On Tuesday, Feb. 9, the McPherson High School Kansas Association for Youth travelled to Great Bend High School in attendance with the KAY Unit Conference. Through this conference, they gathered new ideas for improvements for the club, as well as participated in volunteer activities.

  “At KAY Unit Conferences we usually split into groups and have a speaker come and talk to us,” senior Monet Kunde said. “Then, at the end, we do a fun service project!”

  In attendance at the Conference was Cheryl Gleason, the KAY administrator for the state of Kansas. She spoke on behalf of the whole Kansas Association for Youth and installed a sense of giving back and helping others.

  “Cheryl always has a positive attitude and is always happy to help,” junior Thomas Smith said. “You can really tell she puts lots of effort and truly cares deeply about KAY!”

  The KAY club ended the morning with a collective paper airplane contest, donating the money raised to buy an animal through the program Heifer International. The total amount of money collected was enough to buy either a goat or a sheep for a family in need.

  “It was a lot of fun to give back to the Heifer International organization,” senior Katie Wurm said. “The paper contest was fun, especially when Leigh Hughes made an airplane and it accidently hit Lindsey Moore in the face.”

  The KAY Unit Conference will be held in McPherson in 2017, and the theme being “Lights, Camera, Action!”