Leah Detter admits to feeling a bit uncomfortable at times in her various leadership roles as a senior at Pretty Prairie High School, in part because of the good work of her predecessors and also because of her humility.
 
“It’s really weird for me because all my years of high school I’ve had a lot of experience being led by really good leaders,” said Detter, a three-sport athlete and the lone senior on the Bulldogs’ cheerleading squad. “It was kind of a tough change for me to finally step in to being that leader, having to get girls going and picking them up.”
 
What Detter might see as a challenge, many around Pretty Prairie view as a blessing. Detter, an academic standout who also serves her community as a certified nursing assistant and volunteer at an adult care home, is the Capitol Federal® True Blue® Student of the Week.
 
“Even before our season got started and before her senior year, I had no doubt that Leah would be an amazing leader for this team,” said Haley Hedrick, Pretty Prairie’s cheer sponsor whose squad includes Detter, two sophomores and three freshmen. “It was a no-brainer for me. She’s very humble and she doesn’t boast about any of that.

 
“But she’s a very natural leader and has just really gone above and beyond what I could have expected out of her.”
 
Leadership is often about putting yourself out there, and Detter did so last summer when the Bulldogs attended the Universal Cheerleaders Association cheer camp at Butler Community College. Detter and her sophomore teammate, Claire Blew, tried out – and were selected – as UCA All-Americans at the camp’s conclusion.
 
The designation earned the duo the opportunity to participate in part of a series of special events conducted throughout the 2023-24 school year. In early December, Detter and several members of her family traveled to Hawaii, where Detter and other UCA All-Americans performed in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in remembrance of the 82^nd anniversary of the attack on the U.S. naval base.
 
“I enjoy history, so it was special to read about it and then to see where it actually happened,” Detter said. “My dad (Dennis) loved the idea of seeing Pearl Harbor too, so he was like, ‘We should go.’ Then my whole family kind of got involved and it grew slowly.”
 
Detter missed a week of school and Pretty Prairie’s three games in the season-opening Fairfield Falcon Basketball Classic. But it gave her an opportunity to experience a new place and meet other UCA All-Americans from Kansas and across the country.
 
“It was a really cool experience to be a part of it, especially coming from such a small town,” Detter said. “The whole community supported me and was very proud of me. That’s what’s different about going to a small school. Everyone sees what everyone does, so if you get to do something great like this, they’re all supportive and cheering you on.”
 
Detter, the fourth of six children, has heard plenty of cheers during her time at Pretty Prairie. She was a sophomore reserve on the Bulldogs’ 2021-22 basketball team that won the school’s first state girls title. That championship, led by a group of seniors that included McKenna Vogl, Jorah Harbaugh and Aubrey Young, was sandwiched between state volleyball runner-up and fourth-place finishes.
 
Detter said she benefited from watching those standouts lead.
 
“The Class of 2022 led us to our championship, and they were just really great in leading us on the court,” she said. “I took away that being friends with your teammates and really having that connection with everyone helps in a lot of ways.”
 
Detter and her cheer teammates, which includes her cousin, freshman Sage Putnam, added to the school’s trophy collection in November when they finished fourth in the Class 1A competition at KSHSAA’s Game Day Spirit Showcase in Topeka. Hedrick said Detter’s role as the Bulldogs’ most experienced squad member has paid dividends.
 
“I think every one of those girls looks up to Leah like an older sister honestly,” Hedrick said. “She’s so good with this younger group, and I know it can be super hard being not only just the only senior but the only upperclassmen. She’s just so good with them.
 
“I see some of the freshmen and they start to get discouraged or nervous because they don’t want to mess up and she’s like, ‘You’ve got this. You’ve got nothing to lose.’ Some of the things she says it’s like, ‘Man, look at you, go.’ She is just always there supporting them and building them up like a big sister would.”
 
Detter’s positive reach extends beyond campus to Pretty Prairie’s Prairie Sunset Home, the senior-care facility where she volunteers for a couple hours each school day and performs the CNA duties she learned through summer coursework at Hutchinson Community College after her first year of high school. Detter, part of Pretty Prairie’s high honors list since her freshman year, would like to pursue a nursing career.
 
“I had an aunt and grandma who worked there when they were younger,” Detter said of Prairie Sunset, where local students of all ages serve as volunteers. “My aunt would tell me stories about working there that were super interesting and it kind of got me into it.
“As a CNA, I assist them with basic life skills that we do every day. It’s really a rewarding job and it’s also hard at times. But you know you’re helping them and making their lives better.”
 
Hedrick believes Detter’s effectiveness as a leader and task master is enhanced by her ability to think outside the box. “We might have a plan for a spirit week and then she’ll come through and say, ‘Hey, I think we should do this activity. Not just the high school kids would like it, but the middle school and the community would really enjoy it, too.’ I’ll give her a task to do and she’ll go the extra mile and do four more tasks, it seems like.”
 
At the UCA cheer camp, Detter was recognized by one of the camp staff members with a Pin It Forward award, a rare honor given to a camper who possesses a quality that makes them stand out. The staffer commended Detter for her ability to motivate her teammates by picking them up when they were down and her constant readiness to work with a smile on her face.
 
“She’s a great kid and does well in everything,” Pretty Prairie principal Kevin Hedrick said. “It makes you happy for her parents when you know this about her and then witness her interacting with younger students in high school and middle school. She is such a good role model.”