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 ...
DEIDRA AND Rich Rattay for developing a sign that hunters can post to let people know decoys are in use. The Rattays were working on the special sign before the shooting death of 18-year-old Beau Arndt in December.
- Robyn Meahl, who will play piano with the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City on March 30. Meahl, 17, has been playing piano since the third grade and practices two to three hours per day.
- Nishat Yasmin, the Emporia Middle School student who won The Topeka Capital-Journal Regional Spelling Bee in Topeka on Saturday. Nishat’s victory earned her a spot in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee on May 29 and 30 in Washington.
- Richard Felipe, a former Emporian who traveled to the mountains of Uganda last last year to meet 13-year-old Richard, a child whom Felipe sponsors through the charitable organization World Vision.
- Jordan Fithian for lining a pinch-hit single in his first at-bat for the Emporia State baseball team. Fithian, a member of ESU’s basketball team, hadn’t played baseball since sixth grade. He played one game for the baseball team as part of an exchange that saw pitcher Ty Reese play basketball for ESU last November.
- Michelle Stueve, who ended her Emporia State University basketball career in a game where she became the Hornets’ all-time leading scorer, a crowning accomplishment to a career filled with milestones.
Joey Berlin
Reporter