GREAT BEND — Barton Community College has named 268 students to the President’s 
List for the fall 2021 semester. To qualify for this honor students must
 have been enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours and maintained a 
grade point average of 4.0 on a 4.0 or "A" letter scale.

Baldwin City 
Olivia Kerr&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Bazine 
Lucas Hertel&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Bennington 
Abigail Hodges&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Bison 
Ethan Schneider&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Burdett 
Ashlee Miller&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Cheney 
Conner Eastman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Claflin 
Brooke Farmer&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Hannah Redetzke&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Callie Zink&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Columbus 
DixeeLacen&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Cunningham 
Morgan Meyers&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Dodge City 
Vanessa Rivero&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Easton 
Ariannah Heller&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Effingham 
Jeannie Hedrick&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

El Dorado 
Emma King&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Ellinwood 
Megan Clemons&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Brian Davis&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Paige Nuss&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Haley Troyer&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Ellis 
Rebecca Hillman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Ellsworth 
James Stout&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jordan Thornton&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Emporia 
Beau Baumgardner&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Britney Schroer&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Eureka 
Levi Vinson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Fort Leavenworth 
Gabriel Espinoza&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Hannah Ewert&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Michela Fontana&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Nola Goodman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Dong Hong&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
NaMari Moss&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Brittany Riden&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Fort Riley 
Jose Andicoechea&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Nicole Baez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Casandra Bermudez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Joseph Carbonell&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kayla Craythorn&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Queen Cheska An Domingo&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Darren Garner&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Haley Gutierrez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jayleen Jaimes&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Chris Kim&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Katelyn Levesque&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Emma Meece&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Maribel Paulino Marinez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Sandra Payne&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Daniela Pulido&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Joseph Ramos Andreas&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Anna Seamands&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Bryston Smith&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Laura Solis&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Gardner 
Jonathan Beers&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Great Bend 
Jaime Arellanes&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jordan Avila&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Caden Bieker&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Maleny Carrasco&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Sage Cauley&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Addison Crites&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Lexi Deines&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Israel Franco&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Elizabeth Gerdes&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jaci Guthrie&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Wittney Hammeke&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kendyl Henning&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Ashley Herrman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Alyssa Herter&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Madison Huslig&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kennedy Kern&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jayce Kohls&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Teegan Krol&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Janneth Lozoya Gaytan&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Sydney Mason&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Austin Miller&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Elias Moreno&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Anthony Ramirez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Antony Reyes Pilo&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Nautika Richards&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Caden Rowan&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Giselle Sanchez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jesus Sanchez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Christine Shaffer&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kayci Stevenson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Taylor Urban&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Isabelle Willms&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Hays 
Emily Christensen&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Tasiah Nunnery&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Natasha Schumacher&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Herington 
Kirsten Durling&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Justus Rucker&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Hoisington 
Joshua Ball&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Brayden Copp&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Chandra Ehler&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Addison Smith&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Hope 
Aidan Pruente&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Hutchinson 
Cailey Belote&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Lindsay Savage&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Jetmore 
Stacie Huish&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Junction City 
Skylar Benjamin&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Mackenzie Girardot&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Morgan Honeycutt&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Ariel Lamas&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jordan Leighty&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Audrey Lichtensteiger&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Joel Nieves&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Bailey Oloughlin&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kimberly Remily&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Aleksandra Rojas&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Ashlynn Shea&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Tara Shuler&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Victoria Nicoll Solano&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Meilia Taylor&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Phillip Valentine&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jason Weatherwax&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Kansas City 
Xavier Henderson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Kirwin 
Brittany Atchison&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Lansing 
Harrison Kurz&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Larned 
Jamie Farrar&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Sarah Macmahon&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Juan Murillo&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kaden Pontius&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kirk Rogers&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Ruthie Webster&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Leavenworth 
Lauryn Blackwell&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Mikel Ford&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kim M Valenta&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Phyne Pettis&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Anastasiia Shakirova&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Lincoln 
Michael Holeman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Little River 
Justus Hampton&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Trey Rolfs&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Lyons 
Katie Hazen&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Brianna Russell&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Manhattan 
Imary Ahorro&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Summer Anderson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Timothy Fieser&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Emil Garafola&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Heather Gipson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Amber Gravely&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jordyn Haley&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Breana Ignacio&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Roberto Trigueros&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Wyatt Voth&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Cody Woodruff&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Marysville 
Linda Franco&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

McLouth 
Margaret Blackwell&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Brooke Mortsolf&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Mulvane&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Austin Moe&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Newton 
Samantha Smith&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Ogden&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Crystal Embrey&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Juan Salinas&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Overland Park 
Julia Carey&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Marice Watson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Paxico 
Jordan Magette&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Phillipsburg 
Evelyn Ebner&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Gabe Sauer&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Russell 
Caleb Nuss&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

St. John 
Breanna Clark&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jonathan Lyon&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Damian Rios&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Destiny Talbot&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Salina 
Joshua Jordan&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Griffin Peterson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Satanta 
Adan Gutierrez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Scott City 
Lyndi Rumford&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Smith Center 
Jaden Boden&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Renee Feeney&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Stafford 
Marshall Woolf&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Toby Woolf&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Topeka 
Kimberly Bahr&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Alec Bluemel&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Rhen Calhoon&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Chase Clausing&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Robert Cordova Morse&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Bryssa Estanol&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kade Walker&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Wakeeney 
Lili Shubert&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Wakefield 
Levi Olson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Yesenia Summerson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Linda Ward&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Wichita&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Valentina Bequette&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Bailey Bontrager&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Cynthia Broadrick&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jadyn Brown&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Caiden Duerksen&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Samia Jackson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Hanna Miller&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Matilyn Newman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Stephanie Ramirez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. 
Jacquelyn Irvine

Davenport, Iowa 
Acorionna Lard-McDuffey

Lakewood, N.J. 
Toby Breski 
Shoshana Halpert 
Kaila Nosenchuk 
Shoshana Peltz

Brooklyn, N.Y. 
Leah Benasouli 
Andrea&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Corredor

