High school students from Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin will compete in Cedar Rapids this Saturday for the Toyota Financial Services Midwest Speed Trials. The free event will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 25 at Hawkeye Downs Speedway, 4400 Sixth St. SW, Cedar Rapids.

Students in the Kennedy Cougar Electric Car Program will host the endurance race, with the first heat scheduled to start at 10 a.m. and the second to follow at noon, which will feature 15 electric vehicles competing to complete the most laps in an hour. There will also be brake efficiency tests and a handling competition.

Spectators will also be able to see two Tesla electric cars, including a roadster which will serve as the race’s pace car. Iowa’s only Model S Signature Tesla will also be displayed.

A naming ceremony for the Jefferson High School softball field, soon to be Larry Niemeyer Field, is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, May 28.

Niemeyer, a former Jefferson softball coach whose teams made 19 state softball tournament appearances and won three state championships, was fired from his position in 2012.

Dave Benson, superintendent of the Cedar Rapids Community School District, is scheduled to speak at the event. Niemeyer and his family are set to unveil the field’s sign during the ceremony, which will also include presentation of a naming plaque.

Here’s more information about Niemeyer from the district’s news release:

Niemeyer retired from the classroom in 2011; he continued to coach the J-Hawk softball team through the 2012 season. In total he coached for 25 years at Jefferson. In addition to his national record softball victories, Coach Niemeyer’s basketball teams won 871 games. He was named 1989 National High School Softball Coach of the Year and 1990 State Softball Coach of the Year. In 2004, and again in 2010, the National Federation of State High Schools honored him as the National Softball Coach of the Year. Coach Niemeyer was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame in 2002 as awarded by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association. Niemeyer is the only coach in the history of Iowa girls’ athletics to win a state championship in four different sports – basketball, softball, cross country and indoor track.

Families of students in fifth grade or older can learn about synthetic drugs at a community awareness event hosted by Mid-Prairie Community School District staff members.

The gathering is set for 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 21 at the Parkside Activities Center, 316 Eighth Ave., Wellman.

For more information, click here.

Community members can honor Kennedy High School Principal Mary Wilcynski during an open house. The event is scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 28 in the cafeteria at Kennedy High School, 4545 Wenig Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids.

Wilcynski is retiring in June after 38 years with the Cedar Rapids Community School District. Jason Kline will become the school’s new principal in July.

Eight Cedar Rapids Community School District staff members have received $1,900 to pursue professional development.

The Cedar Rapids Community Schools Foundation awarded the Ernie Pence Memorial Grant to Kathy Schulte, guidance counselor at Roosevelt Middle School, to take courses in substance abuse and violence at Morningside College in Sioux City.

Seven educators received professional improvement grants. Sarah Novak and Maggie Schuyler, teachers at Harding Middle School, will attend a Textured Papers and Surface Decoration workshop at the Amana Arts Guild. Arthur Elementary School counselor Julie Kapfer will go to a Character Education conference while her Arthur colleague Kathi Albrecht, a Title 1 reading associate, will seek paraprofessional educator certification. Michelle Barker, a teacher at Franklin Middle School, will attend the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention in Boston. Finally, Van Buren Elementary School teachers Molly Kiefer-Biermoin and Lisa Hamilton will attend the National Kindergarten Teachers Conference in Las Vegas.

Update: According to tweets from the College Community School District’s Twitter account, the district is expected to have full power by Monday’s end and a regular schedule for the high school will be resumed tomorrow.

Students at Prairie High School in the College Community School District did not have class Monday because of “significant damage” to a building transformer, resulting from Sunday’s severe weather, read a message from Community Relations Director Steve Doser.

The district’s remaining schools were on a two-hour delay.

The release also said that electrical contractors were at the school working to re-route power but the server was “non-operational for the entire school district.

“There’s huge concerns being so close to graduation,” Doser said.

As of this morning,it was unclear whether the issue would be resolved by the end of the day. Prairie High School’s seniors are set to take finals this week and more days out of class could change that schedule.

Doser said that he hoped to know more by the end of the day, if not earlier, and that the servers were not damaged nor was any student data compromised.

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Classes at Borlaug Elementary and Iowa City West High schools dismissed early on Monday, at 1 and 1:30 p.m. respectively, also the result of power outages.

AMES — Gov. Terry Branstad will visit Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine today to sign a gubernatorial proclamation announcing 2013 as the “Year of the Veterinarian.”

This year is the 150th anniversary of organized veterinary medicine that began with the founding of the American Veterinary Medical Association, officials said.

ISU’s College of Veterinary Medicine is the oldest public veterinary school and one of 28 veterinary schools in the country, officials said.

Branstad will sign the proclamation and recognize Iowa’s veterinarians for their impact during an afternoon ceremony on campus.

DUBUQUE — Loras College has announced a record $75 million fundraising campaign, to officially launch this fall.

The Loras board of regents recently voted unanimously to launch the campaign, with the official kick-off this fall. It will be the most ambitious campaign in the college’s history.

More than $38 million toward the $75 million goal has already been raised, school officials said. The money will support student financial aid, faculty and staff pay and professional development and the launch of a new MBA program.

Loras celebrates its 175^th anniversary in 2013-14.

Luther College will hold a program Thursday to bid farewell to retiring President Rick Torgerson and his wife Judy.

The event, “14 Years of Mojo from the Get-go!” will be held at 8 p.m. in the main hall of the Center for Faith and Life, followed by a 9 p.m. reception.

The farewell celebration honors 14 years of the Torgersons’ leadership on campus. Rick Torgerson became the ninth president of Luther College in 1999.

Jason Glass, the director of the Iowa Department of Education since 2010, is a finalist for superintendent of the Eagle County, Colorado, school district.

Jason Glass

Glass, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad’s choice to head the department and lead his education reform efforts, is one of three finalists for the job. Glass was human resources director for the school district where he helped pioneer the district’s performance-based compensation.

Glass taught high school and university in Kentucky and worked for the Colorado Department of Education. He was vice president for Qualistar Early Learning in Denver, where he helped develop an early childhood education quality rating system.

Glass graduated from the University of Kentucky, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees. He earned his doctorate in education from Seton Hall University.