By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Big Creek Crossing announced today it signed national chain Dollar Tree as a new tenant.

The store will occupy about 10,000 square feet where Fashion Bug and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore were located at the south end of the mall. There will be no door to the store from the mall; the Dollar Tree will only have an exterior entrance.

The ReStore moved last weekend and now occupies a space in the former G&L Tire at south end of the mall parking lot.

Construction began today on the remodel of the mall space for Dollar Tree. The chain hopes to open its new Hays location this fall.

Dollar Tree is described as a variety store where all products cost a $1 or less.

According to its website, some of the product departments you’ll find at Dollar Tree include housewares, glassware, dinnerware, cleaning supplies, candy, snacks, food, health and beauty, toys, gifts, gift bags and wrap, party supplies, stationery, craft supplies, teaching supplies, books, and seasonal décor.

James Younger, Big Creek Crossing manager, said he thought Dollar Tree will be a positive addition to the mall and the community.

“This is something that we have been working on for quite some time,” he said. “We are very happy to see the project finalized, and we have it underway. We can’t wait until the project is completed and it is open and to bring another great shopping choice to the city of Hays.”

Big Creek has other projects in the works and hopes to make further announcements before the end of the year, Younger said.

He was unsure how many workers the Dollar Tree will employ.

Leslie Wyatt, Habitat for Humanity executive director, said the ReStore will be open its regular hours 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in its new location, 2900 Vine, on Saturday.

She said the organization is thankful Big Creek had a new location for the store. The store is in a slightly larger space with better visibility.

The ReStore takes donations and sells thrift items, construction surplus, household goods and furniture. ReStore proceeds support Habitat’s mission of providing affordable housing in the community.

Wyatt wished to thank all the volunteers who showed up Sunday to help move the store’s merchandise, including the Fort Hays State University football team.

Habitat and the ReStore are always in need of volunteers. To learn more about volunteering or about Habitat, call 785-623-4200, visit the Habitat website at www.hfhec.org or connect on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HFHEC/.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The building looks like a construction zone now, but franchise officials said they are confident Old Chicago in Hays will be open by May 14.

The franchise is remodeling space in the former Golden Corral building, 383 W. Mopar Drive, across from Walmart.

The interior is already unrecognizable from its former self, with a large bar, patio area and brick facing on the exterior. OC Restaurants gutted the kitchen and brought in all new equipment. With the patio, the restaurant will seat about 220 people.

The restaurant will offer a full bar with 40 beers on tap and another 70 beer labels in bottles, including some German beers.

Old Chicago offers menu options for everyone, said Jeff Daley, director of operations.

“The thing that I like about Old Chicago the best is the menu is so diverse,” he said.

They are known for their pizza, which includes ale-crust and gluten-free options. However, the restaurant also offer a variety of pastas, sandwiches, salads, wings and burgers.

He said the atmosphere is great for a family dinner, a night our with friends or a business meeting.

The restaurant will offer catering and takeout. Online ordering will be available a couple of weeks after the opening.

Hours will be 11 a.m. to midnight Sundays through Tuesdays and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays.

The restaurant will employ 105 people and, as of Thursday morning, still had slots open for another 20 employees.

“The workforce, we are very excited about that and all the employees we have hired,” Daley said.

Old Chicago is a national franchise that was founded in Colorado in 1976. It already has a strong Kansas presence, including locations in Wichita, Great Bend, Liberal and multiple restaurants in Kansas City.

“We like the community. We are very excited about the growth. We are excited about the interstate location,” Daley said.

Ross Olsbo, opening operations manager, said, “You asked why Hays. This is just a great Midwestern community. It is a feel-good place coming here. Everywhere we go, we get treated with that great Midwestern hospitality. I was over at the CVB yesterday, and everyone made me feel like I was welcome and part of the community. It is nice to have that feeling. … I am glad that we are coming here and going to be a part of that community.”