Cincinnati, Ohio 
Clarissa Del Pozzo-Pardo

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1644361361884.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>News releaseGREAT BEND — Barton Community College has named 268 students to the President’s 
List for the fall 2021 semester. To qualify for this honor students must
 have been enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours and maintained a 
grade point average of 4.0 on a 4.0 or "A" letter scale.Baldwin City 
Olivia Kerr&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Bazine 
Lucas Hertel&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Bennington 
Abigail Hodges&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Bison 
Ethan Schneider&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Burdett 
Ashlee Miller&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Cheney 
Conner Eastman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Claflin 
Brooke Farmer&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Hannah Redetzke&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Callie Zink&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Columbus 
DixeeLacen&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Cunningham 
Morgan Meyers&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Dodge City 
Vanessa Rivero&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Easton 
Ariannah Heller&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Effingham 
Jeannie Hedrick&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;El Dorado 
Emma King&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Ellinwood 
Megan Clemons&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Brian Davis&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Paige Nuss&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Haley Troyer&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Ellis 
Rebecca Hillman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Ellsworth 
James Stout&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jordan Thornton&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Emporia 
Beau Baumgardner&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Britney Schroer&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Eureka 
Levi Vinson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Fort Leavenworth 
Gabriel Espinoza&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Hannah Ewert&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Michela Fontana&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Nola Goodman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Dong Hong&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
NaMari Moss&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Brittany Riden&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Fort Riley 
Jose Andicoechea&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Nicole Baez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Casandra Bermudez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Joseph Carbonell&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kayla Craythorn&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Queen Cheska An Domingo&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Darren Garner&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Haley Gutierrez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jayleen Jaimes&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Chris Kim&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Katelyn Levesque&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Emma Meece&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Maribel Paulino Marinez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Sandra Payne&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Daniela Pulido&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Joseph Ramos Andreas&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Anna Seamands&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Bryston Smith&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Laura Solis&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Gardner 
Jonathan Beers&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Great Bend 
Jaime Arellanes&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jordan Avila&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Caden Bieker&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Maleny Carrasco&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Sage Cauley&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Addison Crites&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Lexi Deines&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Israel Franco&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Elizabeth Gerdes&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jaci Guthrie&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Wittney Hammeke&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kendyl Henning&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Ashley Herrman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Alyssa Herter&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Madison Huslig&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kennedy Kern&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jayce Kohls&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Teegan Krol&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Janneth Lozoya Gaytan&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Sydney Mason&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Austin Miller&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Elias Moreno&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Anthony Ramirez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Antony Reyes Pilo&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Nautika Richards&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Caden Rowan&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Giselle Sanchez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jesus Sanchez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Christine Shaffer&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kayci Stevenson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Taylor Urban&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Isabelle Willms&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Hays 
Emily Christensen&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Tasiah Nunnery&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Natasha Schumacher&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Herington 
Kirsten Durling&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Justus Rucker&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Hoisington 
Joshua Ball&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Brayden Copp&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Chandra Ehler&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Addison Smith&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Hope 
Aidan Pruente&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Hutchinson 
Cailey Belote&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Lindsay Savage&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Jetmore 
Stacie Huish&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Junction City 
Skylar Benjamin&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Mackenzie Girardot&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Morgan Honeycutt&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Ariel Lamas&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jordan Leighty&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Audrey Lichtensteiger&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Joel Nieves&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Bailey Oloughlin&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kimberly Remily&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Aleksandra Rojas&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Ashlynn Shea&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Tara Shuler&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Victoria Nicoll Solano&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Meilia Taylor&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Phillip Valentine&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jason Weatherwax&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Kansas City 
Xavier Henderson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Kirwin 
Brittany Atchison&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Lansing 
Harrison Kurz&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Larned 
Jamie Farrar&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Sarah Macmahon&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Juan Murillo&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kaden Pontius&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kirk Rogers&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Ruthie Webster&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Leavenworth 
Lauryn Blackwell&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Mikel Ford&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kim M Valenta&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Phyne Pettis&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Anastasiia Shakirova&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Lincoln 
Michael Holeman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Little River 
Justus Hampton&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Trey Rolfs&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Lyons 
Katie Hazen&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Brianna Russell&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Manhattan 
Imary Ahorro&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Summer Anderson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Timothy Fieser&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Emil Garafola&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Heather Gipson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Amber Gravely&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jordyn Haley&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Breana Ignacio&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Roberto Trigueros&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Wyatt Voth&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Cody Woodruff&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Marysville 
Linda Franco&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;McLouth 
Margaret Blackwell&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Brooke Mortsolf&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Mulvane&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Austin Moe&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Newton 
Samantha Smith&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Ogden&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Crystal Embrey&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Juan Salinas&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Overland Park 
Julia Carey&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Marice Watson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Paxico 
Jordan Magette&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Phillipsburg 
Evelyn Ebner&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Gabe Sauer&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Russell 
Caleb Nuss&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;St. John 
Breanna Clark&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jonathan Lyon&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Damian Rios&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Destiny Talbot&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Salina 
Joshua Jordan&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Griffin Peterson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Satanta 
Adan Gutierrez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Scott City 
Lyndi Rumford&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Smith Center 
Jaden Boden&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Renee Feeney&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Stafford 
Marshall Woolf&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Toby Woolf&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Timken 
Sean Kelly&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Topeka 
Kimberly Bahr&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Alec Bluemel&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Rhen Calhoon&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Chase Clausing&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Robert Cordova Morse&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Bryssa Estanol&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Kade Walker&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Wakeeney 
Lili Shubert&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Wakefield 
Levi Olson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Yesenia Summerson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Linda Ward&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Wichita&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Valentina Bequette&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Bailey Bontrager&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Cynthia Broadrick&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Jadyn Brown&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Caiden Duerksen&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Samia Jackson&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Hanna Miller&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Matilyn Newman&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Stephanie Ramirez&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;New Market, Ala. 
Natalie WarrenMontclair, Calif.&nbsp; 
Vy PhungRiverside, Calif.&nbsp; 
Bryan NguyenRolling Hills Estates, Calif. 
Jacquelyn IrvineSonora, Calif. 
Ashley CraigCastle Rock, Colo. 
Lillian ThomasWinsted, Conn. 
John MahoneyCrestview, Fla. 
Jasmine CarsonFort Lauderdale, Fla. 
Ileana IonescuFort Walton Beach, Fla. 
Maria SantosByron, Ga. 
James ThomasDavenport, Iowa 
Acorionna Lard-McDuffeyMachesney Park, Ill. 
Donald VollCecilia, Ky. 
Kelsey SteinerRichmond, Ky. 
Rashed AlkhaldiColfax, La. 
Christopher SykesGonzales, La. 
Trinity MartinezCroswell, Mich. 
Erica KrawczykBlue Springs, Mo. 
Quinton RobertsonBranson, Mo.&nbsp; 
Athena WaddleWentzville, Mo. 
Kennedy MaitlandWindsor, Mo. 
Megan AmsbaughLewistown, Mont. 
Jessica MorganShelby, N.C. 
Corey BowmanAlexandria, Neb. 
Jayden SchmidtLincoln, Neb. 
Brock MerkelSuperior, Neb. 
Chandler AmackLakewood, N.J. 
Toby Breski 
Shoshana Halpert 
Kaila Nosenchuk 
Shoshana PeltzLas Vegas, Nev. 
Erica MayoyoAverill Park, N.Y. 
Alarick StormBrooklyn, N.Y. 
Leah Benasouli 
Andrea&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;CorredorLockport, N.Y. 
Tabir ZehraSpring Valley, N.Y. 
Miryam ChernsCincinnati, Ohio 
Clarissa Del Pozzo-PardoAltus, Okla. 
Madison BahnFort Towson, Okla. 
Brian MatzLawton, Okla. 
Mikaela HallSparks, Okla. 
Jadyn YoungPawtucket, R.I. 
Stephen SillupGadsden, S.C. 
Robert ColeBurleson, Texas 
Darian HolubDallas, Texas 
Tova NathanEl Paso, Texas 
Howard HosangFort Bliss, Texas 
Toni EngleHutto, Texas 
Cheyenne VillarrealLackland Airforce Base, Texas 
Sean MaysLivingston, Texas 
Richard BrownMagnolia, Texas 
Molly NorrisLayton, Utah 
Bryn LythgoeGoldendale, Wash.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Arianna TateMadison, Wis. 
Xavier MaddenAustralia 
Miguel Da Silva&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Austria 
Erin Foxhall&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Brazil 
Isabella Guedes&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Mylena Testoni&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Sara Dos Santos Oliveira&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Victoria Da Silva&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Canada 
Joelle Lydia Laforce&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Efe Latham&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Chile 
Ricardo Sepulveda&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;France 
Julie Derenemesnil&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Germany 
Annika Gerdau&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Tom Gehring&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Ghana 
Mercy Azanapo&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Guatemala 
Joseph Lillie&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Japan 
Natsuki Nishimura&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Hidetaka Nakao&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Sayaka Kawai&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Nepal 
Samyak Bajracharya&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Russia 
Angelina Gnezdilova&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; 
Nikolai Reshetnikov&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Serbia 
Dorde Racic&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;South Africa 
Marno Du Plessis&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Spain 
Maria Alonso Paulino&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Thailand 
Pawinee Sukasem

Area students named to Barton Community College President’s List

Proposed legislation to allow state tax dollars for parents to send at risk students to private schools is a disaster trying to happen.

Enacting the Student Empowerment Act would shift the foundation of Kansas public education. If parents were allowed to claim the per-pupil base state aid and use it for private school tuition, textbooks and other educational expenses then private citizens could direct use of public tax dollars for their private desires.&nbsp;

Parents who see the SEA as an off ramp from declining statewide student achievement scores have little conception of what could happen if this ill-conceived legislation becomes law. While there are strong private schools in Kansas, the SEA would hinder K-12 education and violate three basic purposes of American public education.

The first is protection for free, public education. SEA, would set up a second school system and the state would pay to administer the program.&nbsp;

State funding this year is set at $4, 846 per student. High school tuition plus fees at private schools range from $9,000 to near $20,000. Families reaping the most benefits of the bill would be those who can afford tuition or are near that level. Per student funding could cover tuition at many private elementary schools although some charge as much as $10,000 per year. With SEA most families would need some supplemental out-of-pocket funds for private schooling.

Judging by similar programs in other states, Kansas management costs could run as much as $2 million per year; moreover, the state treasurer’s office predicts costs to implement the act at more than $1 million.&nbsp;

A second purpose of public schools is to provide equal opportunity for all students. Private schools, by definition, do not operate for the common good.&nbsp; Only those students chosen are admitted. Private schools are not required to undergo state accreditation or inform parents of data they collect.

A third purpose of public education is to bring together a diverse population of students and prepare them for democratic citizenship. Multiple private schools that teach numerous, dissimilar ideologies and religious beliefs may fulfill parents’ desires for their children’s education, but the public school is the single, significant force in American society inspiring respect for others, citizenship responsibilities and unity.

Parents receive countless, unreplicated research reports showing that students in private schools achieve at higher rates than public schools.&nbsp;

More conclusive research was conducted by Martin Carnoy of Stanford University who studied 25 years of research projects and found that voucher programs, which are nearly identical to the SEA, do not significantly improve test scores.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Brookings Institution compared voucher programs in Indiana and Louisiana using rigorous research designs. Data collected show private school students scored lower on reading and math compared to similar students in public schools.

Parents already have the right to be heard, the right to know what’s being taught, the right to protect their child’s privacy and the right to request opt-out of classes or services.&nbsp;&nbsp;

There is an enormous difference between parental rights and parental control of education tax dollars.&nbsp;

In a democracy, representatives of the public oversee public dollars, in this case the representatives are educators.

It is deeply disturbing that a vital safeguard of democracy might decline if education shifts from public to private institutions. The goal should be to improve public education, not weaken it.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Sharon Hartin Iorio is Dean Emerita Wichita State University College of Education.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1593719779701.jpeg" alt="Sharon Hartin Iorio is Dean Emerita Wichita State University College of Education." />
 <figcaption>Sharon Hartin Iorio is Dean Emerita Wichita State University College of Education.</figcaption>
 </figure>Proposed legislation to allow state tax dollars for parents to send at risk students to private schools is a disaster trying to happen.Enacting the Student Empowerment Act would shift the foundation of Kansas public education. If parents were allowed to claim the per-pupil base state aid and use it for private school tuition, textbooks and other educational expenses then private citizens could direct use of public tax dollars for their private desires.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1575913663048.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Parents who see the SEA as an off ramp from declining statewide student achievement scores have little conception of what could happen if this ill-conceived legislation becomes law. While there are strong private schools in Kansas, the SEA would hinder K-12 education and violate three basic purposes of American public education.The first is protection for free, public education. SEA, would set up a second school system and the state would pay to administer the program.&nbsp;State funding this year is set at $4, 846 per student. High school tuition plus fees at private schools range from $9,000 to near $20,000. Families reaping the most benefits of the bill would be those who can afford tuition or are near that level. Per student funding could cover tuition at many private elementary schools although some charge as much as $10,000 per year. With SEA most families would need some supplemental out-of-pocket funds for private schooling.Judging by similar programs in other states, Kansas management costs could run as much as $2 million per year; moreover, the state treasurer’s office predicts costs to implement the act at more than $1 million.&nbsp;A second purpose of public schools is to provide equal opportunity for all students. Private schools, by definition, do not operate for the common good.&nbsp; Only those students chosen are admitted. Private schools are not required to undergo state accreditation or inform parents of data they collect.A third purpose of public education is to bring together a diverse population of students and prepare them for democratic citizenship. Multiple private schools that teach numerous, dissimilar ideologies and religious beliefs may fulfill parents’ desires for their children’s education, but the public school is the single, significant force in American society inspiring respect for others, citizenship responsibilities and unity.Parents receive countless, unreplicated research reports showing that students in private schools achieve at higher rates than public schools.&nbsp;More conclusive research was conducted by Martin Carnoy of Stanford University who studied 25 years of research projects and found that voucher programs, which are nearly identical to the SEA, do not significantly improve test scores.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Brookings Institution compared voucher programs in Indiana and Louisiana using rigorous research designs. Data collected show private school students scored lower on reading and math compared to similar students in public schools.Parents already have the right to be heard, the right to know what’s being taught, the right to protect their child’s privacy and the right to request opt-out of classes or services.&nbsp;&nbsp;There is an enormous difference between parental rights and parental control of education tax dollars.&nbsp;In a democracy, representatives of the public oversee public dollars, in this case the representatives are educators.It is deeply disturbing that a vital safeguard of democracy might decline if education shifts from public to private institutions. The goal should be to improve public education, not weaken it.&nbsp;&nbsp;Sharon Hartin Iorio is Dean Emerita Wichita State University College of Education.

