We have a brand new updated website! Click here to check it out!

Author: Cristina Janney

Sister Cities, FHSU partner to raise money for Santa Maria museum

Posted on
Wooden statutes of the saints housed in the Santa Maria diocesan museum.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Sister Cities of Hays program is partnering with the Fort Hays State University soccer team to raise money for the museum in Hays’ sister city, Santa Maria de Fe, Paraguay.

A portion of the money from the tickets sales and concessions for the men’s soccer game against Oklahoma Baptist at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, will go to the museum. The men’s and women’s soccer teams have had members from Paraguay and so this fundraiser seemed like a natural fit.

Information on the fundraiser will be presented at half time.

The museum houses art created by the Jesuit Priests and natives to decorate the missions that date back to the 1600s when Santa Maria was founded.

The artwork was hidden from sight in community members’ basements to protect it from ruling dictators. Marianna Beach found the art when she traveled to that area in the 1970s. She donated money and helped raise money in the Hays area to fund a museum for the art.

Today the museum is a cultural hub for the region. It not only protects the art, but draws income to the community in the form of tourist dollars.

The museum is need of about $2,000 worth of maintenance work, including security upgrades, lighting and renovation of the museum’s bathrooms.

Olga Detrixhe, who is on the Hays Sister Cities board, said the Hays group has just started with this fundraising effort.

If you can’t make it to the game, but would still like to donate to the renovations at the Santa Maria museum, you may contact the Hays Sister Cities board through its Facebook page.

To learn more about Santa Maria and the Sister Cities program, visit the foyer of the Hays Public Library to view the “World Apart, Cities Together” art installation that was dedicated when a group from Santa Maria visited Hays this summer.

 

🎥 Gov. candidate Svaty wishes to reverse state’s financial prospects

Posted on
Joshua Svaty, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, spoke to a group at FHSU Monday afternoon.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Democratic candidate for Kansas governor Joshua Svaty made his last stop in a 105-county tour of the state Monday with stops in Ellis County.

Among his meetings with voters was a question-and-answer session at the Fort Hays State University Union.

At 37, Svaty has had a substantial career in politics and government. He spent seven years as a state representative for the Ellsworth area. He then served two years as Kansas Secretary of Agriculture under the Parkinson administration. He worked for Environmental Protection Agency for two years. He also runs a farm in Ellsworth County and most recently has been on the staff of The Land Institute.

During his time in Topeka, he championed the use of wind energy in the state, he supported in-state tuition for children of undocumented Kansans and fought against an amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have made marriage between a man and a woman.

Svaty described why he decided to run for governor.

“I began being worried about our state around four years ago, thinking that it was heading in the wrong direction. Over the last few years especially, I felt our state was reaching a point where our state was at a fork in the road, and it could really go either direction. I said enough is enough.”

Svaty said he wants to get the state back on track and adequately fund state agencies that have been drained of resources and qualified employees.

“The state is in a little trouble right now, and it is affecting basically every level of state government. No. 1 is reinstating this concept of civility that we have lost in the last six and a half years, which affects everything. …” he said.

College students are not entering the teaching profession, which they worry will not be a long-term profession, he said. Businesses will not locate in the state if they are worried about the long-term revenue health of the state. They don’t want to be in a state that is swinging wildly up and down, Svaty said

Svaty said he thought the rolling back of tax breaks implemented under Gov. Brownback during the last session was a step in the right direction, but it will take time to stabilize the Kansas economy.

He said he felt confident the oil and gas and ag industries in the state would bounce back, but that could take a couple of years.

He said he supported the reduction or elimination of the sales tax on food, which he said he thought was regressive.

Because of the deep cuts in funding for state agencies and unsure funding for KPERS, the state has lost some of its best and brightest from state agency staffs.

“Government is only as good as the people we have engaged in those agencies. These are people who sometimes have their master’s and PhD’s running or being a part of state agencies. In the last seven years, I have seen in some cases a trickle and in some cases it has been a waterfall of these people moving out of state government.”

Svaty said the public has seen these staff problems directly in state corrections with issues at Norton and El Dorado state prisons.

“Much of that can be boiled down to if you are paying someone $13.50 an hour to do what is a very hard job, which is a corrections employees, then they are probably not going to stay in that job very long,” he said

One student asked Svaty about what he would do about higher education funding if he were to become governor.

