When considering options for his Eagle Scout project, Kyle Hartman decided to go big.  

The Lakin senior's initial thought was to raise money for a new community center. The pandemic put an end to that idea, but Hartman still wanted to do something that would have a sizeable impact for his school and community.  

He turned his focus to replacing the old cabinet sign in front of the elementary school.  

"You had to have someone go out and replace the letters," Hartman said. "I heard someone complain that their back-to-school pictures every year said: 'Have a great summer.'  It never got changed, never got updated. It was rusted and old and the paint was coming off." 

Hartman wanted to raise enough funds to give the school a new LED sign, but it was no small task.  

"It was basically my job over the summer to raise this money," Hartman said.  

He reached out to hundreds of people and businesses.

"The main bulk of my fundraising was through asking businesses for donations," Hartman said. "In exchange for some advertising on the sign for the next 10 years, businesses gave $5,000. That was most of it, and then there was a lot of miscellaneous donations." 

Hartman also sold cotton candy at the county fair and funnel cakes at Lakin football games to raise money.  

In less than a year, Hartman single-handedly raised nearly $35,000. The sign was installed in front of the elementary school on Nov. 10.  

"The amount of information it's going to give out to the community is insane," said Hartman, who is the Capitol Federal True Blue® Student of the Week. "It's a lot more than we had, and it looks great. It really ties our Main Street together, makes it look a lot better." 

"I don't know how to feel about it. I'm so overjoyed." 

The project finished his requirements to become an Eagle Scout, which will be made official pending his board of review.  

"I always wanted to be an Eagle Scout when I started Cub Scouts in the first grade," Hartman said. "It was one of my biggest goals in life." 

Hartman is heavily involved in both his school and community. He's STUCO president and the senior class president at Lakin, and is also active in choir, drama and theatre, Scholars Bowl, forensics and golf. He does the morning announcements and serves as an office aide to Lakin activities director Nate Schmitt.  

"I always want to be involved," said Hartman, who will play Buddy the Elf in Lakin's upcoming musical production of "Elf."

 "I want to make everything I'm a part of as best as it can be. I hate seeing things fail. I hate seeing things go away because no one's involved." 

His favorite activities are theater and forensics.  

"I love acting, so that's why I love theater," Hartman said. "But I'm also competitive. In normal theater, it's not competitive. In forensics, you get judged, you get a number saying how good you are. That's what I enjoy about it, and the people I've met. That's how I met most of my friends outside of Lakin. It's unbelievably fun." 

Hartman, known for his sense of humor, said his favorite memories at Lakin are the daily interactions with his classmates.   

"When you say favorite memory, all I can think of is just me laughing," Hartman said. "Being able to walk down the halls, most of the people at school I'm able to look at and say something that's going to make them laugh, because I have a memory with them." 

Hartman is planning on pursuing an accounting degree at either Kansas State or Wichita State. He hopes to one day own a business.  

"Kyle's found a unique way to leave his mark on the school and on the community by just being involved in literally every one of the extra opportunities we provide at our school," Schmitt said. "He's one of those that you don't realize at the time or you kind of take for granted, then his time starts to wind down, and you're like, 'Holy cow, if he's not here next year, who's going to do all that stuff?' I mean, what high school kid goes out and raises $35,000 to donate something to the school? 

"He's a high-energy guy. He just has a positive vibe."