INSIGHT KANSAS: Sending public funds to private schools would harm Kan.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/pages/state-farm-weather-window">For a full look at the weather forecast click here.</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1644604800078.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://hayspost.com/pages/state-farm-weather-window">For a full look at the weather forecast click here.</a>

Three-day weather outlook

Can you remember where you were on December 15th, 2021? That was the day the wind storm caused damage in our community and serious wildfires broke out for our neighbors to the north. K-State Research and Extension agents in the affected area sprang into action. They helped set up shelters and coordinated the donations of food and supplies. Sharing links to agencies who could provide hay for animals and other resources was imperative.

In mid-January I received a text message from a friend who quilts asking if those who lost their homes in the December 15th&nbsp;wildfires in Ellis and Russell Counties would&nbsp;appreciate getting aquilt? Just two days earlier our Cottonwood Team members had discussed this at our retreat so the timing was perfect.&nbsp;Several&nbsp;phone calls&nbsp;later, I&nbsp;had a&nbsp;long&nbsp;list of families who had lost their homes.&nbsp;

I spent an afternoon calling the cell phone numbers that had been shared with me. It was an amazing experience to hear the stories of that memorable day. All of the individuals I visited with were so grateful to have survived the fast-moving wildfires. While many animals were lost,&nbsp;they felt so fortunate that their family members had survived. I heard about one person who survived the flames by pulling his truck on top of a limestone rock and the fire literally went over him.

The word resilience comes to mind when I think of the visits with those who lost their homes. Some are temporarily staying in an RV or with extended family. One families’ landlord had a vacant property that he is letting them stay in for six months rent free while they get back on their feet. Their demonstration of faith and&nbsp;their&nbsp;positive attitude really warmed my heart.

The next phone calls were made to a couple of groups of quilters in the Great Bend community. The Cycle Sewing group&nbsp;meets&nbsp;regularly making quilts for times like this. And the Central Kansas Threadbenders quilt guild had several TLC quilts that they were eager to donate. In all&nbsp;thirty-two&nbsp;quilts were shared with families, including 9 kids, ages 2 – 14. I recently organized getting the quilts delivered so that the recipients can feel the caring and love that each quilt can bring.&nbsp;And believe me, the quilts were appreciated!

To bring this project full circle I am looking forward to sharing stories and perhaps a few pictures at their monthly guild meeting next week.&nbsp;

Donna Krug is the District Director and Family and Consumer Science Agent for K-State Research &amp; Extension – Cottonwood District. You may reach her at (620)793-1910 or&nbsp;<a href="mailto:dkrug@ksu.edu">dkrug@ksu.edu</a>&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1573141404420.png" alt="Donna Krug is the District Director and Family and Consumer Science Agent for K-State Research &amp; Extension – Cottonwood District.&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Donna Krug is the District Director and Family and Consumer Science Agent for K-State Research &amp; Extension – Cottonwood District.&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>Can you remember where you were on December 15th, 2021? That was the day the wind storm caused damage in our community and serious wildfires broke out for our neighbors to the north. K-State Research and Extension agents in the affected area sprang into action. They helped set up shelters and coordinated the donations of food and supplies. Sharing links to agencies who could provide hay for animals and other resources was imperative.In mid-January I received a text message from a friend who quilts asking if those who lost their homes in the December 15th&nbsp;wildfires in Ellis and Russell Counties would&nbsp;appreciate getting aquilt? Just two days earlier our Cottonwood Team members had discussed this at our retreat so the timing was perfect.&nbsp;Several&nbsp;phone calls&nbsp;later, I&nbsp;had a&nbsp;long&nbsp;list of families who had lost their homes.&nbsp;I spent an afternoon calling the cell phone numbers that had been shared with me. It was an amazing experience to hear the stories of that memorable day. All of the individuals I visited with were so grateful to have survived the fast-moving wildfires. While many animals were lost,&nbsp;they felt so fortunate that their family members had survived. I heard about one person who survived the flames by pulling his truck on top of a limestone rock and the fire literally went over him.The word resilience comes to mind when I think of the visits with those who lost their homes. Some are temporarily staying in an RV or with extended family. One families’ landlord had a vacant property that he is letting them stay in for six months rent free while they get back on their feet. Their demonstration of faith and&nbsp;their&nbsp;positive attitude really warmed my heart.The next phone calls were made to a couple of groups of quilters in the Great Bend community. The Cycle Sewing group&nbsp;meets&nbsp;regularly making quilts for times like this. And the Central Kansas Threadbenders quilt guild had several TLC quilts that they were eager to donate. In all&nbsp;thirty-two&nbsp;quilts were shared with families, including 9 kids, ages 2 – 14. I recently organized getting the quilts delivered so that the recipients can feel the caring and love that each quilt can bring.&nbsp;And believe me, the quilts were appreciated!To bring this project full circle I am looking forward to sharing stories and perhaps a few pictures at their monthly guild meeting next week.&nbsp;Donna Krug is the District Director and Family and Consumer Science Agent for K-State Research &amp; Extension – Cottonwood District. You may reach her at (620)793-1910 or&nbsp;<a href="mailto:dkrug@ksu.edu">dkrug@ksu.edu</a>&nbsp;

KRUG: Quilters rally around families affected by wildfires

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Ellis County Historical Society interim director Amanda Rupp stops by to share updates from the society.

The
Ellis County Historical Society is tackling a new year with new leadership and
a new vision. Interim Executive Director Amanda Rupp stops by to talk to us
about what's going on down at the Historical Society. On this episode of the
Post Podcast.

There is
a lot going on. Finally, finally, there's a lot going on. We have put in a lot
of work in the past 10 months, this small staff and I took over in like March,
so almost a year, but in 10 months, we have we have gotten a lot of stuff done.

So. And
you know, what I think is unfortunate right now is a lot of the work that is
required, the work that needs to be done is behind the scenes.

Right?
Right. A lot of people don't, you know, the, the doors have been closed. So a
lot of whispers, a lot of unknowns, but there is, you know, a lot you've been
on there. There's a lot of cool things down there. And it's time to you know,
after 50 years to reorganize. It had gotten a little out of hand. And then they
had some some tragedy with building issues. But And recently, this last summer,
we got all of the rest of the collection that we had stored off campus, back to
our location, and it needs to be gone through with a fine tooth comb.

Yeah,
yeah. So would to back up a little bit to give everybody kind of just a little
bit of background here. Yeah, when you guys took over? Well, specifically,
there was there was water damage in one of the storage buildings, where you
guys keep we're keeping the artifacts. So all of that the first goal when you
guys took over was getting it all into that one building. So you could start to
see what do we have? 

Yeah,
you know, we got gifted the Sternberg collection, if you ever went down to the
Sternberg Museum, when it was down on campus, it was down in one of the
basements of the buildings down there, then they had wall to wall stuff, and
everybody loves going down and visiting. And when Sternberg went out to the
dome, they gifted the Ellis County Historical Society with everything that
wasn't related to their mission out there, which was natural history. So we got
a lot of the human artifacts, and we didn't have the place to, to display them
all, and rented two units to put them, but they hadn't all been a session into
our database or into our collections. So many, many artifacts have been sitting
down there for years that has not that have not been a session into our
collection, and they need to that needs to happen. 

Yeah,
absolutely. You know, really, and I think, correct me if I'm wrong here, but
there's like two missions at the Ellis County Historical Society. One is
preserving our history. And the number two is displaying it right. But if you
can't, if you're not doing number one, you can't do number two, right?

And I
spoke this to the board. And when we first got started is you know, everybody
wants to see where we're going or what we're doing. But we need to assess, you
know, most of the majority of the board is fairly new, we need to assess what
we have before we can say what we can do with it. So that's, that's our goal.

Yeah.
And unfortunately, again, that's all that's all behind the scenes work. And you
know, and it's not a quick and easy process. I think if I remember correctly
from the board meeting, that you guys had last early last month, or early this
month, whatever it was recently. That was one of the things it's it's a years
long process, right to get through all this stuff, right? 

And, you
know, with the the operating budget that they have, we're working with it. They
fortunately got, you know, a three man crew that is working is splitting a full
time job. So it's it's part time work. And, you know, I'm proud to say that,
when I figured it up, it was like 2140 hour weeks that we've put in this work
to get done. So it goes behind the scenes, and it gets done by our direction,
and hopefully some volunteers.

Yeah,
yeah. And we're gonna talk about the need for volunteers here in a little bit.
But one of the things that also come out of that meeting that kind of struck me
was a lot of the collection is well, not necessarily related to Ellis County.

Well,
you know, beginning when they took that when they took objects, everything was
important. And they were trying to, you know, amass a great collection, which
they did. And then when we also got Starbucks collection collection, I don't
know exactly what their criteria was for taking collections at the beginning in
Sternberg, but it doesn't necessarily some things are not even from our county,
there's a there's a buggy from Sheridan County. Gorgeous, old 1890s, buggy,
little baby buggy, but things like that, that don't belong to our museum
necessarily, that we need to just search through. And then we have extras of a
lot of things that when we get down to it, can we take care of it properly? Can
we can we display it and preserve it properly? do it justice, so we need to
make some decisions there.

Yeah,
and it's not like again, this came out during that meeting. It's not like these
items if it wasn't one of the examples I think and I think it was you gave it
to the you have like nine pull behind or hold or walk behind.

