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Education
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Written by Aaron Cedeño
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Wednesday, 17 March 2010 08:00 |
Life is full of little combinations that just seem meant to be.
Peanut butter and jelly, for example, or spaghetti and meatballs. The Chiefs and Arrowhead Stadium, or Kansas City and barbecue. These pairings all complement each other famously.
Here in Louisburg, however, there’s one combination that tops them all: donkeys and basketball.
“Seven years ago I had an officer team that just begged and begged to do it,” said Jim Morgan, coach of the Louisburg High School FFA chapter. “I said ‘We’ll do it if you guys do the work.’”
As many residents now know, that group of FFA officers did, in fact, put in the work, and the result has become one of the city’s most unique traditions.
Each year, fans pack the West Gym as four teams — two comprised of current FFA officers, one of local businessmen and one of Louisburg USD 416 faculty — square off in a basketball tournament with a twist. Rather than rely on their own two feet to bear them up and down the wooden court, each competitor sits astride a beast of burden. In order to attempt a shot, one must be atop a donkey, and every second pass must be sent or received by someone in the saddle as well.
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Education
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Written by Aaron Cedeño
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Wednesday, 17 March 2010 08:00 |
Darsi Eveland knows the Jazzy Cats have a reputation to uphold. 
As the dance team at Louisburg High School, the group not only performs with the school’s acclaimed marching band, but also entertains crowds at halftime of games, pep rallys and many other spirit-filled community events.
Of course, the Jazzy Cats have long carved out a reputation for excellence apart from that of the band, earning top honors at summer camps and competitions — such as one at Shawnee Mission South High School in January, at which they earned a pair of the prized Division I ratings.
The team is very aware of that community pride, Eveland, Jazzy Cats coach, said, and the responsibility it entails.
“That’s part of our goal is to keep the program at a high level and make the community proud,” she explained. “Just like the marching band. The marching band has always had such a great reputation in Louisburg, and we just want to enhance that, and make the town proud.”
Last week, the team held its annual tryouts, and approximately 25 high schoolers for the 2010-2011 academic year showed up, each with the goal of making their own mark on the Jazzy Cats’ budding tradition. Two days of clinic work preceded the Thursday tryouts, during which the prospective dancers learned a completely new routine.
The squad was ostensibly looking to replace six current seniors, who will dance their final routine during the LHS band’s trip to the Indianapolis 500 in May.
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Education
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Written by Aaron Cedeño
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Wednesday, 17 March 2010 08:00 |
A few days before the Mother-Son Game Night at Broadmoor Elementary School, Joni Reed started to think she may have underestimated the anticipated turnout a little bit. 
While sitting playing Bunco with a group of her friends, many of whom have sons attending either BES, Rockville Elementary School or Circle Grove, the conversation naturally turned to the weekend ahead.
“Are you going Thursday night?” they asked each other.
“Pretty soon everybody is saying ‘Yeah, I’m going,’” Reed said. “We figured if we were all going...”
As it turns out, Reed’s suspicions were correct, as approximately 300 mothers and sons packed the gym at BES Thursday night, for the first Mother-Son Game Night. The event was sponsored by the joint Broadmoor-Rockville Parent Teacher Organization, and co-president Gretchen Lee felt if the success of their first attempt was any indication, they might have a real winner on their hands.
“We had a lot of great comments,” she said. “People loved it and I think we had a great turnout. Even with spring break starting I was worried people would be leaving, but I think it turned out well.”
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Education
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Written by Aaron Cedeño
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:00 |
Cameron Philgreen may not be a regular employee at Louisburg’s Pizza Hut, but one wouldn’t have known it by watching him. 
Deftly maneuvering between two crowded tables, he settled a piping hot pizza pie on the table shared by Louisburg USD 416 Superintendent Sharon Zoellner and Assistant Superintendent Pam Best.
The interesting thing was, Philgreen wasn’t the only waiter or waitress decked out in street clothes Monday night. Many members of the Louisburg High School Marching Band could be seen filling drinks, taking orders and delivering food to tables, in an effort to raise money for the band’s upcoming performance trip to the Indianapolis 500.
Pizza Hut approached them with the idea, said band director John Cisetti, and they jumped at the opportunity. Not only do several band members work for general manager Kandy Chapman at the restaurant, but her son, sophomore Nick Chapman, is also a member of the band.
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Education
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Written by Jesse Trimble
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:00 |
Most of us have precious memories of summer days we spent playing baseball, grilling or hanging out at the pool. But, for a certain few, those precious summer days are spent behind the wheel of a car, learning how to drive.
Rich Brown, Louisburg High School librarian and driver’s education instructor, has been putting himself behind the wheel with teenagers for 16 years — he has some stories.
For LHS students and eighth-graders interested in taking driver’s ed this summer, the deadline to have applications in and around $200 paid is due Friday.
Although Brown has been teaching Wildcats how to drive for the last two years, he’s been in Eudora, Lawrence and Ottawa prior to joining the LHS staff.
It was in Eudora one summer that Brown got a full dose of what it takes to be a driver’s ed instructor. Brown said he had decided to take his carload of students to Lawrence on back roads, which were straight but peppered with hills. For the student behind the wheel, Brown said the class was probably one of their first opportunities to drive a car.
“Seth screamed,” Brown recalled, “and both of his hands went up in the air and off the wheel. Both feet went straight down on the gas pedal.”
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