Students and teachers at the OASIS School in Florence organized a car wash last Wednesday to raise funds for tornado victims in Greensburg. Pictured from left are teacher Julie Schlesener and students Codie Keezer, Andrew Schaefer and Caleb Halsted. Kattie King / Free Press
Two Newton Auto Tech students from Marion County, Nathan Amstutz of Goessel High School and Sean Leihy of Hillsboro High School, earned second place at the state Ford/AAA trouble-shooting contest finals May 10 in Kansas City. The duo qualified for the hands-on portion of the contest by taking a written test in February against about 25 other Kansas high school teams. They competed against nine other teams in the hands-on portion of the contest to repair a “bugged” (problems intentionally installed) 2007 Grand Marquis. They had 90 minutes to get their vehicle running and repair all other problems. They were one of only two teams to repair their vehicle correctly, which they did in 67 minutes. Along with the trophy, they received scholarships totaling more than $12,000 to various universities and technical colleges. Cory Unruh is the tech instructor.
Hillsboro High School senior Chelsey Harmon contributes her brief share of a five-part valedictorian address at the 101st annual commencement on Sunday. She and her four classmates each attained a perfect 4.0 grade-point average during their high school career. With her are fellow co-valedictorians (from left) Kelsie Penner, JuliAnne Chisholm, Jenny Whisenhunt and Darren Enns. Ashley Stout was the class salutatorian. Don Ratzlaff / Free Press
Surrounded by evidence of teachers teaching to the future, members of the Unified School District 410 Board of Education took another step to keep that initiative going by approving the purchase of 41 laptop and 25 desktop computers for next year during Monday night’s meeting in the Hillsboro High School Technology Center.
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