And
those take up a lot of room. So I mean, they're great. And, you know, I'd love
to have one in my yard or something, but as decoration, but we can't store nine
pull behind plows, and, you know, even to display one, but there's also other
museums that might not have one other county museums or other entities that
that could. And that's our responsibility as the as a historical society that
we have a guideline criteria that we need to follow through with how we do a
session something or things like that. Yeah. And I think that's got to be
reassuring to the community, right? It's not like these items, you know, if
you're finding that they don't exactly fit in the in your collection, it's not
like they're getting chunked or sold, right? They're going to other museums or
right, I don't know, there's, there's criteria that you have to follow. I mean,
everything has to go through our board and make a decision whether this fits
our collections policy, and then the process starts of, you know, offering it
to other other entities that might use it or a specialty museum that might find
be able to collect just that, before we decided anything else with it. Now some
things will be, you know, are damaged beyond our control or our you know, worth
keeping. Those things ought to be assessed, as well by professionals that do
that. So, yeah.

But
going through that collection, and sorting through all that stuff, even the
sorting part, but then also doing that work of separating out nine or eight of
the nine walk behind plows, that requires a lot of time and a lot of people,
which is exactly what you're calling for. Now you need help. Right, right,

We want
the the community used to be involved in this. I mean, when they started in
1971, those first two decades, I mean, I look back at pictures and, and
documents and the community was involved. And they had a passion for it. And I
believe they still do. And maybe they just haven't, you know, had the
opportunity or the reach out to to get those people involved. But there's a lot
more people getting into the retirement age that need some activities. And this
might be right up their alley. So

Well,
you you you mentioned the retirement age, I was thinking to the students, you
know, yeah, what a cool way to interact with history of your high school
student, or maybe maybe even afford a student that, like myself immigrated into
Hayes, and you want to learn more about the history. My gosh, you can get in
there and touch it.

Right.
And we did have some some high school students helped us move that large
collection this summer. And yeah, you know, some of the things that they
learned just by looking at it, and they didn't, you know, they didn't realize
that we had an aerial camera that used to sit in that in an airplane for more
to and he was just fascinated by it, you know, just just things that sparked
their interest that they wouldn't have necessarily gotten to see in a textbook
or anything else. But yeah, I'd love to have some high school students too, but
we also have, we're working we were awarded a Dane Hinson. Scholarship or not
scholarships, gives me internship through the Fort Hays, so we will be doing
some interviews on campus next week for one student to help us a session and
and catalog, the textiles collection that we have this summer. So we're getting
some students involved.

Yeah,
that's awesome. I love to hear that natural. Yeah. The earlier this week, we
had a Dane G. Hansen, intern from the Hayes chamber joining us so that was it.
Yeah. Really cool program. Yeah, it is. So if someone's listening to us right
now, they're thinking, oh, yeah, like, man, I've got a few hours a week that I
could dedicate to preserving the history of Ellis County, what's the easiest
and best way for them to do that?

Well,
you know, to email me, email me at director at ACH s hayes.org. Or you can call
the office and leave a message and we'll get back to you our office hours are
kind of limited at the moment. And sometimes we're down at the campus. So we're
not sitting in our office, but that number is 6282624. And somebody will get
back to you. And you just fill out a a volunteer application and a little bit
of paperwork. Of course, we'd like you to be a member. But that's not
necessarily, you know, set in stone. But surely, surely, if you love history,
you want to be a member and it's affordable. But there's there's there's
opportunities for people that like to hands on build stuff, you know, we've got
a lot of shelves that need to be assembled or taken down, moved. There's some
people that want to do some desk work. And there's plenty of office stuff that
needs to be done before we get into the nitty gritty of actually cataloging
these items, which hopefully is coming really soon. Yeah.

You
mentioned the membership. I do want to talk about that. Because, you know, one
of the things that struck me again at this meeting was was How many members are
involved. So it's kind of, to me, it seems like a little bit of a weird
structure because you've got your, like, the Board of Trustees and you've got
your members and then you've got you know, we get I don't know if you want to
kind of quickly go through Yeah, how that all works.

So, you
know, back when we had an open museum That was that was a great idea you became
a member and you got in free, you can come by and look through anything, you
could use our archives and make copies at your leisure without charge. And
there's, you know, different membership categories like student and family, and
such. Now, you know, we're relying on memberships. Just to start off with, of
course, when we open up a new museum of some sort, they will be able to still
have those same benefits. But it's a spa, it's a way of supporting the
historical society, we use a large portion of it for our general general
operating budget. And so there's students, there's family, there's singles,
seniors, and then if you feel like you are able to give a little bit more and
would like to be a sponsor, we also have sponsorship levels. And, you know, I
continually talk about the the early 70s 80s, when, you know, the historical
study was booming, I say, they had a lot of members and a lot ours, our numbers
have dwindled, but they've stayed steady for the past 10 or 15 years of the
same 140 people that really want to participate and really want to support us,
but I think we can do a lot more. So this year, you'll see us a lot more out
doing a membership drive, getting more sponsors, getting more people involved.
Very cool.

Yeah. So
I mean, that and what a great way to support the best historical society if you
can't, or just really don't have the time to physically volunteer, you know,
become a member throw a little money that way for sponsorship and, and the
sponsorships. You know, we talked about this quite a bit here on the go morning
show. Every little bit helps, you know, if you've got 10 Correct me if I'm
wrong, but 10 $15 to sponsor something, that it may not feel like a whole lot,
but together with the data.

Right.
It adds up, you know, if, you know, 10, seniors $10. There's, there's $100. You
know, it adds up fast. And I say, our sponsorships have really dwindled over
the past few years, the the ones that are giving $75 or more. But if one of my
we have a 17, board member trustee, or excuse me, Board of Trustees, and if
every single one of them went out and got, you know, $100 sponsorship or asked
someone for $100 sponsorship, there's, you know, our electric bill for the
month, it really does add up. Very cool. Now,

You also
mentioned this, and I think we should probably talk about this before we go,
you've got a new office. So you've got the campus down there, where all the
artifacts are being now held. But you also have an office for your business
work. And that's in the eagle Plaza now. Right? 

Right,
it's right over here across the street, or down the street. And that was a
generous collaboration through the street Foundation, actually, we're taking
over some of their old office space, temporarily, so that we could kind of have
a centralized place to house in their storefront area to house our, our excuse
me, our archives, and our online store for books and genealogy research
material. So that's exciting. And then hopefully, we're going to get new
computers and new software systems.

You
talked about that the meeting? I'm glad you brought that up. Because I was
encouraged. You said, Well, really, you know, you've been on this for about a
month or so. But you're well over halfway to the goal. 

Yeah. So
you know, our computer systems are over, over 10 years old. There's a software
program called past perfect that helps us catalog everything. So someday, you
have a your great grandma donated something, and you wanted to go online and
look at it, we'll have a a, obviously with the fee that you can sponsor and
look at any item in our collection. It'll take a long time to put that in
there. But I sent out a annual appeal at the middle of December and asked and
asked our just our members, if they would if they would help us with this
because it wasn't in our general operating budget to just go out and purchase
these computers or purchase a a lease agreement with a company that would help
us and my goal was $10,000 and today we're close to six already in less than
two months. And so that's really encouraging that those that are our members
that are here already are willing to put some more towards us. And hopefully
the rest of the community too. Yeah, absolutely.

And
again, to me, it's encouraging that the folks are are it seems like you know,
understanding that hey, maybe the museum's not open right now you can't go in
and see the collection but the work is happening and they're supporting that
right. 

And now
it's been my goal also last year to if they can't come to us, we're going to
come to them so I've been talking to a few different places around town and and
they got stalled, you know, over the Christmas break and things got busy. But
hopefully in the next six to eight weeks, we're going to have to have satellite
exhibits around so that, you know, the County the county commissioners already
told me that we can put one in the county building. Oh, so we're talking about
putting a combine replica from a gentleman named Mike, Mike unrhymed that
invented a noun, then I'm gonna butcher the name of whatever employment he he
invented in the early 1900s. But anyway, so there'll be there'll be articles or
artifacts out there in the community that you can still visit. And it's
important for us to get those out there because people can't come to us and see
him unless they're gonna be volunteers, and they can see him firsthand. Yeah,
there you go. So

Well,
very cool. Um, well, I tell you, we've got to get over to our weather forecast.
But anything else you want to hit on or talk about before we go?

No, I'm
just happy to be here. And you know, I'm happy to chat. If anybody wants to
come in to our Eagle offices. You can usually catch me there. Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, about 1230 to 330 for sure. And, you know,
we've got Fizzers drop in and just tell me a little bit more about history, or
what interests you so very cool. 

