Senior Spotlights (I-L) - West Lyon Comm School District

Tyree Kammrad

By Katelyn Berentschot

Tyree Kammrad, most well known as Ty, was born in January. His parents include Kristy and step dad Randy Knutson and Jeremy and step mom Dani Kammrad. He has 4 older siblings including Kyle, Tyler, and Lexi Knutson along with Sydnee Kammrad. Later on his family welcomed his sisters-in-law Megan (Kyle) and Alicia (Tyler) along with one niece, Hattie, and two nephews, Gunner and Tucker. His mother, Kristy, is his role-model because she has shown him how to be a hard worker and make it through the hard world that we'll all live in by pushing through everything.

Throughout high school Ty has been involved in SkillsUSA and went to Nationals in Marine Mechanics even though he says, “I didn’t really know what I was doing.” Outside of school Ty has been involved in his church youth group along with working tirelessly at his 3 jobs: bailing, working at the sale barn, and working as a diesel mechanic. His favorite subject throughout high school has been math. His favorite memory with a teacher is Mrs. Kippley’s math class when he and his friends would mess around and push her buttons. Even though he would push her buttons, she made it memorable because she always made sure that they understood each concept before they went onto the next subject. She always made it fun and enjoyable through each concept whether hard or easy.

Some of Tyree’s favorite memories throughout school have been getting in trouble for wandering the halls when he had two study halls back to back his freshman year. This roaming caused him to get a detention from Mr. Jiskoot. Another detention story from high school was when he and his friends were doing donuts in the “new” parking lot. He then proceeded to lied to Miss Olson that he “did not do it.” She then showed him the video footage of him doing donuts in his truck. He even has been mischievous since his elementary years by sitting on the bench because he was throwing rocks down the tornado slide or throwing rocks at other people. Even though he has lots of mischievous stories like these, the teachers and students at West Lyon would say that Ty has a good heart and never wants to cause anyone harm with his mischief.

Tyree plans to attend Southeast Community College in Milford, NE for John Deere Diesel mechanics. He will miss hanging out with his friends everyday, listening to Kyler say “neat” or “cool” at the end of every conversation, or just messing around and not getting work done in class. His last piece of advice to the underclassmen is to “just push through and savor every moment because once it’s gone it's gone and it isn’t coming back.”

Kyler Kerkvliet

By Eliana Kooi

Kyler, also known to some as “Herman” or “T-Kerk,” was born in August. Having the blessing of bringing him home were his parents, Bobbie and Tadd Kerkvliet. Kyler completed his family of four as waiting for him at home was his older sister, Taylor (21).

Outside of school Kyler works at a farm for Jim Bruggeman and for FKN Bailing, and he also takes time to help out at his family’s farm when he can. When Kyler isn’t working, he spends his time during the winter and summer working for KKR Racing on sprint cars, which he has a strong passion for.

In school Kyler has been a part of both SkillsUSA and FFA. While competing at State in SkillsUSA, he won and his team placed third in Teamwork. He also received first place five times in sprint car racing and took second in points for the year.

Kyler is known for his funny shenanigans, though he’s most notably known from his antics in elementary school. For instance, while at the recess playground, the other kids would know to stay away from the slides when Kyler and his friends were on them; they had the reputation of pushing people down them whether you wanted the help or not. Another one of his funny stories from recess was when he was caught “smoking” candy cigarettes, which also happens to be his favorite reason for getting a detention. (Don’t worry though Kyler doesn’t actually smoke and is very much against nicotine).

You can ask anyone who knows Kyler; he and some of his classmates were notorious for testing the teachers' limits; they actually had a code word for when they saw teachers coming towards them, saying, “5-O.” However, Kyler has still had some good memories with the teachers. One of his favorite memories was with Mr. Sievers during one of the shop nights he hosted; there, Kyler and a few other students were able to help him pull a blown up motor from a skid loader and put in a new one.