Old Chicago is only using about 6,600 square feet of the old Golden Corral building. The other 3,600 square feet of the space will be leased. It will be closed off from the restaurant with a second entrance. The business has had some interest in the space, including a gym, retail or professional office space. No contracts have been signed.

Jim Gardner, operating principal on the project, also said the OC Restaurants would consider dividing that portion of the building into two smaller rental spaces.

The restaurant is doing a fundraiser in conjunction with its opening. Several training meals will be served by invitation prior to the restaurant opening on May 14. One hundred percent of the proceeds from those meals will go to Big Brother Big Sisters of Ellis County.

“We expect to raise a significant amount of money. The other thing that is important is that when we are doing our opening functions and training, we will have representative here from Big Brothers Big Sisters. We also think we can help raise the awareness of their organization and what they are trying to do,” Daley said.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

A collaborative art project with Fort Hays State University and Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas clients will be on display Friday at Hays Public Library during the Spring Art Walk.

Amy Schmierbach, professor of art and design at Fort Hays State University, received a grant this fall from the Surface Design Association, a fiber arts group, to assist students and DSNWK clients create weavings.

FHSU students visited the Reed Center twice a week and worked with clients. About four clients at a time worked with the FHSU students on large looms to create multi-colored and -textured wall hangings.

All the fabric strips and yarn were donated for the project, and the DSNWK clients chose the colors and designs they wanted to include in the pieces.

Schmierbach has cooperated with DSNWK on several projects over the years, but said she felt a renewed passion to work with DSNWK clients after her son, who is 10, was diagnosed with autism and their family sought services from DSNWK.

She said the DSNWK clients reap benefits from the art making process.

“It is not a prescribed project that needs to look like ‘this’ at the end,” she said. “It gives them a lot of freedom to be creative on their own. There are very creative people.

“I think making artwork is empowering to everyone involved. I feel art has the power to change either on my end or my students’, for amateurs’ or professionals’. All these guys at DSNWK, it can change their lives, being productive, but also making these beautiful things to put out into the world that have value. I think there is a lot of great powerfulness that can come from that.”

The FHSU students who worked with the DSNWK clients get a new way of making art, Schmierbach said.

She emphasized the weavings were collaborations and not just a craft the students were teaching. She described this project as a form of social practice art.

Student McKenna O’Hare described social practice art in a statement for the exhibit as “the process of making art focused on the engagement of social interaction between individuals or communities, and it often aims to create social and/or political change through collaboration of participatory art.”

She continues by saying the act of making the art is often more important than the art itself.

“It is a matter of completely emerging oneself into a community to work towards a goal, raise awareness of issues, facilitate discussion, and other interpersonal interactions,” she writes.

By bringing awareness to a taboo subject, the reaction to the art is also often part of the art itself, she writes.

“Because social practice art is so broad, the end goal can vary tremendously. That may look like bringing physical change to a community, opening up conversation on hushed topics, simply bringing awareness to an overlooked community, shed light on political, governmental, or social issues, or maybe something completely different,” she said.

Other FHSU students who participated in the project included Alberto Hernandez Martinez, Garden City, and Kendra Hall, Purdy, Missouri.

Schmierbach has received another grant from the Surface Design Association to continue her program with the DSNWK clients. She said she would like to see the weavings travel outside of the community to other exhibitions to spread it message of inclusion and awareness.

Two of the weavings will be raffled to the public Friday with the money benefiting the DSNWK arts program. Tickets can be purchased at the library Friday night. Tickets are on sale for 1 for $3, 2 for $5 or 5 for $10.

 

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Although the Spring Art Walk’s anchor always features the seasoned artists in the Smoky Hill Art Exhibition, this year students as young as elementary age will have a chance to show their talents too.

This is the 49th year for Smoky Hill Art Exhibition, the longest-running exhibition of its kind in the state. Seventy-one pieces were selected from a statewide juried art competition with more than 200 submissions this year. The Hays Arts Council presented $2,750 in prize money to the top pieces.