Svaty said when the state does not have money to fund higher education, it pushes the burden of finance on the universities, and they have little alternative than to increase tuition. The state needs to get its financial house in order so it can fund higher education.

Svaty said he worries about funding his own children’s education. His wife is pregnant and due with their fourth child.

“I think we are pushing at the boundary of what an affordable higher education would look and feel like,” he said. “As a parent who has three kids almost four, I’m being told I need to save $150,000 to send each kid to college. That’s insanity. There is no way we can possibly get to that.”

Yet research indicates a college education is the best way to be upwardly mobile, he said.

Svaty said there was a time between 2012 to 2015 when a priority was not placed on higher education. In fact members of the Legislature were doing things that were harmful to higher education.

He said colleges are not only important to students, but they are economic engines to communities where they are located and an important generator of federal research dollars.

In terms of public education, Svaty said anyone who looks at the numbers would recognize the state is still behind in funding K-12 education. The Kansas Supreme Court is reviewing a funding formula that was passed by the Legislature during the 2017 session.

Although he can’t speak for the Supreme Court, he thought the court might come back and request another $100 million to $200 million in school funding. However, he hoped the court would allow the state to increase that funding over a couple of years.

Svaty, who is a dry-land farmer, also talked about the need to manage water usage in Kansas, especially western Kansas.

“I also think efficiencies can be found,” he said, “and moving everyone in that direction not only helps preserve the aquifer, it also makes our farming systems more efficient. It should save money too, which everybody wants to do.”

Hays USD 489 enrollment drops slightly

Posted on

By CRISTINA JANNEY

Hays Post

Hays USD 489 enrollment is down slightly compared to 2016.

The official state enrollment is taken on the Sept. 20. Hays’ enrollment was 3,047 students this year compared to 3,070 in 2016.

Shanna Dinkel, assistant superintendent, said the enrollment drop was expected based on early enrollment data. She said the drop was spread across the district’s elementary schools.

The enrollment figures are important because they are plugged into a state formula to determine funding. This year the bulk of the funding will be based on last year’s enrollment numbers, but this year’s numbers will be used to determine funding for special weighting, including at-risk money.

Hope Pantry

Members of Tigers in Service gave a presentation to the board on its “Make a Difference” project that benefits the USD 489 Hope Pantry. The pantry helps USD 489 families with food, clothing and hygiene items.

Fort Hays State Tiger fans attending the FHSU vs. Emporia football game at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 are invited to bring one or more items (non-perishable food, new clothing, hygiene products) or consider making a monetary donation to the Hope Pantry.

Collection sites will be located at entry gates to Lewis Field Stadium. Those who contribute will receive a drawing ticket for an exclusive Tiger Tailgate Package, including a reserved tailgating spot for the 2018 football season along with a cooler and other tailgate gear.

The prize package will be given away at halftime. A few lucky attendees will be selected to participate in a halftime activity, bringing further awareness to the cause.

Collection boxes will also be located at the Robbins Center, One Tiger Place; inside the Memorial Union (near Starbucks), 600 Park St.; and Golden Belt Bank, 1101 E. 27th St., from Oct. 16 to Nov. 3.

Negotiations

The board officially accepted the counter offer from the custodian’s union for its contract. The counter offer stipulated the district create a health care committee and make Dec. 29, 2017 a paid holiday.

The district reopened negotiations with the Hays NEA to discuss health insurance. The board previously voted to change its health care provider from the state plan that is administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield to one administered by Aetna.

The decision was made after Blue Cross Blue Shield increased the district’s premiums by $1.4 million over two years.

Superintendent John Thissen said the negotiating teams are meeting soon to hash out insurance details.

In other business, the board:

• Heard a report on the district’s STAR special education rooms

• Discussed the superintendent evaluation process

• Approved KASB recommended policy changes

 

🎥 Gov. candidate Svaty wishes to reverse state’s financial prospects

Posted on

By CRISTINA JANNEY

Hays Post

Democratic candidate for Kansas governor Joshua Svaty made his last stop in a 105-county tour of the state today with stops in Ellis County.

