HHS duo finishes fifth in DECA nationals
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
Sandra Nickel and Kayla Dreiling closed out their DECA careers in style last month by finishing in the top 10 of the community service project competition at the International Career Development Conference in Atlanta, Ga.
The two Hays High School seniors were honored on stage for finishing in the top 10 percent of their category, which in this instance was a total of 21 teams.
Then this week, they learned that their exact placing was fifth among more than 200 entries.
A total of 14 HHS students competed at nationals, and seven of those received minimum competency awards for finishing in the top 20 percent of their event, of which each had 160 entries.
Those students were: juniors Kelsey Hedlund and Shelby Stewart, Internet marketing business plan; senior Scott Bailey, international business plan; juniors Courtney Kanzenbach and Jamie Ball, hospitality and recreation marketing research; and juniors Courtney Daily and Jessica Hertel, retail marketing research.
This marks the eighth time in as many years that students of Shaina Prough's DECA marketing class at Hays High have qualified for nationals.
Area seniors are Wal-Mart scholarship recipients
Two Hays area seniors have been awarded $1,000 Sam Walton Community Scholarships for next year.
Those chosen from the Hays Wal-Mart SuperCenter were Kim Haberman from Thomas More Prep-Marian High School in Hays and Holly Miller from Hill City High School.
Students can apply for the scholarships through January of each year, and each of the more than 3,000 Wal-Mart stores around the country can award two scholarships.
Dawn Malott, community involvement coordinator at the Hays Wal-Mart, said that traditionally about 500 students apply from the Hays area.
Winners were elected based on financial need, academic records, ACT/SAT test scores, extracurricular activities and community involvement.
Area shines in Reading Rainbow contest
Five more area students, including two from one school, received awards this week for finishing in the top three of Smoky Hill Television's Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest.
On Monday, Wyatt Scheve from Wilson Elementary School in Hays was surprised with a personal visit from Leona Breeden, director of education services at SHPTV, Bunker Hill, for placing third in the first-grade division.
Breeden traveled around to schools throughout the week, presenting winners with prizes from the contest.
The top area finishes were turned in by Natoma second-grader Hannah Chambray and third-grader Miranda Long from Oberlin, who won their class competitions. Both those entries now are eligible for national competition.
Another Natoma student, Teyvian Frye, placed third among third-graders.
The area featured one second-place finisher in Osborne first-grader Sarah Seifert, as well as another third-place finisher -- kindergartner Ethan Metzler from St. Mary Elementary in Ellis.
More than 250 stories from the station's coverage area of 70 counties in Kansas were submitted as part of the 2008 contest.
Another Famous Figure winner
Erin Pennington didn't have much time to prepare a presentation at Monday's meeting of the Hays Rotary Club.
But that was OK with Erin, a fifth-grader from O'Loughlin Elementary School.
It's become a tradition for the trophy winners from the Hays Arts Council's Famous Figures competition from the week before to perform at the next Monday's Rotary Club meeting.
The contest was Friday, and Monday morning an error was found in the distribution of a ranking by one of the judges, and when the scoring was recalculated, it was learned that Erin actually had tied for fourth overall.
Erin portrayed the Revolutionary War soldier Deborah Sampson.
So Brenda Meder, executive director of the arts council, contacted Erin's parents, who were able to get Erin to the Rotary Club on time.