Jefferson West High School

JWHS journalism students took 2nd as a team at the Kansas Scholastic Press Association’s regional competition, earning 171 team points, right behind Bishop Miege High School with 181 points. Team point earnings ranged from 30 to 181 in the Tallgrass 3A/4A division and were allocated based on individual placings.

Twenty students placed in 49 events and will represent JWHS journalism at the state contest.

Congratulations to the following Tiger journalists!
• Kay Heien 4th Academics Photography
• Hannah Meyer 5th Academics Photography / 6th Yearbook Sports Writing
• Payge Vetsch 1st Advertising Design / 2nd Digital Illustration / 6th Sports Feature Photography
• Madison Sage 1st Video PSA (teamed with Kylie Allison) / 2nd Social Media Design / 2nd Cutline Writing / 4th Video Story Package / 6th Advertising Design
• Julia Thompson 1st Yearbook Copy Writing
• Harriet Dean 1st Multimedia Storytelling / 3rd Copyediting
• Izzy Higgins 1st Headline Writing & Design / 2nd Multimedia Storytelling / 2nd News Page Design / 6th Copyediting
• Lanie Webb 1st Cutline Writing / 3rd Yearbook Theme & Graphics / 4th Digital Illustration
• Kylie Allison 1st Editorial Cartoon / 1st Video PSA (teamed with Madison Sage) / 2nd Yearbook Theme & Graphics
• Ava Morrow 2nd Video Story Package (teamed with Rowan Johnson) / 2nd Editorial Writing / 5th Editorial Cartoon
• Pearl Hall 1st Video Sports Promo / 5th Editorial Writing
• Josie Old 2nd News Writing / 2nd Video Sports Promo / 6th Feature Writing
• Guy Phillips 2nd Headline Writing & Design / 3rd Newspaper Sports Writing / 4th Infographic Design / 6th Sports Media Photography
• Osiris Unruh 2nd Newspaper Sports Writing / 3rd Infographic Design / 5th Sports Media Photography
• Rowan Johnson 2nd Video Story Package (teamed with Ava Morrow) / 5th News Page Design / 6th Review Writing
• Tess Murray 4th Social Media Design / 6th Yearbook Design
• Trent Turner 6th Sports Action Photography
• Laney Essman 3rd Sports Feature Photography
• Aubrey Crowson 2nd Video PSA
• June Klenk 4th Yearbook Sports Writing / 6th Yearbook Copy Writing

Weststepper Tryout Info Meeting 💃
Interested in being a Weststepper for the 2026–2027 school year?

Students and/or parents should attend the tryout informational meeting
📍 Jefferson West High School
📅 Wednesday, February 25
⏰ 6:00 PM

We hope to see you there!

📢 Community Meeting Reminder! 📢

Don't forget to join us for our upcoming meeting to be informed on the bond issue!

🗓 Date: 2/25/26
⏰ Time: 6:00 PM
📍 Location: Jefferson West High School Library

Weststepper Tryout Info Meeting 💃
Interested in being a Weststepper for the 2026–2027 school year?

Students and/or parents should attend the tryout informational meeting
📍 Jefferson West High School
📅 Wednesday, February 25
⏰ 6:00 PM

We hope to see you there!

🏀 Game Day vs. Hiawatha 🏀
Join us for the final regular season games before the Sub-State Quarterfinals as our Boys & Girls Basketball teams take on Hiawatha!

⏰ Tip-off: 4:30 PM
🎟️ Admission: $5 per person (K–Adult)

🎥 Livestream:
https://fan.hudl.com/usa/ks/meriden/organization/6130/jefferson-west-high-school

Order of Play
HS Gym ~~
🕟 4:30 PM – JV Girls
🕕 6:00 PM – Varsity Girls
🕢 7:30 PM – Varsity Boys

MS Gym ~~
🕟 4:30 PM – JV Boys
🕕 6:00 PM – FR Boys

Let’s pack the stands—Go Tigers! 🔥

📝 ACT Test Day – February 24 📝
Today, all Kansas juniors have the opportunity to take the ACT for free!

The Kansas Legislature has appropriated funds for a statewide contract providing one free ACT assessment for all public high school juniors.

Good luck to our students—do your best and show what you know! 💪📚

Weststepper Tryout Info Meeting 💃
Interested in being a Weststepper for the 2026–2027 school year?

Students and/or parents should attend the tryout informational meeting
📍 Jefferson West High School
📅 Wednesday, February 25
⏰ 6:00 PM

We hope to see you there!

🐯🔥 State Wrestling Sendoff — Tiger Style! 🔥🐯

Join us at the High School on Thursday, 2/26 at 9:15 AM as we give our Girls and Boys State Qualifiers a big Jefferson West sendoff as they head to Salina!

Girls State Qualifiers:
• Payge Vetsch
• Sophie Waters
• Lennox Dooley
• Arianna Unruh

Boys State Qualifiers:
• Osiris Unruh
• Corbin Mayer

Let’s show up loud and proud for our Tigers! 💪🐯

🌸 Spring Sports Practices Begin Monday, March 2 🌸

Spring practices for Baseball, Boys Golf, Softball, and Track will begin immediately after school on Monday, March 2.
👉 Be sure to bring all your gear to school that day.

📋 IMPORTANT:
You must have a KSHSAA physical on file in the office before you may attend ANY practices.

💰 Participation Fees:
• Baseball — $55
• Softball — $55
• Track — $55
• Boys Golf — $40

🚌 Transportation Requirement:
If you are participating in Baseball or Boys Golf, you are REQUIRED to ride the daily transportation provided by USD 340 — NO EXCEPTIONS.

Please plan accordingly. Go Tigers!

Jefferson West High School StuCo is holding its annual Spring Blood Drive on March 9th. All donors must bring a photo ID. If you are 15 or younger, you are not eligible to donate yet but can plan to participate in future years! Let’s make this drive even more successful than the last and help save lives on March 9th!

To pre-register, visit savealifenow.org/group; the code is TPJA.

🏈 Exciting Signing Day at Jefferson West! 🏈
On 2/17, three of our senior football players signed Letters of Intent to continue their football careers at the college level!

🎉 Crayton Holman — Butler College
🎉 Gavin Tanner — Tabor College
🎉 Osiris Unruh — Pittsburg State

We know you’ll all do great — continue make us proud, Tigers! 🐯

Just a few photos from FFA's day the Western Farm Show.

Our Tractor Troubleshooting Team competed last week. Great learning experience. Thank you AGCO and KanEquip for sponsoring this event.

On Thursday, two of our FFA chapter members, Chase and Everett, toured HME in Topeka. Thank you Clint Lee, Jefferson West FFA Alumnus, for an awesome tour highlighting future career options for our Jefferson West Ag students. We hope to continue to bring students out to show employment opportunities and strengthen our relationships business and Agriculture Education.

Thank you to all of you who came out today as a part of our FFA Cowboy Coffee event on Monday. It was our way for members of our community to take time to visit with some of our officers and share. By the way, it might be good for you to locate your FFA jacket as we will have a “Blue & Gold” Event during FFA week. Our advisor knows his high school jacket has shrunk but will still try to put it on. 😉.

At Tuesday night's high school basketball games, the Jefferson West Education Foundation awarded their annual contribution to a few of our amazing teachers and staff for continuing to create incredible opportunities for our students! We were honored to award over $11,000 tonight. Thank you for all that you do!