Among his meetings with voters was a question-and-answer session at the Fort Hays State University union.

At 37, Svaty has had a substantial career in politics and government. He spent seven years as a state representative for the Ellsworth area. He then served two years as Kansas Secretary of Agriculture under the Parkinson administration. He worked for Environmental Protection Agency for two years. He also runs a farm in Ellsworth County and most recently has been on the staff of The Land Institute.

During his time in Topeka, he championed the use of wind energy in the state, he supported in-state tuition for children of undocumented Kansans and fought against an amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have made marriage between a man and a woman.

Svaty described why he decided to run for governor.

“I began being worried about our state around four years ago, thinking that it was heading in the wrong direction. Over the last few years especially, I felt our state was reaching a point where our state was at a fork in the road, and it could really go either direction. I said enough is enough.”

Svaty said he wants to get the state back on track and adequately fund state agencies that have been drained of resources and qualified employees.

“The state is in a little trouble right now, and it is affecting basically every level of state government. No. 1 is reinstating this concept of civility that we have lost in the last six and a half years, which affects everything. …” he said.

College students are not entering the teaching profession, which they worry will not be a long-term profession, he said. Businesses will not locate in the state if they are worried about the long-term revenue health of the state. They don’t want to be in a state that is swinging wildly up and down, Svaty said

Svaty said he thought the rolling back of tax breaks implemented under Gov. Brownback during the last session was a step in the right direction, but it will take time to stabilize the Kansas economy.

He said he felt confident the oil and gas and ag industries in the state would bounce back, but that could take a couple of years.

He said he supported the reduction or elimination of the sales tax on food, which he said he thought was regressive.

Because of the deep cuts in funding for state agencies and unsure funding for KPERS, the state has lost some of its best and brightest from state agency staffs.

“Government is only as good as the people we have engaged in those agencies. These are people who sometimes have their master’s and PhD’s running or being a part of state agencies. In the last seven years, I have seen in some cases a trickle and in some cases it has been a waterfall of these people moving out of state government.”

Svaty said the public has seen these staff problems directly in state corrections with issues at Norton and El Dorado state prisons.

“Much of that can be boiled down to if you are paying someone $13.50 an hour to do what is a very hard job, which is a corrections employees, then they are probably not going to stay in that job very long,” he said

One student asked Svaty about what he would do about higher education funding if he were to become governor.

Svaty said when the state does not have money to fund higher education, it pushes the burden of finance on the universities, and they have little alternative than to increase tuition. The state needs to get its financial house in order so it can fund higher education.

Svaty said he worries about funding his own children’s education. His wife is pregnant and due with their fourth child.

“I think we are pushing at the boundary of what an affordable higher education would look and feel like,” he said. “As a parent who has three kids almost four, I’m being told I need to save $150,000 to send each kid to college. That’s insanity. There is no way we can possibly get to that.”

Yet research indicates a college education is the best way to be upwardly mobile, he said.

Svaty said there was a time between 2012 to 2015 when a priority was not placed on higher education. In fact members of the Legislature were doing things that were harmful to higher education.

He said colleges are not only important to students, but they are economic engines to communities where they are located and an important generator of federal research dollars.

In terms of public education, Svaty said anyone who looks at the numbers would recognize the state is still behind in funding K-12 education. The Kansas Supreme Court is reviewing a funding formula that was passed by the Legislature during the 2017 session.

Although he can’t speak for the Supreme Court, he thought the court might come back and request another $100 million to $200 million in school funding. However, he hoped the court would allow the state to increase that funding over a couple of years.

Svaty, who is a dry-land farmer, also talked about the need to manage water usage in Kansas, especially western Kansas.

“I also think efficiencies can be found,” he said, “and moving everyone in that direction not only helps preserve the aquifer, it also makes our farming systems more efficient. It should save money too, which everybody wants to do.”

Pulse offers quality apparel options to area medical community

Posted on

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

A new business in downtown Hays is the only one in the area dedicated solely to medical apparel for men and women.

Maria Biskie, LPN, has been a nurse for 20 years. She has worked in all types of medical settings including hospitals, nursing homes and schools. She first earned her CNA after being laid off from an office job. She wanted something with more security and soon learned she loved working with her patients.

