There are a few ways you can give back this holiday season in our community beyond just shopping local. 

Foster Care Giving
    New this year, the Montgomery Fire Department will be collecting toys, new children’s clothes, and/or monetary donations ahead of the Torchlight Parade & Fireworks on Thursday, Dec. 4 for Lutheran Social Services Foster Care. 
    Firefighters will be stationed on the east side of 1st Street and Vine Avenue, just north of Frandsen Bank & Trust, to collect from 6-6:30 p.m.

As a young teenager in 2020, Ella Schmiesing got her first taste of varsity swimming.

Now a Tri-City United (TCU) senior, she will be making her last appearance in a pool as a Titan at the Class A State Swimming and Diving Meet Friday, Nov. 14 at 10:30 a.m. and Saturday, Nov. 15 at Noon at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota.

Preliminaries will be held Friday and finals on Saturday.

This will be Schmiesings’ fifth State Tournament appearance after winning two Section 1A Championships last weekend.

Ten members of the Tri-City United School’s FFA Chapter and one graduate spent Tuesday, Oct. 28, through Saturday, Nov. 1, on a trip to Indianapolis, Ind., to the 98th Annual National FFA Convention & Expo.

TCU FFA President Isaak Worm said that the members also partook in three separate educational site visits on the trip. “The first day we spent at ‘Caves of Mounds’ in (Blue Mound) Wisconsin on the way down,” said Worm. Caves of Mounds is a cave system known for its colorful formations as one of the oldest cave formations in the midwest, located west of Madison, Wis.

The $39.99 million bond for Tri-City United Schools was rejected by voters in the Nov. 4 election despite $7.982,004 being covered by the state Ag2School Tax Credit.

Tax impact on a $400,000 residential property would have been between $10.12-$10.66  a month.

The three precincts voted in total 926 (45.98%) in favor and 1,088 (54.02%) opposed.

Lonsdale voted to pass with 311 in favor and 269 opposed.

Tri-City United Schools held a series of four open houses this and last week, one at each school, ahead of the Nov. 4 election for the $39.99 million dollar bond. Each location had plenty of resources on hand to answer questions and tours were given showcasing some of the areas that the bond would cover.

Tri-City United High School students once again introduced Hispanic heritage to younger students at TCU Le Center PreK-8 School on Friday, Oct. 24, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

The theme this year revolved around vaqueros (cowboys) with interactive opportunities. TCU Cultural Coordinator Mary Lou Velásquez said, “Kids learned how to line dance to a popular song played at many fiestas, ‘Payaso de Rodeo.’ They also had a chance to learn how to lasso a bull, draw butterflies, learn about popular candies and dance folklore.”

The record-breaking season for the Tri-City United (TCU) boys soccer team ended Tuesday, Oct. 21 with an 8-1 loss to Academy of Holy Angels (17-0-1 record) in the Class A State Tournament.

Tri-City United Schools FFA chapter will be out again trick-or-treating to collect non-perishable goods for local food shelves again this Halloween, Friday, Oct. 31. Teams from the chapter will be visiting all three towns in the school district -- Le Center, Lonsdale, and Montgomery. 

Residents are encouraged to gather items from their pantries in preparation for them Halloween late afternoon and early evening. 

Once items are collected, they will be centralized at the high school and divided up accordingly to be distributed in our communities.

The Titans boys soccer team couldn’t muster a win at the Tuesday, Oct. 21, state quarterfinals game in Shakopee against the Academy of the Holy Angels. 
 

A strong, cold west/northwest wind worked to their disadvantage in the first period and helped somewhat in their second period.

Despite the cold and windy conditions, a crowd of over 100 Titan fans showed up to support the hometown team and were very audible the whole game. 
 

Tri-City United Boys Soccer Team is hoping for further advancement Tuesday, Oct. 21, 5:30 p.m., in the Minnesota State High School League's Boys Soccer Class A State Tournament. The quarterfinal game is being held at the Shakopee West Middle School's Vaughan Field, 200 10th Avenue East.

Spectators should park on the east side of the stadium, entering along Spencer Street South, and enter at the main entrance to the field on the north side. Additional parking will be available in the middle school's parking lot directly to the north. 

It was an action-packed, pleasant week for Tri-City United Schools homecoming week.

Festivities were kicked off Monday with coronation and the start of daily themed dress-up days. Wednesday was a flip of the sports with boys playing a volleyball game and the girls playing the powderpuff football game.

Two big wins have propelled the Tri-City United (TCU) boys soccer team into the Section 2A Championship match.

The Titans (14-5-0) will play St. Peter (9-6-3) for the third time this season on Thursday, Oct. 16, at Austin for the right to advance to the Class A State Tournament.

TCU is 2-0 this season against the Saints, winning 3-2 in September and 5-0 in October.

The Titans advanced to the Championship after defeating Butterfield-Odin United, 12-1, Thursday, Oct. 9 and defeated No. 4 seed Albert Lea, 4-2, Saturday, Oct. 11.

Only six total Tri-City United (TCU) runners competed in the New Prague Cross Country Invitational Thursday, Sept. 25 at Cedar Lake Farm.

The top runner on the day was senior Grant Fitterer who placed 11th in 18:09 in the boys race.

Sophomore Gabriel Coryell placed 32nd in 19:32. Freshman Graysen Moon placed 37th in 20:32. Eighth grader Patrick Duchene placed 41st in 21:03.

The start of combining of soybeans by farmers in the area can mean only one thing — homecoming!

Tri-City United Schools will celebrate homecoming from Oct. 5-11 and the Montgomery Messenger will feature a special page in next week’s issue on it.

A button design contest was held for the second year in a row now, but this year it was expanded district-wide to all four schools. Last year’s contest was limited to the high school only.

TCU senior Ella Schmiesing highlighted her team’s dual meet Tuesday, Sept. 23, with a record-breaking performance.

Schmiesing, a multi-time All-State performer, broke her own pool and school record in the 100-yard butterfly, taking first in a best time of 59.26. She also won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.85.

The Titans placed second to New Prague, 95-66, in a Senior Night event.

Other first place performances were turned in by Lily Traxler in 1-meter diving with 191.55 points and Kaylee Rezac in the 500-yard freestyle in 6:04.88.

Tri-City United School District has created a website to better showcase the items they are asking for in their $39.9 million dollar bond to be voted on Nov. 4 this year. People can visit sites.google.com/tcu2905.us/ref25/home or go to the district’s regular website, tcu2905.us, and click on the link on the rolling front page banner.