Saturday, May 19, 2018

Exeter-Milligan at State Track






Senior Center Celebrates 20 years



Exeter Village Mayor Alan Michl spoke to the invited guests at the luncheon in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Exeter Senior Center.

The Exeter Senior Center celebrated their 20th anniversary on Tuesday, May 7 with a lunch and an afternoon open house with cake and punch.  After a blessing from Pastor Kim Dunker, the guests enjoyed a pulled pork lunch followed by a brief history of the quest to open a senior center given by Fillmore County Senior Services Director Brenda Motis. 
Motis was followed by the village of Exeter Mayor, Alan Michl who recalled being present for the opening, “I really appreciate what they have done here.  There are two things that are important in successful communities, a library and a senior center.”
Michl praised the team that has kept the senior center a hub in the community and thanked them for the collaboration between the senior center and the city.  He went on to apologize for the downtown construction mess that has affected the front of the senior center.
Aging Partners representative Martha Hakenkamp shared some statistics  on the Exeter Senior Center.  She noted that over 16,000 meals have been served even though the center serves a meal just once a week and that over 17,000 volunteer hours have been donated to the center.
To close, Motis recalled the pivotal roles that Frank Rouch, Doris Hall and Elva McBride played in bringing the dream of a senior center to fruition.

Friday, May 18, 2018

Exeter-Milligan Update: Burke Bound


State Track starts this morning.  Make sure you cheer on these Timberwolves: Front Row: Hannah Beethe, 1600 relay; Jaiden Papik, 800, 1600 relay; Kate Jansky, 1600 relay; Katherine White, long jump, 100 hurdles, 1600 relay; Hannah Horne, 1600 relay sub

Back Row: Eric Olsen, high jump, 200; Patrick Murphy, 110 hurdles; Mitchell Manning, 3200

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Special Ride for the Seniors


Traditionally, the Exeter-Milligan seniors get a ride on the fire trucks to the Homecoming pep rally downtown. This year’s seniors did not get that opportunity because of bad weather and so Superintendent Paul Sheffield surprised the seniors with a ride in style from the senior to senior breakfast to school for graduation practice on Friday morning.  Pictured from the left are: Tara Mueller, Janey Erdkamp, Kayla Bonds, Alexis Uldrich, Hannah Beethe, Patrick Murphy, Derek Axline, Travis Gilliam, Kaitlyn Vavra, Seth Maxson, Joey Bartu, Eric Olsen and Hannah Beethe.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Graduation Speeches Patrick Murphy and Kelsey Bigelow