“It is almost like without that, the rest of it wouldn’t evolve,” Art Center Director Brenda Meder said of the exhibition, “That’s the granddaddy. That’s been the constant since the inception of the Spring Art Walk. That’s the show everyone wants to see and gets out for.”

“We believe we end up with this beautiful, rich, diverse array of works—everything from very contemporary to very traditional—two dimensional, three-dimensional, acrylic, watercolor, oil painting, collage, ceramic, metal sculpture, assemblage, photography, you name it,” Meder said. “No one can look at that show and not say, ‘Now that I really like.’ There are other things they may find as head scratchers, but someone else may adore the piece.”

The show will run through June 6 at the Hays Art Center, 112 E. 11th.

Below is a photo preview of the Smoky Hill Art Exhibition.

This year’s Spring Art Walk includes 28 locations with music, visual art or performance from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. There is no fee to participate.

The Niche, 707 Main, will give participants the opportunity to make quilt blocks. The event is dubbed “Step it Up for the Cure: Craft a Quilt Block for Diabetes” and is being organized by one of the Leadership 310 classes at FHSU to raise awareness about diabetes. The blocks will be assembled into a quilt and sold as a fundraiser.

“You can help to create the art for something that matters,” Meder said. “You can see that happening in a variety of ways, utilizing the arts in the best way in our community for awareness, for fundraising, for change. It is really exciting.”

The Community Assistance Center, 12th and Oak, also will conduct a fundraiser through the sale of donated art. That sale starts at 6 p.m.

Live music is going to be offered at Platinum Group, 116 E. 11th, by Joshua Adcock, Blade Buell and David Vandiver; Salon Ten O Seven, 1007 Main, by Jim Pisano and William Flynn; Union Pacific Plaza and Pavilion by the FHSU Jazz Ensemble and jazz by Brad Dawson, Luke Johnson and Ken Windholz; and Ellis County Historical Society, 100 W. Seventh, by Randy Mader.

An open acoustic jam will be at My Masterpiece, 205 E. Seventh, and Gella’s Diner will feature Blake Ruder from 9 to 11 p.m.

Hays High School will present a showcase of current issue projects as well as drama and forensics performances at A2Z Escape, which recently moved downtown to 115 W. Eighth.

A2Z is not the only place where student art can be experienced.

Prairie Garden Club youth environmental posters will be at Tri-Central Office Supply, 1101 Main St. Jackie’s Creamer’s Dance Studio, 1003 Main, will showcase examples of Grecian-style vases made by HHS language arts students, and watershed student posters will be at a vacant storefront at 809 Main St. Paintings and drawings by Thomas More Prep-Marian students Lane Werth, Annie Wasinger and Alexandra Herrman will be featured at the Hays Community Theatre, 121 E. Eighth.

The Hays Public Library will feature elementary student art on the second floor and “Weavings” a collaborative effort between Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas clients and Amy Schmierbach, FHSU instructor, on the first floor.

“We have special needs adults doing wonderful, creative, fulfilling, satisfying work,” Meder said. … “That is the richness of art. It knows no boundaries.”

A number of FHSU students will be exhibiting BFA and MFA shows Friday night and more FHSU art will be showcased on and off campus. Some of these include MFA ceramics by April Grace Noble and Heida Halldorsdottir at the Moss Thorns Gallery; “Dual/Duel” sculpture at the C.A.T.S. at new FHSU Center for Applied Technology and Sculpture; and a FHSU Creative Arts Society student exhibition at the FHSU painting lab.

Mad Matter Frame Shop & Gallery will feature “In Full Color,” mixed media works by John C Thorns Jr., longtime chairman of the FHSU art department.

At 7:30 p.m. at Salon Ten O Seven, Linda Ganstrom will receive the Daughter of the American Revolution “Women in the Arts” award.

Some sites will be open early or extended hours on Friday and other locations will be open to the public on Saturday. See the complete schedule for details.

“It really pays to start early and go late with this year’s Spring Art Walk because it is just going to be an outstanding evening,” Meder said.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Michele Brungardt wants to help her students find their place in the world.

