GOESSEL – Opening night for Goessel Junior-Senior High School’s fall play, “Clue: High School Edition”, is just a couple sleeps away.
 
That means there’s a good chance of catching senior Eli Boden in character, preparing for his lead role in the whodunit as the straight-laced butler Wadsworth.
 
“Sometimes I don’t even notice it, but I’ll start doing the voice,” Boden said. “I’ll just randomly start quoting the play around the house, around school.”
 
A real-life mystery might be how Boden, this week’s CapFed® True Blue® Student of the Week, has managed to flourish during his high school career with a seemingly endless list of activities and athletic endeavors.
 
The curtain will raise for Boden and his fellow Goessel thespians on Friday and Saturday, an annual tradition that rotates between plays and musicals. Boden played Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks last year in the school’s performance of “Annie”, and got his high school acting start as a freshman playing Schroeder in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown!”.
 
“The musical my freshman year, I went in thinking I’m not sure if I’m willing to commit that much time to it,” Boden said. “But then I started to love it.”
 
From leading roles to becoming a two-time all-state tuba player to medaling at the state track meet to singing the national anthem before his final home football game, Boden often embraces a challenge. And he’s done it while carrying a 3.98 grade-point average.
 
“Eli’s ability to juggle full days involving classes, performances and practices speaks to his willingness to be highly involved and to make the most of his high school career,” said Goessel athletic director Brian Lightner, who approached Boden with the national-anthem proposal while Boden was handling public-address duties at a junior varsity football game.
 
“His involvement in a wide range of activities is something that makes Goessel special, and I am proud of him for stepping up to all of those roles and doing it well and with high character.”
 
Boden, whose father, Scott, is Goessel’s principal, followed the lead of his older sisters, Elyse and Alyssa, in being actively involved in school. In addition to playing three sports, he sings in the choir and the school’s select choral group, Elbiata, plays in the band and participates in scholars bowl, forensics and is an officer in Goessel’s Future Farmers of America chapter.
 
“That’s one of the best things about this school,” Boden said of Goessel, a Class 1A school with 93 students. “You’re able to be a part of everything and I’m not the only one. There’s tons of other kids who do band, choir, all kinds of sports, and are just really involved in lots of things. That’s one of the coolest things about going to a small school.”
 
Boden’s busy schedule can make for long days.
 
With Elbiata rehearsals on Wednesdays and Thursdays, Boden reports at 7:25 a.m. A full slate of classes – which this semester includes choir, band, an online college algebra course, ag internship, government, English composition, physics and public speaking – has preceded football practice. Next week, Boden will switch sports with the start of basketball.
 
During fall play preparation, rehearsals have often followed practice or preceded games on Fridays.
 
“It’s been a lot of work,” Bodes said. “It can take you to 9:30 at night. But it definitely helps knowing you’re not the only one doing it, and on some things you might be with a certain group of people who you don’t always hang out with, and that’s what I’ve really enjoyed.
 
“Like doing the plays, it’s not always with the same group of friends, but it helps you branch out.”
 
Boden has frequently been rewarded for his effort.
 
The Kansas Musical Educators Association named him to its Class 4-1A all-state band as a sophomore and junior. He has earned I ratings with instrumental and vocal solos at the state level.
 
Athletically, he earned All-Wheat State League honorable mention in football as a junior, and last spring finished fifth in the Class 1A triple jump at the state track meet, leaping 42 feet, 6½ inches.
 
Boden credited his dad and mother, Rachel, for his varying interests.
 
“They’ve always encouraged me to go for whatever I feel like I can do,” he said. “They’re just happy I’m trying new things.
 
“Going into freshman year, I was like I’ll try this, I’ll try this and see what I like, and it turned out I just ended up liking everything.”
 
Boden plans to attend Kansas State next fall and has considered majoring in agribusiness. His ag internship course this semester includes helping at a local farm, where he has fed and milked goats, and built a milking stand.
 
The duties have helped Boden hone his time-management skills.
 
“It definitely gets better as time goes on,” Boden said. “Sometimes when I was younger, I’d like to procrastinate on things. I still do that sometimes, but I’m getting better and better.
 
“It helps to just get in a routine of things where I know I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do this, and move on from there.”
 
Next up for Boden is his performance as Wadsworth, whom he describes as much like himself: “Kind of a silly, goofy guy, but at the same time he can be really serious and knows what he’s doing.”
 
Boden, who made a campus visit to K-State this week, said his final football season flew by, and he realizes other activities will come and go quickly, as well. Despite the bittersweet feeling it creates, he is trying to embrace it all.
 
“Once you graduate, you won’t be able to do all this stuff anymore, and then you have to decide what you want to do,” he said. “I’ll definitely miss doing everything, but I’m also ready to start that next chapter in my life.”