Graduation was held on May 15. The commencement started with the 44 seniors entering  the gym. The ceremony began when Farrah Gilmere welcomed all present. The salutatorian was Tiffany Willson and the valedictorian was Katie Zoglmann.

“Two words of advice for anyone trying to become valedictorian: do your homework and never procrastinate,” said Zoglmann.

After the procession and student welcome, Principal Brent Harrell gave a welcome speech. Willson and Zoglmann then gave their respective speeches.

Students were presented their diplomas from the Board of Education President Eddie D. Allen. The program ended with a teary eyed congratulatory line where those present went around and gave hugs and congratulations to all the graduates.

“I'm definitely going to miss being able to hang out with my friends all the time,” Miranda Chitwood said.

On May 4 during A.P. and fourth hour, Conway Springs High School hosted the annual senior awards ceremony. This ceremony honors all seniors on for scholarships they received and tells attendees what they intend to do after high school, whether it be continuing their education, joining the military, or entering into the world of work.

Two big scholarships that were announced during the ceremony were the Loofbourrow scholarship and the Putnam scholarship. The Loofbourrow is a $4,000 scholarship renewable for four years, won by Tiffany Willson. The Putnam scholarship is an academic scholarship given by Kansas State University for $9,000 renewable for four years. The Putnam scholarship was given to Brenna Leahy.

“I felt really good about winning because maybe now I don’t have to sell my soul to pay for college,” Leahy said.

Four seniors will continue their athletic careers into college. Derek Pauly will be playing football at Dodge City Community College. Alicia Carter, Makayla Hollis, and Skylar Misak will be doing track in college. Carter and Misak will be attending Neosho County Community College and Hollis will be attending Friends University.

“I liked Friends,” Hollis said. “The coaches seemed nice and they always tried to maintain contact with me.”

Chad Ebenkamp is the only senior joining the military. Ebenkamp will be going into the Kansas Army National Guard. He will leave for basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., on July 5.

“My grandpa was in the military, and I just love America,” Ebenkamp said.

With finals coming up, some students probably don’t realize that graduation is also just around the corner. The seniors have been waiting for this a long time, and now that it’s so close, some almost can’t believe it.

“It doesn’t seem real,” senior Katie Zoglmann said.

Zoglmann is the valedictorian out of the 44 students in the senior class, maintaining all A’s during her high school career, with Tiffany Willson as salutatorian.

“Doing something else besides school doesn’t seem real,” Willson said.

The commencement will start at 2 p.m., with the seniors being escorted into the gym by junior escorts Janae Pauly and Annie Robinson. Senior Farrah Gilmere will give the student welcome speech, followed by a performance by the Cardinalaires. This will be followed by the salutatorian address and the valedictorian address.The band will close the event by playing the “Recessional” as the seniors walk out of the gym.

“I am so ready to be gone and can’t wait,” senior Brenna Leahy said. Leahy is third in the senior class.

More than 50 students participated in the Pratt Academic Olympics Feb. 22 for the third year in a row. Academic Olympics included various categories, including Ag Mechanics, American Government and Politics, Biology, Computer Science, Creative Writing, English I-IV, Musicianship, Painting, Photography, Physics, Psychology, Spanish 1 and 2, and World Geography.  All students that placed in the top three in each category were recognized with certificates during activity period March 30 in front of the student body.

“Almost half of the students placed, and we had two people place in almost every category, which is really good,” English teacher Kristy Martin said.

A total of 23 awards were given to 19 students: seniors John Andra, Anthony Becker, Liz Berntsen, Romi Huggins, Wesley Hullinger, Brandon Koch, Haley Kelly-Oakman,  Ashley O’Neal, and Ben Pauly;  juniors Bre Akiu, Marian Ast, Mary Berntsen, Jessica Mies, and Kyle Phillips; sophomores Makenna Beesley and Ben Neises; and freshmen Cooper Boyles, Audrey Doffing, and Molly Schmanke.

“I think I did well, since I placed third in Computer Science when I didn’t know a lot of it,” Koch said.

Doffing received second in English I (for freshmen).

“I’m hoping to go again since it was fun,” Doffing said. “I think I could do well again next year.”

Conway Springs High School also won first place overall as a school for Division I.

