Eagle Talon
A new school year begins with beaming students
By Breon Barton
The hallways were once again filled with life starting with the first day of school on August 18th. The students and staff are filled with excitement to start the new school year. We have gained several new students and new teachers, including Mr. John Cox, who is in his first year.
"In my first year, my biggest fear is probably making sure that my students have the tools they need to succeed," he commented. "But I am most excited to get to know my students and share my love of history and politics with them."
With only a few of the staff members having an extended tenure, Colby High School also has some staff members who have been here less than three years. Principal Ryan Muhlig is going into his second year at CHS.
"I for myself felt that it was a better start to the school year than last year. Going into this school year I think it's going to be better for me because I know more of the staff and students.” He also feels that the seniors will play a big part in making the school year easier because the underclassmen look up to the seniors.
Many students are involved with multiple clubs. For instance, Jayla Rush is involved in Student Council, FFA, and NHS.
"I'm excited to grow my leadership skills and get to know new people while making a difference in our school and community," Jayla said.
Many sources have pointed to a person’s junior year being the most difficult of their high school career. Zane Betz, junior feels as though he’ll be able to manage, regardless.
"So far it hasn't been that bad. My schedule looks a little tough but I should be able keep good grades," he said.
As these students are just a handful that attend CHS, there are many other students and stories beaming with life that walk the halls of Colby High School.
New students share their opinions on Colby High School
By Kennedy McCarty and Chloe Ackerman
The 2022-2023 school year has begun and with a new academic year, comes new students. It is important we recognize these people and their opinions on our school. We gathered four of our new students to ask them their thoughts on CHS so far. Paola Dimas moved to Colby for her Senior year. She believes that her transfer to CHS is different, but a good change none the less. She says that Colby High offers a lot more classes than her previous school did.
Ben Busse is also a senior year transfer. He says that the move to CHS has been good and there are a lot more people here than at his former school. He likes that Colby High School has more sports to offer than his previous school.
Abraham Beltran has moved in for his sophomore year. He feels that the best way to welcome new students is to be kind and walk the new students around the school. Those things help make the move easier. Abraham’s favorite class so far is Coach Walker’s English class because he's a good teacher and his class makes him excited to learn.
Alexis Harman is joining CHS as a freshman. She believes that her peers can help her feel comfortable in this new environment, she said that showing her around and telling her what to expect would help her easily transition to CHS.
“Overall the people here are nice,” she said. She's glad to be here for her freshman year.
Paola Dimas - Senior
Ben Busse - Senior
Abraham Beltran - Sophomore
Alexis Harman - Freshman
Brenton Kirkhart
Intro To Emerging Tech and Career Academy
John Cox
American History and Government
Hans Krohn
Woods & Enginering
CHS welcomes three new instructors
By Tennyson Jackson
The start of the 2022-2023 school year brought several new teachers to Colby High School. They have various backgrounds and experiences, but they are eager to share those experiences with their students at Colby High School. From living all over the United States, to having a Native American background, or being a youth pastor, they have a wealth of knowledge to help the experience of students at Colby High School.
Brenton Kirkhart grew up in Minneola, Kansas. When he was six years of age, he moved to a family farm near Turpin, Oklahoma. He graduated from Turpin High School in 2010. Next, he went on to college at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell, Oklahoma. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in photography. The next stop on his journey was to begin work on an education degree for the state of Oklahoma. At that point, he moved to Kansas and went through the Transition to Teaching program at Fort Hays State University.
He is currently enrolled at Colby Community College taking the trauma informed program to help with his career in education. He made the choice to work at Colby High School after enjoying the atmosphere of being a long term substitute at the middle school this past academic year. Kirkhart is an experienced teacher working at numerous schools including the post secondary level as a professor at Oklahoma Panhandle University. Additionally, he taught at Holcomb Middle School and Liberal Elementary School. Kirkhart is eager to meet new people and help students on their way to become successful in their education.
John Cox was born on Beale Air Force Base in Yuba County, California. Right before his fifth birthday, he and his family moved to Sharon Springs, Kansas. Between the summer of 6th and 7th grade he and his family moved to Greer, South Carolina, where he then graduated from Riverside High School. After graduation he moved to Texas to start college at LeTourneau University in Longview. He went through four years of college and graduated with a degree in History and Political Science.
Cox took the opportunity to work at Colby High School after living here for two years and trying to serve the community in other ways. He saw a job posting and decided that he could apply the skills and degrees he had to help educate the students of Colby High School. This will be his first year in education and he is looking forward to getting to know his new students and bettering himself as a teacher this year. He is also looking forward to his wedding in Mid-October.
Hans Krohn Grew up in Iola, Kansas where he stayed until he graduated high school. He then went on to attend three colleges including Fort Scott Community College on a football scholarship, Ozark Technical College in Springfield Missouri, and Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg Kansas. He has a Degree in Construction Management & Engineering.
