First, I should point out that I draw stick people. And don’t do that very well.
With that said, as I sat through the annual Vortex Day Awards in the Shafer Gallery for the area high school art students, I was once again amazed at just how good they are. Actually, good is an understatement. There are some amazingly talented artist in the area schools.
My wife, Crystal, is a pretty talented artist. Her father is also along with her siblings. That is where our daughter, Katelyn, gets her abilities. She was fortunate enough to the Director’s Choice Award presented by Gallery Director Dave Barnes.
She won for a life-sized Mermaid sculpture named Merissa.
Merissa has been lounging around our house for a while, awaiting her trip to Vortex. When she first moved, it was literally like a someone moving in. She got the through double doors into the living room and made up residence on a table in the corner. Kind of scary having a mermaid hanging out in your living room, let me tell you. Eventually, though, you get used to it.
But, as I was saying, Ellinwood, Hoisington, and Larned students all produced some amazing artwork. I think I even heard a Stafford student placing as well.
I believe, if I’m not mistaken, this is the third year I have sat through the awards and each year I am absolutely blown away by the high school art students in our area.
Take some time out of your weekend and go visit the display at Shafer Gallery. It will be up through Saturday.

Prep Thoughts
Congratulations to the Great Bend boys track team in winning its home invitational last week. It is the first time in a while that group has won a meet. And with a lot of underclassmen, the future is pretty bright for Coach Lyles Lashley and the Panthers.
First, the brains behind moving the meet up one day from a cold, wet, snowy Friday to what turned out to be a very nice Thursday, should be commended. I know Lyles pretty well, not sure he is smart enough to come up with the idea. He is originally from Louisiana, you know. So good work to whomever it was.
There is roughly one month left in the regular season for the spring sports. It seems like they just started. One thing if for sure, the weather so far has prevented all the sports from getting a lot of outdoor practice in, let alone present great days for the actual games and meets.
Hopefully, the final month will be more conducive before Regionals. Some nice weather would allow the athletes in all sports to improve vastly before that time.
Around Campus
It’s time to break the guns out. Well, you can’t bring them on campus, but you can go shoot in a campus related activity. It’s the ninth annual Sporting Clay Shoot sponsored by the Barton Foundation. The modified Lewis Class event will take place Sunday, April 22 at Camp Aldrich.
If you want some more information, call the wonderful ladies in the Foundation Office at 620-792-9306. Coleen, Michelle, and Donna will be glad to tell you a thing or two. They are never short on information or opinions. Mostly opinions. I know this first hand.

And Finally
As Katelyn rolls through her senior year at Great Bend High, there have been several ‘final times’. I’m not into ‘final times’ I guess. I don’t get too emotional over them. At least I haven’t yet. Actually, there are ‘final things’ I like. Like the final Prom.
That final Prom is coming up this weekend. One final dress has been bought. Thankfully.
We are having a gathering for supper for Katelyn and some of her friends at our house, then we ship the kids off to the festivities.
Crystal is a little more emotional than I about these ‘final things’. That means after we ship them off, I will be left in the house with that emotional mother sending her daughter off to her final prom.
If anyone would like some company, say, after the Promenade, hit me up.
Anyway, Prom has changed quite a bit over the 10 or 15 years or so since I was in high school, probably for the better. Okay, it’s been like 30 (or so). But who’s counting.
I went to tiny Waconda East High School where the sophomores served supper to the juniors and seniors. Well, they picked four guys and four girls from the sophomore class to be the servers for the supper and then we had to do a skit. A little singing and dancing number to By the Light of the Silvery Moon. I still know the words ‘not the Sun, but the Moon’.
I realize there are probably a few too many students at GBHS to accomplish something like that, but it was pretty cool.
After Prom? That was a bonfire at Waconda Lake. That is where things are probably a little better off now. Probably a bit smarter to gather the students in a safe place and give out prizes than have them converge at bonfire near water. After all, who wouldn’t want to be at a lake on an April night when the temps are around 40 degrees?
We’ll leave it at that.
Happy Promming to all.

Mike Marzolf is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at MarzolfM@bartonccc.edu.