Board Highlights

The Piper boys basketball team put together another memorable season, finishing 18 and 8 while

competing against one of the toughest strength of schedules in all of 5A basketball.

The Pirates captured the first ever Piper Optimist Tournament of Legends championship and earned their third consecutive trip to the state tournament, continuing to establish Piper as one of the premier programs in the state. Their postseason run came to a heartbreaking conclusion in an unforgettable double overtime battle at state, a game that reflected the grit, toughness, and determination this team displayed all season long.

Individually, Alamar Brooks and Cooper Crawford earned All League honors, while DJ Jackson was recognized as both 1st Team All League and 1st Team All State.

While their accomplishments on the court were impressive, what makes this group truly special is the leadership and character they demonstrated away from the game. These young men consistently represented Piper with pride through their service to others and commitment to the community.

During trips to out of town tournaments, team members took time to visit elementary schools and

read books to students, creating meaningful connections with younger students and serving as

positive role models.

The team also hosted a basketball camp and special game experience for special needs students from across the metro, an event that highlighted inclusion, compassion, and joy through athletics. The impact of the event reached beyond Piper and was even featured by 810 Radio.

This team not only competed at a high level but also exemplified what it means to lead with humility, service, and heart.

The boys basketball team is led by Head Coach Steve Wallace and Assistant Coaches Derrick

Jackson, Matt Storrer, and Alex Ivanuska.

The Governor's Scholars program honors the top academic one percent of Kansas high school seniors. Scholars are selected from accredited public and private schools in the state.

This program is coordinated for the Governor by the Confidence in Kansas Public Education Task Force. It is funded by donations from private sector businesses in Kansas. The Confidence in Kansas Public Education Task Force was formed 30 years ago to strengthen public confidence in education.

The following organizations are members of the Task Force:

• American Association of University Women
  

• Kansas Association of School Boards

• Kansas Congress of Parents and Teachers

• Kansas League of Women Voters

• Kansas-National Education Association

• Kansas School Public Relations Association

• Kansas State Board of Education

• Kansas State Department of Education

• Kansas State High School Activities Association

• United School Administrators of Kansas.

It is important to recognize just how extraordinary this honor truly is. The Kansas Governor’s Scholars Program recognizes the top one percent of high school seniors across the entire state of Kansas, an achievement that reflects exceptional academic excellence, dedication, and years of hard work. We are incredibly proud to celebrate these students tonight. Congratulations to the following students for an exceptional high school career at Piper High School: Genevieve Braithwaite, Madison Raveill, and Kalia Penney.

The Kansas CTE Scholar program is an opportunity to recognize well-rounded, outstanding Career and Technical Education students who are finishing their senior year of high school. Students not only need a 3.5 GPA or above in CTE courses, but they must also have achieved a technical skill from one of the following categories: an industry-recognized credential, a work-based learning experience, 9 or more dual credit hours, or a technical education program. In addition, students must have achieved 40 or more community service hours. This year, the following students were selected as CTE Scholars:

• Ava Azzeh
  
• Trinity Bales
  
• Sofia Cushenbery-Andrews
  
• Olivia Dark
  
• Ainsley Giese
  
• Jonathon Gregory
  
• Jordan Joyce
  
• Jose A. Maderos
  
• Sun May
  
• Calei McConnell
  
• Kailey Mortell
  
• Leilanie Mortell
  
• Brenlie Reese
  
• Emily Richardson
  
• Madison Raveill
  
• Leah Wiehe
  

I would like to congratulate the Piper High School Robotics students on an outstanding 2025-2026

competition season. This year was one of the most successful and exciting seasons our robotics program has experienced. Students spent countless hours designing, building, programming, testing, troubleshooting, fundraising, presenting, andcompeting throughout the school year. Their hard work and dedication truly paid off.

The team members for 2025-2026 are:

Mentors:

• Stephan Brumbaugh
  
• Adam Schack
  
• Hudson Schack
  
• Patricia Schack
  
• Katie Comer
  
• Jason Wendel
  

Seniors:

• Jordan Joyce - 4 year member
  
• Brady Livengood - 7 year member
  

And the rest of our team:

• Thomas Olson
  
• Elijah Schack
  
• Breckyn Shaw
  
• Christopher Stroede
  
• Grayson Thompson
  
• Jaden Schack
  
• Dirk Noggle
  
• Jonathan Thebeau
  

Piper Robotics competed in both the FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition programs this season. Students attended league events, super qualifiers, regional competitions, championship events, and the FIRST World Championship in Houston, Texas.

To say our students performed well this season would be an understatement. They represented Piper High School with professionalism, determination, creativity, and teamwork at every level of competition.