<div><iframe title="Ellis Co. Historical Society eyes past while planning for the future" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=eznsw-11a4af2-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>On this episode of the Post Podcast, Ellis County Historical Society interim director Amanda Rupp stops by to share updates from the society.<h2>Transcript</h2>James Bell&nbsp;
The
Ellis County Historical Society is tackling a new year with new leadership and
a new vision. Interim Executive Director Amanda Rupp stops by to talk to us
about what's going on down at the Historical Society. On this episode of the
Post Podcast.Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
There is
a lot going on. Finally, finally, there's a lot going on. We have put in a lot
of work in the past 10 months, this small staff and I took over in like March,
so almost a year, but in 10 months, we have we have gotten a lot of stuff done.James Bell&nbsp;
So. And
you know, what I think is unfortunate right now is a lot of the work that is
required, the work that needs to be done is behind the scenes.Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
Right?
Right. A lot of people don't, you know, the, the doors have been closed. So a
lot of whispers, a lot of unknowns, but there is, you know, a lot you've been
on there. There's a lot of cool things down there. And it's time to you know,
after 50 years to reorganize. It had gotten a little out of hand. And then they
had some some tragedy with building issues. But And recently, this last summer,
we got all of the rest of the collection that we had stored off campus, back to
our location, and it needs to be gone through with a fine tooth comb.James Bell&nbsp;
Yeah,
yeah. So would to back up a little bit to give everybody kind of just a little
bit of background here. Yeah, when you guys took over? Well, specifically,
there was there was water damage in one of the storage buildings, where you
guys keep we're keeping the artifacts. So all of that the first goal when you
guys took over was getting it all into that one building. So you could start to
see what do we have? Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
Yeah,
you know, we got gifted the Sternberg collection, if you ever went down to the
Sternberg Museum, when it was down on campus, it was down in one of the
basements of the buildings down there, then they had wall to wall stuff, and
everybody loves going down and visiting. And when Sternberg went out to the
dome, they gifted the Ellis County Historical Society with everything that
wasn't related to their mission out there, which was natural history. So we got
a lot of the human artifacts, and we didn't have the place to, to display them
all, and rented two units to put them, but they hadn't all been a session into
our database or into our collections. So many, many artifacts have been sitting
down there for years that has not that have not been a session into our
collection, and they need to that needs to happen. James Bell&nbsp;
Yeah,
absolutely. You know, really, and I think, correct me if I'm wrong here, but
there's like two missions at the Ellis County Historical Society. One is
preserving our history. And the number two is displaying it right. But if you
can't, if you're not doing number one, you can't do number two, right?Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
And I
spoke this to the board. And when we first got started is you know, everybody
wants to see where we're going or what we're doing. But we need to assess, you
know, most of the majority of the board is fairly new, we need to assess what
we have before we can say what we can do with it. So that's, that's our goal.James Bell&nbsp;
Yeah.
And unfortunately, again, that's all that's all behind the scenes work. And you
know, and it's not a quick and easy process. I think if I remember correctly
from the board meeting, that you guys had last early last month, or early this
month, whatever it was recently. That was one of the things it's it's a years
long process, right to get through all this stuff, right? Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
And, you
know, with the the operating budget that they have, we're working with it. They
fortunately got, you know, a three man crew that is working is splitting a full
time job. So it's it's part time work. And, you know, I'm proud to say that,
when I figured it up, it was like 2140 hour weeks that we've put in this work
to get done. So it goes behind the scenes, and it gets done by our direction,
and hopefully some volunteers.James Bell&nbsp;
Yeah,
yeah. And we're gonna talk about the need for volunteers here in a little bit.
But one of the things that also come out of that meeting that kind of struck me
was a lot of the collection is well, not necessarily related to Ellis County.Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
Well,
you know, beginning when they took that when they took objects, everything was
important. And they were trying to, you know, amass a great collection, which
they did. And then when we also got Starbucks collection collection, I don't
know exactly what their criteria was for taking collections at the beginning in
Sternberg, but it doesn't necessarily some things are not even from our county,
there's a there's a buggy from Sheridan County. Gorgeous, old 1890s, buggy,
little baby buggy, but things like that, that don't belong to our museum
necessarily, that we need to just search through. And then we have extras of a
lot of things that when we get down to it, can we take care of it properly? Can
we can we display it and preserve it properly? do it justice, so we need to
make some decisions there.James Bell&nbsp;
Yeah,
and it's not like again, this came out during that meeting. It's not like these
items if it wasn't one of the examples I think and I think it was you gave it
to the you have like nine pull behind or hold or walk behind.Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
And
those take up a lot of room. So I mean, they're great. And, you know, I'd love
to have one in my yard or something, but as decoration, but we can't store nine
pull behind plows, and, you know, even to display one, but there's also other
museums that might not have one other county museums or other entities that
that could. And that's our responsibility as the as a historical society that
we have a guideline criteria that we need to follow through with how we do a
session something or things like that. Yeah. And I think that's got to be
reassuring to the community, right? It's not like these items, you know, if
you're finding that they don't exactly fit in the in your collection, it's not
like they're getting chunked or sold, right? They're going to other museums or
right, I don't know, there's, there's criteria that you have to follow. I mean,
everything has to go through our board and make a decision whether this fits
our collections policy, and then the process starts of, you know, offering it
to other other entities that might use it or a specialty museum that might find
be able to collect just that, before we decided anything else with it. Now some
things will be, you know, are damaged beyond our control or our you know, worth
keeping. Those things ought to be assessed, as well by professionals that do
that. So, yeah.James Bell&nbsp;
But
going through that collection, and sorting through all that stuff, even the
sorting part, but then also doing that work of separating out nine or eight of
the nine walk behind plows, that requires a lot of time and a lot of people,
which is exactly what you're calling for. Now you need help. Right, right,Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
We want
the the community used to be involved in this. I mean, when they started in
1971, those first two decades, I mean, I look back at pictures and, and
documents and the community was involved. And they had a passion for it. And I
believe they still do. And maybe they just haven't, you know, had the
opportunity or the reach out to to get those people involved. But there's a lot
more people getting into the retirement age that need some activities. And this
might be right up their alley. SoJames Bell&nbsp;
Well,
you you you mentioned the retirement age, I was thinking to the students, you
know, yeah, what a cool way to interact with history of your high school
student, or maybe maybe even afford a student that, like myself immigrated into
Hayes, and you want to learn more about the history. My gosh, you can get in
there and touch it.Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
Right.
And we did have some some high school students helped us move that large
collection this summer. And yeah, you know, some of the things that they
learned just by looking at it, and they didn't, you know, they didn't realize
that we had an aerial camera that used to sit in that in an airplane for more
to and he was just fascinated by it, you know, just just things that sparked
their interest that they wouldn't have necessarily gotten to see in a textbook
or anything else. But yeah, I'd love to have some high school students too, but
we also have, we're working we were awarded a Dane Hinson. Scholarship or not
scholarships, gives me internship through the Fort Hays, so we will be doing
some interviews on campus next week for one student to help us a session and
and catalog, the textiles collection that we have this summer. So we're getting
some students involved.James Bell&nbsp;
Yeah,
that's awesome. I love to hear that natural. Yeah. The earlier this week, we
had a Dane G. Hansen, intern from the Hayes chamber joining us so that was it.
Yeah. Really cool program. Yeah, it is. So if someone's listening to us right
now, they're thinking, oh, yeah, like, man, I've got a few hours a week that I
could dedicate to preserving the history of Ellis County, what's the easiest
and best way for them to do that?Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
Well,
you know, to email me, email me at director at ACH s hayes.org. Or you can call
the office and leave a message and we'll get back to you our office hours are
kind of limited at the moment. And sometimes we're down at the campus. So we're
not sitting in our office, but that number is 6282624. And somebody will get
back to you. And you just fill out a a volunteer application and a little bit
of paperwork. Of course, we'd like you to be a member. But that's not
necessarily, you know, set in stone. But surely, surely, if you love history,
you want to be a member and it's affordable. But there's there's there's
opportunities for people that like to hands on build stuff, you know, we've got
a lot of shelves that need to be assembled or taken down, moved. There's some
people that want to do some desk work. And there's plenty of office stuff that
needs to be done before we get into the nitty gritty of actually cataloging
these items, which hopefully is coming really soon. Yeah.James Bell&nbsp;
You
mentioned the membership. I do want to talk about that. Because, you know, one
of the things that struck me again at this meeting was was How many members are
involved. So it's kind of, to me, it seems like a little bit of a weird
structure because you've got your, like, the Board of Trustees and you've got
your members and then you've got you know, we get I don't know if you want to
kind of quickly go through Yeah, how that all works.Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
So, you
know, back when we had an open museum That was that was a great idea you became
a member and you got in free, you can come by and look through anything, you
could use our archives and make copies at your leisure without charge. And
there's, you know, different membership categories like student and family, and
such. Now, you know, we're relying on memberships. Just to start off with, of
course, when we open up a new museum of some sort, they will be able to still
have those same benefits. But it's a spa, it's a way of supporting the
historical society, we use a large portion of it for our general general
operating budget. And so there's students, there's family, there's singles,
seniors, and then if you feel like you are able to give a little bit more and
would like to be a sponsor, we also have sponsorship levels. And, you know, I
continually talk about the the early 70s 80s, when, you know, the historical
study was booming, I say, they had a lot of members and a lot ours, our numbers
have dwindled, but they've stayed steady for the past 10 or 15 years of the
same 140 people that really want to participate and really want to support us,
but I think we can do a lot more. So this year, you'll see us a lot more out
doing a membership drive, getting more sponsors, getting more people involved.
Very cool.James Bell&nbsp;
Yeah. So
I mean, that and what a great way to support the best historical society if you
can't, or just really don't have the time to physically volunteer, you know,
become a member throw a little money that way for sponsorship and, and the
sponsorships. You know, we talked about this quite a bit here on the go morning
show. Every little bit helps, you know, if you've got 10 Correct me if I'm
wrong, but 10 $15 to sponsor something, that it may not feel like a whole lot,
but together with the data.Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
Right.
It adds up, you know, if, you know, 10, seniors $10. There's, there's $100. You
know, it adds up fast. And I say, our sponsorships have really dwindled over
the past few years, the the ones that are giving $75 or more. But if one of my
we have a 17, board member trustee, or excuse me, Board of Trustees, and if
every single one of them went out and got, you know, $100 sponsorship or asked
someone for $100 sponsorship, there's, you know, our electric bill for the
month, it really does add up. Very cool. Now,James Bell&nbsp;
You also
mentioned this, and I think we should probably talk about this before we go,
you've got a new office. So you've got the campus down there, where all the
artifacts are being now held. But you also have an office for your business
work. And that's in the eagle Plaza now. Right? Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
Right,
it's right over here across the street, or down the street. And that was a
generous collaboration through the street Foundation, actually, we're taking
over some of their old office space, temporarily, so that we could kind of have
a centralized place to house in their storefront area to house our, our excuse
me, our archives, and our online store for books and genealogy research
material. So that's exciting. And then hopefully, we're going to get new
computers and new software systems.James Bell&nbsp;
You
talked about that the meeting? I'm glad you brought that up. Because I was
encouraged. You said, Well, really, you know, you've been on this for about a
month or so. But you're well over halfway to the goal. Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
Yeah. So
you know, our computer systems are over, over 10 years old. There's a software
program called past perfect that helps us catalog everything. So someday, you
have a your great grandma donated something, and you wanted to go online and
look at it, we'll have a a, obviously with the fee that you can sponsor and
look at any item in our collection. It'll take a long time to put that in
there. But I sent out a annual appeal at the middle of December and asked and
asked our just our members, if they would if they would help us with this
because it wasn't in our general operating budget to just go out and purchase
these computers or purchase a a lease agreement with a company that would help
us and my goal was $10,000 and today we're close to six already in less than
two months. And so that's really encouraging that those that are our members
that are here already are willing to put some more towards us. And hopefully
the rest of the community too. Yeah, absolutely.James Bell&nbsp;
And
again, to me, it's encouraging that the folks are are it seems like you know,
understanding that hey, maybe the museum's not open right now you can't go in
and see the collection but the work is happening and they're supporting that
right. Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
And now
it's been my goal also last year to if they can't come to us, we're going to
come to them so I've been talking to a few different places around town and and
they got stalled, you know, over the Christmas break and things got busy. But
hopefully in the next six to eight weeks, we're going to have to have satellite
exhibits around so that, you know, the County the county commissioners already
told me that we can put one in the county building. Oh, so we're talking about
putting a combine replica from a gentleman named Mike, Mike unrhymed that
invented a noun, then I'm gonna butcher the name of whatever employment he he
invented in the early 1900s. But anyway, so there'll be there'll be articles or
artifacts out there in the community that you can still visit. And it's
important for us to get those out there because people can't come to us and see
him unless they're gonna be volunteers, and they can see him firsthand. Yeah,
there you go. SoJames Bell&nbsp;
Well,
very cool. Um, well, I tell you, we've got to get over to our weather forecast.
But anything else you want to hit on or talk about before we go?Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
No, I'm
just happy to be here. And you know, I'm happy to chat. If anybody wants to
come in to our Eagle offices. You can usually catch me there. Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, about 1230 to 330 for sure. And, you know,
we've got Fizzers drop in and just tell me a little bit more about history, or
what interests you so very cool. James Bell&nbsp;
Yeah,
it's a community effort, right?Amanda Rupp&nbsp;
&nbsp;Yeah. So it's exciting.

