A total of 29 Eureka Junior Senior High School (EJSHS) students were honored last Wednesday, April 30, during the 10th annual Eureka Honors Club honors banquet. The top six students, based on grade point average, in the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior grade levels, were recognized. A tie in the freshmen and junior classes resulted in eight and nine students being honored, respectively.
The annual event was held at EJSHS. Eureka’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) President and 4x Eureka Honors Club honoree Kimber Ptacek gave the invocation. Club members, honorees and guests were introduced.
Latham Wiggins, a 2011 graduate of EJSHS, served as the featured speaker. Wiggins attended Oklahoma State University (OSU) where he received a degree in Animal Science in 2015. After graduating from OSU, he went to work for National Beef Packing Company in Kansas City in their cattle procurement department and worked as a Scheduler, Rover buyer, and eventually as a full time Cattle Buyer covering Eastern Kansas. In 2019, Wiggins, his wife Abbey and their daughter Jolie moved back to Eureka. That fall, Wiggins was hired by Madison High School as the Ag Education teacher where he helped establish the Ag program and charter the Madison FFA Chapter. While at Madison, Wiggins coached numerous champion individuals and teams, including a State Champion Meats Evaluation team in 2023. After the 2023-2024 school year, he left Madison and went to work full time for his family’s cattle operation, the Wiggins Ranch, located north of Eureka. In addition to helping with the Wiggins Ranch, he and his wife have established Wiggins Cattle Company, a custom cattle grazing operation focusing on the utilization, conservation, and preservation of the native tallgrass prairie. Wiggins currently resides East of Eureka with his wife Abbey, and two daughters Jolie and Charlie. He is the son of Mike and Rene Wiggins.
Students being honored during the annual event are pictured above from left to right, Seniors: Kimber Ptacek, Corinne Nelson, Olivia Valentine, Cody Johnson, Shelby White and Megan Countryman; Juniors: Britta Mongeau, Madelyn Miller, Lydia Mason, William Fitzwater, Hannah Perrier, TJ Mills, Ava Noble and Alaina Westerman; Sophomores: Ellianna Coulter, Kinlee Sanchez, Henry Pfister, Arnold Roldan-Becerra, Stacy Alford and Maela Neill; and Freshmen: Monica Sanchez, Arabella Shepherd, Sydney Lindamood, Jersey Cox, Karsyn Osborne, Abigail Vasta, Lylly Stapleford and Sadie Seiter. Not pictured was Junior Harlie Owings.
(Courtesy photos)