When she moved to Hays two years ago, she realized there was nowhere to buy her favorite brand of scrubs or purchase quality nursing equipment. The nearest brick-and-mortar shop was in Salina.

When the building at 810 Main St. next to Main Street Gym & Fitness, which is owned by her husband opened up, she decided to jump into business with her new store, Pulse Medical Apparel.

The store carries Koi, Grey’s Anatomy, Smitten and Wonder Wink scrubs and accessories. In addition, the store offers medical equipment such as stethoscopes, thermometers, penlights and pulse oximeters.

“Everything I have worn or used, I believe in the quality,” Biskie said of the products she carries.

Biskie noted brands such as Koi and Grey’s Anatomy are more fitted, made of a softer fabric and tend to last longer than other scrub brands.

“If you are going to be in it all day,”  she said, “you want to be comfortable and be in something that looks good.”

Pulse carries all sizes, including petite, tall, plus size to 5X and maternity stock in addition to a variety of sizes and styles of Grey’s Anatomy Softwalk shoes.

Biskie said having the brick-and-mortar store allows customers to come in, try on the apparel and take it home the same day versus ordering online and being uncertain of the fit.

“Women are all made differently,” she said. “If a customer can try it on, there is no guessing game.”

Biskie also strives to offer competitive prices.

“I don’t want to mark things up so that I can put them on sale,” she said. “I don’t sell above recommended retail. I feel that I am providing a service to the community, and I think there is a need for it.”

Pulse also offers gift cards for families and friends who may have medical professionals in their families.

Biskie is working to develop a website for Pulse that will include online ordering. She said she wants to make ordering as easy as possible and has done in-office ordering and fittings for local doctors’ and dentists’ offices.

Biskie continues to work as an LPN for home health care and hopes to enroll in the NCK Tech program to earn her registered nurse certification.

Her daughter works in the shop when her mom is working for home health. Biskie said the reception to the business has been good since her grand opening in March, and she loves being downtown.

Find more on Pulse on their Facebook page or call 785-301-2408. Hours are noon to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

 

 

Hays USD 489 BOE to hear enrollment numbers on Monday

Posted on

By CRISTINA JANNEY

Hays Post

The Hays USD 489 school board will learn what the district’s official enrollment for the school year is at its meeting on Monday.

The state counts enrollment officially on Sept. 20. Enrollment is plugged into a formula to determine how much funding the district will receive from the state.

Hope Pantry

Members of Tigers in Service will discuss its “Make a Difference” project that benefits the USD 489 Hope Pantry. The pantry helps USD 489 families with food, clothing and hygiene items.

Fort Hays State Tiger fans attending the FHSU vs. Emporia football game at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 are invited to bring one or more items (non-perishable food, new clothing, hygiene products) or consider making a monetary donation to the Hope Pantry.

Collection sites will be located at entry gates to Lewis Field Stadium. Those who contribute will receive a drawing ticket for an exclusive Tiger Tailgate Package, including a reserved tailgating spot for the 2018 football season along with a cooler and all of the gear you need for a tailgate party experience.

The prize package will be given away at halftime. A few lucky attendees will be selected to participate in a halftime activity bringing further awareness to the cause.

Collection boxes will also be located at the Robbins Center, One Tiger Place; inside the Memorial Union (near Starbucks), 600 Park St.; and Golden Belt Bank, 1101 E. 27th St., from Oct. 16 to Nov. 3.

The district will hear a report from special educations staff on the district’s STAR Rooms.

The district will also discuss:

KASB policy recommendations

The superintendent’s evaluation

Negotiations

Health insurance

 

Hays Community Theatre remodels new venue, to host murder mystery

Posted on

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Hays Community Theatre is raising money to remodel its new venue, the former Eagles Building at 121 E. Eighth.

Wendy Richmeier, Hays Community Theatre president, said the remodel may take about $20,000. Work is underway now on the building, including extensive work to the restrooms to make them Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.

Once the building is completed, it should be able to accommodate 100 to 140 seats.

Currently, the community theatre is renting a venue at 118 E. 11th St. However, the Eagles buildings would allow it to have a year-round venue with space for offices.

The design of the building will allow for a more theatrical feel for productions. The high ceilings with rafters will allow the theatre to hang theatrical lights. The theatre group is hoping to bring an art deco look to the renovated space.