Middle school academics are important, but this time is also crucial to students’ social and emotional growth.

Luckily, in a school the size of Hays Middle School, there are lots of niches. There are lots of groups in which to find a home.

“A lot of people say big schools aren’t good, but I think every kid who comes here finds their group,” she said. “I think that eliminates a lot of bullying. I am not saying it is not out there. It takes awhile, but I think everyone who comes here finds their group that is their support group, whether it be adults or other kids. I think that alleviates the bullying that takes place in smaller schools.”

Brungardt is finishing her 26th year as a teacher. She grew up in Victoria, and received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fort Hays State University. She currently teaches seventh-grade social studies at HMS, and she is the Hays Post Teacher of the Month.

All but one of her 26 years of service has been in Hays. She started at Jefferson Elementary, and when that school closed, she moved to HMS.

One of the places kids find their place is intramurals. Brungardt oversees the teacher assistants for that program.She has photos of the intramural teams proudly displayed on the wall in her classroom. She said she thought athletics and music help youth grow into well-rounded people.

Cade Scott, fellow HMS social science teacher nominated Brungardt for the award. He said in his nomination, “Michele is an excellent teacher at seventh-grade social studies. … She represents our Home and School program. She does extracurricular things like keep book and clock for basketball games. I have only been teaching at HMS for two years, but Michele has helped me out numerous times with basically anything I need. She takes the time to care about teachers and students. HMS is a better place and a great school because of Michele Brungardt.”

Brungardt knew she wanted to be a teacher from the time she was a little girl. Her father was teacher and school counselor.

“My family was always around education, and that is always something from little on up that I wanted to be,” she said.

Brungardt’s favorite part of being a teacher is the kids.

“I do what I do for them,” she said.

Brungardt coordinates the citizenship program for the seventh graders. This includes a states and abbreviations test, service hours and a written citizenship test.

“At the middle school level we try to teach the kids academically with life-long skills, but the kids at middle school need so much social and emotional direction. You sprinkle in the academics,” she said, “but their needs are not purely academic at the ages of 11 through 14.”

You have to listen to kids and make them comfortable in the classroom so if they need something they can come to you, she said. The children’s needs are always changing, so Brungardt said she tries to change her teaching methods to meet those needs.

Brungardt said as her students move on to high school and beyond she hopes those skills she has taught them both social and academic will stick with them.

She said she hoped she could impart, “those life-long skills whether they be academic or social that they have heard me say and repeat. When they get to make choices in high school, [I hope] there is that little voice in the back of their head saying, ‘Oh. Mrs. Brungardt would have said this.'”

FHSU University Relations

The 59th annual Western Kansas Technology Education Fair is set for Friday, April 27, at Fort Hays State University’s Gross Memorial Coliseum.

The fair showcases projects from junior high and high school students in technology education classes from around the state.

Students begin bringing their projects to GMC on Thursday, and the public is invited to view those projects from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Projects include furniture, CAD drawings and metal works. Each entry is judged and awarded a ribbon or medal.

Students can participate all day Friday in live competitions, including communication, problem solving, metric 500 racing and technology challenge (quiz bowl).

It’s a learning experience as well for students in FHSU’s Technology and Engineering Educators Collegiate Association as they run the entire fair.

By C.D. DeSALVO
Hays Post

For Brandon Pfanenstiel, drag racing has been something he has been familiar with since he was born. Pfanenstiel’s father got him into the scene at a young age and, by 14, he was racing for the first time. By 16, he took over his dad’s car.

Pfanenstiel, who is from the Hays area and currently lives in Plainville, recently discovered a way to combine his passion for drag racing with a way to give back to military veterans for their service after a virtual meeting with the founder of Armed Forces Racing.

“I met the founder, Jeff Lambert, through an online racing school that I’m a part of and wanted to do my part to help. I didn’t have a lot to donate but I felt like I could do more on the promoting side of things and help get more donations for them,” Pfanenstiel said.