Patrick Murphy Senior Speech
            Today is the day that we have been working towards since starting school 13 years ago.  Although 13 years sounds like a long time, the day has come a lot faster than any of us would have ever imagined.  Today, I am going to look back on some of our past memories, highlight a few of our many successes, and reveal the potential our class has to impact the world. 
Over the years, we have made a lot of memories.  From the elementary to high school, we have had many good times.
            Something that sticks out is how competitive our class has always been.  The height of this competitiveness came during girls vs boys Missouri Kickball in elementary PE.  During these games Mr Mahoney had to endure our complaining, and usually screaming, about his calls while he also was supposedly keeping score.  Most of us would agree, however, that the score of these games was usually somewhat questionable.
            In high school we have also shared many experiences.   Some of the highlights include decorating for prom, decorating the school for Christmas, and our senior trip.
During our junior year, we were tasked with the responsibility of hosting prom.  We put in a lot of hard work getting the Legion decorated and setting up for prom.  Even though we worked hard, we still had fun.  Mr. Marr let us test the new fog machine and lasers.  Also, while decorating,  Travis, with a little help from Eric, demonstrated the proper way to slide into the DMs.  After we finished setting up, our class then went to Huddle House in York to eat.  Because naturally, after a hard prom setup, we had to feast. 
A few days later during cleanup, Seth demonstrated how not to change a light bulb.  In the middle of cleaning up, everyone heard something crash to the floor.  We then looked to see Seth standing at the top of the ladder, and below him, was a light bulb shattered into millions of pieces.  Don’t worry though, the Legion was reimbursed for that lightbulb.
Our class also carried on the tradition of decorating the school for Christmas.  This December  we made a trip to Walmart for decorations and then went on the hunt for only the best of Christmas trees.  After finding some candidates, we loaded most of them onto trailers and trucks.  One, however, had to be loaded onto the top of Joey’s station wagon  to reenact the scene from the movie Christmas Vacation.  Once at the school we went through the struggle of getting our selected tree setup in the hallway.  This was a challenging process.  Tara and Katie Mounce would especially agree.  While they were trying to tie up the tree, they got caught basically trapped under the tree’s branches as it fell towards them.  Additionally, once getting the tree up, some of the other guys almost broke the top off.  In the end, it took some talent but we were able to get the top to stay utilizing a few bungee cords.  Despite our struggles, our decorating for Christmas turned out very nice.
Just last month, our class went on the annual senior trip. We chose to go to Galveston and stay in the same beach house as last year’s class.  While there, we went swimming, hung out on the beach, went dolphin watching, and spent a day in Galveston.  The drive to Texas was pretty tiring.  We left at noon on Wednesday and didn’t reach the beach house until around 5:30 am on Thursday.  We made many stops on the way there including one stop just under one hour into the trip when someone just couldn’t hold it any longer.  One of the other stops that definitely stuck out, as Kelsey mentioned, was the stop at Walmart.  We drove off the interstate to some neighborhood Walmart at about 3:30 am to do some grocery shopping.  It was an interesting experience going grocery shopping at 3:30 am.
Once we finally arrived at the house, some people went to bed to try to get as much sleep as possible, but others, myself included, stayed up just a little longer to take in the sunrise.  Staying up for sunrise was definitely worth it.  After sunrise, we were still able to catch one or two hours of sleep.
One of the most memorable experiences while staying on the beach was swimming in the ocean and jumping over the waves.  Sometimes you got the wave, but most of the time, the wave got you.  Fortunately we didn’t lose anybody in the water.  Although there was one time a few of us were out farther and we couldn’t find someone we thought was with us.  We then turned and were relieved to see that the person had started going back towards shore.
            While making so many good memories, we have also achieved a lot in terms of athletics, academics, and activities outside of school. 
In athletics, we have aided in winning several state titles.  Our freshman year, we won both the football and boys state basketball state championships.  Our sophomore year  our volleyball team won the state championship.  Our volleyball team then returned this year to win the state championship again.  Additionally, our teams made several state appearances as well as performed well in many tournaments.
In academics, our classmates have had a variety of different experiences.  Travis, for example, has worked hard on creating many really cool projects in shop.  In FCCLA, many classmates have completed projects that have gone on to state.  Kayla, Hannah , and Katie have even gone on to nationals to compete.  In band, our class was always well represented at both the CRC and Class D Honor Bands.  While in high school, we were also able to work to receive tw plaques and three superiors at District Music Contests.  Several members of our class have also had fun competing on our high school quiz bowl team.  Additionally, many members of our class received notable academic scholarships at their college of choice.
Outside of school, our class has also excelled.  Derek, for example, has already started his own business.  Kayla, Claire, and Hannah Horne have gained valuable experience working in local nursing homes.  Furthermore, others in our class have been helping out on the farm, or have been working at other local businesses.
            None of these successes, however, would have been possible without support and help from countless individuals.  I would like to thank our parents, family, coaches, advisers, teachers, administration, and community members that have always been there to support us in everything we do. 
            With this amount of support and success in high school, one can only imagine what our class is going to go on to achieve.  Our class is going into many different careers from medical careers such as nursing and physical therapy to farm machine maintenance and other ag related careers.  Our class also has many future educators.  Yet, other classmates are going into other fields as well.  Additionally, our class has two members, Hannah and Hannah who are both going on to play collegiate sports while furthering their education.
            Although this day signifies the end of our high school careers, it marks the beginning of a new stage in life as we continue onward towards reaching our goals.  Today, I have shared some of our classes memories, highlighted a few of our many successes, and revealed a little of what lies ahead for the Exeter-Milligan class of 2018.  Class of 2018, and everyone here today, I would like to you leave you all with a short quote from Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO of Dropbox:

“Your biggest risk isn’t failing, it’s getting too comfortable.”

Congratulations class of 2018.