If you want to be a voice for Conway Springs High School,  go to the library for an application for Stuco. Students will soon be electing the Stuco Executive Board, class officers and activity representatives. Applications will be available from now until the day they are due for the particular office a student is running. Applications include  a parent's signature. To be on the Stuco Executive Board, students must have been in Stuco at least one year. To be Stuco president, a student have to be a senior. Board elections will be March 29. Petitions for Executive Board are due March 23.

“My favorite part of Stuco is being able to put my input in and having it affect the students in a positive way,” junior and Stuco treasurer Janae Pauly said. Pauly is running for Stuco president.

To be a class officer, students do not need to have prior experience in Stuco unless they would like to be class president. Only class representatives and class presidents serve on Stuco. Class elections are April 5 with petitions due March 31. Sophomore Rianna Morris is running for class secretary.

“I have wanted to be involved in Stuco since freshman year,” she said. “I would love to be a part of making prom awesome.”

Students also have the opportunity to be an activity representative. The only requirement to be an activity rep is to have one year of experience in the activity and a plan to be in it next year. Representative elections will be April 11-30 with petitions due April 11.

Stuco sponsor Callie Bartelson advised that those interested in running for an office get input from peers for their speeches.

“Make sure you talk to your friends and see what's important to them and add it into your speech,” she said.

Olympics: Faster-Higher-Stronger Smarter    

    Feb. 22, Conway Springs High School will once again be participating in the annual Pratt Academic Olympics. This event gives students a chance to see how they stand up academically and artistically to other students from different schools.

At the Academic Olympics, students have the chance to participate in a variety of on-site contests as well as carry-in entries for creative writing, journalistic writing, photography, and art. English teacher Kristy Martin has been in charge of putting together schedules for the Academic Olympics.

“I like sending students because there is such a wide variety of categories,” Mrs. Martin said.

Several students from CSHS will also be attending the photo critique session to help them in their journalism and yearbook classes.

CSHS has participated in the contest for the past three years and have had successes before. Many students will be returning to compete in different categories this year.

“I think I’ll do pretty good,” junior Lucas Mies said. “General Science seems like a familiar topic.”

Along with veterans of the Academic Olympics, new faces from Conway Springs will be attending for the first time. Freshman Audrey Doffing will be competing in English I and Geometry.

“I’m excited to spend time with my friends, and I think I’ll do well,” freshman Audrey Doffing said.

The bus will pull out Monday at 7:30 a.m. sharp, and the students will return before 3 p.m. This year, with 51 students attending, CSHS will have two buses.

“These students were chosen because we, the teachers, believed they would do excellent and represent CSHS well,” Mrs. Martin said.

In sophomore and senior English classes, students are reading novels. The sophomores are reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, and seniors are reading “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. English teacher Tamara Salisbury has students in groups of four or five people for things called literature circles, where students can better understand significant characters, plot lines, and other people's opinions on the novel.

“I think literature circles help understand parts of the book that we didn’t get on our own,” senior Skylar Misak said.

Students are assigned designated role sheets that they have to complete by the day of the discussion. The roles are Dr. Psychologist, New Critic, Philosopher King, Moderator, and Historian.

“The discussion is the only reason why I pass the quizzes after,” sophomore Delainey Clum joked.

They are required to discuss their role sheets and anything they might not understand about the novel.

Every year, the Kansas Scholastic Press association hosts five different journalism competitions throughout the state for students in 1A-6A schools. Conway Springs High School news website and yearbook staff members will be competing in the competition. This is the second year since 2010 that Conway Springs will be participating.

News website and yearbook staffs were assigned to the KSPA Regional competition at Emporia State University with other 3A and 4A schools. The competition is on Feb. 25 and will begin at 9 a.m. The students will leave CSHS parking lot in a suburban at 6:45 a.m.

“I strongly dislike having to leave so early because I am not a morning person at all,” junior news website staff member Melissa Chaffin said.

There are 10 on-site categories at KSPA, including Copy Editing, Sports Writing, Editorial Cartoon, and News Writing. There are also 10 carry-in submissions, or digital submissions, which include Academic Photography, Advertising, Infographics, and Yearbook Layout.

“I think how I do will reflect my effort, and I intend on giving a quality effort,” senior news website staff member Romi Huggins said.

There are seven students from the news website going to the on-site KSPA contest and eight students submitting carry-ins, including junior yearbook design editor Bre Akiu.

“It’s something new, and I thought I might as well try it,” Akiu said.

News website sponsor Tamara Salisbury said she was looking forward to the competition.

“We have some really talented students so I think they will do well,” Mrs.Salisbury said. “We have a good chance to place.”