If you ever need to find Kyler at school, you will more often than not find him hard at work in the shop whether it's working on diesel cars or small gas engine repairs. Kyler's favorite subjects throughout high school have been those involving the industrial trades. When he was first asked about his favorite subject, he said, “Shop cus I get to do hands on working.” One of his favorite projects he’s done in class was building his nightstand.

As Kyler is finishing up his last year here at West Lyon, what he will miss most about high school is joking around with his friends, and his advice to the underclassmen is, “Get a job and don't vape.” After high school Kyler plans to go full time on the road and work on sprint cars.

Abby Knobloch

By Savannah Smith

Abby Knobloch was welcomed by her proud parents Dustin and Michelle Knobloch, and her two older siblings Isaac (23) and Emma (20). A little while later the Knoblochs decided to complete the family, adding Mason (16), making Abby the middle child. Abby’s role model is Jesus because he is the perfect example and showed us how to serve the Lord.

Throughout her time at West Lyon, Abby was involved in multiple school activities, including cross country, choir, chamber choir, NHS, marching band, and FFA. Outside of school Abby was also involved in lots of other activities, including youth group, 4-H, county council. She also works at Freedom Brew in Larchwood and Knobloch’s Greenhouse in Alvord. Abby has received numerous awards and honors for all her contributions, including letters in academics all four years, a letter in cross country, a spot on the A honor roll, the Iowa and Global Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish, and the role of NHS secretary. Abby also achieved a lot through her participation in FFA. In addition to serving as the chapter FFA president, Abby also qualified for state FFA, earning 3rd place in Ag issues, 4th place in team poultry judging, and 5th place in individual poultry judging.

In high school Abby’s favorite subject was Ag, because she liked her classmates and their funny rants and debates. Abby’s by far favorite memory with a teacher was when in 5th grade in Mr.Vander Feen’s class, he tried to save a wax melter scent thing from falling and it splattered up his face and all over the wall. He then proceeded ask another teacher to supervise his class while he went to the locker room to shower to get it off of his face and hair. To this day that spot on the wall is covered with a filing cabinet.

Abby has lots of funny stories to tell but she has two favorites. One was in 8th grade when on the activity bus Leah decided to sneak a stray cat into her backpack that was in the school parking lot. She then proceeded to take the cat to her house! Her second favorite story was when again Abby was on the bus she played oboshinatitat down the entire bus aisle and the bus driver was not very impressed. Her favorite West Lyon memory is staying up late playing games with her FFA classmates.

Abby’s plans after high school are to pursue some sort of medical degree then work in the functional medicine field. Abby will miss her favorite school lunch, chicken bacon ranch casserole. Her advice to underclassmen is to do your best and be present in the moment because before you know it, it will be gone. Abby will miss seeing her friends and peers everyday.

Kayla Knoblock

By Nevaeh Van Dyke

Kayla Knoblock was born, to loving parents Trent and Heather. Kayla was the final piece in the Knoblock family puzzle after her two older brothers Korey and Kerrick. Along with this big family, Korey has his wife Trissa that Kayla loves very much.

During school, Kayla did many things for different organizations. Her most rewarding experience has to be FFA. She has been in this organization for all four years of her high school career, and her awards show how much she loves it. Kayla has placed third and gold at the State Convention for Ag issues completion, Gold at state for conduct of meetings, and one more gold for marketing plan completion. Along with this group, Kayla was a part of the National Honor Society (NHS) her junior and senior year, having been awarded academic pins for two years in a row. She also is very musical, performing in the school's mixed choir all four years and now joining the recently developed chamber choir her senior year. Even while being so involved in school activities, she has always stayed as a part of the community. Kayla has been a part of 4-H, the county council, and working at many different places. Those places include Kingdom Kids Daycare, the JRT Focus Farms, and Knobloch’s Greenhouse.

