By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A group of seniors at Thomas More Prep-Marian have received a grant to upgrade the basketball court in Seven Hills Park, 33rd and Hillcrest, near the ARC Park.
Jessica Herrman, Maggie Baalmann and Julie Meitner secured a $7,000 grant from the Heartland Community Foundation to improve the court.
New cement will be laid and an additional smaller court with lower goals will be installed. Meitner said this second court can be used by smaller children or individuals in wheelchairs.
The students recruited Kris Munsch's cement class from the Applied Sciences Department at Fort Hays State Unversity to provide the labor on the project for free.
Meitner's mother, Sarah Meitner, has spearheaded the construction of the ARC playground and splash pad at the same location. The playground opened on Sept. 13, and the splash pad opened Thursday.
Julia said she was inspired to work on the project after seeing so many children at the park and watching the ARC playground and splash pad come together.
"We just wanted to fix it up and match the rest of the park and give those older kids something to look forward to, as well," she said.
Maggie Baalmann, who is also working on the basketball court project, said the girls wanted to bring some color to the courts. They plan on a collage for the backs of the new basketball goals and hope also to purchase benches for the area.
The basketball court project is one of many Capstone service projects. Each of TMP's 41 seniors will complete a project as a culmination of their Catholic education, Bill Meagher, director of campus ministry, said.
"The idea of the whole Capstone is for them to show what they have learned and take it out into the community," Meagher said.
The projects help build life skills, he said. The students build proposals at the end of their junior year and present them to a committee. They present again to the committee at the end of their projects.
Madelyn Seiler has taken over music for Mass at the school. Monarch Music was a project at the school for many years. It was lead by Jim Balthazor until he died in September 2020.
"There was a group of us, and none of us really wanted it to die," she said.
The students provide music at Mass. Seiler, who also participants in school musicals and Pop Singers, is leading the group, picking the music and making sure copies of the music are available. She hopes to pursue a grant to purchase a digital music library that can be made available through iPads.
The group also sang at Via Christi and DSNWK during the Christmas season, but Seiler said that may not be possible this year because of the pandemic. The group will provide music at the Catholic Schools Week Mass and at a Mass at Holy Family Elementary.
Grace Pope and Emma Dinkel are raising money for the First Step Transitional Housing Project. They are selling hole sponsors for the Tip and Tuck Golf Tournament in April at the Fort Hays Municipal Golf Course. The date is to be determined.
The funds will be used for general operating expenses for the First Step program. Sponsorships are being sold for $50 each. For more information, you can contact the students at [email protected]. The students hope to raise $1,000.
Other projects include a student teaching art at Holy Family, a student teaching piano, a group promoting TMP, and a student volunteering at the St. Joseph Food Pantry.
More Capstone projects are planned for next semester.