Armed Forces Racing is a nonprofit organization started to provide recreational therapy to disabled veterans. Veterans who build and race cars through Armed Forces Racing find it is therapeutic and helps them recover from disabilities such as post-traumatic stress disorder by keeping them active and busy when they return home. The organization is based out of McConnells, S.C., and officially became a 501(c)3 nonprofit in December.

“It all started when we built a car for a restoration project as a tribute to veterans, but what happened was we started getting veterans volunteering and coming down to work on the car and we found that by doing that, it became a recreational therapy,” said Lambert, who served active duty in the Navy from 1992 to 1996. “They started telling us that this changed their lives and made them feel like they have a mission and purpose. They loved getting to hang out with other veterans. That’s kind of what started it and I said ‘instead of a tribute, we should do more.’ So that’s how Armed Forces Racing came to be.”

Pfanenstiel volunteered to be an ambassador for Armed Forces Racing by promoting and fundraising in the Hays area. He has started visiting local businesses to make them aware of the organization.

“Brandon actually became the first official ambassador for us. We actually started the ambassador program because of Brandon,” Lambert said. “We just got an ambassador in Pennsylvania and we got another ambassador in Virginia because of what Brandon did.”

While there is not currently an Armed Forces Racing program in the area, Pfanenstiel’s ultimate goal is to eventually set up a program in the area for local veterans to be able to take advantage of the therapeutical upsides of building cars, racing cars and being on a crew for a racing team.

“For myself, it is definitely a type of therapy. It’s my getaway … ..it’s what I do. Sometimes putting it into words isn’t easy I just think of it like any project. I get satisfaction out of working on my car, making it run, and racing it,” Pfanenstiel said. “I am simply a volunteer trying to do my part to give back. Drag racing has always been my thing, so this is my way to combine the two.”

Since Armed Forces Racing is a nonprofit, any and all donations go toward the cost of buying parts to build the dragsters and getting the veterans out to the track.

To donate, visit the Armed Forces Racing website at www.armedforcesracing.org.

You can also visit their Facebook page for photos and events at www.facebook.com/armedforcesracing.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Although she could have used her chairmanship of Fort Hays State University Agriculture Day as a resume builder, Shaelyn Akers doesn’t need to.

The senior agriculture business major from Cheyenne Wells, Colo., has already accepted a job with Midland Marketing in Hays as an assistant grain merchandiser.

“I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of the farmers in the area and being able to help them with their operation,” Akers said. “I’ll be helping the advisory team buy and sell the farmers’ grain, working with their position.”

Wheat was just one of the many commodities visitors could learn about in the FHSU quad Tuesday where they enjoyed a free beef meal on a perfect spring morning.

“It takes one bushel of wheat to produce 69 loaves of bread,” WaKeeney FFA high school sophomore Carter Minson explained to an international FHSU student.

Minson, along with senior Blake Spencer, were demonstrating how much a bushel of wheat weighs — 60 pounds — and handing out samples of wheat kernel snacks. Models of farm equipment used to harvest wheat lined the table top along with a variety of foods made with wheat.

“Even though Kansas is a leading wheat-producing state, it’s crazy how much people don’t know about wheat,” Minson said.

“Somebody asked how many states are in the wheat production business,” Spencer said. “They didn’t know and we had to tell them it’s 41.”

Spencer works at Frontier Ag in WaKeeney and will continue there when he graduates next month. Minson currently serves as treasurer of their FFA chapter.

Members of the Hays High School FFA talked to the crowd about growing sunflowers for seed and oil and how the monarch butterfly plays a role in assisting with pollination of flowers and some crops.

Bees are vital to crop pollination. FHSU Bee Club Ryan Engel and Elissa Jensen explained why as they gave out samples of the lightly colored, lightly sweet honey harvested from the university’s two bee hives.

Girls Scouts from Troop 10058 were there with chickens and ducks, talking about humane ways to raise the poultry.

Other participants provided information about soil and water quality and quantity.