With all of this, Kayla has still been an amazing student, even getting by all these years without a single detention. Starting back in elementary school she found her love of music through Mrs. Meyer in 2nd grade through activities like the states and presidents songs. Another musical memory was learning “The Toote Tot” with Meyer and Mrs. Polly. Then, we move to the 4th grade with the peach wars in the lunch room. These wars must have been pretty memorable if it’s been such a good memory for this long. Along with the possible messy fruit battles, Kayla loved showing off her spelling pretests to Mr. VanderFeen. Now that she’s moved up to high school, Kayla’s memories have moved to the fun little anecdotes she’s learned from Ms. Haffner’s geography class. “My shark knowledge comes from there too”, she says, clearly having found a favorite animal. Another favorite memory is in agriculture. She’s always enjoyed learning new things about Ag as it encompasses so much in her life. It’s very important to her and it also brings in so much interesting conversation with her most enjoyed peers.

Kayla is going to miss many things about West Lyon. The main thing being her friends and getting to talk all day long over her favorite lunch: BBQ pulled pork nachos with apples and peanut butter and some cottage cheese to round out one delicious meal. She will also never forget going to Alaska on her agritourism trip. It was chilly, but so enlightening. Her advice to underclassmen is to enjoy every moment in high school, because it’ll soon be gone. After high school, Kayla would like to pursue a degree in elementary education.

Emery Koch

By Alyssa Hoogestraat

Emery, otherwise known as Em or Koch, is the daughter of Nick and Evie Koch and an older sister to Mallorie. Emery has had many lovely people to look up to, but when asked about her favorite role model she said, “My grandma Sherry, because she was strong during her cancer treatment and that made me want to be strong during the hard times for her.”

Emery stayed very busy throughout high school. In school she participated in volleyball, softball, and track. Emery also was a wrestling manager and enjoyed riding in a tight van with the wrestling team and hearing them scream the song “California Girls” on the way to meets. Emery’s favorite subject throughout high school was Ms. Haffner’s class. Ms. Haffner would make things interesting and funny at the same time. Emery added, “You could also get away with messing around,” but that Ms. Haffner still knew how to make students listen and understand. Even though Emery likes to mess around in her classes, she is still a very studious person. Emery managed to get on the A and B honor roll. During the day you can find her doing her online college courses, which she encourages underclassmen to do, or in Mrs. Rockhill’s pantry eating chocolate chips instead of cleaning. By the way, Mrs. Rockhill wasn’t impressed. Emery doesn’t just enjoy Rockhill’s chocolate chips; she also loves her favorite school lunch, Idaho Nachos, “the ones with the white cheese and chicken.” Emery was also an active FFA member and received her FFA honor.

Outside of school Emery is even busier with working at Calico Skies and the Sanford Hospital as a Patient Care Tech, attending youth group and mission trips, snowboarding, showing cattle and doing photography for 4-H, and serving at The Banquet. She has gained many skills and experience that will help her in the future.

Emery didn't just have an eventful high school experience, but a memorable elementary one as well. Emery created a squad with Emersyn Brands, Sidney Huyser, Savannah Smith, and Eliana Kooi called “the nanas.” In this squad, Emery and Savannah would only accept people they liked. Emery explained how if someone trespassed on the monkey bars, they would kick them off immediately. The nana squad was sent to Mrs. Twedt’s office every day after recess for their bad behavior. Mrs. Twedt did teach the girls how to be kind. However, Emery was still a little naughty. Her best reason to get detention was when Bryce Kock and her were bending spoons in the lunch room and got escorted to the principal’s office. So if your spoon is lopsided, it was probably a survivor of Emery and Bryce.

As Emery leaves West Lyon, she will miss walking around the halls as a senior. Her favorite saying is, “let’s go to hot yoga,” which is always said to Alyssa Hoogestraat. Emery plans to attend South Dakota State University for a nursing degree and pursue a career as an anesthetist (CRNA). Emery’s last advice for underclassmen is, “Don’t care what other people think of you, just be yourself and have courage and be kind”.

Alec Kock

By Eliana Kooi

Alec Kock was born to his parents Ryan and Crystal Kock. After taking him home, they realized how spectacular and amazing he was and decided to have two more boys, naming them Gavin (16) and Collin (13). They then probably had enough of the boys running around everywhere and wanted someone to keep them in check, so a few years later they had Malia (4) and their family has been complete ever since. Alec said his role model is his father because, “He is very hardworking and shows respect to anyone he is talking to.”

