ThE MuStAnG MeSsEnGeR

Mustang Update

Our professional development for the month of March was to visit other schools in the area. We had

staff members in Manhattan, Linn, Frankfort, Blue Valley-Randolph and other schools. The purpose was to visit the classrooms of other teachers in their teaching field and to pick up any new ideas that can be incorporated into their own classrooms. Based on staff comments this day was a positive experience for everyone.

The 2025 TVL All-League Volleyball team was announced this week and Valley Heights has three athletes who made the list. Seniors Ava Smith and Mia Vermetten and junior Paige Miller are to be

congratulated for their accomplishments on the court!

We had the opportunity to host our Local Rotary organization this week! Club members were able to

eat a lunch prepared by our Food Service personnel. After that our FFA members who attended the

National Convention in October presented a PowerPoint on their experiences. We want to thank the

Rotary for all they do for our communities and our school. In case you don’t know it is Rotary members who take the gate at our home high school football games during the season!

Don’t look now but we are rapidly getting towards Thanksgiving vacation and then we will make a mad dash to the end of the second nine weeks and first semester. During our staff meeting on Tuesday morning I shared that we have seven class days until Thanksgiving Break. Once we get back from Thanksgiving we have only 14.5 class days left until Christmas break. When you start talking about family gatherings, church programs, school programs, school events and all of the other events that come with the holidays you can see that our students will be very busy. It is important that we lock in for the remaining days of classes and that we finish strong. Remember – we will be having finals this year for our 9-12 students!

We will be hosting our Fall Athletic Banquet on November 24 th . You might have seen the post on

Facebook and a link where you can sign up to attend. Our Booster Club is really putting in the time and effort to make this event memorable for everyone! This year, we are celebrating each season after they conclude so we can enjoy the memories while they are still fresh in our minds! This will give our coaches more time to speak about the season accomplishments and recognize our participants, letter winners and team and individual honors.

One event we hosted this past week was a Hometown Visit by the current state FFA Vice-President. We were treated to a meal and remarks from the State FFA Office. Dustin then took over the microphone and talked about all the things he has already experiences as a state FFA Officer. We want to congratulate Dustin (Class of 2025) for this honor and wish him well as he finishes out his very busy year!

Remember – the all school play, “Murder on the 518”, takes place tonight (11/14), Saturday night

(11/15) and a matinee performance on Sunday (11/16).

Go Mustangs!!

Mr. Savage

Well Done Everyone!!!

Today is NCKMEA high school auditions and junior high concerts! Good luck to Carter, Calee, Abigail, Juliet, Osric, and Guenhwyfar as they audition for the high school honor band/choir. Congratulations to Sandra, Lucy, Brooklyn, Lexi and Jack for being accepted into the middle level band/choir. Their concert is today at 2:30 at Junction City High School.

NATIONAL FFA CONVENTION.

Valley Heights Journalism

November 14, 2025

National FFA Convention. On October 29, thirteen students from Valley Heights took a charter bus with Frankfort, Wamego, and Nemaha Central to attend the National FFA Convention. Along the way, they made a stop at TransOva Genetics where they learned about IVF, AI, Embryo Collection, and Embryo Transfer for cattle. After they arrived in Indianapolis, they attended the opening session of the convention. Students shared that the speeches were inspiring, making you feel connected to the mission of FFA, the energy in the room was electric, and they could tell everyone was there to support the FFA values. On day two, they attended the college and career fair seeing over 300 exhibitors. Senior Stella Martin says, “I really enjoyed talking to Oklahoma State University, learning about their programs and what it would look like to attend there.”

Klara Mclintyre says, “My favorite part of the trip was meeting a bunch of new people and after the second day we stayed down in the lobby late and Ms. Husband bought us all ice cream.” On the way back, students got to take a look at Hunter’s Honey. They learned all about the process and importance of bees. Ag teacher and FFA sponsor Carrie Husband says, “My favorite part was the Honey Farm because I love bees and we got to bottle honey and taste all the different kinds.” National Convention happens every two years and it’s a great experience for ag students to be a part of.

Article by Teagan Spoonts

Juniors attended a Career/College Fair yesterday where they were able to learn more about colleges, careers and military branches.

Dates and Times-All students are Welcome

Wednesday morning at 7am and after school at 3:30pm

IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL IT’S DONE.

Valley Heights Journalism

November 11, 2025

IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL IT’S DONE. Chad Allen Bargdill is a senior at Valley Heights High School he was born on February 4 2008 and he grew up in Waterville, Kansas. He is the son of Rachael Schwindamann and Brandon Bargdill. He has an older sister Addy, younger brother Eli, and two younger sisters Ava and Alyvia. Chad’s senior mentor is Dinah Umscheid. His plans after high school is to attend Flight Air Flex School in Manhattan to start a career in aviation. He wants to pursue a career where he can travel and make a difference in the world. A quote that has always been significant to Chad is “It always seems impossible until it is done.” - Nelson Mandela.

One thing he would like people to remember him by as he leaves high school is that he was a nice person. Advice he would like to give to the underclassmen is to learn from the mistakes you make and don’t just give up when you fail. Chad has been involved in Art, KAY, and Baseball four years, Journalism, All School Play, and FACS three years, FFA, STUCO, Scholars Bowl, Vocal, and Mustang Tough one year,

Some interesting facts about Chad is his favorite type of food is a chimichanga and his favorite song to get hyped up to is Like a G6. His ideal Friday/ Saturday night is hanging out with his friends either going to the movies or going bowling. Chad is very talented and creative and the one thing he is most proud of is how he and his classmates took the initiative and made their junior prom the best ones yet. If you had seen any picture from the 2025 prom Chad built the enchanted tree by hand that sat in the middle of the gym. Something interesting that you might not know about Chad is that he loves to roller skate. His parents have been the biggest influence in his life because they are both hard workers and have taught him a lot. In ten years from now Chad plans to be settled in his career earning a decent amount of money, and owning his own home.

Article by Ava Smith

How fitting that our spotlight is on Ms. Alli Jones this week since our fall production of “Murder on the 518” is this weekend! Ms. Jones is in her second year at Valley Heights as an educator. However, she is not new to the area or to the Mustangs. She is from Waterville, KS and graduated from Valley Heights with the class of 2018!

Ms. Jones is our speech and drama teacher and handles the yearbook! Alli earned her BSE in Speech & Theatre Education with a minor in Geography while a student at Emporia State University! Ms. Jones uses those theatre skills to good use because she also guides our forensics program and the all-school play. Shameless plug here but our play is this weekend with 7:00 pm shows on Friday and Saturday and a matinee performance at 2:00 pm on Sunday!

Alli lists as her favorite thing about working at VHHS is being able to rejoin the Mustang Family! SHe alos enjoys all the fun things we get to do in class and accomplish throughout the year. Alli’s hobbies include reading, concerts and live theatre.

She also adds that her Senior Superlative in 2018 was “most likely to teach at Valley Heights” so she has come full circle! And…. we are glad to have you back in our building Ms. Jones!