August: Freshman Transition Day

Before the halls of LHS fill with 1,800 kids, LINK leaders help show incoming freshmen the ropes before school begins. “We get them a day in advance so they will know where everything is at and see what the halls will look like,” senior Reggie Parks said. “It gives them a feeling of where their classes are and how the school day is going to go. I like working with kids. I’m someone they can come to so they don’t feel lost.”

September: Bands Split

As September rolled around and the football games began, the band experienced a major shift. “We have the larger group, Blue Jay Pride and Guard, which everyone enrolled in the LHS band program is a part of,” junior Katie Martin said. “This group plays at football games. Select members auditioned to be a part of the Blue and White Vanguard, which is the group that goes and competes at marching competitions. I definitely prefer having two different bands. It allows people to have a level of commitment that is appropriate for them.”

October: Homecoming

This year’s homecoming queen, senior Libbey Rall, was crowned alongside her homecoming king, senior Alex Roush. “Alex was great,” Rall said. “I was ready to go because I was cold. The weather was cold and rainy, but Alex told me to wait because they needed our picture. It was amazing being crowned queen, but I was so nervous. My favorite part was being voted homecoming queen by my fellow students.”

November: Midterm Elections

This year brought us the midterm elections, and many voters came to school wearing ‘I Voted’ stickers for the first time. “Teaching students critical thinking skills and how our democracy works are two important factors for an educated electorate,” AP Government teacher Ron Ludwig said. “We elect the officials who ultimately determine policy. If you want change, it starts with voting.”

December: Snow Days

This winter, LPS lost nine school days due to snow and ice, taking all the way to May 31 for the last day of school. Director of Communications Dallas Ackerman is known for his humorous snow day phone messages and numerous online memes that have circulated about him in recent months. “I must say, it has been pretty entertaining,” Ackerman said. “It began with a few memes on Facebook and just kind of took on a life of its own on social media. Probably my favorite story was receiving a Valentine’s Card from a student at Lillian Schumacher for being the ‘snow day call guy.’”

January: Mock Trial

Second semester started with a gavel bang for the Mock Trial team. The season started in January and went until early April, ending with the team going to State. “We were able to go a pretty decent run at State,” senior Abbie Schulte said. “At the start of the season, we actually were a new team. We started all over, and by the end of the season, we were arguing objections like no other, we were confident in the courtroom, and we were better able to establish ourselves.”

February: Model UN Trip

Many clubs take group trips throughout the school year, and one of the teams that traveled the farthest this year was the Model United Nations team. “In Model UN, we do mock United Nations meetings,” senior Evan Nelson said. “As a school, we represent one country and we’re each in subcommittees where we get to argue different topics. The club is honestly not that big, and I think that’s what makes our club special. You’ll make a lot of relationships, you’ll also have a better understanding of how the world works.”

March: MSU Trip

This spring, the counseling department accompanied students to Springfield for a college visit to Missouri State University. “MSU is pretty far away so we thought it may be harder for students to visit MSU who were interested,” counselor Nikki Duncan said. “We wanted to make sure students had that opportunity. College visits are important for students to go on because it shows them what a college campus is all about. It’s important to also know what the college can offer you and if you feel comfortable on that campus.”

April: KLHS Telethon

To cap off the school year, the LHS broadcasting department holds their annual telethon, a day-long continuous video stream that benefits the KLHS broadcasting “We have set times of people anchoring throughout the day; everybody is required for a 15-minute package for the telethon to fill space for whenever anchors aren’t on air,” junior Victoria Southall. “We also let beginners do the live broadcast for two weeks so we have enough time to prepare for our telethon.”