Outside of school Alec works at Oak Street during the school year and is a lifeguard during the summer while also making the time to attend his church’s youth group every week. In school Alec is a long distance star on the Wildcat’s cross country and track teams. Being the fastest guy on the West Lyon cross country team, he has won the “Most Improved" award his freshman year, the “Most Valuable Player” and “Test the Limits” awards his junior and senior years, and the “Leader of Destruction” award his senior year. Alec has also lettered every year he’s been out in both track and cross country.

Alec has been a part of the West Lyon band since his 5th grade year, performing in concert band, marching band, and jazz band. All four years of high school the marching band had consistently won D1 ratings and during his sophomore year in 2024 he and the jazz band won the jazz championships. His favorite memory at West Lyon was actually at a band event during his freshman year of marching band when they were warming up for their final performance at Morningside in Sioux City. Alec and the other band members got sent to their sections to warm up, but his section, the saxophones, thought that they were already warmed up and instead decided to have some team bonding and goof around. So Ethan Van Regenmorter got on Jorge’s shoulders, and one moment led to the next, and then Ethan swung his saxophone and it hit Jorge right in the head. Jorge then threw Ethan off and started rolling around in agony. Alec thought that it was so funny; he then said that Jorge was ok in the end.

Alec's favorite memory with a teacher was during his senior year College Comp II with Mrs. Koedam. She was asking the class who their 4th grade teacher was and Yael was sitting right in front of him; Yael didn't come to our school till 6th grade, so Alec wanted to know personally and asked him “Who was your teacher?” With no response from Yael, Alec answered for him and said “Mrs. Poop?” They both bursted into laughter, trying to hold it in until the end of the period. After class was over, Mrs. Koedam came over and asked the boys what was so funny during class. The boys hesitated to tell her at first since it was so immature but eventually explained what happened and she started laughing too. In Alec’s words, this memory, “sounds ridiculous but was funny at the time.” As fun as Mrs Koedam's class is, his favorite subject in school was “Probably study hall,” because “I didn't do my work half the time,” though he continued to say a real answer of History, “since I like to know what happened in the past.”

Alec will miss his friends and “the people who made it a little better” the most when he leaves. His advice to underclassmen is, “Know how to spell words. So in elementary school make sure to study for your spelling tests because it gets annoying not knowing how to spell words.” After graduation, Alec plans to attend South East Tech for Graphic Design.

Bryce Kock

By Katelyn Berentschot

Bryce Kock, also referred to as AirBud, was welcomed into this world by his loving parents Aaron and Lori Kock, a couple years after his older brother, Tyler (20).

Throughout high school Bryce has been actively involved in sports, playing football, baseball, and track all throughout his four years. Also throughout high school he was involved in Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and became a leader his senior year. Outside of school Bryce enjoys golfing with his friends, working on the family farm and helping out their family business, Kock’s Kettle Korn. Bryce’s hard work has paid off in and out of the classroom as he has received First Team Offense All-State in football his junior year, Second team All-District in Baseball his junior season and academically was on B honor roll.

Though there were many memories to celebrate, Bryce's favorite memory through his high school years was winning the Class 2A football state championship in 2024 with all of his friends. Even though Bryce will cherish every memory and moment he created in high school, elementary school is where Bryce has created the most memorable memories. On one of the many field trips during elementary school, the second grade class boarded the bus and went to Hull to visit the Foreign Candy Company and eat lunch at Kids Kingdom Park. After lunch, Bryce and his friends decided they were going to go swing on the swings. There was a bench right in front of the swings. Thanks to his daring personality and some encouragement from his friends, he decided that he was going to jump off of the swing and over the bench. He got as high as he could and jumped off the swing, caught his foot in between the top and bottom of the bench, and landed on his wrist, causing it to break. After second grade he continued to be a daredevil throughout his time in elementary as one time at his lunch table, Bryce, Emery Koch, and Cooper Schoening all got detentions for bending spoons. A more pleasant and funny memory was the time in 6th grade science class when Mr. Hawf caught Jack Carolan and Evan Hildring holding hands in class. While that is his favorite memory with a teacher at West Lyon, another thing Bryce appreciated about his time here was his favorite subject of American History. He says he enjoys learning about things in the past.