🎙Post Podcast: Ellis Co. Historical Society eyes past while planning for the future

The Hays Baseball Club organization is accepting player signups and has scheduled evaluations for players ages 15 to 19.

Evaluations will be Feb. 26 at Premier Indoor Training (PIT). Current freshman and sophomores are expected to try out at 1 p.m., and current juniors and seniors are expected to try out at 3 p.m.

The player signup form can be found <a href="https://form.jotform.com/220388018202144">HERE</a>.

The HBC also has announced its inaugural golf tournament, scheduled for Friday, May 13, at Smoky Hill Country Club.

The event will start with registration at 8 a.m. and a shotgun start at 9 a.m. Hole and hole prize sponsorships are still available by emailing&nbsp;<a href="mailto:hbcbaseballhs@gmail.com?subject=Golf%20Tournament">hbcbaseballhs@gmail.com</a>.

Players can register for the golf tournament <a href="https://www.nex-tech.com/haysbaseball.aspx">HERE</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1645137804135.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>News releaseThe Hays Baseball Club organization is accepting player signups and has scheduled evaluations for players ages 15 to 19.Evaluations will be Feb. 26 at Premier Indoor Training (PIT). Current freshman and sophomores are expected to try out at 1 p.m., and current juniors and seniors are expected to try out at 3 p.m.The player signup form can be found <a href="https://form.jotform.com/220388018202144">HERE</a>.The HBC also has announced its inaugural golf tournament, scheduled for Friday, May 13, at Smoky Hill Country Club.The event will start with registration at 8 a.m. and a shotgun start at 9 a.m. Hole and hole prize sponsorships are still available by emailing&nbsp;<a href="mailto:hbcbaseballhs@gmail.com?subject=Golf%20Tournament">hbcbaseballhs@gmail.com</a>.Players can register for the golf tournament <a href="https://www.nex-tech.com/haysbaseball.aspx">HERE</a>.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1645215170217.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

Hays Baseball Club golf tourney scheduled

The year 2021 was challenging for many people. Despite its challenges, it was the culmination of marked accomplishments for Dr. Hendratta Ali, associate professor of geosciences at Fort Hays State University.

Dr. Ali led or co-authored half a dozen publications, with several others out for review. Some of her works included topics related to equity in geoscience, estuarine and coastal research, and education and career preparation for STEM disciplines. &nbsp;

In addition to her teaching responsibilities, mentoring of students, research, and prolific publications, Ali accepted an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) Assignment at the National Science Foundation (NSF), rotating as a Program Director for their Hydrologic Sciences Program. NSF offers selected individuals the opportunity to become temporary program directors in their field of expertise while&nbsp;retaining ties to their current institution before returning with new insights and experiences.

Ali will serve one year or more in this position and will&nbsp;continue to be employed by Fort Hays State University. FHSU receives a grant from NSF while Dr. Ali is assigned to the Foundation. She began her work remotely from Hays due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions but has since relocated to Alexandria, Virginia.

Dr. Grady Dixon, Dean of the Peter Werth College of Science, Technology and Mathematics, said he believes Dr. Ali is the first active FHSU employee to be appointed as an NSF Program Director.&nbsp;

“Working remotely gave me additional time to prepare for the move and allowed me the opportunity to maintain a close relationship with trainees,” Dr. Ali said. She noted that her work for NSF requires her to maintain strict hours, but she was able to meet with her FHSU students and colleagues as needed outside of those time constraints.&nbsp;

Prior to taking the NSF position, Ali was actively involved with other endeavors. In 2021 alone, she accepted 12 invitations, mostly virtual, to give presentations, including a Pardee Keynote Symposia at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, and a Plenary Keynote at the&nbsp;Geological Association of Canada - Mineralogical Association of Canada Joint meeting. She also gave four invited talks and six presentations to various conferences.&nbsp;

Ali received several awards, including the Presidential Citation from the American Geophysical Union, an award given to the diverse team she led, which created the Call for a Robust Anti-Racism Plan for the Geosciences. She was honored with the Randolph W. “Bill” and Cecile T. Bromery Award from the Geological Society of America, given for significant contributions to geological science research or for being instrumental in opening the field of geoscience to minorities.&nbsp;

“I am honored to be recognized for my work,” Ali said. “It is especially rewarding to be acknowledged by members of my professional community.”

Ali also received FHSU’s President’s Distinguished Scholar award, which recognizes a faculty member with outstanding performance.&nbsp;

As part of the President’s Distinguished Scholar Program, Ali gave a presentation last fall entitled&nbsp;Serendipity meets Preparedness: Twists and Turns from the Academic Pipeline to a #BraidedModel.&nbsp;This presentation was a sneak-peek into five recent publications and projects that Ali led or co-authored.

The projects she drew from included estuarine studies about plastic litter pollution and the coastal environment, an actionable plan for anti-racism for geoscience organizations, the effects of tides on groundwater salinization near coastal communities, and reimagining academic and career preparation for STEM disciplines.

Ali wove in her own professional pathway to illustrate her work as an example of the multiple critical roles different life and professional experiences play in an academic’s work and career. She demonstrated why it is necessary to ensure that students are not only prepared to participate in an expected workforce but more so for the future workforce that we do not yet know much about.&nbsp;

Ali said that the metaphor of a pipeline, where students enter a degree program having only one specific outcome in mind, does not adequately prepare students for the rapidly changing workplace and the opportunities that come with these changes. Instead, students need to be mentored in an approach where they view their degrees as opportunities to build skills and tools that can be applied to any number of possible futures. Their courses, internships, lab work, formal and informal interactions with peers and mentors should all be seen as part of a woven braid to provide necessary skills for success both today and in the future.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608308853430.jpeg" alt="Dr. Hendratta Ali" />
 <figcaption>Dr. Hendratta Ali</figcaption>
 </figure>FHSU University CommunicationsThe year 2021 was challenging for many people. Despite its challenges, it was the culmination of marked accomplishments for Dr. Hendratta Ali, associate professor of geosciences at Fort Hays State University.Dr. Ali led or co-authored half a dozen publications, with several others out for review. Some of her works included topics related to equity in geoscience, estuarine and coastal research, and education and career preparation for STEM disciplines. &nbsp;In addition to her teaching responsibilities, mentoring of students, research, and prolific publications, Ali accepted an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) Assignment at the National Science Foundation (NSF), rotating as a Program Director for their Hydrologic Sciences Program. NSF offers selected individuals the opportunity to become temporary program directors in their field of expertise while&nbsp;retaining ties to their current institution before returning with new insights and experiences.Ali will serve one year or more in this position and will&nbsp;continue to be employed by Fort Hays State University. FHSU receives a grant from NSF while Dr. Ali is assigned to the Foundation. She began her work remotely from Hays due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions but has since relocated to Alexandria, Virginia.Dr. Grady Dixon, Dean of the Peter Werth College of Science, Technology and Mathematics, said he believes Dr. Ali is the first active FHSU employee to be appointed as an NSF Program Director.&nbsp;“Working remotely gave me additional time to prepare for the move and allowed me the opportunity to maintain a close relationship with trainees,” Dr. Ali said. She noted that her work for NSF requires her to maintain strict hours, but she was able to meet with her FHSU students and colleagues as needed outside of those time constraints.&nbsp;Prior to taking the NSF position, Ali was actively involved with other endeavors. In 2021 alone, she accepted 12 invitations, mostly virtual, to give presentations, including a Pardee Keynote Symposia at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, and a Plenary Keynote at the&nbsp;Geological Association of Canada - Mineralogical Association of Canada Joint meeting. She also gave four invited talks and six presentations to various conferences.&nbsp;Ali received several awards, including the Presidential Citation from the American Geophysical Union, an award given to the diverse team she led, which created the Call for a Robust Anti-Racism Plan for the Geosciences. She was honored with the Randolph W. “Bill” and Cecile T. Bromery Award from the Geological Society of America, given for significant contributions to geological science research or for being instrumental in opening the field of geoscience to minorities.&nbsp;“I am honored to be recognized for my work,” Ali said. “It is especially rewarding to be acknowledged by members of my professional community.”Ali also received FHSU’s President’s Distinguished Scholar award, which recognizes a faculty member with outstanding performance.&nbsp;As part of the President’s Distinguished Scholar Program, Ali gave a presentation last fall entitled&nbsp;Serendipity meets Preparedness: Twists and Turns from the Academic Pipeline to a #BraidedModel.&nbsp;This presentation was a sneak-peek into five recent publications and projects that Ali led or co-authored.The projects she drew from included estuarine studies about plastic litter pollution and the coastal environment, an actionable plan for anti-racism for geoscience organizations, the effects of tides on groundwater salinization near coastal communities, and reimagining academic and career preparation for STEM disciplines.Ali wove in her own professional pathway to illustrate her work as an example of the multiple critical roles different life and professional experiences play in an academic’s work and career. She demonstrated why it is necessary to ensure that students are not only prepared to participate in an expected workforce but more so for the future workforce that we do not yet know much about.&nbsp;Ali said that the metaphor of a pipeline, where students enter a degree program having only one specific outcome in mind, does not adequately prepare students for the rapidly changing workplace and the opportunities that come with these changes. Instead, students need to be mentored in an approach where they view their degrees as opportunities to build skills and tools that can be applied to any number of possible futures. Their courses, internships, lab work, formal and informal interactions with peers and mentors should all be seen as part of a woven braid to provide necessary skills for success both today and in the future.

