Cascade High School wins concert from The Band Perry

CASCADE - School on Presidents Day might seem like drawing a short straw, but students at Cascade High School worked hard for the privilege of school on Monday.

Their incentive? A check for $100,000 and a concert by the Grammy-winning country band The Band Perry.

Both were the reward for winning the State Farm Celebrate My Drive competition in December 2014.

'It's crazy,” said senior Reis Rausch. 'It's a big accomplishment. I don't think anybody thought we could actually win.” They did win, though, by recruiting all of residents of the northeast Iowa town of 2,200 to pledge online to drive safely.

The payoff has been more than money and a once-in-a-lifetime concert, students said. Since winning, they've seen a boost in school spirit.

'Our school has changed so much since this happened so we're just excited to see how much it will change from now,” said sophomore Lisa Tucker.

State Farm spokeswoman Ann Avery said more than 3,200 schools registered for the competition and more than 6.1 million votes were cast over a 10-day period in October. Nationwide, 100 schools won awards of varying amounts, including 10 $100,000 awards.

Cascade won the small school division of State Farm's competition. School administrators were presented with the $100,000 check and a trophy before the performance on Monday.

They've been planning how to spend the money since hearing they won. It will go toward new lockers, window blinds and classroom furnishings, said Cascade Principal Greg Vander Lugt.

'We have great kids and we have great teachers and I just want to make sure our facilities match that effort those kids and teachers put out,” he said.

State Farm requires that at least $10,000 of the total award is spent on promoting safe driving. Vander Lugt said the school is currently looking into several possible ways to invest the money, including purchasing beer goggles or making safety improvements to the school parking lot.