What Bryce will miss most about high school is being with his friends everyday. He will also miss the amazing cheeseburgers that the school provides for lunch. His advice to under classmen is to stay humble. Bryce plans to attend the University of Sioux Falls (USF) to major in business and to continue his football career.

Eliana Kooi

By Alyssa Hoogestraat

Eliana Kooi, known to many as Ellie, was born to John and Susan Kooi. Little did they know, Eliana would become royalty one day when she was crowned homecoming queen. She is a sibling to Austin, William, Joshua, and Maggie. Her most favorite family member is Nala, her cat.

Ellie spent her childhood years developing the reputation of a fun, goofy, and slightly distracted little kid. For example, Ellie told us of a playground memory from her first grade years. Mrs. Starrett, in order to encourage her students to be good citizens, used to give candy to students who would pick up recess items that they did not use. One day Ellie enthusiastically picked up a ball she did not use at recess and reported her good citizenship to Mrs. Starret. Rather than being rewarded with candy later that day, Ellie was moved to the pod of students who needed “a little extra help.” Now, it is unlikely these two events were related, but in Ellie’s memory, it was her returning the ball that led to her assigned seat in the “extra help” pod of desks.

Luckily, Ellie did not continue to “need a little extra help.” In her later high school years, she received an academic letter and pin (even though she didn’t remember this fact without us prompting her). Furthermore, Ellie thrived in her activities outside of academics. She stayed a busy bee throughout her high school years. While she dabbled in cross country, track, and different student organizations throughout high school, the one activity that really “pinned” down her heart was wrestling. Through her involvement in school and club wrestling, she has placed in numerous conference and regional meets and lettered in wrestling.

Eliana is a queen on and off the wrestling mat. When she is not busy with activities she is busy in Inwood whipping up coffees at Rustic Oak. Ellie also saves lives and teaches swimming lessons during the summer at the Inwood Aquatic Center. When Ellie isn't saving lives from drowning or with coffee, she is blessing them, since she is a leader for FCA

When Ellie leaves West Lyon she will miss all the people she has grown up with throughout the years. When asked about her role model, Ellie said her classmates inspire her. “I just look at my peers and see what things they are good at and think, ‘Wow, I wanna be just as good,’” she said. Ellie also enjoyed her teachers at West Lyon. She said, “I really enjoy talking to all my teachers, they are all funny in their own ways.” One teacher specifically makes school fun: Mrs. Kippley, the math teacher. Ellie’s favorite subject in school is math because there is a definite answer to most of the questions.

Ellie is a wise student and has a lot of advice for the underclassmen. Ellie said, "Don't overthink things and don’t change your personality for others, being popular isn’t as cool and hype as what everyone thinks it is. Be friends with people you enjoy being around.” Ellie is not only a wise person, but also a great driver. Ellie’s favorite memory in high school was how in the old parking lot everyone had to go out of one exit after school. She saw a lot of “love taps” and almost accidents during those years.

Ellie has a bright future ahead of her. Whether it's in a castle reigning over her kingdom or at the University of Iowa, majoring in biology.

Maggie Kooi

By Eliana Kooi

Maggie, also called “Meg” or “M-A-ggie,” completed her family of 7. She was brought home by her parents, John and Susan Kooi, and is the youngest among her four siblings: Austin (27), William (25), Joshua (22), and her favorite sibling, Eliana (18). Her family has since gotten bigger as the years went by —don’t worry, dad, I’m not talking about you— with Austin and his wife Jordyn now expecting a baby boy.

