Emma Neeley had no idea what her future path would be when she arrived at Santa Fe Trail as a freshman in 2020.
 
Then again, what freshmen do?
 
But for Neeley, the uncertainty was understandable. Prior to landing at Trail as a freshman, she had spent much of her life not exactly knowing what her future held as her family moved from one city to another in various parts of Kansas and Missouri.
 
No sooner would she get comfortable in one place and it was off to another.
 
“It was pretty hard,” Neeley said. “I normally made just one friend because I knew we’d be moving after a year. So I’d just make one really good friend and that was the only person I hung out with.  Going to new schools has always been nervous for me.”
 
At Santa Fe Trail, however, Neeley has found a home. And the stability she was craving.
 
Instead of a solitary friend, Neeley’s social circle is broad and inclusive. Which fits right along with ideals of the club she’s heavily involved in at Santa Fe Trail, KAY. Trail’s KAY president, Neeley – this week’s CapFed® True Blue® Student of the Week – has transformed herself from the nervous, shy person she was as a freshman to a leader at her school.
 
That’s nothing she ever imagined.
 
“Oh boy,” she said when asked about the difference in her from her freshman year to now. “I was pretty shy and nervous then. Not anymore. I’ve gained a lot of confidence being at Santa Fe Trail. It’s mostly just getting comfortable around the people you’re around. It just lets you know that everything is going to be all right.”
 
Neeley didn’t immediately jump into being an involved student at Trail. As a freshman, she simply went about trying to fit in to her fifth different school in five years, having spent fifth grade in the Seaman district, sixth grade at St. Marys, seventh grade at Robinson Middle School in Topeka and eighth grade at Washburn Rural.
 
But during that freshman year, she took a culinary class with Mary Burgett, who also serves as the sponsor for Trail’s KAY club. And whether Burgett could just sense that Neeley needed something to call or not, she set to recruiting her to the club.
 
“KAY is all inclusive and I try to be very welcoming and make kiddos feel like they have a place for themselves, whether it’s in my classroom or extra curriculars or whatever,” Burgett said. “I’d always invite kids to help us and so maybe having her in class, I wasn’t a stranger to her and maybe that endeared her to joining. And we had great leaders at that time as well who were very welcoming to her.”
 
“I had no idea what KAY was,” Neeley said. “One of my friends said we should go to a meeting and I was like, ‘I’ve never even heard of that.’ I thought it sounded fun, going in and doing projects. That’s fun for me. I just knew I needed to get out and do something.”
 
So Neeley took a chance. She joined the club and immediately found it was exactly what she needed and wanted. Neeley became the club secretary as a junior and this year took over as president.
 
Every camp that was offered by KAY, Neeley made sure she attended. At first, she somewhat hung back and observed and took notes but gradually she gained her own voice and evolved into someone not afraid to express her own ideas.
 
“She took a chance and she has grown,” Burgett said. “Getting involved, you feel a part of something and you connect more with your school. Each year she just grows more.”
 
“I just figured it out I guess,” Neeley said. “I went to the camps and liked everything we learned and did and all the things they were able to teach us. I just really liked it there. “You learn how to be a better version of yourself and not just yourself, but yourself as a leader. That really spoke to me. It was just really helpful.”
 
She was a driving force behind Santa Fe Trail hosting a unit conference in 2024. When the host for the 2025 conference backed out, Neeley immediately volunteered for Trail to host it again this February.
 
“I liked taking control of things,” she said. “I really like planning and organizing things. We’re going to this activity and have this entertainment. I feel like I’m able to take everyone’s ideas and make them work.”
 
Trail’s membership in its KAY club has increased during Neeley’s tenure as president and Burgett said that’s not a coincidence.
 
“She always tries to invite people, whether it’s a direct invitation or simply a, ‘Hey, C’mon do this with us!’” Burgett said. “She tries to get people from different walks of life, different personalities of students. Not that they’re her friends, but it’s simply, ‘Hey you should come do this with us.’ Whatever it is. It’s just opened up a different world and given a lot of kids a place to belong.”
 
Neeley has spearheaded several projects during her time in KAY, including helping set up and run field day at the middle school and a mitten drive this past Christmas. She’s also organized several activities at the local nursing home.
 
Neeley’s ties with the nursing home go beyond her KAY activities. As she found herself at the school she also discovered that she wanted to pursue a career in the healthcare industry. So last year as a junior, Neeley took a course through Allen County Community College to get her certified nursing assistant (CNA) certification.
 
Later this spring, Neeley plans to get a CMA (Certiffied Management Accountant) as well. While still planning on a career in healthcare, Neeley has plans to study radiology at Hutchinson Community College next fall.
 
“She has goals and dreams and she believes that she can achieve them,” Burgett said. “And she can. She truly believes in herself and has a lot of potential. She’s got a great heart and is a real serving person. She wants to do things well, make life good for people and she’s finding out that she can do those things.”
 
Neeley spent plenty of time with Kayla Chiddix, Santa Fe Trail’s Career and College Advocate, making her future plans, which were nowhere on the radar when she was a freshman.
 
But she said her experiences working as a CAN have been just as big of a part of her transformation as her work with KAY.
“I don’t know if my CNA has helped with that, going out and starting working, or not,” she said. “But it kind of helps you not be so shy. Where I work, it’s rehad and you have people always coming in and going out, so you get used to meeting a lot of new people. It’s just gotten easier to talk to people as I’ve gotten older.”
 
Chiddix said there’s a noticeable difference in the Neeley she first got to know to the one she sees now.
 
“She wouldn’t hardly say her name,” Chiddix said. “I would see her in the hallways and her head was done and it was kind of like, ‘Don’t notice me. Don’t notice me.’ Now, you don’t see that at all from her. It’s self-confidence and growth.
 
“When I first met Emma, I hardly knew who she was. Now, she’s one of our senior leaders. She’s going to be everyone’s biggest cheerleader. She’s going to encourage everyone to be a part of their school. She’s going to encourage everyone to be positive. Students who normally aren’t engaging, because of Emma they’re choosing to engage. She can just make a connection with everybody.”
 
Neeley never really branched out to join multiple clubs at Trail. She joined Future Business Leaders of America this year, hoping to “get some real-world lessons.” She played golf, which is coached by Burgett, as a junior but saw her work commitments at the nursing home keep her from playing this past fall.
 
“I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve been able to do,” she said. “I don’t like doing a whole lot of everything, but I like really pouring myself into the things I do do.
 
“KAY just has made a really big impact on my life. I’ve really stepped out of my shell. I’m actually putting myself out there which I never thought I would do. It’s been a process but it’s good. I’m glad I’ve been able to become more confident in where I’m at and what I want to do.”
 
Neeley said she hasn’t really thought about what kind of impact she’s had at Trail, hoping people remember her as someone who was able to not only take things serious and get her work done, but also could make things fun in the process.
 
But Chiddix said the impact goes beyond that.
 
“She’s an amazing kid and one of those kids that fly under the radar, every single day,” Chiddix said. “She’s not going to do anything to get the glory. She’s one of those people that is a friend to everyone in the building. She really takes it upon herself to be aware of others.”