Board Highlights

Yesterday evening, we were honored to recognize a group of students who achieved a perfect score on the Kansas Assessment Program (KAP) state assessment. Earning a perfect score is a remarkable accomplishment that reflects exceptional academic achievement, hard work, and dedication. We are proud to celebrate these students and the support provided by their families and teachers as they reached this milestone.

Our fourth grade students who earned a perfect score are:

• Katherine Faulkner in English Language Arts

• Finnegan Fisher in English Language Arts

• Isaiah Hall in English Language Arts and Math

• Madyx Nelson in Math

• Owen Smith in Math

Our fifth grade students who earned a perfect score are:

• Alexander Cook in Science

• Ella Steudemann in Math

• Lucas Williams in Math and Science

Our seventh grade students who earned a perfect score are:

• Roland Jones in Math

• Josephine Puls in English Language Arts and Math

And, finally, our eighth grade students who earned a perfect score are:

• Alaina Harvey in English Language Arts

• Owen Nead in Math

Please join me in congratulating our students and their outstanding accomplishments on this year’s state assessments!

Piper Middle School FCCLA had a fantastic year of service, leadership development, and competition.

Throughout the year, the chapter provided service by creating and donating blankets to Children’s Mercy NICU, hosting a Sensory Safe Movie, and opening the school for a family holiday event.

In April, fifteen members traveled to Wichita, KS, with Ms. Emilie Crowley (Academy Prep Educator) and Ms. Riley O’Brien (FCS Educator), for the FCCLA State leadership conference. Arya Adam, Mary Alvey, Khloe Frey, Ellie Geist, Bailey Henderson, Karsyn Jarding, Ariana Machuca, Sariah Monroe, Alina Rasily, Audrey Rosey, Grace Smith, Autumn Thomas, Adelynn Torres, Aaliyah Wallace, and all competed in either Leadership Education Opportunities (LEOs) or in-person or Online Students Taking Action with Recognition Events (STAR Events).

Students created projects in a variety of topics, including: the negative effects of microplastics, advocating for NICU families, dyslexia, and cancer patients, teaching students how to communicate and care for their pets and the intricacies of sea animals, and building personal leadership skills! We are beyond proud of the students’ leadership growth and passion for FCCLA. Congratulations on a great year, and good luck in 2026-2027!

Piper Middle School HOSA had an amazing third year of exploring healthcare careers, supporting one another, and growing as leaders in our school and community. Under the leadership of President Sloan Todd, Vice President Elizabeth Buckner, Secretary Stella Xiong, and Treasurer Sophia Xiong, our 20 HOSA members developed healthcare knowledge and skills, gained real-world experiences, and built connections while preparing for competitive events in a variety of health science fields.

Our chapter was truly student-led, with support from Tesa Davis, who helped students celebrate their strengths, build confidence, and continue growing in ways that will benefit them both now and in the future.

This year, the following students earned top honors at the International Leadership Conference:

• Sloan Todd – Health Career Preparation, 1st Place

• Elijah Trujillo – Math for Health Careers, 1st Place

• Elizabeth Buckner – Foundations of Nutrition, 1st Place

• Ro Si Na – Foundations of Nutrition, 2nd Place

• Ella Glover – Foundations of Healthy Living, 1st Place

• Oliver Kao – Medical Terminology, 1st Place

• Emily McPherson, Brooklyn McColley, and Kalynn Post – Medical Innovation, 1st Place

• Emmaline Stelle – Life-Threatening Situations, 2nd Place

• Adelina Wagner – Life-Threatening Situations, 1st Place

• Stella Xiong – Extemporaneous Poster, 1st Place

• Sophia Xiong – Medical Terminology, 1st Place

• Tynlee Davis – Veterinary Science, 1st Place

  
  

In addition, Addison Dalsing earned 3rd Place in the State of Kansas in Life-Threatening Situations.

We are incredibly proud of all of our HOSA members and the dedication they showed throughout the year. Their achievements reflect hard work, leadership, teamwork, and a passion for helping others.

The middle school TSA Chapter saw a big growth in membership this year and continued its success at the state conference in April. Our student officers, along with advisor Grant Miller, lead the group in developing technical skills in the areas of architecture, computer science, and engineering.

We had two students qualify for state competition and they both did very well against the competitors from the rest of the state.

Anson Geist spent most of the fall and all winter designing and producing a dragster to compete against his peers. Anson produced a car and a technical drawing that set an excellent example for his fellow Pirates to follow. He had the fastest car at Piper Middle School and his project finished 2nd at state competition.

