Josh Pohlman for an equipment operator trainee position, pending completion of a background check and pre-employment physical testing.
• Moved to set up negotiating committees for upcoming contract talks with employee labor groups.
• Agreed to post for a fulltime police officer position
• Appointed Lindsey Dare to a spot on the parks and recreation board.
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance related to a right-of-way vacation for Warren Johnson.
• Scheduled an April 1 public hearing for the proposed rezoning of various properties.