A remarkable year for FHSU’s Dr. Hendratta Ali

BUNKER HILL — Smoky Hills PBS as welcomed&nbsp;Betsy&nbsp;Schwien&nbsp;to its team&nbsp;as&nbsp;the&nbsp;new general manager. Schwien&nbsp;will&nbsp;oversee&nbsp;all&nbsp;operations&nbsp;of SHPBS.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Betsy brings great leadership and enthusiasm to Smoky Hills PBS,” said Joe Robben, chairman of the Smoky Hills PBS board of directors. &nbsp;“Myself, as well as the&nbsp;other&nbsp;board members, feel that Betsy will move&nbsp;us forward and provide&nbsp;for a successful future. &nbsp;We are&nbsp;thrilled&nbsp;to work with Betsy and her team and excited for the future of Smoky Hills PBS.”

Schwien is originally from the Kansas City area but has lived in Russell for the last 20-plus years with her&nbsp;husband, Justin, and son, Jase. She is a Fort Hays State University alumni, receiving both her bachelor's and&nbsp;master's&nbsp;degrees from FHSU.&nbsp;Schwien has a long history of working with the public and has a true passion for service to her community.&nbsp; She joins the Smoky Hills PBS team with a background in health care administration as well as public service.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

“I am both honored and blessed to be working for such an incredible organization,” Schwien said. “I’m&nbsp;grateful for the opportunity&nbsp;to lead this great team where each one of them bring so many new and exciting ideas. To be surrounded by such an amazing group of people, which I now call my SHPBS&nbsp;family, is a great honor. &nbsp;I am excited for&nbsp;our future, stay tuned for more to come from Smoky Hills PBS.!”

Schwien&nbsp;joins Smoky Hills PBS&nbsp;as they&nbsp;get ready to launch another March Pledge Drive. &nbsp;Donor support during these pledge drives allows SHPBS to provide quality and educational programming to its viewers in central and western Kansas.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1644507571873.jpeg" alt="Betsy Schwien" />
 <figcaption>Betsy Schwien</figcaption>
 </figure>News releaseBUNKER HILL — Smoky Hills PBS as welcomed&nbsp;Betsy&nbsp;Schwien&nbsp;to its team&nbsp;as&nbsp;the&nbsp;new general manager. Schwien&nbsp;will&nbsp;oversee&nbsp;all&nbsp;operations&nbsp;of SHPBS.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Betsy brings great leadership and enthusiasm to Smoky Hills PBS,” said Joe Robben, chairman of the Smoky Hills PBS board of directors. &nbsp;“Myself, as well as the&nbsp;other&nbsp;board members, feel that Betsy will move&nbsp;us forward and provide&nbsp;for a successful future. &nbsp;We are&nbsp;thrilled&nbsp;to work with Betsy and her team and excited for the future of Smoky Hills PBS.”Schwien is originally from the Kansas City area but has lived in Russell for the last 20-plus years with her&nbsp;husband, Justin, and son, Jase. She is a Fort Hays State University alumni, receiving both her bachelor's and&nbsp;master's&nbsp;degrees from FHSU.&nbsp;Schwien has a long history of working with the public and has a true passion for service to her community.&nbsp; She joins the Smoky Hills PBS team with a background in health care administration as well as public service.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;“I am both honored and blessed to be working for such an incredible organization,” Schwien said. “I’m&nbsp;grateful for the opportunity&nbsp;to lead this great team where each one of them bring so many new and exciting ideas. To be surrounded by such an amazing group of people, which I now call my SHPBS&nbsp;family, is a great honor. &nbsp;I am excited for&nbsp;our future, stay tuned for more to come from Smoky Hills PBS.!”Schwien&nbsp;joins Smoky Hills PBS&nbsp;as they&nbsp;get ready to launch another March Pledge Drive. &nbsp;Donor support during these pledge drives allows SHPBS to provide quality and educational programming to its viewers in central and western Kansas.&nbsp;

Fort Hays State alum named general manager at Smoky Hills PBS

Multi-musician entertainer Gary Todd is known as The New Odyssey Guy.&nbsp;Sponsored by Western Plains Arts Association, Todd will be taking the stage of the&nbsp;Wallace County High School Auditorium, 521 North Main Street, Sharon Springs,&nbsp;on&nbsp;Sunday, Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. MST (3 p.m. CST).

Admission is by WPAA season ticket, or adults $10, students $5 at the door. In addition to business sponsors and other generous&nbsp;foundations, this program&nbsp;receives&nbsp;major&nbsp;grant funding from the Dane G. Hansen&nbsp;Foundation, Logan, Kan.

Prior to launching a solo career featuring&nbsp;Todd&nbsp;playing ten different instruments, he was one of three guys from the greater Chicago area&nbsp;who&nbsp;played a combined number of&nbsp;30 instruments from&nbsp;late 1977 through 2018 known as New Odyssey.

Breaking into the entertainment industry at age 2,&nbsp;he&nbsp;began performing as an acrobat in his family act “The Tumbling Todd’s.” By the age of 13 he had already headed out on his own with his first single act, entertaining the crowds with&nbsp;music,&nbsp;comedy and&nbsp;tumbling. A few years later at&nbsp;the age of 17, Gary joined&nbsp;a&nbsp;midwestpub and&nbsp;night club&nbsp;band “Odyssey."

He regularly plays: trumpet, bass trumpet, pocket trumpet,&nbsp;banjo,&nbsp;electric guitar,&nbsp;soprano sax,&nbsp;alto sax, baritone,&nbsp;flugelhorn, and&nbsp;the electronic&nbsp;drums.

“Originally I picked&nbsp;up the drums to join my brother’s band&nbsp;‘Wally and the Whalers’<a></a>,” Todd said. "My drums have evolved from a traditional acoustic set to the current electronic drums in use today. ... The drums have always been a mainstay of my identity as a musician.”

Visit the&nbsp;Website:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thenewodysseyguy.com/">www.thenewodysseyguy.com</a>&nbsp;for pictures, videos and more.

<figure>
 <iframe width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ev5H7Wd349I"></iframe>
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WPAAMulti-musician entertainer Gary Todd is known as The New Odyssey Guy.&nbsp;Sponsored by Western Plains Arts Association, Todd will be taking the stage of the&nbsp;Wallace County High School Auditorium, 521 North Main Street, Sharon Springs,&nbsp;on&nbsp;Sunday, Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. MST (3 p.m. CST).Admission is by WPAA season ticket, or adults $10, students $5 at the door. In addition to business sponsors and other generous&nbsp;foundations, this program&nbsp;receives&nbsp;major&nbsp;grant funding from the Dane G. Hansen&nbsp;Foundation, Logan, Kan.Prior to launching a solo career featuring&nbsp;Todd&nbsp;playing ten different instruments, he was one of three guys from the greater Chicago area&nbsp;who&nbsp;played a combined number of&nbsp;30 instruments from&nbsp;late 1977 through 2018 known as New Odyssey.Breaking into the entertainment industry at age 2,&nbsp;he&nbsp;began performing as an acrobat in his family act “The Tumbling Todd’s.” By the age of 13 he had already headed out on his own with his first single act, entertaining the crowds with&nbsp;music,&nbsp;comedy and&nbsp;tumbling. A few years later at&nbsp;the age of 17, Gary joined&nbsp;a&nbsp;midwestpub and&nbsp;night club&nbsp;band “Odyssey."He regularly plays: trumpet, bass trumpet, pocket trumpet,&nbsp;banjo,&nbsp;electric guitar,&nbsp;soprano sax,&nbsp;alto sax, baritone,&nbsp;flugelhorn, and&nbsp;the electronic&nbsp;drums.“Originally I picked&nbsp;up the drums to join my brother’s band&nbsp;‘Wally and the Whalers’<a></a>,” Todd said. "My drums have evolved from a traditional acoustic set to the current electronic drums in use today. ... The drums have always been a mainstay of my identity as a musician.”Visit the&nbsp;Website:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thenewodysseyguy.com/">www.thenewodysseyguy.com</a>&nbsp;for pictures, videos and more.

🎥 'The New Odyssey Guy' set to take the stage in Sharon Springs

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1644604768904.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://hayspost.com/pages/state-farm-weather-window">For a full look at the weather forecast click here.</a>

I recently had a great opportunity to attend a cattle conference. As part of the conference, we listened to a variety of speakers with keynotes by boxer George Foreman and football player Joe Theismann!&nbsp;

In both of their speeches, there was a common theme that applies to many of us.&nbsp;

George touched on Principles – knowing who you are and the foundation that provides; Fight – keep working toward goals every day; and Convictions – knowing what you believe in and being willing to work toward that,&nbsp;even when it is hard.

In Joe’s address, he highlighted the following:

Goals – set personal, professional, spiritual, and financial&nbsp;goals&nbsp;because without a goal, how do you know where you are headed or when you are making progress.

Attitude – “When is the last time you congratulated yourself?”&nbsp;and focused on working to keep a positive attitude every day, no matter the circumstances.

Teamwork – make sure that everyone on the team feels valued regardless of the size of their role.

Motivation – Keeping an eye on goals and attitude will help but at the end of the day, each of us must choose to be motivated to be better, to learn something new, to improve on a skill.