Jackson Graham chose to expand his skills in Computer Aided Design. Jackson spent countless hours learning the software and honing his skills with AutoCAD and his hard work paid off. He earned 90 percent of the possible points at state competition and easily took first place.

We are proud of the time commitment that our TSA members made in their efforts to produce excellent projects for competition. This dedication and perseverance will serve them well in their future endeavors.

Yesterday evening we were excited to celebrate our PHS Boys Tennis State Qualifiers.

Tucker Theiss: Tucker had a 21 win season and capped it off by winning Honorable Mention All-UKC. Tucker received a 6th place finish in doubles at regionals. This was his 1st state appearance.

Chri Htoo: Chri had a 20 win season and received Honorable Mention All-UKC. Chri moved to doubles halfway through the season to compete with Tucker Theiss, placing 6th place at regionals. This was Chri’s second State appearance.

Blake Taylor: Blake had an excellent season, finishing with 24 wins. Blake was the UKC champion in singles, earning him a 1st team All-UKC honor. Blake was also the regional champion in singles, doing so in back to back seasons. This was Blake’s second State appearance.

Baird Greenamyre: Baird finished the season with 37 wins. (Piper single season record). Baird took 1st place in doubles at the UKC Championship, earning him 1st team All-UKC honors. Baird also took 1st place at regionals for the second straight season. Baird finished the season with a 6th place finish at the 5A state tournament, and finished his career with 96 wins. This was Baird’s 3rd state appearance.

Johnny Vogel: Johnny finished the season with 32 wins. Johnny took 1st place in doubles at the UKC Championship, earning him 1st team All-UKC honors. Johnny also took 1st place at regionals for the second consecutive season. Johnny finished with a 6th place finish at the 5A state tournament, and finished his career with 102 wins. Johnny leaves Piper as it’s all time wins leader. This was Johnny’s 4th consecutive trip to the state tournament.

The track and field team competed at the state meet Friday and Saturday, May 29 and 30. The girls team placed 4th overall and the boys team placed 5th.

State Qualifiers include:

Arrin Taylor - Shot Put

Ella L’Heureux - Long Jump

Eric Seigel - 400m dash and the 4x400m relay

Ronin Trusskey - Discus

Sawyer Kramer - High Jump

Tamaya Patrick - High Jump

Westin Haworth - Discus

Zander Bruce - 3200m run

The Girls 4x100m Relay of Maia Dolinar, Nora Turney, Ella L’Heureux, Anneliese Lockwood

The Boys 4x100m Relay including Shinji Pollard, Maurice Donald, Eric Seigel, Damon Jamierson

and the Girls 4x800m Relay of Ella Eads, Breckyn Shaw, Jaslyn Wiseman, Marisol Arenas

State Medalist include:

The boys 4x800m relay placing 7th overall. Relay members are Justus Lockamy, Conner Johnson, Oliver Bass, Quinn Hanson

Andrew Durham placed 7th in the 400m dash

Maia Dolinar placed 6th in the Pole Vault

The boys 4x400m relay placed 5th. Relay members are Shinji Pollard, Jordan Joyce, Quinn Hanson, Andrew Durham

Anneliese Lockwood placed 5th in the 400m dash and 8th in the 200m dash

Da’Mon Jamierson qualified in the 200m dash and placed 4th 100m dash and 5th in the Long Jump

The girls 4x400m relay placed 4th overall. Relay members are Nora Turney, Ella Eads, Elizabeth Arenas, Anneliese Lockwood

Elizabeth Arenas placed 3rd in the 800m run, 3rd in the 3200m run and, 4th in the 1600m run

Nora Turney placed 2nd in the 100m hurdles, and 2nd in the 300m hurdles

And our two state champions:

Max Clark won the state championship in the Javelin. Max out threw the next closest competitor by 10 feet. Max was also named the United Kansas Conference Male field event athlete of the year.

Shinji Pollard won two state championships this year. Shinji is the 300m hurdle state champion and the 110m hurdle state champion. Shinji broke the state meet record in the 110m hurdles and ran the 2nd fastest time in Kansas history, all classes combined.

In addition to the state meet, both the boys and girls teams won the United Kansas Conference Championships three weeks ago. The boys are back to back UKC champions and the girls teams won the first girls track and field league or conference championship in school history.

Coaching staff:

Josh Baxter - Head coach, who was named UKC Boys and Girls Coach of the Year

Bob Lockwood - vertical jumps

Cassie Dolinar - distance

Julie Friesen and Tom Beebe - throws

Avery Kamienski - hurdles

Justin Richmond - sprints

Miles Lockridge - horizontal jumps