When asked about her role model, Maggie said that she doesn’t think she has one specific person, more of a group of people: her family. “I know that I have learned a lot of things from my family. They were not conscious efforts of trying to teach me, but more how they reacted to life scenarios. My oldest brother taught me patience and that eventually things will work out in the end. My sister taught me resilience with her wrestling. Even if she goes somewhere where she will not win a match or does not have good chances, she still fights with all she has and is happy with the outcome.”

Outside of school, Maggie attends her church’s youth group and Robin’s School of Dance while also being in the school’s Marching, Jazz, and Concert Band, the Jazz Choir, and the musical. She is also the girls wrestling manager.

Besides having one of the greatest honors in life, which is being Eliana’s sister, Maggie has won a lot of awards in her career. These include Student of the Month, 5-Year Award at Robin’s School of Dance, a letter and pin for Academics, and an Iowa, Morningside, and SDSU Honor Band Recipient.

While going to the UIowa for Honor Band, she had one of her favorite memories with a teacher. On the way, Ms. Bolin was really tired because she drove beforehand and they all had to work together to “keep her awake.” Maggie actually said that a lot of her favorite memories from West Lyon were at band events, even though she did NOT enjoy practicing for them; but trust me, I think I might’ve disliked it just as much or maybe a little more when she would bring her instrument home. Maggie specifically liked going to marching band events, saying that the times before competitions and the bus rides home were the best. Maggie got close to a lot of people while in the band, saying, “I also enjoyed all the friends I made during this time, especially last year.”

In fact, her friends are what she’s going to miss most about high school. “I might not enjoy going to school everyday but seeing the friends I have here makes it better,” and because she is graduating a year early, she is trying to make the most of it.

Another part of school that Maggie will miss is being in any class of Ms. Haffner’s. Maggie says, “I love the way she teaches and she always makes her classes very fun and entertaining to be in.”

Maggie’s advice to younger students is to not overwhelm yourself, especially with college courses and to do new things that might scare you. Her future plans are to follow her two older siblings and go to the University of Iowa where she will major in political science and minor in history and international relations.

Meg Lapka

By Alyssa Hoogestraat

What’s the best part of an oreo cookie? The middle! Who is the best Lapka child? The middle one! Meg Ellen Lapka is the middle child of her loving parents, Chris and Mindy Lapka. Her older sister, Caitlyn, welcomed her on her birthday. Because of Caitlyn’s big-sisterly presence in her life, Meg says Caitlyn is her role model. “She shows kindness in everything that she does and she gives the best advice and helps me make decisions when I need help.” A few years after Meg’s fateful November birthday, her younger brother Charlie came along to complete the Lapka child oreo.

Meg works at Kingdom Kids and babysits a lot. Meg, also known as Mel, had a very eventful West Lyon experience. Her favorite childhood memories were on her bus. One particular memory she has is when Alyssa, Jacob, and Meg were riding the bus home in 7th grade. Her sub bus driver slammed on the brakes and a kid went flying off the seat. The bus driver then yelled at the trio for laughing at the kid and standing on the bus.

When Meg isn’t being naughty on the bus, she is being active in all of her school activities. Throughout high school, Meg participated in golf, FCCLA, and NHS. Meg ate and left no crumbs in FCCLA. Her STAR projects placed top 10 in the nation twice, she won the National FACTS award, and she won the Teen RSA award, receiving $2,000 for her efforts. With her love for traffic safety she also received the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau Education and Training award and got to present at the 2024 Lifesaver Conference. Meg's leadership shines through her FCCLA state officer position, 2025-2026 Vice President of National Programs.

Other than the bus situation, Meg has been a very good student. Meg has gotten on the A honor roll and 4.0 honor roll throughout high school. She also had the huge accomplishment of not receiving a detention. However, Mr. Mannes thought about getting her help after she would cry when she didn’t understand the assignment (at least three times a week). When asked what subject was her favorite, Meg said, “anatomy because of my friends Emy and Jake and Wiertzema.”