One student from China was surprised to learn how much bigger American farms are than those in his country.

The Sonrise Farm, operated by the Neher family of Pfeifer, had two of their Boer meat goats in a pen on the green grass. People were invited to lean down and pet the goats but cautioned about the goats’ propensity to nibble on loose clothing.

“Goat meat production is increasingly dramatically in the U.S.,” Jeff Neher said. “It’s a very lean meat that’s high in protein.” Sonrise Farm has been raising show does, wethers and registered breeding stock the past four years.

Akers is also a member of the FHSU Collegiate Farm Bureau chapter, which organized Agriculture Day. The event was formerly known as Beef Day and was reorganized last year to include all types of Kansas agriculture.

“This was the first time we invited all these commodity commissions and the FFA kids,” said Steph Eckroat, coordinator for Ellis County Farm Bureau. “Next year we hope to invite area school children and the general public to attend.”

Demonstrations included a life-size model of a cow giving birth by Dr. A.J. Tarpoff, an assistant professor and Extension Beef Veterinarian at Kansas State University, Manhattan. The crowd watched with rapt attention as he talked them through the birth process, using the same supplies and equipment utilized by ranchers, and in difficult cases, by a veterinarian, to help pull a calf from the mother’s body.

An old fashioned miniature cotton gin was in use by the Southern Kansas Cotton Growers Coop and the Southwest Dairy Museum brought their mobile cow milking unit.

The Kansas Soybean Commission and Kansas Corn Growers Association were also on hand as was Harry Watts, director of the Kansas Farm Bureau Foundation in Manhattan and an FHSU alum. Other booths featured the latest technology for use in agriculture, including drones.

“I love everything about agriculture. It’s always been in my blood and it always will be,” Akers vowed as she surveyed Ag Day from the steps of the Memorial Union.

She grew up on her family’s farm in eastern Colorado, helping with production of wheat, milo, corn and feed, along with the cow/calf operation. They’ve raised horses, pigs and even buffalo.

“We’re the ones feeding the world, putting the food on the plate,” Akers added. “Everyone needs to be aware of that.”

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

German eatery Das Essen Hutte is in a new location in downtown Hays with an expanded menu, new decor and sit-down service.

Charlie and Roxane Dorzweiler chose to leave Big Creek Crossing for the opportunity to build an expanded kitchen at 110 W. 11th.

Charlie has added a line of barbecue smoked over fruit wood. Smoked sirloin is his speciality. The restaurant is also hoping to offer a smoked prime rib on Friday and Saturday nights. He makes two house barbecue sauces, a regular and apple, and has added homemade apple brats to the menu.

The restaurant will continue to offer Volga German favorites, such as bierocks, green bean dumpling soup,  schnitzel, spaetzel, sauerbraten and maultasche.

For the unfamiliar sauerbraten is a German roast, and maultasche is a noodle dough stuffed with a cheese or meat filling that can be boiled, baked or fried. Spaetzel are fried dumplings.

The restaurant bakes all of its own bread from scratch. Bread can be purchased by the loaf. Charlie said the rye has been especially popular.

Whereas Das Essen Hutte’s location at Big Creek Crossing was almost fast food — order at the counter — the new location offers sit-down service with wait staff.

The establishment is also selling 3-2 beer.

The design focal point of the restaurant is an authentic solid-wood Brunswick bar from the 1800s. The Dorzweilers have owned the bar and its gigantic wood-trimmed mirror for years.

The Dorzweilers have been working on the new space since January, but only opened their doors on April 3. They are still working on some of their wall decor. They’re focusing on local history. In addition to the restaurant, Charlie still works the family farm just outside of Catherine. It has been in the family for four generations,

To honor that history, Charlie enlarged and mounted a number of early farm and family photos, including photos of his grandparents, Lee and Mary Dorzweiler, and great-grandparents, Balthazar and Mary Dorzweiler, who settled in this area in the 1800s. Vegetables grown on the farm will likely be used in the restaurant this summer.

