CGS Kansas Day Celebration
by Patricia Starbuck
On January 29 Colby Grade School participated in a school-wide Kansas Day Celebration. Approximately 350 students in Kindergarten through fifth grade spent the day learning about our great state.
The students traveled with their class through 13 different presentations. Many sessions were led by community members who volunteered their time to spend the day with us. Presentations by community members included: Corn husking by Jeff Terrell from Pioneer Seed, The Cowboy Way by Scott and Shanda Brown, Bread making by Diann Gerstner from the Thomas County Extension Agency, Our Capitol by former Senator Sheila Frahm, Farming by members of Colby Implement, Horses by members of the CCC Equestrian team, Indian Artifacts by Linda Davis-Stephens from the college, Kansas Stories by Judy Kleinsorge from the Pioneer Memorial Library and Quilting, led by Nancy Saddler from the Pioneer Memorial Library and assisted by Judy Shull and the quilting group from the museum. Other sessions that were led by school personnel were: Butter churning, Tin Punch Art, Kansas Songs and Pioneer Games.
The students were allowed to dress up as a pioneer, Native American or cowboy and were treated to a real frontier-style lunch on pie tins. The entire day was very enjoyable and informative and we couldn't have done it without a lot of help. We are especially grateful to all the presenters who donated their time and gave out materials to the students. We'd like to thank Red River Commodities for donating sunflowers seeds for all of the kids. PTO provided several volunteers who spend the day helping out. RSVP provided bags for all the students and also helped tremendously by prepping materials beforehand. Last but certainly not least, we'd like to thank the Thomas County Community Foundation and Midwest Energy for their generous monetary grants. All of the supplies for Kansas Day were paid for by donations provided by these two organizations.