FIRST competitions are unlike any other activity. Students begin preparing months before competitions even start. Team members spend hundreds of combined hours designing robots, manufacturing parts, wiring electronics, programming autonomous systems, developing engineering notebooks, preparing presentations, practicing interviews, scouting opponents, and solving problems under pressure.

Students are challenged not only technically, but also in communication, leadership, teamwork, and

perseverance. FTC Team Stealth 21536 had an incredible season this year.

At the KC West League Tournament, Team Stealth served as Finalist Alliance Captain and earned the 2nd Place Design Award.

At the West Super Qualifier, Team Stealth captained the Winning Alliance and again earned the 2nd Place Design Award.

At the Missouri-Kansas Championship, Team Stealth advanced to the finals as the 1st Pick of a finalist alliance.

Their successful season earned them a spot at the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship in

Houston, Texas, where they competed against teams from around the world in the Goodall Division.

During the 2025-2026 season, more than 8,000 FIRST Tech Challenge teams competed worldwide, with only 336 teams advancing to the World Championship.

Qualifying for the World Championship is an incredible accomplishment and reflects the hard work, consistency, and dedication of the entire team throughout the season. It also marked the first time in program history that Piper’s FTC program advanced to the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship.

FTC Team Stealth 21536 also earned recognition this season by winning the FIRST Tech Challenge Safety Animation Award presented by Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Unlike many awards that are

presented at individual competitions, this award is selected across the entirety of the FIRST Tech Challenge program, with teams from around the world submitting entries. In addition to the recognition, Worcester Polytechnic Institute awarded scholarship opportunities to qualifying student team members and provided the team with a grant to support the upcoming competition season.

FRC Team Stealth 1802 also had a strong and competitive season. At the Heartland Regional, Team Stealth ranked 11th overall and served as the Captain of Alliance 8 during playoffs.

At the Greater Kansas City Regional, Team Stealth advanced to playoffs as the 1st Pick of Alliance 6 and earned the Gracious Professionalism Award. This award recognizes teams that consistently

demonstrate respect, professionalism, teamwork, and support for others throughout competition.

Across both FTC and FRC, Piper Robotics students demonstrated incredible growth not only as

engineers and competitors, but also as leaders, problem-solvers, and teammates. The amount of

time, energy, and effort students invested this season was tremendous, and the results speak for

themselves. We are incredibly proud of all of our students and everything they accomplished this year.

The awards and achievements are exciting, but more importantly, students gained valuable real-world experience, learned advanced technical and professional skills, and pushed themselves to achieve goals that once seemed impossible.

Thank you to all of our students, mentors, families, sponsors, administrators, and community supporters who helped make this season possible. Piper Robotics continues to grow because of the support and dedication of so many people working together toward a common goal.

Congratulations to the Piper High School FCCLA students on a fantastic state leadership conference. Students attended opening and closing ceremonies, breakout rooms and small group sessions.

PHS FCCLA also earned the State Runner Up Award for the National Program Families First. This award recognizes PHS FCCLA and Mrs. Luhman’sculinary classes who made meals through Kids Feeding Kids to hand out at conferences and the Piper Food Pantry.

To say the students did well during competition would be an understatement. They did fantastic! We competed in a PHS record breaking 17 categories at state.

FCCLA STAR Events are unlike no other competition. Students have been working on their projects since last September. Typically, students work 40-60 hours to perfect their project. During this time, they create slides, notebooks, trifold and dresses, events, food samples, complete interviews, teach a class….and so much more depending on their choice of event. In the events, students have to place in the top two and earn a score of 85 out of 100 to qualify for nationals.

• Molly Morse earned a bronze in Baking and Pastry.
• Emily Richardson earned top gold and qualified for nationals in Career Investigation.
• Kevin Brown earned silver in the Culinary Arts competition.
• Makinley Lofton earned a top gold in Event Planning qualifying for Nationals.
• Samantha McKee competed in the Fashion Design Category designing her Prom Dress earning top gold and qualified for nationals.
• McKenna Battle and McKinley Baker earned a gold in Focus on Children.
• Brea Bruce earned a silver in Food Innovations.
• Alison Catron earned top gold and qualified for Nationals in the Interior Design category.
• Josh Richardson competed in Job Interview and earned a silver.
• Hailey Kavanaugh earned a silver in Leadership.
• Violet Bass and Madi Hartig competed in Nutrition and Wellness earning silver and qualifying for Nationals.
• Thomas McKee competed in Professional Presentation earning a bronze.
• Emily Franz earned gold in Professional Presentation.
• Laney Jennings earned a gold on her Repurpose and Redesign project.
• Charli Berg competed in Sports Nutrition earning top gold and qualifying for nationals.
• Teghan June competed in Teach and Train earning silver and qualifying for Nationals.
• Gracie Healy competed in Teaching Strategies earning top gold and qualifying for nationals.
  