The former Eagles building also has a kitchen, which will be more suitable for preparing meals for the theatre group’s murder mystery dinners.

Richmeier said she was unsure when the remodeling would be finished. The theatre board had hoped to have its November performances of its murder mystery fundraiser at the venue, but at this point, the group is a long way from opening the building.

Everything that can be done by volunteers is being done by volunteers, so the construction is going much slower than if the theatre group could hire the work done, Richmeier said.

If anyone has construction skills and would like to volunteer or has any construction materials they would like the donate, they can email the theatre group at [email protected].

If you would like to donate to theatre for the remodel of the Eagles building, mail checks to Hays Community Theatre, PO Box 21, Hays, KS 67601. You can also donate to the community theatre with a credit or debit card via PayPal on the group’s website.

Pamela Grizzell, the venue coordinator for the theatre, said the group’s ultimate goal is to have a performing arts center.

“We are definitely growing and this is good,” she said.

The community theatre’s next fundraiser will be a murder mystery dinner based on the popular board game, Clue. The original script was written by the local writing group the Ink Plots.

The “Clue To A Kill” dinner will be staged Friday, Sept. 29; Saturday, Sept. 30; Friday, Nov. 17; and Saturday, Nov. 18. Tickets for the Sept. 29 and November shows are still available. The shows start at 6:30 p.m.

Guests will receive via email their assigned aliases for the night, a bio and instructions on how to play the evening out. Clues arrive throughout the night by means of secret rendezvous in the hall, whispers from waiters and the passing of discrete notes.

Tickets are $20. The menu will be smoked pork, baked potato, tossed salad, dinner role and dessert. A cash bar will be available. All funds support the community renovation of the new building. Tickets can be purchased online at HCTKS.com.

The theatre group also plans to stage its popular haunted tours in October. The winter show will be “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Dates and times for these shows will be announced at a later date. Watch the community theatre’s website for more information.

 

Community Assistance Center short on food until Oct. drive

Posted on

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Many of the shelves at the Community Assistance Center food pantry are bare.

The center has increased the number of times families can seek food assistance at the pantry from four per year to six. This, coupled with a natural uptick in use during the summertime when children are not in school, has drained the center’s resources.

The center is hoping to get by until the annual Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat food drive, which is set for Tuesday, Oct. 10.

The call went out earlier this week about the pantry’s low supplies and several monetary and food donations have come in. The money that was donated was used to purchase what Laurie Mortinger, center director, said she hopes will be enough food to get the food pantry through until the food drive.

The pantry will accept food donations any time the center is open, which is 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Checks can be mailed to the Community Assistance Center, 12th and Oak streets, Hays, KS 67601.

The center is in most need of canned and boxed goods, with the exception of green beans and corn. This could include canned fruits, soups, stew mixes, baking mixes or beans.

The Community Assistance Center is not supported through any federal or city funds. There are two paid employees and the rest are volunteers. The center relies solely on donations from the public and its regular community garage sales.

“Hays has been very generous,” Mortinger said. “We are thankful. You don’t have to give a lot. It all adds up.”

HHS DECA
The annual Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat canned food drive is set for Tuesday, Oct. 10, in Hays. Volunteers will be going door to door collecting non-perishable food items from 6 to 9 p.m.

To assure residents that the items collected are for the Community Assistance Center, all volunteers will be wearing an identification badge with “Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat” clearly printed on them. Please leave items on the porch if you will not be home or do not want someone ringing the doorbell. Youth and adult volunteers from Hays give of their time to make this food drive a success.

Any house missed or those living in a rural area may take food items to the Community Assistance Center in Hays at 12th and Oak until noon Oct. 31.

This event is organized by the Hays High School DECA Club. Contact adviser Shaina Prough at Hays High School, 785-623-2600, if you need further information.

Five State Photography Competition seeks entries

Posted on

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Entries are being accepted for the 34th annual Five State Photography Competition sponsored by the Hays Arts Council.

The regional fine arts competition is open to any photographer living in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma or Colorado. Any photographic process is eligible as long as it’s an original work created in the last three years and has not been exhibited in a previous Five-State Exhibition.

