The Jester Awards, a program designed to celebrate excellence in high school musical theatre took place Sunday, May 5 in Wichita. Hugoton High School’s Production of Guys and Dolls was nominated for 13 Regional Awards:

Direction of a Show-Sarah Kitzke

Leading Performer-Jewels Noland

Supporting Performer-Tobias Grubbs

Cameo Performer-Katya Wolters

Small Ensemble-”Crap Shooter’s Ballet”

Dancers Ensemble Production Number- Sit Down You’re Rockin’ The Boat

Vocal Music Direction-Katie Jimenez

Choreography-Holly Grubbs

Scenic Design-Sarah Kitzke

Costume Design-Sarah Kitzke

Lighting Design-Sarah Kitzke

Sound Design-Tyler Parkridge

Of those regional awards, HHS was nominated for five Jester Awards:

Leading Performer-Jewels Noland

Supporting Performer-Tobias Grubbs

Choreography-Holly Grubbs

Lighting Design-Sarah Kitzke

Sound Design-Tyler Parkridge

With the Leading Performer nomination, Jewels had the honor of performing at the awards ceremony with the other leading performer nominees. (The top 20 high school musical performers in the entire state.)

The Jester Awards showcase the next generation of musical theatre talent in Kansas. Each year, trained volunteer judges attend and evaluate dozens of performances. This year, 62 judges viewed 134 performances of 44 productions, involving more than 2,700 students and 44 schools across the state of Kansas.

The Hugoton High School Forensics students are wrapping up a very successful season. They have had three first place finishes, two second place finishes and one third place finish as a team. They have also had countless individual medals. Forensics even had its first foreign exchange student, Alex Thougaard qualify for State. The students’ hard work has paid off and they have 23 State qualifying entries for the 2024 KSHSAA 4A State Tournament in Topeka May 4. Unfortunately, teams are only allowed to bring 16 entries. The team was coached by Head Coach Idamarie Piper and Assistant Coach Nathan Piper. Way to go Eagles!

The following students qualified in the following categories:

• Tristan Kiley (Senior): Poetry, Prose and Serious Solo Acting

• Hailey Maldonado (Senior): Humorous Solo Acting, Improvised Duet Acting, Duet Acting and Impromptu

• Mel Lundy (Senior): Humorous Solo Acting

• Chris Kiley (Senior): Extemporaneous Speaking

• Axel Cowser (Senior): Poetry • Austin Hewitt (Junior): Humorous Solo Acting, Improvised Duet Acting, Prose and Impromptu

• Mia Singer (Junior): Humorous Solo Acting and Duet Acting

• Kaden Johnson (Junior): Prose

• Tobias Grubbs (Junior): Prose and Impromptu

• Alex Thougaard (Junior): Prose • Kayla Milhon (Junior): Poetry

• Lupe Hernandez (Sophomore): Serious Solo Acting, Impromptu and Duet Acting

• Tanya Juardo (Freshman): Duet Acting

• Jenna Schmidt also qualified for the State Festival in Poetry.

The Hugoton Area Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Banquet is planned for Saturday, April 27. Entertainment for the evening will be Dennis Laffoon.

Dennis Laffoon is a Keyboardist, vocalist and recording artist with over 35 years of experience. He has performed with Heart, Journey, Cheap Trick, REO, Night Ranger and Kansas to name a few and heard and known around the world with his versatile and unique style of playing keyboards.

Dennis started playing piano at the age of 10 and got his first portable organ at the age of 12 along with playing in his first rock band in grade school. He then played saxophone in the high school band, but his love for playing keyboards over shadowed the sax. He performed in area rock bands through high school and went to college for a short time for music but left early to travel, performing in night clubs all across the country.

At the age of 20 Dennis put together “Powerglide” who performed for 15 years, and released his first album “Glide On” with 12 original songs all written by Dennis Laffoon. He then joined national recording artist “Shooting Star” and released their first charting single “Touch Me Tonight” which went to the Number 2 spot on MTV and since then released three albums “It’s Not Over”, “Leap Of Faith” and “Circles”.

Dennis has also released two solo albums with all original songs “Nothing Left Unsaid” and “Always Christmas” that are also available on iTunes. He also had the honor of being inducted to the Kansas Music Hall of Fame March 9, 2009.

Dennis has a favorite saying that he adapted from the movie “The Rookie”: “Guess what we get to do today? We get to play music!”

Performing his Elton John Experience tribute along with The Piano Man tribute to Billy Joel and Great Balls of Fire tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis, Dennis has received high praise from his peers and audiences everywhere.

You definitely don’t want to miss it! Slim Pickins will be catering. The HALO organization will be serving this year. there are tables available to be decorated for the evening. Theme for the evening is Promote Your Business. You do not have to be a Chamber member to decorate a table or attend this event. Tickets are $30 per person and can be obtained at the Chamber Office, 630 S. Main, or by calling Tina at 620-544-4305 or email hugotonchamber@gmail.com. Meet and Greet begins at 6:00 p.m. Dinner and entertainment starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Memorial Hall. Please RSVP soon to ensure a seat!