We are so proud of the time and effort the students put into their projects. They earned more than awards, they learned about themselves and pushed themselves to their limits in many ways. We can't wait to attend and compete at the National Leadership Conference in Washington DC, July 6-10! These students are coached by Megan Geist and Beth Luhman.

This is the second year the Wyandotte County Election Office has organized an annual ‘I Voted’ sticker design contest for students across Wyandotte County. The contest was open to all students in grades K through 12, with two winning designs selected, one of them being from Piper High School student, Rylee Adkins.

This initiative is a great way to engage younger generations and encourage interest in the election process. It is the election office’s hope that participating in this contest will inspire students to become lifelong voters when they turn eighteen. In addition, these unique stickers give Wyandotte County voters an added sense of pride, knowing the designs were created by local students. The winning artwork will serve as the official ‘I Voted’ stickers distributed during all 2026 elections.

The Election Office plans to continue this contest annually, and information about next year’s contest will be announced in January 2027. Rylee was joined by Jordan Tanner, Wyandotte County Professional Program Assistant, and Election Commissioner, Michael Abbott. Congratulations, Rylee!

We were proud to recognize our May Purple Reign Classified Staff Award winner, Kris Knefel, nurse at Piper Creek Elementary School.

Kris is so much more than a school nurse — she is a trusted support system for students, staff, and families every single day. Whether helping students through illness, tending to scrapes and health needs, or simply offering a friendly face and calming presence, Kris leads with compassion, positivity, and grace.

One colleague shared this about Kris:

"Kris has been an influential part of my school year but more importantly incredible for and with my students. With the flu being rampant this year we talked OFTEN about kiddos’ needs, how and where she could support, and she was never afraid to check in on my class and students as we navigated sickness. She is an incredible resource and she IS ALWAYS there with positivity, endless support, and a huge knowledge base on how to meet kids’ needs whether through sickness, overall health, their basic needs or just a friendly face that they can count on. She deserves this award because she’s been a huge support for my students this year and our school couldn’t run without her. I know she has quite the revolving door from scrapes to other health needs and she does it all with amazing grace, care, and a smile! I’m so grateful!”

Kris, thank you for the care, encouragement, and heart you bring to Piper Creek Elementary every day. Congratulations on being our May Purple Reign Classified Staff Award winner! Kris was joined by her principal Jane Martin.

This month’s Certified Purple Reign Award is presented to Riley O’Brien, FACS Teacher at Piper Middle School.

As a dedicated educator and leader, Riley consistently goes above and beyond for both students and staff. She leads with confidence, builds meaningful relationships with students, and is deeply involved in creating a positive and supportive school environment. Her willingness to step up, support others, and invest extra time into student success makes a lasting impact every single day.

One colleague shared this about Riley:

“Ms. O’Brien has been crucial in my success as a first year teacher. I watch her hold herself with confidence, be a confidant to students, and just be extremely involved in our school. She is a great role model for educators and students. Ms. O’Brien is always the first to volunteer when someone needs to step up for students in and out of the classroom. She stays after to support students and staff in academic and extracurricular activities. Without her it wouldn’t be as easy to stay afloat!!”

Riley, thank you for the leadership, encouragement, and unwavering support you bring to your students, colleagues, and school community each and every day. Congratulations on being our Certified Purple Reign Award winner! Riley was joined by her principal Tim Leffert.

Last night, we are proud to recognize the ten members of the inaugural cohort of our Pirates Leadership Education and Administrative Development program, also known as Pirates LEAD. This group took a chance on something brand new and committed themselves to growing as leaders in Pirate Nation.

Throughout the year, these staff members dedicated additional time to learning, collaboration, reflection, and professional growth. They engaged in meaningful conversations about leadership, school operations, instructional support, communication, and the many challenges and responsibilities that come with serving others in leadership roles.

What makes this cohort especially significant is that they represent the future of Piper. One of our goals as a district is to intentionally develop leaders from within. These individuals already understand our

culture, our students, and our community. This first cohort helped lay the foundation for what we believe will become an important part of our leadership pipeline for years to come.

We are incredibly grateful for their willingness to invest in themselves and in the future of our district.

Please join me in congratulating and recognizing the following members of the inaugural Pirates LEAD Cohort.

• Mikesha Bradner, Piper Prairie Elementary

• Britney Calvert, Piper Early Childhood Center

• Kevin Coker, Piper High School

• Sarah Derks, Piper High School

• Michelle Foster, Piper Creek Elementary

• Christy Reese, Piper Middle School

• Jeremy Shields, Piper Middle School

• Christi Sprague, Piper Creek Elementary

• Mike Traffis, Piper Middle School

• Jennifer Warneke, Piper Middle School