Each Friday, The Gazette salutes those who make Emporia and the surrounding area a better place to live and work. Give these folks a pat on the back ...
ALEXA Rodriguez, Athziry Velozquez and Marvin Acosta, students at Lowther South Intermediate School, who wrote prize-winning essays for the Composition Challenge, a contest sponsored by the Humane Society of the Flint Hills. The intent of the contest is to promote awareness of animals and the role they play in our lives. Rodriguez received $50 for first place, Velozquez won $30 for second place and Acosta won $20 for third place.
• Hartford High School/Neosho Rapids Junior High School Principal Curtis Simmons, for his recent induction into the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. Simons coached wrestling for 21 years at various schools before coming to Emporia in 1993. Under his leadership, the Emporia High Spartan wrestlers won 11 Centennial League Championships and fostered 68 individual Centennial League Champions.
• The Emporia High Spartan boys basketball team for its 44-37 win over the Topeka High Trojans in Friday’s Centennial League opener, and the Spartan girls basketball team, for its 57-28 win over Topeka High.
• Lyon County Community Corrections officers Joan Olson and Brenda Fisher, for their leadership in making sure students and their parents are engaged in education. Olson and Fisher’s efforts are intended to prevent students from dropping out of school.
• Judy Calhoun, who has recently been elected and installed as a member of the American Cancer Society’s volunteer 2008-2009 National Board of Directors. Calhoun is a chairwoman of the Newman Division of Nursing at Emporia State University and has an extensive history as a volunteer with the American Cancer Society.
• Students and teachers at Hartford High School/Neosho Rapids Junior High. The school received the “triple crown” in standards of excellence on state assessments last year. Building-wide, the school achieved standards of excellence in reading, math and science.
• Charlie Wilks, eighth-grader at Emporia Middle School. Wilks is a nose guard for the EMS eighth-grade football team despite having been totally blind since the age of 6. Wilks will appear next spring on the television show “E:60” on ESPN.
• County Commissioners Marshall Miller and Bob Davis, who will be retiring from the commission. Miller has served the county since January of 2001; Davis since 2004.
• All winter graduates of Emporia State University and Flint Hills Technical College.
• Sal Tovar and Justin Rose, wrestlers at Emporia High, who each earned his 100th victory at the Winter Wrestling Classic on Saturday.
• ESU Lady Hornets, for their 119-35 blowout over Harris-Stowe on Saturday, and the Hornet men’s basketball team, for its 89-61 over Bethany.
• The Golden LivingCenter in Cottonwood Falls, for being one of only a handful of Kansas nursing homes to get a five-star overall quality rating by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
• Lyon County Clerk Karen Hartenbower, who will be retiring Jan. 12, for her 16 years of service to the county. Hartenbower is the longest-serving clerk in county history.
• Tessa Kriss, 9, who decided to cut off a foot of hair to donate to Locks of Love. The organization provides wigs to children and adults who experience hair loss as a result of chemotherapy or medical conditions.
Russ Morgan
Reporter