Education

Here are scorers for the listening area other than Liberal which will be on another story. Pole Vault- Katelyn Burger (Stanton County) 3rd 9-0.

The USD 480 school board made quick work of the new business on its agenda at its first meeting of the summer. Prior to discussion of the new business items, the board first heard the administrator reports, including one from Director of Technology Rusty Tuman regarding the purchase of Chromebooks.

At the Senior Awards Assembly on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, the following awards and scholarships were presented. The Ag Futures Scholarship was presented by Gabe Baeza from American Implement and Steve Harkness from Western State Bank to Kaylen Langhofer. Rachel Amerin, a representative from Invenergy, presented their scholarship to Kaylen Langhofer. Davida Gomez from Seaboard Foods presented scholarships to Kaylen Langhofer and Emma Stanfield. Dawn Unruh, CEO of Artesian Valley Health Systems, presented a scholarship to Emma Stanfield. Lisa, Batt, Regional Fellowship of Christian Athletes Representative, recognized Kaila Froese as an FCA Outstanding Athlete. Southern Pioneer Electric announced two scholarship winners from Southwestern Heights, Kaylen Langhofer and Allison Sanchez. The Seed Sowers scholarship, which is open to students of family members employed by either Bank of the Plains, Clawson Ranch Partnership, or High Plains Ponderosa Dairy, was presented to Kaylen Langhofer. Kismet United Methodist Church awarded a scholarship to Kaylen Langhofer. The St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Altar Society Scholarship awarded their scholarship based on the following criteria: a student who is an active member of the St Patrick’s Catholic Church, who works to potential, who is a good citizen, and has leadership qualities. The National FFA and Ford Motor Company will be awarding a Built Ford Tough scholarship to Kaylen Langhofer at the Kansas State FFA Convention in Manhattan later this month.

The Seward County Community College Foundation has scheduled its annual Giving Day for Tuesday, May 21 – and it added a little grit to the one-day fundraising event. This year’s goal to raise $50,000 in 24 hours focuses on the SCCC Student Health Center. A groundbreaking ceremony is set for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the site just north of the Student Living Center.

In a Special USD 480 Board meeting Monday morning, the Board of Education approved the conversion of lighting to LED at Redskin Field in the amount of $239,000. The Board also approved the purchase and installation of sports field lighting at East Campus Field in the amount of $255,000.

The Liberal softball team took a blowout loss and gained a blowout win against the Dodge City Red Demons Thursday afternoon and evening at the National Beef Sports Complex. Dodge won the first game 9-1 and LHS took game two 17-7 for their first WAC win of the season. In...

Finals week can either be a piece of cake or the worst week of your life depending on what your teacher decides to have your final over. Some teachers at SCCC decide that finals week is not only a break for their students but a break for themselves as well. On the other hand, some teachers take the final very seriously and give students a final they need to study either a whole week before or maybe even a month ahead.

The Liberal Redskin softball team saw the Dodge City Red Demon softball team score 11 unanswered runs at DCHS beat LHS 13-3 in six innings at Legends Park in Dodge City Tuesday evening. Liberal scored one in the first and Dodge plated two. Liberal scored two in the top of the fifth to lead 3-2. But the Demons countered with seven in the fifth and four in the sixth. Taylor Harding had two of Liberal’s five hits. Dodge won despite five errors and Liberal committed three errors. Dodge City is 3-19 and 1-9 in the WAC as Liberal is 5-16 overall and 0-9 in the WAC. Liberal hosts Dodge City for a double header Thursday at 4pm at the National Beef Sports Complex.

The USD 480 school board ended up making rather quick work of its new business at its most recent meeting Monday evening. Up first for discussion was the use of the professional development program Reframing Behavior for the 2024-25 school year. “Reframing Behavior is a district-wide training for all educators...

Liberal High School hosted their Athletic Award Assembly Monday night in Maskus Auditorium. This year there were 62 Triple Threat Athletes playing at least three different sports. There were 110 student athletes on the All WAC Academic Team. There were 30 athletes named Scholar Athletes and all have a 4.0 GPA. Hayleen Martinez received special recognition after becoming the first female to win state wrestling and winning the Greco and Freestyle State championship this past weekend. Tyren Holmes was recognized as a powerlifting national champion for a squat of 661 lbs, a bench of 391 lbs, and deadlift of 556 lbs for a total of 1,609 lbs. Lisa Batt represented FCA and presented Brooks Kappelmann with his FCA All State Award and Madalyn McCarter with an FCA All Area Award. Here are the award winners.

The USD 480 Board of Education met on Monday evening at 6:30 pm at East Campus and approved the subscription with Crisis Prevention Institute for use of their professional development program “Reframing Behavior” for 2024-2025. Cost of the program is $18,000.00. The Board also approved the training for USD 480 staff members to receive Crisis Prevention Institute’s Nonviolent Crisis Intervention Training to be able to train staff in Emergency Safety Interventions. The cost of this training is $13,047.00.

Early 2024, President Brad Bennett opened to the Liberal community about the pool on campus with the possibility of filling it for more conference rooms, or keeping and updating it. So far there have been no new updates or changes about the pool. The pool will still be up and running, and is not looking to close anywhere in the near future.

The Liberal Ministerial Alliance will host Baccalaureate Services for all the Senior Class of 2024 will be at the Liberal High School in the James Maskus Auditorium on Wednesday, May 8th at 7 P.M. All students with their parents and family, along with everyone in the community are welcome to...

Liberal High School senior J. Brooks Kappelmann won a Jester Award Sunday afternoon at Century II Performing Arts Center’ in Wichita. Kappelmann won the award for Outstanding Cameo Peformer in the Wizard of Oz. Brooks played the role of the guard. LHS was nominated for six Jester awards from this fall’s Wizard of Oz musical at LHS.

The Liberal baseball team knew what they were getting into. The championship banners adorning the sidewalk on the way into Blue Valley West’s baseball field make it abundantly clear, these guys are good. The Jaguars have won the past two 6A state championships. But Liberal scheduled the Jaguars to test themselves with regionals a week and a half away. The Jaguars won two seven inning games 7-2 and 9-0 Friday afternoon and evening on Blue Valley West’s sprawling campus in Overaland Park.

The USD 480 school board will have a full agenda on its hands at its next meeting Monday evening starting at 6:30. Monday’s meeting will be in Room C107 of the Liberal High School East Campus. Up first in the meeting’s new business will be discussion of the “Reframing...

Seward County Community College will hold it’s 53rd Annual Commencement on Saturday, May 4th. There will be two ceremonies. Career Technical Education Certificates and Associates of Applied Sciences at 9:00 am, and General Associates at 11:00 am, both in the Greenhouse. If you are attending the ceremonies, please use...

Congratulations to Brooklyn Stevens for being named the Tyrone High School Class of 2024 Valedictorian with an impressive 4.16 grade point average. During her high school career, she also acquired 21 college level credits. In addition to excelling academically, Brooklyn is also involved in many extracurricular activities, including softball and basketball, and she received the Panhandle All-Conference all four years for softball and during her junior and senior year for basketball. And just for fun, she participated one year in spring baseball. Brooklyn is an active member of the National Honor Society, Student Council, and the Hooker Church of Christ youth group. She was awarded the DAR citizenship award for the 2024 school year. Brooklyn will be attending Oklahoma State University in the fall with a major in sports marketing and management.