“This is art through the medium of photography,” said Brenda Meder, HAC executive director. “It is creating images using light. It is light writing. It gets so creative. It’s anything and everything from traditional black and white to glorious colorful still lifes to conceptual story pieces.”

There are no size restrictions, however, all entries must be framed and/or mounted and suited for professional gallery presentation. Multi-framed single entries are not eligible.

Most photography competitions are judged digitally, but the HAC has stuck to its traditional judging format. All of the matted prints are hung on the walls floor to ceiling or set on tables, so all the entries can be seen at once.

Anywhere from 450 to 275 entries have been received and a maximum of 150 can be exhibited in the HAC gallery.

The judge physically removes those photographs from the exhibit that are not up to standards of the show, Meder said.

This year’s juror will be John Finch, a professional portrait, nature and fine arts photographer for more than 40 years. He has owned two studios, and his work now focuses on nature, landscape and wildlife photography. His work has received awards and has been featured in numerous publications. He has served as a judge for both professional and amateur photography competitions and has been an instructor in photography and darkroom development.

Each year, the HAC commissions a new judge so each exhibit is graded by a new set of eyes.

The arts council hopes to open the HAC so the public can see all the entries before judging.

The wide use of digital photography and digital editing has increased the quality and diversity of the entries, said Meder who has been with the HAC for 28 years. The photography is also being printed on more mediums, including canvas and aluminum.

“Cameras are a part of our lives every minute,” Meder said. “More of us are taking photos and playing around and taking chances and engaging.”

Photographers can enter three categories: nature, people or open.

The HAC will award $500 worth of prizes in each category. It is up to the judge to pick three to five pieces to honor and to choose the amount awarded to each photo.

A fee of $20 will allow a photographer to enter two works. Two additional works may be entered for a fee of $5 each. The entry deadline is Nov. 6. Works will be due at the HAC by Nov. 7.

Entry forms and contest rules can be found on the HAC website.

The exhibit opening will be Dec. 1 and coincide with the Winter Art Walk. The exhibit will close Jan. 26.

The competition and exhibition is also sponsored by Eagle Communications, Northwestern Printers, Bank of Hays and the Hays Daily News.

Hays Arts Council to bring educational entertainers to local schools

Posted on

Hays Arts Council

The Hays Arts Council is gearing up for another great year of projects and programs for the students it serves in Hays, Victoria, Ellis, Plainville and Russell elementary schools.

The first project is ready to go. The Hays Arts Council will again present Jay & Leslie Cady (Laughing Matters) in 11 performances for elementary students in those communities. Full-time professional entertainers since 1980, they have performed over 5,000 times in 35 states and seven foreign counties. These Kansas City artists are highly acclaimed, bringing a special brand of entertainment and education to their programs.

Their residency is next week—Sept. 25 through 29.

They have been here many times before, but the HAC always makes sure it rotates the shows it has them present, so it is always “new” for the students.

This year’s show is “Juggling the Earth’s Resources” with earth science and environment curriculum objectives of atoms, molecules, the water cycle, greenhouse gasses and recycling. It will be done with their very own brand of outstanding entertainment, engagement and education.

The group will be in Ellis on Monday, Victoria and Russell on Tuesday, Hays on Wednesday and Thursday and Plainville and Hays on Friday.

The HAC is presenting a public performance for young people and their families at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28 at the Hays Public Library.

Their public performance will be different from the school performances.

Hansen Foundation funds early reading programs across NW Kansas

Posted on

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Dane G. Hansen Foundation has approved a grant program that could provide books for 12,000 children birth to 5 in 26 northwest Kansas counties.

The initiative — NWKansas Reads — will fund two programs that provide books to the families of young children: The Dolly Parton Imagination Library and Turn a Page, Touch a Mind. Ellis County already participates in both of these programs, but some areas of northwest Kansas will be able to offer the programs for the first time.

Counties included in the grant are Cheyenne, Cloud, Decatur, Ellis, Gove, Ellsworth, Graham, Jewell, Lincoln, Logan, Mitchell, Norton, Osborne, Ottawa, Phillips, Rawlins, Republic, Rooks, Russell, Saline, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Thomas, Trego and Wallace.