At the Banquet, the winners of the five categories will be recognized (Citizen of the year, Lifetime achievement, Business of the year, new Business of the Year and Charitable Non-Profit Organization). Also the winners of the 2023 Distinguished Service Award will be announced. Make your reservations now!

The Hugoton High School Choir directed by Renee Beesley and accompanied by Angela Heger, were invited to travel to New York City to perform at Carnegie Hall April 6, 2024 with National Concerts. The group of 25 students traveled to New York April 3 to begin rehearsals with Dr. Julie YU and Dr Cari Earnhart.

While in NYC the students visited the 911 Memorial, Statue of Liberty, visited several museums, viewed Manhattan from the top of 30 Rockefeller, took in a Broadway musical “Wicked”, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, experienced New York’s largest earthquake in 100 years , and of course performed on the infamous stage of Carnegie Hall, where Hugoton’s very own Bryan Montoya was selected to perform a solo in one of the pieces.

This trip taught Hugoton’s students many life lessons, leadership lessons, and a knowledge of the world around them. The group would like to thank USD 210 for supporting and encouraging this trip, also the community that so generously, financially helped support the travels. The music students learned many life lessons that will shape them for many years.

The Hugoton FFA hosted their 2024 Banquet Tuesday, March 26 in the high school cafeteria. The State Degree recipients for 2024 were Nicole Bustillos, Torrin King, Zane Poulsen, Jayce Heger, Tobias Grubbs, Carter McClure and John Shelton.

Hugoton FFA Alumni scholarships were awarded to Bustillos, Heger, King, Carter McClure and Poulsen. Poulsen and McClure were awarded their plaques for District Star at the banquet.

Dream First Bank was presented the Distinguished Service Award.

Community Service activity for the FFA members included Stevens County Conservation District supper, Food for Project Hope; High Plains Movie Theatre free movie night and new seats sponsor; fair fun night at the Stevens County Fair; Ag Education programs; first grade pumpkin carving and second grade “From Farm to Lunch Box” and for the 2024 wildfire relief calf milk replacer/range cubes to Canadian FFA and 45 tons of hay to Boys Ranch FFA.

The Hugoton power- lifting teams participated at the 3A State Meet this past weekend in Carbondale Kansas-Santa Fe Trails High School and came away with a load of hardware.

The girls team placed third overall with a team score of 108 points against 19 other teams.

Scoring for the Lady Bar Benders were:

Aleah Farnum – second overall in the 114 class

Amy Fedelin – first overall in the 123 class

Genesis Landa – second overall in the 132 class

Elsie Gonzales – third overall in the 181 class

Amanda Farnum – tenth overall in the 181 class

The boys team finished with a fourth place overall with lots of hardware and two State records with a total score of 144 points. Scoring for the Men Bar Benders were: Boys Results:

Brandon Lopez – second overall in the 114 class

Adriel Camacho – first place overall and a new state record in the squat with a lift of 350 pounds

Josue Monroy – third overall in the 156 class B

Ryan Loya – tenth overall in the 156 class

Robert Williams – fifth overall in the 220 class

Abdiel Cabezas – thirteenth overall in the 220 class

Aquiles Aguilera – eighth place overall in the 242 class

Josephe Hernandez – first place overall in the 242 class and a new state record lift in the squat with 575 pounds…beating the old record by 25 pounds.

Coach Witt states that “I am very proud of each of these athletes. The Bar Benders from Hugoton represented the town of Hugoton with great character and determination. See you all next year!!!” Coach Witt would like to thank all the individuals and businesses in Hugoton that donated money for this amazing experience. Coach Witt would personally like to thank Mark Williams, who in a pinch, stepped up and drove the second vehicle because of a medical emergency within Coach Witt’s family. Thank you all….Yes we do live in “Heavenly Hugoton!!!”

You are sure to know by now that Gene’s Heartland Foods is OPEN FOR BUSINESS!!! We want to welcome with open arms and full hearts our new Grocery Store!!

Manager Justin Renz stopped in The Hermes on press day. He has agreed to have The Hermes issues in store for his customers to purchase. But that’s a very small thing. They have been hard at work getting the store stocked. They have had trucks in every day getting the store ready to open and those shelves are stocked full!! The produce, freezer, dairy and refrigeration sections are beautifully stocked full also. A beautiful sight for sure. Get those grocery lists made out and welcome our new staff Wednesday at 7:00 a.m.

If you missed seeing the two games this team of Eagles played at State Tournament over the weekend – you missed some great heart- stopping action. Some got to see them in person, some on the big theatre screen, some at home on their own screen and even some listened in on the radio. However done, the community did support our Eagles in a big way and they were thoroughly entertained in return. We are all so proud of these young men. Their sportsmanship and manners represent Hugoton in a big way that is complimented a lot.

Friday they played Atchison a rough and hard fought semi-final game. They came out the victors with a score of 39 to 38. This took the team to the finals against McPherson Saturday. This was a very intense game keeping the fans on the edge of their seats for sure!

The Eagles fell to McPherson 65 to 59 in overtime to finish second in the 4A State Tournament. Congratulations for a great season Eagles!!!