Connecting

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 21 May 2013 15:52

The Hillsboro Community Foundation continues to find ways to flesh out its mission to “connect donors who care with causes that matter.” The latest example is the USD 410 Early Childhood Education Fund featured on Page 1. The goal of the fund is to generate additional revenue so the highly successful Parents as Teachers program can extend its services to more families within the district. Currently, the organization serves 28 families, but 20 more are forced to wait because of insufficient resources.

This latest fund joins others under the HCF umbrella that focus on various causes and interests that, together, improve the quality of life for children, families and residents. The causes range from the arts, to health, to museums. We...

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Pen-pal connection is now a strong friendship

Written by Bailey Kaufman Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:57

There is a stack of letters and postcards in a box in my room from a girl I have never even met in person. This girl has been my friend for the past 10 years, and hopefully will be for many more, all because of a trend called “pen pals.”

When I was about 7 years old, my mom and I filled out an application in my Clubhouse magazine so I could be assigned a pen pal. I am pretty sure that of all the kids who applied to be pen pals, I was assigned the best one.

For starters, Erika, my pen pal, was from Canada. (I messaged her that I was writing this column, so she knows I am telling my readers all about her!) I was expecting to be assigned someone from the United States, so I thought it was the coolest thing that my pen pal was from...

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Daydream a glimpse of future life?

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Friday, 29 March 2013 15:22

Every time I have attempted to start writing this column for the past few hours, I have drifted away into a daydream, usually a memory or fantasy about New York City.

So, finally I have concluded that writing a worthwhile column is not going to happen. Instead, I am going to continue to daydream—only this time on paper.

Let me set the stage. This daydream is a fantasy about my future. It’s a dream of a typical day interning for the “Today Show,” probably during or before my senior year of college. I know my life probably won’t look like this then—especially because I will not have any spare money to do most of these things—but that’s why it’s called a fantasy.

So, come along and dream with me.

My alarm clock jerks...

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Choosing a college took an unexpected turn

Written by Bailey Kaufman Tuesday, 26 February 2013 11:52

In Septem­ber, I wrote a column that promised I would someday write about my final college decision. In that column, I listed three options for my future education: Kansas State University, Indiana University and John Brown University.

The purpose of this column is to fulfill that promise. But here’s the twist: I’m not attending any of those three colleges next year.

When my family and I visited Indiana University last summer, we ate lunch on the road at a cute diner in Columbia, Mo. That happens to be the town where the main campus for the University of Missouri is located. Since we knew MU was supposed to have one of the best journalism schools in the country, we decided to drive past the campus.

At the time, I really had no...

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