An Imagination Library program has been active in Ellis County since 2012. Dolly Parton’s original vision for the Imagination Library was to foster a love of reading among preschool children and their families in her home county of Sevier, Tenn., by providing them with the gift of a specially selected book each month, according to the Hansen Foundation.

To find a local sponsoring agency in your county or to register your child for the program, click here.

Lori Hertel, a local therapist, help created the program in Ellis County in memorial of her daughter, Ana, who loved to read.

The Imagination Library provides free books each month to children who are birth through 5 years old. Age-appropriate books are mailed to the children’s homes. For babies, they include board books, and as the children get ready to graduate from the program they receive a book on beginning kindergarten.

There are no income requirements to participate in the program.

Dana Stanton, Ellis County program coordinator, said early reading is the best predictor of future academic success for children.

“Early reading and children playing with books is important. Parents having children sit in their laps and parents reading to their children sparks in young children an interest in literature and hopefully they become a lifelong reader,” Stanton said.

Ninety percent of a child’s brain development occurs within the first five years of life, and this a large part of why the Dane G. Hansen Foundation has decided to focus on early childhood reading.

The local Imagination Library program has struggled with funding. It is completely funded through private funds and grants, Stanton said. When the program’s reserves fall below six months, the program has to stop enrolling children. The local program was at that point until the foundation announced its grant.

Ellis County currently has 709 children enrolled in the Imagination Library program. It costs $25 per year to send each child a book each month. This equals about $17,000 per year in expenses. Since the program started, it has provided 40,173 books to 1,412 in Ellis County.

Stanton said the program especially helps low-income families who might not have money in their budgets to purchase books for their homes.

Stanton said this is a great gift to the community of Hays and the communities of northwest Kansas.

Because the foundation has agreed to fund the Imagination Library for at least five years, the charitable giving that was going to the Imagination Library can be targeted elsewhere.

Turn a Page, Touch a Mind works through medical clinics and health departments. Medical professionals discuss with parents the importance of reading aloud to their children during well-child and immunization visits from ages 6 months through 5 years. The families receive a book for their children at these visits.

Reading promotion as a part of pediatric care has been proven to increase vocabulary and early literacy skills of young children, according to the program.

The program was created and funded by Kansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, but the temporary partnership with the Dane G. Hansen Foundation will allow the program to provide more books at more locations in northwest Kansas, said Betsy Wearing, Hansen Foundation coordinator of communications, programs and new initiatives.

In Ellis County, Pediatric Center at HaysMed and Hays Family Medicine both participate in the program. To find a complete list of the participating programs in your area click here.

Wearing said the foundation hopes to evaluate the NWKansas Reads program at the end of five years to see if it is having an effect on kindergarten readiness. Improving kindergarten readiness has also been targeted by the Kansas State Board of Education as a goal for school accreditation.

Hays USD 489 teacher receives grant for engineering education

Posted on

Lincoln fifth-grade teacher Monica Dreiling was recently awarded a $3,000 Westar Energy Grant.

Dreiling submitted a grant titled “STEM Pals: An Intergenerational Learning Partnership.”

Dreiling will present her grant and program and receive her award at the Kansas Association of School Board’s Conference in Wichita on Dec. 2.

Money from the grant will be used to purchase materials for engineering challenges, global challenges, and kits to teach electrical engineering and sustainable energy concepts.

Fifth-grade students will work with intergenerational pals within the community on these projects.

Ellis High School asks those in need to sign up for service day help

Posted on

Hays Post

Ellis High School will have its fifth-annual Community Service Day on Monday, Oct. 2.

Students and staff will do general cleaning and maintenance projects around the community. The school is doing this in conjunction with the Ellis City Wide Clean-Up scheduled for Oct. 4.

The school would like to help the elderly of the community and those who are unable to perform general cleaning and maintenance activities. The school would also be willing to help nonprofit organizations with the same services.

There will be no charge for the services. All grades at the high school will participate.

If you would like the students to help you, call  EHS Principal Corey Burton at the high school at 785-726-3151 or Leonard Schoenberger at 785-726-1278. Please call by at least Friday, Sept. 29 so the school can organize its resources.

“We want to give back to the community,” Burton said. “We are always asking the community to support this or that. This is a way we can give back to the community.”

 

Copyright Eagle Radio | FCC Public Files | EEO Public File