Krohn Chose to work at Colby High School and Colby Middle School because they had an opportunity for him to teach skills that are needed and in an area that is really under-staffed. Along with that he also feels as if his classes could teach good life skills that students can use in the future. This is his first year teaching and he is looking forward to helping equip students for everyday life.
CHS Birthday Board located in the commons area.
StuCo chalk drawings for the first day of school.
Student Council is gearing up for another school year
By Tyler Rehmer
Student Council is a huge part of Colby High School and gives the students plenty of opportunities to have an amazing year by offering several fun activities. StuCo sponsor, Ms. Paige Gawith, is entering her sixth year as such and Mrs. Trish Starbuck joined her last year as the cosponsor.
StuCo has an abundance of plans and goals to help the CHS Eagle student body.
"Our goal this year is to try to not only continue but expand what we sponsor in order to offer activities for as many CHS students as possible," Mrs. Gawith said. Last year StuCo hosted a several different activities from the homecoming activities to a game night, a movie night, trick or treating, random act of kindness, food drive, candy cane sales, Snowball (winter dance) activities, Chalk the Walk, ACT prep nights, along with assisting in freshman orientation. CHS StuCo also assists with the Pink Out basketball game and they put up the birthday bulletin board to honor all of the CHS student birthdays.
StuCo’s goal is to add even more fun activities for all CHS students. The team's main focus right now is homecoming on September 17th. To assist with achieving more this school year, the StuCo team added several new members, but the returning members are the executives, the senior class officers, the sophomore president, and the vice president.
When possible, thank a StuCo member for all the hard work they do just so we can have an amazing year.
Seniors have several memories and plans as they go forward
By Clayton Barton
Here at CHS we see another group of seniors starting their last year of high school. The class of 2023 will have had several firsts for Colby Public Schools. From being the first 5th graders in middle school to being the first class to finish their freshman school year completely online, they have accomplished several things along the way.
They were more than willing to share their feelings about the journey they have been on as high school students.
"I feel very bittersweet about this year being my last because I am excited to start this new chapter of my life but It is also scary to think about the unknown of what comes next after high school," Brylee McKee stated.
They all have their favorite memory and for Jalil Cardenas, being a part of pep and marching band, and being able to really enjoy and show the school spirit was his.
"Cheering for the boys basketball team after winning the sub-state games my freshman year," is one of Eva Sowers' favorite memories.
While our seniors take on their last year of high school some have big plans after graduating while others are just going where life takes them. Either way, they’ll be ready to walk across the stage and get their diploma when the time comes.
Colby FFA has plans for the new year
By Tennyson Jackson
Colby FFA is starting to prepare for the new year. Last Tuesday they held their introduction meeting in which they introduced the freshman to FFA while signing up for upcoming projects. One of their new projects is to redecorate the outdoor commons at CHS. They have discussed multiple things to do out in the commons including, getting approval for more seating, getting approval for a water feature, and getting approval for raised flower beds.
They are eager to help the students of Colby High School by incorporating a nicer outdoor area for students to use during lunch.
Seniors are planning for
the future
By Holli Hopper
According to Concrete-Online around 44% of students do not know what career they want to pursue by the time they graduate. Over 1.2 million students do not graduate high school at all because they have decided to drop out. Finally, 63% of students succeed after graduation. There are times that graduation may not be needed but it can help immensely.
Logan Haggard is seventeen years old and a senior at Colby High School. His dream career is to be a middle school history teacher. That may be hard for him to do because he plays three sports, football, wrestling, and tennis. Logan states that he wants to pursue this career because he sees it as “fun and exciting.” Additionally, he says that he loves kids and he loves to be around them.
Angelina Counts is seventeen years old and is a student at the Colby High School. When she was younger she knew she loved art because it was like her entire life. She loves to be creative and she loves the art styles. Today she wants to become a cosmetologist; her reasoning for this is because she loves to be creative with hair. She has had many years to decide her career and even though she has had times of misdirection, she has finally found her true career at age 17.
Emma Evans is also seventeen and she loves playing video games. She would always love to play them anytime she can. So she decided to make it a career. Her chosen career is Video Game Developer. She says that it is truly the definition of “doing what you love.” Even though she has only wanted this career for a half a year, her friends and teachers at Colby High School have been doing their best to help her achieve her goals.
Destiny Clark is a popular kid at Colby High School according to many people. She wants to become a nurse as her career choice. She wants to “help the people with all their needs in healing.” Destiny is seventeen years old and has wanted her career for over two years. She plays three sports which help her confidence build up, along with participating in band, choir, and dance.
Angelina Counts
Emma Evans
Destiny Clark