The family is working on a display of photos from his wife Roxane’s family. Her maiden name was Schmidt, and her family’s farm was about two miles from the Dorzweilers’.

Charlie has reserved another wall for historic military photos.

The new location is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays. The restaurant does to-go orders and will continue to cater.

Charlie said he and his wife are looking forward to being downtown and hopes Das Essen Hutte will be another draw to bring people into Hays and onto the bricks. They have already had good reception with customers from as far away as Wichita stopping in to sample the German fare.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Almost 1,000 high school students from across Kansas and Nebraska packed Gross Memorial Coliseum with their artwork Wednesday.

This was the 44th year for the high school art day, which serves as an open house for the Fort Hays State University art and design department and a recruiting tool for the university. The event hosted 962 students from 62 schools this year.

Student artists with exemplary work took home certificates. Students watched demonstrations throughout Rarick Hall and some visited the Hays Arts Center downtown, which is preparing for the opening of its annual Smoky Hill Art Exhibition.

Although high winds put a bit of a damper on the outdoor festivities, 30 schools also participated in a sidewalk chalk art competition on the sidewalks outside of Rarick Hall. The theme was “Monumental Memories.” Hill City High School took first, Russell High School took second and Dodge City Hill School took third.

“I want to thank all of the students and teachers who participated,” Katie Christopher, FHSU Department of Art and Design staff member and organizer, said. “We are doing it for them.”

TMP-M

The Thomas More Prep-Marian Prom will be from 8 to 11 p.m. May 5 at Fort Hays State University’s Cody Commons.

This 2018 Prom Court is:

Bailey Lacy: daughter Brian and Carrie Lacy
Cole Zimmerman: son of Keith and Anne Zimmerman

Audrey Staab: daughter of Karl and Debbie Staab
Ethan Rohr: son of Jesse and Tawnya Rohr

Michael Lager: son of Brenda Lager
Taylor Teel: daughter of Emily and Jerry Teel

Adam Gottschalk: son of Rich and Trina Gottschalk
Ashley Ostrander: daughter Kathy and Tom Ostrander

Bruce Chiu: son of Judy Lin and Jett Chiu
Michaela Dreher: daughter of Neil and Tricia Dreher

By CRISTINA JANNEY 
Hays Post

Styles Dance Centre partnered with the Fort Hays State University Leadership class 310 to present a fundraiser “Dancing Together for DSNWK” Monday night at the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center. The class raised more than $7,000 for DSNWK.

DSNWK clients danced the finale with the girls from Styles Dance Centre to “The Greatest Show.”

 

 

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

LA CROSSE — Flame Engineering has installed a new $200,000 Miller robotic welding arm at its La Crosse plant.

The robotic arm, installed in January, replaces a similar piece of equipment the company has operated since the late 1990s.

Flame manufactures LP gas equipment. This includes torches for home, agriculture and tar roofing. Flame Engineering has been operating in La Crosse since the late 1950s and now sells all over the world.

The robotic welding takes about five minutes, whereas hand welding some products might take 20 minutes. It cut labor cost and increased production.

The company has multiple jigs for welding the different types of equipment it manufactures. Metal parts are clapped onto a jig, and the robot’s turn table rotates the parts into place so they can be welded.

The robotic arm can perform multiple welds on multiple pieces during a single pass.

On the afternoon Hays Post visited, workers had parts loaded into the machine for dollies for propane tanks. The arm made multiple welds on each of three bottom plates for the dollies.

Jason Pivonka, Flame Engineering vice president, said the arm is faster and more consistent than a worker hand-welding the parts.

The introduction of the arm into the shop has not eliminated jobs. When the company bought its first robotic welder, it added two workers to program and operate the arm.

In addition to the dollies, the company uses the robotic welder to manufacture tow hitches and construction heaters.

The new arm can weld larger parts, the arm has a larger range of motion and the new machine can weld a lighter weight steel.

“It is so much easier to use and has new technology,” Pivonka said. “It was time for an upgrade.”