As Meg leaves West Lyon, she will miss traveling with Rockhill. Her favorite memory with a teacher happened on a previous trip. “Rock was spinning around on a broken chair and it broke,” she explained. Meg and her friends also enjoyed yelling “Koed!” in the hallways whenever they saw Mrs. Koedam. Meg leaves this advice to underclassmen, “Don’t worry about what others think and just have fun”. Meg plans to have fun at the University of Missouri- Kansas City to major in psychology on pre-med route to do pediatric occupational therapy.

Yael Lopez

By Eliana Kooi

Yael was the first born to his parents, and role models, Malaquias Lopez and Norma Zamorano; he was then followed by his little sisters Allison, Marelin, and Yoselyn.

His parents mean a lot to him. At the age of 17, Yael’s father left his own parents and siblings, who he now hasn’t seen in decades. Yael’s mother couldn’t pursue college because of poverty in Mexico. Yael says both of his parents risked their lives coming to this country so he and his siblings could have a chance at higher education and a better life. Eventually, Yael’s dad started his own business and his mom earned a high position at her job, and despite many obstacles, they were able to provide for Yael and his siblings while teaching them many important lessons: to value determination, generosity, equality, and pride; to treat others how he they would like to be treated; and most of all to make sacrifices and work hard. Yael wraps up his admiration of his parents by saying, “They came from nothing and were still able to climb to the top against all odds.”

Outside of school, you can find Yael a lot of the time either at work or at the gym.

Anyone who has met Yael knows that he is an avid lifter; in fact he said that his favorite class during high school was either Weightlifting class, because he was able to help out his friends, or Anatomy because he learned the name of the muscles and how they contract. He also experienced one of his favorite West Lyon memories in the weightroom: hitting a benching and deadlifting PR of 225 and 405. Another great accomplishment of Yael is that he earned the honor of the Seal of Biliteracy. (Perhaps his language skills helped his lyric-writing in band study hall when he created “diss tracks” with Ryan and Jullian).

When Yael locks in on something, he can achieve really great things. One of his favorite memories was when a teacher said to him, “See what happens when you work hard?” after he got a 94% on his math exam. He does like to keep the teachers on their toes, though, because his best reason for getting detention was when he kept skipping class.

When Yael graduates he will miss all the support he has gotten from his senior year teachers and his close friends the most. His advice to the underclassmen is to stack your money, have fun, do your homework, and “No te rajes.” Yael plans to attend Fresno State University in Fresno, CA to pursue a bachelor’s in Political Science and then go to law school to become an immigration lawyer so he can help speak out against injustice, sponsor the homeless, and make his parents proud.

Tanner Lynott

By Alyssa Hoogestraat

Tanner Lynott stole the spotlight from his older brothers, Jake, Kade, and Brady. He was welcomed into this world by his loving parents, Jerrod and Wendy Lynott. He was lucky enough to have Summer, his sister-in-law, and Kylan, his nephew, join the family later on. When asked who his role model is, Tanner said, “my dad, because he is hardworking and always puts others first before himself.”

Tanner has been very involved throughout his high school years. His in-school activities included football, track, basketball, and SkillsUSA. In football Tanner had the honor to become a state champion twice. His participation in football also led him to his favorite memory with a teacher, which was talking with Mr. Kramer about football. Tanner also qualified for state track.

Football and track isn't the only thing Tanner excels in. Tanner also is a great student. He never received a detention! However, one time in Mr. Mannes’s math class, Tanner only completed one question, his name. Which explains why his favorite subject is “anything but math.” Even though math isn't Tanner's strong suit, he is a great friend unlike Owen Jennings. In fact, Tanner's favorite high school memory is when Owen Jennings de-pantsed one of their other friends in the commons in front of everyone. Tanner also likes to communicate with his friends with their favorite saying, “stay hydrated.”

As Tanner leaves West Lyon, he is going to miss being around them all day and having fun. When he isn't missing his friends, he is going to stay hydrated and reminisce over orange chicken, his favorite school lunch. Tanner's future plans are to enter the workforce. His last advice to underclassmen is, “Life’s a sandwich whichever way you flip it the bread comes first.”