After 2:55 p.m.

As hours of homework wait for her at home and the bitter wind blows hard enough to keep most people indoors, junior Lauren Atchley heads to Twin Mill Farm after school to work as an equestrian caretaker. When she finishes caring for all the other horses, she pulls her own horse, Greyson, out of his stable. She grooms him and tacks him up, wrapping his legs in protective outerwear and placing a sad...

Junior Jazz Loffredo leans toward his computer screen, his fingers gliding effortlessly across his keyboard. Rounding a corner, an enemy takes him by surprise and Loffredo shoots him, without thinking. Sitting as his own computer, junior Josh Cafer moves his thumb over the ball on the side of his mouse to maneuver his character around the same map Loffredo is playing on. Along with their group of...

While almost every other student is sitting at school in third block around noon, senior Hanna Ceule spends time shadowing doctors at The University of Kansas Hospital, preparing for her intended collegiate studies. “I shadow at KU, so I go follow a bunch of different doctors,” Hanna said. “I tend to stay pretty close to the ER because that’s the most interesting thing I’ve found so far,...

Whether it is after cross country, track or work, junior Anna Clayborn can be found in the weight room of Lifetime Fitness. Since she was a freshman, Anna has been lifting weights, with hopes of participating in a competition. “I wanted to lose weight at first, and then I started lifting and getting muscle,” Anna said. “Building my body has been really cool. You just see the changes and you...

After walking there from school, sophomore Wendy Chen enters through the doors of China King, a Chinese restaurant her family owns. Instead of taking a seat at one of the tables, however, Chen sets down her backpack and makes her way behind the counter, taking her place behind the register. Chen’s parents opened China King in 2003, and Chen has been helping out there since she was five years ...

In between dance classes, when she’s not working on homework, sophomore Ashley Ebner can be found in an empty room in the back of Academy of the Arts dance studio. With “Car Radio” by twenty one pilots blasting over the speakers, she improvises choreography, dancing in front of the mirror she helped bolt to the wall, on floors she helped install. For Ashley, the studio is her second home. “I ...

Catty Shack adviser Dianna Heffernon-Meyers has no ordinary classroom. Her whiteboard is filled top to bottom with shifts for the Catty Shack, outlining when each student plans to work for the week. As she gives directions, the school store on wheels rolls into the room, and her Advanced Marketing students verbally fill her in on how much Jamba Juice was sold during seminar. This is not the onl...

There is a stereotype that tells students as they enter high school that they need to be involved in some club or activity to gain friends and school spirit. Senior Chase Midyett, not only took that advice to heart — he is the current student body president —  but decided to participate in sports not just one season, but all year long. It helped that his older brother, 2014 graduate Henry Midyett, w...

During her time after school, senior Rachel Morgan is able to get the best of both worlds by both helping those in need and working toward her future career. Morgan regularly nannies two Monticello Trails Middle School students with special needs after school ends, spending time with them before their parents can pick them up. That usually entails going through daily routines at the children’s ...

When bored, it’s almost second nature to check what there is to watch on TV. Not for sophomore Madeline Myrick, though. “I just go home, I finish my homework, and then, when I’m bored, I just start reading a book,” Myrick said. “It uses your head and you can see images that you would normally see on the TV, but you can use your head instead of just seeing it.” Myrick doesn’t just re...

For most students, when the last bell rings, it’s a speed walk toward the parking lot in a desperate attempt to avoid traffic. Sophomore Cody Robertson, however, makes his way not to the parking lot, but to the end of the lower C hallway. At the end of the hallway, near drama teacher Jon Copeland’s room, Robertson joins his friends every day for 45 minutes to an hour after school. There, R...

As the bell signaling the end of the school day rings, sophomore Miranda Toland prepares to spend her day after school helping athletic trainer Clint McAlister attend to injured athletes. As a student trainer, Toland is required to help McAlister for at least eight hours a week, but may come in as she pleases. “[Sometimes I help] Clint until 8:30 p.m., and it just depends,” Toland said. “W...