Both men have seen incredible success and have dealt with some pretty tough circumstances. They continue to use the lessons they have learned to be better people and I certainly respect that!

Everyone deals with their own set of circumstances and difficulties - some of our own making and some out of our control – but each of us can set goals, adjust our attitude, acknowledge those around us, and stay focused on our path to learn, grow, and improve every day.

Keep learning. Keep showing grace and kindness.

Michelle Beran is the 4-H and Youth Development Agent in the Cottonwood Extension District – Barton County office. For more information on this article or other 4-H and Youth Development related questions, email Michelle at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:mberan@ksu.edu">mberan@ksu.edu</a>&nbsp;or call 620-793-1910.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1579114162620.jpeg" alt="Michelle Beran&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Michelle Beran&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>I recently had a great opportunity to attend a cattle conference. As part of the conference, we listened to a variety of speakers with keynotes by boxer George Foreman and football player Joe Theismann!&nbsp;In both of their speeches, there was a common theme that applies to many of us.&nbsp;George touched on Principles – knowing who you are and the foundation that provides; Fight – keep working toward goals every day; and Convictions – knowing what you believe in and being willing to work toward that,&nbsp;even when it is hard.In Joe’s address, he highlighted the following:Goals – set personal, professional, spiritual, and financial&nbsp;goals&nbsp;because without a goal, how do you know where you are headed or when you are making progress.Attitude – “When is the last time you congratulated yourself?”&nbsp;and focused on working to keep a positive attitude every day, no matter the circumstances.Teamwork – make sure that everyone on the team feels valued regardless of the size of their role.Motivation – Keeping an eye on goals and attitude will help but at the end of the day, each of us must choose to be motivated to be better, to learn something new, to improve on a skill.Both men have seen incredible success and have dealt with some pretty tough circumstances. They continue to use the lessons they have learned to be better people and I certainly respect that!Everyone deals with their own set of circumstances and difficulties - some of our own making and some out of our control – but each of us can set goals, adjust our attitude, acknowledge those around us, and stay focused on our path to learn, grow, and improve every day.Keep learning. Keep showing grace and kindness.Michelle Beran is the 4-H and Youth Development Agent in the Cottonwood Extension District – Barton County office. For more information on this article or other 4-H and Youth Development related questions, email Michelle at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:mberan@ksu.edu">mberan@ksu.edu</a>&nbsp;or call 620-793-1910.

BERAN: Grace, kindness and goals

TOPEKA February 11, 2022

On Tuesday, February 8, the House debated and passed House Substitute for Senate Bill 347. This bill is called the “Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion” Program, also referred to as APEX. This bill was needed to be passed in order for a major company to move into the state of Kansas that could produce 4,000 jobs.

This bill, which has been somewhat controversial, would provide tax incentives to qualified firms who agree to invest at least $1 billion in the state of Kansas within a five-year period. Please keep in mind that bill is a new economic development program and not a deal for one company.

This APEX bill will generate projects that have the potential to provide billions of dollars in ancillary economic benefits for the state. The House version requires a measured and prudent reduction of corporate taxes for all of Kansas corporations when an APEX project comes to Kansas. The reduction is a 0.5% one time for each such project.

This bill also promotes qualified suppliers where they can receive incentives as well. It also creates a $10 million matching fund for qualified firms to provide relocation incentives and help with expenses for employees who will move to Kansas and make Kansas their primary residence.

I voted “yes,” and the Senate debated and concurred on the bill that passed the House late Wednesday afternoon. Now that this legislation is law an offer will now be reaching out to the company.

The House Appropriations Committee was busy this week with budgets and bill hearings. The budgets that we heard were Kansas Lottery, Kansas Racing and Gaming, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, Office of the State Bank Commissioner, State Historical Society, Kansas Bureau of Investigations and many more. We also conducted two bill hearings this week. House Bill 2591 is a technical clean up bill that is needed for a bill that passed last year regarding the combination of funds for abandoned oil and gas wells in Kansas. We then worked HB 2591 on Thursday and passed it out of committee for a debate on the House floor. The second is House Bill 2541, which credits the docket and other fees to the state general fund instead of the Judicial Branch docket fee fund.

Aside from the APEX bill, there were other bills that we debated and passed on the House floor this week. Here are the details of those bills:

The House debated House Concurrent Resolution 5023 which states that the state of Kansas denounces instances of price gouging and market manipulation involving natural gas. It also states that it supports state efforts by the Office of the Attorney General and federal efforts by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to investigate increases in natural gas prices during the extreme cold weather event of February 2021.

We also debated House Bill 2473 which amends current law governing the composition of the Board of Trustees of the Douglas County Law Library.

The last bill that we debated this week is House Bill 2490 which makes changes to the Kansas Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) savings program. The state of Kansas must make changes to our current ABLE program to comply with federal rules that were put into place in November 2020. Due to these rule changes, we needed to alter our current program or we could find the Kansas program noncompliant and no longer a federally qualified program.

I voted in favor of the resolution and both bills.

After the Senate passed the override from the veto by Governor Kelly regarding the Congressional maps, the House then took the override to a vote. Since the new map has no population deviation, meaning that all four districts have the exact same population numbers, I voted to override the veto.

Anytime that one would like to participate and listen to the developments of committee hearings or discussion on the House floor, one can tune in by listening to the audio footage at www.kslegislature.org.

As always, if you have any concerns, feel free to contact me (785) 296-7672, follow on twitter at @waymaster4house, or email me at troy.waymaster@house.ks.gov. Please contact me regarding any issues and legislation that we are discussing during session.

It is a distinct honor to serve as your representative for the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas. Please contact me with your thoughts, concerns, and questions. I always appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas, as well.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1633970422056.jpeg" alt="State Rep. Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, 109th District" />
 <figcaption>State Rep. Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, 109th District</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA February 11, 2022APEX BillOn Tuesday, February 8, the House debated and passed House Substitute for Senate Bill 347. This bill is called the “Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion” Program, also referred to as APEX. This bill was needed to be passed in order for a major company to move into the state of Kansas that could produce 4,000 jobs.This bill, which has been somewhat controversial, would provide tax incentives to qualified firms who agree to invest at least $1 billion in the state of Kansas within a five-year period. Please keep in mind that bill is a new economic development program and not a deal for one company.This APEX bill will generate projects that have the potential to provide billions of dollars in ancillary economic benefits for the state. The House version requires a measured and prudent reduction of corporate taxes for all of Kansas corporations when an APEX project comes to Kansas. The reduction is a 0.5% one time for each such project.This bill also promotes qualified suppliers where they can receive incentives as well. It also creates a $10 million matching fund for qualified firms to provide relocation incentives and help with expenses for employees who will move to Kansas and make Kansas their primary residence.I voted “yes,” and the Senate debated and concurred on the bill that passed the House late Wednesday afternoon. Now that this legislation is law an offer will now be reaching out to the company.Appropriations CommitteeThe House Appropriations Committee was busy this week with budgets and bill hearings. The budgets that we heard were Kansas Lottery, Kansas Racing and Gaming, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, Office of the State Bank Commissioner, State Historical Society, Kansas Bureau of Investigations and many more. We also conducted two bill hearings this week. House Bill 2591 is a technical clean up bill that is needed for a bill that passed last year regarding the combination of funds for abandoned oil and gas wells in Kansas. We then worked HB 2591 on Thursday and passed it out of committee for a debate on the House floor. The second is House Bill 2541, which credits the docket and other fees to the state general fund instead of the Judicial Branch docket fee fund.Bill Activity in the HouseAside from the APEX bill, there were other bills that we debated and passed on the House floor this week. Here are the details of those bills:The House debated House Concurrent Resolution 5023 which states that the state of Kansas denounces instances of price gouging and market manipulation involving natural gas. It also states that it supports state efforts by the Office of the Attorney General and federal efforts by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to investigate increases in natural gas prices during the extreme cold weather event of February 2021.We also debated House Bill 2473 which amends current law governing the composition of the Board of Trustees of the Douglas County Law Library.The last bill that we debated this week is House Bill 2490 which makes changes to the Kansas Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) savings program. The state of Kansas must make changes to our current ABLE program to comply with federal rules that were put into place in November 2020. Due to these rule changes, we needed to alter our current program or we could find the Kansas program noncompliant and no longer a federally qualified program.I voted in favor of the resolution and both bills.After the Senate passed the override from the veto by Governor Kelly regarding the Congressional maps, the House then took the override to a vote. Since the new map has no population deviation, meaning that all four districts have the exact same population numbers, I voted to override the veto.Contact InformationAnytime that one would like to participate and listen to the developments of committee hearings or discussion on the House floor, one can tune in by listening to the audio footage at www.kslegislature.org.As always, if you have any concerns, feel free to contact me (785) 296-7672, follow on twitter at @waymaster4house, or email me at troy.waymaster@house.ks.gov. Please contact me regarding any issues and legislation that we are discussing during session.It is a distinct honor to serve as your representative for the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas. Please contact me with your thoughts, concerns, and questions. I always appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas, as well.Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, is the Kansas House&nbsp;Appropriations Chairman and 109th District state representative which includes: * Osborne, Russell, and Smith Counties * Barton County: Cities: Albert, Claflin, Galatia, Odin, Olmitz and Susank; Townships: Beaver, Cheyenne, Clarence, Cleveland, Fairview, Grant, Independent, Logan, Union, Walnut and Wheatland * Jewell County: Cities:Burr Oak, Esbon and Mankato; Townships: Athens,Browns Creek, Burr Oak, Calvin, Center,Erving, Esbon, Harrison, Highland, Holmwood, Ionia, Limestone, Odessa,Walnut and White Mound * Lincoln County: Cities: Lincoln Center(part) and Sylvan Grove; Townships: Battle Creek, Beaver(part), Cedron, Elkhorn(part), Golden Belt, Grant, Hanover, Highland, Indiana, Marion, Orange, Pleasant, Valley and Vesper * Rush County: Cities: Bison, Otis, Rush Center and Timken; Townships: Banner,Center,Garfield, Illinois, Lone Star, Pioneer and Pleasantdale

Local